Are you really into me?
“Please go in now.”
“Yes.”
Riella stood there blankly, watching the carriage carrying Fabian slowly move away.
The red sunset sky seemed to swallow Fabian’s carriage.
“Ambassador, aren’t you going?”
“I am….”
She looked ahead as the carriage moved away, then turned her head and looked back.
Riella, who had been unable to move her feet, soon answered with a determined face.
“I have to go. To where I should be.”
It’s not the same as when she was six years old when she would simply follow anyone who came to her, anyone who reached out to her.
She was following the sound of her own heart.
She turned her feet back toward the palace.
As Riella was just passing through the gate and entering, she felt the presence of someone behind her.
Riella looked back, her eyes widened, and then a bright smile appeared.
“Your Majesty.”
Herhan didn’t even answer Riella’s call.
He just crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, staring blankly at Riella.
“Did you see everything?”
“Yeah.”
“The back of my head tingles for some reason.”
“Did the back of your head hurt? Aren’t you too free-spirited and desperate for something like that?”
‘Free-spirited and desperate?’
Riella burst into laughter, and Herhan frowned even more.
“You were the one who told me to give Fabian a carriage and say goodbye.”
“I just told you to give him a carriage and to say goodbye to him, I didn’t tell you to make the man cry.”
‘Did Fabian cry?’
‘Oh, he recognized the tears hidden within Fabian’s bright smile.’
“It wasn’t me, really. Fabian is a very tearful man.”
“So, you like men who cry a lot?”
Riella found Herhan’s absurd attacks amusing.
“If I say so, are you going to cry?”
“I’ll try if you want.”
‘Hmm. The sight of him shedding tears beautifully. It doesn’t seem so bad, does it? I’ve never seen him cry before.’
“Riella.”
“Yes?”
Instead of explaining why he called for Riella, Herhan jerked his chin in her direction and then pulled it back.
Riella thought it meant to come closer, and she was right.
As soon as Riella approached, Herhan hugged Riella as if he had been waiting for her.
Only after hugging her slender body tightly did he feel relieved and let out a deep sigh.
“Would you laugh if I told you that I was worried that you might follow that man?”
Riella smiled faintly, resting her forehead on Herhan’s chest.
She feels sorry for the serious Herhan though.
“You’re too pretty If you keep smiling. Let’s go back to the palace.”
Herhan looked a little exasperated.
Riella stood and spoke, resisting his pull.
“Your Majesty. Suddenly, I remembered something Your Majesty said before. You said that if I hate you, I shouldn’t show it, but just leave quietly.”
“Me? I said that to you?”
“Yes. When you were having a hard time with Carnell.”
Herhan frowned slightly, then relaxed his eyebrows. Certainly, he remembered saying something like that.
“Will that day ever come? The day when I will leave you because I hate you, Your Majesty?”
“……”
“No. Even if it’s not because I hate you, Will there ever be a day when we each go our separate ways?”
Herhan, let go of the hand that was holding Riella. Then he deliberately took a step back and narrowed his eyes, looking Riella up and down.
“You’re going to leave your old boyfriend and dump your heartache on me?”
“No, that’s not it.”
Riella hesitated for a moment and then stopped.
“Now that I think about it, that seems right.”
This time, Herhan burst into laughter at the shameless answer.
“I’ll take it back.”
“Yes?”
“I’ll take back what I said back then. It’s okay if you hate me, just don’t leave. Show your hate and harass me, but stay by my side for the rest of your life, Riella.”
‘How can someone who is an emperor change his words so easily?’
Riella smiled and said without thinking.
“It’s just like a proposal.”
Herhan, who was about to approach Riella and naturally bow his head to kiss her, stopped dead in his tracks before their lips could touch.
“It can’t…. be a proposal, right?”
“Yes?”
“No. It’s not a proposal, of course not. Proposals aren’t supposed to be like this.”
Herhan, who had just told Riella to always stay by his side, suddenly turned around and started walking into the palace first.
* * *
Two days have passed since then.
The temple contacted Riella to say that Fabian had arrived safely. They said that he had been admitted to the detention center without any problems and that he would be allowed to visit twice a year.
Riella went to the West Palace with the letter, but she did not meet Greta.
They said that since Fabian had left, Greta had locked herself in the palace and hadn’t seen anyone
Riela slipped Fabian’s short letter and the invitation to visit into Greta’s meal tray.
“The princess will be returned to the kingdom soon.”
Early in the morning, Herhan woke up in her bedroom in the lake palace and said that while preparing to return to the main palace.
“There’s no need to make a fuss about his fiancee’s whereabouts. I’m sure she doesn’t want to go anywhere right now.”
“Yes…can she go back this time?”
“Yes. Let’s do it that way. No, let’s do it that way. Ambassador.”
While he spoke in a businesslike tone and made jokes, Herhan’s hands were busy stroking Riella’s hair and twirling it between his fingers, teasing her.
Riella grabbed Herhan’s hand.
It seemed like she was trying to shake off his touch, but she wasn’t.
Instead, Herhan smiled gently at Riella’s actions of naturally interlocking her fingers with his and pulling him onto her lap.
“By the way, is your aide still on vacation?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Hmm. The air at the lake palace is somehow clear.”
Herhan got up fresh and stretched.
In fact, El had been absent without leave since the day he stormed out of the office last time.
When Riella checked with Eric, he said he was staying at home and spending time with his family.
‘I guess I should be thankful that he’s not running around doing anything dangerous.’
“Riella. Can you eat breakfast alone this morning?”
Then Herhan asked in a slightly excited voice.
She doesn’t mind eating alone, but why?
“What’s going on?”
“I have a very important meeting.”
“I thought you didn’t have any plans today?”
“Ah… this is very important…It is an informal meeting.”
Perhaps worried that Riella would ask further questions, Herhan began to hurriedly prepare to leave with uncharacteristically measured movements.
The last of those ‘preparations to go out’ is giving Riella a light kiss.
That was the hardest part. It was supposed to be just a peck on the lips.
“Haah. No. I can’t. If I keep doing this, I won’t be able to go out today either.”
Herhan struggled away from Riella and picked up the jacket he had left on the table.
It was then that something fell down with a thud.
“What is this purple necklace?”
“Huh? A purple necklace?”
Riella raised her head without thinking and opened her eyes wide.
What Herhan picked up from the floor was El’s necklace.
She had been keeping it until she returned it to El.
‘But it’s not purple…’
“Looking closely, it’s not purple. Is it a mixture of red and blue? This is a gem I’ve never seen before. Where did you get it?”
Riella couldn’t answer.
Instead, she pretended not to know, but as soon as Herhan left the room, she quickly ran over and grabbed the necklace.
‘One side really turned blue. Was it always like this?’
Riella’s eyes, which had been curiously examining the gems on the necklace, grew even wider after a while.
Some of the gems that had been blue a moment ago had begun to glow red again.
By the time Herhan had left the room, some thirty minutes later, the gem had returned to its full red ruby glory, just as it had been when Riella first saw it.
‘What is this?’
* * *
“You should think slowly. If you bring out the national marriage card right away, it’ll only lead to more opposition. First, you should start by building up Miss Riella’s reputation in the noble society.”
Asion said. It was Jess who snorted.
“You can build a reputation or create a faction as you wish. But you know that you have to write a contract first, right?”
“Hey. How can we write a contract when he hasn’t even told the person involved?”
“Then, in what years do you want to write a contract and make Miss Riella the empress? Before that, it would be faster to have her sainthood discovered and she was taken away.”
Herhan was no longer laughing at the growling Asion and Jess.
If he had known there would be no progress like that, he would have just gone out to eat breakfast with Riella.
As if his thoughts had been heard outside, the office door suddenly opened with a click and Riella poked her head out.
“Riella?”
“I heard that everyone skipped breakfast because of that ‘very important informal meeting.’”
When Riella came in with a tray, smiling, Jess and Asion hid the documents in front of them in shock.
Fortunately, Riella didn’t seem to notice anything.
“Then I’ll go out. Enjoy your meal.”
“You’re just leaving??”
“Yes. I just came for a moment to give you this.”
With an agenda on his mind, Herhan couldn’t stop her as she turned to leave.
The meeting of the three people, which had been briefly interrupted by Riella’s sudden appearance, resumed a little later.
“Your Majesty, how about taking advantage of the harvest festival in the fall? Then, we can formally introduce Miss Riella to society and build up her connection…”
“Never mind that. Here. Your Majesty, here’s a contract I’ve drafted for you to read and sign immediately…”
—Click.
What is it now!?
“Are you still in the meeting? I brought tea this time.”
Riella’s intrusion again.
Jess immediately took the contract he had handed to Herhan back and, unable to hide it anywhere, he sat down on it under his butt.
Meanwhile, Riella leisurely walked past the two people and towards Herhan.
“You said yesterday that you liked this tea because of its flavor, and I’ve been drinking it again and it reminds me of your Majesty.”
“Ah…Yeah. Thank you. Riella.”
“Did I bother you too much?”
“No, not at all.”
‘I can’t explain that I’m planning to propose to you, but you keep interrupting me.’
Fortunately, this time Riella left lightly without making any more fuss.
The problem was that Riella’s brief visits continued several more times after that.
“I want to take the teacup back. It’s something I cherish.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot to take one of the plates earlier.”
“Do you eat dinner separately? I heard about it from your aide, but I just wanted to double-check.”
Whether or not he was aware of his two people’s hearts dropping every time Riella came, Herhan glanced in the direction of the door through which Riella had just exited again.
“It seems like Riella is really into me. Does she miss me so much that she can’t stand it even for a moment?”
Jess frowned, finding that his lord was being ridiculous.
“Do you really think that’s true?”
“Of course. What else if not that?”
“Or Maybe Your Majesty’s intentions have been revealed. That’s why she continues to do things she has never done before and tries to spy on you.”
“What? Hahah, no way. That can’t be true.”
Herhan’s face, which had been smiling at Jess’s joke, gradually hardened.
“No way…That can’t be true, right?”
* * *
