The Saintess Returned to the Emperor's Arms

Secret Care 

 

“Ah, you guys. Have you been waiting this long?”

 

Herhan cast a pitiful glance at Jess and Asion. It was as if he had completely forgotten the existence of the two people.

 

Meanwhile, Lou was moving around. 

 

Lou, who had quickly gone outside, quickly came back in and handed the emperor a cup full of water and a straw.

 

Herhan put a straw in the cup and put it in Riella’s mouth.

 

“That’s right.”

 

Gulp. Gulp. Herhan nodded, looking at Riella steadily drinking water as instructed.

 

Asion sighed as he realized that the bedroom door was opened not for them, who had been waiting outside for nearly an hour, but for a sip of water to Riella.

 

“Riella has woken up.”

 

“yes. I can see it.”

 

“I’m giving Riella some water because she seems thirsty.”

 

“yes. I can see that too.”

 

Jess did not know that the Emperor’s meaningless words actually meant ‘If you know, get out’.

 

But there was something more important than Riella waking up and the emperor embracing her like a baby.

 

“Your Majesty’s medical check-up results have been released.”

 

Herhan’s hand, which had been stroking the back of Riella’s head after emptying the entire glass of water, suddenly stopped.

 

“What is the result?”

 

There was a very slight tension in Herhan’s voice when he asked about the results.

 

Jess shook her head, saying, “No matter how preoccupied my lord is with love, he seems to want to hear about his life and death.”

 

“Are you going to tell me here?”

 

“of course.”

 

Jess withdrew his gaze from Riella and conveyed the ‘result’ to Herhan.

 

“As long as you don’t get assassinated somewhere, I think you will live until your hair turns gray.”

 

Herhan opened his mouth slightly and then closed it again.

 

“Fatigue levels have decreased significantly, and all internal injuries accumulated in the body have recovered. There are no scars left at all, so it is almost completely cured at the moment.”

 

It was an inexplicable and unbelievable result, but for some reason, Herhan was not very surprised.

 

Although he clearly knew that there could be no such thing as a ‘cure’ for his curse, an inexplicable confidence had been growing in a corner of Herhan’s mind for the past few days.

 

It was like a truly fundamental confidence that he could never die like that.

 

“Your Majesty. Is he Healthy?”

 

Liella, who had been making bubbling noises with an empty straw in her mouth, raised her hazy eyes and opened her mouth.

 

It was right then.

 

Jess frowned, doubting what she heard.

 

“That woman, is she speaking informally to me just now?”

 

“Understand, Jess. It’s because Riella hasn’t come to her senses yet.”

 

“Oh, my God…”

 

Jess sighed in exasperation, then pretended not to be able to win and approached Liella. Still, since he came this far, he would take care of Riella’s condition.

 

“You’re definitely not as tired as you were yesterday. You’ve recovered a lot.”

 

“Yeah. I’m healthy too.”

 

“You weren’t talking to me, right?”

 

“I was talking to Jess.”

 

Jess was dumbfounded and speechless.

 

If it weren’t for Riella’s drowsy focus, he would have thought she was intentionally picking a fight with him.

 

“Riella. You can’t do that.”

 

At that time, Herhan, who was watching the argument between the two, intervened.

 

Jess wondered if the lord would finally take his side a little, but Herhan only said that while gently stroking Riella’s head.

 

“You should only speak informally to me. You can’t show your cute side to anyone.”

 

Jess suddenly became ‘anyone’.

 

* * * 

 

After drinking a bottle of the fatigue recovery medicine Jess brought, Riella fell asleep again.

 

Leaving Riella in the care of Lou, Herhan, Jess, and Asion moved to the living room outside the bedroom.

 

A serious discussion ensued as Jess laid out the test results that he had reexamined countless times because he couldn’t believe what he saw with his own eyes.

 

The topic of discussion was ‘How on earth did this result come about?’ 

 

But there were only those who questioned it, and no one could answer it, so all of them had to shut their mouths in silence.

 

It was at that time that El, neatly dressed in uniform, came to the emperor and requested an audience.

 

“I’m here for business reasons.”

 

Even though El knew that Riella was inside the door behind Herhan, he spoke politely without even looking in that direction.

 

Herhan was satisfied that the warning he had given him last night had worked well.

 

“I would have told you to take care of everything on your own. Riella is still on vacation.”

 

“I know. I have a report for Your Majesty.”

 

“A report for me?”

 

“Yes. A letter has arrived from the princess of the Kingdom of Liotta.”

 

Herhan frowned. Asion and Jess shared a look of boredom.

 

“The princess was originally scheduled to arrive two days later, but she said the schedule is being delayed due to urgent circumstances.”

 

“And the reason?”

 

“Her fiancé, who is accompanying her, is in such poor health that it is difficult for him to move.”

 

Herhan’s expression became even more distorted at those words.

 

If there was a fiancé, it was the man. Riella’s old lover.

 

‘Fabian’, who dared to grab the emperor’s collar and talk nonsense about letting Riella go.

 

‘It looks like he’s being punished for making Riella sick.’ 

 

Even though Herhan thought so, he still felt bad.

 

‘Riella seemed to have gotten over her old lover, but could she really be okay with hearing that he was dying?’

 

“So, the princess has conveyed that she would like the ambassador to come personally to Halton to meet her.”

 

“What?”

 

Halton was a medium-sized city three days’ horseback ride from the imperial palace.

 

But what is it that a princess asks the imperial family to come to meet Halton, and how dare she call Riella herself?

 

“Is her fiancé about to die? Seeing the princess talking nonsense, it looks like she has lost her senses and is going crazy.”

 

Everyone, including El, kept their mouths shut at Herhan’s harsh words, which were several times sharper than usual.

 

Herhan got up from his seat and gritted his teeth and was about to give an order.

 

“Of course, I won’t send Riella. Not only Riella, but no one from our imperial family will go out to meet the princess and her party. If the man dies, tell him to tell me again then. At that time, I will send at least a carriage to transport the body.”

 

“yes.”

 

Herhan and El exchanged a glance, as if they agreed, at least on that matter.

 

“Don’t let Riella know about this.”

 

“Is it possible? Even if we keep quiet, there are quite a lot of rumors these days about the princess and her fiance who are said to be coming from the Kingdom of Liotta.”

 

Asion asked worriedly, but the more he asked, the more determined Herhan’s eyes became.

 

“We’ll make it happen. Just don’t let Riella come out of the room at all. I will stay with Riella for a while. There will be no problem, right?”

 

That question was actually a subtle threat, saying, ‘There shouldn’t be any problems.’ 

 

Because of that, Jess and Asion had to flinch at the same time and exchange glances with each other.

 

Unfortunately or fortunately, it was now impossible to separate the two using Herhan’s health as an excuse. 

 

Still, they couldn’t say that he had to be careful until they were sure of the cause of his health condition, especially not in front of Riella’s aide.

 

* * * 

 

After Riella’s ‘secret care’ operation began.

 

Instead of using the secret passage, Herhan confidently entered the lake palace bedroom through the front door. What he encountered was Riella curled up with a blanket covering her head.

 

“Riella? Are you still sleeping?”

 

Herhan, who was sitting on the bed, shook Riella’s shoulder, but Riella remained silent.

 

‘Are you fainted again? I really didn’t do anything this time!’ 

 

Herhan, who was confused, suddenly saw Riella’s toes, which had been sticking out of the blanket, tucked inside.

 

‘Ah, you seem to have come to your senses now. She is cute.’ 

 

Herhan was having a hard time calming down the corners of his mouth.

 

Herhan’s guess was correct.

 

Riella, who drank the bottle of the fatigue recovery medicine and fell asleep for a while, finally woke up with her sanity intact. Not only did she have her sanity, she also had her memories intact.

 

From the hot moment before she fainted to muttering words in the emperor’s arms at dawn, to how she wiggled and drew on Herhan’s firm bare chest this morning, to the kiss with the deep scent of chocolate. She remembered everything.

 

‘If I’m going to pass out, my memories should also disappear!’ 

 

Cold sweat ran down the back of Liella’s neck.

 

She hid under the blanket because she did not have the courage to see the emperor, but it was questionable how long such avoidance would be possible.

 

“Riella. I’m sure you didn’t faint again, right? Shall I give you some chocolate to wake you up?”

 

“…..”

 

“Is it because you got caught talking to me informally? If that’s the case, I forgive you. Instead, on the condition that you speak informally to me whenever we are alone together. how is it?”

 

“….”

 

“Or would you like to drink water? Oh, where is the straw you were playing with in your mouth earlier—”

 

“I was wrong. please. It was all my fault. Stop. your majesty!”

 

In the end, Riella stuck her face out of the blanket after less than five minutes due to Herhan’s mischievous provocation.

 

“What did you do wrong?”

 

“faint. chocolate. Speak informally. straw. Everything!”

 

Unable to meet the Emperor’s wide-open eyes, the answer was almost a sob.

 

“You remember everything.”

 

Herhan looked at Riella and burst into laughter.

 

“That’s good, I would have felt terrible if I had to keep the memories to myself.”

 

* * * 

 

The letter has arrived.

 

A reply arrived in two days.

 

‘At the fact that they sent such a fast reply, It seemed that the imperial family was quite angry.’

 

‘Good.’ Greta nodded as she read the reply sent from the imperial family.

 

That was exactly what he wanted. The Emperor was furious, and of course, he wouldn’t send Riella. He was good at making outrageous demands as brazenly as possible.

 

Grinning with satisfaction, Greta entered Fabian’s bed, holding the letter tightly.

 

By the time she sat down, pulling herself close to him, she’d wiped the smile off her face and covered her face with a mask of concern.

 

“Fabian. What should I do with this? Riella’s reply arrived…”

 

Fabian immediately stood up upon hearing the words ‘Riella’s reply’.

 

When Greta saw that, she almost made a grim expression without realizing it, but she calmed her anger with a desperate deep breath.

 

‘I shouldn’t be angry.’

 

‘With as sad a look as possible. It’s as if I don’t know what to do because I’m really heartbroken by the hurt he is going through.’

 

“What do we do? Riella said she wouldn’t come…”

 

“Really…?”

 

“Yeah. I told them that you were on the brink of death. But they tell me to take care of it.”

 

Greta drooped the corners of her eyes as much as possible and spoke with a pitiful face.

 

As Fabian held out his hand as if he couldn’t believe it, Greta proudly handed over the imperial family’s reply.

 

“It would hurt more if you saw it in person.…”

 

‘See it in person and feel pain as much as you want.’

 

Greta was right.

 

As he read the letter line by line, Fabian’s face, which was already pale from illness, became even more pale and tinged with despair.

 

Greta held her breath quietly.

 

There was no way she could feel comfortable watching the man she loved suffer. 

 

But this was something that could not be helped. In other words, scraping off festering flesh with a knife.

 

If she doesn’t do this, Fabian will spend his whole life chasing Riella’s shadow.

 

When Fabian finally dropped the letter helplessly, Greta said to him:

 

“Look. I told you what happened, and now you have to admit it. Riella abandoned you a long time ago.”

 

* * *