It’s sweet
It was the Emperor who opened Riella’s bedroom door, his face as languid as the hem of his unraveled robe.
El tried to press down his bewildered mind and immediately laid down his gaze.
“I see His Majesty.”
“No need for that. I hope your request is brief.”
Herhan’s attitude was aggressive.
No wonder. He didn’t like random men visiting Riella in the middle of the night.
“I’ve been worried because the ambassador is sick.”
El’s answer was plain. Herhan hated every word of that polite tone.
It irritated him that he called Riella ‘Ambassador’.
“The Ambassador’ is fine. You don’t have to worry.”
So, Herhan responded by repeating the name ‘The Ambassador’.
It was a childish attack, like snatching a child’s toy marbles out from him.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“I’m glad.”
“Yeah.”
While the conversation between the two was in vain, awkward tension was tight around them.
Behind Herhan’s shoulder, who deliberately leaned loosely against the wall, he could see a body curled up on the bed. It was Riella.
Herhan stared at El as if he was going to keep doing that.
“Actually, I brought a few things for the ambassador.”
“It’s late, come back later.”
“Yes.”
“Ah, no. I will deliver it for you now.”
A gift from another man to Riella, of course, he wouldn’t appreciate it. Herhan changed his mind and reached out to El, purely because he felt the need to ‘pre-screen’ the gift.
If it was ridiculous, he would take it out of his line of sight.
“It’s a fever reducer and chocolate.”
“And this book?”
“I brought it because the ambassador has been enjoying it lately, and I thought it would be good for her to read for fun while she rested.”
‘Even if you don’t bring it, Riella will never be bored next to me.’
Herhan stifled his irritation and glanced at the book El handed him, his eyes widening at the title.
“Studies in the Mythology of Enril and Ann?
Luckily, El hadn’t noticed Herhan’s agitation.
Herhan dropped the book on purpose. When El quickly stooped down and handed it back to him, Herhan gently grabbed El’s hand, pretending to catch it.
“…..!”
But he couldn’t read El’s mind.
As abnormal symptoms appeared again this morning, Herhan was forced to listen in on a fruit seller in a market outside of the Imperial Palace.
He was tired of listening to everyone’s thoughts all day long and trying to calm down and take a detailed check-up, but now he can’t hear the thoughts of the important person.
“Is there a problem?”
“No. Nothing. You can go back now.”
“Yes.”
It sucked that he couldn’t read El’s mind, but it sucked even more to keep her standing in front of Riella’s door for so long.
“El Weiss. You’re just an employee here. Just because you’re Riella’s aide doesn’t mean you’re obligated to take care of these things.”
A man who was brilliant enough to be the head of the academy would have fully understood the warning contained in that statement.
El replied, casting a distant glance over Herhan’s shoulder.
“I’m not here under any obligation to.”
For a moment, Herhan’s blue eyes lit up with life.
What he’d chuckled to himself as childish jealousy at the way he’d treated El all this time now became a hot flame and began to burn dangerously.
“I will obey your command, Your Majesty. I will be careful in the future.”
Once he was gone, Herhan threw away the book and box of chocolates he’d given him.
“Riella. I thought I wasn’t the only one who knew your sweet taste. Did you share your taste with that guy in the meantime?”
‘If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t hire an aide for you.’
“Open your eyes. I hate it. I can’t hug you.”
* * *
Unlike some ministers and maids residing in the Imperial Palace, Eiel was in a position to commute to the Lake Palace.
After Riella’s illness, he was in a bad mood on the late ride home.
‘The fever was just an excuse.’
The thought of Riella spending time with the Emperor in a bedroom again after he left made him frustrated.
He had heard rumors that a woman named Riella Blinite had gained the Emperor’s favor and been given an ambassadorship.
But the Riella Blinite he met at the Lake Palace was not what he expected.
A beautiful, lovely woman. A woman who wasn’t chasing power, but trying to learn as much as she could.
‘So I was mistaken.’
As the people said, Riella was not such a great and vicious woman. But Riella was a woman loved by the emperor.
El had realized that just yesterday, and today it was confirmed.
‘It’s none of my business, I just do my job and that’s it…’
That’s what he told himself.
When he arrived at the old house and opened the creaky door, his old mother greeted him with a cheerful voice.
“El, do you have a good day?”
“Yes…”
He replied curtly and stepped inside.
His younger sisters were already fast asleep on the living room couch.
“Good. You’ve met a lot of people in high places today, haven’t you? Have you seen the Emperor? Oh, that ambassador or something is a woman who doesn’t have much to look at. I’m sure you will be fine with that, but you’ll have to make connections with someone a little higher up—”
“Mother.”
“Why? you didn’t say anything you couldn’t do, did you? Shouldn’t you be doing your job well enough to live up to the Duke’s expectations?”
That annoying voice again.
She strode into his cramped room, unable to stop herself from shouting in his ear.
His mother, who would normally retreat at this point, followed him into the room and handed him something.
“The Duke sent a letter today, and he must have heard that you’ve gotten a job at the Lake Palace Embassy.”
Sighing in annoyance, El’s head snapped up at the mention of a letter from the Duke and he tensed.
His fingertips trembled as he opened the letter, alone in the room after his mother left.
His mother was right. The letter began with a stern admonition from the Duke, who had already received his news.
[How disappointing, El, that you have chosen, after all your hard work, to be a mere aide to Ambassador Liotta.]
‘Should I laugh or cry?’
El read the letter with a bitter heart.
[But you made your choice for a reason. You’ll be as free as you can be, and perhaps that’s better for the mission.
You know that better than anyone, El. It’s time for you to repay me for all I’ve done for your family].
He became fearful and it tightened its grip on his throat.
He stared at the letter in agony, unable to crumple it up like a shackle.
[You are a hound’s blood, you must act like a hound. Do not forget that you and your family will live only if the Federation is restored. Be sure to find Enril and Ann’s descendants and bring them to me. I do not have much time left].
* * *
The day dawned. Asion entered the laboratory, looking disheveled, and Jess realized it.
“The Emperor went to the Lake Palace again and he slept with Riella. I’m pretty sure I guarded the exit, but when I went in this morning, he wasn’t there. I was surprised, so I looked around and found a secret passage, hahahaha, a secret passage, hahahahaha.”
Asion laughed out loud. It was a strange laugh, one that sounded boisterous but looked soulless.
“Who would have guessed, huh? Oh, no, he should have told me. What kind of a lord would bully a captain of the guard? What’s the point of having a captain of the guard if you’re going to do that? Wouldn’t it be easier for you to just fire me?”
“…….”
“Hey, Jess. Are you listening to me?”
But more than Asion, who was stunned, it was Jess who was even more stunned.
“Why. What is it?”
Asion quickly noticed the atmosphere.
Jess was different from Asion.
Asion was used to being annoyed and frustrated with his master, but when Jess, his master’s doctor, was frozen like that, it meant something was pretty serious.
“Yesterday’s checkup results were weird.”
“It’s bad…?”
As if he had lost all his soul throughout the night, Asion’s heart sank at Jess’s words, which he spoke without energy.
He’d been cursing at Herhan for firing him, but now he waited for Jess’s answer with a pathetic face like never before.
“A complete cured.”
“What?”
“Zero fatigue. All the internal injuries of the last ten years are gone. Not a trace. Life expectancy is….I don’t know. In this condition, he will live longer than me.”
“What, what!”
Asion shook Jess’s shoulder impatiently, then gave him a light slap on the back.
“Maybe you were too tired and misinterpreted the results.”
Jess shook her head, got up like a ghost, and went to the lake palace.
* * *
“Your Majesty.”
Herhan’s ears tickled, like a butterfly fluttering in his ear.
“Ugh. Your Majesty…”
He doesn’t know what it is, but it’s a pleasant hum.
Chuckling softly to himself, Herhan stirred, then jerked upright as he realized the identity of the voice.
“Riella!”
“Ah, ouch.”
When Herhan suddenly rose up, Riella, who had been in his arms, frowned and struggled.
“Riella. Are you awake?”
“Yeah. Ugh. I’m awake. Yeah.”
Riella’s words were slower and duller than usual. Like yesterday, in the sweaty dawn.
There was a conflict between wanting to raise Riella up and hug her right away and continuing to hug her and make fun of her.
“Your Majesty, you are a sleepyhead.”
“What, am I?”
“Yes. I woke up first.”
Nonsense again.
Herhan held back his laughter.
Perhaps Riella had no sense of having passed out for the entire day.
In her mind, she was the diligent one who’d woken up early the night before, and Herhan was the lazy emperor who’d overslept.
Herhan pressed his lips, the corners of his mouth curling upward, to hers.
Riella, who was still sleepy, didn’t realize how flirtatious the gesture was, but she pulled him closer to her, feeling as though it was pleasurable.
“Your Majesty….it’s sweet.”
“Huh?”
“Chocolate flavor. Delicious.”
Herhan suddenly realized while looking at Riella who was sad as his lips parted.
“Ah. Chocolate.”
In fact, Herhan had eaten all of the chocolate that El had given him last night.
Herhan didn’t really like sweets, but he still put it in his mouth. He would never let another man’s chocolate get into Riella’s mouth.
‘If it’s going in like this, it’s not too bad.’
Herhan whispered in Riella’s ear, pleased with the unexpected turn of events.
“Chocolate, do you want more?”
“hmm,” Riella replied.
Herhan loved how Riella spoke informally to him. But this cute little tantrum would soon be over as she regained her senses.
As Herhan leaned down again to share a sweet kiss, Lou knocked on the door.
“Excuse me. Your Majesty, there’s sir Jess and Captain Asion outside.”
Herhan answered with a hot exhale as he continued to kiss Riella’s lips.
“Ah, Tell them to wait a moment. I’m still eating the chocolate.”
* * *
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