At Erdene’s words, Arkan’s expression became very serious, as if he was thinking about something.

Then suddenly, as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have, he shook his shoulders and shuddered.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Just then, Sophia brought the tea.

Erdene unconsciously observed Arkan, but he seemed not to know whether the person setting down the teacup beside him was Sophia or a passing calf.

‘Wait, why am I paying attention to this?’

Imagining slapping her own back inwardly, Erdene picked up her teacup to hide her expression.

“By the way, Your Majesty…”

Arkan, who had just taken a sip of tea, glanced at Erdene with just his eyes.

“What are you doing here?”

There was a small gulping sound from his throat. Arkan put down his cup with the most nonchalant expression possible and stretched his shoulders.

“To drink tea.”

Erdene, also holding her teacup and moving only her eyes, pursed her lips and swallowed the tea behind her tongue.

“Surely you’re not saying you came all this way because there was no one to brew you a cup of tea?”

“Of course not.”

Arkan said, raising one eyebrow.

“There are plenty of people who could brew tea, but I think this is also a husband’s duty.”

Erdene made an expression as if she had seen a frog dancing on two feet.

‘What is he saying?’

She said,

“What on earth are you talking about…?”

But Arkan looked at her blankly, as if her reaction was even more puzzling.

“Spending time with one’s wife. It’s an important duty of a husband. Don’t you think so?”

“Who told you that?”

“That’s what I learned when I was young.”

After finishing his words, Arkan was about to drink his tea again but stopped and opened his eyes wide.

“Didn’t you learn that?”

Erdene chuckled.

“Are you talking about bridal lessons? Do you think I had time for that?”

Arkan tried to nod and agree with her words, but… he ultimately failed.

He put down his cup and stared at Erdene as if he couldn’t believe what he had heard.

“Are you saying that when you were young, you really didn’t learn anything other than martial arts?”

“That was mostly it. My father had high expectations. Of course, I learned things necessary for inheriting the throne. Imperial studies, military science, diplomacy, geography… I probably learned everything Your Majesty learned.”

Then, Erdene added with a teasing expression:

“Except for bridal lessons.”

Arkan no longer fell for such minor provocations. Instead, he seemed to be deeply thinking about something.

What could he be thinking? Erdene slowly examined Arkan’s face, which seemed lost in thought.

She tried to recall his face from their wedding night, which had ended in just an argument, his face glowing as if on fire in the light, but it wasn’t easy.

Now, the soft sunlight seemed to spread evenly over his hair, cheeks, nose, and eyelids like fine, sparkling powder, making it seem like it would feel soft to the touch.

‘Well, his face is decent. His face, at least.’

While Erdene was nodding to herself, Arkan asked,

“About mainly training in martial arts, what kind did you learn?”

“What kind… I learned everything I could. Sword and spear, horseback riding, archery, and even hand-to-hand combat.”

Arkan made an expression as if he had heard someone say, ‘I released a sick rat under your bed yesterday.’

“Hand-to-hand combat… you say?”

“It’s very useful when necessary.”

“Did your brother learn it too?”

Erdene snorted.

The sound was so sharp and loud that Arkan momentarily thought the teacup was going to topple over and lifted it along with the saucer.

“That weakling couldn’t even properly swing a sword. So my father gave up on him early on.”

Arkan said,

“He doesn’t seem unintelligent though.”

Suddenly, Erdene’s gaze sharpened. However, it wasn’t directed at Arkan.

“Have you met him?”

“No, I haven’t met him personally. But the diplomatic officials who went as envoys generally gave such evaluations. To be precise, they said he ‘didn’t seem dull.'”

“With his poor physical condition, he naturally had no choice but to become cunning.”

Erdene sneered contemptuously and gulped down her tea.

“Don’t even bring up that bastard. It makes me want to smash something.”

“Even without talking about Tenek, you like smashing things, don’t you? Alright, I understand. You look like you’re about to shoot arrows with your eyes.”

Not even cute whining. Erdene pouted her lips.

Arkan said,

“I fully understand your hostility towards Tenek, but… I thought you might be interested since it’s family history.”

“Family history?”

At that moment, Arkan didn’t know what thoughts flashed through Erdene’s mind.

She recalled about ten pieces of news in an instant… the best of which was ‘I heard Tenek died suddenly last night.’

But her wish was not easily granted.

“I hear the Hirschsten Empire will soon have a new heir.”

Erdene blankly opened her lips for a moment.

She blinked her eyes as if Arkan had spoken in a language from another world that she couldn’t understand at all… then suddenly came to her senses.

“Are you saying the empress is with child?”

Arkan, who had been observing her expression, nodded.

“That’s what they say. According to the news that reached our side.”

Erdene slumped like a person in a trance, recalling the last time she had seen Empress Roelica.

A face that looked devoid of emotion, as if carved from plaster, a woman who had worn such a confused and complex expression while she herself had been contemplating whether to kill Tenek.

If Erdene had lost her temper and cut down Tenek then, what would have become of Roelica?

Whether she knew or not, Erdene couldn’t know and didn’t care, but when she returned after finishing the war with Binotin, Roelica would have been pregnant.

‘With her personality, she might have hanged herself. She wouldn’t have left easily, and while alone she might have, but already carrying Tenek’s child… if I had usurped the throne, Roelica would surely have chosen death.’

She might have been happy to some extent. Erdene sneered, inwardly muttering bitter words.

“Are you disappointed?”

She turned abruptly to Arkan and asked back.

“Disappointed? Me? About what?”

Arkan, who had been moving his lips as if pondering what to say, spoke.

“It’s an unknown, isn’t it? If your brother were to die suddenly, you would be the only direct descendant of the empire left. Then naturally, you would return to the empire. Am I not correct?”

Erdene chuckled with an expression as if she had bitten into something bitter.

“You know well, Your Majesty. Yes. It is disappointing. But on the other hand, I’m also looking forward to it.”

“Looking forward to it?”

“Even if that weakling manages to perform as a man, how great of a child could be born? That’s what I’m looking forward to thinking about.”

“Is the child not innocent? Perhaps it will take after the mother. I’m not sure what kind of person the empress is, though.”

He expected a vicious retort—or curse—to fly immediately, but unexpectedly, Erdene closed her mouth with a pensive expression.

Deep in thought, she clenched and unclenched her fist, then tapped the table as if knocking, and said,

“She’s too good for Tenek. Too frail to be an emperor’s companion, but not foolish. She’s a pitiful woman who had not one, but two stupid and greedy men interfere in her life.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Erdene’s gaze drifted to a distant place.

Her expression was like that of an old person lost in memories. When she was still young and carefree, Roelica often came to the palace with her parents.

Erdene’s mother, unlike her own tomboyish and reckless daughter, would jokingly say she wanted to ‘adopt Roelica as her youngest daughter’ when she saw how gentle and graceful Roelica was.

“Roelica wouldn’t have wanted Tenek. I heard she had someone she liked… but Tenek coveted her. Roelica’s foolish father thought it would be better for the family to send his daughter to the imperial family rather than make her the wife of a mere military officer. Roelica resisted stubbornly, so it dragged on for a long time…”

What’s meant to happen will happen in the end. Erdene thought.

She didn’t particularly like or hate Roelica.

She only felt a bit of pity for the expressionless face that seemed to have discarded all emotions on the day she became the crown princess.

After a moment of silence, a scathing sarcasm sprang from Erdene’s mouth.

“But I wonder if that pig-like old man’s belly didn’t burst from being inflated with the vain dream that his daughter would dare to sit on the empress’s throne.”

Roelica didn’t look happy at all.

Suddenly, Erdene remembered how every time the empress’s crown on her head sparkled brilliantly, Roelica wore an expression of contempt as if she was being mocked by the whole world.

Arkan, who had been quietly listening to Erdene’s story, moved his head as if peering at her.

“Were you perhaps… close friends with the empire’s empress?”

As soon as Arkan said those words, life—the vitality of a beast ready to attack its opponent at any moment—returned to Erdene’s eyes, which had seemed unfocused.

“Me? With Empress Roelica? No, not at all. I’ve never even properly exchanged words with her. Why do you suddenly ask such a thing?”