Riella’s place
Herhan felt embarrassed.
Carnel’s diagnosis that Riella was simply fainting and not seriously ill somehow was unfair.
‘Because she was so surprised? That’s why she fainted?’
‘There was something questionable about saying that she fainted because she was surprised by the kiss. For some time after our first lips met, I definitely confirmed that Riella was reacting.’
However, there was no other reason than that.
He could only blame her for being so thin and weak.
‘How she managed to live life as a mercenary with such a weak body?’
Herhan felt sorry for Riella and moved to sit next to her bedside.
Asion said he would move Riella to the bedroom, but Herhan forbade him. It was a long way from here to the house, and he didn’t want to put more strain on her body by moving her. The Emperor’s carriage was as spacious as any bedroom, so she could sleep comfortably.
So here. All night. By her side. Herhan intended to protect Riella. So he told Asion that he wouldn’t go back to his bedroom.
‘I didn’t mean to kiss her…’
After confirming that Riella’s breathing was comfortable a few more times, Herhan remembered the incident from earlier.
In fact, Herhan had deliberately brought Riella with him after knowing that there was a tributary of Le Der flowing nearby. He had something to say to Riella.
‘That nothing happened on ‘that day’ that you have been misunderstanding all along. That I was lying to provoke you.’
He tried to tell the truth.
He didn’t sleep the whole night at the house. He was still awake when they woke up in the morning.
He tried to tell her that he had seen her frightened, shaking, sobbing, and staggering out the door.
‘Even though I knew you had a story, I couldn’t hold on to you and just let you go.’
But today, standing on the riverbank, she looked so pretty.
It was admirable to see her smiling lightly in the strong wind.
It was a completely different look from the time when she ran away crying without knowing what to do with her life.
Because he can’t stand it. Herrhan reached out without realizing it.
By the time he came to his senses, he was already kissing Riella.
‘So in the end, I couldn’t even tell the truth about that night. And I added the accident tonight.’
Herhan laughed self-deprecatingly.
‘I didn’t believe Asion’s bad words about me, saying that if he looked away for a second, I would cause an accident, but he certainly didn’t lie, even though he was just teasing me.’
‘Could it be that getting me into trouble like this is my punishment for continuing to deceive you?’
Herhan stared blankly at Riella, who showed no signs of waking up.
It was strange.
‘If this embarrassing situation without an answer is definitely punishment, I don’t feel bad.’
If the reward for deceiving Riella was this tickling, pounding sensation, then maybe he could let her misunderstand him a little longer.
his desire flickered beneath the piercing blue of his eyes as he stared at Riella.
* * *
Early the next morning. At the urgent yet powerful call of the knights, Asion opened her eyes wide.
When I woke up, the bright sunlight was beating down on my head. Right next to it, a bird perched on a branch was chirping and even singing its morning song.
“Captain! I didn’t know you were sleeping here. I have been looking for a long time.”
“Ah. Yes. What’s going on??”
In front of the emperor’s carriage.
Asion, who had been sleeping on a chair he had brought, stretched out his long limbs.
“I don’t see His Majesty!”
“uh…?”
“His bedroom is empty. There are no signs of his presence, where did he go from early morning?”
“Ah. He hasn’t gone anywhere since the morning, he’s been doing that until the morning.”
“yes? What are you talking about?”
Asion stretched out his body once more and said that he knows where His Majesty is, and he said don’t worry.
The stupid knight, not knowing what was going on, believed Asion’s words and backed away.
Only when the knight was far enough away to be completely out of sight, Asion looked around once more and cautiously opened the carriage door.
‘oh my god.’
Inside the carriage, Herhan and Liella were still wandering in their dreams, leaning on each other very affectionately.
Even if it was Riella, what is the reason why even his lord is sleeping soundly like that?
Fearing that something might go wrong all night, Herhan was startled at Riella’s slightest movement and called out to Carnel, and at some point, he seemed exhausted and fell asleep.
‘What the hell…’
Anyway, Riella and Herhan both seemed comfortable, so he thought that was enough.
Asion closed the carriage door again and came out to the yard.
Most of the people got up, packed up their tents and luggage, and were preparing to start the day’s march again. It was probably only the two of them in the golden carriage who overslept.
“Hey, Phil.”
“yes. Captain.”
“Today His Majesty is planning to leave by carriage. I’ll lead from the front of the carriage, so you take care of His Majesty’s horse.”
“yes. All right.”
“Mark the route and bring it. Are we crossing the border today?”
“Yes. you’re right. I will prepare a map for you.”
Asion rolled his shoulders to warm up before going and muttering to himself.
‘When the two of you open your eyes, the owner of the land must have changed then.’
* * *
Asion was right. The doors of the emperor’s carriage opened when they finally crossed the border and entered the territory of the Elschweig Empire, and the entire entourage stopped marching and had a late lunch.
“ekhmm. ekhmm.”
“You can just come out without coughing.”
Asion spoke in a teasing voice again and opened the carriage door from the outside.
It was the emperor who pretended to be there, but it was Riella who burst out through the open door.
“oh! Are you awake?”
“yes yes.”
“You seem fine…Hey, Miss Riella?”
Asion knew for the first time that Riella could run so well. She was usually the one who always stood in one place or stood there quietly with her head down and trembling.
“Your Majesty, do you know what she just ran out of here?”
“….”
“Here, I mean. Here in the carriage. I swear I saw it this morning, side by side with Your Majesty. And now it’s gone?”
Without replying to Asion’s words, Herhan locked the carriage door again from the inside.
Asion thought about going inside and trying to tease his lord more seriously, but then he laughed and stopped.
If he did that, he’d either be fired from his position as Captain of the Guard or have his head cut off.
* * *
Riella wrapped her cheeks with both hands as they heated up and ran.
Ministers and attendants who recognized Riella in the middle greeted her or invited her to have a meal together, but she rejected all of them.
‘Meals were no big deal. My face is so hot right now that it feels like it’s going to explode, so how can I chew food and swallow it?”
“hah…hah…”
After running for a long time and reaching the green carriage at the far end, Riella took a deep breath.
It was then that Lou jumped out of the carriage after feeling her presence.
“Riella!”
“Uh, Lou.…!”
Lou jumped under the carriage and was hugged by Eiella.
Lou’s cries were full of worries and worries accumulated last night.
“How worried I was when you didn’t come back! Is it because of me? Because you gave that room to me! Because you hit his Majesty to save me again! So you were punished all night?”
“Oh, no. Nothing like that….”
“But, Captain Asion came last night and said that Miss Riella wouldn’t come here.…He didn’t explain anything else…”
‘Oh, no. You must have been very worried.’
Riella gently rubbed the back of Lou’s head, who was crying in her arms.
Lou quickly calmed down, glad to know that Riela was safe. The problem was, even as she calmed down, her curiosity was not easily quenched.
“Where have you been? What did you do all night?”
At those words, Riella’s face heated up again.
“Riella, I think you have a fever.”
Lou raised her small palm and began to caress Riella’s forehead and cheek.
that hand.
The hand delicately caressing her face in every nook and cranny awakened Riella’s memories of last night.
In the carriage, when she opened her eyes in the emperor’s arms, she pretended not to know anything because she was so embarrassed, but in fact, she remembered clearly.
A night walk with the emperor.
A tributary of Le Der.
A confession that she wanted to live thanks to him.
and A kiss.
‘After that!?’
There was no blur in Riella’s memory. It was just, very clearly and clearly, ‘just there’.
‘Why do I have no memory after kissing? As if someone had cut it off with scissors.’
‘If it happened last year, why is it happening again? Is Le Der the problem? Or….Herhan, is that person the problem?’
Her heart sank just thinking about the names. She opened her palm and rubbed her chest, her thumping heart didn’t know how to calm down.
Riella reached out her hand, which had been sweeping her chest, and touched her lips.
Somehow, the touch and warmth of that time were vivid, as if kissing him again now.
“Riella. Your face is still red….What should I do?”
Riella tried to calm Lou and went inside the carriage to calm herself down and sat down.
Riella entered the empire without knowing when she had crossed the border.
* * *
After crossing the border, the entourage accelerated. Even though it was a journey of several weeks, it was a long time if it was long, and the morale of those who returned to their homeland pierced the sky.
They rode quickly for four more days, finally reaching Bahavorden, the imperial capital of the Elshweig Empire
The entourage stayed once more before reaching Bahavorden.
That night, Riella was assigned a double room, where Riella shared a room with Lou.
TL: Double Room, which is a room for two people with one large bed (double bed)
It was the emperor’s consideration to place them together.
For four days, the emperor didn’t visit Riella again.
This time Riella also had no intention to wait for him or visit him. Rather, she thought it was a relief. Four days was not enough time to get rid of all the bewilderment and embarrassment of the impulsive kiss.
“Wow! Miss Riella! It looks like the imperial palace over there! It’s incredibly big and cool. It can’t even be compared to the Royal Palace of Liotta!”
Lou, who had always followed closely behind Riella and had now joined her in the carriage, had been excited ever since she saw the high walls of the imperial palace.
“What am I going to do? I’m so nervous!”
“I know, me too…”
Although she agreed with Lou’s words, Riella tilted her head.
Certainly, the height of the walls and the splendid majesty of the palace seen beyond it were different from those of the Royal Palace of Liotta, but there was something strange about it.
‘It’s strangely quiet.…’
When the Kingdom of Liotta welcomed Emperor Herhan, and when they sent him home, they held the most luxurious ceremonies since its founding.
The royal palace was decorated in all its glory, crowds of people burst into celebrations and shouted cheers on every road the emperor’s procession passed. It was crowded and noisy all the time.
But the scene in the Elshweig Empire was very different.
The buildings of Imperial Street, the people passing by, the large lawn square and fountain, and finally the long bridge that led to the Imperial Palace.
‘Everything I could see was bigger and richer, but I felt something desolate.’
It was the same even after entering the imperial palace.
There was no greeting and no pollen.
There was no honor guard, no music, no emperor’s speech.
By the time Riella’s green carriage, the tail end of the procession, had entered the imperial palace walls, the people who had arrived earlier had already left the carriage or returned to the palace with the unloaded luggage on their shoulders.
“Uh, I don’t think there’s a welcome ceremony… or anything like that.”
Having already had a grand farewell party at the royal palace, Lou seemed very disappointed. Even that didn’t last long.
“Lou Reisa?”
“yes?”
“I will guide you where to stay. Pick up your luggage and follow me.”
“Ah, yes, yes!”
The old-fashioned-looking woman with the straightened hair called Lou by name and took her away.
It wasn’t just Lou.
Whether those who originally worked at the imperial palace or those new to the imperial palace like Lou, each of them was busy moving to their destination according to someone’s call.
It seemed that Riella herself was the only one standing in the middle of this wide yard, not knowing where to go.
“Madam. sorry. where can I go…”
So Riella ran to the woman who had taken Lou, despite her rudeness.
The woman touched her glasses once and flipped through the thick list on her hand.
“Riella Blinite. Riella Blinite…There is no such name.”
“Then who should I go to ask?”
“Well. Anyway, it doesn’t seem to be my business.”
“If there are other attendants, please let me know…”
Riella’s shoulders slumped because she was nervous.
“It is my business. of course.”
A tall shadow appeared above the heads of the attendants who were busy moving their luggage.
When they realized whose path they were blocking, they split off to either side in a panic.
The woman holding the list also hurriedly took a few steps back and bowed her head.
“That’s obvious, why are you wandering around in the wrong place?”
“Oh, that…”
Riella was the only one who raised her head and made eye contact with the owner of the shadow.
The Emperor narrowed his eyes at Riella, then tilted his chin and gestured to the place next to him.
‘Your place is right here, you know it, why are you hesitating so much?’ like scolding Riella.
* * *
