Herhan’s Secret Passageway
—Click
Riella pushed a little harder and the inside wall of the closet opened like a door.
What was revealed then was a long passage with no end in sight.
‘A passageway? What is this?’
Riella’s mouth dropped open in
thought.
“Your Majesty. But how on earth do you suddenly appear in my bedroom? Not once or twice?”
“It’s my ability.”
“Ability? The power of Enril’s descendants?”
“Yes.”
“Then, Your Majesty, you can read the minds of others and teleport, so you have two abilities?”
“Yes.”
No. That can’t be. Riella looked through all the research papers and found no mention of Enril’s descendants having two abilities.
Riella didn’t believe it, but Herhan kept his cool until the end.
‘So that secret was this. You wanted to use it for yourself?’
Riella laughed in disbelief and stepped into the passageway.
The passageway was quite long, but it wasn’t scary because the inside was lit by oil-filled lamps that Herhan always took care of.
There were only a few bends in the middle, but the path was straight and without any forks, so there was no need to get lost.
‘The more I think about it, the funnier it gets.’
The passage was narrow and low. Since the crown of his head would slightly touch the floor when he stood upright, the emperor must have had to bend down deeply to pass through this path.
When Riella thinks about him sneaking in and out of her room in such an awkward position, she can’t help but laugh.
‘Oh. Is this the exit?’
Riella laughed because Herhan was so absurd, and then she laughed again because Herhan was so funny and cute. Before she knew it, she had arrived at the exit.
As Riella had expected, the exit was connected to the Emperor’s bedroom closet, like a lake palace.
Riella pushed aside a few blouses that were full of a pleasant scent and stepped cautiously outside.
The bedroom was dark.
‘There’s no one in the bedroom. Where is His Majesty?’
The noise came from outside the bedroom, in the living room.
Riella approached the doorway, stealthily walking like a thieving cat.
She didn’t plan on jumping out and startling people. She just opened the door slightly to check on Herhan outside.
“uh…?”
At that moment, what caught Riella’s eye was Herhan sitting on the sofa in the living room. In front of Herhan was Loriel, with her upper body bent down and her face close to Herhan.
“Your Majesty…”
“Rii, Riella?!”
Riella’s heart sank. The corners of her lips, which had been smiling happily the whole time, froze and drooped.
She had absolutely no intention of saying a word. Riella didn’t even know that she had called the Emperor.
“I heard you were having an all-night meeting.…what are you doing there with Loriel?”
Is it because of her mood? At that moment, why did Loriel look at Him intently and seem to touch Herhan’s arm on purpose?
“Ah…”
Riella took a step back.
The embarrassed emperor floundered around, not knowing what to do, and then, regardless of whether people were chasing her or not, Riella quickly went back into the closet and ran back down the passage she had been passing through.
As she ran to the point of being out of breath, Riella felt like her heart was going to burst. No matter how much she thought about it, it was a situation that didn’t make sense, and even if she did understand, it was a situation that was difficult to accept.
It was in the middle of a narrow passage that Riella, who had been running so frantically, suddenly stopped without warning.
‘I don’t want to just run away like this. Why should I run away?’
She decided to stop crying and backed away.
Riella turned around quickly.
And with a much more combative stride than when she had fled, she walked back towards the Emperor’s bedroom.
After taking a few steps, Riella bumped into Herhan, who had been chasing her.
“Riella! Listen to me.…”
“Explain, Your Majesty.”
“……”
“Please explain. Otherwise, I’ll misunderstand. But I don’t want to fight with Your Majesty over another misunderstanding—!”
Riella couldn’t finish her sentence because Herhan pulled her into a tight hug, trapping her in his arms.
“You’re the fastest in the world when it comes to running away. I thought I was going to lose you again.”
* * *
“Oh, yeah…she was just explaining to me about her family’s product.…”
“Yes. I was explaining the product to His Majesty.”
Riella nodded awkwardly.
She knew that Herhan, sitting right next to her, jaw set proudly, was staring at her intently, so Riella never even glanced in that direction. He was probably just waiting for a chance to tease her.
“I didn’t know you would come to His Majesty’s room at this late hour and give a product explanation.…”
‘How could I have thought of that?’
It would have been better if she had opened the door wide, but he was the one who ran away after seeing only Herhan and Loriell through the crack in the door.
In the back space that was hidden by the door, there was at least ten staff. They were people who had come on a business trip from the upper-level company run by Loriel’s family, and Loriel, who was in front of Herhan, was just trying to show Herhan a catalog.
“No. We didn’t know the Ambassador was sleeping in the bedroom. If we had known, we would have lowered our voices. I apologize.”
The staff representative’s apology somehow included a smirking glance at Riella.
Did you suddenly wake up in His Majesty’s bed while he was working and start whining?
Riella lowered her head, unable to help her flushed face.
At that point, it was Herhan who brought the situation to a close. He called his servants and had them remove the catalog from the living room table, and he also sent the staff out.
“Loriell.”
Riella said this while seeing off her maid Loriell.
“From now on, when dealing with His Majesty, try to keep a reasonable distance.”
Then, the corners of Loriel’s mouth twisted into a strange sneer.
“Yes, I will do so. I didn’t know that Miss Riella was in His Majesty’s bedroom. But did you really not hear what we were talking about with His Majesty? Or did you know everything and pretend not to know?”
“Yes?”
Riella asked back, dumbfounded.
Not only were Loriell’s words strange, but her cold expression and tone of voice were also unfamiliar to the point of being disconcerting.
“Oh, I mean…”
Loriell closed her eyes gently and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, her face was gently smiling as usual.
“It’s nice to see Miss Riella and His Majesty getting along so well.”
“Ah…yes.”
“Go in and rest. His Majesty will be waiting. Hehe.”
Even though Loriell clearly smiled and turned around, Riella felt a sharp cold coming from Loriell’s back as she walked away.
“Riella. It’s just the two of us now.”
At that moment, Herhan came and hugged Riella, who was standing there blankly, from behind.
Riella was relieved by the warmth of his embrace, but at the same time, she shook him off, feeling annoyed.
“I don’t know, Your Majesty. I hate you.”
“What? Why? Didn’t I explain it enough? As I said, I wasn’t alone with the maid—”
“I know. I know, but I still strangely hate Your Majesty.”
Does she hate Herhan? Or does she hate herself for hating Herhan so pettily?
“Don’t hate me. If I did something wrong, tell me. Riella.”
“No. It’s not that Your Majesty did anything wrong…”
Riella immediately narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips at Herhan.
“That’s right. You did something wrong. Why did you just let Loriell touch your arm?”
“Loriell touched my arm?”
“Yes. Earlier. I saw it clearly.”
“I was just surprised that you came out of the room. Maybe Loriell was surprised too and made a mistake?”
Riella frowned and tightened her grip.
‘Are you taking Loriell’s side now?’
“But you should have rejected her! Loriell is not even your maid, so letting her act like that is not good for your Majesty’s dignity, and…!”
Riella protested passionately, then suddenly realized something.
‘Oh, I fell for this guy’s trick again.’
Sure enough, Herhan was looking at her with his head slightly tilted, the corners of his eyes narrowed.
“Because of Your Majesty, I am becoming a mean person.”
In the end, when Riella finally gave up and muttered weakly, Herhan burst into laughter and pulled Riella closer.
“I like the ‘Clumsy Riella Blinite’ too. She’s much cuter and prettier than the ‘Understanding Riella Blinite’.”
Herhan hugged Riella close and buried his nose in her white neck.
Soon, moist, hot lips began to stroke the area from Riella’s ear to the flesh around her chest as if stamping a seal.
Like a confession made in a languid voice, Herhan’s kiss was full of playfulness.
The hands caressing her back, the kisses caressing her skin, they were all lighter and ticklish than usual, so Riella tightly closed her eyes.
But even then, she couldn’t help but think of Loriell’s expression.
The gaze that seemed to be provoking her by touching the Emperor’s body as if it were nothing could not leave Riella’s mind.
“Now I understand Your Majesty’s heart. Why do you care so much about Fabian.”
At those words, Herhan, who had been frantically showering her with kisses, stopped moving in that position.
Riella caressed Herhan’s left arm, the very same spot that Loriell had touched earlier.
“Your Majesty…”
“…..”
“I just want to know….”
“……”
Herhan raised his head.
He had been teasing Riella with a mischievous attitude the whole time, but soon he was overcome by his own lust, losing his composure, and his face was flushed.
“Am I being too greedy?”
The part where Riella had placed her hand, Herhan’s forearm, became even more tense with the strength Riella had accumulated.
Herhan suddenly picked Riella up in his arms. His steps towards the bed were more urgent than ever.
‘How dare you say you are so greedy. You don’t even know what it means to be greedy…’
Herhan thought he should show Riella an example.
* * *
As soon as she returned to her home, her family members swarmed around Loriel like flies. The most curious one was her father, Count Igdnis.
“How was it? Did the deal go well? Huh?”
“Oh, father. That’s…”
Loriell stood there, trembling, her fists clenched.
‘You mean to tell me to meet you secretly at night…, without Riella knowing?’
Loriell was overjoyed at the Emperor’s proposal.
‘Well then, a man as powerful as an emperor would not love just one woman. Is he only just now recognizing me?’
Thinking that, Loriell returned to her home and even purposely bought some perfume that was said to stimulate a man’s lust and put it on.
But it turned out that the emperor had summoned not only her but the entire staff of the family.
Moreover, the emperor, who wanted to purchase jewels for personal use, was very picky.
“This is the most expensive gem we handle at our top—”
“Reticulate sapphire? Isn’t that too common?”
“Then how about this amber ring? I think it will suit you very well, Your Majesty.”
“It is not for me to wear.”
Loriell deliberately opened her eyes more purely, provoking the reticent emperor.
“Your Majesty, if you tell me what you plan to use it for, I can recommend a more suitable item.”
“It is for a gift. It’s a very important…gift, so I’m thinking a diamond would be best. What do you think?”
What the Emperor kept glancing at was a catalog of proposal ring designs.
‘You’re proposing to Riella now? How can you possibly make such a woman your empress, Your Majesty?’
It was the moment when Loriell’s dream of somehow winning the Emperor’s heart went up in smoke.
Even the item at the top did not catch the emperor’s eye, so the deal did not go through.
“What? How pathetic! You don’t know how to do anything right. I trusted you enough to let you into the imperial palace, but you didn’t even catch the emperor’s eye! If you can’t sell a single item, then you should just quit that mere maid job!”
Count Igdnis, who had heard the whole story, looked at Loriell with pity.
That wasn’t all.
“You’ve received a marriage proposal, so just get married quietly.”
Loriell gritted her teeth as she opened the marriage proposal the Count had tossed at her like a tax bill.
“Father, are you telling me to marry the Bant family? To marry such an old and ugly man?”
‘The great emperor himself proposed to Riella by offering her precious diamonds, but I’m being sold to a toothless monkey and told to marry him?’
Loriell ran out of the room.
* * *
