Chapter 8

“What?”

Evelina looked at Kaiden in a panic, but he was heading to bed without looking back at her. She looked at his disgracefully red ears and thought something was wrong.

The Marquis of Logias was the man that killed the previous Empress, who was Kaiden’s mother. Evelina’s adoptive father took the lead in the act, and even if someone else was accused as the mastermind and disappeared, the Marquis of Logias was the culprit.

Kaiden was not a fool, and no one in the Imperial family thought so.

However.

He was going to have a candlelight vigil with her? With his enemy’s daughter? It must be hateful just to get close to her.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”

“Kaiden.”

“Yes, Kaiden. Wait a minute.”

He looked back at her when his name was called. Then, as soon as their eyes met, he looked forward again and turned away from her. Evelina realized at that moment. As the Empress, she could give him an insult for not holding her, but she can also insult him for holding her and then throwing her away.

“Tell me, Empress.”

When he said so as he waited, Evelina couldn’t say anything.

“Ugh…”

She hesitated and he pulled her arm onto the bed. Evelina laid face down on the bed that touched her knee.

“Come here, Lina.”

When he asked, Evelina let go of the hand he held.

“Wait, I’m getting on!”

Then he held her and kneeled on the bed.

“I don’t think I can lie down properly.”

Kaiden put Evelina back down to lie down right away. Evelina lifted her body for a moment, then became terrified when she saw him stretching out his thick arms like a bar and pressing down to hold her down.

“Ka-Kaiden, I….”

“I might be clumsy because it’s my first time, Lina.”

He said that and looked at Evelina softly. Her heart pounded with fear. Somehow she felt like her heart was beating offbeat. Her head felt dizzy as if she had two hearts.

“Kaiden.”

“Yes.”

Kaiden took Evelina’s platinum blonde shiny hair and kissed her and looked down softly.

With the clear red eyes that seemed to consume her last time, Evelina seemed to be tightening her breath.

“Did you wash up?”

“What?”

“It’s morning now… I’ve been out the whole time.”

“Ah.”

For a moment he opened his eyes wide and moved away from her.

“Do I smell?”

Evelina seemed to smell of sun-dried cloth from Kaiden, who had moved away from her. However, if she said so, she thought it would be in the middle of the night. Without knowing, she spoke with her survival instinct.

“Yes.”

At that moment he spoke to her, pale.

“I’m sorry. I never thought I’d smell.”

“No, I think you’d better wash up first, Your Majesty.”

“Kaiden.”

“Yes, Kaiden.”

She looked at him, replying moderately to his insistence on his name, even though he seemed embarrassed. She saw him looking very flustered. A bewildered breath filled the room, covering his mouth with a large hand.

“I’ll go wash up.”

“Yes.”

He got out of bed. When he got up, it felt like the warmth that covered her disappeared. Perhaps because Evelina talked about the smell of him, she thought the smell of the sun from him was good because it felt like freshly ironed clothes.

“Kaiden?”

The only thing she was embarrassed about was.

“Ah…”

He took off his jacket as soon as he got out of bed. Evelina was surprised to see him go to the bathroom at a quick pace and covered her eyes. By the time she took her hand off again, she could only hear a little spring splashing, but there was no sound.

Evelina sighed, thinking that if morning came, the servants would come anyway. Looking at the clock, it wasn’t too long before the servants came.

– Shoot!

Evelina wondered how urgent it had been that he didn’t close the door. So when she tried to close the door, she realized that he was using a small bathroom on the other side, not the large bathroom with a hallway.

The sound of water gurgling filled the room, and she moved, wondering why he was using a small bathroom because he was an Emperor, but thinking that she should close the door for her survival instinct.

Because she felt like the sound of water was attacking her. She was worried that he might wash up too quickly.

At that moment.

“Ah…”

She saw Kaiden’s body with her back turned to her. And the moment he turned towards her.

– Bang!

She was so surprised that she shut the door hard. As soon as the door closed, her legs relaxed.

“Ah…”

Evelina, so surprised, closed her eyes tightly and covered her ears with her hands. However, the sound of water could still easily be heard, and under her eyelids, what she saw left an afterimage.

Evelina saw his body gleaming in the steam-filled bathroom, and her head was hot.

The muscular body, which seemed to have little fat, was extremely painful. He had thick veins protruding from his arms, probably because he had a low body fat percentage. There is a perfectly divided pectoral muscle.

Whenever she stood by Kaiden, she felt small, and when she saw his body, it felt clearer.

Her head was so hot that she couldn’t even breathe when his wet body came to mind. It was so difficult for her to stop thinking about him especially when his well-divided abs came to mind. There was a long shadow near the iliac bone.

“Oh my god!”

When Evelina shouted in surprise, she heard urgent footsteps.

“Lina? What’s going on?”

Evelina tried to get up from her seat but couldn’t.

“Oh, no, no! Don’t come out!”

She thought she should run away from here, but her legs were weak and she was crawling away from the door.

“Are you sure you’re all right? The voice was…”

“I’m fine! Don’t come out!”

She screamed, on her knees and forced herself to get up. With her legs still shaking, she felt as if someone had injured her leg in front of a crocodile.

– Knock knock.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Evelina shouted in surprise that someone suddenly knocked on the door.

“Your Majesty?”

“Ah… oh… no.”

Evelina was relieved to realize that it was a servant who knocked on the door.

She came to her senses and stood up properly. She was still dizzy with blood in her head, and it was hard to think, but she felt a little relieved. It was like fleeing from a herd of zombies and barely finding a hiding place.

“May I come in?”

“Yes.”

The servants lined up for her answer. Then she bowed her head listening to the sound of water in the small bathroom.

“I want to prepare in another room.”

“I’ll show you the way, Your Grace.”

When the maid came in and spoke, Evelina quickly followed her. Before she left the room, she tried to hide her nervousness that the door of the bathroom where Kaiden entered might open.

~~~~

So Evelina had to go to the Dowager Empress’ Palace after getting ready in a different room from Kaiden.

Evelina had gotten ready in her other room so she could return to her usual sober self. She was embarrassed that she had been so embarrassed and shouted without realizing it because of the various incidents that had taken place in the morning. But she wondered if she would be able to keep her composure if she ever went back.

“You come first.”

Evelina waited for Kaiden in front of the Dowager Empress’s audience, but the Dowager Empress sent someone to tell her to come in as soon as she arrived.

“I see.”

She had no choice but to go in alone first.

But the presence of Kaiden didn’t change anything. She didn’t know that, and rather decided to think it was a relief because she thought Kaiden being here would make the situation worse.

Evelina was trying to think positively. After all, she had one month left to live.

“I see the Empire’s Moon.”

“Huh. You are not getting any better.”

The Dowager Empress, who looked at her, clicked her tongue, wrinkled her cheeks, dissatisfied with her greeting. She said hello over 100 times yesterday.

“Do it again.”

“… Yes.”

Evelina swallowed her sigh inside her, grabbed her skirt and greeted her politely.

“I see the Empire’s Moon.”

“It only makes me feel worse to receive such a pathetic greeting.”

“I’m sorry.”

One more month. One month.

Evelina remembered the heartache she felt yesterday morning, and struggled to remember that it is all just water under the bridge, it’s just the passing of time, and that she was going to die soon.

“Again.”

As the Dowager Empress clicked her tongue, her entourage maid, who was now next to the Empress, came out in front of her holding her hawk.

“From now on, you will be greeted on the back of your hand every time you greet someone in the wrong manner, ever.”

One of her three books, which her entourage had in her arms, was placed on Evelina’s head. She had the other two books on her shoulders.

“Do it.”

Evelina thought that it was clear that the Dowager Empress was trying to harass her in earnest. But there was nothing she could do. Here, if you offended the Emperor or provoked his Empress, the spark would only go to him first and her father, the Marquis of Logias.

She knew exactly where her place was.

“I see the Empire’s Moon.”

“Not enough.”

– Swish.

A cold hawk fell on the back of Evelina’s hand, who was holding her skirt. The hawk didn’t hurt as much as she thought, but she thought that the back of her hand would be scratched if it continued to be hit.

“I see the Empire’s Moon.”

“Again.”

– Screech.

Evelina seemed to understand why the Dowager Empress let her in first. Kaiden Abelard wouldn’t be here today. That’s why she told her to come in because there was no point waiting.

“Imperial Moon…”

– Bang!

Evelina turned around hearing the door open very harshly behind her back.

“What the fuck is this situation, grandmother?”

Kaiden was smiling with a sword in his hand.