“I-I was jesting, Your Majesty! All the rooms inside the palace are perfectly soundproof! Th-there’s no way I’d be able to hear anything…! It’s the honest truth! Cross my heart! Your Majesty, I couldn’t even hear footsteps from there! If doubt crosses your mind, you can check later for any noise in the room!”Ivan’s stern look loosened, though somewhat.Thereafter, Basil went down to his knees and grabbed it. It throbbed in searing pain. The damn beast kicked his leg while naked with his thing dangling off.Disgusting!“If you make jokes like that again, I won’t go easy on you next time.”Ivan turned around and went to the bathing room. He slammed the door close.Basil blew and huffed and rubbed his knee while not forgetting to swear under his breath towards that bad-tempered, nasty king.Seeing how horrid the beast reacted to his simplistic joke, cold sweat formed on his temples. Had he made a blunder of mistake last night to open the door, he really would have been executed on the s
“This is the list of honored guests you’ll be having breakfast with, Your Majesty. They’ve long expressed their wish to see Ehrlich’s great king. After the meal, the honored guests will return back to their homeland.”While Ivan finished washing himself clean, Basil handed him a paper listing the names of the honored guests.Ivan gave the paper a slight glance and looked at Basil. “…Hmm. Coulson’s Dimitri won’t be attending? Why is that? And I see that Marquis Preibius is physically present but his name isn’t on the list.”Basil lifted his head with wide eyes. A lightbulb popped up as if he had just remembered. “Ah, right. He did not come this time, Your Majesty. Only the Crown Prince Ivan and Marquis Preibius came as Coulson’s representative for the wedding ceremony. Of course, it’s understandable you’d not know of this since… you were too busy with…” Basil choked and muttered eerily soft to the side, “…pleasuring the Queen Goddess to notice the small minute details…”Ivan did not he
Alicia was left alone in the room after Ivan left. She wrapped her body with a blanket swiftly before the maidservants arrived. Then she stepped out of the bed.“Ah…”But as soon as her feet touched the cold floor, she unconsciously lost strength. Her legs wobbled and she fell to the floor. She knew the issue of her problem. It was not only her lower area aching in pain, her whole body, too, ached in a blaze aflame like it’d been beaten and whipped all night long.She grabbed onto the bed frame pole and struggled to stand. Meanwhile, Mrs. Cessley came into the room. Behind her were the maidservants holding the bathwater filled full with warm water.Mrs. Duchess saw Alicia’s struggle. She gasped in immediate surprise and quickly ran over to her.“My Queen, are you all right?”Alicia looked into her eyes and gave a weak smile. “Mrs. Cessley… I apologize but could you lend me your hand a bit…? I’m a little out of energy right now…”“Oh my goodness…” Mrs. Cessley propped Alicia up. She ga
Alicia looked into the duchess’ gentle eyes.“Mrs. Cessley, are you talking about the banquet that’ll be hosted in the palace?”“Yes. It’ll be the banquet where you, My Queen, and His Majesty greet and tend to the nobles in the gathering together as a pair for the first time. You don’t need to feel pressed. The only useless thing they’ll be interested in is what trendy dress the queen is wearing and how many times she danced with her king. You’ll only need to greet them with an adequate smile. They’re merely innocent cats hiding their claws in the beginning, after all.”It is as Mrs. Cessley says.The banquet tomorrow will only be of quiet reconnaissance and the first she’ll make an official appearance as queen. The nobility will watch her every move with keen eyes and judge the sort of queen they think she is. From there, they’ll decide how to proceed with her.Alicia remembered the time when she was an easy target for the nobility to prey upon. She had a lack of experience handling
Alicia gave a bright, beaming smile. “I’ll be fine, uncle. Don’t worry and go. I’m sure mother’s missing you dearly too. And… please give this to Dimi as well.”She passed the letters she wrote personally to the marquis. Though the letters a queen writes should have a seal of royalty before being sent, this letter was written beforehand and before she was pronounced queen.The letter was also personal.The one letter she sent to the Dimitri of the past became a problematic occurrence that labeled her as a spy sharing Ehrlich’s secrets to Coulson. She needed to be careful, for her sake and for Dimitri’s sake.This, too, would probably be the last letter she’ll send to Dimitri for the many months to come.The marquis nodded his head and looked at the letter in hand. Alicia noticed his expression turn sour when she spoke of Dimitri.“Did something happen to Dimi? He didn’t come to the wedding ceremony, and on top of that, I know he was fuming with anger that he directed it towards you be
“Well, I had a good rest like you told me. I also saw my uncle.”Ivan’s eyebrows frowned slightly at her reply, at the word uncle. She noticed that he was not annoyed at her meeting with the marquis, but that he’s trying to gauge her reaction.“He told me how you pulled him to the side and reassured him that you’d take care of me and protect me. Thank you, Ivan, for putting his mind at ease. He was relieved after hearing those words from you.”Somewhat flushed, his head turned slightly to the side. He looked a little bit awkward.Clearing his throat, he said, “I see. Umm… were you reading a book?”With glinting eyes and a rueful smile, he held her hand and led her towards the bed and sat together with her on the edge of the bed.He picked up the book she’d been reading seconds ago.“Ah. A report, I see. It’s a report highlighting past events from ten years ago.”“Yes. I’ve been away from Ehrlich for so long that…”Ivan let out a small sigh.“You’re a diligent person. You could have ta
Ivan’s eyes softened and flashed momentarily. “You said something like that before as well. When did it occur? When did you have trouble sleeping?”Alicia smiled bitterly and said, “Six years ago… when my mother died.”He looked at her with solemn eyes and stretched his hand out to caress her head.“So you’ve had a difficult time sleeping at night because of that,” his voice was soft, “I understand. To have someone you love dearly leave you would frighten anyone, after all.”“…Yes.”But truth be told, the moment insomnia plagued her at night was the moment she re-lived the past. She had no plans to wallow in self-pity or blaming others for the misfortunes she’d gone through, but it was difficult… was it depression? Fortunately, she was able to recover and mend her broken heart to an extent in Coulson, but when night came, memories of her death and the last minutes of it kept rolling on repeat.It was difficult to sleep.If she closed her eyes, she kept wondering if she’d end up in tha
Hearing Ataraxia’s words, Ivan’s heart broke into a million pieces. This heavenly being granted him a chance to fulfill his lifelong desire in the form of a wish, yet it could not work out as he hoped it to be. “…Do you not have any other wish? This is your only chance.” This heavenly being was merciless. Ivan looked up. Ataraxia’s large pool of golden eyes bore no emotions. None at all. It looked at Ivan with blank, quiet eyes. After a while, it shook its head and floated away. Ataraxia was leaving. Ivan gritted his teeth and spoke, “Then turn back time…! I’ll be the one to change her feelings for me.” “Time… yes. That is possible. What time do you want?” “…The time she wants.” Whether it be the moment she drank the poison or the time she had never known his existence, it mattered not to him. As long as she was alive… as long… then… he’d be ready to chase her through the ends of the earth to change her broken and caged heart. He’ll make sure of it. “I understand. I’ll grant