Patricia, who was entering the salon of Anna and the Emperor guided by the head servant, stopped her steps. At the same time, her cheeks turned a deep pink.

The Emperor, who was standing on a circular platform placed in front of a large mirror, saw Patricia reflected in the mirror and turned around. He was not wearing a top and only had on white ceremonial pants that clung to his body.

His thick, straight spine and the tightly defined chest muscles reflected in the mirror were visible simultaneously. Patricia didn’t know where to place her gaze. The Emperor calmly turned his body and watched her approach.

It was embarrassing to greet him without a top on, but it was also awkward to avoid eye contact when their gazes met, so Patricia bit her lower lip and steadied her quickened breathing.

“I greet Your Imperial Majesty.”

She greeted him in a small voice, her lips barely moving.

“You’ve come, Imperial Princess.”

The person wearing pants that clung like they were about to burst was the Emperor, so why am I the one feeling breathless looking at him?

The Emperor had his thumb hooked into the waistline of his pants. Patricia inadvertently looked at his other four long fingers.

Exchange of glances, voice, ears, methods of using hands – she had seriously listened to Lady Schmidt’s words.

She bit her lower lip as she recalled the words of the Countess Schmidt.

Fortunately, there were several groups of people in the spacious salon, each focused on their own tasks. The murmuring noise made by the clustered groups could be heard.

The Empress Dowager and Isabella were seated on the sofa near the circular platform, with maids standing around them. Patricia greeted the Empress Dowager and Isabella.

“Imperial Princess, you’ve arrived.”

As Isabella rose from the sofa to offer her seat, Madam Terra took Patricia’s hand, saying there was no time to sit.

The group that appeared to be Madam Terra’s assistants removed the Emperor’s ceremonial clothes from a mannequin in front of the fitting room and gave them to Madam Terra.

A group of imperial painters set up easels near the window and painted the entire salon scene, including the Empress Dowager and the Emperor.

The head servant and Calip stood to the Emperor’s left, putting their heads together to exchange opinions.

One assistant stood behind the Emperor, draping a frilled blouse over his shoulders.

“Lari, dress the Imperial Princess.”

As they entered the fitting room, assistants and maids flocked to Patricia. With swift hand movements, they dressed her in a chiffon dress embroidered with silver thread and adorned with lace.

When Patricia emerged from the fitting room, the previously noisy room suddenly fell silent. People stopped their movements, hands, and words, all staring at Patricia.

“Imperial Princess. You are so beautiful.”

As Isabella broke the silence, everyone else let out gasps of admiration. Madam Terra led Patricia to the circular platform.

She stood next to the Emperor, who was wearing a white ceremonial outfit with elaborate floral embroidery in silver thread. Patricia glanced at the Emperor in the mirror.

The splendid ceremonial outfit shimmering in silver harmonized well overall with his tall stature, broad shoulders, and handsome face above them.

In the mirror, the Emperor stared intently at her. Their gazes met.

I can’t look at him.

Feeling uncomfortable with his unwavering, fiery gaze, Patricia lowered her head to avoid his eyes.

“Why are you avoiding it?”

“Pardon?”

“Certainly.”

The Emperor fixed his gaze in the mirror.

I had imagined it, but seeing it in person, it’s beyond imagination.

“You’re beautiful.”

He bent his knee, leaned towards Patricia, and whispered in her ear.

“Come to my reception room after the schedule here ends and before dinner.”

“What? Why?”

I feel like I’m going crazy.

“There are things to do and things to tell you about Patrick.”

“Patrick?! Is something wrong?”

“It’s not that.”

“Please tell me now.”

“When we’re alone.”

If you fulfill my conditions, I’ll tell you then, hm.

“I’m curious, now please.”

Patricia turned her head and grabbed the Emperor’s arm. She looked up at him with an earnest expression. The Emperor lowered his thick eyebrows and gazed down at her intently.

Ah, if you plead with such an earnest look.

“Will you… grant my request?”

“That’s…”

“Imperial Princess. Would you turn around? Lari, lower the bustline a bit.”

Before Patricia could answer, Terra grabbed her waist and turned her around. Patricia once again looked at the Emperor in the mirror with an earnest gaze. Their eyes intertwined in the mirror.

Following Madam Terra’s instructions, the assistants worked on the dress decorations.

They connected the train to the waistline and spread it out long. The train that dragged on the floor was 7 meters in length. They attached a decoration with lace edging embroidered in silver thread to the waistline.

What could he have to say about Patrick? He said it wasn’t anything bad, but. The Emperor, why does he always make demands related to Patrick? He should just tell me.

That demand was also obvious. Recalling how he had asked her to sit on his lap in the bedroom while relaying news about Patrick, Patricia’s heart beat erratically.

Madam Terra placed a white gillyflower crown on Patricia’s head and said,

“The gillyflower symbolizes fertility, peace, and purity.”

A subtle fragrance fell onto her face from the long, dense tassels of the white gillyflower. Patricia felt strangely that the scent seemed to calm her mind.

Madam Terra immediately stood in front of the Emperor and attached epaulettes and cuffs made of crystals and silver thread to the shoulders and sleeves of his white ceremonial outfit.

Madam Terra stepped back and looked alternately at the two people in the mirror. Patricia looked at the Emperor in the mirror and said,

“That request, if it’s something I can do, I’ll grant it.”

The Emperor twisted his lips in the mirror and leaned his upper body towards her.

Of course, Patricia, it’s something only you can do.

“News that Patrick’s party stayed in Pana Castle last night and departed this morning.”

“Ah, really?”

Patricia narrowed her eyes slightly and raised the corners of her mouth, smiling brightly.

Well. When it comes to Patrick, her expression changes immediately.

She was pretty even when expressionless. But seeing her smile so freshly like a white flower, it was as if ice had been poured on Harchen’s head, freezing him solid.

He pulled in his chin and clenched his teeth. He tightly clenched both fists.

He felt like he was going crazy, unable to do anything about her smiling right in front of him with her red, moist lips curled up.

He scrutinized each person in the salon reflected in the mirror. Court painters, Calip and the head servant, Terra’s assistants and porters. Everyone was doing their own tasks.

The Empress Dowager and Isabella sat on the sofa right behind, shoulders touching, whispering behind their unfolded fans.

Only my eyes have gone crazy. That’s fortunate, though.

Terra said that after the ceremony, instead of the flower crown, the Empress Dowager would place a tiara. She held the train behind Patricia.

The Emperor took Patricia’s hand and came down from the platform, heading to the sofa where the Empress Dowager sat. The Empress Dowager opened the lid of a purple velvet box placed on the table and took out the tiara, giving it to the Emperor.

He received the tiara and placed it on Patricia’s head.

The White Flower Tiara, passed down through generations to the Empress of the Carsic Empire, had a large flower made of diamonds in the center with small diamond flowers on both sides, and a row of pearl drops hanging below.

The tiara, worn instead of the flower crown that had dropped flower scents, was so heavy it could make her neck bend.

The splendid and majestic tiara reminded her of the solemn national marriage and weighed heavily on Patricia’s shoulders. She bent her knees and formally greeted the Empress Dowager.

I will wear this crown for only a year. After that, I’ll return it to the person you held in your heart, Empress Dowager, Lady Leak.

Patricia learned this while serving tea to a Carsic noble lady who had requested an audience.

No noble lady had ever coveted the position of Empress. To the ladies, Harchen had been Julia’s Crown Prince since before they could remember.

Whether intentionally or unconsciously, they brought up Lady Leak in conversation. The ladies all awkwardly showed their true colors. After mentioning Julia and the Crown Prince from childhood, they watched Patricia’s reaction.

She was cradle friends with Princess Carolina. They say they wore the same dresses.

His Highness the Crown Prince was always right by Julia’s cradle. They say he favored Julia more than Princess Carolina.

Their attitude clearly showed not worry or caution, but curiosity and even a wait-and-see approach.

Despite the noble ladies’ blatant attitude, Patricia was not intimidated. She would divorce after a year anyway and return to Tane.

“My elder brother ended up having a national marriage with the Imperial Princess of Tane, so it must truly be a relationship determined by the heavens.”

Princess Isabella cut off the ladies’ words with a gentle smile. After three meetings, Patricia refused further audiences with the ladies.

Living in the West Tower, Patricia had neither interest nor plans for marriage. If she were to fall in love, she vaguely thought it might be with Eden Patterson.

As Terra’s assistants removed her dress and helped her into an evening gown, fixing her hair, Patricia recalled her memories with Eden.

All the memories that came to mind were wistful, and thinking about how he had treated her preciously made her suddenly miss Eden.

Then suddenly, she remembered the deep kiss she shared with the Emperor in Pana Castle.

So rude, breathtaking, and strange… Could she do something like that with Eden?

No. She couldn’t even imagine it with Eden.

Patricia, wearing an evening dress of pure white satin embroidered with silver thread, stood on the platform and looked at the Emperor in the mirror.

He wore blue culottes, white hose underneath, and a blue vest and justaucorps.

The large and small floral patterns embroidered in silver thread on the vest and justaucorps were the same as those on Patricia’s dress. So even though the clothes were blue and white, they felt connected as one set.

Patricia looked blankly at the mirror and then suddenly blushed.

She met his gaze that seemed to pierce through her. Harchen, looking at Patricia in the mirror, spoke in a resolute voice as if making a declaration.

“Madam Terra, the Imperial Princess and I have urgent matters to discuss and decide before dinner, so please finish now.”

Harchen expected it would take roughly two to three hours and planned to spend the time until dinner in the reception room.

However, Madam Terra was wasting time by removing and reattaching epaulettes, brooches, sashes, and sleeve decorations.

Now only two hours remained until dinner time. He moistened his lips with his tongue in an anxious state, then when his eyes met with the blushing Patricia, his blood surged.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Lari, help the Imperial Princess change her dress.”

As the maid and assistant took Patricia into the fitting room, Harchen began removing his clothes and gestured for Calip to approach.

“I will be in the reception room with the Imperial Princess until dinner, so do not disturb us.”