I know very well, indeed I do.

When did you see me glancing?

Regretting my rash gaze, I closed my eyes tightly and opened them again.

“By the way, Your Majesty, did you come to the clinic alone?”

I quickly changed the subject.

“No. Secretary Raphael suddenly had an upset stomach, so I was alone at the seat.”

“In the corner, right?”

“Yes, crumpled in the corner like someone said yesterday. What about the Empress?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking why you went to the ‘Bold Night’ clinic yesterday. It seemed like you were getting something.”

“I, I…”

My heart sank at his question.

I couldn’t tell the truth.

What should I do?

What excuse should I make?

“Empress…?”

He called me as if urging an answer.

“I went to buy an aphrodisiac!”

“What?”

“For the bold tonight, our first night!”

“…What?”

“It’s true!”

I clenched my fists and shouted with determination, my eyes filled with sincerity.

Emperor Rinel stared at me blankly for a moment, then slowly pulled the blanket up to his chin.

His face showed clear signs of tension.

Why is he like that?

“You suddenly look tired, Your Majesty?”

“Do I? That’s fortunate.”

Emperor Rinel replied, closing his eyes.

“?”

“The Empress must be tired too.”

He asked, opening one eye slightly.

“I’m… not tired at all, perhaps because I took the aphrodisiac!”

A yawn was coming, but I held it back by pinching my thigh.

Since I had said I took an aphrodisiac to hide the fact that I went to buy a magic potion to remove burn scars, I couldn’t say that I felt like I would fall asleep as soon as I closed my eyes.

If I had known this would happen, I should have bought and drunk a real aphrodisiac too.

“I understand that the Empress’s energy is overflowing thanks to the aphrodisiac, but it would be better to sleep now.”

“Should we?”

That’s welcome news.

“Yes. We’ll gradually confirm the effectiveness of that aphrodisiac from now on.”

What do you mean by gradually confirming?

Emperor Rinel patted the space beside him, gesturing for me to lie down.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

As I obediently lay down, he fluttered the blanket and covered me with it.

“But it seems there’s no thermal magic stone in this bedroom…”

His voice, full of doubt, was heard in the darkness.

“It seems so. Why, Your Majesty? Are you cold?”

“No, I’m not saying that, just curious.”

“About what?”

“Empress, we’re a married couple now, right?”

He suddenly asked an out-of-the-blue question instead of answering mine.

“I… guess so? We’re a couple now.”

I hesitated for a moment before replying.

“That’s right. We’re a couple.”

He nodded and suddenly grabbed my hand that was neatly placed on my stomach.

“Yo-Your Majesty?”

Surprised by his unexpected touch, I wriggled to pull my hand away from his grasp.

But his grip tightened.

He turned his head towards me and asked accusingly.

“Do I need the Empress’s permission even to hold hands?”

“No…”

“Then let me borrow it for a while.”

Emperor Rinel carefully interlaced his fingers with mine.

“It’s warm, that’s why. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt sleepy like this without a thermal magic stone…”

His voice gradually slowed and quieted.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly blurted out.

“It’s nice.”

“…”

With that short comment, silence fell again, but my heart didn’t stay silent and kept pounding.

I kept my gaze fixed on the ceiling, tense.

Then, suddenly feeling some courage, I slowly turned my head towards Emperor Rinel.

Huh? Did he fall asleep already?

Seeing his face that seemed to be in deep sleep, I finally started to relax.

After staring at his face, which seemed to glow even in the darkness, for a while, my eyelids also gradually lost strength and drooped.

***

How much time had passed?

My eyes opened on their own.

It was still dark around.

‘I didn’t wake up because I was hot.’

I often woke up in the middle of the night due to the hot sensation I felt in my body every two or three days.

At those times, I always had to go out to the terrace, take off my clothes and stand in the cold wind, or sit in a bathtub filled with cold water to lower my body temperature before I could fall asleep again.

My eyes opened out of habit, but today was definitely different from other times.

My head, which had always felt heavy, was much lighter.

Although it was still early dawn, my physical condition was quite refreshed, enough to start the day from now.

Curious, I tried to raise my upper body but failed.

“Ah.”

I belatedly realized that Emperor Rinel was holding me in his arms.

Did Emperor Rinel, who was cursed with hypothermia, cool my hot fever all night? Or did I act as a human heater for him?

Sensing my movement in his sleep, he wrapped his legs around my body as if to bind me.

“Ah!”

“Don’t move. Stay like this…”

Rinel’s breath, drunk with sleep, touched my nape.

I didn’t dislike his firm embrace.

I gave up trying to escape from his arms and closed my eyes again.

I couldn’t fall asleep easily because of his heartbeat that even made my body resonate.

***

Tap, tap-.

The sound of heels stepping on the marble floor vaguely woke me from sleep.

It wasn’t the sound of one person’s footsteps, but the sound of several people walking simultaneously.

How long have I been sleeping?

I rubbed my eyes and came to my senses.

As soon as I opened my eyes, the elaborate ceiling mural was the first thing that entered my vision.

Only then did I remember that this was the Empress’s bedroom in the Raphion Empire, and I became nervous anew.

Before fully waking up, I stroked my hair.

“Hm?”

I clearly remember that when I last fell asleep, my hair was covering half of my right face, but when I woke up, all my hair was tucked behind my right ear.

Did I do that in my sleep?

Or was it Emperor Rinel?

The space beside me was already empty.

The Emperor, who had fallen asleep before me last night, seemed to have woken up before me and already left the bedroom.

“Good morning, Your Majesty the Empress.”

“?”

As a clear woman’s voice rang out in the bedroom, several others immediately echoed in unison.

“Good morning, Your Majesty the Empress.”

What’s going on so early in the morning?

The surprise didn’t last long, and I unconsciously frowned.

Then I turned my head towards where the clear voice had just come from.

Four noblewomen, dressed elaborately, standing side by side with their backs to the terrace, entered my view along with the morning sunlight.

They were curiously observing me, who had just woken up in bed.

Is it okay to enter the Empress’s bedroom so carelessly before she even wakes up?

And on the day after the first night with the Emperor?

Judging by their appearance, they seemed to be noble ladies chosen as the Empress’s maids.

Is this also a tradition of the Raphion Imperial Court?

Well, compared to the tradition of priests watching over the Emperor and Empress’s first night, this isn’t that surprising.

I stared back at the noble ladies, as if examining them.

All four of the ladies were undeniably beautiful.

The dresses they wore were incredibly elaborate and expensive.

They all had makeup that showed clear signs of special care, and each had a jeweled hairpin stuck in their hair.

Any of them would look much more suitable than me if crowned as Empress.

I first gathered my surprised thoughts.

While doing so, I expressed my unspoken displeasure through my gaze.

Sensing my gaze, one of them opened her mouth.

“We are Your Majesty the Empress’s maids. From today, we will guide you through the Raphion Imperial Court. We will also help you in various ways for your quick adaptation.”

Although she used honorifics, her expression and tone were as if she herself was the Empress.

Judging by her voice, she seemed to be the lady who had first greeted me when I woke up.

“Your name is?”

My voice came out somewhat bluntly.

I didn’t greet them with pleasantries like ‘pleased to meet you’ or ‘thank you for becoming my maids’.

After all, I’m just a substitute Empress, so why should I care about their feelings?

We just needed to behave in a way that didn’t violate etiquette.

However, this being the Raphion Imperial Court, I couldn’t gauge whether the current situation was a violation of etiquette or not.

If I were the real Empress, I would never have allowed them to enter my bedroom without my permission.

What if Emperor Rinel had given them permission to enter my bedroom first?

Hmm, if that’s the case, I should never act as a human heater for the Emperor again in the future.

“Ah, I’ll introduce myself formally. I am Melanie Hetzros from the Hetzros Ducal family, Your Majesty the Empress.”

Starting with Lady Melanie, the remaining three ladies also stepped forward one by one and began to introduce themselves.

“I am Pecilini Asto from the Asto Viscount family.”

Like Lady Melanie who had just finished her greeting, Lady Pecilini also greeted with a haughty, straight back.

“Your Majesty the Empress, I am Sophia Winston from the Winston Viscount family!”

The lady who greeted this time looked the youngest. Perhaps because of this, she alone smiled innocently with a bright voice.

Lastly, the orange-haired curly lady who was standing alone at the end came forward hesitantly.

Unlike the other ladies who were standing proudly with their shoulders straight, she had a somewhat cautious attitude.

“I greet Your Majesty the Empress. I am Rosie Adelrid from the Adelrid Count family. I sincerely apologize for unintentionally waking Your Majesty from your sleep.”

Lady Rosie, with her shy expression, seemed to be the only one showing proper judgment of the situation.

I nodded lightly to her and then opened my mouth towards the other ladies.

“I’ll skip my introduction as you all probably know about me, but I have something I want to ask first thing in the morning, at our first meeting…”

Unintentionally, my voice flowed out sounding quite authoritative even to my own ears.

The four ladies seemed somewhat surprised by my stern tone.

I looked at each of them carefully to memorize their faces.

Three of them were still looking down at me sitting on the bed, and only Lady Rosie, the orange-haired curly one who introduced herself last, had her head bowed.

“Who dared… to let you into the bedroom without my permission?”

As I asked accusingly, putting strength into my voice, the ladies’ eyes all widened at once and their pupils shook.

“Who was it?”

I asked again.

Then three of the ladies glanced at one place simultaneously.

I turned my gaze to the person they were indicating with their eyes.

So it was you.

“It was me, Your Majesty the Empress.”

It was Lady Melanie, who had greeted me first.

She stepped forward gracefully with a haughty expression.

“Lady Melanie, was it?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Were there no attendants outside?”

“There were.”

“And yet?”

When I calmly but coldly asked again, Lady Melanie’s expression changed to one of slight confusion.

“We, we thought that since we had already been chosen as Your Majesty the Empress’s maids, we naturally had the right to enter Your Majesty’s bedroom…”

Lady Melanie quickly finished her words while maintaining eye contact with me until the end.

I also stared intently at Lady Melanie, meeting her gaze.

Our gazes clashed for a while, and she was the first to avoid my eyes.

“So you entered the Empress’s bedroom? Without permission, without knocking, on the morning after the wedding night?”

I shot back in a gently packaged tone, speaking softly but accusingly.

Just as Lady Melanie was about to open her mouth to make an excuse, I quickly added more words.

“Whether maids have the right to enter and exit the Empress’s bedroom or not, that judgment is mine, the Empress’s. Not yours, Lady.”

“…If it displeased you, please forgive us.”

Lady Melanie’s haughty attitude crumbled a bit at my firm tone.

“We will ensure this doesn’t happen again in the future.”

Of course, this won’t happen again in the future.

Because I’ll replace you with other maids.

I stared at Lady Melanie while inwardly retorting.

But outwardly, I just nodded with an expressionless face.

“Then now… we will do your makeup and choose your outfit. In the Raphion Empire style!”

As Lady Melanie spoke with an artificial smile quickly restored, the other ladies chimed in as if they had been waiting for this moment.

“The Emperor of the Raphion Empire is famous for having high standards. Unless one is exceptionally beautiful, it’s impossible to catch even a moment of his attention.”

“That’s right! So Your Majesty the Empress, coming from the Chatonille Kingdom, will need our discerning eye even more.”

The ladies were already looking down on me.

While dressing me up, they probably think to themselves that they would be more suitable as the Empress of the Raphion Empire, don’t they?

I could clearly see their true feelings in their contemptuous gazes.

Moreover, in the Raphion Empire, the Chatonille Kingdom is treated as a vassal state. So I had expected that their attitude towards an Empress from there would not be favorable.

However, if they don’t even show me minimal courtesy, I have no need to smile kindly at them either.

After all, they are noble ladies who will have nothing to do with me once I’ve fulfilled my role.

“Didn’t Your Majesty the Empress experience it last night?”

Lady Melanie asked in a voice full of certainty.

“Experience what?”

“That His Majesty is a cold and frigid person. He must have been like that in bed too.”

It was an impertinent remark.

I shrugged my shoulders and asked back.

“Why do you think so?”

“Because he has never had a woman by his side until now. It’s difficult to win His Majesty’s heart unless one has extraordinary beauty. So Your Majesty the Empress must receive our help…”

You’re really beating around the bush to say my beauty is lacking.

I cut off Lady Melanie’s confident recitation and got up from the bed.

“Wait.”

A simpler method than explaining last night’s events in detail to the ladies had occurred to me.

“I don’t think I need that kind of help?”

At my words, the ladies’ eyes, full of curiosity, began to move busily.