“Did I like Harchen?”

“As far as I know, you had no interest at first. In Pana Castle, you asked, ‘Who are you?'”

“No way.”

Patricia took a sip of wine from her glass after asking the question, feeling embarrassed. Every time she took three sips, Harchen refilled the glass as much as she had emptied it. So she couldn’t gauge how much she had drunk.

At some point, her face flushed red and she felt tipsy. She thought she was asking bold questions under the influence of alcohol, but she didn’t stop.

Harchen also answered each question in much more detail than she had expected, rather than giving short replies. She liked how kind he was, telling his own stories in a low, resonant voice.

“What’s the evidence that I liked Harchen?”

“When I thoughtlessly won our sword duel, you cried. So… suddenly you picked a lilac flower and gave it to me.”

“Did I really do that?”

“You did. But then the head chamberlain said that ladies and flower language… Patrick and Eden, the platinum blonde guy came… Hey, are you asleep?”

Patricia briefly lowered her head and then fell asleep with her cheek resting on the table.

“Come on, you can’t sleep.”

When he grabbed her shoulder and shook it, she opened her eyes slightly and pointed to the notebook on the table.

“…It’s our wedding gift that Lady Carolina made herself.”

“That’s not it.”

Father, I failed at my first attempt to seduce at a salon dinner.

Harchen gestured to the head chamberlain. The chamberlain approached silently. Harchen folded a single document into the notebook and told the chamberlain to take it.

He carefully embraced Patricia to his side.

“Let’s go to the Empress’s palace.”

“Your Majesty, it’s too far to the Empress’s palace. How about going to Your Majesty’s bedroom?”

The head chamberlain cautiously suggested.

“You’re right. It’s definitely too far.”

Harchen smiled, narrowing his eyes, and immediately changed direction. The arm holding Patricia gained strength, and she felt as light as a pink flower.

“To my bedroom.”

The head chamberlain opened the door to the Emperor’s reception room in the hallway. Then he opened the bedroom door and waited outside.

Harchen laid her down in his bedroom and grinned. The sound of his own heartbeat pounding seemed too loud.

The head chamberlain standing outside the door whispered softly as he handed over the notebook.

“Your Majesty, please wait a moment. I’ll go to the Empress’s palace to fetch the necessary items.”

“Okay, sure.”

The head chamberlain felt refreshed as if wings had sprouted under his arms. He walked quickly, not minding the few remaining strands of hair fluttering in the wind.

He had witnessed the Emperor and Empress talking quietly for over three hours in the salon. Most men couldn’t manage that much conversation in an entire year.

Suddenly, even his Emperor’s gentleness and low, resonant voice seemed charming.

When the head chamberlain entered the head maid’s office in the central hall of White Palace, Anna looked up with a pale face.

“Head chamberlain, what brings you here?”

“Why do you look like that? Did something happen? Anyway, before that.”

The head chamberlain explained the situation and asked her to prepare nightwear and necessary items.

Anna, relieved that he hadn’t come to interrogate her, went to the Empress’s dressing room and gathered nightwear, lotion, and other items.

Walking alongside the head chamberlain, she said she would stand guard in the corridor of His Majesty’s quarters early tomorrow morning.

The head chamberlain, seeing that she didn’t leave even after finishing speaking, asked her:

“What’s the matter?”

Anna had caught four maids like mice and written down seven sentences. Looking at what she had written, she felt so embarrassed she wanted to hang herself.

She was ashamed that the maids had mocked her like that, but also that a maid under her had called the Empress a “foolish Empress” and the Empress had heard it. It was a clear case of insulting the royal family.

Anna sighed deeply and confessed everything to the head chamberlain.

The head chamberlain stopped walking.

“How can people be so vicious? The Empress is so… Oh my. These people.”

The head chamberlain sent Anna back, saying they would meet tomorrow at dawn to devise a plan.

He didn’t want to throw cold water on the Emperor’s current sweet and tender moments, as he was set to leave the palace for a ten-day schedule the day after tomorrow.

There was no need to report it right now. It would be better to report after coming up with a good solution, or rather, after resolving everything in a positive direction.

The head chamberlain went to his office opposite the study and entered the Emperor’s reception room with a mobile tray loaded with Panian wine, pewter cups, ice water, cheese, fruit slices, and finger food.

Harchen was sitting on the sofa reading the notebook Carolina had given him when he gladly accepted the pewter cup offered by the head chamberlain.

The head chamberlain gave the Emperor a box containing nightwear and lotion, and then left with reluctant steps.

The front of Patricia’s dress had about thirty small bean buttons densely lined between pale pink lace. To undo the small bean buttons on the lace with his large hands, he had to lean in closer.

Her scent hit his face strongly. His heart fluttered. He barely managed to undo one bean button using the tip of his fingernail.

Heck. Why such a dress.

After undoing just one button, the world she showed was a different world.

Harchen was exhausted from concentrating on undoing the buttons and trying not to look at her. He undid three buttons and his face turned red, his breathing became rough.

He clenched his fists tightly, glared at the ceiling, and then, unable to bear it any longer, went into the bathroom. He came out after taking a cold shower.

He had cleared his mind with cold water, but seeing Patricia lying disheveled on his bed made his mouth open involuntarily and his hands tingle. He gritted his teeth.

As he brushed back the black hair that had fallen onto her forehead, he suddenly remembered removing the pins from her hair on their wedding day. Thinking he should look at her hair first, he observed the braids that were like a baby’s.

Touching the bumpy texture of the blonde braids that looked like chains and lace knots, he undid one strand with his hand. Even after unraveling the hair along its natural pattern, it still curled.

In the meantime, he was so fascinated by this that he pulled a long strand of hair and then let it go. As expected, the hair curled again, forming a wave pattern. Fortunately, there were no hairpins.

He changed Patricia into her nightgown, undid all her braided hair, and wiped her with a warm towel.

At first, he touched her carefully, slowly, and gently, but when she fell into a deep sleep with even breaths, he felt mischievous. He moved his touching hands with more intensity. Still, Patricia didn’t wake up and slept well.

Harchen climbed onto the bed with a “whatever happens, happens” attitude. As he got on with his large build, the bed undulated deeply.

He lifted Patricia’s head, slipped his arm under her neck to support it, and tidied the disheveled hair on her forehead and nape with his left hand.

Then, impulsively, he lowered his face and stole a kiss from her lips.

At that moment, Patricia’s eyes suddenly opened.

Ah, I should have done this earlier.

“What, what are you doing?”

“What married couples do in bed.”

He pressed her down with his lips as she tried to raise her body.

Patricia, captivated by his eyes full of decadent charm, unconsciously pulled at his neck. The wax candle in the three-tiered candlestick on the bedside console blazed brightly.

*

Julia tormented her ladies-in-waiting and maids from morning to meticulously prepare herself. After bathing, they applied oil to her black hair and curled it into thick curls.

She changed dresses five times until her maids unanimously agreed.

They chose a black dress with deep purple flower prints that complemented her white skin and ebony-like glossy black hair.

It clung tightly to her narrow shoulders and slender waist, accentuating her small and thin body. Below the waist, chiffon and chiffon were layered diagonally, and the edges were decorated with layers of black lace, exuding elegance.

She instructed to apply light base makeup on her face and focus on the black eyelash shading. She badgered the maid holding charcoal soaked in oil.

The maid, having already been slapped on the cheek with a fan several times, trembled while holding the iron rod coated with oil and charcoal.

After completing all the preparations, Julia stood in front of the mirror, unconsciously reaching out to touch her reflection as she took a deep breath.

‘No matter how I look, it’s breathtakingly beautiful, why?’

After putting on jewelry and accessories to match the dress, she boarded a purple carriage bearing the black panther emblem of the Leak ducal family, along with a maid carrying a gift box.

The carriage that entered Karsik Palace went straight to White Palace and stopped in front of the garden. She entered the palace with her maid. Guided by the maid, she went to the audience chamber to wait for the Empress.

Julia sharply eyed the place where she should be, glancing sideways.

‘How provincial, her taste.’

She frowned upon seeing tapestries embroidered with various shapes and colors of flowers that didn’t match hanging on the walls.

There was a mahogany console on the wall near the entrance, with a light blue vase. Moreover, it was filled with pink flowers without any aesthetic sense.

Julia could clearly envision how she would decorate the space.

‘I should hang narrow lace curtains on that window.’

The carpet should be in an arabesque pattern, and heavy jacquard curtains for the large glass windows. No, since the lighting is good, double lace curtains would be better for the sunflowers.

Julia softened her sharply honed facial expression with such imagination.

Anna said to Patricia in front of the audience chamber:

“Your Majesty, if you encounter any difficulties, you can ring the bell on the table.”

“I will.”

As Patricia entered the audience chamber, Julia stood up, holding both sides of her dress skirt, and bowed her upper body in greeting.

She’s greeting me now, but soon I’ll be the one receiving greetings. No, we probably won’t even meet.

“Rising morning sun, Julia Leak, greets Your Majesty the Empress.”

“Please sit down.”

Julia sat down and looked at Patricia. She was wearing a blue dress and had a wedding band on her right ring finger.

Julia nodded to her maid to bring the gift. She received the box from the maid and handed it to Patricia with both hands.

“It’s embarrassing, but I made it myself.”

Patricia thanked her and opened the purple velvet box. Inside was a folding fan similar to the one Julia often carried around.

Julia had bought a regular folding fan and decorated it with lace and jewels. That’s why Julia’s fan was unique and sometimes used as a fearsome punishment weapon.

“Oh my, Your Majesty. Is the couple ring perhaps a set with the blue dawn light cyan diamond necklace?”

“That’s right. But how did you know?”

“The blue dawn light is famous. I happened to see a noblewoman wearing that necklace at a social club a few days ago.”

“Ah.”

Patricia felt a mix of excitement and fear. Her confused expression was clearly visible on her face.