Chapter 4

Adelina opened the cap of the medicine bottle and filled her mouth with the medicine. She immediately closed her eyes and tilted her head to let the medicine flow into Lexion’s mouth.

‘Drink it. You have to drink it to live.’

Since the unconscious Lexion couldn’t swallow the medicine well, Adelina pressed his tongue with hers to make him swallow it. Lexion’s throat moved once as if gulping.

“Haa…”

After administering the antidote to Lexion twice, Adelina plopped down on the floor and exhaled.

‘Is this why you made me read martial arts novels?’

They say whatever you learn will be useful, but she never thought she’d use her knowledge of martial arts like this.

‘He looks even more handsome up close…’

Adelina looked into Lexion’s face, which seemed more at ease now that much of the pain had subsided. Seeing the color return to his lips, she blinked.

‘Is this… my first kiss?’

What is this feeling of injustice!

‘No! This isn’t a kiss!’

She couldn’t acknowledge something done without feeling anything as her first kiss.

‘Yes! It’s artificial administration! Artificial administration!’

That’s right. Like artificial respiration, it was done to save a life, so it wasn’t a kiss but artificial dosing.

As if regaining consciousness, Lexion, who was unnecessarily handsome even to his forehead, slightly furrowed his brows.

‘Oh… Oh…’

As his eyelids slowly lifted, Adelina’s body was sucked back into the mirror.

+++

Lexion struggled to sit up, leaning against the sofa.

There was still a little pain in his heart, but as always, it would be gone by morning.

If he died from poison, the people of the Ernst Duchy would rebel.

That’s why the Emperor commanded Lexion to suppress rebellions in other regions and continuously sent assassins under the guise of them being sent by the rebels.

‘That spiteful Emperor.’

Even after being driven to death’s door, he managed to return alive, and now they used a larger dose of poison.

‘I must have taken the antidote unconsciously.’

Lexion frowned deeply as he saw the empty glass bottle on the table.

That antidote was secretly obtained by the traitor Stephan. He really didn’t want to use it.

Stephan had given him five books, saying to keep one in each bedroom. If he handed this book to Stephan tomorrow, he would discreetly provide another antidote.

‘He’ll be pleased, thinking I trust him.’

If Stephan found out Lexion took the antidote after being poisoned, he might grin from ear to ear.

Lexion placed the empty glass bottle back in the center of the economics book and closed the cover.

‘What’s this?’

A long, silver thread-like thing was lying on the floor.

Lexion wrapped it around his fingertip and approached the bookshelf. He then took out a poetry book he hadn’t opened in ten years and slipped it inside.

+++

Adelina, summoned back into the mirror, was in a daze but gradually regained her consciousness.

‘Oh no! There are more cracks in the mirror!’

As she came to her senses, the first thing she noticed was a long crack in the mirror. When she was first brought to Lexion, the mirror had already been split in half.

If another big crack formed here, it might become too small or even shatter into pieces.

[Adelina.]

The voice of the deity who pulled her into the mirror was heard again.

‘Ah! Deity! You didn’t even answer when I called you!’

Adelina jumped up and raised her hands toward the sky. She wanted to clench her fist and shake it, but just in case, she spread her palm wide and waved it in greeting.

‘Don’t call me that! It gives me goosebumps!’

Adelina. In the divine language, it means noble lady. Having never been treated nobly, it was an embarrassingly grand name for her.

‘So. What’s the way to become real?’

Adelina clasped her hands over her chest and looked up with earnest eyes. Usually, deities reside above in the sky.

[A confession of true love.]

Adelina smiled brightly at the deity’s soft and sweet voice, then plopped back down.

‘Ah… I see…’

What was I expecting? I was foolish to think there would be a more special method.

Why do fairy tales and magic always harp on about love? Even the deity!

Adelina hugged her knees with one hand and began drawing a heart on the floor with her right index finger.

‘Talking about love, huh.’

She puffed her cheeks rebelliously and continued drawing. The heart soon became a circle.

Love? She had never received it. Never given it. She didn’t know how to receive love.

It might be the easiest thing for others, but for her, who had always been a “fake,” it was the hardest thing in her entire life.

‘I’ll just give up. I’ll live peacefully in the mirror as I am now.’

Yes. It was easier to give up on the impossible. As always. So she would get hurt less.

‘When will you give me the R-rated novel? I even got my ID.’

Adelina sighed deeply and spoke in a gloomy voice, but the deity’s answer was not heard.

+++

The coming-of-age ceremony, the largest event in the Petrus Empire, was a month away.

Around 11 a.m., when the soft spring sunlight cleared the mist from the lake, Queen Sweeney of the Kingdom of Iberis and a goodwill delegation arrived in the capital, Lakeed.

A total of 30 carriages and about 500 knights moved in this large procession, which had been escorted by over 100 elite knights of the Petrus Empire since departing from the Kingdom of Iberis.

“Look there! It’s a dragon! The symbol of our empire!”

“Indeed. It’s always impressive and reassuring!”

And above them flew five dragons. This was the reason Emperor Grain did not bother to send many knights.

‘Those dragons! If it weren’t for them, our kingdom wouldn’t have become a vassal state!’

Inside the carriage, Sweeney clenched her fists tightly as she listened to the cheers of the people on the streets for the dragons.

“Your Majesty… your hands will be hurt.”

The head maid in the carriage with Sweeney opened her hand and rubbed the marks left by her nails, looking distressed.

The Dragon Knights of the Petrus Empire. They conquered the Aslan Continent with just ten dragons over ten years ago.

“Tell Chellus to accomplish his mission no matter what.”

“Do not worry. He will surely accomplish it.”

Sweeney looked out the carriage window at the man with brown hair who was escorting them. He had once been her fiancé.

-“Marine biology, huh? That’s an unusual book you’re reading, Your Majesty.”-

-“I find it fascinating that there are creatures living in the sea.”-

At 15, she became Queen at a young age and met Chellus for the first time after he returned from studying abroad. His long, soft brown hair still fluttered in the wind, just like when he picked up the books that had fallen in the library.

Sensing her gaze through the window, Chellus turned his head to look at her.

‘Sweeney. My eternal Queen.’

Matching the pace of the carriage, Chellus kept his eyes on Sweeney’s face as he rode alongside.

“Stop!”

A group of knights on horseback blocked Sweeney’s procession right in front of the palace gates.

“Greetings to His Highness, Prince Evans!”

The captain of the Petrus Empire’s knights, who were in charge of both escorting and monitoring Sweeney’s party, recognized Evans.

He rode up to Evans, placing his right fist on his left chest in a salute.

“You’ve worked hard escorting my fiancée. From now on, I will escort her.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Evans slowly rode his horse towards the white carriage.

‘Sweeney. My beautiful swan.’

Through the carriage window glass, Sweeney’s beautiful face was visible. Despite having a Queen on board, the carriage was more neat than extravagant, reflecting Sweeney’s personality.

“It’s been a while, my fiancée, Sweeney. Almost six months, indeed.”

Evans dismounted and opened Sweeney’s carriage door, looking at her.

Sweeney sighed softly to herself and turned her head towards Evans.

Evans, who was the same age as her at 28, had shed the youthful innocence of the first time they met, with his blonde hair and blue eyes characteristic of the Petrus Royal Family, now looking at her as a man.

“It has been a long time, Your Highness. But it seems you’ve forgotten how to address me due to the long absence.”

“How could that be? Her Majesty, the Queen of the Kingdom of Iberis. And my fiancée.”

Evans extended his hand to Sweeney. When Sweeney reluctantly took it, he pulled her out of the carriage.

“Your Highness.”

Sweeney’s calm yet angry voice softly echoed in Evans’s ear.

“We must show that the Kingdom of Iberis and our Empire are bound by blood ties.”

Evans lifted Sweeney’s chin with one hand.

Just as when he first met her ten years ago, the sight that made his heart tremble was unchanged.

Her black hair, dark as the night sky on a new moon. Her eyes, a piercingly transparent yet deep blue. Her skin, as pure and clean as her nickname suggested.

At 18, Evans fell in love at first sight. Therefore, he persuaded his brother, Emperor Grain, to proceed with Sweeney’s absurd alliance proposal.

‘No, she’s even more beautiful now.’

The proud and elegant Sweeney, now with added maturity, made Evans’ heart race even more.

“That must be Queen Sweeney… Truly… just as the rumors say…”

“Indeed… I’ve never seen someone so beautiful…”

The whispers of the people reached Evans’s ears, making him even more proud.

She was his woman. He was to have the most beautiful woman in the world.

His lips slowly descended towards Sweeney’s lips.

‘Chellus…’

Seeing Chellus’s tightly closed lips, Sweeney closed her eyes.

Please don’t look. Please turn your gaze elsewhere.

“Long live Prince Evans! Long live the Petrus Empire!”

“Long live Queen Sweeney! Long live the Kingdom of Iberis!”

As the kiss between Evans and Sweeney prolonged, the cheers of the people in the street grew louder.

“Let’s have the wedding this time.”

“Your Highness, a Queen’s wedding cannot be held in another Empire. Please wait.”

“You really keep me yearning. I won’t let this year pass.”

Evans mounted Sweeney onto his horse, climbed up behind her, and rode into the palace.

As Chellus was about to follow them immediately, the captain of the Kingdom of Iberis’s knights held his horse’s reins and shook his head slightly.

‘Evans. I will never let you take away my queen!’

Chellus’s jaw trembled slightly as he clenched his teeth, but everyone pretended not to notice and moved slowly.

+++

The next day, Adelina looked around the room, already bright with dawn.

A white flower petal, carried by the wind, entered through the open terrace window, perhaps from a nearby flowering tree. The white lace inner curtain fluttered softly in the early morning spring breeze before settling quietly.

Lexion, dressed neatly in a black suit, sat primly on a chair at the tea table in front of the terrace, reading a newspaper.

He elegantly lifted a teacup, perhaps drinking coffee.

‘Darling~.’

If Adelina had a body, she would have called out to Lexion with an excessively sweet voice that would give anyone goosebumps.

Lexion’s hand, holding the coffee cup, paused momentarily.