Your Majesty is now in my grasp
“your majesty! What do you mean by that? you dismissed my aide?”
The moment El’s dismissal was announced.
Riella, who unconsciously grabbed the emperor’s arm, noticed that his body was stiffer than usual.
She also realized that she was the only one who was surprised by the Emperor’s order.
‘Why is everyone… ‘
Even though Jess and Asion were like that, even El didn’t feel like it was ‘unfair’.
El just lowered his eyes weakly, as if he knew what was coming.
“Get out now.”
“Yes…”
Before he turned to leave, his eyes flickered briefly to Riella. Riella could not hold him or comfort him, and she responded to his gaze with regret.
El’s black eyes were very dark in the shadow cast by her hair. Riella could not read the complex meaning contained therein.
El turned around like that.
“Since when did the Lake Palace bedroom become a marketplace where anyone can come and go?”
Even after El stepped down,
Herhan’s anger did not subside. In fact, El was Riella’s aide and not ‘just anyone’.
“Asion. In front of the main gate and bedroom of the lake palace make sure to attach a guard. And absolutely do not allow anyone without prior permission to enter.”
“yes.”
“Lou!”
“Yes, yes! your majesty.”
“From now on, don’t leave Riella’s side even for a moment. If you have a hard time alone, it’s okay to borrow the help of other maids.”
Lou nodded with a nervous expression.
After that, Herhan’s orders continued. It was all related to Riella’s escort.
Riella looked at Herhan blankly. Herhan spoke faster than usual, raised his voice, and was struggling to calm down his emotions.
The moment Riella saw that desperate, almost pitiful sight, she knew that resolving El’s dismissal was not an immediate priority.
What was important was that Herhan was anxious for an unknown reason.
Riella quietly stretched out her hand and hugged Herhan’s waist tightly.
“Riel…!”
Herhan gasped as a hand suddenly sprang from behind him and wrapped around his waist, and Riela stroked his stiff body with a gentle touch.
“your majesty. calm down. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. I wasn’t caught by anyone. I am safe and well by your Majesty’s side.”
Herhan’s heaving chest subsided with a long breath.
Herhan closed his eyes tightly and only then did he regain his senses.
‘Riella was right. Riella is next to me like this.’
“Who bothered you, Your Majesty? Did someone say something strange? I’m not sure what’s going on, but–”
“huft…”
Herhan turned and hugged Riella into his arms.
As Herhan buried his forehead into her shoulder, the heat that was burning him seemed to slowly subside.
* * *
After being kicked out of Riella’s room, El stood outside the door for a while.
‘I couldn’t hear the sounds inside, but I could still feel the presence inside.’
Riella’s worry and surprise, as well as the emperor’s rampage as if he could not let Riella go away at all.
‘Really, Ambassador?’
EL slowly pulled out the silver cord from the back of his neck.
The magic stone turned red again, emitting heat as if it had been heated by fire.
EL’s eyes widened as he looked inside in confusion.
‘what?’
Looking closely, he saw that the magic stone was not just red. A very deep blue energy surrounded the flame-like red border.
The blue tongue waved as if it was trying to swallow the flames in one bite.
‘Then it can’t be not possible that all the descendants of Enril and Ann are in there now.’
El’s heart sank.
He was shocked and turned around again, but the door was still firmly closed.
In fact, even if the door was open, it was still the same as not knowing what to do afterward.
* * *
After Herhan regained his composure, everyone took a breath and sat down.
Something must have happened for them to run so quickly, but the questions directed at Riella were a little out of place.
“Memories of my parents? I don’t know…. I don’t remember anything at all, not before I met the Mercenaries.”
‘Why is he asking this?’
Riella tilted her head as she gave her answer.
“When did you meet the mercenaries?”
“When I was six years old. They said it was somewhere in the northern part of the kingdom. I was alone in a village that had been hit hard by a plague and everyone had left.”
“And the wandering mercenaries found you?”
“yes. Fabian found me trapped in the rubble of a building and saved me. Uncle Hank was going to abandon me, but Fabian…”
Riella continued to tell old stories without realizing it, but then closed her mouth.
‘Oops. I’m talking about Fabian again for no reason.’
Riella was worried that her words might hurt Herhan’s feelings again. Because he was the one who sensitively accepted El’s visit.
But for some reason, Herhan, who should have opened his eyes like triangles, was quiet.
He crossed his arms with a more serious expression than before and didn’t move at all, as if he was in deep thought.
“Have you ever been seriously ill? You said you never had an experience similar to fainting when you were with His Majesty?”
“yes. As far as I know.”
“Then perhaps…”
Jess’s questions continued, so Riella had no choice but to look away from the emperor.
While looking at Jess and Asion, who were both frozen like the emperor, Riella suddenly asked cautiously.
“Do I have some kind of serious illness? Something like a genetic disease?”
Jess, who had been asking questions all along, kept his mouth shut.
“no.”
It was Herhan who answered, firmly holding Riella’s hand.
“It’s not like that, so don’t worry. There’s nothing you need to worry about. I’ll protect you. You just need to stay by my side.”
Herhan’s eyes were determined. So Riella was even more confused.
‘If there’s nothing to worry about, what are you so determined to protect me from?’
* * *
After returning to the Emperor’s office without gaining much from Riella.
Jess was the first to speak up, as everyone was at a loss for words.
“The circumstances are plausible, but I’m still not convinced. It would be nice to be able to ‘identify’ her with certainty, because it doesn’t make much sense that there’s a living saint.”
“Identification of saints is the temple’s job, right?”
The moment he heard the word ‘temple’, Herhan’s eyes, which had been blank and unfocused the whole time, woke up with a flash of energy like a blade.
“You must never let the temple find out.”
Without any further explanation, Asion and Jess nodded.
After the fall of the ‘World Federation’, which once monopolized the descendants of Enril and Ann, it was a temple that took care of all the remaining affairs.
After the war, all saints became extinct, but those with abilities still remained here and there. The temple, which must take care of those troublesome people and remain neutral, always can’t find the missing saint.
‘If only they knew that the saint they thought had disappeared has returned. They will try to steal Riella away.’
As the thought reached that point, Herhan’s back muscles tightened.
“Your majesty. Still. Anyway, if it’s real, isn’t it really a good thing? It’s not just a good thing, it’s a… what shall I say, it’s a… a miracle.”
Asion’s voice was trembling with slight excitement.
“If it is true, Your Majesty will be the only surviving descendant of Enril to be purified by the saint! From now on, you don’t have to worry about seizures for the rest of your life. This way you can be taken back to the Imperial Palace!”
“Hey, we don’t know what’s going to happen yet. Don’t get excited.”
Jess looked irritated at Asion and hid the fact that his heart was trembling inside.
“your majesty. How about looking for information from the black market drug dealers?”
“your majesty. Are you listening? your majesty?”
However, neither Jess’s clever idea nor Asion’s fuss could penetrate Herhan’s busy mind.
‘Riella could be in danger in the future.’
That was the only thought that filled Herhan’s mind.
The thought that Riella, so precious and hidden in his arms, would be coveted by the whole world, and the whole world would want her.
‘I was going crazy.’
Afraid of what would happen if he lost Riella, Herhan had no time to think about what the ‘returned saint’ meant to him.
* * *
“Lou, do I look sick?”
“What? Not at all. Your eyes are bright and your cheeks are rosy and pretty. You are beautiful!”
“Then why did his Majesty do that…?”
Only after listening to Riella’s non-self-talk did Lu realize that Riella was still thinking about what happened earlier.
Lou sat next to Riella and thought together, and then she clapped her hands together.
“I think it’s jealousy!”
“Jealousy?”
“yes! It is also the case that His Majesty dismissed aide El! I think the reason he asked about the past was because he was concerned and curious about Miss Riella’s story about her ex-boyfriend?”
Riella listened to Lu’s words and then burst into laughter.
“No way. His Majesty is not the kind of person who would act like that with such feelings—”
‘Can I say that?’
As she reflected on past events, it was definitely true.
It is true that every time the story of Fabian came up, the emperor’s reaction was not very pleasant.
‘When Sir El took care of me, he looked angry.’
At that point, Riella’s heart began to pound in a different way.
She had to clear up misunderstandings about El, and she didn’t want her true feelings to continue to be misunderstood.
“Why don’t you give the Emperor a little more reassurance?”
It was Lou who suggested a solution.
“You know, one of those events where lovers tell each other how they feel.”
“What do you mean a lover?!”
Riella blushed again at the embarrassing word ‘lover’, but began to seriously think about the ‘event’.
“bouquet? Or a letter?”
“No way! It’s so cliche! Oh, wait. Riella! One thing just popped into my head. It comes from a romance novel I read a while ago.”
Lou seemed to have come up with a clever trick, so she rushed outside and returned a few minutes later, breathing heavily.
She was holding an item that made Riella wonder, ‘where on earth did you get something like that?’
“Lou.”
Riella held on to what Lou had handed her gently, and called out to her in a daze.
“Lou, aren’t you sixteen?”
“That’s right!”
“But what kind of novel are you reading?”
“Hehehe.”
*
When it was getting dark all around, Herhan, who returned to the lake palace bedroom, was very tired.
All day, Jess and Asion had been trying to come up with ways to identify Riella, but none of them had worked.
Herhan was simply tired, worried, and desperate for Riella.
“Riella?”
But the room was just dark.
Herhan’s heart immediately sank and he began to feel anxious again.
“Riella! where are you…!”
At that time, someone suddenly approached him from the side.
His woman, whom he can recognize just by her dusky shape and her sweet body odor. His treasure.
Herhan immediately hugged Riella as if he was looking for an oasis in the desert and buried his face in the crook of her neck.
“You scared me because I thought you were gone. Riella. Never do pranks like this again—”
(Clap)
At that moment, The sound of iron cut off Herhan’s words.
Feeling the cold feeling around his wrist, Herhan let go of Riella and raised his head.
“Riella. What are you doing?”
Only then did Riella, who appeared in the moonlight, look unusual in her outfit. A thin dress that reveals all the curves of her body.
Riella then raised her left wrist.
The other side of the same silver handcuffs that were on one of Herhan’s wrists was wrapped around Riella’s wrist.
“What is this…?”
As soon as Herhan responded with a dazed expression, Liella took a deep breath and let out a desperate breath.
“Your Majesty, your Majesty is now in my grasp!”
* * *
