Chapter 297 (2/2)

At that moment I felt him gazing at me from my behind. I felt the strong urge to look back, but I held it back, biting my lip tightly. I knew it would not do anything good for him if I looked back at him now. All I could do now, or all I had to do was to accept his separation from me. I didn’t have the option of looking back.

I lifted my frozen legs and climbed into the wagon. As I sat down, I suddenly recalled the numerous things I experienced with him, such as our meeting for the first time when we didn’t like each other, the moments of him teaching fencing to me with tears and laughter, the day he and I battled the assassins, the pleasant time when I danced as led by him, last winter when he shared his warmth with me, giving me herbal medicine, when my body was getting cold, and the good happy times together in the golden field on way back to the capital were all vividly embedded in my memories.

I waved at him, raising my trembling hand. The door of my wagon closed, and the wheels began rolling. My eyes were blurred with tears all of a sudden because I saw through the curtain a lonely man standing there, just like he had been three years ago.

My heart ached. With my hand on my aching heart, I whispered to him who was disappearing into a red dot. ‘Goodbye, Sein.’

The next day I went to the Imperial Palace for two days in a row to make up for my missing days. My guard duty, which I began in the chilly air even before the sunrise, was done around lunch time.

The young man, who turned over his diary work log to the knights who came for a shift, looked at me and said, “Good job, Sir Monique.”

“Nice job, Sir Ryan and Sir Feden. It was a little easier today. ”

“That’s right. I wish my duty would be like this every day. Oh, are you done for today? ”

“Yes.”

“Um, if you have time, can you have lunch with us? We all haven’t seen you since that day, so we feel it rather regrettable not to see you more often.”

I gently smiled at Sir Ryan looking at me desperately. I thought it’s a good opportunity because I wanted to express my gratitude to them for their dedicated efforts to protect me on the day I was ambushed.

“Great, no problem.”

“Well, are you serious? I didn’t know you would really accept our request.”

“Lady Monique, you are here. I’ve been looking for you for some time. ”

Everybody looked at the man who suddenly appeared before me. As he recognized the middle-aged man, Sir Ryan, who was overjoyed a moment ago, hardened his face.

“You are the Lord Chamberlain of the Central Palace? Why are you here?”

“The emperor said he felt sorry you went away without seeing him yesterday, so he wants to see you as soon as you are done for the day.”

“Really? Got it.”

When I looked back at them with an embarrassed expression, the knight with brown hair said, stopping Sir Ryan who was hesitant to say something to me, “You shouldn’t keep the emperor waiting. Please go ahead!”

“Um, I’m sorry. How about the dinner in the evening?”

“Really? Of course, sounds good.”

“Good. See you then.”

“Got it. Goodbye for now, Sir Monique. I’ll tell my colleagues about the dinner.”

After smiling lightly at the young knight who answered with a bright expression, I followed the Lord Chamberlain to the Central Palace.

“I’m honored to see you, the Sun of the empire.”

“Um? Are you still greeting me formally like that?”

Looking at me greeting him quietly, he said in a stern voice, hardening his face, “You don’t have to greet me like that because I don’t need that between you and me.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will keep it in mind.”

I smiled at his friendly reminder, but he still seemed dissatisfied.

“And…Um, I’m sorry I seem to be complaining as soon as I see you like this. Can you call me friendly when you are with me alone? I don’t feel good when you say that because I feel you are trying to keep a distance from me.”

“Ah…sorry, Your Majesty. I’ll try to correct it…”