Greta’s Request
“So what is your business, Your Majesty?”
As soon as they moved to the inside of the Palace and sat down, Greta questioned the main topic quite fiercely.
Instead of answering, Herhan gestured, and then the attendants who had followed him put several boxes in front of the princess.
Greta widened her eyes in surprise.
The glittering boxes looked like gift boxes full of precious treasures.
“Why did you give this to me…?”
“It is handed over as an apology.”
“An apology?”
It wouldn’t be enough for him to offer me to apologize, but now he’s offering me a gift to apologize.
“It seems like my person made the princess cry earlier.”
“What?”
Greta’s bewilderment was heightened by Emperor Herhan’s uncharacteristically response.
‘Was Riella so important to him that he would call her ‘my person’ and come take care of it himself like this? Because he was afraid that Riella Would suffer some sort of injustice for making the princess cry.’
“I brought these things with the intention of giving them to the Riota royal family in the first place, so I hope you don’t feel any pressure.”
“No, your majesty.”
Greta was negative. Not because it was a burden, but because it hurt her pride. Besides, it was unseemly for a snooty emperor to be so condescending.
As if he knew Greta would come out like that, Herhan opened the box himself and took out the most valuable item from inside. It was a sapphire-embedded necklace from only the northern mines of the Elshweig Empire.
“Don’t you need proof to show off to the nobles that you and the imperial family are on good terms? Even if you don’t, I know you’re in a pretty difficult situation right now.”
“You are well aware of that, Your Majesty.”
“It’s because I’m lazy. So you will need it.”
Blue jewels radiated a gleaming light on Herhan’s hand as he spoke.
Greta couldn’t take her eyes off the huge sapphire.
The emperor was right. Apart from hurting her pride, that jewel shining in the hands of the emperor was a very coveted treasure, even to show off her friendship with the empire.
“Then…I will wear it.”
Finally, Greta surrendered.
It was such a precious jewel that the servants around them could not dare to touch the necklace.
It was Herhan who stood up from his seat, maintaining a decent expression.
“I’ll put it on you.”
With that, Herhan, holding the necklace, came up behind Greta.
The emperor’s hand brushed through her hair as smooth as ebony.
Whether it was because she had to wear Elschweig jewelry, which even royalty in most powerful countries couldn’t have, or because of the touch of her exposed neck, Greta, who had closed her eyes, felt dizzy.
“Come to think of it, I was quite surprised to see you earlier. I’d heard you had a relationship with Riella Blinite, but I had no idea it was deep enough to make you cry.”
“Oh, that…No big deal. I guess we just knew each other for a while….By the way, Your Majesty. How many carats is this?”
So Greta had no idea.
She hadn’t realized that in the short time that she was distracted by the blue jewel, Herhan was going through the memories in her head.
* * *
It was spring last year around this time. The first time Greta met Fabian.
But she didn’t fall in love with him right away. Fabian looked and acted like a proper gentleman, but he was definitely low-class.
When she secretly came out of the palace, Fabian saved her from being hit by a cart in the market. Greta thought he was attractive, but she didn’t know that she would even fall in love with him.
And how crazy she will be because of that love.
“I got permission from my father. I will leave this task up to you.”
“Princess…”
“It’s not difficult. Just do what I tell you to do. I have all the information I’ll give you all the money you need. If things go well, you will receive a title and an estate. Then you will be able to marry me confidently.”
“Princess. but for me—”
“To you, what? Is there Riella?”
Greta immediately urged in a fierce voice.
“Are you talking about that again? I told you. Fabian! that’s not love but sympathy. Are you going to live with that woman by her side for the rest of your life?”
“Princess. Riella is the most precious thing to me.”
“No. The most precious thing to you is me.”
Greta grabbed Fabian by the collar and kissed him.
Then, she continued to pour words like spells close to his ears. “I’m the one you love, I’m the one you love.”
Fabian seemed to listen to the princess well after that. It seems that the persuasion that if he becomes the royal family and succeeds in life will help Riella’s life as well.
He also approached the camp of Herhan, the crown prince, hiding on the eastern border. Thanks to the fact that they were an unnamed commoner mercenary group, they were able to avoid the enemy’s vigilance.
At this rate, the operation would have succeeded without difficulty.
Greta left the last raid early to drink a toast and went directly to Fabian.
There, as if to show off, she told Riella who Fabian’s owner was. It was that night that Fabian knelt in front of Greta with very sad eyes.
“I can’t abandon Riella.”
“Fabian. That sound again! You’re Not abandoning Riella, she’s my responsibility and I’ll take care of her.”
“It’s not that, my princess.”
The night Riella left after knowing the whole truth. Fabian collapsed.
Without being ashamed, he fell flat in front of a woman who was smaller than him and cried and begged. He was sorry. Because he thinks it’s Riella that he truly loves.
‘Riella. Riella. Riella….!’
Greta pushed Fabian off of her and ran out of the room.
She quickly searched around the area to find Riella, who had left after arguing with Fabian.
“I have something to tell you. Riella.”
When she was brought before Greta, she looked as empty as a ghost.
As Greta looked at that face as if she had lost the whole world, Greta’s anger started to soar again.
Because It’s the same face as Fabian, who was crying while calling out Riella’s name.
“This is more a request….”
Greta spoke the next words quickly.
“Please die.”
It would have been nice if words could hurt like arrows. Then Greta was confident enough to let Riella die in her agony.
“It’s enough to hold on to Fabian’s ankles. You said he saved your life. Shouldn’t you be able to repay him? You have no idea how much he’s suffering because of you. That’s what he’s been doing his whole life, taking care of you, to the detriment of himself.”
Riella, who had been keeping her head down the entire time, raised her face.
Is there an end to sadness? If so, it would be a face like that.
She couldn’t figure it out, but Greta knew that her words were working.
“So please die. Don’t bother me anymore. please. Please disappear.”
‘After these words, Riella would walk away on her own. Then everything will go right. Fabian would inevitably come back to me. If only Riella would disappear like this.’
* * *
“Your majesty?”
“….”
“Your Majesty…?”
It was already the tenth call. However, no matter how anxiously Asion called, Herhan remained silent.
It would have been better if he just didn’t answer, but his eyes were bloody. As if fighting a ghost floating in the air.
“Your majesty. Are you okay? Are you having seizures again!? Don’t use your power—”
“Asion.”
“Eh, yes!”
After the eleventh call, Herhan opened his mouth.
After meeting Princess Greta, Asion was worried that the lord’s face was pale all along, but fortunately, it wasn’t a seizure.
“What do you think is the first thing a person will say after receiving help from someone?”
“What? That’s it. Of course, ‘thank you’…, right?”
“I guess so.”
“But what, is that, like, a riddle or something?”
It was unfortunate for Asion, who was curious, but Herhan was silent again.
As he was silent, he remembered Riella. He remembered what Riella had first said to him.
The first time they’d sat face to face, the first time they’d made eye contact, the first thing she’d said was not a thank you, but a question: What do you want? She said she wanted to repay him for saving her life.
Why did this woman make him a sympathetic man expecting something in return?
Herhan was devastated by such a feeling.
Riella was outraged, and she was also confused
“It’s enough to hold on to Fabian’s ankles. You said he saved your life. Shouldn’t you be able to repay him?”
“So please die. Don’t bother me anymore. please. Please disappear.”
‘Have you been suffering from such words the whole time?’
That’s why she threw herself into Le Der that day, and that’s why it took so long for her to say ‘thank you’ again this time.
She was such a fool. She is a foolishly pure and fragile woman who is easily stained and broken.
Herhan’s gaze drifted away again.
The rain was getting thicker. The pounding in his ears made him even more dizzy.
It was about the time they passed the wall surrounding the palace when Asion opened his mouth as if something suddenly came to mind.
“Oops. Come to think of it, time has passed quite a bit. What should we do?”
“What?”
“You were supposed to have dinner with Riella Blinite, weren’t you?”
‘Oh, no.’
Herhan stopped walking with a sense of dismay.
As he suddenly stopped, the attendants holding umbrellas behind him and the attendants carrying gift boxes stopped one after another.
Body to body collided and rainwater splashed as the ranks pushed, but Herhan didn’t care.
‘I can’t believe I forgot about it.’
No matter how much he gnashed his teeth at the memory of Princess Greta, he can’t believe he forgot that.
“Asion. First, Run to the dining hall and tell them my situation. That woman, she will be waiting foolishly again, so tell them to give her a meal first.”
“I don’t think that is necessary. your majesty.”
“What?”
Just as he was about to push Asion away, telling him there was no time for jokes, Herhan stopped breathing when he saw the end of the direction Asion was pointing.
Far away a person was standing like a flower in front of the main gate of the annex. It was Riella.
“….”
Herhan doubted his eyes once, then confirmed her existence again and slowly moved forward.
Asion deliberately stretched out his arm to prevent the entourage from following the emperor.
Then, like his entourage, he also didn’t follow the emperor.
“What are you doing here?”
Herhan suddenly approached Riella and asked.
“Did you wait for me?”
Riella, who was hesitant, nodded slightly. She then bit her red lips lightly and then she answered softly.
“You are late. Because it’s raining just in case…I was worried.”
‘You’re worried about me when you can barely take care of yourself. What the hell are you?’
The voice of worry was so low that it was drowned out by the sound of rain.
Moisture formed on Riella’s eyelashes, like jewels. Her hair was also a little wet. She could have waited inside while avoiding the rain, but it seems that she dared to go out to the roof of the front door and stick her head out once in a while.
“Your majesty. It’s raining. Don’t stay there. Go inside…”
Even so, Riella was worried that the emperor would get wet even more.
For some reason, the attendant with the umbrella didn’t come and the sight of the Emperor exposed to rain in front of her was distressing.
Riella, who was stomping her feet, eventually jumped into the rain.
Riella, who had come close to Herhan’s body, made a shield with her palms and placed it over Herhan’s head.
“Your Majesty, you shouldn’t be out in the rain…”
As Riella stepped on tiptoe and stretched out her arms, a sweet and subtle body odor hit him.
Herhan gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
‘She’s out in the rain, and she’s shivering in the cold more than me…’
Herhan wrapped his hands around Riella’s waist and pulled her closer to his arms. After being outside for so long, Riella’s body was quite cold.
Their wet bodies pressed together, sending goosebumps down their spines.
Panicked, Riella raised her head.
Their gazes met closely, but for this moment, neither of them avoided the other’s gaze.
* * *
