A cool breeze gently caressed Stella’s hair as it passed by. The fragrant flower scent and soft earthy smell carried in the wind soothed her mind.

Bright moonlight settled over the gardens of Verdura Castle.

Each time the wind blew, the Golden Bloom stems rustled against each other, scattering their golden petals on the ground like a blessing. The golden petals that had fallen to the ground caught a timely breeze and floated up into the sky.

Enchanted, Stella followed the dancing petals with her gaze and smiled brightly with inexplicable happiness.

The sound of the wind, the soft moonlight, and the fragrant flower scent created a beautiful melody together. The petals that had been spinning above Stella’s head floated down gracefully.

Without thinking, Stella quickly opened her palm to catch the falling petals. She carefully avoided gripping too tightly, fearing she might crush them.

The petals, which had been only as big as a fingertip when falling, grew to fill her entire palm the moment they landed.

“Wow!”

Amazed by this mysterious phenomenon, Stella exclaimed with childlike delight.

The petals, beautiful like dishes made of gold, gave off a fresh and invigorating scent. While enjoying the soft petals’ happiness, Stella turned her head, sensing someone watching her from behind.

“Grandfather… Uhu?”

Between the delicately blooming flowers stood Uhu, hands behind his back, smiling broadly at Stella. Delighted to see him, Stella rushed over in one breath and crouched before him.

“Grandfather, have you been well? I missed you so much.”

The moment she saw Uhu, all her pent-up longing welled up. Uhu simply smiled warmly without answering and held out his hand.

Stella instinctively understood that Uhu wanted the petal she was holding.

Though it was a truly beautiful and precious Golden Bloom petal, Stella didn’t feel the slightest reluctance. She willingly held out the Golden Bloom petal she had been holding.

However, instead of taking it, Uhu came closer, gently pressed his cheek against the petal and embraced it, then took something from his pocket and dropped it onto the petal.

It was a beautifully shining pink bead. The bead, which looked carefully crafted from cherry blossom petals, melted away like snow the moment it touched the petal.

“Oh?”

The petal’s fragrance grew stronger, and its golden color shone even more brilliantly.

“Riella.”

Uhu left just that one word before disappearing with a bright smile.

“Grandfather?”

Stella opened her eyes wide and stared blankly at the familiar pattern on the ceiling.

So it was a dream.

Her chest still felt tight with joy and longing. Tears welled up in her eyes without her realizing it.

Sensing Stella’s movement, Kai, who had been lying beside her, rose to check on his wife. Even in deep sleep, Kai would wake immediately if he sensed anything different about Stella.

“Stella?”

Stella seemed startled by something and was crying with her eyes open. Kai’s mind went blank.

“Stella!”

Alarmed, Kai quickly lit the lamp beside the bed and helped Stella sit up.

“What’s wrong, are you in pain?”

Though it had been over a year since marrying Stella, Kai’s heart still dropped whenever Stella was out of sight or showed any signs of illness.

Every moment with her felt like a miracle, was precious, and sometimes frightening, seeming it might disappear like a dream. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for Stella.

But when she showed tears or seemed unwell like this, he didn’t know what to do and became restless.

“No, I just had a dream…”

Stella’s voice choked up, the image of Uhu from her dream still vivid.

“A dream?”

While Kai felt relieved, he also worried that she might have had a nightmare about the earth spirit.

After that incident, he had assembled a medical team dedicated solely to Stella’s care, consisting of ten of the most skilled doctors from the imperial palace and over a dozen priests and mages talented in healing.

Stella only found out later that these people were exclusively assigned to her care.

Though she had tried several times to tell him not to do this, Kai was stubborn, and after long negotiations, they finally agreed to maintain the empress’s special care unit for just one year. Today was exactly one year since then.

“Yes. I met Grandfather Uhu in my dream.”

Kai silently let Stella lean against him while gently patting her. His hand carefully caressed Stella’s arm through the thin nightgown.

Stella told Kai everything she had seen in her dream. As she spoke, her expression alternated between smiles and tears. Kai carefully wiped the tears from her eyes and said:

“Looks like it’s a dream about discovering a gold mine.”

Wanting to lift Stella’s spirits even a little, Kai spoke in an intentionally cheerful voice.

“We’ll become even richer then.”

Understanding Kai’s heart better than anyone, Stella answered with a bright smile.

“This gold mine we discover should be in your name.”

As the conversation took an odd turn, Stella straightened up from where she had been leaning and asked with a puzzled expression.

“Why?”

“Because you had the dream.”

Stella was dumbfounded. It was an incredibly strange and unreasonable logic. Kai, who was always desperate to give her things, would sometimes use such nonsensical reasons to give Stella excessive gifts.

But Stella returned most of the gifts to the imperial treasury, or if they could be converted to cash, she used the money to establish orphanages and develop poor districts.

It was natural that the empire’s citizens’ love and respect for their empress grew deeper.

“You think I’ll refuse?”

“No, I know my gold-loving empress will accept it right away.”

Unable to hold back her laughter, Stella giggled and tapped Kai’s shoulder as she replied.

“I’ll make a huge necklace with that gold.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“I’ll make it so big and expensive it’ll drag on the ground.”

“Isn’t that… a chain?”

“…Is it?”

They stared at each other blankly before bursting into laughter. Finding Stella’s broad smile too beautiful, Kai kissed her right then and whispered in her ear.

“You’d look pretty even wearing such a strange necklace.”

“I can’t keep such a good thing all to myself. I’ll share it with you.”

“I’m honored.”

Kai replied as he pulled Stella into his embrace. Though Stella had become much healthier than before, to Kai’s eyes she still looked fragile.

He wished her arms had a bit more flesh on them, and that her slender legs would become sturdier.

“Where exactly is your hand right now?”

Stella, who had been nestled in his embrace, looked at Kai with wide eyes and asked.

“Hmm, where it’s supposed to be?”

Kai answered nonchalantly with a shameless expression. Meanwhile, his hand crept deeper under Stella’s nightgown.

Stella’s skin felt as soft as silk under his touch.

“Do you know what the best part about being married is?”

“What is it?”

“That I can touch you like this whenever I want.”

Despite holding the position of emperor, Kai couldn’t hold Stella in his arms until after marriage due to Harman’s nearly brainwashing education.

He could have simply ignored Harman’s words, but what Harman said had firmly bound his feet that wanted to rush to Stella’s room.

—If you go to Princess Stella before the wedding ceremony, the neat and modest princess might be greatly disappointed in Your Majesty. I hear Amalrune’s marriage customs are very strict.

Harman even brought up Amalrune’s marriage culture, which he barely knew about, to restrain Kai. Though he thought it would have little effect, to Kai who only wanted to look good in Stella’s eyes, that nagging was incredibly effective.

On their wedding day, after going through such an arduous process, Kai’s heart pounded so hard he couldn’t remember anything from the ceremony.

He just wanted this tedious wedding to end quickly so he could sweep Stella up in his arms and enter their wedding chamber. Of course, once the wedding ended, they didn’t come out of the room for three days straight.

If Harman hadn’t been outside nagging about concerns for Her Majesty the Empress’s health condition, Stella might have been confined to that room for the entire week.

* * *

As soon as day broke, Kai called for the medical team because Stella hadn’t slept well and had woken up at dawn. The faces of the physicians who came to check on Her Majesty the Empress’s condition as soon as the sun rose were clearly tense.

If they said there was nothing wrong, he would scold them for being lazy; if they said something needed treatment, he would fiercely demand they fix it immediately; and if they prescribed medicine with great difficulty, he would watch her take just one dose and then demand to know why there was no improvement.

The emperor, who was usually composed and cool-headed in everything else, behaved like a four-year-old child with no patience whatsoever when it came to matters concerning the empress.

“Ah… Finally, today’s the last day.”

“Though Her Majesty is perfectly fine, my knees shake every time we enter for examination because of His Majesty.”

Creeeeak.

No sooner had their conversation stopped than the door swung wide open, revealing the empress sitting demurely on the bed. Beside her stood the emperor, looking paler than the patient herself.

Seeing the physicians hesitating at the door, the emperor jumped up from his seat and urged them.

“Quick, come here and examine the empress.”

“Your Majesty, I really am perfectly fine.”

Stella tried to restrain Kai, her face reddening with embarrassment in front of others. But having seen Stella break into a cold sweat and tear up in her sleep, Kai felt urgent and anxious.

“If you’re really fine, that would be wonderful, but what if something’s wrong? Let’s just have you examined once.”

Kai spoke to Stella casually as usual before belatedly realizing they were being watched and hurriedly switched to formal speech.

Everyone living in the imperial palace knew that the emperor cherished the empress more than his own life.

The doctors glanced at each other, each trying to delay examining the empress for as long as possible. Finally, the one who stepped forward first was Gregory, the youngest among the doctors.

He shot a resentful look at his senior colleagues before cautiously approaching the empress. Gregory did his best to avoid making eye contact with the emperor in an attempt to maintain psychological stability.

Despite his trembling approach, once Gregory began the examination, he became calm and composed.

While he conducted the examination, not even breathing could be heard in the empress’s chamber. Everyone fervently hoped that Gregory’s examination would end safely.

But Gregory’s head tilted slightly as he examined the empress.

“Eep!”

Simultaneously, the faces of all the physicians in the room turned as white as paper.