The Abandoned Empress

“Thank you. By the way, I would like to remind you of the emperor’s instruction…”

“Oh, I have already prepared it for you. Do you have any other instruction?”

After keeping silent for a moment, I stared at the man in front of me.

‘Can I believe him?’

As he was reticent and serious, the late emperor trusted him, but given the gravity of the matter, I could not trust him completely. So I just shook my head lightly, refraining from saying something hovering at the tip of my tongue.

“No. It must have been very burdensome. Thank you for your help.”

“You’re welcome. Take a look first and if you need more, please feel free to tell me. ”

“Yes, then I will send someone to pick it up in the afternoon.”

I gently bowed to him smiling at me kindly and slowly moved toward the office.

After looking back at the chamberlain who looked better than yesterday, I walked into the office when the young man with blue hair looked at me while talking with his advisor. Perhaps it was because of his slightly pale face that his neatly brushed hair looked unusually blue today.

Was it because of my nightmare last night? It seemed that blood was coming from his mouth. I hurriedly shook my head to get rid of the hallucination in my mind and slowly bowed towards him.

“… I’m honored to see the Sun of the Empire.”

“Come on in. Um, can you wait a minute? ”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Okay, take care of that in that manner, Wrankle. As you have been working a lot for me these days, you can have a day off tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. Then I am leaving now.”

The aide gathered the pile of documents before leaving the office. When I was about to sit down, looking at him for a moment, the emperor suddenly got up, and frowned, grabbing my wrist.

“Why did you come here like this? You are all wet.”

Thanks to his tight grip on my wrist and his warmth in his hand, my anxious feelings that I had felt since I had a nightmare last night melted away. Clearing my dry throat, I slowly bowed my head to express apology.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Because of the rain…”

“What if you got a cold when you are so weak?”

“I’m fine, Your Majesty. Any knight can…”

“As I told you clearly the other day, I can’t believe it when you say you are okay.”

When he touched the hem of my uniform, which was still wet even after the maid wiped it with a dry towel, he clicked his tongue as if he was not satisfied. I said I didn’t need it when he told a maid to prepare bath water for me by pulling the string, but he shook his head silently, rejecting my request. In the end I came out of his office, escorted by the maid.

“Excuse me for a moment, Lady Monique.”

When I came into the bathroom, a couple of maids approached me carefully and bowed politely. I soaked myself in warm water, helped by the maids. I closed my eyes while they were washing my body gently, but the dream that bothered me last night came back to me.

His pale face and blood on his mouth.

When I shivered with the chills momentarily, the maids serving me got stunned and double checked the temperature of the water again. I waved at them slightly, suggesting I was fine, and closed my eyes again, recalling what happened to him in the dream.

“… Aris… ”

“Wait a minute, Your Majesty! I’ll call someone immediately …! ”

“… Tia … ”

“Yes, yes, Your Majesty! I’m here! Please tell me …! ”

“… You…”

Even though I knew it was just a nightmare, my heart beat nervously again at his feeble voice hovering around my ears.

‘Calm down, Aristia. He’s safe.’

I took a deep breath and put my hand on my chest, feeling my heart beating fast. I did need to catch the suspect as soon as possible, but I didn’t have to be so anxious because of that dream.

Besides, I confirmed that he was safe with my own eyes a little while ago.

“You’re done, Lady Monique.”

“Oh, thanks. Good job.”

I slowly raised my body and shook off my idle thoughts. After I wiped my body dry and changed into the prepared clothes, I went back to his office. The emperor glanced at me and said, “You look much better.”

“Thank you so much, Your Majesty.”

“Why are you so stubborn? You would not have been wet in the rain if you had worn a formal dress instead of a uniform,” he said, with a sign as if he was frustrated. “A knight’s life is uncomfortable in many ways. Most knights don’t like a day like this, I would think.”

“Ah… you’re right.”

“How about you? Do you hate rainy days too? ”

“No, Your Majesty.”

“Really? That’s surprising. I thought you didn’t like a rainy day because you had to get rained instead of avoiding it.”

I tilted my head. Obviously, I didn’t hate rainy days in the past, but I didn’t like it that much.

When did I start to like rainy days?

‘Well, it’s not that important now.’

I sat down, shaking off my thoughts. I could not afford to wonder if I liked rain or not.

“How is your condition, Your Majesty? Are you still in bad condition?”

“I’m okay now. Thanks for your concern.”

He asked, looking at the documents he had just brought, “Do you have to review them today?”

“Ah, yes. It’s about the matters of the knights division. I am still investigating the case that you ordered me to look into yesterday. I was supposed to receive the relevant material from the chief of the palace affairs department, but I thought I might bring their suspicion if I brought the documents here to see you ”

“Sounds good.”

“Your Majesty, are you really going to keep this confidential? I’m afraid you might be harmed again.”

“Don’t worry. I will pay special attention to this matter. Besides, I think I have to be ready if I want to solve this problem as soon as possible.”

I was still suffering from the nightmare that wouldn’t go away, but he was calm as he didn’t know the circumstances. Although I felt like something got stuck in my throat, I slowly opened my mouth, “…Got it, Your Majesty. By the way, I heard that my father met you yesterday. So, I was supposed to get his help with respect to what happened yesterday.”

“Sure, of course. You don’t have to avoid him as he is your father. You don’t have to worry about the High Priest because I already gave him a reminder.”

“I understand, Your Majesty.”

“Then, let’s talk about it as there is more progress… Let me take a look at this first today.”

With a little sigh, he picked up a bunch of papers.

I felt sorry for him when he turned over the documents, pressing his temple with one hand. Although he worked hard as usual, he looks a little tired. In fact, the High Priest also said he was overworking himself. Given that he went through some terrible things recently, it was natural that he was exhausted.

Did he feel my gaze? He took his eyes off the papers and leaned forward to ask, “Why are you looking at me?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Really? Hmm. Aristia, can I ask you to bring me a cup of warm tea?”

“Ah yes. Of course, Your Majesty. ”

After nodding lightly, I pulled the string and told the maid to prepare tea.

How much time passed? Suddenly somebody knocked on the door while he was turning over the documents. In no time, a maid placed a tea box and a kettle filled with hot water on the table.

‘What will I brew for him?’

Only

After pondering for a moment, I picked out some out of over a dozen kinds of tea leaves that had an excellent effect on fatigue and brewed it.

“Here you are, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you.”

When he was handed a silver mug, he smiled at me. My heart began to beat fast at his smile, so I hurriedly stretched out my hand and picked up a mug.

‘Whew… ‘

Even forgetting etiquette, I gulped down a cup of hot tea and put it down when my eyes met his. I tightened my grip on the mug, trying to calm down.

‘What the heck? Why is he staring at me like that?’

“Your Majesty!” I called him carefully, but he didn’t reply, only making only a mysterious expression.