It seems I really need more sleep.
Am I seriously crazy to think about staring at the Emperor’s head… Me? Lowering my eyes as calmly and naturally as I could as though I had been on my knees from the beginning, my knee hurt when I hit the floor so suddenly. Still, I could not show it.
Raniero opened his mouth curiously.
“You’ve gotten a lot more agile, haven’t you?”
That is what life was all about.
“You can get up.”
…Can I believe him?
I snorted inwardly and made a muffled sound. Raniero’s head was unpredictable, though one thing was certain. Challenging his authority would be equivalent to walking into hellfire. And, the ‘challenge to authority’ that he interpreted was quite broad.
I never fell for Raniero Actilus’ cunning maneuvers.
Just like when I deliberately let myself fall at the ball, this was obviously testing me. When I think of that time, I feel like my butt is hurting again. Anyway, I will never get up from this position until my share of the chair arrives. Never…!
Meanwhile, Raniero leaned his upper body and gazed at me. I glanced at him. He was smiling… impudently.
“I congratulate you on your enthusiasm not to put your head higher than the emperor. However…”
‘…What else is he complaining about, again!’
“Do you intend to be on your knees when the servants open the door and come in?”
His point was so reasonable that I almost choked for a moment.
Right… The servants are coming in, so I could not be on my knees like this… Nevertheless, I could not just stand up and look down on ‘The high and mighty, His Majesty.’
Without realizing it, I shifted my posture, rubbing my mouth slightly. This means that I am sitting on my butt on the floor. Even though it was quite a disgraceful posture, it was the best course of action I could take. If I thought more deeply, I might come up with a better solution although not now. I really need more sleep…
Hengg— I want to go home.
Cisen…
Duchess Nerma…
Raising my knees a little, I buried my face in it. It was clear that Raniero, who was looking at me, also slowly lost interest in me and turned to the correspondence that had to be dealt with. Soon, there was a crunching sound of the paper.
“Your attitude is different from last night.”
It was a bonus that he casually threw more balls at me even now. Instantly, my face became hot.
Oh, I am really embarrassed just thinking about it…
At that, I decided not to think about it as much as possible. However, the resolution brought back memories of last night over and over again instead. My blushing face did not subside.
Knock, knock.
‘Huuk.’
I raised my head abruptly. The servants must have brought my chair.
Feeling like my pulse was cut off, I suddenly realized what I was thinking and my face got hotter. Fortunately, Raniero was not looking this way.
“Come in.”
His gaze was still fixed on the letters as he replied while showing only his back to me as I was shedding tears inside. Then, the three servants brought in a chair that looked very comfortable. It was an armchair that felt a bit oversized for my body.
The servants glanced at me, perplexed for a moment as I sat on the floor, and then lowered their eyes as though they were mistaken.
I looked at them pitifully.
Yes, I know how you feel when you make a mistake in front of an important person. I know best…
I was lenient and overlooked their mistakes. Since servants were also commoners, they could not touch me carelessly. Because of that, I sat down on my own.
“Thank you.”
It was a desperate, elegant smile to dispel the image of me sitting on the floor. But, the chair was so large and soft that I was completely buried, and I did not seem very dignified. Regardless, even if the superior does not have dignity, the subordinate must know and feel dignity.
The three servants saw me and bowed in unison.
Now, I seem to get used to this burdensome etiquette. I smiled with satisfaction. However, that joy didn’t last long…
It was because the sound of the pen tip and the sound of unfolding the paper were cut off.
“What do you mean, thank you?”
An ominous tackle came in. The servants who were bowing their heads towards me turned their bodies 90 degrees in unison. The next moment, they began to bow their heads to Raniero.
I stiffened myself in the armchair, too.
“They just followed orders, and I’m the one who gave you a chair?”
Having said that, Raniero put down the pen.
I glanced at his hand with a subtle expression. Of course, as soon as he gazed back at me, I straightened my expression.
“Isn’t it wrong to be grateful, Empress?”
Now, at this level, I have lost my mind.
Even with my eyes closed, I was able to say the right words of flattery. I opened my mouth, burying myself in the chair, “As you say, it was my mistake to praise the servants who merely carried a heavy chair and carried out the orders before His Majesty the Emperor, who gave the order to bring in the chair…”
“I’m tired of seeing you criticize yourself so many times.”
Instead of being upset, I felt a sense of crisis and shut my mouth.
ﾟ· : * ✧ * :· ﾟ
A dimple slipped onto Raniero’s cheek slightly.
He could see Angelica’s eyes rolling with her mouth shut. Every time he would say ‘it’s not fun,’ ‘boring,’ or something along those lines, her head would get busy. He could also feel her intense tension. Even though the answer was always quite plausible, the problem was that he could see everything she was thinking in her head.
Raniero grinned, fiddling with the scar on his lips that Angelica had left on him. Her patience remained undisturbed, and she did not make him wait long.
In an armchair that was too soft to sit properly, Angelica struggled to straighten her back and replied.
“Thank you.”
It was a very simple word… Similar to what he had heard in the garden yesterday.
Raniero’s fingertips moved lightly. Somehow, he did not like it. Perhaps, it was because of her strong feeling of ‘saying what you were told to say.’
It was quite a strange thing. That was pretty weird.
Raniero Actilus had never given much thought to whether people’s words were sincere or not. It did not matter if it was fake because they had to obey him anyway. If the result was the same one way or another, there was no reason to reconsider and judge others’ minds.
He was not the pathetic type of person who clung to sincerity. His instinct impelled him to point out the simple reply, while a reason, which he knew well, whispered, ‘Does it matter?’
Raniero’s fingertips formed on the wound and gently pulled the end of his hardened tip. He let the wound bother him just before the scabs peeled from his thin, sensitive skin and started bleeding again. Because of that, his lips were slightly swollen and burning.
Eventually, he turned to correspondence without saying anything to Angelica.
The office had become very quiet. Even if he did not look, he could tell that Angelica was staring at him while holding her breath. She was concerned that her own remarks may have offended him.
…As expected, something he does not like.
Raniero’s hand ripped the envelope with a bit of annoyance. A thick envelope engraved with a luxurious stamp was torn as easily as rice paper. He had not even checked where it was sent from.
Opening the letter with a slight frown on that straight brow, only then did he know the source…
…Temple of Tunia.
It was a temple in the barren land of the northwest without an owner, facing the border with the Actilus Empire. Who would take care of the land? Unless it was the followers of the foolish God of Mercy.
God of Mercy yielded all the fertile land in the world to others, leaving only the roughest for their children. The small force promoting ‘mercy’ was not like Raniero. The cause of tension between the Actilus Empire, which bordered the southeast, and the Kingdom of Sombinia, which bordered the southwest.
He then read the letter in annoyance.
It was basically asking for help.
Of course, he would not respond to this letter.
Raniero flicked it without even folding it. The letter that the high priest of the Temple of Tunia must have written with all his heart was mercilessly thrown on the floor.
Since then, he had opened and read a few more of his letters, like a child would open a package of cookies. Among them, he picked out the ones to give a brief answer and put them on one side as they would be enough to have the servants send a reply.
According to the Emperor’s dislike of troublesome work, the things that came up to his office were the only ones that had been filtered once from the bottom. So, there was not much to see.
After roughly sorting out the last letter, Raniero turned around. It was to see Angelica’s face.
However, Raniero’s expression became strange.
As the summer sun that fell on the back of her head was quite hot, Angelica fell asleep with her face in her lap. The armchair swayed slightly as she breathed.
Her hair, like a pink rose mixed with gray, was soft and smooth.
‘Did she fall asleep in the meantime?’
As if it was a lie that she was so anxious…?