Chapter 27 (2/2)

She paced around the room before slumping down on her bed. She felt a little calm after taking a few deep breaths.

She barely took a glimpse on the clock. It was past 9 PM.

It might not be serious that the Empress knows that his side-effects pills did not work, so she thought it’d be fine to not inform the Emperor of this right now. Moreover, it was already too late at night.

In addition, she had only ever asked to see His Majesty once. And so, she decided to postpone it tomorrow.

But as soon as the idea struck her, she immediately got up from the bed and walked to the building where the Knight was stationed. To let him know that she must see the Emperor today.

This was what she thought.

The Empress had Serek as a magic officer. Serek might reveal to the Empress that Celestia has the ability to nullify the negative effects of magic.

The Empress was now half-confident with the information she got, but if she heard Serek’s testimony, she would be sure of it. The Emperor’s weaknesses and the reason why he had a servant like her who isn’t suitable to enter the palace.

That was the only thing that needed to be stopped.

She thought it’d better to ask the Knight who knew the situation well than to ask for a visit through Serena or the mayor. She asked to see the Knight who escorted her to the Academy. As she walked out into an open space in front of a fountain, a Knight with snowy skin appeared.

He was in his armor even when it was already late. Even though what she asked for must have looked unexpected, he looked at her without much surprise, as if this had happened before.

“I am sorry to have interrupted your rest, sir knight.”

“What’s the matter?”

She stayed quiet for a moment, unable to speak up in front of Knight staring down with those yellow eyes of his, seemingly indifferent and unfriendly. But she somehow managed to open her lips.

“Is it really impossible to see His Majesty, the Emperor today? It’s necessarily urgent.”

He shook his head without a thought.

“His Highness must have gone to bed. It is absolutely impossible now.”

Well, he was a hard worker from early morning to late at night. She didn’t know when he actually slept. But almost every time she went to see him, wasn’t he always looking through his papers on his bed?

But she couldn’t have said that.

Seeing that he was adamant even when she mentioned it was urgent, there was no room for persuasion anymore.

Even though she didn’t want to, she accepted and decided to go back.

“Very well. Then, I’ll come to request a visit tomorrow. And…… I’m sorry to have called you out late at night. Please take this.”

She had some cookies from the Emperor’s room wrapped in a handkerchief, which she held out to the knight. He hesitated, perhaps embarrassed, before silently picking it up and gazing down at it with a blank expression.

“By the time you get back from the Academy tomorrow, it’ll be fine to meet him.”

“Thank you.”

“You can tell me anything.”

She thought he was such a sharp knight and a gentleman for telling her to be at ease with him. She doubted that he had the right to wake his king in the middle of the night.

She was confident that she could wake him up even though he was sleeping with circumstances like this, but they also had a huge difference in status. In any case, she was still a humble person.

Eventually returning to her room without any luck, she lied down on a quality, fluffy mattress covered up by a warm, light blanket while munching on cookies.

Most of her worries evaporated away as she felt comfortable. Unfortunately, even in this perfect and happy environment, she had no choice but to continue thinking.

First, she thought of asking Serek to keep quiet, but he wasn’t a great man to listen to her pleas or orders. If he did, he’d ask for a private house in return and persistently disturb her.

She didn’t forget him showing his shameless face at the banquet again. She felt ashamed for loving him……. What was the point of asking such a man to do something?

Moreover, if she asked him, he might notice that her ability had now become an important topic of the conversation. But she couldn’t help by doing nothing.

She sighed deeply.

As expected, the fastest way was to speak directly to the Emperor.

Thinking, she reached out for another cookie before letting her eyes fall on her empty fingertips.

There were none left.

She remembered not reaching Luana’s room to deliver the cookies, but those cookies were gone.

She couldn’t even recall carrying them back.

She must have kept it somewhere when she was eavesdropping.

Why would she do such a stupid thing?

She searched around the room where she might have placed the tray, but she found none.

She had kept the cookies beside the pillar she was standing by before.

Would it be suspicious to go around the bridge again in the middle of the night?

She waited until early dawn to go to the corridor, but the package of cookies had already disappeared. She returned back, thinking someone might have cleaned it up.

A Dark Shadow

She had to head to her Academy after spending a thoughtless night without a wink of sleep.

The Knight climbed the carriage and sat inside without a single word.

Even after arriving at the Academy, she paid no attention to class. She was lost in thought about the Empress’ words.

Vincenzo, the gentle and smart classmate of hers, asked her five times because her worries seemed to be too obvious.