Don’t give your heart to His Majesty.
That night, Riella couldn’t sleep and just stared at the sky outside the window, but the maids of the West Palace, including Lou, didn’t think it was a big deal.
Everyone thought that Riella was excited about moving to the Lake Palace, but the truth was, she wasn’t interested in things like “Lake Palace” or “Empress”.
‘Ready to die. For those who will be left behind when you’re gone….’
Riella thought about Herhan all night.
She knew he was sick. But that doesn’t mean she knew he was that close to death.
The next day, Riella got ready early like any other day and left the West Palace.
Everyone muttered about she will move to the Empress Palace soon, so she will see His Majesty often, but she couldn’t bear to go to see His Majesty.
However, contrary to everyone’s expectations, the place Riella’s feet headed towards was Jess’s laboratory.
“What are you doing here? Come straight to the quarantine room.”
Jess, who had been sitting and reading a book, thought it was already time to investigate Carnel, so he got up and started gathering documents.
Riella asked Jess bluntly.
“How much longer will his Majesty live?”
‘yes?”
Jess’s eyes widened in surprise, but then turned away from Riella and took a deep breath.
“what? Why are you talking such nonsense this morning?”
“You know Sir Jess. You said His Majesty had been suffering from a dangerous and incurable disease. He wouldn’t last much longer. You have said that before.”
‘Ahh… Did I even say that? damn. Alcohol is my enemy.’
Jess closed his eyes tightly and pressed his temples.
No matter how much I hate Riella, and no matter how drunk I was, there are things I shouldn’t say.
“Sir Jess. Tell me please. You are a doctor.”
“To be exact, His Majesty’s personal Doctor.”
“Okay. You are His Majesty’s doctor, but you haven’t even been able to cure His Majesty’s illness?”
“What? Tell me what you know…!”
Riella looked directly at Jess as if she could think of anything worse to say. From her words, it was clear that she was angry, and her red eyes were filled with all sorts of emotions.
‘Huft, I’m busy enough without you.’
Jess nervously ruffled his hair.
There was no point in arguing with this woman.
Instead of trying to raise his voice against Riella, Jess chose to just say it quickly.
“It’s a miracle that he is alive now.”
“That means….”
“As a doctor who has studied His Majesty’s body all my life, I predicted His Majesty’s life expectancy until last year.”
Riella was speechless at Jess’s dry explanation.
‘How can this happen? Have they been preparing for His Majesty’s death for that long?’
“In fact, I doubted whether he would be able to regain the throne. Especially last fall, we were all so exhausted that we were on the verge of giving up, and some mercenaries even bothered us at that time.”
Jess spoke without hesitation and then thought he had momentarily forgotten that Riella Blinite was a member of that ‘mercenary group.’
‘Oh, it must be crazy to burden a woman who is already going through so much guilt.’
Uncharacteristically, Jess met Riella’s eyes and quickly changed the subject.
“Anyway, it’s already been more than half a year since he has been holding out like that. On top of that, he has been overdoing things a lot lately, and he has been taking some unknown fake drugs.”
“…..”
“It wouldn’t be surprising if he couldn’t open his eyes tomorrow.”
“It’s— I see…”
Riella did not ask further.
Until she ran to Jess’s lab, she had endless questions to ask, but there was only one thought that filled her head right now.
‘Maybe a breakup could come tomorrow…? How on earth can this happen?’
Riella felt betrayed again by the world she had finally come to love again.
It felt like a strong, unexpected wave was crashing in.
It was something she really didn’t want to believe.
Clearly, to her, Herhan was always a calm and beautiful person, like the river in Le Der. So much so that sometimes she wants to throw her whole body into his arms.
Jess didn’t even ask Riella to leave, but she turned around blankly.
Only then did Jess realize that the small body that turned its back on him was so small. Jess bit his lip, hesitated for a moment, and then grabbed Riella.
“Miss Riella. I also have some advice. Don’t give your heart too much to His Majesty.”
When Riella looked back, Jess’ once fierce eyes finally looked as painful as her own. It was as if both of them had seemed emotionally barren until now.
“We were already wrong, and now we’re stuck, me and Asion. Asion will probably be willing to be buried with His Majesty when he dies.”
Riella couldn’t tell if she was supposed to laugh or cry.
‘If I had been a little more calm, would I have been able to accept those words with ease?’
“But Miss Riella you can still turn your back on his Majesty, can’t you? I’m not asking you to betray him. Just don’t get any closer, it’s better for your peace.”
“Sir Jess. You’ve changed.”
“What?”
“At one point you were worried that I might harm His Majesty, but now you are worried about me.”
“That’s because you….”
‘Because I didn’t know that she would be standing there with the same expression as us.’
Jess silently swallowed his words, and Riella nodded as if she knew his feelings well even if she didn’t hear it.
“Thank you for being honest. I understood what Sir Jess said.”
* * *
“So, are you saying that you will give the Lake Palace to Riella Blinite?”
“Yes.”
There were only uncomfortable sighs among the ministers.
Until they heard the news and requested an emergency audience with the emperor, they had no idea that the emperor would take such a strong stance.
However, Herhan’s attitude was unexpected.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t control his emotions because he was caught up in love games, and it wasn’t that his judgment was clouded by the width of the woman’s skirt.
“Are you saying you want to make Riella Blinite the empress?”
“I only said I would give her the Lake Palace, I never said I would make her the empress.”
“But the Lake Palace was used as a separate palace by past empresses…”
“That’s right. It’s a separate palace. Technically, the third emperor built it near the main palace to enjoy the view of the lake, and it was also used as the emperor’s residence at the time. There’s no law that says the Lake Palace is only for empresses.”
“However, the current tradition is—”
“Then shall we crown Riella Blinite as empress? I’m fine if only the ministers allow it.”
Herhan’s easy-going smile silenced the ministers who had been attacking him with the keyword ’empress.’
Their next word was a slightly more moderate persuasion.
“Can’t we just keep her in the West Palace? Is there really a need for it to be a lake palace? Or even in an empty room in another palace….”
“Riella Blinite needs work space. The West Palace is narrow and it is difficult for her state guests to keep coming and going. It’s the same everywhere else.”
“office space….? What kind of office space does she need?”
“I am talking about a space where, as an ambassador to the Kingdom of Liotta, she will handle official affairs related to diplomacy between the two countries.”
“What!?’
X
The ministers’ questions were loud.
Just because they were moderates didn’t mean they could be moderate in their voices questioning the absurdity.
“Are you saying That Riella Blinite has been appointed ambassador to the Kingdom of Liotta? Since when?”
“Yesterday, the kingdom sent a statement. They say they will send an appointment letter along with an official statement soon.”
It was Asion who answered, waving a letter envelope with the kingdom’s seal.
“It is the power of that country to appoint an ambassador. The royal family of the Kingdom of Liotta says they want to do that, so there’s nothing we can do about it, right? I am just in a position where I have to treat the dispatched diplomat well, so I hope everyone understands.”
“No, why did the Kingdom of Liotta suddenly….Doing something like that…?”
“Therefore, we plan to give up part of the Lake Palace to Riella and use it as the official residence of the Liotta Kingdom embassy.”
If there is no gossip about him keeping Riella by his side as a woman, they would have said some harsh words as advice.
The ministers kept their eyes open.
“Then please clear it up. your majesty.”
At that time, The minister, who was barely able to come to his senses, opened his mouth.
“Riella Blinite is a diplomat dispatched by the Kingdom of Liotta and lives and works at the Lake Palace. officially. Is that correct?”
“you won’t acknowledge her as the emperor’s woman, is that right?”
Herhan clearly understood the intention of the question and answered firmly.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t promise that. I have her before the kingdom appointed Riella as their ambassador. Also, there’s no law prohibiting an emperor from dating his diplomat, right?”
That was the end of the meeting.
In the end, as the ministers, who had not received anything they had hoped for, left the conference hall with blank faces, Herhan brushed the back of his hand with one of them and read their inner thoughts.
‘How can you not miss a single thing you want? This is the first time in my life I’ve ever seen someone so greedy.’
Herhan lowered his head and smiled.
It was because he remembered that Asion used to tell him,
“Your Majesty, make a choice for yourself at least once.”
But now he is seen as a greedy emperor.
Asion approached Herhan, who was sitting alone.
“Have you found anything interesting,”
Asion asked, and Herhan shook his head with the corners of his mouth raised.
“I did find something. Something interesting. Shall I tell you?”
Asion opened the door to the meeting room instead of opening his mouth in front of Herhan, who raised his head to ask if he was going to tell another joke.
“Your Majesty, please personally convey the news of her sudden success.”
It was Riella who shyly entered, ignoring Asion’s whispers.
When Herhan’s eyes widened at the unexpected appearance, Riella said ‘Your Majesty’ in a friendly gesture with her small, plump lips.
* * *
