Before making their public appearance, Ivan had attempted to pacify his beloved wife sensing that she was wrought with anxiety and nervousness.Heaving a sigh replete with anxiety, she readily agreed to Ivan’s suggestions. At her consent, he immediately grabbed hold of her hand and did not let go. Unknown to her, his heart gushed with mellow happiness.What he told her afterward shocked her more than his suggestion. He said that so long as she held his hand tight, the eyes of the nobility will remain fixated on their hands that none would care to look at her.It seemed to prove successful too. When they sat down on the throne, Ivan did not let go of her hand. She had tried to sneakily pull her hand away, but Ivan would not budge.It was a fortunate case that all eyes were glued to their locked hands despite pretending not to. From the moment they made their appearance in public with hands locked together, the nobility immediately lost interest in the queen and vied to know their relat
Alicia threw away the memories of her past and stood up from her seat. She had many times to think over the past month. The one enlightenment she came to was the people who wreaked havoc in her life were no longer, and the Ivan of this present life was a different man.She believed in this truth well.The king and queen walked down hand in hand. Meanwhile, the nobles hurriedly moved aside to create an empty space in the middle.After bowing to one another, they stretched one side of their hand outwards and spun in a circle in the spot. Their eyes did not move a single inch away from each other. While they spun the other direction, their gazes did not falter.Ivan pulled Alicia’s hips closer to him and moved a step forward.He looked at her.She looked at him.Her lips were filled with genuine smiles.He smiled broadly as they danced.No matter who saw them, they saw nothing but a king and queen stripped off their status and was simply a man and woman deeply in love.“…It looks like Hi
However, the moment Mrs. Cessley left the area, another group keeping a close watch on the queen all throughout slowly made their way to her.Alicia looked at them. She recognized the young woman leading the group and immediately, her countenance hardeTed.‘Seraphina.’Seraphina Rissel.In the past, she was one of the leading nobles who mocked and showed her derisive comment behind her back and in secret. She was married then, but for odd reasons, she remained unmarried and without a noble partner in this present life.“Greetings, Your Majesty. I am the eldest daughter of Duke Rissel, Seraphina Rissel from the House of Rissel.”The air changed subtly at that moment.The nobles who could not get enough of the queen and talked in fervent shut their mouth tightly as if there was a lingering unspoken promise.Their eyes drifted towards Alicia and Seraphina back and forth, attempting to read the mood.They lay in wait seeing what would happen next.Alicia’s intuition beckoTed her that some
“I’m actually quite unaware of the situation abroad, thus I needed to bring myself to ask you that question, My Queen. If perhaps you found my comment distasteful and off-putting, forgive me.”Seraphina created an excuse of ignorance as means to escape in the case that she had been in the wrong should Alicia correct her, and should Alicia take offense to her words, Seraphina would merely say she had no intention of offending the queen while making a desperate plea as she cried crocodile tears to further enhance her innocence.Alicia studied Seraphina Rissel carefully and her people. They were daughters of nobles at a ripe age for marriage. Their emotional eyes contaiTed rage and jealousy targeted towards her, not like the noblewomen surrounding her.But why were they angered and jealous?The answer soon fell.It was anger and jealousy that they’d lost their chance of becoming queen.Ivan was a talented young man popular in terms of marriage candidacy among the unmarried women, so much
Gone was the dreadful air. The atmosphere turned cheerful and joyous and the talk of the king’s deep care for the queen as well as regards of consolation for Alicia’s deceased mother.Seraphina, whose sole intent had been to insult the queen had resulted in the nobility sympathizing with her due to her tragically sad past. Her face hardeTed the more the nobility comforted and extended their hearts out to their queen. She bit her lips in anger when a thought formed in her pretty, little head and she immediately smiled smugly.“Your Majesty, is it not a fact that both your parents are buried in that place?” Seraphina asked.Alicia nodded. “Yes. After my father passed away, both laid to rest in that same place. I gave them my heartfelt greetings and plan to do so each visit.”Seraphina’s lips raised slightly. “Then why do you speak of your mother and not your father? Ah, I think I know why. After Her Majesty’s mother passed away, you had chased your father out of his own home. Am I corre
“Hm? A mistake, you say? It did not seem to me that your daughter spoke such things on a slip of the tongue, Duke Rissel,” Alicia said with a slight smile, pointing out that his daughter, Seraphina, had yet to apologize to the queen properly.“Apologize sincerely to Her Majesty now!” Duke Rissel swiftly turned to Seraphina and scolded her strictly.Hearing her father’s orders, Seraphina shut her two eyes tightly and clenched her fist. She knew the only way out of the hole she buried herself in was to offer her sincerest form of apology to the queen, and should the queen accept her apology and forgive her of her unbecoming behavior, the queen, in consideration of her dignity, will not speak to the king of her problematic way.Seraphina kneeled on one knee.Meanwhile, the nobility near her and those watching her from afar with piercing eyes kept quiet and fanTed themselves.Seraphina the noblewoman had been the one to control the rumor mills and social circles to her will and decree, bu
“It was Her Majesty’s turn to list out the books she had read previously,” a noblewoman answered.Marquis Parvad laughed broadly and extended his hands. “Looks like I’ve joined a good time. If it’s alright, may we hear them out as well? We’ve been looking for good books to read as of recent, truth be told.”Alicia pondered for a moment at his subtle request. A title soon came to mind and she answered, “Recently, I’ve been reading the book called ‘The Struggle For Sweetness’ and I found it an enjoyable read and to my liking.”A few of the young bachelors burst out in cheerful laughter.“The title of the book is called The Struggle For Sweetness? Is that right? Goodness, it seems like a book related to desert making.”Before Alicia could reply, Ash Pavard parted his lips open and said, “Hmm… Sir Killian, I think you have some sort of misunderstanding. The book is quite famous and renowTed for its humanities of sorts. It looks like you don’t know of this.”The young men who wore a burst
Hearing the voice’s words, Ash Parvad was shocked but he quickly recovered and composed himself. He had not realized the king had appeared before him and held onto the queen with one hand as if showing that she was his.Ash Parvad was extremely nervous, but once he saw the king’s playful smile, he realized he’d been joking. Ash Parvad calmed down and gave an awkward smile as his face blushed a faint red.“I apologize, Your Majesty. I’d been too focused on this merry conversation I hadn’t had in a while that I ended up overstepping my boundaries.”“It seems everyone is focused on talking rather than dancing in this ballroom. At this rate, won’t a rumor occur that our Queen kept everyone at bay talking for hours on end and refused to let them go? How about you take the lead, Sir Parvad, and dance with the daughters of the affluent nobles?”At the king’s words, the young daughters of the nobility smiled excitedly and fanTed themselves. Ash Parvad was a noble scheduled to inherit the duke
Epilogue (1) – DimitriTranslator – YueYears later.“…and Elheim truly loved his human woman. But he was a God, pure and divine, so he could not remain too much longer on earth. If he stayed in the human world for too long, he’d lose all his divine powers…”The man who was reading the book out loud paused for a while and looked at a particular direction in his audience. There, there was a little girl with the same hair color as him. He saw her yawning while little eyes narrowed with displeasure, as though wondering why he’d stopped. The man resumed reading the book.“In the end, Eiheim had no choice but to leave the woman he loved and to go back on earth. However, he wept for the love he had to leave behind on the human world and those tears turned into rain. At the same time, a baby was growing inside his woman’s womb, a baby created from their union. This baby was born strong and healthy, and she had an incredible power. She had the power to turn himself into a bird. In the human w
Translator – YueT/N: This is the end, so extra-long chapter for today?Ivan irrupted into the room, sword in hand and a murderous look in his eye… to see Alicia licking her fingers. In front of her there was a huge plate filled with food. There was an abundance of seafood. Next to her was a worker who looked at Ivan with widened eyes.“Ivan?”Alicia quickly took her finger out of her mouth and looked at him. She asked again, nervous.“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”The inn worker looked alternated glances between Ivan and the sword in his hand, his legs shaking.“Oh… it’s just… it looked like your wife was pregnant, so I was only asking if there was anything she disliked so I could bring something else…”Since Alicia had taken her robe and coat off, she was wearing a light dress that showed her bulging belly clearly. It seemed that the inn boy had noticed it and was only asking whether she liked the food.Ivan felt ridiculous for getting angry over something like this.No, more
Translator – Yue“Salerno Inn”Alicia read the old sign that was hanging atop a building. It was an inn, so it definitely offered food and shelter to travelers.“It would take us around two hours to reach your mother’s mansion. It might be faster if we rode my horse together, but you can’t while pregnant… if you don’t want to spend the night in a place like this, then I’ll find another way…”Ivan murmured while trying to assess Alicia’s reaction. He knew that the inn was old and gloomy. He’d spent some nights here before himself but he knew that it was different for Alicia, who’d only lived in mansions and palaces. She might even find this place repulsive.He did not want the news of them here to spread too much, which was why he’d chosen this place as he could keep their identities hidden. But… perhaps he should have thought of Alicia more. Maybe it would be best to go to someone else’s house and reveal their identity so they could spend the night somewhere more comfortable.As he ke
Translator – YueAfter listening to Mrs. Cessly’s words, Ivan immediately hopped on a horse and sprang to port. This time there was no Basil by his side, it was just him. While he galloped top speed, the events from these past six years came to his mind.When he arrived, the ship had already sailed. He was too late, again.He felt an empty space in his heart. He got down his exhausted horse and slowly walked to the edge of the beach. He had a desperate expression on his face.He stood there looking at the horizon when he felt something hot. There were hot tears trailing down his face. All the tears he’d held back all this time suddenly broke free.Despair and desolation surged from inside him. He sobbed and cried.Six years ago, when he’d missed her just like this, he’d managed to hold back his tears since there was still hope of seeing her again in the future. Instead of desolation, he turned his back to this very sea with the hopes of seeing her again soon.However, this time it was
Translator – YueThe Port of Salerno remained unchanged. Tall, imposing walls surrounded the beach. There were numerous houses with scarlet-colored rooftops everywhere. A seemingly endless turquois-colored. Everything was as calm and beautiful as before.There was only one ship resting on the shores. A white, modern, elegant ship.When the Queen’s carriage arrived to port, the usually hectic port city suddenly turned tranquil. The carriage’s door opened and the Queen descended from her vehicle surrounded by her guards. She was wearing a thick coat, hat and gloves all made of silver fox fur, as though she was planning on going somewhere far colder than Ehrlich. A little while later, the ship’s captain approached her.He took out his cap and bowed to the Queen of Ehrlich.“Greetings to the most honorable woman in Ehrlich, Your Majesty the Queen. May Elheim’s light always shine upon you.”A smile came up to Alicia’s lips.“Greetings, captain. I’ll be under your care.”The captain pointed
Translator – YueT/N: The chapter we’ve been waiting for?Mrs. Cessly wailed and started savagely criticizing Ivan.“This is all Your Majesty’s fault. It’s because you allowed the Queen leave for Coulson. Why did you do that?”“All I did was give her a choice.”“A choice?”“I told her to choose. To stay here, or to leave with the baby.”“Why on earth did you tell her that?!”“There’s a reason behind my marriage to Alicia. I lied to her and forced her to come here.”“Ah, I remember the Queen told me something like that. That Your Majesty did not wish to marry her, but Princess Helen. Is it related to that?”Ivan nodded.“Yes. I had no choice. If I had proposed to Alicia, she would have run away from as fast as she could.”Mrs. Cessly looked at Ivan intently with a complex look in her eyes. Seeing that Mrs. Cessly’s head was spinning top speed to find out what could possibly make Alicia want to run away from Ivan, he added in a slow voice.“She definitely didn’t owe me money nor anythin
“Alright. Go ahead, do it. Call me if you need any help as well.”“I will.”When their conversation came to an end, Ivan slowly rose from his seat. Alicia got up as well. Just when he was about to turn around, Alicia spoke.“I wish for you to stop feeling guilty of all that’s happened to me.”Ivan’s eyes focused intently on Alicia. For some reason, she found it hard to look him back in the eye, so she averted her gaze.“I don’t dislike you anymore, Ivan. I’m grateful to you for letting me live my life again and leave this place with my baby.”“Grateful…uh.”While he bitterly mumbled to himself, Alicia nodded her head.“After all, you did put in a lot of effort in saving my life. I’ll make sure I do everything in my power to live a happy life from now on. I’m not completely alone anymore, after all.”Alicia placed a hand on her belly.“Once this baby is born, I’ll only let him see and listen to the most wonderful things. I know I can’t stop the darkness of this world to reach him, but
Translator – YueAlicia’s jaw slowly opened.“When you say, ‘a chance to end this marriage’…”“You never wanted to marry me in the first place. You were forced into it because the Crown Prince threatened to kill your cousin if you didn’t.”“But why are you giving me this? This marriage will automatically end in a year, anyways.”Their contractual marriage had a time period clearly stipulated. Alicia couldn’t understand why he was giving her a choice right now.“If you want to end this marriage, then you don’t need to wait for the time to be up to do so. I’ll make sure you leave this country safely first thing tomorrow if you so wish it.”“Then… what will happen to the baby I’m carrying…?”Alicia’s voice faded. Her eyes darted to the contract clauses. There, she herself agreed on leaving all rights concerning the child to Ivan if she were to get pregnant. With the opportunity he was giving her, she’d be able to flee and hide somewhere far, far away, and he’d never be able to claim his
Translator – YuePatricia’s execution took place the following morning.In spite of being very early, many people gathered around the execution place. People gathered there to insult her for killing her own father, her benefactor and even trying to assassinate her own sister and Queen. She was seen as a true villain, an evil rarely seen before.Patricia listeTed to their insults and taunts until her very last moment.Even though Alicia had said that she’d no longer show any consideration towards Patricia, she did make sure that the most skilled executioner was selected to carry out her punishment. She’d heard of previous rare cases in which the neck was not cleanly cut off in one single strike, forcing the executioner to hack at the neck, which caused lots of pain and anguish before dying.After Patricia’s death, Alicia passed her days in a state of continuous astonishment. She rarely went outside and spent most of her time in her room. However, she did make sure of eating and resting