A geek doctor
Riella nodded and moved her feet.
Even though it was only a few steps to the emperor’s side, her heart was nervous as if she was walking on a single rope.
At first, she thought it was because there were so many eyes on her.
Even Everyone had kept their heads down, pretending they weren’t, but they were all watching her as she answered the Emperor’s call.
But even though she hurriedly left the place and entered a fairly quiet room, her racing heart didn’t know how to calm down.
“Did you get some sleep on the way?”
“What? What did you just say?”
“Did you sleep well? Why are you so nervous?”
She knows. This is just a normal greeting that they have exchanged before.
Riella suddenly noticed why her heart was pounding. The reason her heart was pounding was because this person was close to her.
“Yes.”
After answering once, Riella was a little confused.
Herhan was walking more slowly than usual.
‘I wonder if he’s matching my pace.’
After thinking that, somehow her heart beat faster and her steps became hurried. As much as Herhan was asking, she also wanted to ask him.
“Your Majesty is safe and well—”
Riella asked in an awkward, awkward voice. It was then that someone who appeared to be the minister hurriedly approached and interrupted Riella’s words.
“your majesty! You are here. The preparations for the briefing session on the results of this visit have been completed. Everyone is gathered in the meeting room.”
“ah.”
For a moment, a puzzled light passed by Herrhan’s eyes.
Herhan, who stretched his head here and there, seemed to be looking for someone to take on the troublesome task, but unfortunately, only more work was rushing into Herhan like a wave.
“your majesty. Immediately after the result report meeting, a report on state affairs while His Majesty was away…”
“Yesterday, Duke Tarien’s petition arrived. when will you reply….”
“Your Majesty, if you could tell me beforehand whether or not you intend to pay bonuses to your attendant, I can include it in the agenda later.….”
Perhaps they waited for the emperor to appear, so all those who rushed in were enthusiastic.
Their aggressiveness naturally forced Riella to be pushed this way and that. At one point, when she came to her senses she had already been pushed to the far corner.
“I’ll answer everyone here.”
At that time, Herhan spat out words mixed with a sigh. The ministers rushed in and immediately took out a pen and prepared to write down the order of the emperor.
Herhan’s answer came out effortlessly.
“The meeting is on hold. For The State of the Nation report, select only urgent agenda items and put them up in the document by evening. Don’t reply to Tarien. Pay the bonuses to the attendants, and you, Riella Blinite, come this way.”
The meeting is on hold, filing the document, paying bonuses, Riella Blinite…
The ministers, who had been writing down notes while mumbling along to the words of the emperor, stopped his hands.
What was reflected in the wide-eyed ministers’ eyes was the face of the emperor, who was glancing at someone who had been pushed far away.
Thanks to this, the ministers, who had been making a fuss with their papers, seals, and everything, all stopped their movements and looked back at the place where the emperor’s eyes were directed to the woman standing behind them with red hair hanging down.
Riella Blinite.
No one dared to speak out, but everyone knew the name the emperor had spoken. Her fame had reached this place faster than the emperor’s entourage and was shaking up the palace.
Assassin of Liotta Kingdom. A criminal who was scheduled to be executed.
However, And yet, somehow, she had managed to win the Emperor’s favor and be pardoned, and there was rumored she joined the Imperial family.
‘You’re that woman?’
Riella took a step backward at the eyes that were observing her thoroughly.
Without realizing it, she tried to take the second step backward but stopped.
Because the emperor is still over there. He asked her to come to his side.
“excuse me.”
So instead of choosing to run away, Riella chose to move forward again. She openly and politely asked the person who stood in her way to get out of her way.
Because of that, the ministers, who were blocking the front, unknowingly opened the way.
Herhan’s eyes looked very satisfied as he looked at Riella, who had finally returned to the place next to him.
“Then, see you all in the meeting room in thirty minutes.”
* * *
The hallway where the two of them walked together like that again.
Herhan had drawn a line on the floor earlier and ordered them not to go beyond it, so all the other ministers were only talking in the lobby.
In the calm that somehow regained, Liella silently followed the emperor again.
The sound of the two people’s footsteps spread like good music.
‘Strange.’ Riella thought so.
The majesty of the imperial palace, as large as that of a giant’s house. The way each person she encountered seemed to pierce her.
It all seemed to overwhelm her, to consume her, but strangely, it was not as scary as she thought.
In this space where even the air is unfamiliar and fearful, perhaps because of the exotic flower scent, there was only one presence that she was keenly aware of. It was Herhan.
‘Was it because it was the first time I saw his face after that day? That’s why I’m so nervous. And Enough to forget all the tension and fear of entering the imperial family.’
“I’ll take you to my doctor, so you can get checked.”
“yes…”
“He is a talented person. His only flaw is that he’s a geek, but that’s why he’s trustworthy.”
“yes….”
“If there is anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, tell me everything.”
“yes.”
“By the way, talking about that day, a few days ago…”
“yes…? what?”
Thanks to that, Riella, who was walking in deep thought, looked up in surprise.
Riella’s earlobes heated up at once. It was because the memories of ‘that day’ and ‘that time’ that Herhan was talking about vividly came to mind.
“I think we’ll have to be precise for medical treatment. how far do you remember?”
“Oh, that….”
This time, she has already spent quite a bit of time trying to get away with it.
It’s not something that can be done just by avoiding it because it’s embarrassing.
This whole time, she’d been trying to calm the flames that were burning so hard she couldn’t see the Emperor’s face.
Riella made up her mind and began to answer cautiously.
as calmly as possible but still it was quite difficult to hide the trembling in her voice.
“I remember up to the riverside.”
“That’s mean…”
“Until you kissed me….”
Riella’s voice was reduced to the sound of mosquitoes.
Riella’s voice dropped to a whisper.
She was a grown woman, and even if she didn’t remember it, she’d already gone as far as she could with the Emperor, so why was it so hard to talk about a single kiss?
Riella bowed her head in shame. It was hard to keep cooling down her hot face.
“The next thing is important. By the river, kissing, and then what?”
Suddenly, a strange voice popped out from behind her back, and she jumped up in surprise.
“Jess.”
“yes. your majesty.”
When Liella turned around, there was a man with silver hair and glasses, raising the corners
of his mouth.
“Can you please show off your presence without surprising me?”
“Then I miss out on all the secrets of Your Majesty. Don’t try to take away the joy of my life.”
“You protected this imperial palace without me with that damn perversion.”
“I thought I was going to die because I miss Your Majesty’s smell.”
After saying that, the man named ‘Jess’ stretched out his arms and approached Herhan. As if begging for a ‘hug me’.
Herhan skillfully slapped his arms away.
“This is the doctor I mentioned earlier.”
After defeating Jess once, Herhan introduced Riella belatedly.
Just then, Jess hugged the careless emperor from behind. Herhan frowned and shook himself off, but Jess clung to him like a leech and wouldn’t let go.
It wasn’t just that. It was only when he put his nose in the back of Herhan’s back that he made a very happy expression.
“Hmm… hah… Now that I smell this, I can live.”
“….”
Riella was perplexed because she didn’t know how to react to the flow that she couldn’t keep up with.
In front of Riella, Herhan just sighed in vain. He didn’t appear to be very angry. Rather, he seemed to have a calm look in his eyes, as if he had already transcended anger long ago.
* * *
“That’s enough of your personal information. Do you have any chronic illnesses?”
“No.”
“What about allergies?”
“No”
“Then hold this tightly in your hand.”
Liella received a large marble from Jess and squeezed it as he instructed.
“Hold tighter. With all your might.”
As Jess said, she squeezed the marbles as hard as she could, and a fuzzy shape began to rise from within the transparent glass marbles.
Jess knelt down in front of Liella and examined the marbles and took notes.
He looked serious, completely different from the one she had seen in the hallway earlier.
‘how….’
Riella was confused and only blinked her big eyes while holding the marbles.
Meanwhile, Jess, who had finished writing, began pulling reagents from the shelves. This time, too, he didn’t say anything.
TL: A reagent is a substance or compound that can facilitate a reaction, and they are used in most widely used tests. For example, pregnancy tests and blood glucose tests.
After the emperor who had taken Riella to the lab left, Jess had been like that all along. He didn’t say a word except for what was necessary for treatment.
‘He acted so strangely to His Majesty,…’
So, Riella was nervous the whole time, in case he would do something strange even to her.
However, when the emperor was gone, Jess became a blunt doctor.
‘Why was I so scared and stiff?’
Perhaps He was so close to the Emperor that he could have been playing a joke with the Emperor.
Riella was sorry for misunderstanding him, so after a little hesitation, she carefully opened her mouth.
“Thank you.”
But there was no answer from Jess. He just mixes different reagents here and there.
Thinking that her voice was too low, Riella cleared her throat and spoke louder again.
“You are His Majesty’s personal Doctor, thank you for taking good care of me.”
Rhiela’s voice echoed through Jess’s spacious laboratory.
Thinking that this would be enough, she thinks now she will get a blunt reply, if not a nice one, at least a blunt one, as she stared intently at the back of Jess’s head.
Before long, Jess showed her face. He came to Riella waving the potion he had just made.
Riella waited anxiously for Jess’ answer.
“Take it.”
“yes?”
Jess didn’t answer, but gave out medicine and only added a short explanation.
“It is a reagent for examination. You need to drink it now to accurately measure your body’s fatigue tomorrow. Also, take this pill after dinner to see if the clady poison has been completely detoxified. I’ll check your body again tomorrow, so make a note of your sleeping hours.”
“Ah yes.”
Riella accepted what Jess was offering. Still, it bothered her that he hadn’t yet responded to her thanks.
‘Could it be that he was so focused on his work that he didn’t hear that?’
The moment Riella tries to open her mouth again.
“hmm, thank you—”
“I don’t think there are any signs of pregnancy. Is that correct? I think so, but you may have a different feeling.”
“uh, pregnant?”
Riella straightened up, startled by the sudden mention of pregnancy.
Jess’s face was expressionless. He pushed his glasses up nonchalantly and looked at the papers containing Riella’s test results before speaking again.
“If you have ever seen blood or felt a lump in your stomach since you slept with Your Majesty, then I will tell
you–+”
“Oh no! I haven’t, I mean, I think you must have misunderstood something.”
Riella jumped up from her seat in surprise.
She knew that many people had similar misunderstandings, but in fact, Riella didn’t care what they thought or mocked her.
But Jess was different. Just by looking at the eyes between the two of them earlier, it was clear that he was not only the emperor’s personal doctor but also Herhan’s confidant.
If not for herself, then for Herhan’s sake, didn’t Jess deserve to know the truth?
So Riella, despite her embarrassment, over a long period of time explained what had happened a few days ago.
Lou’s upset stomach, the walk, the river, the carriage…Everything, even things that don’t need to be said.
“ah. yes yes. So you’re saying you’re not pregnant anyway.”
However, Jess’s reaction was so cold that Riella’s sincerity was embarrassing.
He listened to her for a while, and eventually got up as if he’d done his job by making X to the last item on the form.
“Is that all?”
“yes. You said you weren’t pregnant. That’s enough.”
“….”
“What more do you need?”
Riella’s face flushed after losing her proper answer.
‘Yes, that’s it. That’s enough. That’s true, but…’
She felt so embarrassed that she’d just explained in vain to clear up Jess’s misunderstanding.
“Thank you for your hard work, now you can get out of here.”
Even though he clearly saw that Riella’s earlobes were burning red, Jess just said that.
Even so, as if it was a waste of him to wait for those few seconds for Riella to gather her thoughts and wake up, he stood up first.
Riella belatedly realized that Jess had gone into the lab without looking back.
Say thank you for being kind and he didn’t answer the greeting she said twice.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t hear, it was that he pretended not to hear.
‘I was nicely ignored from the first day.’
Riella smiled faintly.
‘I knew it wouldn’t be easy, and of course, I expected something like this, but after all, it was also painful.’
* * *
