He was someone who had lived considering it the glory of his lifetime to become the emperor’s right hand.

He had absolutely no desire to hear the emperor’s sudden bedroom troubles. Especially when it involved Elia, who seemed like a younger sister and looked nothing but young in Count Kent’s eyes.

“I’m getting scared that I might kill the person who will become my wife at this rate.”

“…… Your Majesty.”

Please stop. Count Kent’s face contorted.

He couldn’t bear the feeling of committing a sin against Elia.

So when he went to show Elia documents in the afternoon,

“Brother. Please, I’m begging you. Give me back that contraceptive you took from me.”

He couldn’t bring himself to say harsh words of rejection to Elia’s face as she clung to him with tears welling up.

⁕⁕⁕

Apart from being sensitive, Elia Weiss was quite a rational person.

The lyrical girl who loved books and enjoyed indulging in fantasies also had a practical side that worried about how to manage her good-natured parents’ territory well.

So Elia had carefully hidden her feelings of one-sided love for the emperor. It was also Elia’s girlish point that she thought others wouldn’t know.

Since she had never even dreamed of conveying her feelings to the emperor, the shock Elia received when Casiel forcibly took her body was complex.

The unfamiliarity of discovering that the man she had purely loved one-sidedly possessed the same carnal desires as other men.

The fear of the emperor openly displaying lust toward her.

And about one-tenth of one percent, a faint and fragile joy felt in the very depths of her heart……

Thinking up to that point, Elia bit her lips hard.

She felt disgusted with herself for feeling such emotions in this situation and felt nauseous.

Whatever Casiel’s emotions or intentions were, regardless of how she had harbored feelings for him, what he had done to Elia was something she couldn’t easily accept.

Moreover,

‘Empress.’

It wasn’t difficult to guess why the ministers had unanimously agreed to elevate her to empress.

More than half of them probably thought that the only daughter of a humble provincial baron family would obviously become a puppet empress who could be replaced at any time.

Many of the ministers who had smiled warmly at Elia as a diligent financial administrator would, if Elia really took the position of empress, urge her with those same smiling faces to accept their daughters as imperial consorts.

“Give up the idea of buying that medicine again.”

Elia, who had been lost in thought while biting her nails, raised her head at the subdued voice.

Count Kent sat across from her in the rhythmically moving carriage, sighing deeply with a darkened complexion.

“If a woman who bought contraceptives buys the same thing again not long after, rumors will definitely spread.”

“If you were going to worry about gossip, you shouldn’t have thrown away that medicine.”

At Elia’s cold words, deep furrows appeared in Count Kent’s smooth brow. Elia made a mocking expression and turned her head.

“The person who knows my situation better than anyone threw away that medicine and now worries about me—I don’t know whether I should say thank you or tell you to stop pretending the cat cares about the mouse.”

“Don’t be sarcastic. I quietly threw it away without telling His Majesty about that medicine because I was thinking of you.”

“Hmph.”

Elia snorted and openly turned her gaze to the carriage window.

The scenery outside the rattling carriage looked truly lively, unlike Elia’s complicated feelings.

To suppress the anger that rose inexplicably at the peaceful scene that seemed disconnected from herself, Elia clenched her fists.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t understand Count Kent’s actions. In his own way, he had done his best to protect Elia.

But even knowing that, Elia wanted to throw a tantrum at Count Kent.

Despite knowing it was all useless.

“…… I understand, so just pretend not to know, brother. I’ll handle my own affairs.”

“You only call me brother when you need something. How am I supposed to handle the aftermath if you go to back alleys alone?”

“I knew you’d say that. You won’t let me buy medicine either?”

Count Kent maintained a silence that meant affirmation.

Elia held her forehead.

If he was going to be like that, he probably wouldn’t even let her leave the imperial palace.

She had wondered what was going on when he told the chief chamberlain that he needed materials related to Rosellern and would take Elia outside the imperial palace.

“Is this about letting me cool my head in the cold wind or what?”

To the grumbling Elia, Count Kent nodded slightly.

“That’s part of it, but it’s also true that we really need to go to the temple to find documents about trade and exchange.”

Elia’s round eyes immediately became triangular.

“So you’re telling me to do my work and also play the role of His Majesty’s toy without complaint?”

“Elia! Why are you talking like that……”

Count Kent flared up but soon closed his mouth.

Because Elia’s twisted words weren’t far from the truth.

Eventually, Count Kent, who had been grumbling, covered his mouth and shook his head, while Elia felt an unsatisfying bitterness and gave a deflated laugh.

“I know this isn’t something to take out on you, brother. I’m sorry.”

“…… No. I’m the one who’s sorry. I have no face to show you. I’d have nothing to say even if Lilias hit me.”

“Why would sister? What did you do wrong? You’re someone who has no choice but to follow when His Majesty gives orders.”

It was a completely deflated voice.

“Elia……”

“I understand your position. I’m not resenting you. Brother, just turn a blind eye for a moment when I take a side path later. I’ll act so no harm comes to brother.”

“Elia. About that.”

Count Kent began the drawn-out, and therefore obvious, dissuasion.

While she listened with half an ear to the persuasion that was optional—saying it wouldn’t be good for her body, to reconsider, not to do it, etc.—the carriage reached the central square.

Elia lightly glared at Count Kent, who was still struggling until then, and raised her heavy body to step out of the carriage.

Like most accidents, the series of events that followed were also just simple misfortune caused by overlapping trivial coincidences.

Elia headed toward the back alley across the square with uncomfortable steps, and Count Kent hurriedly followed.

When Elia irritably turned around, telling him to please stop following, laughing children ran across between the two.

Elia stepped back a couple of steps to avoid bumping into the child and lightly brushed against a man who happened to be standing behind her.

The man, who had been lost in thought, was startled by the light contact and tried to dodge, touching a roadside stall.

The stall was selling beverages made from squeezed fruits.

When the man accidentally touched the crude shelf with his elbow while going “oh,” the beverage glasses on top came crashing down, covering people.

More precisely, Elia and that large man.

The loud noise and the fallen glasses and colorful beverages that dirtied the street immediately caught everyone’s attention.

Elia, who had suddenly been doused with sweet, sticky liquid all over her body, naturally sighed.

“Elia! Are you okay?”

Count Kent quickly ran over to check Elia’s condition. Elia, who had become like a soaked mouse, quickly gathered herself and checked on the man.

“I’m sorry. Are you alright?”

The man who had inadvertently suffered misfortune made a short “ah” sound and raised his head, then widened his eyes. The feeling of lightning flashing was instantaneous. The man quickly turned his head away.

Count Kent looked at Elia, who had become a complete mess, clicked his tongue lightly, and ran somewhere saying he would borrow something to wipe with.

Elia spoke to the man who had suffered because of her.

“Excuse me, it looks like you need to wipe yourself……”

“…… It’s fine.”

The bear-like man shook his head hurriedly, glanced once toward where Count Kent had run, then slipped away in the opposite direction.

“Ah, excuse me!”

Because of the man who disappeared without giving her a chance to apologize, Elia’s hand only cut through empty air.

“Oh my, what to do about this. How many is this exactly?”

At the stall owner’s complaints behind her, stamping his feet, Elia had to turn her gaze away from looking at the man.

“I’m sorry. I’ll pay for the goods.”

“Really, both that miss and that man, where are they looking while walking?”

Exactly.

While Elia expressed difficulty and apologized, Count Kent skillfully obtained a towel from somewhere.

“Wipe yourself with this for now. But where did that person go?”

“Right. I couldn’t even apologize properly and he just left.”

Elia, who had been looking toward the alley where the man had disappeared, felt slightly annoyed at the impatient hands rubbing her head and swatted away Count Kent’s hands.

“It’s fine. You can stop. It would be better to go home and wash.”

The central square happened to be not far from Elia’s house.

“You do need to wash. But if we stop by your house to wash and then go to the temple, the time will……”

Count Kent sighed and cut off his words, looking at Elia’s appearance.

Of all times for things to go wrong, why did they have to go wrong like this?

Elia, covered in sticky liquid, was in a state too embarrassing to take to a public place with her stubbornness.

It was obvious what kind of gossip would emerge from the temple if a guest who suddenly barged in and brought work looked like this.

After brief consideration, Count Kent reached a conclusion.

There’s no choice.

“Elia. I’ll go to the temple alone. You go home and wash while you wait. Let’s return together when I come back.”

“Huh?”

“It won’t take long, so be ready to return to the imperial palace as soon as I come back.”

Count Kent, who spoke definitively, immediately returned to the waiting carriage.

Elia, who had been completely flustered by the sudden incident, stared blankly at the rear of the carriage that departed as soon as Count Kent got on.

When the carriage became a dot and disappeared at the end of the road, Elia firmly grasped the end of the towel that Count Kent had obtained and placed on her head before disappearing.

It was an unexpected opportunity.

‘If getting caught would be a big problem, that just means it’s fine as long as I don’t get caught.’

Elia headed toward her house while estimating the time it would take to go to the temple, find materials, and return.

There was enough time to wash and go buy medicine.

⁕⁕⁕