The rumor that the Emperor who lost his memory had coldly cast out his mistress spread quickly through the palace.

Of course, an attendant came to silence the people of the Empress’s palace. It was a threat that the Emperor’s memory loss was top secret and anyone who leaked it would face severe punishment.

Nevertheless, the maids were busy gathering in groups and whispering.

It only got worse after a large flower basket was delivered to the Empress’s palace in the morning. A maid with an expression mixing half displeasure and half confusion waddled over and set down the basket with a thud.

“His Majesty the Emperor sent it.”

“……All these flowers? Why?”

“Well, he said he didn’t know what flowers you liked, so he commanded them to put one of each type.”

Listening, the flowers stuck in the basket were indeed all mixed up. Though what Kareina had asked was why the Emperor sent flowers, not why he sent ‘these flowers.’

“His Majesty’s memory still hasn’t returned, it seems.”

“Unfortunately, that’s right.”

The maid answered while nodding her head vigorously. With her displeased expression and hands even placed on her hips, what she was thinking was obvious.

She wanted to say something like, if the Emperor weren’t ill, would you dare receive a flower gift?

This was something Kareina also agreed with. Unless it was poisonous plants, the probability of the usual Raul sending a flower basket to the Empress’s palace seemed lower than the probability of a beggar giving alms to a rich man’s rice bowl.

However, now wasn’t much different either. Just because memories disappeared didn’t mean feelings that didn’t exist would spring up.

There would be no romantic intent or flutter in this large pile of flowers. Rather, it would be closer to a courtesy greeting sent to someone who was his wife.

Kareina looked down at the flower basket with indifferent eyes and muttered irritably.

“How much will he regret this when his memory returns?”

“Who will regret what?”

Unexpectedly, the voice of the person in question popped out from behind. Since it was an unexpected appearance, Kareina even felt her heart drop for a moment.

Turning her head toward the door, she saw Raul approaching with large strides.

He looked so healthy it was hard to believe he was the patient who had been lying down until yesterday. When he sat down heavily beside her with his height rising a head above others and his solid, sturdy build, about half the sunlight coming through the window was blocked.

“……What brings you here so suddenly?”

“I sent a gift but there was no word of whether it was good or bad, thank you, or I hate it.”

“But I just received it?”

“Is that so?”

At the frivolous answer, suspicion immediately rose on Kareina’s expression.

Meanwhile, the uninvited visitor smiled shamelessly. Then he reached into the basket, selected a particularly large bloom, and held it out.

“……”

But the gaze full of suspicion only moved from his face to the flower.

As Kareina just kept staring at the flower, Raul swept the stem once with his fingertips and held it out again.

“Confirmed there are no thorns.”

“……Mariposas don’t have thorns to begin with.”

“You’re the type who won’t let one word pass. I do like that, but take the flower and argue. Whether it’s aftereffects of the accident, even holding light objects makes my arm ache after a bit.”

At the Emperor’s exaggeration, the chief chamberlain became teary-eyed, not knowing what to do.

In Kareina’s case, though she was less rigid than the chief chamberlain, she had been in a tense state since Raul’s appearance, so only after thinking a bit more did she realize this was a joke.

“Your Majesty…… knows how to joke.”

At the barbed sentence, Raul raised one eyebrow. However, Kareina grasped the flower without adding more words.

The single mariposa that had looked light in Raul’s hand suddenly felt large and heavy when she held it.

The rich fruity scent rising from between the swirling petals tickled her nose. It was indeed a splendor befitting the reputation of queen of flowers.

Kareina’s stiff lips slowly curved upward. With the fresh fragrance, even the back of her head that had just been struck seemed to gradually calm down.

“The nickname queen of flowers wasn’t for nothing.”

Kareina muttered quietly while recalling the mariposa’s nickname. Then she suddenly thought the surroundings were too quiet.

When she quickly raised her head, their eyes met as he wore a somehow dazed expression.

“Your Majesty?”

When she called out softly, Raul slowly closed and opened his eyes. Then he slowly opened his mouth.

“I’ll send flowers to your palace every day.”

“……”

“If there’s anything you want besides flowers, just say the word. If it’s within the Empire, I’ll give you anything.”

“……To say that now.”

At the absurd statement, Kareina let out an empty laugh. The chief chamberlain standing beside the couple also coughed awkwardly a couple times in confusion.

But regardless. The Emperor, once again wearing a relaxed expression, put his hand in his br*ast and pulled out a box. It was a small box with gold embroidery on a green leather base.

Kareina, watching what Raul was doing, asked suspiciously.

“What is this?”

“A bribe.”

“A bribe?”

“I heard we were a couple on bad terms. So I’m offering this with the meaning of please treat me well from now on, so isn’t it a bribe?”

Simultaneously with a clicking sound, the lock released,

What came out was a necklace formed by pearls and top-grade jewels arranged in a circle. Just as sunlight coming through the window touched it, exclamations burst from the mouths of the watching maids.

Though they had been listening to the imperial couple’s conversation with displeasure until now, they had to acknowledge what needed acknowledging.

The necklace the Emperor chose suited Kareina amazingly well at a glance. Especially the deep pink radiance of the jewels, which matched exactly with the color of her eyes, harmonious like a single painting.

For the first time since entering this palace, the maids felt envy toward the Empress. In fact, anyone receiving such a wonderful gift would become an object of envy.

However, Kareina’s face darkened as if she’d received a roadside pebble as a gift.

In the world, there was a preconception that the Empress and Emperor must have been on bad terms from their first meeting. Since they met through the ill fate of enemy nation’s emperor and hostage, it was quite a plausible speculation.

It was only plausible; it wasn’t the truth.

In fact, at first Raul seemed to pity Kareina.

He gave Kareina lodgings used by distinguished guests and ordered the palace people to care for the imperial princess so she lacked nothing.

Thanks to this, warm sunlight entered her room, food was plentiful, and her bed was always soft. During her two years as a hostage, though her heart may have been troubled, her body was never uncomfortable. This alone was more than enough treatment for a hostage.

However, as if this wasn’t sufficient in Raul’s view, from a certain point he began personally visiting her lodgings to check on the hostage’s well-being. The necklace he suddenly brought one day was also one type of such greeting.

“I heard there’s a custom in Niyev of gifting jewels the same color as one’s eyes.”

In his hand as he said this was a necklace strung with pink jewels, just like now.

Kareina frowned. Previously too, whenever he came to check on her, he would bring small items like flowers or potted plants. The reason was that Kareina looked lonely.

However, this was the first time for such an expensive item, so she worried whether she should accept it.

Though only eighteen years old, Kareina wasn’t a completely naive child.

The years she lived as an imperial princess had taught her that everything had a price. The greater what was received, the greater the price to be paid.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. But you only knew half the custom. Giving jewels the same color as the eyes is correct, but it’s only given to one’s lover. If you gift it to just anyone, you’ll be misunderstood as a playboy.”

So flowers as usual are enough for me. To her frivolous addition, Raul shrugged his shoulders.

“I know more than I look.”

“……What?”

“I brought this knowing properly who is giving what to whom. I’m not a playboy who gifts such things to just anyone.”

The corners of his mouth smoothly rising as he pronounced ‘playboy’ stuck sharply in her mind. Kareina blankly looked back and forth between Raul’s face and the necklace hanging from his fingertips. And a few seconds later, her cheeks flushed hot red.

The problem was that while Kareina Fair Adrian wasn’t a child, she was still an innocent eighteen-year-old. She was at an age where her heart would pound even at a brazen joke.

A lifetime of years living as an imperial princess was of little use here. Though her heart was accustomed to the eloquence of fawning nobles, it had absolutely no immunity to light jokes thrown by an attractive man.

No, it might not have simply been an age issue.

Perhaps from the moment Kareina first saw Raul, she had been captivated by his strength and imposing atmosphere.

Raul’s gray-green eyes held self-assurance and charisma befitting the head of a great empire, and his distinct jawline and leisurely lips were tinged with grounded arrogance. Twenty-three years old, young for a monarch, but his subjects believed in and followed him absolutely.

They said he was someone who had lightly pushed aside his cousin, a powerful competitor, to ascend to the throne. That cousin had even been the only son of the late Crown Prince who died early.

Despite legitimacy controversies, how much trust he received from the imperial family to claim the throne without major noise could be easily inferred.

And only after seeing Raul directly could Kareina understand that story. There would be almost no one who could dare defy a monarch like Raul. At least he was different from her brother who had been weak and tyrannical.

“I’ll put it on you myself.”

Raul, who had simultaneously handled both suggestion and consent with a short sentence, moved behind Kareina’s nape. And he casually swept aside her long hair.

As hot fingers touched her white nape, Kareina’s heart rate increased sharply. Due to the shortened distance, she had to worry whether the pounding sound might even reach the other person’s ears.

Eighteen-year-old Kareina had to acknowledge it around then. Though it was absurd that the first person to make her heart flutter was the emperor of a nation at war, it was the truth anyway.

The moment Kareina fell in love for the first time in her life, she became despairing.

The person she had fallen for at first sight was someone she must not dare hold in her heart.