“…….”
“Your Majesty?”
“Come here.”
Like poisonous flowers that are beautiful and flamboyant, the emperor was dazzlingly beautiful yet looked dangerous. Unlike the maids who, sensing his dark and frightening aura, hurriedly fled out the door, Dian approached him at a single command, as if she had been waiting for it.
Karl gazed silently at Dian. Her rippling golden hair, her slender limbs that looked as though they might snap if touched, her long, straight neck like a deer’s, her beautiful face. She was like a single white lily.
Dian carefully studied Karl’s expression. He clearly seemed firmly angry about something. What could it be? What had angered His Majesty?
“Could it be, Your Majesty… that Her Majesty the Empress upset you?”
Karl, who had been staring fixedly at the nape of Dian’s neck, lifted his gaze to meet hers.
“She’s upset Your Majesty again, hasn’t she? Is it because of the aide issue?”
“…….”
“How could she bring in an aide when she has Your Majesty… I really don’t understand.”
Dian whispered in a soft voice. But the emperor remained silent, wearing an unreadable expression as he once again stared at her nape.
“…Your Majesty?”
It was the moment Dian tilted her head, trying to meet his eyes. Karl lowered his head toward the nape of her neck.
“!”
As Dian froze in shock, the emperor buried his face against her nape and inhaled deeply, as if smelling her.
“Your Majesty?”
Dian called to him with a flustered expression.
After a moment, when the emperor slowly lifted his head, his brow was slightly furrowed.
“What’s wrong?”
The emperor stared at her face, filled with questions, with an inscrutable expression, then suddenly spoke.
“Close your eyes. I will kiss you.”
They had been lovers for several years already. It was strange to hear this now for the first time, but Dian obediently closed her eyes as he told her to. Karl quietly looked at her gently closed eyelids and her soft, golden eyelashes.
He didn’t know why he had told her to close her eyes, or why he had smelled her nape. What he was trying to compare, what he hoped to gain from that comparison—no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand.
Meanwhile, since the emperor who had said he would kiss her did not approach, Dian, who had her eyes closed, tilted her head and opened them.
“Your Majesty?”
“Like the feather on a quill, like a flower placed in a vase.”
“?”
“Live that way.”
At his contextless words, she widened her eyes, blinked several times, and then curved her lips into a smile.
“That sounds like a comfortable life.”
“…….”
“If I become the feather on a quill, you’ll use that quill, won’t you, Your Majesty? If I become a flower in a vase, you’ll keep that vase by your side, won’t you?”
Clasping her hands together, Dian tilted her head and asked with a lovely smile, like a girl delighted to receive a gift. Then, carefully watching Karl’s mood, she slipped into his arms, buried her face against his solid chest, and whispered,
“I like it. Living that way by Your Majesty’s side. I only need Your Majesty.”
At her words, Karl slowly blinked.
“Yes… that’s how you are.”
She could feel his heart pounding. Dian felt a strong impulse to offer her nape to the jaws of this beautiful, seductive beast.
When Dian looked up at Karl with provocative eyes and stroked his cheek with her hand, Karl, who had been watching her, slowly reached out and lightly grasped her neck. As if fitting a collar, he held her slender neck and remained still for a long while.
Then, after a moment, he pressed his thumb firmly against her lips. Her red lips were crushed beneath his fingertip. As he rubbed her plump lips several times with his thumb, as if crushing flower petals, he entertained other thoughts.
At that moment, Dian slowly opened her mouth and gently bit his thumb.
Those eyes will soon cloud over. They’ll be stained red and grow turbid.
However, the emperor’s next action was completely different from what she had imagined. Suddenly, he jerked his hand away. Dian’s eyes widened in startled confusion.
Like her moist, glistening lips, his fingertips were clearly wet as well.
“Your Majesty?”
Ignoring her thin voice, tinged with regret and confusion, the emperor turned away. Without saying a single word, he stormed out of the room. There was not even a trace of lingering attachment—if anything, he seemed hurried.
At that sight, her heart suddenly flickered ominously.
He’s not someone who would reject me. What is this? What’s going on right now?!
Her pupils shook violently.
＊ ＊ ＊
The emperor, who had stormed out of the Empress’s palace with a face full of anger, returned in less than an hour. When he stopped before Mrs. Gicks, who ran out with a startled expression, his face was filled with a dangerous light, like a dark flame.
“Is the Empress in a condition to consummate tonight?”
At the blunt question hurled at her without warning, Mrs. Gicks flinched and couldn’t answer. The emperor stared at her face, then muttered,
“Judging by your inability to answer, I suppose she is.”
Leaving the flustered Mrs. Gicks behind, he strode straight into the Empress’s bedchamber.
Adel, who had been about to sleep, was struck speechless at the sight of Karl bursting in like a tyrant, flinging open the bedroom door.
He hadn’t knocked, hadn’t asked for a meeting—he had just barged in?
“What do you think you’re—!”
“I wish to spend the night with you.”
At his words, Adel’s furrowed eyes flew open. The emperor’s gaze, reverberating as if it had boiled up from within, swelled dangerously, like wine filling a goblet to the brim and spilling over.
Mrs. Gicks, who had followed him in, hesitated at the emperor’s declaration and stared at the Empress’s face. Even the seasoned old woman was taken aback by the situation.
“Leave. Clear the room.”
At the emperor’s curt command, even the flustered old woman had no choice. She cast Adel a bitter look, then bowed politely and withdrew. Adel watched with a chilling gaze as Mrs. Gicks closed the door behind her.
The moment the door closed without a sound, Karl, who had been standing precariously, approached with rough steps like a beast pressing its prey. The emperor looked down at Adel, who was sitting on the bed.
He was a man who took what he wanted. There was no reason to hesitate, no reason to restrain his desire. It didn’t matter even if the other party was the Empress.
“I came because I want to spend the night with you, yet you look as though you want to kill me.”
“It hasn’t even been an hour since you said you’d make me regret it. And now, all of a sudden, you want to consummate the marriage? Now?”
“I recalled what you said about acknowledging me as your spouse first.”
“…….”
“Isn’t this what comes first, then?”
Karl placed one knee on the edge of the bed and leaned his body toward Adel as she sat there. As he lowered his head, a sweet, spring-flower scent wafted up to him.
“It seems you’re struggling to gain real power in the imperial palace. Why take the long way around? This, too, is the Empress’s duty. Fulfill your duty and gain power as well. I’ll place it in your hands.”
Karl slowly pushed Adel’s shoulder with his hand, but the Empress’s body, which should have been pushed back, didn’t budge at all. Seeing her icy-cold face, devoid of even a trace of desire or excitement, Karl stepped back after a moment.
“How troublesome.”
“…….”
“Do you think you can claim power as Empress without fulfilling your duty?”
Adel shuddered with a feeling of revulsion.
Like it or not, he was her spouse, and consummation was an obvious duty. It was natural. It was natural, and yet… it felt utterly filthy.
Watching the Empress’s face twist, Karl whispered,
“Which of my words is so unacceptable to you? What is so humiliating? In this empire, is there anyone other than me to whom you must bow?”
At those words, Adel snarled back,
“That an Empress must bow unconditionally to the Emperor—that’s the first I’ve heard of it. In Ehmondt, is that what an Empress is?”
Karl tilted his head at that. After measuring Adel with sharp eyes, he suddenly smiled as if it were a lie. While Adel was momentarily flustered by that smile, dark as the night, the emperor examined her face and lightly grasped the blanket covering her, lifting it with great care. If he were rude, the Empress would surely become angry.
Soon, a very white, small foot was revealed. That the foot of someone who evoked a fierce beast could be so small and white. Grasping the ankle, which fit easily in one hand, Karl kept his gaze on Adel and slowly began to lower his head.
If there were a demon that roamed the night, it would look like this. While his purple eyes captured Adel’s golden gaze, he pressed his lips to a tender, hollowed place. Something soft and yielding made a wet sound as it parted from her ankle.
Releasing Adel’s foot and straightening up, the emperor stared intently at her expression and whispered,
“There. I lowered my head and kissed your foot. Is that enough now?
