A Second Divorce is Difficult - ✿ dusk blossoms ✿

Side Story 3 – The Emperor and the Empress (14)

“Have you heard anything from the Empress’s palace?”

“No, Your Majesty”

“……I see.”

Shannua’s mood subsided as he turned back to his papers.

He gripped his pen and started to sign the paperwork, then stopped and sighed.

It’s been a week, and he hasn’t heard from Katrina.

All he could do was wait for her to call him.

“Why don’t you take a walk to cheer yourself up?”

His head chamberlain spoke cautiously, looking at his dark face.

“A walk?”

“Yes, there are nice places to walk in the palace. Although the distance is far, there are places where you can see the Empress’s palace.”

He meant it would be nice to see the Empress Palace, even from a distance.

“…… I see.”

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try for a moment.

Shannua considered it for a moment, but then shook his head, not wanting to run into Katrina.

* * *

A few moments later, however, Shannua was wandering near the walkway that overlooked the Empress’s palace.

He walked slowly around the gardens as if he were just strolling, but his gaze occasionally drifted toward the palace.

Because the view of the Empress’s palace was limited in this garden, Shannua walked around in circles, but there was no one to pay attention to his strange behavior.

A few moments later, Katrina’s figure appeared in the Empress’s garden.

Shannua thought he should hide, but as soon as he met Katrina’s eyes, he froze in place.

Katrina, who had just come out for a walk with her handmaiden, also stopped in her tracks when she spotted him.

That was their first eye contact in a week. It was a long distance, but Shannua was glad of it.

She looked tired, but there was nothing outwardly wrong with her.

As he was thinking this, his eyes caught Katrina’s dress.

Realizing the oddity, Shannua turned to her quickly.

“Empress.”

“Let go of me.”

As he suddenly rushed into the empress’s quarters and grabbed her arm, Katrina shrugged off his hand.

Frozen for a moment by her cold glare, Shannua held up a hand to calm her.

“Are you hurt?”

“…”

“I’m asking if you’re hurt.”

It wasn’t a question about the arm Shannua had grabbed.

As he asked, he looked down at Katrina’s dress.

Despite the weather getting warmer, she was dressed in thick clothing that was not suitable for the season. The dress rising to her neck signified that she was unwell, a fact unknown to him.

Surely, in the past week, there had been no mention of the physician visiting the empress’s quarters.

“Chamberlain, get the imperial physician.”

“Yes.”

The chamberlain, reading his mood from his low voice, disappeared at a brisk pace.

“Let’s go inside.”

“I will not go with His Majesty.”

Shannua looked at her with dismay.

“I thought I told you to call me if the Empress was ill.”

His voice was directed at the handmaiden at Katrina’s side.

Katrina’s brow furrowed.

“She was only following my orders.”

Shannua slowly turned his head to face the handmaiden. Katrina spoke again, forcefully.

“They are my people, working in my palace.”

“If you let me go …… with you to the Empress’s palace for treatment, I will not blame the handmaiden.”

It was a subtle threat.

Shannua didn’t want to go this far, but when it came to Katrina’s health, there was no compromise.

Biting her lip slightly, she couldn’t help but answer.

“Okay.”

In the end, Katrina had no choice but to accompany Shannua to the Empress’s palace.

* * *

As soon as the imperial physician had finished treating her, Katrina dismissed the servants.

It was to prevent a situation where someone under her command would be reprimanded by Shannua, as had happened before.

Shannua was more concerned with her wounds, which had gotten worse in the past week than he was with reprimanding the servants.

“I’ve been thinking.”

“…….”

“Your Majesty, you pity and feel sorry for me because you believe it’s largely your fault that I’ve ended up like this.”

“…….”

“I believe His Majesty is mistaken in his feelings.”

“……You’re right.”

“You must feel sorry for me that my inability to control my emotions has led me to do things that are tantamount to self-harm.”

Sometimes even the Empress’s handmaiden looked at Katrina with pity.

Katrina had concluded that since the handmaiden had begun to care about her as if she were her mother, Shannua would be no different.

“So I believe those feelings you have will soon be forgotten.”

“…Is that so?”

He couldn’t agree with that opinion.

It was the first thing he’d thought when he’d first realized his feelings.

After returning from Bonneuil, Shannua purposely avoided looking for Katrina, preoccupied with catching up on work.

He wanted to know if he was confusing compassion with affection.

But by the end of the week, he acknowledged what kind of feelings he had.

Funnily enough, the conclusion about Shannua’s feelings came from his chamberlain.

“Did she eat?”

“No mention of illness? Did the physician visit her every day?”

“When was the date set for our scheduled union night?”

“Did the empress really provide this carriage? Since when?”

Most of the questions he had asked over the past week were all about Katrina. It was a fact that even Shannua himself hadn’t realized.

Until his deafening chamberlain told him.

“How about having tea with the empress every day? It’s just a brief moment, and neither you nor the empress will be burdened.”

“That…… a good idea.”

Shannua was genuinely impressed.

It would be nice to have tea at some point during the transition from morning to afternoon, so he could see for himself if everything was okay during the night and if it would be okay in the future.

“It seems like the two of you are getting along. You look much better together.”

The chamberlain smiled and left the office, promising to ask the Empress about it.

It was only then that he realized how his feelings were reflected by others.

“Your Majesty, you look very ill. Are you resting well?”

“Drinking tea with you is the only time I can legitimately rest.”

“……Is that enough?”

Shannua smiled comfortably at Katrina’s worried words toward him after meeting him for the first time in a week.

“Yeah. That’s why you have to see me every day.”

“It’s not a difficult task for me, but wouldn’t it be better for Your Majesty to get some proper rest?”

“No, I like to drink tea leisurely like this with you.”

“……I’ll have to tell your chamberlain to prepare some good tea for your body.”

Thinking that her feelings were already far removed from what Katrina had called their ‘relationship for the sake of succession’.

“It will be forgotten; it should be.”

Katrina’s voice roused Shannua from his reverie.

“There is only one thing I can say to Your Majesty. My heart can never be the same as yours.”

“…….”

“It will be for a long time, perhaps for the rest of your life, so think again.”

“From now on, if you’re sick, call me.”

Shannua asked, averting his gaze from her, for he knew he could not give her the answer she wanted.

But Katrina didn’t answer because she didn’t intend to give him the answer he wanted either.

* * *

“And the Empress?”

“She’s alone in her room.”

Shannua received a message from the handmaiden of the empress’s palace and hurriedly rushed over.

Previously, they had concealed issues under the empress’s orders, but now, with the emperor’s stern directive laced with threats, even the head handmaiden couldn’t do anything.

“Everyone, leave.”

With that order, Shannua opened the door to the empress’s chamber.

“I said, don’t come in!”

Katrina’s voice was uncharacteristically sharp for a woman who never shouted.

“Katrina.”

Her eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected voice.

“Why are you here?”Her voice was softer than it had been at first, but there was still a hint of irritation in it.

“I heard you were sick; that’s why I came.”

Shannua slowly approached Katrina.

She was clutching the pillow as if she were about to tear it apart. No, upon closer inspection, the feathers scattered on the bed and floor indicated that the pillow had already been torn to some extent.

“Stop! Don’t come.”

The voice grew louder and he stopped in his tracks.

Katrina shot him a glare.

“You’ve always been like this, Your Majesty. You always do the opposite of what I want.”

“…….”

“You’re saying you love me? No, no. No one would treat someone they loved so ridiculously, and what have you ever done for me?”

Katrina’s eyes narrowed and her teeth clenched.

There was a time when Katrina wanted Shannua’s attention.

Even now, she’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel some joy at his confession, but she wasn’t happy, either.

A darker emotion suddenly poked through the joy.

‘Why now? Why at this moment? Why did his feelings arise only after I became like this?’

Old memories and painful wounds stifled the joy that was about to burst forth.

The conflicting emotions intensified when she was in pain.

Those were the things that came to mind when she was sobbing and not even allowing the maid to come in, so to forget this bad feeling, he pounded her chest hard and ended up hitting her head on the pillow.

Fortunately, it was a soft pillow so it didn’t hurt.

“……I’m sorry.”

He said this, withdrawing slowly.

Then, catching Katrina off guard, he grabbed her in a familiar hug.

“Let go! Let go!”

“I’m sorry.”

Shannua apologized and hugged her even tighter.

“It’s all my fault, and I shouldn’t have hurt you.”

It was like that all night.

Even after Katrina’s grip on Shannua’s hand grew weaker, Shannua continued to whisper his apologies.

So, the scene Katrina remembered from that day always had him apologizing.

“I’m sorry, I was wrong.”

In her fading consciousness, his apology sounded like a declaration of love and whispered affection. Though they were clearly different words, it was a strange thing indeed.

Thinking it was all because of his gentle whispering voice in her ear, Katrina closed her eyes with a gentle smile.

* * *

TL NOTE: More advanced chapter of this story is already up to the site. Visit dusk blossoms for more advanced chapters and stories