The one biggest thing I could give him…

Ah.

I realized when I saw the look of desire in his eyes.

But I deliberately pretended not to know and raised my voice at the end.

“I don’t think there is anything?”

“Huh? Do you really not know, or are you pretending not to know?”

“I’m pretending not to know. Of course…”

I smiled softly and ran to him, hugging him.

“I may not be able to shoot arrows properly, but I can hit that kind of thing well.”

“So what’s the answer? Tell me. The one thing you can give me.”

His cheeks moved slightly.

“Aegyo?”

“You’re crazy. Not aegyo!”

His disappointed expression was so amusing that I didn’t want to say the correct answer right away.

“Then humor?”

“Haha, this isn’t me laughing now, right? I’m laughing because it’s ridiculous. Not humor!”

He expressed his dissatisfaction by lightly bumping his forehead against mine.

“Hmm, then… what else is there?”

I rolled my eyes towards the ceiling of the training ground and trailed off.

“This is driving me crazy.”

He grabbed my face with both hands and started questioning without pause.

“You don’t have many things you can do for me, so how can you not find that one thing? Do you even know how many times you’ve rolled those big eyes of yours…”

“Love!”

I couldn’t help but shout the answer at the sight of his low, dissatisfied voice coming out of his mouth like a string of candies.

“Whew, that word is so hard to hear. Like our Empress’s archery skills.”

Rinel said as he hugged me and moved his body side to side.

At the moment he mentioned my archery skills, I finally burst into laughter because of his serious and gloomy expression.

He laughed along with me without knowing why I was laughing.

And I became happy again at that sight…

“Love me.”

Rinel suddenly whispered seriously.

My spine was already sinking at his desperate voice.

It was like the look of a cute puppy lying down and looking up at its owner, asking to be loved.

He wasn’t actually lying on the floor like a puppy, but his expression already seemed to be lying somewhere.

“Rinel…”

“It’s true that you don’t have much to give me.”

“That’s right. It’s an unfair relationship.”

“Yes. I believe it without a doubt.”

“…”

His head reacted very strongly to the words I threw out as a joke.

Well, it’s true after all.

Just as I was about to feel sorry,

“Just give me love. It’s unfair, but I think it will be a great comfort.”

He added.

At first glance, it sounded like an order, but his eyes were a confession in itself.

No, should I say it was a plea?

My expression of being moved by him was impossible to hide.

“Aren’t you losing out too much?”

But I playfully responded because I felt like I would cry if I said thank you here.

“Well, I am… tsk, I’ll let it slide.”

“?”

“Yes, I’ll close my eyes and just accept that one thing.”

“…You really are a wise ruler.”

“So please take care of me. Zelda.”

Beyond the overwhelming emotion, my heart fluttered uncontrollably at his unwavering gaze and deep, low voice.

“Let’s go, quickly.”

“Where?”

“To the Empress’s palace.”

I pulled his hand towards the entrance of the training ground.

“I want to receive it now.”

“Receive what?”

“That thing.”

“…What?”

“Love.”

“He-here?”

The attendants were waiting outside, but this was a place where the sound of swords clashing echoed loudly.

But here, what?

“No, not that.”

I said firmly, looking around the training ground.

“Yes, we can.”

“?”

Rinel must have lost his mind.

He grabbed my hand and headed towards a secluded corner of the training ground.

I had to almost run to keep up with Rinel’s steps, which were too fast.

“Even if it’s a corner, we can’t! What’s not possible is not possible!”

I strongly appealed.

“Not the corner, but is inside here okay?”

As we reached the corner of the training ground, he took me into a narrow passage and reached out his hand somewhere.

I was just looking at his face when I was startled by the sound of a door opening in the darkness with a click.

“Where is this?”

“The weapons storage.”

Click, the door closed again.

The light of the full moon filled the storage room through the window.

Thanks to that, the state of the storage room began to be visible little by little.

Various weapons could be seen piled up on the floor and walls.

“…It’s a dangerous place.”

“To match the place, shall we share a dangerous love? How about it, isn’t it romantic?”

“Isn’t it disastrous?”

“It’s romantic, why is it disastrous?”

“What if someone comes in?”

That was exactly the disaster I was worried about.

“Who would dare? I told even Stian not to enter the training ground, who would come in here?”

Rinel took off his uniform jacket and spread it out on the pile of straw.

“What… are you doing now?”

“It’s a straw pile, but you might get hurt.”

“Ah.”

I surrendered right there.

If I refused his love here, I felt like I would regret it for a long time.

“I don’t think I’ll look pretty at all here…”

When I said hesitantly,

“That’s for me to judge.”

Rinel picked me up and sat me on the uniform spread out on the straw pile.

The uniform still seemed to have his warmth.

“Then, how do I look now?”

“My judgment is this…”

He took my hand and placed it on his heart.

The sound of his heart beating rapidly thump-thump-thump seeped into my palm and spread throughout my body through my blood vessels.

I gave up on my hairstyle and fell back behind the straw pile with him.

I looked up at his face illuminated by moonlight, repeatedly closing and opening my eyes as if enchanted.

We fully shared the emotions we couldn’t fully express in words through each other’s gazes and gestures.

Rinel’s blue eyes observed my reactions.

I enjoyed all of his gazes that seemed to be exploring me.

When I smiled slightly, he smiled back.

Light shone from his shy face. Even the shabby storage room felt wonderful in that undiminishing light.

“Sorry I couldn’t wait until the Empress’s palace.”

His apologetic expression was unbelievably lovely.

“It’s okay.”

“But I don’t think I’ll be able to wait even when we get to the Empress’s palace.”

“What?”

“So I should apologize for that in advance too. I’m sorry.”

“…”

“I guess that’s not okay?”

When I remained silent, he pressed his index finger on my right cheek and asked.

I burst into laughter.

He threatened, ‘Don’t laugh, it’s an order,’ and then swallowed my laughter with his lips.

My unstoppable laughter seemed to be absorbed into his body.

As everything deepened in that moment,

“Over and over the corpses of wyverns, forward, forward…!”

The storage room door flung open with a humming song from outside.

Rinel and I could only raise our heads while lying on the straw pile, unable to get up in time to look at the storage room door.

“Farewell, Death Valley! We march forward… Aack! You scared me!”

The man who was singing as he stepped into the storage room discovered us in the darkness and stepped back.

“Wh-who’s there!”

“Who are you!”

Rinel and the man shouted at the same time.

“Yo-Your Majesty?”

“Ma-Markrom?”

Once again, the voices of the two overlapped.

Oh, my goodness.

The person who entered the storage room was Captain Markrom.

I closed my eyes tightly with a resigned feeling.

If you look carefully, there might be a mouse hole somewhere here…

Is my identity going to be revealed to Captain Markrom like this?

Of all situations and places!

“What are you doing here?”

Rinel asked him in an annoyed tone.

“What brings Your Majesty here?”

“I came to handle a bow after a while. Didn’t you see the attendants at the entrance?”

“I came in through the back door, though?”

Captain Markrom replied nonchalantly.

“And of course I can’t see anything. I was cursed with losing my sight while trying to save someone in Death Valley.”

“Why is that story coming up suddenly? And let’s speak properly. If it wasn’t for me, you would have lost an arm like that magician.”

“Maybe that would have been better. But Your Majesty, you’re not alone, are you?”

Captain Markrom looked in my direction and narrowed his eyes.

The captain would sense my aura…

For now, I wanted to get out of this space.

I made an embarrassed expression to Rinel and pointed my finger outside the storage room, indicating with my eyes that I would wait outside.

Fortunately, Rinel just nodded without saying anything.

I quickly got up from the straw pile.

Captain Markrom frowned heavily and turned his head following my crab-like movement as I passed by his side.

I left the storage room without closing the door on purpose, and stood against the visible wall in front, openly eavesdropping on the conversation between the two.

“Your Majesty, I’m disappointed.”

Captain Markrom spoke first.

“Who’s disappointed because of you now, saying such things?”

“No matter if you’re the Emperor, this doesn’t seem right.”

“What’s not right?”

“I mean Her Majesty the Empress.”

So I’ve been found out.

As Captain Markrom started talking about me, I bit my lower lip.

Would he now tell Rinel everything?

What I’ve been doing secretly at the training ground all this time.

Why did I have to get caught today of all days?

Just until a moment ago, I even whined to him that archery was too, too scary.

I’ve become quite ridiculous.

“What about the Empress?”

“I’m embarrassed to face Her Majesty the Empress.”

“So the Empress just now…”

“No matter if you’re the Emperor!”

Captain Markrom cut off Rinel’s words and protested.

“How could you do this in a place like this, leaving Her Majesty the Empress behind!”

Captain Markrom’s disappointed voice filled the storage room.

Gasp, could it be that he thinks Rinel is having an affair with the Empress’s guard?

Captain Markrom still seemed to think of me as Bonisse the guard, not the Empress.

I’ve suddenly become my husband’s affair partner.

The situation took a strange turn.

“Markrom, what nonsense are you talking about?”

He continued with a dumbfounded expression.

“Would I do this here with a concubine, leaving the Empress behind?”

Rinel laughed, patting the straw pile where I had been lying with his palm.

“Oh my, what to do about this!”

Captain Markrom lamented, repeatedly hitting his own thigh with one hand.

“Are you drunk?”

He looked at Captain Markrom with strange eyes.

“Have you been drinking too much today, Your Majesty? To do such a thing in a place like this… ah, I pity Her Majesty the Empress!”

“Well, I feel sorry to the Empress too. But what can I do when I can’t hold back?”

The two were having a conversation with different meanings, but amusingly, the conversation that started with a misunderstanding flowed naturally like water.

“Your Majesty! Were you this kind of person? Are you saying you lack self-control so much that you secretly push yourself in such a place?!”

“I didn’t know either, but after getting married, I realized for sure. That I’m completely crazy.”

Rinel chuckled as he replied.

“Ah, how shocked would Her Majesty the Empress be if she knew this fact?”

“The Empress probably already knows?”

Rinel waved his hand at me, who was directly visible outside the storage room door, as he spoke to the captain.

“Oh my, God, I didn’t hear anything!”

Captain Markrom frantically beat his own ears with both hands as he called for God.

The mismatched conversation between the two was amusing, but the captain’s concern for me was quite touching.

But he was, after all, Rinel’s loyal subject.

“Your Majesty, I didn’t see anything today.”

“Are you sure your eyesight hasn’t returned? I thought it was strange before, are you saying that because you’re starting to see something?”

“…Please return to Her Majesty the Empress now.”

Captain Markrom stepped aside as if he no longer wanted to talk to him.

“I was about to do that anyway.”

Rinel said as he shook out his uniform jacket that he had taken off on the straw pile and put it on.

“Huh? You even had your top off?!”

Captain Markrom flared up again at the sound of him shaking out his uniform.

“You know I have good manners. How could I just sit my woman on a straw pile?”

He said proudly as he buttoned up his uniform.

“Oh God, did you hear! Please bless Her Majesty the Empress, and as for our Emperor…”

The captain, who was praying earnestly with his hands clasped, suddenly stopped speaking.

“What about me? Why did you stop in the middle of praying for me?”

Rinel asked, patting the captain’s shoulder.

Then Captain Markrom clasped his hands again and exclaimed solemnly.

“Oh God, for our Emperor…!”

I listened intently to Captain Markrom’s heartfelt prayer.