“What would you do at night then?”
“……”
Emperor Rinel asked in a tone that was neither high nor low.
“I wouldn’t be coming to discuss the unfinished political affairs with the Empress.”
His eyes stubbornly stared at me even after he finished speaking.
Looking at his eyes, which strangely mixed blue and emerald, I quickly turned my head as my body felt increasingly drawn to him and wet my throat again.
However, like a fool, I picked up my wine glass again and gulped down the remaining wine.
Damn, I wonder if I can walk out of the banquet hall on my own two feet.
“Actually, I want to do it right away, like yesterday……”
My wine choked in the middle of my throat at the words he mumbled quietly.
Emperor Rinel’s words were not something to bring up in a situation where the young girls are watching.
Not that it’s any more comfortable to hear when we’re alone.
I sneaked a look at the expressions of the young girls standing side by side against the wall.
As expected, I don’t know what great flight of imagination the young girls are having at the words the Emperor just spat out, but their faces were already flushed.
“Your Majesty, such words here are a bit……”
I couldn’t bear to look him in the eye, so I bowed my head and whispered so that only he could hear.
“What… are you talking about?”
Despite the level of the words he spat out, his voice was too plain.
“Where else would I say that if I don’t say it here? In bed?”
I raised my head and looked at his shameless face.
Emperor Rinel was just about to cut the steak in front of him with a fork and knife.
“Why won’t it cut well? The meat is tough today. Empress, why are you looking at me like that? I wish I could easily cut and eat the steak right away, like yesterday, but it’s not cutting well today.”
“Is that what…you meant?”
When I asked with my eyes wide open, he cut the steak combatively as if he had been waiting for it and answered.
“Don’t tell me, you misunderstood my words?”
“…No, Your Majesty. I think I… also heard it that way.”
I countered his words, but my face was already red from the misunderstanding.
There was a glimpse of mischief in the Emperor’s eyes for a moment.
Did he purposely play with words to tease me?
He put a piece of steak in his mouth and chewed the meat with a pleasant smile for some reason.
Now is the time. I should ask when he looks happy.
Why he has to use those young girls as my maids, and why they came into the banquet hall and are watching me against the wall.
“Your Majesty, why are those girls who were selected as my maids in the banquet hall?”
“Why are you asking me?”
He asked me back in surprise.
I shifted my gaze and stared at the faces of the young girls in turn.
“They are your maids, aren’t they? Aren’t they the ones who now move at your command?”
Emperor Rinel asked, looking only at me without glancing at the girls.
“That’s right. That’s what I thought, but……”
I closed my mouth, stretching out the end of my sentence to leave an intentional pause.
When I started cutting the steak with a sullen face as I remained silent, he finally turned his head and asked the girls.
“Weren’t you here because you were called by the Empress?”
“We… we did, Your Majesty. We were told that and came in!”
At Melanie’s answer, I put the fork and knife I was holding on the table with a loud thump.
“Who told you?”
I asked Melanie with a voice full of doubt.
“Well, that… there are so many servants in the palace that I can’t remember who delivered the message from Her Majesty the Empress.”
Melanie answered, looking at Emperor Rinel with a desolate expression, not even looking at me who actually asked the question.
“It seems there was some misunderstanding.”
Emperor Rinel, who had been receiving Melanie’s gaze until the end, said to me as if it were nothing.
“Is that so?”
I answered as I picked up the knife again.
Without knowing it, I held the knife upright as if I was going to stab the plate.
I almost laughed out loud, but I didn’t want to appear argumentative from the first day.
“It seems there was a miscommunication.”
Instead, I just let it pass, timidly expressing my dissatisfaction with a dubious voice.
It seemed I would have to discuss the issue of the maids with the Emperor separately later.
But then, Emperor Rinel’s decisive voice came.
“Change all the servants in the Empress’s palace.”
I was surprised at his unexpected decision.
“All… of them?”
“Or let the Empress change the maids.”
Emperor Rinel nonchalantly tilted his empty wine glass toward me.
Quickly, I reached out, picked up the wine bottle, and poured wine into his empty glass.
After filling the glass halfway, I met his gaze again and inadvertently chuckled.
He squinted one eye at me.
It seemed like a signal that he was gauging my mood.
Of course, it could have been my imagination, but whatever, it didn’t matter.
It was quite delightful anyway.
“Your Majesty, would you care to discuss the process of changing the maids over tea after dinner?”
The Male lead Always Seduces Her with His Beauty (Matriarchy)
Xin Jiao Zhou is the leader of the world’s premier sect. She has just experienced betrayal from all sides, was poisoned in an assassination attempt, and faced death squad attacks while the poison was taking effect. After finally clearing out the scum from her sect, she was drugged again while trying to detoxify.
After waking up from a night of unconsciousness, she gained a “beautiful and kind-hearted” husband.
Xin Jiao Zhou: “???”
He fell ill.
She came to see him, bringing breakfast.
As she put down the breakfast and was about to leave, his hand slipped while holding the spoon. “Clank!”
She turned around upon hearing the noise.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows drooping: “My hand… has no strength.”
“Shall I… feed you?” she asked tentatively.
He opened his mouth cheerfully: “Ah—”
Thinking she was drowning, he jumped in without hesitation to save her, but nearly drowned himself. In the end, it was she who swam over to rescue him, giving him air underwater.
After emerging from the water, his ear tips turned red. He lightly brushed his cheek, tucking his sideburns behind his ear, revealing delicate, pink-tinged ear tips. He lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at her.
Xin Jiao Zhou: He’s truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and adorable.
A certain someone when disciplining subordinates behind the scenes: “If they don’t obey, just kill them.”
What’s that? She might already have someone she cares about in her heart? A certain someone: Find out who it is, kill them, and then there won’t be anyone.
What? She met a man by the riverside? What? That man even hurt her? A certain someone: Whichever hand hurt her, chop off his entire arm.
Love at first sight without realizing it, gradually falling in love, slowly getting closer…
Family and national grudges, schemes and desires, good and evil, crime and punishment, she and he face the future together, seeking justice with passion!
A naturally dark female lead who could accidentally destroy the world but is actually an honest person VS a weak, pitiful, and helpless but skilled fighter, beautiful white-cut black male lead
My heart is not of stone, how steadfast is your love? — Tao Yuanming “Imitating the Ancients (No. 3)”
— Reading Guide —
Cold female lead & dramatic black lotus with hidden yandere traits male lead
