The Saintess Returned to the Emperor's Arms

EL Weiss 

 

The Lake Palace, which was only dusting with old dust a few weeks ago, was welcoming a very lively new summer.

 

The owner of the Lake Palace, which was once a palace for past empresses and is now the embassy of the Kingdom of Liotta, was Riella Blinite.

 

She wondered how she dared to have so much. A large castle. An undeserved title. The people who supported her, and that beautiful lake.

 

Riella, who at first found it all difficult and angry, now thought differently.

 

‘It’s all something that His Majesty gave me with his heart.’ 

 

She just changed one thought, and with that alone, many things automatically changed.

 

Things that were once burdensome became things she was grateful for and precious, and things that were difficult and scary became things she wanted to do with courage.

 

“Miss Riella. It’s a hot day, so why don’t you tie your hair up today?”

 

“Great. Could you tie it low? If it’s too high, my neck hurts when I read a book.”

 

“Yes. You have a lot of work today, right?”

 

Now, she was quite used to being touched by the maids, and she has become quite comfortable sharing small details of her daily life with them and laughing and chatting with them.

 

“yes. I’m a little overwhelmed trying to get all my work done at once. Everyone is like this, right?”

 

“sure. Look at Lou. She said she would tie Miss Riella’s hair, so she practiced tying her hair all night long, but in the end, she fell asleep and couldn’t even wake up.”

 

Riella laughed and covered her mouth. 

 

She wondered if her loud laughter would wake Lou, who was soundly sleeping in the room right next to hers.

 

“By the way, today’s headdress is…”

 

“Yes. the pin for your hair decoration? You don’t have to tell me. you wore this yesterday and you wore it the day before.”

 

Riella looked at the pin the maid had carefully picked up and smiled shyly.

 

When the maid asked if she liked it so much, Riella remembered her promise to the Emperor. 

 

She had only bought one, so she would treasure it.

 

Riella vowed that she would definitely keep that promise.

 

‘Still, just in case, should I ask him to buy me one more?’ 

 

Now she was being a little greedy.

 

* * *

 

“Am I late?!”

 

“No, you’re half an hour early.”

 

“Ah, that’s a relief. I ran because I was afraid I might be late! The lake palace is bigger than I thought.”

 

Riella took a deep breath and entered the office.

 

A bright interior with sunlight reflecting off the sparkling lake beyond the large windows.

 

The ivory-colored desk placed in the sunniest position was the seat of Riella, the owner of this official residence and ambassador to the Kingdom of Liotta.

 

A man neatly dressed in a white shirt and dark blue vest sat across from the desk and stood up to face Riella.

 

“You’re ‘a half an hour’ early. Getting there too early can be another diplomatic discourtesy that puts pressure on the other person. From now on, be sure to set the time exactly as possible for everything. You’d better not exceed 10 minutes if you move early.”

 

“……”

 

“And, don’t run carelessly. This is the embassy. The ambassador must always maintain a good attitude.”

 

The man’s tone was harsh.

 

The eyes, slightly hidden under the long black hair, were cold, and the lips, which contrasted with the pale white skin, were blood red, as if they were aiming for somewhere to bite Riella.

 

A man who is gloomy and fierce, but beautiful enough to ignore it.

 

That was what the people of the Lake Palace were saying about Riella’s new aide, ‘El Weiss’.

 

But to Liella, El is just that.

 

“yes! All right. From now on, I will be on time and be careful with my actions. Is there anything else I need to be careful about?”

 

She was just grateful for someone who was helping her.

 

“No. I’ve organized your to-do list for today, so sit down and check it out.”

 

“Did you see all of this in advance?”

 

“There’s more over there. After you’ve finished signing the paperwork, I’ll take you through the formalities and etiquette of an imperial banquet. When the Princess of Liotta comes, as is customary, we will have to host at least one welcome banquet.”

 

“yes. I see. I must be busy today too.”

 

For the past three days, Riella’s daily life has been the same as it is now.

 

As soon as she got to work early in the morning, she took care of a few tasks and then spent the whole day learning politics, diplomacy, and social etiquette from EL.

 

were worried that El was treating Riella too harshly, but Riella thought differently.

 

Riella knew that El was struggling many times more than others for her, who knew nothing.

 

“Are these people the maids of the Lake Palace, or are they employees of the official residence?”

 

“Half and half. what’s the matter?’

 

“It bothers me that they hang around all day carrying bread or tea that I won’t eat.”

 

“It’s probably because Sir El is cool. They were all competing for the turn to see Sir El.”

 

“These people really have nothing to do. Tell them not to bring snacks while I work from now on.”

 

“Phew. Okay.”

 

‘It felt like I was seeing myself feeling uncomfortable when I first came to the palace, feeling uncomfortable with the people around me.’

 

El frowned as if he was displeased with Riella.

 

“Don’t smile and stay focused.”

 

“Yes,” she replied lazily, and then picked up her pen again. 

 

Now Riella looked like a flower in the sunshine.

 

The hairpin that had been placed in Riella’s hair the day before and yesterday was shining again today.

 

EL stared at the hairpin that was shining brightly.

 

There was a sharpness in his black eyes that she didn’t recognize as he stared at the light that the jewelry reflected. 

 

* * *

 

That afternoon, Riella walked side by side with El outside the Lake Palace. 

 

They were going to the imperial library to get some books for her studies.

 

“Now that I think about it, you haven’t been to any places other than the Lake Palace yet, right?”

 

Because the emperor temporarily withdrew from government affairs, El was not able to hold a proper appointment ceremony and was immediately put to work.

 

“I know the way to the library well. I’ll guide you through it. If you go this way, you can go through the garden in front of the main palace.”

 

“Really? Let’s just take the fast route.”

 

“ah…then shall we?”

 

Although she said so, there was a hint of regret in Riella’s voice.

 

El stared at Riella, as if he couldn’t win, he suggested that they go through the garden instead. As expected, Riella smiled brightly and was delighted.

 

“Do you like looking at the flower garden that much?”

 

“What? Ah… Yes, of course. It’s pretty and nice.”

 

He thought Riella’s reaction was not good compared to how she led the way with a lot of expressions of happiness, but there was a reason.

 

What Riella wanted to see up close was not the flowers in the garden, but somewhere inside the main palace seen from the garden.

 

Holding on to the garden fence, stepping on tiptoe and looking over somewhere.

 

At the end of the line of sight, there was a tightly closed window with black curtains drawn.

 

After seeing that, her eyes quickly fell down and fell to the floor. Small shoulders curled in disappointment.

 

Even though El had no idea about the structure of the imperial palace, he could clearly see Riella’s inner thoughts.

 

‘That must be where the emperor is…’

 

El guessed, but pretended not to know anything and asked Riella.

 

“His Majesty the Emperor seems to be busy these days. Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

 

“yes? Oh no. How would I know? I just heard he was on vacation—!”

 

Riella was so confused by the sudden question that she lost her footing and stumbled. It was El who quickly grabbed Riella and helped her stand up.

 

“Be careful.”

 

“Ah…thank you. Sir El.”

 

Riella was taken aback for a moment by the body that suddenly came in front of her, but quickly stood up and brushed the dust off her skirt.

 

* * * 

 

Herhan was so frustrated that he was going crazy.

 

Even when he was hiding in a cave for over a month as an abandoned prince, he was never this curious and anxious about the outside world.

 

But those four days had felt longer than the past half a year, when he had been running to regain the throne. 

 

The problem was that he had to spend the same four more days in the dark like that.

 

Then, back and forth, Eight days in total.

 

Eight days without seeing Riella. It was a record. Herhan was not happy about setting a new record like that.

 

“Stop worrying. Miss Riella is adapting very well to life in the lake palace. She also gets along well with her maids there. Even her work as an ambassador exceeds expectations. She seems to get along well with her new aide. The Foreign Minister says we can leave all the work of welcoming Princess Liotta to them.”

 

Asion’s report was vague, whether he didn’t know Herhan’s true intentions, or whether he was making fun of him by pretending not to know.

 

Herhan’s pride was so hurt that he couldn’t ask what exactly was meant by the words ‘Riella seems to get along well with her new aide.’ in that report.

 

While Asion was away for a moment. Herhan got up from bed and went to the window to relieve some of his frustration.

 

Since the hot sun was already low, it would be okay to look outside a little. 

 

With that in mind, Herhan slightly lifted the blackout curtain and found a familiar figure through a narrow gap.

 

‘Riella!’ It was Riella who was walking in the garden in front of the main palace. It was quite a distance, but it was clear.

 

Herhan’s complexion, which had been dark for four days, bloomed brightly as he was filled with joy.

 

Just when he felt like opening the window and jumping out at Riella, the man standing next to Riella caught Herhan’s eyes.

 

A tall man with black hair. His walking posture was calm, but he didn’t like that his steps were too close to Riella’s.

 

‘That man must be El Weiss. Why is he walking so close to her when it would be enough to walk behind her? Isn’t that a basic part of being an aide?’

 

Herhan even forgot that he had personally selected him and began to criticize his flaws with harsh eyes.

 

‘Is Riella smiling? Looking at that guy? They said he was a gloomy guy, and now Riella and him just became that close?’

 

And when he leaned down to catch her as she fell, her fists clenched and her face scowled.

 

Herhan glared at El like a wild beast. 

 

But even though Herhan glared at him like that, He couldn’t see his face clearly, which made him feel upset.

 

“Asion! Asion!”

 

Herhan, who watched the two people moving away affectionately until they completely left the garden, immediately turned around and called Asion.

 

“Bring me the portrait of El Weiss right now.”

 

“yes?”

 

“I assume you have one that he submitted to the Office when he officially registered as an ambassador aide?”

 

“ah. yes. There will be. But why suddenly…Ah, I understand.”

 

Asion ran out with a confused expression and came back in with a confused expression.

 

As soon as Herhan saw the portrait of El Weiss that Asion had been working so hard to obtain, Herhan narrowed his eyes as if he’d seen something he shouldn’t see.

 

* * *