“Then what are you going to do at night?”

“…..”

Emperor Rinel asked in a tone that was neither high nor low.

“You’re not going to visit to discuss unfinished state affairs with the Empress, are you?”

His eyes continued to stare at me intently even after he finished speaking.

Looking into his eyes, with their strange mix of blue and emerald, I felt myself being drawn in, so I quickly turned my head and wet my throat again.

But like a fool, I picked up the wine glass again and gulped down all the remaining wine.

Damn, at this rate I’m not sure if I’ll be able to walk properly out of the banquet hall on my own two feet.

“Actually, I want to do it right away, like yesterday……”

His quietly muttered words made the wine catch in my throat again.

Emperor Rinel’s words were not appropriate to say in front of the young ladies watching.

Though it wouldn’t be comfortable to hear even when alone either.

I glanced discreetly at the expressions of the young ladies lined up against the wall.

As expected, I’m not sure what grand imagination they were unfolding based on what the Emperor had just blurted out, but their faces were already flushed.

“Your Majesty, saying such things here is a bit……”

I whispered, just loud enough for him to hear, not daring to look him in the eye as I lowered my head.

“What…… do you mean?”

His voice was far too plain compared to the level of what he had just said.

“If I don’t say such things here, where should I say them? In bed?”

I looked up at his brazen face.

Emperor Rinel was just about to cut into the steak placed in front of him, holding his fork and knife.

“Why won’t this cut? The meat is tough today. Empress, why are you looking at me like that? I want to cut and eat the steak easily, just like yesterday, but it’s not cutting well today.”

“Is that…… what you meant?”

When I asked with narrowed eyes, he replied combatively while cutting his steak, as if he had been waiting for this.

“Don’t tell me you misunderstood my words?”

“……No, Your Majesty. Come to think of it, I think I heard it that way too.”

I quickly retorted to his words, but my face was already turning red as the price for misunderstanding.

For a brief moment, I saw mischief in the Emperor’s eyes.

Did he deliberately play word games to tease me?

He put a piece of steak in his mouth and chewed the meat with a somehow pleased smile.

Now’s the time. I should ask when he seems to be in a good mood.

About whether I really need to use those young ladies as my maids, and why on earth they are in the banquet hall, sticking to the wall and watching me.

“Your Majesty, why are those young ladies chosen as my maids in the banquet hall?”

“Why are you asking me that?”

He asked me back in a puzzled tone.

I shifted my gaze and stared at the faces of the young ladies in turn.

“Aren’t they people who now move according to your orders, as they are the Empress’s maids?”

Emperor Rinel asked, looking only at me without turning his eyes to the young ladies.

“That’s right. That’s what I thought too, but……”

I deliberately trailed off at the end of my sentence to create suspense.

When I remained silent and started cutting my steak indifferently, he finally turned his head and asked the young ladies:

“Didn’t you say you came here at the Empress’s call?”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty. We were told so and entered!”

At Lady Melanie’s answer, I put down the fork and knife I was holding on the table with a clatter.

“By whom?”

I asked Lady Melanie in a voice full of doubt.

“W-Well, that…… There are so many servants in the imperial palace that I don’t quite remember which servant relayed Her Majesty the Empress’s words.”

Lady Melanie answered while looking at Emperor Rinel with a pitiful expression, not even looking at me who had actually asked the question.

“There seems to have been some misunderstanding.”

Emperor Rinel, who had been receiving Melanie’s gaze until the end, told me as if it were no big deal.

“Is that so?”

I replied as I picked up my knife again.

Without realizing it, I held the knife vertically as if about to pierce the plate.

I almost snorted, but I didn’t want to appear nit-picky on my first day.

Instead, I expressed my mild discontent by speaking in an unconvinced voice as I just let it pass.

“There must have been a mistake in the communication.”

It seemed I would have to have a separate conversation with the Emperor later about the issue with the maids.

But then, Emperor Rinel’s resolute voice was heard.

“I’ll have all the servants in the Empress’s palace replaced.”

I was surprised by his unexpected decision.

“All of them……?”

“Or the Empress can replace the maids herself.”

Emperor Rinel said nonchalantly as he slightly tilted his empty wine glass towards me.

I quickly stretched out my arm to pick up the wine bottle and poured wine into his empty glass.

After pouring about half a glass, when our eyes met again, I couldn’t help but smile.

He winked one eye at me.

That gesture seemed like a signal that he was considering my feelings.

Of course, it could have been my imagination, but well, it didn’t matter.

It was quite satisfying anyway.

“Your Majesty, would you please tell me about the procedure for changing maids again over tea after the meal?”

I asked with a composed expression, suppressing the smile that was rising.

If he didn’t agree, there was nothing I could do, but I threw out the words anyway.

To be honest, I felt I had nothing to lose.

The gazes of the young ladies all focused on Emperor Rinel’s mouth at once.

“There’s no rush.”

Emperor Rinel told me with a solemn expression as he picked up a small piece of bread.

“Ah, yes……”

The corners of my mouth, which were preparing to smile, stiffened bitterly.

Rejection, as always, is accompanied by embarrassment.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

He nailed it down again decisively.

“Yes. I understand, Your Majesty.”

‘See that? Did you think the Emperor would listen to everything you say?’

I could feel the mockery in the eyes of the young ladies directed at me.

I lowered my head without realizing it.

At that moment, something suddenly entered my field of vision.

What is it?

I looked up at him with a dumbfounded expression.

“Tonight.”

He said as he handed me a piece of bread.

I received the bread he handed me in a daze and blinked.

“We’ll talk about that later tonight. For now, just eat this.”

“Ah, yes……”

“It might be less soft than the bread in the Kingdom of Shatreonil, but it gets nuttier the more you chew. Just be careful not to break a tooth.”

My heart rate suddenly shot up at Emperor Rinel’s slight smile at the end of his gruff tone.

As he said, the fruits and foods in the Kingdom of Shatreonil where I used to live generally tasted better than those in the Empire of Rapion, which has a much lower temperature.

Especially the bread made from wheat that only grows in the Kingdom of Shatreonil is famous for being much softer and nuttier than bread from other countries.

The Emperor, knowing this fact, handed me the bread along with a joke.

I dipped the slightly tough bread in soup, put it in my mouth, and chewed vigorously as I replied to him.

“I actually like hard things, Your Majesty.”

“That’s a good taste.”

“Pardon?”

“……Ah, nothing. Never mind.”

Emperor Rinel suddenly coughed and spoke in a lower tone.

His expression became heavy again as he ordered the young ladies, who were eavesdropping on our conversation while standing blankly, to leave the banquet hall.

The young ladies revealed somewhat disappointed looks but bowed politely before leaving the banquet hall.

“They’re all pretty young ladies.”

I stared blankly at the young ladies whose backs were still splendid as they left, and said to him.

“Their faces are, yes.”

At the word ‘faces’, the burn scar on the right side of my face tingled.

In fact, more than their pretty appearance, I envied their smooth skin without a single blemish the most.

Ever since I got the burn scar, I often stood far away and looked at my face with half-closed eyes when looking in the mirror.

Or I would slightly turn my body to the left and only admire half of my face.

The Emperor, who had been looking at me intently, spoke in a much softer tone.

“The Empress has elegance.”

“You even know how to comfort?”

“If it sounded that way, you can take it that way. Pretty people only shine themselves, but elegant people have the power to brighten their surroundings as well.”

“That’s a nice thing to say.”

I nodded at his words and chewed on them over and over in my mind.

“Not everyone can have elegance. But the Empress has it.”

The words he casually offered settled hotly in my heart.

It felt strange.

For the first time, my heart, which had been pounding with fear, dread, or shame until now, started to beat with a fluttering emotion, an expectation of being loved.

What should I say in this situation?

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

In the end, I expressed my gratitude with a cliché phrase and then just poked at the innocent salad with my fork.

I wanted to see what expression he was making right now, but I held back.

Not wanting to show signs of nervousness, I quietly controlled my breathing.

I grabbed the knife and fork again to finish cutting the steak, but my two hands trembled slightly.

This time too, his hand suddenly came in and out of my sight.

In an instant, my plate disappeared and his plate was placed.

“Eat this.”

On the plate he handed me, the steak was cut into bite-sized pieces.

It seemed that seeing my hands shaking, he had cut his own steak and handed it to me.

He was quite a kind man, unlike his expressionless face and gruff voice.

Didn’t they say he was cursed with a much lower body temperature than normal?

That damn magician who cast the curse may have made this man’s body like ice, but he couldn’t freeze his heart.

I stabbed a piece of the steak Emperor Rinel had cut for me with my fork and put it in my mouth.

“How does it taste? Is it alright?”

He asked as if he had been waiting.

“Your Majesty, the steak has become very…… cold.”

Perhaps because it had been touched by his hands, it was much colder than the steak I had been eating.

“But it’s still delicious. Your Majesty, please try mine too.”

At my words, he hurriedly cut the steak I had been eating and put it in his mouth.

I quietly waited, anticipating his reaction that would soon be revealed.

As soon as he took a bite of the steak, his eyes flashed.

He covered his mouth with his fingers as he savored the taste.

I knew what he was going to say.

“How is it?”

“How can it still maintain its warmth like this?”

“I guess it’s because my heart is warm.”

I just answered with a suppressed smile.

I had no intention of revealing my secret to him.

If I were really his wife, if I weren’t a proxy empress? Then I would have confessed about the fire spirit inside me to him right away.

‘Don’t abandon me. Keep me by your side. Then I’ll melt your ice-cold body!’ I would have cried out, promoting myself like an advertisement in the imperial newspaper.

Suddenly remembering that Princess Resilia usually suffers from cold hands and feet, I almost burst out laughing involuntarily.

“I was thinking of having tea with Duke Martins shortly, would the Empress like to join us?”

As the meal was coming to an end, Emperor Rinel said while wiping his mouth with a napkin.

He seemed to be watching to see how I would answer.

“We already had tea in the audience chamber this morning. I’ll join you next time.”

“We?”

Emperor Rinel twisted his lips crookedly before continuing.

“Well, since Duke Martins is someone who came from the Kingdom of Shatreonil with the Empress, I suppose he must be a great support. Right?”

“Even so, I am now a person of the Empire of Rapion.”

At my answer, his somewhat dampened mood brightened and a smile slowly formed on his lips.

“That’s right. Whatever your previous life was like, now, you are also my woman.”

For a fleeting moment, a cold light flashed in his eyes.

Could it be…… that he’s starting to suspect my identity?

Seeing his face visibly harden after bringing up Duke Martins, an ominous feeling swept over me.

***

Bedtime approached, but Emperor Rinel did not come to my bedroom.

I hadn’t particularly expected it.

Even in the Kingdom of Shatreonil, the king and queen don’t spend every night together.

In fact, I don’t know for sure whether they can’t spend time together or choose not to, but in any case, they don’t sleep in the same bed every night like some noble or commoner couples.

Knowing this fact, I didn’t completely believe his words at lunch about coming to the Empress’s palace.

Sharon placed a scented candle on a table a little away from the bed, saying it was good for sound sleep.

I gently grabbed Sharon’s arm.

“Sharon, thank you.”

“Pardon?”

Sharon blinked and smiled brightly.

“If it weren’t for you, life here would have been much harder. I’m counting on you in the future too.”

“You flatter me. Once Your Majesty directly chooses young ladies you like as your maids, your imperial life will become even more comfortable.”

I nodded at Sharon’s words but questioned:

“Will there be someone who can make my heart comfortable too?”

“Of course, there must be a noble young lady with a good personality.”

“Yes, and you know what…… I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay with you, but before I leave this position, I’ll definitely repay you.”

“What…… are you saying? Leave?!”

Sharon looked at my face intently with a bewildered expression, lifting her head sharply.

“Ah. No, it’s just a figure of speech.”

“Your Majesty the Empress, don’t even think of such an impossible thing! It’s something that must never happen!”

“Alright, I understand.”

Thinking I should soothe Sharon, whose expression was becoming too serious, I deliberately smiled more brightly.

I’m sorry, Sharon.

But that terrifying thing, that thing that must never happen, I’m committing it right now……

“Now you should go out and rest too, Sharon.”

“Yes, Your Majesty the Empress. Then sleep well.”

Sharon placed a water jug on the bedside table one last time and left the bedroom.

I sat on the bed, slowly looking around the grand and spacious bedroom with my eyes before lying down.

I felt a terrible sense of loneliness.

***

The symptoms began without fail.

I woke up feeling intense thirst along with a burning sensation all over my body.

Water, I want to drink water……

I kicked off the blanket and breathed heavily.

It’s hot……

Once again, a hot night that I had to endure alone had arrived.

No matter how much my body temperature rose, the hot sensation didn’t show on the outside of my skin and I didn’t sweat, so it was a symptom that would be hard for others to believe even if I told them.

“Water…… cold water……”

I flailed my arm towards the water jug that Sharon had placed on the bedside table.

Out of nowhere, something like a water glass was caught in my hand.

Is this a dream?

I opened my eyes with difficulty, feeling strange.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I caught a glimpse of something blue.

The blue light gradually approached me and then……

“Mmph?!”

It covered my lips.

And cool water flowed into my mouth through the meeting lips.

“Are you coming to your senses now?”

Emperor Rinel.

It was his voice.