Chapter 42 (1/2)

Chapter 42

I kept my head down anxiously, but the carriage door rattled and opened.

“I’m sure I told you not to put your head down, you disobedient spare secretary.”

As soon as the emperor came in, Vinius went outside and closed the door.

I bowed my head quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“Is there anyone you’re looking for?”

“No.”

“Are you looking for that bastard?”

The only person the emperor could call a bastard here was Serek. The two groups, who were heading for different battlefields after leaving this expedition, joined today and fought in the same place.

Serek seemed a little weird. Like someone completely different from anyone I knew, he used amazing, high-level magic to fight and defend, but his accuracy was poor. On one occasion, his ice magic almost froze an ally’s commander. Not only him, but the other soldiers from his group had the same issues.

He was often criticized because he had such poor control, but when he used his power to exterminate the undead all at once using a wide range of effective magic, praise flowed out. Regardless of whether they had a good or bad reputation, the level at which everyone could use magic must have risen by a lot. However, I did not know what the power bestowed by the empress dowager was. Could that be the reason her troops improved so fast?

I raised my head and puffed my cheeks out a little. “Why would I look for someone like him? You’re going too far, Your Majesty. I’m the one who… No, you know better than anyone that I hate him the most.”

He twisted the corners of his mouth, throwing off the dusty hood. “Aside from the fact that the last time the two of you met, you were brooding over your lost love.”

“Your Majesty!”

When I shouted back, the emperor laughed.

“You’re better off with an angry expression. Look, the smell of a battlefield isn’t a good smell after all, is it?”

Was I looking down or something? I felt my face and touched it. I was just worried about him. There was no remaining compassion I could have had for something that wasn’t alive, living like a parasite on the body of something that had once been human.

An angry sigh escaped me and suddenly the Emperor put his hand on the back of mine. A burning sensation of heat struck me.

“Your Majesty, there are so many people today… Why did you push yourself so hard?”

“You keep saying it’s too much. As far as I’m concerned, I’m doing this because I can. And I hang in there because you’ll do something for my illness.”

“…Your organs are damaged.”

“So, how do you fix it?” The emperor looked at my hand silently, then let go of it. It had been like this all along the battlefield.

He had never been rude or elusive, but he was particularly sensitive to physical contact. It was good for a superior to distinguish between what was allowed for a lover and what was allowed for a subordinate in a working relationship. However, it was strange for the emperor to be so tense after touching my hand, his physician’s, of sorts.

It might have been because his father had had no restraint when it came to women, and that was why the current imperial family looked like that.

I sat next to him, who was lying face down on the cot in the carriage. As I rubbed his back, the emperor breathed evenly, as if he was getting more comfortable. “Still, this is better.”

“What?”

“It is better than waiting patiently in the imperial palace, not knowing what is going on, and seeing Your Majesty return from his triumphant march in the city, pretending to be anything but a wounded mess. It doesn’t matter if I see these horrors on the battlefield. This is where my lord is…” I shut my mouth

I didn’t have the right to call him that yet. I hadn’t been officially entrusted with the title yet.

The emperor, who could not have missed my mistake, said nothing for a moment and then smiled slightly. “It’s nice to hear, you calling me your “lord”. If I make you my secretary soon, you will call me that every day, so wait a little bit.”

This man had a talent for making his subordinates serve him sincerely. I was anxious to be called his secretary now.

“I look forward to it, Your Majesty,” I answered with sincerity.

When I returned to the room, it was Serena who greeted me. It seemed that she had been waiting in my room since she heard that the party had passed through the castle gate.

“Serena!”

“Oh, I heard that the expedition had arrived, but you arrived so soon. Have you been well?”

“Yes.”

Next to her stood the seamstress, who I had seen before the journey. “Here’s the dress for the ball. Would you like to try it on?”

I covered my mouth. She finished it that quickly? Didn’t it take at least a month to make a new dress, as it wasn’t like mending an off-the-shelf one? How many people had worked on this?

“Already?” When I asked back with wide eyes, the seamstress smiled and gestured to the servants.

They couldn’t get it into my small room, so they carefully showed me the clothes.

The dress looked even more expensive than the last one. I didn’t dare to touch it, I just looked at it rapturously.

If the last one was a brown that complemented my eyes, this one was breathtakingly of pure ivory. The seamstresses had created a marvel of lace and embroidery, showing off a delicate beauty.

They had brought more than the dress. Set beside it were necklaces with giant pearls produced only in the southern Plebe region, and colorful earrings made of the same pearls.

I was well aware that I was special to the emperor. However, it was difficult to receive such excessive gifts. My head was spinning.

Serena grinned as she fiddled with the white mesh fabric adorning the top of the dress. “Why, are you feeling pressured?”

“Yes…”