“Oh my, Your Majesty! You were here again!”

The Emperor’s advisor, Duke Ludwig, came running, barely catching his breath.

The man called “Your Majesty” had been quietly staring at the dim path where Katharine had disappeared moments ago, and now stood up.

“I’ve been playing hide-and-seek with this old man for 20 years now. I fear I may not live to see eighty.”

“A woman will be walking along the northern path. Secretly observe where she goes.”

Farnese spoke to the guard knight who had followed Duke Ludwig.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The guard knight answered respectfully and immediately disappeared quickly towards the path.

Duke Ludwig looked at Farnese with puzzled eyes.

“Your Majesty. A woman, you say?”

“It’s none of your concern.”

“Surely you weren’t with a woman at this hour?”

When there was no answer, Duke Ludwig’s complexion turned as pale as if he had seen a living corpse.

The young king of the Renel Empire.

A man who ascended to the throne at the young age of 16, led the allied forces, and brought victory in war, sitting at the pinnacle of absolute power.

Very little was known about him to the public. People called him the Lord of Blood, or said he was a legendary playboy with dozens of illegitimate children.

Of course, the nickname “Lord of Blood” wasn’t entirely unfounded.

But the rumor about him being a playboy made Duke Ludwig want to wring the neck of whoever spread it.

Farnese, whom Duke Ludwig had assisted for a full 20 years, was a block of wood who had never touched a woman’s skirt in his entire life.

Even though there were lines of young ladies who wanted to be held in his strong arms just once.

The symbol of fear, Emperor Farnese, was in fact a free spirit who was obsessed with work, extremely averse to entertainment, and spent his free time lying alone under flowering trees.

“Have you finally found a lady to your liking?”

“What nonsense about ladies. You’ve grown old and senile after all.”

“Senile? How could you say such a hurtful thing…!”

“It was merely a passing interest.”

Farnese muttered, cutting through the chilly dawn breeze.

“A light interest that will soon fade away.”

* * *

She couldn’t meet that nameless man again after that day.

Thinking it might have been just a dream of one night, or an unrealistic illusion, his face was gradually fading from her mind when one day…

“Oh…!”

It was when she was taking a short break, walking slowly along the promenade.

As a squirrel suddenly jumped out from behind the bushes, causing her to lose balance on the gravel path, a large, strong hand swiftly caught her arm.

Thanks to that, her body tilted greatly but barely managed to regain balance.

She raised her head to see who the kind person was who had saved her from the crisis of almost planting her face in the dirt.

“Seems you wear your eyes as mere decoration.”

A clean and noble face that looked like it had never been stained with a single drop of blood in its lifetime.

In perfect contrast, a seductive, devil-like voice woke her drowsy mind.

It was that indifferent man who wouldn’t even tell his name, whom she never dreamed she would meet again.

“Why are you here…?”

“I didn’t know there was a law against me walking here.”

The man gruffly replied, quickly withdrawing his hand that had been holding Katharine’s arm.

Like an ascetic monk who considers physical contact with the opposite sex a sin.

“I was just a bit surprised. Thank you for catching me.”

“Watching from behind, you were stumbling about like a newborn fawn. It was quite a sight.”

“When did I stumble like a baby deer? And you were following behind me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. It was just a coincidence our paths overlapped. I don’t particularly like someone walking ahead of me either.”

Yes, yes. Of course you would say that. Since you’re so great and all.

Katharine swallowed the urge to sneer inwardly and glanced at him.

He was looking down at her with an inscrutable expression, as if he had something more to say.

It was then.

“Your Majesty!”

The advisor she had seen during the previous imperial audience, Duke Ludwig, and a few unfamiliar guard knights came running with relieved faces.

The only person who could be called “Your Majesty” in this country was the Emperor.

Katharine looked around.

But Duke Ludwig and the knights stopped in front of the man right in front of her and bowed deeply.

“Forgive the interruption to your rest, but the delegation from the Ram Kingdom has just arrived and requests an audience with Your Majesty.”

“It seems you’re the ones wearing your eyes as decoration.”

“Pardon?”

The man spoke to them in a commanding voice, markedly different from how he addressed Katharine.

“Can you not see that I’m in conversation with this lady?”

“Ah… My apologies. We will wait until you have finished your business.”

The elderly advisor, looking as if he had witnessed an unbelievable sight, kept glancing at Katharine with bewilderment before taking a few steps back.

Katharine could immediately grasp the situation.

Why they were bowing their heads so low it seemed almost servile, beyond mere politeness.

And the fact that he had been treating her with incredible leniency until now.

As the knights withdrew to one side, Emperor Farnese abruptly walked away along the path leading in the opposite direction.

Feeling utterly perplexed, Katharine alternately looked at the Emperor’s receding back and the knights, before finally following him with quick steps.

“So you were the Emperor.”

When she asked in a slightly trembling voice, Farnese stopped walking but didn’t turn around.

“So, are you disappointed?”

Unable to understand the intent of the question, Katharine just stared quietly at his silver hair with puzzled eyes.

He slowly turned his head.

The dazzling afternoon sunlight poured over his eyelids, creating mysterious shadows.

“Do you think I deceived you?”

“No, it’s more like…”

Katharine pondered for a moment, then shrugged lightly with a faint smile.

It was unclear why something resembling a smile, which she thought she had lost, appeared on her lips at that moment.

“Rather, I’m surprised. To learn that the Emperor I’ve only heard rumors about is actually not scary at all.”

Farnese’s eyes widened at the unexpected answer, then gradually narrowed.

“I’m not scary at all…”

He muttered as if talking to himself, then let out a chuckle that could have been either a pleased laugh or a mocking sneer, and continued on his way.

Katharine followed behind him with light steps, like a chick chasing after its mother hen.

Farnese strode along with his long legs, then glanced back at Katharine breathlessly trotting after him and subtly slowed his pace.

“If you had told me beforehand, I would never have committed such a discourtesy. I’m sorry in many ways.”

“No need to try and smooth things over now. I didn’t care about someone like you in the first place.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were the Emperor? You say you didn’t care, but surely you must have been displeased.”

“Well. It was quite amusing to see you so frightened without knowing anything.”

“A-amusing, you say? I’m sincerely apologizing right now.”

Barely listening to Katharine’s reply, the Emperor who had been earnestly going his own way suddenly stopped.

Katharine, who had stopped a distance away that could fit several people, looked up at his face high above her.

Strangely, even after learning the surprising fact that he was the Emperor, she still didn’t find him intimidating. It seemed to have become a habit in that short time.

Since it was unthinkable to look directly at the Emperor’s face, Katharine quietly lowered her gaze.

Then, a short, incomprehensible sigh escaped from between his teeth.

“Didn’t you just say that I’m not scary at all?”

He murmured in a voice tinged with strange regret.

Katharine unknowingly tried to look at him again, but then composed her oddly wavering heart and showed proper respect.

“I already know well that you’re an impertinent and annoyingly bold girl, so don’t bother trying to be polite now. It’s rather unpleasant.”

“Then how should I…”

“Act as you were before. That way, I can at least alleviate some boredom by thinking about how to punish you in the future. And stop following me like a chick.”

He said this as he started walking again towards where a small stream was flowing.

Whether his words were a joke or a serious rebuke was impossible to tell, but one thing was clear: when she started showing formality, the Emperor wore an expression of distinct displeasure.

Katharine stood there with her mouth slightly open in bewilderment, then walked ahead of him with large strides, solely to follow his orders.

For a mere court lady to walk in front of the Emperor, who was like heaven itself, was an audacious act that could easily cost one’s head, but somehow it felt alright with him.

“See? This way, it’s not me following Your Majesty, but Your Majesty following me, right?”

She had mustered up the courage to do as he said, but for some reason, he let out a small chuckle as if he couldn’t bear it any longer.

Duke Ludwig and the guard knights following at a distance, and even the passing maids, all turned pale at once and murmured among themselves.

“H-His Majesty laughed. Shouldn’t we call for the royal physician right away?”

“Who is that young lady? She must be someone important to converse so casually with His Majesty.”

Katharine, unaware of why they were whispering, thought she had made a mistake.

Now that she knew his identity, she felt closer to him and wondered if she had overstepped her bounds.

“You truly are a strange woman.”

“S-strange?”

“It’s as if you’ve fallen straight from the sky.”

His face, tinged with laughter, melted into gentleness and no longer looked like the Lord of Blood.

When they met in the audience chamber, he had seemed like a man from a distant world that one dared not approach.

She thought that perhaps he wasn’t as frightening as the rumors suggested.

Katharine awkwardly fiddled with her hair that had become disheveled in the wind. At the same time, she felt an unfamiliar sensation of a slight warmth seeping into her heart, which she had thought was empty and crumbling.

‘I feel strange.’

It was the first time since the disastrous broken engagement that she had conversed so comfortably with someone, without any negative emotions or hostility.

Moreover, an emperor who found it unpleasant when treated with proper etiquette? He truly seemed like a man who had fallen from the sky, and she felt a strange sense of familiarity towards him, as absurd as it was.

“Um, if it’s not too presumptuous, may I ask one thing?”

He slightly raised his chin as if to say go ahead.

“Why were you alone in that garden with an injury to your body?”

His footsteps gradually slowed.

Looking at his broad back, honed by extreme training, Katharine secretly swallowed a nervous breath.

Worried that she might have touched on a sensitive topic, she was about to ask him to forget her question when…

“…Katharine?”

Along with a surprised voice, a familiar presence was felt not far away.

It was Charlen and Rose.