I’ve been missing you for a long time
“He says you can go outside and rest first.”
As soon as Asion whispered that, Riella staggered and walked out of the hall.
Her heart was pounding and her head was spinning. Emotions that might be happy or sad, cause nausea.
The emperor probably noticed that and let her go outside.
Riella recklessly ran to a sunny place. Opposite her, she found a large window in the hallway and she clung to it so could catch her breath.
She felt nausea, but all that came out was tears.
‘Is it over now?’
‘I feel relieved and sad at the same time.’
“I wondered why his Majesty changed his mind so quickly, but I think it was because of you.”
At that time, Asion, who was worried about Riella and chased after her, patted her on the back and said.
“If we had filed the accusation as planned, we might have been able to punish the royal family, but it wouldn’t have stopped them from harming you again. Look at the temperament of the princess. Surely she wouldn’t have let you go.”
“ah…”
“Well, compensation is also compensation. A peace treaty was signed with your safety as collateral, so now the princess won’t be able to do anything to you, So you can relax in the future.”
Riella bit her lip, not knowing what to say.
She never thought that the emperor would even make such a calculation.
‘It’s just that Greta’s screaming is terrifying. Also, it was surprising that Greta ended up bowing her head in front of me, so my mind was blank.’
“Why did you tell me that…?”
“Well, because you are a femme fatale.”
“What?”
“Oh no. It was just a joke.”
Asion clears his throat a few times, then speaks again.
“Please don’t think I’ve offended you. Because this was one of the many options we thought of in the first place. In fact, His Majesty is also being accused of becoming emperor because of a rebellion. In this case, even if we cause an international dispute, our side will do more harm than good.”
When Asion explained that much, the door finally opened.
The first to come out was Greta, her eyes red and bloodshot.
The princess’s face was miserable. Her long hair, which had been roughly stroked by her father, the king, was also messy.
The princess, who had walked out like a corpse, stopped a few steps in front of Riella.
“you….”
Greta bit her lip in anger, but couldn’t come any closer. She glared at Riella from where she was standing, but in the end, she just looked away and left as if she was running away.
After the princess, the ministers of both countries came out, then the king who groaned, and finally the emperor Herhan came out.
Riella held her chest and moved little by little toward the emperor.
‘How can I express my gratitude? Is it possible to express such a big heart?’
As she lowered my head in such a mind, Asion shook his head and started to move one step ahead of Riella.
“I’ll go to His Majesty first. I have to get ready to leave from now on, so I’m busy again…”
“What? You’re leaving?”
“Sure. The treaty has been signed, so we have to go back. The imperial palace has already been vacant for a long time.”
‘Ah. That’s right. It was no surprise that the Emperor should return to the Empire.’
‘But why is my heart sinking like this?’
Riella’s mind went blank again.
“That’s probably why His Majesty chose to do this, too. because while we can leave, Miss Riella will have to stay and live here by herself, and he worries about that.”
* * *
The first thing that caught Riella’s eyes after returning to her bedroom of the annex was the emperor’s handkerchief that was placed on the table.
Riella looked at the handkerchief and gently wrapped it around her.
‘This was a day with so much going on. I woke up on the emperor’s bed, and although I was embarrassed, I also enjoyed the luxury of becoming a princess for a while.’
‘I dared to attend a meeting where the heads of the two countries sat face to face and even saw Princess Greta bow her head under my feet.’
‘Now I would receive a big compensation that I wouldn’t have to work for the rest of my life, and I would no longer be threatened by anyone. It was a satisfying ending.
But…’
‘But why does the thought of the emperor leaving soon come to mind?’
‘Even though everything ended well, my heart felt tight and I felt sad. why…why…’
“Riella Blinite.”
Then the door opened and a familiar voice called her name.
Even just hearing her name, Riella strangely burst into tears.
For some reason, she thought that she shouldn’t let the emperor see those tears. So, Riella pretended to pack her things and avoided his gaze as she moved around busily.
“Today, you worked hard.”
Even though Riella didn’t turn to look at him, Herhan spoke quietly to Riella’s back.
Riella struggled to keep her voice steady as she clutched at a random object.
“No. I didn’t do anything. I owe too much to Your Majesty.”
“Well, you don’t owe me that much. if you want to take a shower, you can use my bathroom once more.”
It was clear that what he said about the bathroom was a joke, but neither the person who joked nor the listeners laughed uncontrollably.
“Take it.”
When Riella finally couldn’t turn around, Herhan walked into the room and handed her something.
“It is an agreement signed by the royal family. All of the compensation you will receive in the future are in it, so take a look at it when you have time.”
“Thank you.”
“Keep it well and don’t lose it.”
“yes.”
A few words came and went, but strangely, the flow of the conversation seemed to be cut off.
It was because both of them were hesitant to say what they really wanted to say.
“Where do you plan to go after this?”
It was the emperor who brought out the question he wanted to ask first.
Riella closed her eyes tightly. By ‘after’, the emperor meant after he left.
She couldn’t think of that yet, so she answered with whatever came to her mind.
“I’m thinking about going back to Garland.”
“Okay. Garland…”
‘Garland, Garland…’
The emperor’s lips murmured the name several times.
“Is this the village where you stayed until you got caught?”
“yes.”
“I see.”
The emperor remained silent for a while and soon said goodbye calmly.
“I hope you return safely.”
Riella’s heart sank again, but she forced a smile.
“Yes. Your Majesty too.”
* * *
For the next three days, the royal palace was as noisy as it was when it first welcomed the guest.
It was noisy.
hundreds of Imperial entourage packed their bags and said goodbye to those they had known for a short while.
The attendants belonging to the Royal Palace of Liotta were presented with gifts said to be bestowed personally by the Emperor of Elschweig. The royal minister and nobles of the kingdom also received jewelry and cloth sent by the emperor.
They grumbled about why the emperor, who had come all the way to visit, didn’t attend a proper banquet, but a single gift box with the emperor’s seal on it changed their minds.
After all, the emperor of Elschweig is as generous as the vast land mass of the empire.
For three days, the king came to visit the emperor every night, brought in all sorts of offerings, and flattered him.
The king was half nervous, afraid that the emperor might change his mind later, and half wanted to show off the friendship between the empire and the kingdom to those watching from afar.
Of course, while the king was so busy, the princess didn’t even show her nose. Riella heard that the princess was sick and couldn’t even move properly, but no one cared about the princess getting sick ahead of the emperor’s farewell ceremony.
While everyone was busy preparing for the emperor’s farewell ceremony, Riella also started packing her things.
She was supposed to return empty-handed, but her room was full of luggage. All of it had been given to her by Herhan.
“I will return everything. your majesty.”
“Even if you give them back to me, they are just burdens to me. You either keep it or throw it away.”
Herhan answered like that without even making eye contact with Riella, perhaps because he was busy.
No matter how upset she was, it was impossible to throw things out. It was all expensive and precious.
So instead of throwing them away, Riella gave them to the ministers of the empire who helped her.
What was left over was distributed among the servants.
The last day Riella opened her closet was a festive day for the servants of the annex.
After emptying all her luggage, all that was left for Riella was a white handkerchief.
‘Can I keep this one…?’
Riella stared at the handkerchief in dismay and shook her head.
‘It was a thing I couldn’t keep.’
It was right to return it to the Emperor. Even if he refused to accept it. Even if he told her to throw it away.
“I had something to say. Thank you very much. Thank you so much that words cannot express how grateful I am. Now, I will not forget this grace and will live a life somewhere, so please return safely to the Empire and become a great Emperor.”
Riella said that and intended to return the handkerchief.
‘And finally, I decided to shake off all this confused mind.’
“What should I do? His Majesty went to the main palace… With the farewell ceremony just around the corner, the royal nobles invaded in groups to see him. He said he couldn’t just send them back, so he just showed his face for a moment.”
She had the courage to knock on the inner room door for the first time in a long time, only to be told that the emperor was away. The room was already tidy and organized.
‘I heard that the farewell ceremony is in two days. But he already packed all his things.’
It was like someone who couldn’t wait to leave.
Unsatisfied with that, Riella left the room.
There was still time until the emperor arrived, so Riella decided to wait outside for him. She also wanted to visit the garden where she took a walk with the emperor one last time.
It was for this reason that Riella, who had been in the annex the whole time, came out of the annex with only a handkerchief in her hand.
It was obviously to wait for the emperor, to meet and talk with the emperor.
At some point, Riella spent quite a bit of time thinking about the emperor, and she didn’t even realize that she had forgotten someone else.
“Riella.”
Until she hears his voice again.
“Finally I found you, Riella.”
Why did Riella like her name? In fact, it wasn’t that she liked her name, but she liked the voice calling out her name.
A very long day. How she’d missed that voice for a long time, even after she’d been abandoned by him and turned away crying.
“Riella…”
Riella realized again in front of the blue wall of the annex.
It was Fabian.
The man she thought she would never see again was standing there, looking the same as when he was so precious to her.
* * *
