After the coronation ceremony, a banquet was held. Since everyone had to change their attire after the coronation, the banquet began at dusk in summer. Despite the season, the night breeze was cool, so the outdoor banquet took place in the beautifully decorated garden.

The scent of flowers and greenery filled the air, and countless pretty lanterns were hung everywhere, giving the feeling of entering a fantastical forest.

There were also rumors that Carlos, not the Empress Dowager, had directly led the banquet.

Not long after the banquet began, Carlos, who had changed from his imperial attire into a white suit, and Mercedes, who had changed her appearance again, appeared.

“Oh my goodness…!”

“You look so beautiful.”

“You truly are a well-matched pair.”

Mercedes’ dress was overwhelming again today.

Every time she moved, various fabrics underneath the skirt were revealed. The voluminous blue dress, adorned with a variety of textures and colors, emitted an opalescent glow whenever the light from the lanterns hit it.

In contrast to the seemingly heavy hemline, the slender waist was emphasized, and the design exposed the shoulders and collarbones, preventing it from looking overly flashy. Rather, it looked elegant.

Finally, after twisting her hair up into curls and letting half of it down, it was fully decorated with pearls and fresh flowers.

She was like a fairy enchanting people on a summer night.

The Empress Dowager did not attend the banquet, citing fatigue and health reasons. Since the coronation had ended well anyway, there was no problem.

“It seems she is properly furious.”

Carlos chuckled as he looked at the Empress Dowager’s empty seat. Mercedes also laughed softly.

The Empress Dowager probably did not want to see Mercedes receiving attention at the banquet. So she deliberately shut herself in.

She could have sat at the banquet and tried to divert some of the attention that would be focused on Mercedes to herself, but she seemed too upset by the necklace incident to even do that.

After all, she was a woman with a hot temper, raised preciously without the need to control her emotions.

“Since there are no troublemakers, let’s enjoy being the protagonists tonight. My empress.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Soon, the nobles flocked to Mercedes.

Far from ignoring her as before, they seemed desperate to become close to her.

“Lady Mercedes, how about going on a boat ride together next time?”

“Lady Mercedes, do you know about the premiere of the play this time? I have a private box at that theater, so if we go together−.”

Mercedes felt strange being surrounded by people’s goodwill for the first time.

Not even once in her life. Even when she became the crown princess, there was never only favor by her side.

It felt newly amazing.

Even while playing a different Mercedes, rather than finding it difficult, she somehow felt more energized.

And she felt grateful.

To Carlos.

Even though he could have rested in the seat prepared for the imperial family, Carlos stayed by her side throughout the banquet.

Whispering playfully that he should properly show his favor.

Regardless of her complicated feelings, wasn’t it thanks to this person that she was having these experiences?

He was someone who consistently showered her with affection and supported her.

Carlos and Mercedes chatted a lot with the nobles and danced to their hearts’ content.

The banquet was quite casual, and being outdoors with many distractions, there was less tension.

Moreover, the rare fruit wine that the emperor had specially brought from a distant kingdom tasted excellent, so everyone drank a little more than usual.

Perhaps because of that, the nobles began to share their thoughts on Mercedes’ crime little by little. It was about her false accusation that had already surfaced.

“To think that such a lovely person is a murderer. Something must be wrong.”

“I think so too. I heard that the Crown Prince of Shame was good with a sword. How could she kill him? And it wasn’t even poisoning, right?”

“It’s a small kingdom, right? If it’s really a false charge… how pathetic.”

“She’s the empress acknowledged even by the Empress Dowager. Of course.”

As they talked, the nobles felt they could be utterly reckless.

In social circles and up until today, the Mercedes that the nobles had seen was lovely, kind, and overflowing with elegance, not someone to be ignored.

Moreover, hadn’t she even received the Empress Dowager’s approval?

As a result, the atmosphere gradually became overheated, and some drunk nobles even fiercely disparaged Shame.

“What do you think, Mercedes?”

“They’re being nicely fooled by my acting.”

Mercedes and Carlos pretended not to hear the conversation and listened to everything while dancing.

“Is that so? I think what they’re saying is right.”

Carlos grinned as he looked at her.

“How could you kill the crown prince with your strength?”

“…Do you think so?”

Why does everyone think my murder is a false charge? Mercedes found it amusing.

“What if… I really did kill him? What if it was revenge against Count Cromwell and an act of betraying human ethics?”

Even so, she was concerned about Carlos’ feelings.

Mercedes carefully looked up at his dark eyes reflecting the banquet lights and asked.

Carlos looked at her with a serious expression and answered.

“It doesn’t matter. You must have had a reason. And about human ethics… Is Count Cromwell close enough to you to talk about ethics? From the letters I’ve seen, it doesn’t seem so.”

“…That’s true.”

“I don’t care what you are.”

“Come to think of it, Your Majesty has never asked me if I’m really a murderer.”

“Is it strange?”

Mercedes’ expression hardened a little.

It was strange.

“It seems you find it strange. I used to have a hard time understanding your thoughts, but now I can understand them quite well. It makes me happy. To get to know you better.”

“Your Majesty.”

Mercedes called out to him in a low voice, sensing that he was trying to brush it off with sweet words.

He whispered to her with a grin.

“This is a secret from others. They might call me a deranged emperor. The truth is, I was so taken by you that I thought it didn’t matter even if you were a murderer.”

“But I’m a murderer. A criminal.”

“Oh my, Mercedes. I have taken more lives than you. Yet I’m not called a murderer but praised as the emperor who led us to victory in the conquest wars. What other reason is there for you not to be the same?”

“You had the justification of war, Your Majesty.”

“War cannot be a justification. Those who use war as a justification for taking lives are simply struggling not to go to hell. I prepared myself for hell and made up my mind when I waged war.”

“…That’s… the same for me.”

Mercedes looked at Carlos with surprised eyes.

She didn’t expect someone as confident and always certain of their decisions as Carlos to have similar thoughts to hers.

“Haha. We are truly a match made in heaven. Now it’s not strange? That I didn’t ask you.”

“…Hmm. Yes.”

“If I can spend the afterlife with you in hell, that would be nice too.”

He’s really a strange person.

Mercedes blankly stared at him and then lightly rested her head on his chest.

Someone who sees her as she is. Someone who praises her for being great.

And… someone who doesn’t ask about certain things.

Thinking about it, she realized.

In the carriage on the way to the room, Carlos had guessed that she wanted revenge against Count Cromwell.

But he never once asked about the detailed circumstances.

Is that a habit you developed from wandering the battlefield and killing people? Even so, if you love someone, don’t you get curious?

I don’t know love. Is it because you’re afraid it might hurt to ask? I’m endlessly curious even if it seems like it will hurt you. I often want to ask. Why you’ve been wandering the battlefield since you were a boy. If you weren’t lonely. If it didn’t hurt. What happened to your mother.

Who is this person named Skyla? You seemed so close. She must be capable, more so than someone like me.

But you know what? Aren’t you curious?

About the life I’ve lived.

It wasn’t a life I wanted to answer about, but while feeling comfort in his lack of questions, she also felt a sense of disappointment rising.

Disappointment?

‘This is crazy.’

It’s an emotion she doesn’t need to feel. Mercedes wanted to hit her own head for no reason.

Mercedes knows. She was now paying too much attention to him. She didn’t know when the quick-witted Carlos would find out.

She didn’t like that.

Trusting someone and giving them her heart was a scary thing for Mercedes.

Carlos observed her face and whispered.

“I can tell you as many times as you want. I’m taken by you, and I’m falling for you more and more. Mercedes. Tonight… too. I’ll fall for you even more. Of course, if you don’t want to, I won’t lay a finger on you.”

Tonight?

Mercedes, absorbed in her own emotions, suddenly remembered what she had forgotten.

‘The first night…!’

Amidst the necklace commotion and the hectic banquet, she had forgotten while retracing her emotions.

The empress’ coronation ceremony held the same meaning as a wedding. Not having a wedding was to show the difference from the position of the queen.

However, since it was a day to proclaim that she had become the emperor’s woman, the first night was part of the coronation.

‘What should I do?’

She had only hugged Carlos once and received a kiss on the forehead. She had even been slapped by Richard.

But she knew.

Her father had told her so many vulgar stories. What happens on the first night, how it takes place, and even how a woman should treat a man!

Her father seemed to see his daughter only as a marriage commodity, teaching her such things. He even said she had to become a “master in bed.”

‘To do such things… with Carlos.’

She had also heard that it hurts the first time. Apart from that, she had heard that it was an act to satisfy a man.

The confidence that had always been by her side lately seemed to fade away in an instant.

When facing Richard, she could be indifferent even though she disliked the expected events, but…

Facing Carlos made her heart race like crazy, and tension rose within her.

Mercedes felt like screaming.

Meanwhile, Carlos stood with his back to the light from the lanterns hung everywhere. He hoped the shadows would conceal his stiffened face as he reminded himself of pointing a sword at Mercedes.