Chapter 29
– How to Overcome Depression (2)
Judging by their attire, they were probably high-ranking nobles visiting the royal palace.
Ileana, ever quick to assess the situation like the former chaebol heiress she was, immediately came to a conclusion.
We’re screwed.
“……”
For a moment, a suffocating silence blanketed the garden.
The older-looking figures froze in place like statues, staring at her, while Ileana—snug in Iago’s arms—awkwardly darted her eyes about.
“Oh dear, the Elders…”
Iago, regaining his senses, murmured quietly into her shoulder.
As she suspected, her guess had been correct.
Her comfortable, peaceful life in the south was as good as over.
I’m one thing, but what if this causes trouble for Iago?
She was, after all, the priestess of an enemy nation.
And not even a permanent one—she was here on a temporary three-month stay in exchange for a rich mining territory.
There was no way the Elders would be happy about their king and a foreign priestess exchanging such intimate affection.
Trying to catch a lark, she had ended up setting her whole house on fire.
She had only meant to tease two ostriches, but now everything had gone terribly, spectacularly wrong.
We’re doomed.
Poking him in the side to signal her meaning, she made Iago finally lift his face lazily from her neck.
At that moment, the rigid figures before them jolted like they’d been struck by lightning and shouted:
“Gasp! It really is Your Highness!”
“I thought it might be, judging from that unmistakable broad back!”
…Now what?
“Well… everyone, please don’t get the wrong idea—”
Ileana began, her expression calm as if she hadn’t just been caught filming the finale of a morning soap opera.
She had to at least attempt some kind of explanation.
Should she say she’d only caught him when he stumbled?
No, too simplistic.
That she was removing a bug from his back?
No, that was an even worse excuse.
Should I just say I was trying to seduce him?
But before she could settle on a story—
“Auspicious news!!”
“At last, at last His Highness…! Sob…”
“I’ll be able to see a descendant of the Rihue royal family before I die!”
“Our prince… our prince is not impotent!!”
A roar erupted from the bearded elders.
…What?
In an instant, Ileana found herself surrounded by the overly excited Elders, each gesturing wildly as they babbled:
“So that’s why you’ve never dated—because you were saving yourself for such a beauty!”
“What a lovely couple you make! Hoho!”
Stunned, Ileana suddenly recalled scenes from dramas she’d seen.
Ordinary families gather during holidays to share warm greetings…
She had heard that in those gatherings, older relatives would bombard you with questions—about dating, marriage, babies, jobs, salaries—causing immense stress.
Her own family had been torn apart over inheritance disputes, so she had always found such scenes strange and foreign.
I guess… this is how it feels.
They weren’t exactly unpleasant, but neither was the flood of doting questions and attention entirely welcome.
“We’re not… actually dating yet,” she said hesitantly.
The elders around her gaped as if she’d dropped a bomb—among them, Iago himself.
…Why are you surprised?
She lifted an eyebrow at him, and he quickly composed himself.
Then, looking down at the Elders, he declared with regal authority:
“That’s right. She was merely removing a bug from my back. Cease your needless misunderstandings.”
The elders waved their hands frantically.
“Not dating…?”
“But you embraced her?”
“That’s something only engaged couples do!”
“Maybe it’s just a northern custom!”
Since the misunderstanding worked in her favor, Ileana simply nodded along.
The Elders, however, clutched their heads in despair.
“How can this be?!”
“What about our prince’s children?!”
“Our prince’s two daughters and one son! Their violet eyes were so beautiful!”
Apparently, in their minds, she and the Black King were already married with kids.
Watching the wailing elders, Ileana thought again—
No matter how she looked at it, something was off about this kingdom.
Everyone’s too kind… too happy.
“Compose yourselves!”
The booming voice came from an elder with a gray beard, who had been watching her with a stony face even amid the celebration.
“Whoa, you startled me. My heart’s weak, you know, Ilo,” someone muttered.
“Ilo, what’s the matter all of a sudden?”
The other elders, startled by his anger, waved their hands in confusion.
A few frailer ones even clutched at their chests.
But Ilo only roared louder:
“What do you mean, what’s the matter?! How can you all act so carelessly in front of a Northerner?!”
“Well… she is from the north, but she’s the priestess.”
“That’s right, the priestess who came down to help us.”
Ilo fixed his tiger-like golden eyes on Ileana.
“And how do we know she truly is the savior from the legends?”
“Ilo!”
“Hey!”
The others frantically tried to hush him, but Ileana only nodded calmly.
At least one of them has a normal, cautious mind.
She had always been more accustomed to suspicion and scorn than unconditional love.
“That’s enough,” came a cold voice from behind her.
Iago had returned entirely to his Black King persona, glaring at Ilo with an oppressive aura that chilled the air.
Even the unflappable elder recoiled, taking a step back, while the rest of the council fell silent.
“…Priestess,” Iago said slowly, like a lazy black panther, “let’s go finish what we were doing.”
What we were doing? …Ah, right, the ‘Happiness Operation!’
He slipped an arm around her waist and gave the Elders a curt nod.
“Then, we’ll be taking our leave.”
Ileana gave an awkward bow to the frozen men and trotted after him.
Still… wasn’t that a bit harsh for an Elder?
She was thinking that when whispers trailed after them:
“My goodness. They’re going to finish what they were doing!”
“They are!”
“Our prince is definitely not impotent!”
Bang! Bang!
The sound of something being kneaded filled the hot, cramped room.
“…Does doing this really relieve stress?” Ileana asked flatly.
Iago, focused on his task, glanced up and smiled brightly.
“Of course. I do this whenever my head feels cluttered.”
She eyed the white dough being vigorously kneaded by his thick biceps and triceps.
“…Baking?”
“Yep!”
He had rolled up his sleeves so they wouldn’t get in the way and was wearing an apron comically small for his size.
Today’s installment of the ‘Happiness Operation!’ was, apparently, baking.
Though, since Ileana had refused with a blunt “I’ve never cooked before,” her role was downgraded to merely watching him bake.
Propping her chin on her hand, she stared at him as he worked, listening to his constant chatter.
It was oddly heartwarming—like the bread was already making her feel better even before it came out of the oven.
There was something irresistibly charming about a man in an apron baking for her.
Dangerous. Very dangerous.
First a man whose crying face was beautiful, now a muscular man who looked great in an apron—her tastes were in peril of shifting.
She quickly shook her head and looked down at the now-soft dough.
“Ah, sorry about earlier,” Iago said suddenly, switching topics.
“The Elders were so excited, I couldn’t stop them.”
“It’s fine. No big deal,” she replied easily, then added, “The Elders all seemed like good people.”
“They are. They all grew up on the island back when it was still peaceful, before the war.”
Before the war… meaning the ‘First War’ from ten years ago?
“Until then, there had never been a war or even a large-scale conflict on the island,” he said matter-of-factly.
“…Not even once?”
Is that even possible?
Well, this was a fictional world. Maybe the history records were incomplete.
But she didn’t have time to dwell on it, because Iago continued:
“They’re all kind and innocent. Which is why… all the more reason for me, as king, to stay firmly centered. The times are unstable.”
Ah, there’s the Black King again.
Looking up at him, she thought that when his thin red lips were pressed in a firm line and his face was devoid of a smile, the sharpness of his jaw made him look all the more untamed.
The tiny apron around his waist looked almost absurd on someone radiating such authority.
Does he always switch between rabbit and leopard like this?
She recalled how, just moments ago, he had turned into a black panther and cornered her.
Raising an eyebrow, she asked with suspicion in her tone,
“So, what was with that little performance earlier?”
