Patricia was still sitting on the rock, looking up at the sky. Harchen watched her for a moment without revealing his presence.

It was different from when he saw her at the cemetery on Torun beach, as Eva had said.

What kind of pain, sorrow, and despair did you go through to cry like that there? Harchen’s heart ached that he couldn’t ease her pain.

At that time, he resolved to comfort her despair piece by piece. Like wood turning to coal, coal to charcoal, to black ashes.

Finally, he embraced her tightly until the black ashes disappeared completely. It was possible. On the shore of the Torun kingdom.

But now.

He approached with large strides and grabbed her arm to lift her up.

How should he embrace her, how could he comfort her?

Standing face to face, close enough for their toes to touch, he held her chin and met her gaze.

What a troubled look, how cute.

After hearing Eva’s words, Harchen thought it might be better for Patricia to maintain this state. He could work on seducing her in their relationship.

“What shall I do with my empress who shines with curiosity, hmm?”

As Harchen moved his face closer, Patricia laughed lightly.

“You laugh? How relaxed.”

“Your Majesty!”

“My name!”

“Your Majesty.”

“You have an eagle, right? What’s the eagle’s name?”

“Huh? Brio?”

“Right, Bri. What’s the name of the maid who just left?”

“Eva, Eva Tennessee.”

“Right, do you not call Bri by his name and just call him ‘eagle’? Do you call Eva ‘maid’?”

“…Well, no.”

“Now, call my name.”

“Harchen.”

Patricia answered immediately without hesitation, as if she had been waiting. So she was originally the type to respond without hesitation.

“Huh, your lips look pretty saying my name.”

“Harchen. Annie said you used to enjoy sword duels with me.”

“It wasn’t enjoyment. You insisted a few times and I obliged.”

“I find it hard to believe I can handle a sword, so to see how skilled I am, please have a sword duel with me.”

“Ha, what about my feelings right now?”

“Huh? What feelings are you talking about?”

“Right now I’m dying to try and seduce you a bit?”

“That’s troublesome.”

“Why? I want to use my muscles in a more sensual way.”

“Eva told me. Not to do anything I don’t want to. That I don’t have to blindly obey Your Majesty’s words.”

“Haa, that maid… She clearly has a death wish.”

Harchen said that, but he lowered his face to her with a fatally seductive gaze.

He grabbed her arm and traced the fine lines down, interlacing their fingers, when he touched the gauze tied to Patricia’s ring finger.

“What’s this?”

He untied the cloth knot.

“Ah, I pricked myself with a pin.”

“Pin? Ah, I removed all those pins from your hair on our wedding night.”

Ah, Patricia realized that the hand she had seen like a vision, removing pins from her hair, was Harchen’s.

“One had fallen on the living room table chair.”

“Hehe, you probably don’t remember, but I pricked myself while removing that one too.”

Harchen looked at her ring finger before putting it in his mouth.

“Back then, you did this to my hand too.”

Harchen saw her face turn pink, removed her hand and cupped her cheek as he said:

“That day, I was the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. I still am, I’m happy you’re by my side.”

“I understand, Harchen, your feelings.”

“So now let’s do what we want to do together.”

“Yes, let’s.”

Harchen was pleased that she responded quickly and gave permission, so he pulled her into his arms.

“The garden would be good, right?”

At Patricia’s suggestion, Harchen’s face turned bright red. In his mind, he was already thinking about the dim benches in the garden and how to get rid of Calip and Lean.

“W-what, why do you want to do it in the garden?”

“Well, an open space is better for swinging swords, after all.”

“Haa… swords?”

Only then did Harchen realize that what Patricia wanted to do was completely different from what he had in mind, and that their minds were in different worlds. He turned abruptly and left.

Patricia lifted her dress skirt, pondering how to tie it conveniently as she followed behind him.

In the garden, Harchen stared into the darkness and called out.

“Calip, Lean!”

Immediately, two knights emerged from their respective shadows.

“Give me both your swords.”

“What?”

Calip was surprised, but Lean noticed the empress tying up her dress with a hair ribbon behind the emperor and immediately understood, unsheathing his sword and presenting it with both hands.

“Calip, your sword too.”

Calip also caught on and raised his sword.

Calip’s sword was newly bestowed when Harchen ascended as emperor, with a teal diamond from Kaoshan set in the middle of the hilt.

Regardless of a sword’s price or power, swordsmen never gave their swords to others except in death. As the saying goes, “Borrow a swordsman’s wife instead of his sword” – to a swordsman, his sword was his life.

The emperor knew this well.

Harchen was too impatient to wait for the emperor’s and empress’s swords to be brought.

Noticing the urgency of the body, not the mind or heart, Calip and Lean exchanged glances to grasp each other’s thoughts.

Calip and Lean had heard that the empress had dueled with Bern a few times. Of course, Calip had also witnessed her defeating several of his soldiers in armor at Tamil Valley.

They swallowed audibly at the thought of watching the imperial couple’s sword duel, and stood with their massive arms folded.

“You two go inside the palace and have a cup of tea.”

“Ah, we’d like to observe…”

As soon as the emperor turned his head coldly, the two went inside the palace. Of course, as soon as they entered, they found a spot and hid their large bodies behind the curtains.

Patricia stretched out a long ribbon.

“Your Maj-, I mean Harchen. Look here. Please cut this.”

“Hah, a sword isn’t meant for cutting ribbons.”

Cheng.

Harchen unsheathed the well-forged sword from Calip’s scabbard and cleanly cut where Patricia indicated while she held both ends.

“You’re left-handed, I see.”

“Your powers of observation are as sharp as ever.”

Patricia put one of the short cut ribbons in her mouth, neatly twisted up her hair, then removed the ribbon and tied it.

“Impressive.”

Harchen stared, mesmerized, as the golden hair that had been flowing abundantly over her shoulders was suddenly tidied into a single strand by her small hands.

“Beautiful.”

Seeing her neatly arrange her dress skirts and tie them with the ribbon, his legs went weak and he just wanted to embrace her.

Harchen brushed back the black hair that had fallen on his forehead, then paused and smiled. He removed his cravat and tossed it onto the scabbard. He unbuttoned his shirt and took it off.

“But why are you taking off your shirt?”

“How is it any different from you tying up all your hair that was on your shoulders and revealing your smooth shoulders?”

Patricia glanced at Harchen, who was calmly examining the sword while exposing his taut muscles.

Ah, this will make it hard for me to look freely.

Harchen watched with satisfaction as her face grew increasingly red.

He gave her Lean’s sword and went behind her, grabbing her waist.

“Ah! What are you doing?”

“I’m going to show you the basic stance.”

Why grab the waist to show the basic stance?

Patricia felt her back stiffen as the intense heat seemed to rush over her just from him coming close behind her. Moreover, the feeling of his firm hand on her waist made her feel strange emotions and her nerves stood on end.

“Now, draw the sword.”

Cheng!

Whoosh, Patricia’s hands and feet moved on their own as she sliced through the air with the sword.

“Oh, Harchen. I think I understand.”

She gently pushed away his hand on her waist and stepped forward, thrusting the sword from the inside out.

“Harchen, raise your sword.”

Can’t be helped. Might as well end this quickly. Harchen shrugged and raised his sword.

Patricia swung the sword with increasing momentum and speed, boldly attacking Harchen. Harchen deflected casually at first, then seriously engaged her sword.

Cheng cheng cheng.

Blue sparks flew where the sword blades met in midair.

“Whew, Her Majesty the Empress is impressive. How can she swing a sword without being flustered by the sight of her lord’s bare upper body? Her form hasn’t wavered at all.”

Calip glared at Lean, who was pressed against his back breathing heavily, but there was nothing he could do. Pressed together, they stared at the same spot.

“At this rate, they’ll just be rubbing swords all night, won’t they?”

Calip was irritated by Lean’s rough breathing.

“Haa, haa.”

Calip turned around abruptly and pushed Lean with his broad shoulders.

“Lean, step back a bit. Or go somewhere else.”

“But why is Sir Calip so angry… oh, sir… look over there!”

Gulp, gulp.

The two knights silently swallowed and pressed themselves against the glass window.

At some point, Harchen and Patricia, who had been swinging swords, dropped their weapons to the ground and were kissing while tightly embracing.

Patrick sat on the stone steps of the fountain in the central square of Luken, the border city, and lit a cigar.

Until he slowly finished smoking one cigar, no one approached him. Even passersby were rare.

Patrick spoke to Eden, who was sitting a little distance away.

“Maybe I should have dressed as a woman. Is it possible for there to be so few people around?”

“There were quite a few passersby last time. Perhaps they’ve caught wind of something and are laying low?”

“That could be it. News of Chief of Security Kiel would have spread too.”

Right. As Eden said, they entered the dark and narrow passages created by the densely packed buildings around the square.

“That could be it. Today we should just withdraw…”

As Patrick and Eden were about to get up from the fountain steps, a boy approached.

The boy rested his elbows on the stone steps and watched as the thick stream of water shot up and then broke into several white sprays as it fell.

Sharp red eyes moved quickly under the black robe hood. Eden and Patrick exchanged glances.

“Hey, is this your territory?”

The boy pretended not to hear and looked up at the top of the shooting water.

“Where should I go to meet Binen?”

The boy showed no change in expression even upon hearing the name Binen, and continued to stare at the water stream for a few seconds before slowly turning his head.

“Who?”

“The boss of this area, Binen. Don’t you know?”

“I… I know you.”

The boy said this abruptly while pulling back the hood of his robe.