Cold water fell onto the thickly split chest muscles.

The temperature of the water, adjusted to suit the Emperor’s preference for cold baths even in midwinter, was chilly enough to raise goosebumps, but the heat that had been budding inside Niel since he recalled her moments ago did not easily subside.

No, perhaps this heat had begun last night.

For a very long time, he had ignored that tiny spark that had been faintly crouched in a corner of his heart for more than a decade.

Niel had hidden his emotions in front of her for a very long time, and after Yuria appeared, he deceived her about his feelings.

To make her believe he disliked her. Because he needed to distance himself from her as much as possible. So that she wouldn’t notice what he was planning.

Thus, it was a tiny spark that never dared to blaze for even a moment. At the same time, it was also the source of a catastrophe that seemed like it could flare up at any time and consume him entirely.

Seven years ago, on the day he turned his back on her first by requesting to break off their engagement.

He thought he would no longer be in her future.

Only if she could live and breathe in her future without him, that would be the most beautiful and brilliant sight in the world.

If he could sacrifice that future for her, even if he couldn’t see that splendid sight with his own eyes, he would be fine.

So Niel had been able to extinguish that small, precious spark he had cherished for so long.

But last night, when he faced her so closely that their breaths mingled and their respirations intertwined.

‘Niel…?’

The spark he had extinguished long ago engulfed him as a blazing inferno.

‘No, I was just trying to help… I’m sorry for touching you without permission…’

She was pretty as she made excuses, rolling her eyes with an awkward expression while trapped beneath him. So pretty. And so lovable it almost brought tears to his eyes.

She was alive again, breathing and moving, and she was so beautiful and lovable.

That’s why Niel almost said it.

That I don’t dislike you.

What I truly disliked, what I truly wanted to kill was…

“You are no longer my Emperor.”

I disliked you as the Emperor.

I disliked you for always looking down upon everyone with compassion because you were the Emperor.

Before you, who were a fair Emperor to everyone despite the infamous title of tyrant, I could never become special to you.

Because I had no way to stop your planned death. Because beside you, I could only watch it happen. Because I had to leave you.

“Jella Shunaibel. I will surely kill you with my own hands.”

That’s why I wanted to strip you of the name Shunaibel.

I hoped you would no longer live as a Shunaibel.

“You, and all the things you couldn’t spare, everything.”

What I truly disliked, what I truly wanted to kill, was the duty of ‘Shunaibel’ that killed you.

I wished for you to be free from that name.

I wished for you to be my ‘Jella’ instead of  ‘Your Majesty.’

But at the same time, I always admired and loved you as Shunaibel.

Long ago.

The young Imperial Princess Shunaibel, who had just returned from the Holy Nation.

From the moment I first saw you.

From the moment I knew you were a true ruler, unlike me, who was a manufactured ruling class.

Loving you as the Emperor, and also hating you…

“It’s about time to give it back.”

Though the moment he had longed for had finally arrived, Niel’s expression seemed somewhat melancholic.

His low, deep voice filled the luxurious bathroom with loneliness.

After washing and stepping out of the bath, servants approached to dry his body.

As the head servant was about to bring clothes for him to change into, Niel raised his hand to stop him.

“No, Alex. Not those clothes, different ones.”

“Different clothes…”

“Don’t I have a set of clothes that was tailored just before the New Year’s Festival?”

“Do you mean these clothes?”

The head servant asked in a half-doubting voice as he took out a set of clothes from the Emperor’s wardrobe. Niel nodded and answered in a gentle voice.

“Ah, yes. Those.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

They were clothes that seemed a bit too elaborate for everyday wear when there was no event.

But the head servant, as always, suppressed his rising questions and followed the Emperor’s orders.

Niel slipped his arms into the shirt and stared at himself in the mirror.

Dressing up like a peacock to meet her seems quite pathetic.

But even this pathetic story of his needed a conclusion.

Niel glanced at the clock hanging on the wall.

5 PM.

There was still some time left before sunset.

It was the perfect time for a proposal.

T/n: Niel, my sweet summer child, perhaps consider actually SPEAKING to the woman before planning your grand proposal? You’re trying to run a marathon when you haven’t even figured out how shoelaces work! You can’t just leap from “I pretended to hate you while secretly protecting you” to “marry me”. Master the art of basic conversation before you start picking out imperial wedding china.

***

Arne woke up in Jella’s room.

Noticing his rustling movement, Jella quickly approached and asked.

“Customer! Are you alright?”

Arne blinked and looked around.

It was an unfamiliar place he had no memory of.

“Why was I sleeping here…?”

“You collapsed earlier while taking medicine. Don’t you remember?”

As he raised his head following the gentle voice, he spotted Jella and suddenly came to his senses.

“You, you, you…!”

“You must have been very surprised? It seems you have a special constitution that doesn’t match with my medicine. You vomited the medicine right away, so you should be fine.”

This woman, explaining the situation in a seemingly concerned voice, was definitely that vicious pharmacist who tried to poison him and kill him by punching his vital point!

“There was nowhere to rest downstairs, so I brought you to my room for now.”

Pause.

Arne, who was about to question Jella about her actions, paused at those words.

“…This is your room?”

“This is the only room with a bed.”

Arne looked around Jella’s room, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

‘This is an opportunity.’

He had been wondering how to examine this woman’s room, and it would be good to use this momentum to find the holy grail.

“First, I’ll call a carriage to take you back to your mansion before it gets too late…”

“Cough, cough.”

Arne suddenly started forcing himself to cough.

“Oh no, are you alright?”

“I think I need, cough, to rest a bit more, cough…”

“Oh dear, what should I do? Should I bring you some water?”

Jella quickly went outside, saying she would bring water.

‘Hmph, I’m not leaving this room until I find the holy grail.’

Arne, who had been fake coughing until her footsteps could no longer be heard, snorted inwardly and scanned the room sharply.

However, no matter how much he looked, the holy grail was nowhere to be seen.

‘Is it in another room, not this one?’

As he was carefully trying to get up, he heard Jella’s hurried footsteps coming up with a thudding sound.

Arne quickly got back under the covers and coughed repeatedly.

“Here, I brought water. Please drink it.”

“Thank, cough. Cough, cough.”

Arne kept making coughing sounds as he drank the water, and his eyes met directly with the red eyes looking at him with concern.

He was suspicious that it might be a ploy to make him let his guard down and then attack, but somehow she seemed genuinely worried.

“Were you really not trying to poison me?”

“Poison you!”

Jella waved her hands in surprise.

“Absolutely, absolutely not! I’m not some evil villain who makes poisons!”

Then, with a slightly dejected face, she sighed deeply and sat down in the chair by the bedside.

“As I briefly mentioned earlier, your special constitution doesn’t match with my medicine. I don’t know why, but whenever I make medicine, it turns into poison. So to neutralize that poison, I drop a bit of magical power…”

Jella explained in a frustrated voice.

“Anyway, I’m really sorry. I knew that a special constitution that can’t absorb magical power is extremely rare, maybe one person in the entire continent, but I didn’t know you were one of them.”

“……”

“But you also need to pay more attention to the precautions in the future! I wrote the precautions this big, and I definitely told you when I sold the medicine…!”

“……”

But Arne was lost in thought again, not really listening to Jella’s explanation.

‘So she wasn’t trying to poison me after all…’

Perhaps because his suspicion had been lifted, Jella no longer looked as vicious as before.

Rather, he thought she was a little, no, quite pretty.