My heart, which had settled down, began to beat wildly as he got closer.

Casius, who approached with his long legs, soon took a seat beside me.

Evelina, who was sitting in the back, moved away to exchange greetings with the nobles after receiving Casius’ permission.

After that, a chilling silence flowed between Casius and me.

He didn’t even spare a single glance at me.

I was on edge, worried that it would be outwardly apparent that he was treating me as if I didn’t exist.

“Your Majesty, today is the coronation ceremony.”

I could feel Casius looking at me with an expression that seemed to say, “So what?”

“Please smile a little.”

When I spoke like ventriloquism with my lips bitten, Casius’ peculiar gaze reached me.

Even without turning my head, it was obvious that his gaze would be filled with absurdity.

“There are many eyes watching. If you reveal your feelings towards me, ominous rumors about the empire will spread.”

“I had no idea you would be mindful of such things.”

His tone was not sarcastic, just blunt, but it still tore through my insides like thorns.

He might even find it bothersome to have this kind of conversation with me now.

From Casius’ perspective, it was understandable.

None of the promises I made to him had been fulfilled.

Diarob had not been caught, and there were no rumors of monsters appearing in Winterdell.

I was planning to bring that up with Duke Diarob if I had the chance to speak with him today.

That meant I had to endure Casius’ sarcasm until all these issues were resolved.

As I kept my lips tightly closed, I could feel his gaze lingering on me and then falling away.

After that, only ephemeral silence lingered as usual.

The only thing that filled the silence was the occasional greetings from foreign guests.

As I responded to their greetings with a smiling face, adapting to the etiquette of each country, Casius’ gaze reached me once again.

As if it seemed unexpected.

Well, the people from the oriental country who exchanged greetings a little while ago used unique etiquette.

It might have seemed a bit surprising that I knew even such things.

Anyway, now that his attention was focused on me, it seemed like the right time to bring up what I had prepared to say.

“Thanks to Lady Evelina, whom Your Majesty entrusted with this matter, not providing the guest list, I had a bit of a hard time.”

It was a barbed remark, half intentional and half sincere.

Contrary to my expectation that he would ignore it, Casius’ blatant gaze landed on my face.

‘Is that something Evelina did on her own?’

Well, it was something I had anticipated from the beginning.

Nevertheless, after confirming it, I felt a strange sense of relief.

It was ridiculous to feel my heart fluttering over such a trivial matter.

If someone were to look into my heart, they might think Casius had confessed his love for me.

At that fleeting thought, Evelina approached with a foreign guest in tow.

The guest she brought was ‘Dilan’, the second prince of the faraway Berhen Kingdom.

He held a strong position in the succession structure and was considered a prominent candidate for the next monarch.

The Berhen Kingdom, where they built stone mountains instead of tombs to honor the dead, was located in a humid region and was known for its unique medicinal herbs.

I had once prepared to trade with this place.

That was the reason I knew so much about this distant kingdom.

He roughly congratulated Casius in the Berhen language and immediately moved to my side.

However, unlike before, he knelt on one knee and extended his hand so that the floor was visible.

Seeing the extended hand, I momentarily felt perplexed.

According to the imperial law, it was taboo for a married woman to receive a direct kiss on a body part.

If I were to extend my hand like this and receive Dilan’s hand kiss, it would be an insult to Casius and, by extension, to the empire.

However, it was clear that refusing this would also be an insult to the prince, Dilan.

‘At the same time, I would bear the disgrace and stigma of being an inadequate empress.’

Evelina must have brought this person, thinking I would naturally be unaware of it. Without even giving a single hint.

She looked at me with a mocking gaze, standing in an observant posture in front of me.

I immediately smiled and took off my glove.

The things I used to carry out of habit as a chief of staff were all in my possession. People’s habits are truly remarkable.

‘Who would have thought it would be so helpful like this?’

As I extended my hand covered with a lace-embroidered glove, Dilan pressed his lips firmly against it.

Evelina’s expression, watching the scene, crumpled satisfyingly.

Evelina clenched her fists, trying hard to manage her expression.

She seemed upset that I hadn’t been insulted as she had intended.

On the other hand, Casius meticulously scanned my gloved hand and the prince with an unreadable expression.

In that fleeting moment, time passed.

Just as I was under the illusion that everyone’s eyes were fixed on me, the prince removed his lips from my hand.

“It’s an honor to be called by you.”

At that moment, Casius’ voice rang in my ear.

“Begin the ceremony.”

Casius’ tone was polite, but his voice carried a sense of intimidation.

He had a slightly furrowed brow as if there was something unsettling.

Although it seemed like there was no movement on the surface, my eyes didn’t miss even his small changes.

At the moment when the music signaling the start of the ceremony began above the banquet hall,

Casius offered me one of his arms.

As I held onto that arm and walked to perform the ceremony, I could feel the heat from our touching bodies.

Of course, it would only be my own sentiment.

Nevertheless, the fact that I was in contact with him tormented me.

*

The orchestra, startled by the emperor’s command to start the ceremony early, quickly changed the tune following the conductor’s direction.

As the performance progressed from crescendo to forte, heading towards its peak, Casius’ thoughts also swirled erratically.

Today, for the first time, Casius took an interest in Vivian’s actions and listened to what she had to say.

No matter how much he thought about it, no clear answer came to mind regarding the purple flower he had been holding and how much time he had spent.

Now, just looking at the empress reminded him of the color purple.

The empress, whom he had carefully observed for the first time, seemed more and more strange the more he looked at her.

How could she fluently speak so many languages? And how did she perfectly master the etiquette of each country?

.

.

.

Numerous questions surged in his mind.

In the midst of that, her gaze was completely turned away as if she didn’t need someone like him.

It was as if she was protesting, being angry with him.

It was an absurd situation.

Today, he had proposed to Vivian that they enter together.

It was due to a bit of guilt for recently messing up the rosemary flower bed on a whim.

However, Vivian rejected his proposal and said she would enter alone.

‘When courting, she was like that, but now……’

Entering the banquet hall, he saw Vivian with a hurt expression and found it even more ridiculous.

‘I should be the one who’s angry, so why is that woman making that kind of face?’

The question was soon resolved. The empress said she hadn’t received the guest list from her chief of staff.

In fact, he couldn’t care less whether she did or not.

Even when the chief of staff brought Prince Dilan with transparent intentions to test her, he stayed a step back.

Half of it was out of pride.

Shouldn’t he be happy the more Vivian got hurt?

But the woman received the greetings with a graceful posture and perfect decorum, as if she had read everything.

It was a flawless etiquette without any disrespect towards him or Prince Dilan.

His curiosity deepened further.

‘How does that woman know the etiquette of the Berhen Kingdom, which is located outside the continent?’

The answer to that came soon.

It was clear that Vivian knew Prince Dilan well.

The subtle difference in her eyes compared to when she dealt with other royalty or nobles.

There was definitely something she was hiding.

So what? Whether she was hiding something or not, what did it matter to him?

No. It did matter.

If his guess was true, he had to twist that woman by holding it as a leash.

And somehow entangle Snowfell.

As he was having such thoughts, his gaze met Vivian’s.

Her gaze seemed to pierce through him, as if reading his thoughts, making Casius feel displeased.

While lost in thought, the ceremony came to an end, and the music changed to a lively tune once again.

Wearing the crown and exuding the majesty of an emperor, Casius moved towards the central seat.

At that moment, Tikan quickly approached.

Naturally, as Casius let go of Vivian’s hand, her purple eyes stared at him intently.

Those eyes were like the purple flower petals he had recently plucked.

Realizing that he was having such thoughts again, he found it ridiculous and heartlessly turned his back, disappearing from Vivian’s sight.

Looking at Tikan, he felt even more alert.

Casius’ face gradually hardened as he thought about what urgent matter Tikan might be seeking him for.

“There are rumors that monsters have appeared in Winterdell.”

“……!”