Platt stared blankly at Arkan with a flabbergasted expression.

As he was about to say something, Arkan waved his hand dismissively without even looking at him, as if shooing away an annoying fly.

His gaze still remained fixed outside the window.

“Go back, Platt.”

Platt had no choice but to withdraw without another word. The sound of his footsteps fading away buzzed in Arkan’s ears.

Arkan looked down with a furrowed brow.

It felt as if his feet were floating off the ground and his vision was spinning.

‘He’s a military officer from the empire. They must have been close.’

Thoughts chained together involuntarily.

Arkan’s expression, with his forehead pressed against the window as if about to break through it, changed by the minute.

It sank coldly, then became pensive as if mulling over something……

His brow furrowed again. Although not clearly visible from where he stood, Erdene seemed to be smiling.

It was different from the expression he always saw. It wasn’t a sneer, nor was it threateningly fierce.

Upon realizing that, Arkan suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his chest.

His vision rippled strangely like the surface of water shaken by the wind.

[Anyway, it might be fresh and nice for each other at first, but what about later? Won’t you start noticing younger and more attractive people?]

Arkan flinched as if pricked by a sharp needle when Erdene’s words from their wedding night came to mind.

Tension built between his brows and the corners of his eyes, and the bone structure of his knuckles gripping the window frame stood out in white relief.

Could that bastard be her lover?

‘No, not her lover. Rather…….’

Arkan lowered his gaze for a moment, holding his forehead.

He couldn’t exactly call him a lover. To be precise, not a lover, but……

‘A paramour she kept in the empire?’

The question quickly morphed into an arbitrary conviction.

Even though he knew Erdene’s personality, that didn’t matter at the moment.

His sharpened nerves felt as if someone was shaking them, and he wondered why he couldn’t immediately open the window and stop Erdene from leaving.

At that moment, the back of his neck stood on end.

The instant Arkan stepped back from the window, Telma raised his head and looked up.

It was a brief gap, not even enough time to blink.

Arkan turned around and paced the corridor for a while before clenching and unclenching his fists, letting out a couple of short sighs.

His heart raced with the feeling that he had stolen someone’s secret, as if he had done something dishonest.

‘No, it’s not my fault. Why should I feel this way?’

He repeated to himself inwardly, but the suffocating feeling like a rock lodged in his throat wouldn’t go away at all.

He couldn’t smooth out his furrowed brow due to the unfamiliar and reckless emotions, the unpleasantness swirling inside his body.

[This is the timeline separator]

The promise to have lunch together ultimately went unfulfilled.

It was because Arkan had sent an attendant to tell Erdene to dine separately.

“Suddenly?”

When Erdene asked back, the attendant bowed his head, his face turning pale as if she might behead him at any moment.

“His Majesty says he has urgent state affairs to attend to.”

“I see. Then it can’t be helped.”

Erdene responded indifferently and finished a simple lunch accompanied by mead alone.

Although she knew how busy the king’s position was, she still felt a slight sense of emptiness.

Erdene headed to the royal library to keep her promise with Arkan.

Just like last time, even though it was broad daylight, the curtains were drawn, making the inside of the library slightly dim.

When Erdene opened the door and entered, Arkan was already there, but even though he must have sensed her presence, he kept his head down and only stared at his book.

‘He’s doing it again. Childishly retaliating, really.’

Erdene thought to herself upon seeing Arkan resting his chin, looking as if he had no interest in whoever came in.

She had expected him to have brought out that damned literacy textbook he had tossed aside last time, but there was nothing on the table.

Erdene walked leisurely between the bookshelves as if taking a stroll, lightly skimming over the neat spines of the books.

“Are we not studying letters today, Your Majesty?”

The sound of pages turning was heard.

Without even pretending to look at Erdene standing right behind him, Arkan replied.

“You wouldn’t read the books I give you anyway.”

His tone dripped with coldness. Erdene stared intently at the back of his head with a puzzled expression.

She had no idea what he was so upset about this time. As if her mind wasn’t already complicated enough……

A brief silence passed. Arkan himself couldn’t help but be distracted by Erdene’s presence behind him, even though he tried to ignore it.

One would think he’d be used to the battle of nerves with Erdene by now, but he just couldn’t adapt to it.

Finally, Erdene spoke.

“Well, you’re right about that. Your words are correct, Your Majesty.”

The corners of Arkan’s mouth, which had been resolutely turned away, twitched.

Erdene made a full circle around the bookshelves, not knowing what thoughts he was immersed in.

The sound of footsteps echoed gently inside the library, darkened to prevent the books from deteriorating in the sunlight.

It was like the sound of water dripping from the ceiling of a cave, drop by drop.

The ripples were shaking Arkan’s heart too violently, which was one problem.

The scene he had clearly witnessed with his own eyes earlier, of Erdene embracing that man—Telma or whatever his name was, the one who got beaten up—kept spinning before his eyes.

Stepping back and then embracing, stepping back and then embracing……

‘No, enough. I’m going to ignore it. Let’s just read. Just read……’

Arkan tried hard to focus only on the contents of the book.

It was a scene where the two protagonists, a man and a woman, were quarreling while pointing fingers at each other.

They were suspecting each other of having committed infidelity, and it had not yet been revealed which of the two was lying.

Damn it. Arkan muttered a curse under his breath with his eyes tightly closed.

It was a book that was not good to read at the moment.

While he was debating whether to close the novel or not, Erdene found a large book from somewhere and plopped down on the sofa with it.

The book she brought was almost as thick as a guard’s forearm, and even Arkan, who had read most of the books in the library, had never seen it before.

Erdene roughly brushed the dust off the cover, took off her dirtied gloves, and opened the book.

Her dress would surely get all dirty from the dust she couldn’t shake off, but she didn’t seem to care about such things at all.

‘Where did that book come from? What did she bring?’

Arkan glanced over at Erdene.

Although he quickly averted his gaze lest she notice, he couldn’t help but be curious.

But he didn’t want to be the first to speak.

As if completely unaware of his agitation, Erdene seemed deeply immersed in that thick book.

‘What the hell is she reading!’

He couldn’t believe his eyes seeing her so focused on a book of unknown origin when she had shown no interest or concern for books before.

It was driving him crazy with curiosity……

In the end, Arkan lost the battle of patience once again.

“It’s a rare sight to see you showing interest in a book.”

Arkan said sarcastically.

“It’s a book related to military tactics.”

Erdene replied curtly and turned to look at Arkan a beat later. Her eyes seemed to say:

‘I thought someone had glued your mouth shut, but I guess not?’

Arkan’s eyebrows shot up crookedly. The tip of his tongue itched to scratch at her with any words he could.

“Right. After all, that’s your only area of interest.”

Erdene knew that Arkan’s mood was twisted beyond repair.

But no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t find a reason.

Is he still sulking because of the letter she hid? But didn’t they hastily wrap up that discussion earlier?

“What are you trying to say, Your Majesty?”

“What am I trying to say? I’m just stating the facts as they are. Isn’t war, weapons, and such the only things that interest the queen? Ah, there’s one more thing. Your subordinates. You must cherish your officers terribly, if no one else. Isn’t that right?”

Erdene stared straight into Arkan’s eyes for a while without saying anything, then replied.

“Yes, that’s right. You know me well.”

Then, she swiftly turned her head as if being sucked back into the book.

Arkan’s forehead bulged with veins as he became heated to the top of his head.

He glared at Erdene’s side profile with eyes that looked ready to devour her.

The bridge of her nose, sunken along her brow and then rising to a point, felt hatefully cute, turning his insides upside down.

In fact, the reason he didn’t have lunch together was because he was in a bad mood.

Ever since witnessing the scene of Erdene embracing—or seeming to embrace—that adjutant, his heart had been fluttering and he couldn’t calm down at all.

He had even skipped the meal because he felt like he would get indigestion no matter what he ate, but Erdene didn’t say a word about it either.

That made Arkan feel even more neglected.

‘Enough, enough.’

Eventually, Arkan turned his gaze back to the book he was reading. But there was no way the contents would register in his mind.

His hand turning the pages grew faster and rougher.

Just as he was about to tear out an innocent page, Erdene sighed softly and tapped the book she was reading.

“Why are you acting like this?”

Before Erdene could even finish her words, Arkan raised his head as if he had been waiting.

He was trying to feign a cold expression, but now that the conversation had finally started, his clogged up insides seemed to slowly settle down.

The problem was, if there was a problem, that arrogance immediately rose to fill that empty space.

Arkan retorted dully.

“Why am I acting like what? What are you talking about? What do you mean why am I acting like this?”