Chapter 81
The firewood crackled in the fireplace, the soft rug spread across the floor, and plush cushions lay on top of it.
Wrapped in a shawl, I gazed at the ocean view unfolding before me from the warmth of the room.
The full-length glass window, unobstructed by anything, created the illusion that I was standing in the middle of the sea.
‘Your Majesty…….’
They said you were wealthy.
But to think you’d even have a private beach and a private villa.
A few days after Your Majesty suggested we go on an outing, the weekend arrived.
We rode in a carriage for about three hours to get here.
“If it were a bit warmer, it would’ve been nice to stroll along the beach.”
Your Majesty personally carried over a tray with a tea set and sat down near me.
The guard knights and servants who came along were stationed throughout the villa, and in this room, it was just Your Majesty and me.
“That wouldn’t have been bad either…….”
I nodded and murmured.
After coming all the way here, what couldn’t I do for you?
‘I’ve already resigned myself to this……!’
For the past few days, I’d been completely out of it because of Your Majesty’s kindness and visual attacks.
Going to work together had become routine, and whenever you had time, you would come find me and coax me gently—!
I don’t know why you’re acting like this, but, Your Majesty, please just do whatever you want…….
“But this isn’t my final trip or anything, right?”
They say even death row inmates get their last wishes granted before they die.
You’re not treating me well for that kind of reason, are you?!
You said you weren’t mind-controlled, so that explanation seems more plausible…….
“What are you talking about.”
Your Majesty spoke as if worried, then looked at me with the gentlest eyes in the world.
“It’s an outing with my lover.”
Ugh. Ughhh.
Ughhhh!
I could feel the muscles in my face moving on their own again.
Not knowing whether I should cry or laugh, I buried my face deep into a cushion.
I could hear Your Majesty’s pleased laughter by my ear.
You’re definitely teasing me!
But then why are you acting like this?! Just like a real lover!
“……Your Majesty, you’re trying to seduce me, aren’t you.”
“Seduce?”
“Yes.”
“……That’s not it.”
See!
After coming on so strong!
And then backing out at the end!
“Then why are you doing this……! Do you, huh? Want to see me fall even more for you! Splash into your charm that’s like 10,000 meters deep! Sink without even being able to struggle and just go glug-glug……!”
To be honest, I think I’ve already fallen.
I’m done for……!
As I was taking deep breaths with my face buried in the cushion, I heard Your Majesty’s voice.
“……I didn’t know my charm was that deep.”
It must’ve been something with the nuance of, ‘Then it’s only natural the Saintess would fall for me.’
Though somehow it felt like you were flustered and just saying whatever came to mind.
There’s no way that’s true, but……!
“……So please keep Clause 5 in mind—‘Act as usual’…….”
“……Hmm. I went too far. I’m sorry.”
“Ah, don’t apologize. I’m fine.”
I don’t really want to see my favorite apologizing……!
Now that I think about it, I’d once again impulsively confessed that I was hopelessly falling for Your Majesty.
My cheeks were burning—it was obvious my face had turned red again.
Heh……. It’s not like this is the first or second time I’ve been like this in front of Your Majesty.
‘Ah, whatever.’
I picked up a cookie Your Majesty had brought and looked out at the sea.
This is the first time I’ve come this far just to relax.
‘This is nice too.’
I used to wonder why people would just stare blankly at water or fire.
But this sense of calm in my heart……!
All this time I’d been working, studying, training.
Living so busily that the unemployed instinct I’d forgotten about was starting to stir.
If only Derachi gets resolved, maybe I could live as a wealthy unemployed person for once—!
“Your Majesty, do you have any retirement plans?”
“……I don’t think so.”
“When I was young, I wanted to live by the sea when I grew old.”
“By the sea?”
“It was my dream. A peaceful house by the shore, sitting in a rocking chair knitting, with a cat on my lap……!”
“Pyu!”
Ah, Pyu was in the room too.
Pyu, who had been sitting quietly like a doll until now, made a fuss as if jealous of my past dream.
It sounded like a complaint about who I thought I’d be putting on my lap when Pyu was right here.
Don’t worry, Pyu.
Cats…… don’t really like me anyway. Sob.
“Do you want to?”
“That was just back then. When I was young.”
With Your Majesty in the Imperial Palace, how could I want something like that?
Your Majesty’s eyes are the sea and the sky, and your shoulders are the Pacific—
Protect my eyesight forever.
Even if one day my hearing drops to the normal range, my eyesight must not……!
After that, a cozy silence settled between us.
We quietly gazed at the calm sea.
At one point, Your Majesty parted your lips a few times.
Then, as if having made up your mind, you spoke.
“……Around the end of spring, the Saintess might have to go stay at the Temple of Nisephorel for a few months.”
Because of the war.
That thought came to me instantly.
I thought I’d stay in the Imperial Palace even if war broke out, but I’m being sent to the Temple of Nisephorel?
“It’s extremely rare for a Saintess to be summoned into this world. It would also be a good experience for the children…….”
Heh. You can try to come up with reasons all you want—I already know.
“If I don’t want to go, can I not?”
“……I’d like you to go.”
Your Majesty’s voice, filled with sincerity, sounded desperate.
Ughhh. I might like this version of Your Majesty even more than when you act like an abandoned puppy……!
Huff, huff.
Suppressing the surge of fangirl feelings rising within me, I asked,
“If I go to the temple, will you come get me in a few months?”
“Yes.”
“Please promise you’ll come get me yourself.”
It meant: come without getting hurt.
“I’ll go myself.”
At Your Majesty’s answer, I nodded.
“Then it’s fine. If you tell me to go, I’ll go.”
I’d love to personally smack Derachi on the back of the head.
But the top priority was not being a hindrance.
Whether I’d be of help or not came after that.
‘Ugh. I hope the war doesn’t break out.’
No matter what, peace is the best.
“Your Majesty, and I have one request.”
At my words, Your Majesty nodded for me to continue.
“Let’s go on another outing.”
“Sure. If you like forests, there’s a castle in Enchira—.”
“No.”
The wealthy really are different.
You mention owning a castle in another region so casually.
But I shook my head.
“I’ll take charge of planning the next outing.”
If I won’t be able to see Your Majesty for months once I go to the temple, can’t I indulge my selfish desires a little—!
If I don’t and then enter the temple……
I might get sick…….
“So please just follow my plan next time.”
Crackle. Snap.
The sound of firewood burning filled the quiet room.
Allende sat on the rug, reading through an old, worn diary that looked quite aged.
“…….”
When he turned the page for the third time, he shifted his gaze to the side.
Ari had fallen asleep while reading a history book.
“……Do you want to see me fall into your charm! Splash into it! Sink without even being able to struggle and just go glug-glug……!”
Did the Saintess know?
That at the time, he had almost answered, ‘I do.’
That selfish thoughts like ‘I want you to look only at me’ or ‘I want you to think only of me’ had filled his mind.
But.
“I don’t have the right. I don’t.”
Allende muttered words that could have been meant for himself—or for Ari.
“That…… I’ll give it…… to Your Majesty…….”
Pfft.
Allende smiled at Ari’s sleep-talking.
With a careful hand, he brushed aside the black hair that had fallen over her and pulled the shawl up to cover her shoulders.
“Ari.”
Then, looking at Ari sleeping soundly with soft, even breaths, he gently spoke.
“I hope you’ll be happy too.”
“Intruder!”
The Grand Duchy of Derachi. The headquarters of the ‘factory.’
Nearly a hundred employees were running frantically throughout the massive factory, searching for the intruder.
The intruder had entered the factory director’s office and stolen the “blueprints.”
“Director! We can’t find them!”
“Search more, more! They must still be inside!”
Factory Director Park’s shout thundered down the corridor.
‘Do you even know what that is……!’
There were three factories that formed the core of the Grand Duchy of Derachi.
The “blueprints” were detailed records of those factories.
The number and size of rooms on each floor, their functions, personnel assignments…….
And not just that.
They even contained sensitive information directly tied to security and combat strength—secret passages, vaults, armories, and more.
‘His Grace the Grand Duke of Derachi will not spare me.’
Park felt chills run through his entire body, cold sweat dripping down.
As someone who had risen from being one of the Grand Duke’s servants to the position of factory director, he knew better than anyone how merciless the Grand Duke was.
He himself had acted ruthlessly to earn the Grand Duke’s recognition, but he had never once matched him.
“Director……!”
“Please spare me, please spare me!”
The orphanage child who had knelt before him, begging for life.
Even after more than a decade, Park could not forget the sensation of his sword cutting through that tender flesh.
He had burned down the orphanage and cut down children who could not resist.
All for the sake of sending a single child as a candidate to the temple—a scheme devised by Derachi, who had been a lord at the time.
And if that Grand Duke were to hear that the blueprints had been stolen and the intruder not caught…….
“Director! Over here! There are signs they escaped toward the underground waterway!”
“Understood! I’ll go myself!”
In his urgency, Park shoved past the employees and rushed forward.
The others ran after him.
And the corridor was left empty.
Inside the ventilation shaft in the ceiling, which had stopped operating, someone was watching the movement below through a gap in the cover.
“…….”
Shoulder-length blonde hair.
Seductive hazelnut-colored eyes.
An elegant, overwhelmingly beautiful appearance.
‘How annoying to get caught.’
Dressed in stealth attire, Charles clicked her tongue inwardly.
It seemed the bait had worked, but there were still several obstacles left to slip out of the factory unnoticed.
Obstacles that would require considerable effort to overcome.
‘Now what…….’
For once, wearing a troubled expression, she held the rolled-up blueprints hidden in her arms.
