Chapter 26: Chapter 25

“It’s a real shame since you’ve gotten so comfortable with your position.”

At Evelina’s words, Princess Elsius was trying to smile. Princess Elsius did not think that Evelina really had a fragile personality. Therefore, she must have taken a hold of the emperor and even received the {Tears of a Mermaid} that the previous empress loved enough to wear only for big events. In addition, even though the national treasure was lost this time, no one could question Evelina.

There was no way she could question her. All the employees of Lake Heliben were exiled to the frontier in the west.

Princess Elsius could predict how much influence Evelina had on him just because Kaiden didn’t kill them.

Kaiden Abelard could not have loved her. He was just pretending to love her and the Dowager Empress, to keep them in check.

Elsius knew very well how Kaiden had killed the imperial family who had been hers, if only for the sake of it. He was an emperor without a heart, and those who served him mostly only did so out of fear and awe.

“Me too. So please don’t tell my brother about me. My brother doesn’t know about my burn yet.”

Elsius said as if she had lost her grip. She’s obviously upset because of the founding festival, but if she gets angry here and runs wild, Kaiden wouldn’t leave her alone with that as an excuse.

“By the way, why did you get a burn on your back? Ian only told me there were wounds.”

Evelina looked sad, grasping all of it as if she had read Elsius’ thoughts. Evelina now knew. It was clear to see the princess was bowing to her.

Kaiden was exactly what she saw in the original. In the original novel, he was a male protagonist who wore a human mask before meeting Serena Verdeen, the heroine, but did not hesitate to do things that were not human. He treated human lives the same way he treated pests.

There was no way he could love a person like that. That’s probably why he pretended to be sincere to her but couldn’t hide his contempt.

Using her, and finally throwing her away. In the process, if she truly loved him, he would be able to get back at the enemy’s daughter instead.

Killing two birds with one stone. Then one day she will surely be abandoned. That’s why Elsius kept telling her about the empresses and discussing the founding festival.

When Evelina thought so, everything seemed to be right. At the same time, she felt strange that she had some expectations from him without realizing it. Apart from being relieved to know the other person’s strategy, she felt bad.

“The burn marks on my back were caused by the Dowager Empress.”

Evelina looked at her with surprise. Then, Princess Elsius lowered her eyes and said, with an expression of holding back her sadness.

“Even my brother doesn’t know about this.”

“Oh, my…”

“Sister-in-law. Watch out for the Dowager Empress. Because she’s such a scary person.”

Princess Elsius said so, pretending to be pitiful, and then shook her voice, wiping away tears with her gloves.

“I’ll help you as much as I can.”

Evelina clasped her hand, pretending to understand the heart of Princess Elsius. In fact, she wanted to put both Princess Elsius and Dowager Empress Isabella in the lake where she fell in her heart.

Evelina was a brilliant woman, and knew that there was no coincidence that the line on the mast suddenly caught her.

Therefore, Evelina had to pretend she didn’t know more. If she pretended to know and argued with the Dowager Empress, it would be the most stupid thing to do.

~~~~

“Your Majesty, I want to have lunch with you today.”

Evelina first visited the emperor’s office at lunch.

– Bang!

Kaiden got up vigorously and the expensive and very heavy mahogany chair he was sitting on fell over.

“Oh, my God.”

When Evelina looked at him in embarrassment, he immediately walked toward Evelina and said.

“What do you want to eat?”

“Kaiden, the chair just fell over.”

“Put it up.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

He gave his aide a rough look and looked at Evelina. He was raising and lowering his hand like a person who wanted to hold her hand, but was wondering if it was okay to hold it.

Evelina looked into his eyes and held his hands first. She was worried about his disdainful attitude again and how he was a bit hesitant, but after catching it, he became calm.

“In fact, I often went on picnics with the maids of the Marquis of Logias. There were a lot of peonies in the garden of the Imperial Palace…”

“I’m going on a picnic right away. Get ready.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

At Kaiden’s order, the aide checked the clock. It was 11:30 now. Originally, the emperor did not get up from his seat before 12 o’clock, but the time had changed frequently these days, so the aide thought it was strange.

“I’m so glad.”

She smiled as she made eye contact, leaning her head over his shoulder. Let’s do that.

“Your Majesty?”

He shook his hand and turned his back.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Wait a minute.”

Evelina knew well that he hated her greatly. Otherwise, there would have been no such reaction. For him, she will be used to keep the Dowager Empress and the Princess in check, and also used for revenge against the Marquis of Logias.

She would have hated it if the enemy who killed her parents approached her like a fool. An innocent mask like this especially would have been more abominable.

“Wait a minute.”

He kept breathing, saying so. It was just funny that Evelina was once scared, but now he hated her and struggled with this.

“Your Majesty, I want to walk hand in hand with you.”

“Yes, of course.”

He was bare-handed. Come to think of it, in the original Evelina watched, he said he hated his scarred hands from holding a sword and always wore gloves. Evelina thought it was rather strange that he wore gloves because it was not common.

“Give me your hand.”

As he reached out, Evelina placed her hand gracefully in his.

“That’s great, Kaiden.”

The sound of his breath disappeared as if he were not breathing but soon returned.

“Let’s go.”

Like that, Evelina headed to the garden of the Imperial Palace with him.

~~~~

“Last time it was a rose, but this time it’s all changed to peonies.”

“Do you like roses more?”

“Peonies are good, too. I think the pink peony is so pretty.”

Evelina didn’t hate the light pink peony mixed with the smell of grass and soaked her lungs.

“Do you know the meaning of peonies in the language of flowers?”

“Yes, they represent shame.”

Evelina didn’t know much about tea, but she knew a lot of flowers. It was because she was at the peak of society for a long time, and it was also because of the lords, who presented her with various flowers, brought similar flowers and recited the words of flowers.

No matter how much she didn’t want to memorize, if she got a bouquet of roses once a day, red roses were passionate love, and black roses were possessive love, and when you constantly heard such words, you get it stuck in your head even if you don’t want to memorize them.

However, it seemed to be the first time that she received a peony as a gift. Was it the first time?

“The peony means shame.”

“Oh, come to think of it, I used to…”

For a moment, she thought of someone handing her a peony. But she couldn’t remember who it was. She thought it was when she was very young.

“Have you ever received a peony before?”

“Oh, yes, I think so. I think they also taught me the flower language…”

“Is he a man?”

“I don’t know.”

Evelina couldn’t really remember, so she looked directly at Kaiden and said. Then Kaiden didn’t avoid her eyes this time, but kept looking. Evelina felt a strange relief when she saw his red eyes in the sun. As if his body is gradually calming down even though he thinks he should be wary of her with his head.

“Kaiden.”

“Yes.”

“Is it the day of the revolution that we first met?”

Then Kaiden replied with a smile.

“Yes.”

Evelina felt ashamed because she felt like a failure after flirting with him for a moment. So to change the subject, she picked up a sandwich made by chefs for the picnic.

“Have this.”

“Please feed me.”

“Yes.”

She handed him a cucumber sandwich in her hand. Then he frowned at the cucumber inside and she laughed hard when he made eye contact with her. Then he took a bite.

“What do you think?”

Evelina intentionally handed him a cucumber sandwich when she knew he would say it was delicious even if he hated it. She knew he hated cucumbers, as she saw in the original. But if he said it was good even though she did it like this.

“It’s very delicious.”

As expected, she was right to expect something. To keep the Princess and the Dowager Empress in check, and to get revenge on the Marquis of Logias.

“That’s a relief. Feed me one, too.”

When Evelina said so, Kaiden caught sight of the neatly packed sandwiches and picked up one.

“Oh, my. How do you know I like potato salad?”

“I just know.”

Evelina had a sandwich full of ham and potato salad.

“It’s delicious.”

She spoke purely. Then Kaiden said, checking with his eyes everything Evelina had eaten among the sandwiches in the basket.

“I’ll pick out all the flavors I just gave you.”

“No, I’ll try each and every one by one.”

“Oh, yes.”

She smiled at Kaiden, saying so. Then he frowned and turned his head.

“Your Majesty.”

“Kaiden.”

“Kaiden, I want to lie down, can I?”

Then he stared at her unanswered. Then he nodded and stretched his legs.

Evelina checked his thighs with her eyes. Even if he wore clothes, his legs were like a weapon, so that if he moved a little, she could see the solid muscles like a horse’s inside.

She laid her head slowly on his thigh. Then she looked up at him.

“Kaiden looks so handsome from below.”

She was very amused about where he would run this time. And this time she was going to get him to assure her father’s safety.

She’ll be glad to be used.