2.

After that day, Dade visited Nian every night to drink herbal tea unless he had special business. After the strange tension at first, he simply enjoyed the herb scent without saying anything and left, and Nian kept silent as she had nothing particular to say either.

Nian ignored Dade as much as possible while working, treating him as if he wasn’t there. Dade also didn’t try to engage with her and silently watched her before leaving.

On a quiet evening, Nian, lost in thought, spoke to him for the first time in a while.

“Perhaps, you can’t forget her?”

Though it was a very sudden question, Dade immediately understood what she meant. After looking at Nian with a stern expression for a moment, he soon smiled faintly and answered.

“Jealous?”

“……”

When Nian didn’t react to his playful answer, he took a sip of his herbal tea and continued quite seriously.

“How could I completely forget? But then again, how could it remain as intense as it was then? Thinking about it, I don’t think I loved her enough to die for her. I just regret letting her go like that.”

Dade usually didn’t easily share his inner thoughts, but he rarely revealed his feelings again in response to Nian’s uncommon question.

She seemed lost in thought at Dade’s words, lowering her head before turning her back to him and facing the workbench again.

“Shall we take a walk?”

When Nian paid no attention to his words, Dade turned her around. As the conversation that had finally started was about to end again, he felt strangely impatient.

“Let’s take a walk.”

Nian looked at him as if she didn’t understand and answered.

“Do you mean me too?”

“Yes.”

“I hate……”

Nian’s refusal remained unfinished. Dade grabbed her wrist and pulled her along as if her wishes didn’t matter.

There was a forest on the path from the herb garden to the inner palace. It was more like a garden with trees planted in rows rather than a forest, but the forest casting shadows in the moonlight was quite picturesque.

As Dade walked through that forest side by side with Nian, he suddenly asked.

“By the way, what do you use all those herbs for? I haven’t had a chance to see them all this time.”

“I make oils, soaps, and teas to use in the East Palace. Some have medicinal properties, so I take them when I’m feeling unwell.”

“So the Empress has been keeping them all to herself.”

“Because I grew them.”

Nian answered, suppressing her anger at Dade’s strange complaint.

“Right, you grew them since you work at the East Palace.”

“……”

“Then how about you move to the Main Palace?”

“I refuse.”

When Nian cut him off sharply, Dade stopped walking. This time, Dade spoke while suppressing his anger.

“Why?”

“……”

He took a step closer to Nian, who gave no answer.

“Why are you so cold to me?”

Dade raised his hand and stroked Nian’s silent lips with his thumb.

“Answer me. Are you going to keep your mouth shut like that?”

Nian looked at him with an unreadable expression and then raised the corner of her mouth where his hand had touched.

“Do you want me to smile and flirt with you like the women who frequent the Main Palace’s bedroom?”

Recalling a woman she had encountered in front of the Main Palace recently, Nian continued more coldly.

“If I do that, would you stop coming to see me, like you did with that woman?”

Dade furrowed his brow.

“Well. Wouldn’t it be better to spend the night together? Like those women?”

“How fortunate. That I’m not to Your Majesty’s taste.”

Nian coldly answered after swatting away Dade’s hand, which had moved down from her lips to caress her neckline.

“Taste……”

He murmured her words softly. Indeed, she was clearly different from the women he had been meeting. After being lost in thought for a moment, he suddenly smiled charmingly.

“You shouldn’t use such words, Ilena.”

He reached out to her again and stroked her silky hair. Nian flinched slightly at his uncharacteristically gentle touch, making him smile faintly. He embraced her lightly.

The moonlight cast their shadows, merging them into one. Looking down at her, he whispered softly.

“It makes me reconsider my taste.”

Looking back, he found that he preferred glossy black hair over common blonde, deep black eyes that were impossible to read over light-colored ones, a clear voice that seemed somewhat cold over a seductive one, and the faint scent of herbs over strong perfume.

Perhaps that was why, even now, he found Nian—who had dared to push him away and turn her back on him—not hateful but still fascinating and intriguing.

* * *

“Has something been happening lately?”

Azel carefully asked as she placed desserts on the table after dinner. Nian sighed softly at her question.

Something happening. What should she answer?

Should she say that her husband, who had returned after five years, didn’t recognize her? Or that she spent breathlessly quiet time with him every night? Or perhaps that she was… terribly concerned about him?

Unable to answer any of these, Nian just smiled bitterly and picked up a strawberry that Azel had brought. Seeing this, Azel hesitated like a puppy needing to pee before carefully speaking.

“I guess you’ve heard about it.”

“……”

“I told everyone to be careful with their words.”

“?”

“The Empress Dowager is really going too far. She knows it’s not your fault, yet she insists on bringing in a concubine.”

At Azel’s grumbling, Nian dropped the strawberry she was holding.

A concubine?

Come to think of it, during tea time, she had said she would resort to other methods. At that time, Nian had thought it fortunate that the scolding had ended more briefly than usual… but it seemed there had been other intentions.

Seeing Nian’s reaction, Azel finally realized she had misspoken and turned away, grimacing and hitting her lips several times. Cursing her mouth for causing trouble again.

In fact, rumors had already spread widely among the nobles that the Empress Dowager was looking for a concubine for the Emperor. Azel had known this news for quite some time, but as usual, bad news reached the person concerned last.

Nian, who had turned pale with shock for a moment, soon bit her lip tightly and picked up the fallen strawberry. Azel, who didn’t know what to do, turned back to face Nian when she sensed her movement.

She seemed to have regained her composure, with a calm face, but the hand that picked up the fallen strawberry was trembling slightly, unable to completely hide her emotion. Azel called to her with a comforting tone.

“Your Majesty.”

“I’m fine, don’t worry.”

Nian deliberately avoided Azel’s gaze and stared endlessly at the innocent strawberry on the table. If she faced the sympathy and pity in Azel’s eyes directly, she felt she might not be able to hold back her tears.

Azel called her once more, sobbing, but Nian silently left the East Palace. Even for her, who was always accustomed to enduring, emotions kept rising to her throat.

No matter how poorly treated she was as Empress, she didn’t want to cry in front of Azel.

After leaving the East Palace, she just walked wherever her feet took her and cried freely. The tears she had always held back flowed abundantly once they burst forth, soaking her cheeks completely.

What were these tears of mine for?

She thought she would be fine, or rather, glad. It seemed that if the successor issue that had tormented her endlessly was resolved, nothing could be better… What was making her heart so painful?

She thought she had become numb. She thought she had grown accustomed to his indifference and all the cold things in the palace. But it seemed that wasn’t the case. She felt newly upset, newly disappointed.

‘No, perhaps I’ve gone back to how I was before.’

‘Ah, I hate you. I hate you so much for awakening my numbed heart again, for making me hurt again.’

She collapsed at the entrance of the forest where her feet had led her, lowered her head, and cried quietly. It was a silent cry without even sobs, but she shed tears for a long time.

The sun was setting.

At that time when both sun and moon coexisted in the same sky with blurred appearances, Dade left the Main Palace a little earlier than usual. He was planning to go to the cabin.

Her herbal tea, which he drank every night, seemed quite effective for insomnia, as he had been sleeping more for the past few days and felt much more refreshed.

Perhaps it was because of the fragrant herb scent. Whether it was from the herbal tea or from around her neck, he couldn’t tell.

Was that why? The night, which had always been painful, was now eagerly anticipated.

As he walked with light steps along that path, he encountered someone unexpected.

It was Ilena.

Meeting her in the forest located on the way to the cabin, she didn’t seem to notice him, as she was huddled up with her head buried between her knees, trembling slightly until he reached her feet.

His face, which had been smiling faintly until just now, visibly hardened. After looking at her for a moment, he carefully reached out and lightly touched her shoulder. Only then did Nian raise her head and look up at him.

For a moment, Dade closed his eyes tightly. Damn it, seriously.

She was crying. Seeing her actually crying in such disarray when she had always appeared wistful with a face that seemed like it would cry at any moment, somehow gave him a distant feeling that made his eyes close involuntarily.