Patricia tried to get up abruptly from his thigh, but she couldn’t overcome the strong hand gripping her waist tightly.

“Please observe proper etiquette.”

He embraced her suddenly.

Patricia.

“Imperial Princess, just one minute, no, stay like this for a moment.”

Patricia smelled of strong rose fragrance. She used perfume. This Imperial Princess, she really doesn’t listen.

His hot lips touched her moist neck. Patricia tried to push him away, but she couldn’t even free her arms under his unyielding strength. Moreover, somehow his voice seemed too low.

Had a minute passed? He lifted his head, exhaled a “hoo” towards the air, then picked her up by the waist and sat her on the sofa.

He walked to the window and inhaled the air from outside.

The sky had already become a night sky sprinkled with stars.

The swift chamberlain and Calip would have received orders and been waiting in the office with the selected delegation and escort, including the Foreign Minister and administrators.

*

When the Emperor, riding the black warhorse Khan, along with Calip and about twenty knights of the imperial guard entered the capital, Conrad glided across the indigo sky.

Whistle.

At the Emperor’s whistle, Conrad descended at a fierce speed and landed on his shoulder.

The Karsik Palace guard battalion, discovering the majestic sound of hooves and the fluttering flags of the imperial guard, opened the iron gates.

Pooong. The trumpeter blew the trumpet announcing the Emperor’s entry into the palace.

Maintaining the speed of the fast-running warhorse Khan, the Emperor untied and read the letter bound to the foot of Conrad, the falcon.

It was a report from Lean in Tane about Patrick’s condition and the situation at Tane Palace.

Giddy up, giddy up.

As he rode down the metasequoia-lined avenue, he smiled faintly.

I’ve arrived just in time. Well done, falcon. Now I have an excuse to go straight to the Imperial Princess. I miss her, so I must see her.

When the Emperor stopped in front of the main palace fountain and dismounted, the chamberlain and his subordinate attendants approached.

“Where is the Imperial Princess?”

“It’s time for her to prepare for bed in the White Palace.”

He had come to the White Palace after instructing the chamberlain and Calip to prepare a round table meeting in preparation for negotiations with Tane.

*

Harchen brought a chair from the table near the window and sat down in front of Patricia.

Patricia recalled the words of Princess Julia, but she needed to hear about Patrick, so she lowered her head in confusion. He reached out and lifted her chin.

“Let me see your face.”

“Please say what you need to say.”

“Patrick was indeed exposed to poison.”

Lean’s letter stated that they had overcome the critical moment with an antidote made by a blind old woman of Heun descent, and that the palace’s Claudine and the old woman were collaborating on the treatment.

He said that if accompanied by Claudine and the Heun old woman, travel to Karsik would be possible.

Though the handwriting was poor, it was sufficient to convey the clear content.

Harchen slowly relayed the contents of the letter.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Does the Imperial Princess want Patrick to attend our wedding?”

“Yes! Your Majesty, sincerely.”

So Patrick is coming here.

Patricia clasped her hands together, held them in front of her pink-tinged cheeks, and smiled brightly with a prayerful expression.

Harchen frowned his thick eyebrows.

What kind of Imperial Princess is this? How can she act so coldly, frozen like ice until just now, and then smile like that, making one’s heart ache?

It’s infuriating.

“Aren’t you being too obvious?”

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“No matter if you’re twins, he’s still a man, so don’t smile like that while reacting to Patrick’s name from now on.”

He was jealous of the mere fact that Patrick and Patricia had stayed together in their mother’s womb for ten months.

He was even displeased that she seemed to like the maids and servants she brought from Tane, who clung to her like family, more than him.

He wished she would just look at him, the Emperor, and that he would be the top priority in everything.

First love. Saying it suits lilac, the beginning of love.

Ha! You’ve gone mad, Harchen.

“Anyway, to bring that bastard, I mean Patrick, here, I need to go to the round table meeting now to prepare a negotiation plan with the Foreign Minister and the delegation.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Then, have a good meeting.”

He glared at her as she smiled brightly again.

“You’re just letting me go?”

“Pardon?”

“You’re so oblivious. Aren’t you grateful?”

“I am grateful, sincerely.”

“Then show your gratitude in the way I want.”

“What way is that…?”

He lowered his index finger from pressing the bone above his eyebrow and rubbed his lips while thoroughly scanning her lace nightgown, through which her skin was clearly visible.

“Think about it, what would I want right now?”

Patricia bit her lip, feeling as if every place his deep forest-green eyes touched was getting hot. He stared at her biting her lower lip with a perplexed expression.

“I don’t know.”

Her cheeks, which had been pink, turned red. Her bright blue eyes, brimming with moisture, looked up at him blankly.

The Emperor irritably stood up and leaned towards the sofa where Patricia was sitting.

“Lilac, do you know what its flower language means?”

“No. I went to the library, but there were no related books.”

He held her cheek and brought his face close. His green eyes, gazing down intently, burned sensually.

“First love.”

“What?”

“The beginning of love, isn’t that why you said it suits me?”

But I said it doesn’t.

I didn’t know it had such a meaning. But strangely, Patricia’s heart was pounding.

At some point, if she looked at his face once, she was mesmerized and kept staring. Clearly, some corner of her heart was malfunctioning. And.

If it meant first love, the beginning of love, it didn’t suit the Emperor at all. As far as Patricia could guess, she wasn’t the Emperor’s first love.

Isn’t it Princess Leak? Why is someone who said love talk was nonsense in a political marriage doing this to her?

‘Should I ask?’

Patricia clutched the hem of her nightgown and looked at the Emperor with a grave expression. At that moment, the Emperor removed his hand and lightly tapped her cheek with the back of his hand before standing up.

“You don’t seem impressed? I found it quite moving.”

He brushed back his disheveled hair that had fallen onto his forehead and calmly picked up his gloves from the table, putting them on his large-knuckled hands.

What, my heart aches over this? It’s possible, the Imperial Princess might have had her first love. That’s why she said her first kiss was like a passing breeze.

Ha, how pathetic.

The Emperor glanced down at Patricia, who was glaring at him with wide eyes while clutching her nightgown. Even then, she was beautiful. He barely resisted the urge to embrace and kiss her right there. He was certainly going mad.

“Well, it doesn’t have to be first love. I’m going to the meeting.”

He muttered as if talking to himself, then turned abruptly and left.

What’s he saying? It doesn’t have to be first love. I guess he’s finally remembered Princess Leak and feels guilty.

Patricia got up from the chair and collapsed onto the bed. She lay on her side and hugged a pillow. She recalled his face that had come close enough for their noses to almost touch.

The subtly upturned lips beneath the sharp nose bridge, the deep green eyes under long eyelashes strangely made her heart flutter, and it was so… decadent that her head was buzzing. Ah, I must be going mad.

As expected, is the Emperor a philanderer?

Harchen went out through the reception room. The chamberlain waiting in the corridor approached him.

Harchen scanned the chamberlain’s overall demeanor with sharp eyes.

“What is it? Something to say?”

The Emperor was quick-witted. With just one scan, he keenly sensed something and his insight was generally accurate.

“Everyone is gathered and waiting in the office.”

The Emperor, walking out into the corridor, looked back at the chamberlain while receiving salutes from the guard knights standing at the White Palace entrance.

“I understand that. Anything else?”

Harchen headed towards the garden instead of taking the main road to the main palace.

The chamberlain briefly mentioned the poisoned soup incident that occurred during the banquet in the main palace’s Diamond Room four days ago.

The Emperor stopped in his tracks.

“Are you in your right mind? Why are you telling me this only now?”

“There was no time earlier.”

The Emperor had asked about the Imperial Princess as soon as he arrived, given instructions for the negotiation meeting, and left.

“Tell me again from the beginning. Every detail, starting with the seating order at the Diamond Room table.”

His voice was as cold as iron in midwinter.

The chamberlain reported the details he had just reported more specifically and in detail.

“Who invited Princess Leak?”

“No separate invitation was issued. She came together after spending time with Imperial Princess Carolina in the afternoon.”

“Thanks to the clever Alesia, the chef is still alive. Where is the chef now?”

“By order of Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, he is under probation at a viscount’s estate on the outskirts of the capital.”

“Bring him in.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The chef wouldn’t have used the poison. But someone’s hand had put poison in the Imperial Princess’s soup and salad.

Harchen momentarily thought of Princess Leak, but he couldn’t be certain. It wasn’t something she could have done alone. Especially if she was with Carolina.

“We need to catch the culprit quickly.”

“Her Majesty the Empress Dowager has personally ordered the guard to investigate thoroughly.”

“Tell the blacksmith to search the empire for argentum and make a cutlery set for the Imperial Princess.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“What time does the Imperial Princess have her meals?”

“The Imperial Princess usually has a late breakfast around ten, light snacks with afternoon tea, and dinner at seven.”

“Until the cutlery is completed, she’ll have breakfast and dinner with me. The afternoon tea, hmm, is she still under Lady Schmitt’s tutelage?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Then, I’ll go to the White Palace for breakfast and dinner times.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will relay that message.”

Harchen looked at the bench under the lilac tree. The intense emotions that had been boiling up subsided a little.

He turned to look at the chamberlain. The chamberlain hesitated as if he had more to say.

“Speak.”

“Lord Bern had a sword match with the Imperial Princess this afternoon.”

“Bern?”

“Ah, Lord Bern is over there. Then I’ll go and bring the chef.”

Bern was sitting on the outdoor stairs leading to the office, smoking a cigar. Upon seeing the Emperor, he put the cigar down beside the stairs.

He approached the Emperor, bent his knees and elbows, and bowed his head.

“The blazing sun of the empire, you’ve returned to the palace safely.”

“Bern. I hear you swung a sword at my woman?”

Bern raised his head in surprise, then bowed deeply again.

“The Imperial Princess threw down the gauntlet first, challenging me to a duel. She said she felt stiff, and I refused several times.”

“And the result?”

“The Imperial Princess won 2 to 1.”

“Did you use your full strength?”

“About half.”

“Control your strength well. If even a fingertip is hurt, you’ll die by my hand.”

“Understood.”

Bern stood up, lifting his knees from the ground, and spoke to the Emperor.

“Your Majesty, would you come over here for a moment? I’ve been waiting because of that.”

“Weren’t you just smoking a cigar?”

“There’s something strange.”

Unlike usual, Bern’s voice was subdued. His complexion turned pale blue.

The Emperor silently followed Bern along the outer wall of the main palace. Past the shrub hedge, Bern stopped in the grass in front of the ice storage.

“Look at this, Your Majesty.”

Bern took out a match and lit it. In the dim grass, summer weeds grew thick. Under the matchlight in Bern’s hand, the weeds were black as if burned.