“He has quite good taste.”

“What?”

He looked at her with an irritated expression as she failed to understand his words, making her feel like she had done something wrong.

“I mean wearing clothes made by craftsmen. My clothes are also made by the Empire’s finest craftsmen.”

“What? Ah~ I see. That’s a very important similarity. Sophisticated taste!”

He looked down at me with an arrogant face as if to say, “You don’t have the same discerning eye that I do.”

With an awkward smile, I pretended to agree and continued the story.

“I’ll continue. Ha-im, who was having a strangely misaligned conversation with Joo-hyun, realizes that he mistook her for someone else and brought her along by mistake, so the two part ways. Joo-hyun happens to witness Ha-im getting injured while fighting during her knight duties and rushes over. When Ha-im refuses to go to the hospital because she has no money, he picks her up in his arms and takes her.”

“Joo-hyun is truly a decent person. The ethics of social leaders are something that’s hard to uphold even when you know them.”

“What?”

I almost laughed at the contradiction of hearing the word “ethics” from the mouth of a tyrant.

But thinking about it, from his perspective, Joo-hyun did the right thing, so I continued the story without further reaction.

“Joo-hyun watches over Ha-im as she receives treatment and falls asleep. When Ha-im’s brow furrows, Joo-hyun reaches out and smooths it.”

His expression suddenly changed, as if surprised.

“He really is similar to me.”

I barely managed to stop myself from blurting out, “What? In what way?”

I could accept the craftsman and ethics similarities, but which part of this romantic gesture was similar to him?

Wondering if he had misunderstood and thought Joo-hyun had stabbed her forehead to death instead of smoothing it, I carefully asked.

“Has Your Majesty ever done something like this?”

“That time in Haru…… ah.”

Charte, who was about to say something, suddenly stopped with a slightly embarrassed face.

“Never mind. Continue the story.”

From his behavior, which seemed awkward, I could tell.

It was definitely related to Yasrin.

The thought that he had smoothed Yasrin’s brow with those delicate fingers made me feel a little depressed.

But feeling that even having such emotions was a luxury, I quickly organized my thoughts and focused on the story.

“Joo-hyun unknowingly acted in a way that was uncharacteristic of his usual self.”

At that moment, his gaze seemed to deepen slightly.

“But when he sees Ha-im’s feet wearing socks with Sang-yoon’s picture on them, he becomes angry and removes the socks, throwing them in the trash.”

He let out a small chuckle.

Suddenly, I realized that today his reactions were immediate.

I wondered when he had started showing such honest, friendly reactions in front of me.

With that, the depression disappeared, and an inexplicable freshness began to swell in my heart.

My heart, which was swelling to the point where it was hard to control, started to float before I knew it.

It was overwhelming how quickly my mood could change.

Thinking back, I remembered that he had shown very slight reactions from the latter half of The Seduction of the Marked Wife.

I thought it wasn’t just me who felt we had become quite familiar after finishing a long drama.

Despite calling him a tyrant or a madman, I thought that he too was someone who could open his heart.

As these tender thoughts chained together, my mood improved uncontrollably, and I made another mistake.

The kind of mistake that would make me kick off the blankets at night for a long time to come.

“Your Majesty, there’s a song that goes well with this story, and I find it truly unfortunate that you don’t know it.”

“A song? What song? No, instead of just talking about it, couldn’t you just let me hear it, Empress?”

“What? Me? What? The song?”

It was strange.

I was very confused about why the direction of the conversation had changed like this.

Suddenly, a song.

And how could I sing with my humble vocal cords a song by a singer famous for their plaintive tone and singing ability?

Of course, Leila’s voice was beautiful, but I was afraid to sing that song.

Singing live without accompaniment or a microphone while sober! I thought it was really unreasonable.

But then, suddenly feeling a stinging pain, I snapped out of my thoughts to find him shooting lasers from his eyes, applying silent pressure.

How should I put it?

It felt like déjà vu of the ferocity of our first night, and I started to break out in a cold sweat.

A crisis alert sounded, telling me I needed to safely navigate this crisis to survive.

I wanted to cancel what I had just thought about him being understanding and his heart opening, to lower the shutters and lock them tight.

I reflected once more on my thoughtless impulsiveness.

“I, I’m afraid I might anger Your Majesty because I can’t sing well.”

“It’s fine. Would I kill the empress over something like that!”

I felt like hitting Charte, who was sitting with his elbow on the sofa armrest, head slightly tilted and leaning, speaking with an irritatingly arrogant face, but I suppressed it and spoke again.

“I’m really sorry. Your Majesty, please don’t make me sing.”

His face, like a demon who could sense others’ misfortune with uncanny accuracy, suddenly lit up, and with a mischievous expression, he looked straight into my eyes and said.

“If the empress insists, I won’t force you.”

“Really! Thank you.”

“Today.”

“What?”

“When someone speaks, listen until the end. You’re always hasty. Practice and let me hear it next time.”

My mouth fell open in disbelief.

His expression wrinkled at my foolish look.

“Is that facial expression your way of expressing dissatisfaction?”

Wrapped in shock, I couldn’t answer, so he continued.

“You have considerable talent for speaking with your face. It’s regrettable that I didn’t know about this excellent talent until now. But do you know that you look extremely disloyal right now? It seems the empress doesn’t like kind suggestions.”

Only after hearing his voice, which had suddenly dropped to the coldness of the Siberian plains, did I come to my senses.

“Ah, no. I am deeply grateful for the time you’ve given me to practice. I’ll practice and let you hear it.”

As light came through the window, he spoke first.

“We’ll stop here for tonight. Empress.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. As you wish.”

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.

A highly reasonable suspicion that someone as impatient as him might demand that I practice the song today and sing it tonight, so I hurriedly spoke to him as he was about to leave.

“Um, Your Majesty. I have one request.”

As he looked at me with a face that said “speak,” I quickly continued.

“I’m well aware that my life is indebted to Your Majesty. However, I humbly request a reprieve for tonight. I must depart tomorrow, and since this is my first participation, I have much to prepare. The moment I step outside, I represent the imperial family, so I dare to ask for time to prepare. Of course, I will abide by Your Majesty’s decision.”

After thinking for a moment, he nodded.

“Very well.”

I stepped back half a step to see him off, following behind him.

But he suddenly stopped and turned around.

Walking without thinking, I barely managed to stop before colliding with him.

It was a distance where I could feel his breath, not even a full span away.

My head knew I should step back, but my body was so tense it wouldn’t listen.

My heart began to beat violently as if it would jump out.

Afraid that he would detect this sudden change, I couldn’t raise my face.

“Empress.”

I answered in a respectful posture with my head bowed.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Have a safe journey.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he left.

Perhaps because the tension had drained away, I collapsed right there on the floor and mulled over his parting words.

Have a safe journey? Was he greeting me just now? To whom? To me!

Laughter escaped through my lips, which I had been trying to keep shut.

After twitching, I finally burst into loud laughter and lay down spread-eagled on the floor.

Until just a moment ago, I thought he was a demon, but now I was completely changed by a single greeting—I thought this must be what it feels like to be on an emotional rollercoaster.

In one corner of my heart, I felt a bit regretful that I had to leave just as we had become close enough to exchange greetings.

Why would I feel regretful about leaving him?

I felt frustrated and…… lonely because there was no one I could openly discuss my constantly changing, complex emotions with.

To others, he appeared to be my husband, but I couldn’t reveal the true nature of our relationship, and I worried about word getting out.

Being completely alone was the safest path right now.

Anyway, reminding myself not to show my emotions, I got up.

Though I suppressed my feelings, I was able to work in a cheerful and refreshing mood all day.

I reviewed documents and organized my tasks in preparation for the final meeting before departure.

Then I recalled the reason for my good mood and realized it was dangerous to continue like this.

“Right. It’s better to be apart. Being here with such fluctuating feelings is clearly dangerous.”

* * *

The largest room in the living quarters of the ladies-in-waiting in the Eighth Annex Palace is used by the head lady-in-waiting of the emperor and Empress’s Palace.

All this time, Mary had been pretending to be polite and kind, perfectly building trust not only with Yun-ah but also with her fellow ladies-in-waiting.

So, with the empress’s strong recommendation and a reputation so good that there was no opposition, she had recently been officially appointed as head lady-in-waiting.

As soon as Mary became head lady-in-waiting, she moved rooms.

And as soon as she gained power, she began to reveal her hidden true nature.

Before long, the ladies-in-waiting and maids of the Empress’s Palace in the Eighth Annex Palace began to fear Mary, watching her moods and following her orders.

Those who didn’t obey were quietly stripped of their positions as ladies-in-waiting or maids and expelled.

Using the power of the empress’s deep trust and fear, Mary quickly subjugated everything.

Today, she’s staying confined to her room, not even going to the empress under the pretext of being ill.

Everyone knows she’s not sick, but no one can tell the empress that fact.

After satisfactorily examining her face, which she had carefully made up to look like the empress, Mary reached for a silver wig with a blue moonlight glow.

Wearing the wig and turning around, she looked exactly like Leila from behind.

She wore a satisfied expression.

“I just need to endure until today. Soon my life will change too.”

While she was admiring herself in the mirror with an elevated mood, she heard a knock from outside.

Irritated by the sound that grated on her nerves, Mary shouted sharply.

“Who is it?”