The second plan
“Worry more.”
“yes?”
Herhan said, still holding Riella close to his arms.
Riella was embarrassed, but she did not take her eyes off Herhan. She really wanted to take it off, but she couldn’t. Stronger than the body held, Herhan’s blue eyes were drawing her attention.
“You said you were worried about me. How dare you worry about me. So go ahead and do it. I’ll listen to everything.”
Raindrops ran down Herhan’s forehead and the bridge of his nose, wet his lips. Riella stared at his red lips before replying slowly.
“Have you eaten…?”
“Hahaha”
as Riella finished speaking, the Emperor’s lips parted in disbelief and burst into laughter.
‘Am I being teased? Or was I being scolded for being presumptuous, to begin with?’
While Liella hesitated, Herhan’s mouth contained a kind answer.
“Nope. Not yet.”
“Are you not hungry?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Did you finish today’s schedule well?”
“Yes.”
“then… So, it’s raining now….”
At that point, Riella was speechless.
Somehow Herrhan’s face seemed to get closer little by little with every word she said. She could feel his hot breath on her face, even if he only said short answers like ‘no’ and ‘yes’.
‘I don’t know what else to say.’
As he said, how dare she worry about him, this powerful man.
“Is that all you are worried about?”
Riella bowed her head instead of answering.
Even though she bowed very gently, their bodies were so close that it felt like she was burying her forehead in the emperor’s chest.
It was only then that she became conscious of the solid body pressed against hers. Riella flustered and blushed anew.
The emperor opened his mouth again.
“Then I can take my turn now.”
Riella hoped that the emperor would say something quickly.
“Is there any pain anywhere?”
Of course, She didn’t expect this out of the blue.
“Me? Where…?”
“Just anywhere.”
‘Do you mean that I got sick in prison? Or are you talking about not sleeping well today?’
When Riella’s confused head lifted to meet his eyes, Herhan repeated his question. Again, word for word, but with just enough effort to get his point across.
“Everywhere, everything. Doesn’t it hurt too much?”
The question went straight to Riella’s heart, not her mind.
The cold and clutter of being out in the rain, the embarrassment and nervousness of being hugged by the Emperor, all at once blanked out and became emotional.
How on earth does this man know that she is having a hard time?
‘It hurt. It hurt a lot all over the place.’
Seeing Princess Greta’s still shining face and hearing Fabian’s name from her. Also, she had to watch them fall, which was all painful and painful for Riella.
‘But. it seems like there’s someone who recognizes that.’
“yes. I am….”
Maybe it’s an illusion, but it’s enough to make me feel like my pain is understood.
“I can endure it.”
Even though it was a late reply, Herhan nodded.
I’m glad you can endure it,” he said.
After that, there was silence for a very short time.
Both of their hearts beat faster than usual, so it was unbearably awkward.
“Anyway, we always meet wet like this.”
“ah…I apologize.”
“That’s enough. I’m just grateful that you didn’t faint today.”
In response to a self-deprecating joke, Riella let out a small laugh from her.
It was so funny. She never thought she would be able to stand face-to-face with ‘that man’ who became emperor and laugh while talking about the events of the day.
Just then, Asion and his entourage, who had been slowly approaching, arrived near them.
Only then the emperor let go of Riella’s hand and called an attendant.
“Bring a meal for two into the inner room. I’m going to wash up first before eating, so prepare hot water in the inner bath.”
“yes.”
‘A meal for two, presumably including mine.’
Riella took a step behind the attendants. While the emperor was washing, she intended to go back and change her clothes.
However, the emperor’s order didn’t end there.
“Here, take Riella Blinite to my bath.”
‘what? me? To His Majesty’s bathroom?’
As much as Riella was surprised, the attendants who heard the order seemed to be as shocked. However, someone like her couldn’t dare to ask for the will of the emperor.
The servant immediately corrected his expression and bowed his head in front of Liella.
“All right. Let’s go Riella Blinite…”
* * *
The bathroom next to the emperor’s bedroom was larger than Riella’s bathroom and was luxurious with all sorts of decorations.
Riella looked back in surprise several times as she warmed up in the steaming bathtub.
Once, a maid knocked on her door, offering to wash her, and once again, another maid came by with a change of clothes.
“No. I can wash myself. Please leave my clothes there. Thank you.”
Riella’s voice, which quickly replied, when “Someone come inside,” was very nervous.
The person who noticed it knocked on the bathroom door for the third time.
‘A maid again?’
Expecting it to be the maid again, Riela turned slightly, her face bright red.
‘There’s nowhere to hide, so should I put my face in the water?’
Her chest thumped like crazy.
She peeked through the crack in the door and saw the Emperor’s back.
“Riella Blinite.”
“yes yes!”
Riella closed her eyes tightly.
‘Will the emperor come in? now? here?’
‘I knew very well that I could be hugged by him. I expected it from the time I was told to wash here, but still…!’
“This is the only place where you can use plenty of hot water at this time.”
“…..”
“That’s why I gave you the hot water, so stop trembling, wash up quickly, and come out.”
“That….”
Before Riella could say a word, the bathroom door was closed again.
Alone in the bathroom again, she stared into space, even more nervous than before. The tension subsided, and what followed was a feeling of indescribable embarrassment.
Riella frowned until she ended up splashing water on the top of her head.
A few moments later, Riella came out of the bath hesitantly.
The two maids had been waiting for her to come out and quickly rushed in to dry her hair and get her dressed.
Riella tried to say that it was okay this time too and she can do it herself, but the emperor waiting for her in the parlor room now
“Thank you. Thanks for your consideration…I washed comfortably.”
“I don’t know if you washed comfortably, but you seemed disappointed. Is it because I didn’t join you in the bathtub?”
“Oh, no, Your Majesty, really, I didn’t! I didn’t think of that… !”
Herhan nodded, saying, “Well, yes”
Riella’s eyes filled with tears as she realized how embarrassing and unfair the emperor’s response was.
“I really didn’t think anything strange, Your Majesty! Yeah, yeah, I was a little nervous…”
“Come on, eat. Aren’t you hungry?”
“It’s more important to clear my name than to be hungry!”
“Even when you were falsely accused of being my assassin, you didn’t argue so hard.”
“That, that…You know. At that time, I drank poison, so I had no choice but to—!”
“Sleep here tonight.”
“….!”
The conversation, which had been flowing quickly and vigorously, was cut short there.
‘What now? Did I hear wrong?’
Herhan was so nonchalant that Riella doubted she had heard anything.
There was no change in expression until he calmly sliced up a piece of meat on his plate, put it in his mouth, chewed and swallowed it, and then quenched his thirst with a sip of wine.
“Sleep in my room.”
Herhan repeated the order he had just given with such a calm face.
“Then you won’t feel bad, because your expectations will have been fulfilled.”
“I made it clear that I did not expect that.”
While answering like that, Riella looked into the emperor’s eyes.
The way he spoke made her think he was just making fun of her, but looking at his expression, it doesn’t look like it was just a joke.
“I’m serious.”
As if seeing through Riella’s heart, Herhan added.
From then on, Riella began to talk less and become nervous again.
‘I couldn’t even properly eat the delicacies that I would never see again, and I was restless throughout the meal.’
“Then, sleep well tonight in a wide bed.”
“Yes…?”
“I have an all-night meeting.”
“…..”
“why? Are you disappointed again?”
Riella, who suffered the same attack as she had suffered several tens of minutes ago, pulled the blanket up to her head and buried herself in the emperor’s bed.
* * *
“What? Riella Blinite in His Majesty’s bed tonight?”
“Yes. It happened.”
“No, what happened, Sir Asion? The story about the two, wasn’t that just a rumor spread by the royal servants?”
“Yeah, that’s just a rumor. That woman is entangled in a rather complicated story with his Majesty.…”
“Is it a complicated story?”
“Is there something else we don’t know about?”
Asion, surrounded by his staff, was troubled and proud at the same time.
‘It’s not just once or twice that I have been beaten by my lord, I’ll take this opportunity to get my revenge.’
“How about something else? such as what happens to an adjutant who distorts and spreads rumors about his lord’s private life?”
“Your Majesty! What are you doing here…!”
“Is this a place where I shouldn’t come?”
“No. That’s not….”
Everyone in the room jumped to their feet at the sudden appearance of the Emperor. Asion did the same.
The emperor passed them and took a seat in the meeting room.
Seeing that he seemed to be presiding over the meeting from now on, the staff exchanged ambiguous glances. It was Asion who carried the gun.
“What are you doing here at this time? Aren’t you with Riella Blinite?”
“It was until just now. Riella Blinite is sleeping in my room right now.”
“What? Are you done already? Oh, no. I mean…Is the conversation over already? Well, it’s too early to go to bed…”
Hearhan’s gaze coldly glared at him, Asion said, “Yeah,” and bowed his head.
“It’s a good thing you’re all here. I have a simple check, so everyone sits down.”
At those words, the faces of everyone gathered in the conference room turned pale.
There’s something to check, so sit down for now- This was what Herhan always said when he started digging into something tenaciously. Besides, if it was this late when he said that.
“It’s too late for discussion.”
“Don’t worry. It will be over soon. Get me both the royal report and ours on last year’s incident. And the international law papers and the finished charges. Everything.”
Contrary to the word that it would be over soon, a large amount of paperwork soon piled up like a mountain on the meeting room desk.
The staff members sat down in their seats and reviewed the documents, answering Herhan’s questions.
“What is the expected verdict after filing the complaint against the royal family?”
“It is about deprivation of the status of members of the royal family, banishment order, or confinement in the temple.”
“It must be hard to get the death penalty, right?”
At that question, the meeting room became quiet as if cold water had been poured on them.
Since he was an emperor who always kept quiet about the future disposition of the royal family, the word ‘death penalty’ he uttered for the first time was much heavier and colder.
“Yes. The death penalty will be difficult. The accusation of attempting to murder the emperor is not retroactive, as this occurred before His Majesty ascended the throne. The crime applied is about the murder of the imperial family, but that ended in an attempt, so…”
“Then it would be difficult.”
“Considering the situation in which they hired a mercenary group of commoners and tried to cover their crime, I’d say you could look forward to them being relegated to slavery….”
“no. As long as they don’t disappear by dying, everything is difficult.”
The Minister of Justice, who was sweating and answering hard, and the staff next to him looked at each other with tense eyes.
It was because he had no idea what the emperor wanted.
‘Do you wish for the death of the King and Princess of Riotta Kingdom? All of a sudden?’
Until yesterday, the emperor was relaxed, saying that it didn’t matter what happened to them.
After thinking about it, the ministers came up with several more alternatives to punish the royal family more strongly. But it was all in vain.
Herhan didn’t look satisfied.
It was then that Asion, who had been standing in the corner watching Herhan all along, opened his mouth.
“Your Majesty, are you considering the second plan?”
the second plan. At that, the staff who were struggling to find a way raised their heads at once.
All eyes turned to Herhan. Herhan still had a worried face, but soon answered after the silence.
“Yes.”
The meaning that radiated from the clear answer soon filled the room.
The staff covered all the documents they had seen so far.
Asion answered.
“All right. I will prepare right away.”
* * *
