The next day, Princess Seira came to find me and apologized with a face full of discontent.

Born as a late child after three older brothers, the princess said she had lived her entire life doing as she pleased and was scolded for the first time.

The princess’s father had become furious and her brothers enraged, telling her not to return if she didn’t apologize, so she had reluctantly apologized while crying.

Many things changed after returning from the Kingdom of Harua.

First, wanting to do well in the role of empress, I began studying various fields including history, culture, diplomacy, economics, and politics.

Although it was difficult because the system was so different from the world I had lived in, my enthusiasm overflowed thanks to the sense of ownership I felt as empress.

Before I knew it, while being buried in studies and living diligently, two weeks had passed since I returned to the empire.

And it had been two weeks since I had seen him.

The days when I shared a room with him in the Kingdom of Harua now seemed distant.

Looking back now, it was something I couldn’t even imagine.

Sharing a room with him.

To be honest, at that time, I didn’t have the mental space to think about such things.

During the day, human relationships were the problem, and at night, I had to tell stories endlessly.

Now I should gradually choose the next story, but I had many concerns.

Since ⟨The Seduction of the Marked Wife⟩ seemed to match his taste, I put several soap operas on the candidate list.

For a brief moment in this peaceful time, she thought that living as an empress like this wouldn’t be so bad.

But it was truly just a brief moment.

Soon, an event awaited that would make her realize how wrong this thought was.

Living as someone other than herself would only bring unhappiness.

* * *

After reading books all day, her head hurt, so she went outside and walked for quite some time.

It was clearly common sense that Leila couldn’t be ignorant of all this, so she was trying to learn independently, but it wasn’t easy.

Rather than understanding, she was just reading and memorizing everything.

No matter how she thought about it, she needed help from somewhere, but she couldn’t readily think of anyone who could help.

She considered learning from Mary who was close by, but just asking questions in the Kingdom of Harua had already seemed strange enough.

She had come out to rest, but feeling that her head had only become more complicated, she looked up at the night sky.

The sparkling moon and stars were shining.

The dark night sky, which made the beautiful moon and stars visible, was enough to make her forget everything.

Added to that were the subtle flower scents and the tickling sounds of insects in her ears, making it a pleasant walk for once.

While enjoying the quiet night walk, she heard the sharp sound of swords clashing from far away.

Wondering what the sound was, she headed in that direction.

She saw a perfect silhouette that she knew well.

She had seen calisthenics in the moonlight before, but seeing a sword fight in the moonlight for the first time, she approached that direction as if entranced.

Seeing swordsmanship in real life was more impressive than action scenes in movies.

Thinking that this man was truly attractive no matter what he did, she absentmindedly moved toward his back.

And she had the chillingly thrilling experience of having a sword tip touch her neck.

“Eek!”

“Empress?”

He quickly withdrew his sword and sent silent pressure to the knight he was sparring with, saying ‘Why do you look surprised!’

“Well, I was startled because Her Majesty the Empress suddenly appeared.”

“It’s fine, Your Majesty.”

“I almost killed you unintentionally. You’re someone who still has 3 weeks left.”

“I’m alive, so it’s fine. And I plan to live more than 3 more weeks.”

He stared at me intently.

With a face that said, ‘Why aren’t you leaving if nothing’s wrong?’

That face made me feel both defiant and regretful.

So, instinctively, words came out without me realizing.

“I’ve decided on a new story.”

After saying it, I was momentarily flustered, but I couldn’t take it back.

And truly, the moment I saw him, a second story flashed in my mind.

A drama completely unrelated to the candidates I had so far.

“What kind of story?”

“Would you like to walk with me?”

He made an unwilling expression, but when he saw that I had no intention of speaking, he finally ordered distant security.

We walked alone without interruption.

“Will you tell me now? What kind of story is it?”

“The title is ⟨Strange Garden⟩.”

“Strange Garden? Do you mean a garden like this? I’m not particularly interested in garden stories.”

“Surely you don’t think I would tell a story about an ordinary garden?”

He chuckled.

The person who always raised just one corner of his mouth to sneer had chuckled for the first time.

Even though I thought it wasn’t a big deal that he chuckled, I felt strangely good.

“You seem to have grown bolder, Empress.”

His words made me feel good, and I smiled broadly for once.

I could feel his gaze on me.

“It’s an extremely interesting story that I’m confident about. I’ll just give you a little taste now.”

He nodded with a composed face.

Though he pretended to be composed, the fact that he had come this far showed that he was very curious about my story.

“Strange Garden is about a perfect but very arrogant man, Joo-hyun, the capable president of a clothing company who thinks marriage is a strategic partnership in life, and, oh?”

I stopped in surprise while introducing Joo-hyun.

I thought that the person I was introducing wasn’t Joo-hyun but the man in front of me, the emperor Charte.

Not only that, but the way he lived selfishly, doing things his own way, was also similar.

“Why did you stop?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

I couldn’t possibly say, ‘Your Majesty resembles the male protagonist.’

If I said he was on the same level as the protagonist, I didn’t know how much more arrogant that prideful human would become, so I quietly watched my words.

“I’ll continue.”

Charte gave me an affirmative look that said to hurry up.

“Ha-im, who is poor but dignified, can’t stand injustice, and loves being called cool the most, is an unknown actor and a fan of Sang-yoon, the emperor of the theater world.”

The thought suddenly occurred to me that Ha-im might be me.

But I wasn’t poor yet dignified, I could endure injustice well, and while I liked being called cool, I also liked being called pretty and beautiful.

I felt somewhat disappointed.

“And?”

“Sang-yoon, a famous theater actor who has conquered not only the empire but also foreign countries, is Joo-hyun’s cousin and can’t forget his first love. This is a story of love and growth created by these men and women. Sounds interesting, right?”

“I’m not sure yet. Tell me a bit more. Then I might know.”

“What?”

I laughed out loud, really refreshingly.

It was laughter that relieved all my stress.

He looked at me with an expression that said, ‘Is she crazy?’

“Your Majesty.”

“What?”

His answer was brusque, as if he was embarrassed.

“Your Majesty.”

“You have lost your fear, Empress. Have you forgotten that I could kill you right now?”

“I still have the permitted 3 weeks left. And I’m confident I can get more permission during that time. Anyway, Your Majesty.”

“What now?”

“That’s all for tonight.”

His face became displeased.

“I hope you won’t cross the line any further.”

I felt slightly tense, wondering if I had gone too far in my excited state.

“Yes, I’ll be careful.”

He nodded and seemed about to leave.

Strangely, I didn’t want him to go, so I quickly spoke.

“Your Majesty.”

There was no answer, but I knew he had granted me a little more time.

“Why were you practicing swordsmanship late at night instead of sleeping?”

“Because I couldn’t sleep.”

“What? A person who could sleep even while sitting in the kingdom, how can you say such a thing……”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

Having seen him sleep both sitting and lying down, I wondered why he was pretending to have insomnia.

I might have believed it if we had separate rooms, but now it was impossible.

“Didn’t you also have nightmares, Empress? Which is unlike you.”

My reaction seemed to have really upset his mood, as suddenly I felt a chill in the surroundings and coldness in my body.

I quickly stopped laughing.

“I’m sorry for taking up too much of Your Majesty’s time. I will withdraw now.”

I retreated with quick steps.

If I stayed any longer, I would surely only make him dislike me more.

I lay in bed to sleep, but my feelings still hadn’t calmed down.

Thinking about it, tonight was the first time.

Spending time having somewhat normal conversations with him.

There was nothing extraordinary, but I was glad to have reached the point where I could have lighthearted conversations with him.

Even on that terrible first night, I never thought we would become like this, and although the contract was still ongoing, my mindset then and now was different.

Now, instead of avoiding an immediate crisis, my goal was to live a long, healthy life until 100.

Like this, without me even knowing, my heart was gradually changing.

* * *

She invited the Ministers of Welfare and Economy and their staff who had participated in the cherished item auction to the Empress’s Palace.

It was a dinner prepared to celebrate the success of the event, though it was late.

After the meal, they gathered in small groups with light wine, happily sharing memories of the event.

Ivester approached with a wine glass.

“Your Majesty the Empress.”

“Thank you, Minister Pahorder.”

“Thanks to Your Majesty, we were able to hold a wonderful event.”

“Did you just plan the event? Among the high-priced items, two of mine were in the top ranks, including the dress and the vase.”

“What?”

“I think I acted unbecoming of an empress last time. Seeing them being sold at high prices, I regretted why I had acted so foolishly then. I’m sorry for making you feel burdened when it was being used for a good cause.”

“What do you mean……”

At that moment, several Welfare Department officials approached us, and Ivester couldn’t continue his words.

And a few days later, Ivester came with a fairly large box.

Ivester didn’t say much until Mary finished setting up tea and refreshments and left.

“What brings you here suddenly?”

“I just wanted to talk, I came as a friend today. Leila.”

“Sure. It’s nice for friends to meet and chat. Do you have something specific you want to talk about?”

Ivester hesitated, then took items out of the box.

Books, horse riding equipment, brooches, gloves, paintings, bow ties, and various other items emerged.

“What’s all this? Are you planning another auction?”

I carefully examined the items to ease the awkward atmosphere.

“Oh my, this is a first edition of the Magic Encyclopedia. Isn’t a first edition extremely rare? This would be amazing at an auction. You have so many good items, yet you specifically put my gifts up for auction? Well, I guess the vase wouldn’t have been useful to you anyway. Why did I even buy such a thing?”

His expression hardened as he listened to me.

“Hey, friend! I was just joking. Don’t take it so seriously. It was a joke. Anyway, why did you bring these?”

“Do you really not know what these are?”

Apparently, I should have known about these items.

His serious expression told me this was no joke.

What on earth are these? Are they mementos from their relationship?

Dorothea’s note:
They might be talking about Secret Garden (시크릿 가든) which is about a rich CEO (Kim Joo-won) and a poor stuntwoman (Gil Ra-im) who mysteriously switch bodies after a strange encounter in a forest.