If Riella is a saint
El put down his pen for a moment instead of looking at the document.
The inside of his chest felt hot today.
After confirming that the office door was properly closed, El unbuttoned his blouse a little, and the magic stone at the end of the necklace, which was exposed about a span below his collarbone, was shining blue.
‘The blue light of the magic stone means that there is a person with power nearby.…’
El, who was repeating exactly what the duke once said, touched the magic stone bitterly.
It was last fall that his magic stone began to turn blue.
Coincidentally, it coincided with the time when a new emperor came to power and overturned the imperial family.
The duke was therefore confident that Enril’s descendants must be hidden within the new government.
It was then that he urged El to go into the imperial palace and find that talented person.
‘But what are we going to do with Enril’s descendants?’
EL was skeptical of the Federation’s plans, which were only focused on regaining its former glory.
‘The Federation cannot be revived just because we find a few talented people. What is more important than the talented ones are Ann’s descendants. Because without them, we can’t control the talented people anyway.’
Certainly, if they can obtain Ann’s descendants, then the Federation may be able to rise again.
But is it really desirable for the Federation to take power in the world again? After the tragedy it has already caused once before?
‘It’s just an empty dream anyway. How can we find Ann’s descendants?’
El shook his head.
It was at that moment that the office door slid open and Riella peeked her head out through the crack.
“Sir El! After all, you’ve already gone to work!”
“Ambassador?”
Riella, who found El, smiled brightly and ran inside.
EL was momentarily mesmerized by the sight of her approaching brightly with her red hair flowing.
“you’re on vacation, why—”
“That’s right. I’m on vacation, but it feels like I’m in prison. There is something that Lou is guarding so that I can never leave the room. I’ve been sneaking in and out while Lou is asleep. I have to go back before Lou wakes up.”
“Ah yes…”
El was so dazed that he couldn’t say anything.
He knew what the Emperor had warned him. Riella is the Emperor’s woman, and he must not even think of touching her.
El had no intention of becoming an obedient servant to the emperor, but he also had no intention of becoming a traitor.
“How is work going? It’s almost time for the princess to arrive, right? Has the accommodation for the kingdom’s entourage been properly maintained?”
“Did you come because you were curious about that?”
“I’m curious about that too. Actually, I feel sorry for leaving all the work to Sir El.”
But why is his heart pounding so hard? Why can’t he take his eyes off Riella, who is looking at him?
El was confused, then his tightly clenched fists trembled and his eyes closed tightly.
“Please go back. I’m taking care of it, so don’t pay attention to it.”
“hmm…alright, I’ll go, I just need to make sure sir El is okay.”
Riella walked away from the doorway again and added another word.
“The ruby necklace, it’s pretty, it looks good on you, Sir El.”
“Ruby?”
“Oh, isn’t it Ruby? Actually, I only know of ruby as a red gemstone.”
Riella was laughing and said, “I’m really going now!” and turned around.
A place where a sweet scent swept over for a moment.
El, left alone again, lifted the magic stone around his neck with a blank expression.
The magic stone, which had always been dark blue, was suddenly colored a burning red like Riella’s eyes.
* * *
“If Riella is a saint.”
After Herhan’s words, only cold silence subsided.
Asion, who was tilting his head left and right, and Jess, who was frantically digging into the book, both stopped moving as if time had stopped.
There was no rolling of the eyes, only a slight chuckle from Asion as Herhan’s gaze deepened.
“haha…”
Jess remained frozen, one hand on the bookshelf as Asion’s laughter, which was almost like a moan, grew louder and turned into a burst of laughter.
“your majesty! How is Riella a descendant of Ann?”
Asion asked vigorously amidst loud laughter.
“This is why people don’t realize that stealing, which they learned late in life, is a scam. No matter how pretty and amazing Miss Riella is…!”
Asion waved his hand in the air. He thought it would be more accurate to say that the ‘plain water medicine’ created by Carnell turned out to be the best medicine of the century.
It was then that Jess, who had been writing for a while, returned to his seat with his fingertips trembling.
Jess swept away all the miscellaneous items on the large desk with one hand and began laying out Herhan’s medical checkup records by period.
“Your Majesty first met Miss Riella last fall. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
On the far left side of the desk. There were records from before and after last fall.
“And you met her again this spring in the Kingdom of Liota.”
“That’s right.”
In the middle, the medical records written by Carnell in the kingdom were placed in order.
“You have been together ever since. This was the day Riella spent the night with your Majesty, secluded in his bedroom. Also, this was the day Your majesty moved her residence to the Lake Palace. And you slept with her the day before yesterday.”
Everything was recorded in detail.
Anyway, it’s a huge obsession.
Herhan was about to stick his tongue out, but stopped.
“Whenever your Majesty suffered from abnormal symptoms and his physical condition improved significantly, Miss Riella was by your side and every time she fainted.”
In the silence that had returned, Herhan and Jess stared at each other with complicated eyes.
Asion jumped up from his seat as if he couldn’t bear the tension they were giving off.
“Oh, come on, guys. Why are you doing this? Why are your eyes like that? Is this something to be taken that seriously? How big of a hypothesis should it be? This doesn’t make sense. Descendants of Ann, the saints, are supposed to be…” Asion’s voice trembled.
“They were all hunted down and destroyed during the war a hundred years ago.”
Asion’s face, which was no longer smiling, was pale.
* * *
After Riella left, El stood still and just stared at the red magic stone.
At first he was dazed, and then he even began to doubt what he was seeing with his own eyes.
‘Can magic stones turn red?’
El heard something like that from the duke. However, even the Duke had an expression full of doubt when explaining the case where the magic stone turns red. It was a phenomenon that even he, who had spent his life following the descendants of Ann, had never seen in person.
‘But why?’
El’s eyes were bloodshot.
A few dozen minutes after Riella left. After seeing the red energy subside like an ember fading away, the magic stone regained its dark blue glow.
‘No way, Ambassador.’
He couldn’t sit still any longer, so he got up and ran out of the office.
* * *
Riella sat on the sofa in the living room and drank the tea Lou had served. The scent of lavender, which she always loved, filled her nose, but it didn’t calm her troubled mind.
She secretly visited El and saw that he was doing well, and also confirmed that the embassy work was proceeding without any problems.
Still, a part of her heart was still disturbed, probably because of the story she heard from Herhan yesterday.
‘Enril. Cursed bloodline. There were more people like his Majesty in the world. The illness His Majesty was suffering from was also due to that.…So what should we do next? I heard his physical condition has improved a lot now. That’s a curse that can never be completely cured, so we never know when or how his
Majesty might become dangerous?’
When she woke up in the morning, Herhan had already left the bedroom.
In the room, Riella looked intently at ‘A Study of the Myth of Enril and Ann’, but it was difficult to figure out what would happen to Herhan in the future.
‘Miss Riella. You don’t look good. You shouldn’t be out of the bedroom like this.”
“Wouldn’t it be okay if I were just in here?”
“If his Majesty sees it, he might scold me.”
“Will his Majesty come? Seeing as he left early in the morning without saying a word, I guess he is very busy.”
Just then, as if to answer Riella’s question, Herhan entered inside.
Herhan raised his eyebrows when he found Riella sitting on the sofa outside the bedroom.
Riella, who had never expected that his emperor would return so early, jumped to her feet.
“Your Majesty, that is…what? Sir Jess and even Captain Asion?”
Asion and Jess came in following Herhan.
Although it was not surprising since they were two people who always followed the emperor, Riella sensed an atmosphere that was different from usual.
It’s because Asion and Jess are both looking at her with serious eyes.
Riella quickly realized that the two people’s business was with her, not the emperor.
“Miss Riella. There’s something we’d like to ask—”
As soon as Asion opened his mouth, the door to the living room behind them opened again.
It was El who opened the door this time.
“Ambassador! I have something I would like to ask you.”
El, who was taking a hasty step forward, stopped abruptly when he saw Riella standing in the middle of the living room and the three men surrounding her.
Of course, El’s gaze met the emperor, who had the coldest expression among them.
“Are you all here because of me? Why all at once…Did I do something wrong?”
A place where everyone unexpectedly gathered.
In a place where tension was high, as if a war was about to break out, Riella was the only one who opened her eyes wide, not knowing what was going on.
“El Weiss. Do you have a question for the ambassador?”
Riella was unfamiliar with Herhan’s gesture blocking her path.
She knew Herhan wasn’t comfortable with El, but the wariness in his voice now was more than that.
“No. I’ll come back later.”
“If you’re going to come back, tell me now. If it’s a business question, there’s nothing you can’t do before the emperor, right?”
El lowered his eyes as if avoiding the emperor’s gaze. Even though she knew that turning away would make the emperor more displeased.
“I apologize. I’ll just leave now.”
Riella was more surprised than anyone else at the answer.
‘Is sir El disobeying the Emperor’s command? why?’
“Are you saying this is something I shouldn’t hear?”
“…..”
“Okay. I get it. Go away.”
Herhan’s permission seemed calm compared to his cold voice that made them shiver just by hearing it.
But that wasn’t permission.
“And pack your bags and leave. As of this time, I will revoke your position as Ambassador Liotta’s aide.”
* * *
