“I don’t understand at all why you say His Majesty is a cold person? Rather, His Majesty… Ah!”

I took one step away from the bed, then clutched my lower abdomen with both hands, stumbled, and sat back down on the bed.

“Your Majesty the Empress!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Are you alright?”

Everyone was startled and flinched, trying to approach me.

I quickly raised one hand to tell them to stop.

At my command, they all hesitated in place, unable to come closer.

“Are you… feeling unwell somewhere?”

Only Lady Melanie disobeyed my order and stepped forward alone to ask.

“Ah, my body… It seems it was too much to handle His Majesty’s passion all night. I’m fine now, don’t worry about it.”

“…Pardon? Is, is that true?”

Lady Melanie raised her voice with a look that suggested it couldn’t be possible.

The other ladies were equally surprised.

“Ah, how should I put it? It’s frustrating that there’s no way to explain this feeling.”

The ladies’ eyes widened as they looked me up and down.

“You’ll all understand my current state when you experience your wedding night later.”

I pulled up the slip strap that had fallen off one shoulder and gave an excessively shy smile.

“Would you all please leave now? I’d like to prepare for this morning with my own attendants.”

“But we have now become Your Majesty the Empress’s dedicated ladies-in-waiting…”

“That’s a matter I have not yet approved. It seems I need to discuss it with His Majesty.”

Whether to take you on as my ladies-in-waiting or not, that is.

“So now from the bedroom…”

I trailed off, gesturing elegantly towards the bedroom door.

Everyone get out!

Swallowing the words I really wanted to say, I softened my final statement.

“Please leave now.”

Lady Melanie stood rooted to the spot, not moving an inch despite my words.

The rest of the ladies looked back and forth between me and Lady Melanie, fidgeting uneasily.

They seemed to be wondering whose words they should follow.

I slightly furrowed my brow and gestured towards the bedroom door again. Only then did the ladies simultaneously lift the hems of their dresses, curtsy, and withdraw.

At this, Lady Melanie also followed with a disgruntled expression.

As soon as all the ladies had left, their murmuring voices could be heard from outside the bedroom.

They must have thought that I, an empress from a vassal state, would be timid and submissive in front of them.

“Why should I?”

While I had turned my head away from people in the past because I didn’t want to show the burn scar on my face, I had never bowed my head to anyone without reason until now.

The stunned expressions of the ladies who had misjudged me so badly lingered as an afterimage for a long time.

I put on a robe and threw open the terrace doors wide.

The well-landscaped, splendid gardens of the Empress’s Palace came into view at a glance.

Knock knock knock−.

With the sound of knocking, an attendant entered.

It was one of the maids who had helped prepare for the wedding yesterday.

“I greet you. I am Sharon, who will serve by Your Majesty the Empress’s side from now on.”

Sharon gave a polite greeting and explained her reason for entering the bedroom.

“I beg your pardon, but while waiting outside, I saw the ladies coming out.”

“I told them all to leave.”

“Your Majesty the Empress, may I ask why?”

“Because they weren’t needed.”

“Pardon? Ah, yes…”

“Are the ladies now returning to their respective mansions?”

“Ah, no. Originally, on the first day of becoming the Empress’s ladies-in-waiting, everyone is supposed to stay at the Empress’s Palace for a day.”

“I see… Oh, I was very nervous and unfamiliar during the wedding preparations yesterday, but thanks to you, it was helpful.”

“I am honored! Your Majesty the Empress. I only did what was natural.”

Sharon’s face lit up with a bright smile as I expressed my gratitude with kind words.

“Sharon, I have a question.”

“Please speak.”

“Do you happen to know who selected the ladies-in-waiting?”

“I don’t know the detailed procedure, but I understand that a list of ladies, selected through recommendations from the ministers, was submitted to His Majesty.”

“So they are ladies-in-waiting appointed by imperial decree?”

“That’s what I understand.”

In the Kingdom of Shattonil, it’s usually entirely the Empress’s prerogative to select the ladies who will assist her, unless there’s a special recommendation.

Is the Raphion Imperial Family different?

In any case, it meant that His Majesty’s permission would be needed to appoint new ladies-in-waiting.

“Um… His Majesty had a message to convey when Your Majesty the Empress woke up.”

I turned my head at Sharon’s words as I was once again admiring the Empress’s Palace gardens.

“What message?”

“He asked if you would like to have lunch together at the main palace today.”

Sharon smiled brightly as she relayed the message.

Suddenly, Emperor Rinel’s gaze looking down at me last night and his rough breathing came to mind, and I took a deep breath.

“Then, since there’s time until lunch, I think it would be good to look around the Empress’s Palace a bit before going. First, I’d like to take a bath.”

“Yes, I will immediately instruct for preparations. What about the dress and accessories you will wear today?”

She was asking because I had sent all the ladies away, so there was no one to choose a dress for me.

“Sharon, would you like to pick out something that would suit me?”

I said with a smile.

Sharon, greatly flustered, moved her lips slightly.

“Why? Do you have something to say?”

“Usually, it’s tradition for the noble ladies who are ladies-in-waiting to choose the dress, so I’m not sure if I dare to choose a dress for Your Majesty the Empress…”

I looked Sharon up and down at her words, noting her neat attire.

“I’ll trust Sharon’s judgment. Please.”

Sometimes, a simple warm word from a superior can deeply settle in the hearts of servants, igniting their loyalty.

And if sincerity is felt, the effect is doubled.

“Do, do you really mean it, Your Majesty the Empress?”

Sharon’s voice rang out cheerfully, excited.

“Yes, I have a feeling you’ll know well what dress would suit me.”

Sharon nodded her head vigorously at my gaze filled with trust.

“I will do my best to choose the most beautiful dress!”

“No. Not the most beautiful dress, but the dress that would suit me best. That’s all I need.”

I calmly instructed the somewhat excited Sharon with a smiling face.

“And tell the bath attendants that they don’t need to heat the water.”

“Pardon? But even if it’s summer, you’ll catch a cold if you soak in cold water!”

Sharon exclaimed in surprise.

“It’s alright. I’ve had the habit of bathing in cold water since I was young, so it doesn’t matter. Rather, if I wash with warm water, I don’t feel refreshed.”

At my kind but firm tone, Sharon didn’t hide her worried expression but couldn’t argue any further.

When I immerse myself in cold water, the temperature of the water gradually rises. And it stays warm until I finish bathing.

Rather, if I use warm water from the start, the water gradually gets hotter, and later my skin turns red and heated.

Sometimes the water temperature rises slowly and eventually steams like hot spring water. So I had to scoop out some bathwater in the middle and mix in cold water.

This phenomenon started after I got the burn on the right side of my face.

I was curious why it happened, but I felt I shouldn’t tell anyone else about it, so I kept it a secret.

It was a fact unknown even to Bonnice, my only friend and fellow bath attendant during my time at the palace, let alone my family who were inherently uninterested in me.

When my body heats up, other people can’t tell even if they touch my skin, so it was inexplicable why such a reaction occurs when I touch water.

“Oh, and I don’t need assistance with bathing. Tell them to wait outside when I’m done bathing and I’ll call for them.”

“…Yes, Your Majesty the Empress.”

After Sharon left, I headed straight for the bathroom attached to the bedroom.

***

The water temperature in the Raphion Empire was much colder than the water in the Kingdom of Shattonil where I lived.

As I immersed myself in the bathtub filled with cold water by the attendants, I felt refreshed.

As expected, the water gradually warmed up as time passed.

As I caressed my whole body with both hands, memories of last night rose like steam.

The first night spent with Emperor Rinel.

His expression at the moment when that unfamiliar feeling spread through me.

The low voice whispering between slightly trembling lips.

The feeling of his firm muscles touching me.

Those inscrutable gazes looking down at me.

The rough breaths he exhaled with difficulty.

A thrill ran through my body as I recalled them.

My heart pounded.

A moment later, bubbles started rising in the bathtub.

Fearing my skin would be completely scalded if I stayed any longer, I hurriedly rose from the bathtub.

To cool off for a moment, I stood naked in front of the full-length mirror.

“Will I be able to have a meal facing him?”

I was already feeling uncomfortable at the thought of facing Emperor Rinel.

I wiped the steamy mirror with my palm and looked at my reddened face.

I touched the place where the burn scar on the right side had disappeared after drinking the magic potion.

I still couldn’t believe that the burn scar was gone.

I first felt the pain that seemed like the hot summer sun was settling on the right side of my face in the summer when I was 7 years old.

I never told anyone about what happened that day.

It was because of Prince Tessler’s earnest request.

That incident became a secret known only to me, Prince Tessler, Princess Resilia, and Rogan, who was the palace magician.

‘Zelda, listen carefully. You must endure that pain that feels like you’re burning up. If you can’t overcome it, you’ll die. But if you overcome it, you might be able to have this entire continent someday! You must never, ever tell this to anyone. Do you understand?’

On the night I got burned, Magician Rogan secretly entered through my room window and implored me several times.

At that time, I was suffering from a high fever, but I clearly remember Rogan’s words.

Rogan left the next day after leaving me with incomprehensible words.

Even abandoning his only beloved daughter, Bonnice.

Anyway, I overcame that pain that felt like I was burning up.

And I survived in the end.

Moreover, the burn scar, which initially had no special characteristics, began to appear in a shape that looked like some kind of mark as time passed.

People whispered, wondering if I was cursed when they saw the shape of my burn scar.

“It’s not a curse.”

I muttered every time I looked in the mirror.

But those weren’t my words.

They were the words whispered by another presence within me, an avatar.

Whenever I suffered pain that felt like my body was burning up, the avatar spoke to me.

It said that I had to control those flames myself.

That it was a problem it couldn’t help me with either.

From the day I became aware of that existence, whose origin I couldn’t understand, my life was a series of unexpected events.

The year I turned 17, on Prince Tessler’s recommendation, I was able to stay at the royal palace and work as a bath attendant.

When I left the Trova Count’s family where I had been mistreated, mental stability and peace came to me. It was thanks to Prince Tessler.

He must have shown me kindness because of what his sister, Princess Resilia, had done that day.

But.

Judging by the fact that he sent me as a proxy empress to the Raphion Empire, it seems Prince Tessler needed my sacrifice once again.

“I will endure. I won’t be found out. And I will get the treatment to completely remove the burn scar.”

I resolved once again as I looked in the mirror.

***

When I came out of the bathroom after finishing my bath, attendants were waiting to help with my grooming.

I first changed into the dress Sharon had chosen.

Surprisingly, Sharon’s eye for fashion was far better than I had expected.

After completing all my preparations and stepping out of the bedroom, the guards keeping watch in front of my quarters greeted me with respect.

When I was about halfway down the long corridor, an attendant walked quickly towards me from the opposite corridor.

“I see Your Majesty the Empress! An hour ago, there was a visitor who requested to meet Your Majesty the Empress. They are currently waiting in the audience chamber.”

“Who is it?”

I said that, but in fact, I had a feeling I knew who had requested an audience.

There was only one person who would come to see me in the unfamiliar Raphion Imperial Palace.

“Their name?”

I asked the attendant again, pretending not to know anything.

“It is Grand Duke Martins Rohain of the Kingdom of Shattonil, Your Majesty the Empress’s home country.”

“Then, I suppose I should meet them.”

Grand Duke Martins is the person Prince Tessler assigned to me when I left for the Raphion Empire.

Prince Tessler said that Grand Duke Martins would stay with me at the Raphion Imperial Palace as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and act as my guardian, but I didn’t believe it.

Protection, my foot.

It was obvious that Grand Duke Martins had followed me to report my every move to Prince Tessler, to see if I was carrying out my duties as proxy empress well and whether I was doing any other foolish things.

The Grand Duke and I were in a position where we had to faithfully carry out our roles while also carefully watching each other.

We couldn’t exactly be called enemies, but our relationship was ambiguous, with holes in trust that made it hard to call him my ally either.

***

Guided by Sharon, I entered the audience chamber located one floor below the bedroom floor.

Grand Duke Martins was standing with his hands behind his back by the arched window, and he turned to look at me as I entered.

I consciously straightened my back and approached the Grand Duke.

He knelt on one knee and kissed the back of my hand.

“I see Your Majesty the Empress of the Raphion Empire.”

“From today, a new fate begins for the Kingdom of Shattonil and myself.”

I looked down at Grand Duke Martins calmly as I spoke.

At my words, the Grand Duke smiled slightly before rising and looking at my face.

His sharp features made me feel like he was seeing right through me.

“Please include my fate, which is to assist Your Majesty the Empress, as well.”

How ridiculous.

“I have too many fates to be responsible for, it’s overwhelming. I believe the Grand Duke will manage well on his own.”

“…Yes.”

“Let’s sit.”

I deliberately ignored the flustered Grand Duke Martins.

Sitting in the seat of honor on the sofa, reserved only for the Empress, I offered the Grand Duke the seat across from me.

I was a bit surprised myself at how naturally the action came, as if I had always been the mistress of this Empress’s Palace.

“Your Majesty the Empress, since it’s before mealtime, shall I bring milk tea?”

I nodded at Sharon’s suggestion.

“Yes. That would be good, wouldn’t it?”

“I will immediately instruct for it to be prepared and brought.”

Sharon tactfully excused herself and left the audience chamber.

I immediately asked Grand Duke Martins:

“Do you have something urgent to tell me?”

There must be a reason he came to see me.

For example, about Princess Resilia’s whereabouts…