This time, it was the Emperor who was at a loss for words.

The Emperor, who had never lost in words—or in any other aspect, for that matter—to anyone in any situation throughout his life. Yet, because of the girl in front of him, he repeatedly found himself at a loss for words.

What’s even more astonishing is that she has no idea of the influence she holds over the Emperor.

“Your Majesty, can you not understand animal language?”

Surprised, Arabel asked with round eyes, to which the Emperor thought for a moment before asking back.

“Do you… understand the language of all animals? Even birds flying in the sky and fish swimming in the water?”

Arabel smiled, her eyes curving into crescents, and replied.

“Oh, Your Majesty, I’m not a magician or someone with superpowers.”

“R-right? Ha, ha…”

“Unless birds flying in the sky come close or fish in the water come to the surface to talk, I can’t hear them, you know.”

Once again, no words came out from between the Emperor’s quivering lips.

That’s right. Just as people can’t understand what’s being said through a wall. Similarly, the sounds of animals far away wouldn’t be heard.

The Emperor put a few honey-roasted almonds into his soft lips and asked.

“Then, can you understand the sounds of all nearby animals? Both livestock and wild beasts?”

As if he had asked something obvious, Arabel answered while chewing the sweet almonds in her cheek.

“Yes. Just like other people.”

“What other people?”

“…People in the world…?”

Arabel answered, looking at the Emperor with worried eyes.

She was perplexed, as if the Emperor was asking if she understood the imperial language used by all citizens of the empire.

The Emperor’s Adam’s apple bobbed once, but his expression remained calm and unperturbed. He looked into her bright eyes gazing at him innocently as he wiped the corner of his mouth, which had a bit of honey on it, with his thumb and brought it to his own mouth.

“Among the people of the world you speak of, who told you they understand animal language?”

At the Emperor’s question, Arabel thought for a moment and shook her head slightly.

“No one did, but…”

Her round eyes looked at the Emperor as she answered.

“Just as imperial citizens don’t deliberately tell the person next to them that they use the imperial language. It’s just something everyone knows.”

That’s true.

The Emperor took a moment to catch his breath before speaking slowly.

While tucking a strand of hair that had fallen to the side behind her ear with his long fingers.

“Lady Arabel, I cannot understand animal sounds.”

At the Emperor’s words, Arabel’s round eyes widened as if they couldn’t get any bigger.

Then soon, with eyes full of sympathy, she carefully took his hands in both of hers.

“That must be very inconvenient for you. I had no idea… Did you have an accident when you were young? Or is it because of a curse that you can’t understand?”

She seems to think the Emperor lost his hearing due to an unfortunate accident.

The Emperor slowly placed his other hand on top of her two hands covering his, gently patting them. His ruby-colored eyes held her innocent gaze as he spoke softly.

“As far as I know, no one in this world except you can understand or use animal language.”

“W-what do you mean by that…?”

Arabel’s round eyes began to waver, losing their focus.

It was like suddenly being told by someone that the language you’ve used all your life is not understood by anyone else.

The Emperor pulled the stiffening Arabel closer into his arms, burying her head against his chest. Her breathing became steady again as if her anxious heart was calmed.

The Emperor gently stroked her flushed cheek with the back of his large hand and asked.

“When did you start understanding animal sounds?”

At the Emperor’s question, Arabel thought for a moment before shaking her head and answering.

“I don’t know. I just naturally understood as I grew up. I think it was from when I started speaking…”

“Then, you can also speak to animals.”

Arabel silently nodded in the Emperor’s embrace.

Now the puzzle pieces seem to fit together. When she helped with the Baroness Kander’s racehorse’s difficult birth, on the way leaving the village, when she kept waving her hand from inside the carriage towards the livestock and wild animals of the estate that were crying in a frenzy, when she saved a dying fawn shot by a hunter and brought it back to its mother, when she led numerous wild animals to escape from a forest fire… She had been conversing with the beasts.

He had thought nothing of her kind words to the animals. Many people talk to their pets too. But would anyone really believe they’re actually conversing with animals?

He had simply thought she had an excellent ability to empathize with beasts. The Emperor’s red eyes, with his lips resting on her round crown, flashed with a sharp light.

Arabel’s ability is not just useful for taking care of household pets or livestock… It could have a huge impact on major economies including war, trade, livestock farming, and the fishing industry.

In a situation where the trade routes of the southwestern continent are struggling due to large herds of buffalo, Arabel’s ability would be very useful. Also, whenever they tried to expand into the northern continent, they suffered great damage from attacks by vulture flocks, but with her ability, it could be easily resolved.

If animals could be trained to disrupt and attack enemies during war… Arabel could become the empire’s greatest human weapon, greatly advancing his ambition of continental conquest.

The heart of the ambitious Emperor Maxwell began to beat faster.

At that moment, Arabel lifted her head from where it was buried and looked at the Emperor with her round eyes.

“Your Majesty, are you unwell?”

The Emperor narrowed his eyes and asked back to Arabel, who was looking at him with worried eyes.

“Why do you think so?”

“Your heart suddenly started beating too fast. I was worried if I had been sitting on your lap for too long and it was tiring for you…”

Arabel had asked because she was startled by the pounding heartbeat she felt against the chest where her head was resting.

The cold red eyes that had darkened began to waver when they met the innocent, trusting eyes. Realizing that he had tried to use her for his ambition, the Emperor’s spine suddenly chilled.

He felt ashamed for having thought of the word ‘human weapon’ and for the first time, he couldn’t meet her eyes.

The Emperor tightly embraced the small, thin body that still had plenty of room in his arms and closed his eyes. The color suddenly drained from the Emperor’s face as he gently tickled Arabel’s earlobe and jawline with his sharp nose.

If people were to learn of her ability… They would, like him just now, be constantly looking for opportunities to use her out of greed. Kingdoms might employ all sorts of schemes to get their hands on her, even resorting to kidnapping.

As the word ‘kidnapping’ flashed through his mind, the Emperor’s jaw clenched tightly, grinding his molars.

The Emperor quietly asked, drawing Arabel’s gaze.

“Does anyone know that you can speak animal language?”

“No, I just thought everyone could do it, so I didn’t say anything.”

A shallow sigh of relief unknowingly escaped the Emperor’s lips.

The Emperor gently held Arabel’s chin, aligning her in front of him, and spoke.

“Lady Arabel, can you make a promise with me?”

Arabel nodded without hesitation at the Emperor’s serious expression.

The Emperor was grateful for Arabel’s unwavering trust in him, nodding without even asking what the promise was… But it’s very dangerous to nod without asking about the promise.

Thinking that he should firmly warn her later to never do this with others, the Emperor continued.

“Never tell anyone that you can communicate with animals. Can you promise that?”

Arabel looked at the Emperor with wide round eyes and slowly nodded. Her light brown eyes, promising without even asking for a reason, were full of trust in the Emperor.

“I promise.”

The Emperor tilted his head, bringing his face close enough to almost touch her round face.

As the hot breath flowing between his red lips fell on her pink lips, her long eyelashes fluttered, causing a disturbance. The Emperor comfortably supported her small head with one hand while wrapping her back with the other, pressing her tightly against his body without any gap.

Now somewhat accustomed, the small body nestled softly without stiffening. As the Emperor lowered his lips to gently part her soft lips as if to soothe them, a sweet scent that stimulated the salivary glands leaked out.

No matter what happens… He will protect her from harm. He will shield her from pain.

The Emperor vowed as he took the breath of the lovable creature who entrusted everything to him without defense.

The two lips that had been delicately exchanging breaths suddenly began to desperately steal and be stolen, burrowing into each other.

Whenever her reddened lips, unable to keep up with the Emperor’s pace, gasped for air, he would breathe into them as if to soothe. However, his large lips wouldn’t part easily and instead swallowed everything even more persistently.

There was no time to be embarrassed about what was happening inside her small mouth. Every time his head moved violently, every time a husky moan flowed between his intruding lips… Heat spread tinglingly down Arabel’s spine, curling her stubby toes.

As her body, still unfamiliar with the stimulation, twisted her waist and pulled back not knowing what to do, the Emperor’s hands instantly caught her waist, trapping her even more firmly in his arms to prevent her from escaping.

Every time the fireball deep inside her mouth touched and passed by, strange sounds kept leaking between her lips. When she tried to close her lips in surprise, the Emperor, as if displeased, lightly bit her lower lip with his sharp canine teeth.

“Your Majesty, it’s time for Lady Arabel to return to the annex palace.”

The voice of Antonio, the Emperor’s second chief secretary, was heard from outside the reception room. Informing that the curfew time applicable to all empress candidates was approaching soon.

The two lovers looked at each other, coming to their senses at Antonio’s words.

They couldn’t remember when Arabel’s body, which had been sitting on his lap, had been laid down between the Emperor and the table. Hearing Antonio’s cough, the Emperor’s hands, which had been placed on the table on either side of Arabel’s shoulders, clenched into fists until the backs of his hands turned white.

“Hah…”

Exhaling hot breath onto the white neck decorated with red flowers, the Emperor reluctantly raised his upper body. After pulling up and embracing the thin body still trembling from the vivid stimulation, he patted her back.

While pressing his lips against her bulging forehead beaded with sweat, trying his best to calm his excited body.

“We should shorten the competition period to one month.”

When the Emperor said this while looking at her moist lips with eyes still filled with unabated heat, Arabel, thinking he was joking, wiggled her fingers inside the Emperor’s intertwined hands and smiled brightly at him.

However, late that night after Arabel had returned to the annex palace, Emperor Maxwell urgently convened the Empress Selection Competition Committee.

The Emperor, with cold eyes and an arrogant smile, opened his mouth towards them.

“I failed to consider your hearts that think of the empire.”

The committee members, who had hurriedly gathered just as they were about to go to bed, stared blankly at his face, not understanding the Emperor’s words.

“Being confined in the imperial palace for over two months for the empress selection competition, how much you must worry about the empire. It’s natural that things aren’t running properly since talents like you have left your posts. With your upright characters, you must be inwardly criticizing the long-term competition as a waste of taxes.”

The Emperor furrowed his brow slightly and let out a long sigh.

“I’ve gathered you here to ease your concerns, as your hearts for the empire are greater than anyone’s. I know everything you were planning to propose to me at tomorrow morning’s meeting.”

The committee members exchanged glances with puzzled expressions, as there was nothing the committee had planned to propose to the Emperor at tomorrow’s meeting.

The Emperor slightly pulled up both corners of his mouth and said in a kind voice.

“I know that you were planning to ask me to shorten this competition to one month at tomorrow’s meeting. So, there’s no need to wait until tomorrow, ask now. How could I refuse your deep hearts for the empire?”

The committee members looked at each other for a moment, then slowly opened their mouths and proposed in unison. Very naturally and seriously, as if it was their own idea.

And the next day,

“We announce that the duration of the Empress Selection Competition has been changed from two months to one month.”

The palace messenger conveyed the unanimously decided will of the competition committee to the eleven candidates.