Chapter 46

***

Ersa’s maid spent a few days observing Concubine Edith. There was nothing unusual except that she went to bed early and woke up very late.

“It was said that beauty sleeps a lot.”

The maid, who was secretly observing Concubine Edith’s abode, let out a murmur.

There was very little information about her as she didn’t come out of her quarter all the time.

Wouldn’t it be too obvious if she were to stop the maid and ask about her master’s routine?

With that in mind, she was sneaking into the backyard in Concubine Edith’s abode when a black shadow blocked the maid’s way.

“Holy cats!”

The large shadow, which she thought was a black animal, turned out to be a man dressed in suspicious clothes.

The prime minister?

The man with a sword in the concubine abode? And he’s wearing a black-colored knight’s attire!

His attire was undoubtedly suspicious.

The maid momentarily forgot that she had snuck in, and looked at the man, who startled her in bewilderment.

When she glanced up at the man who was two-heads bigger than her, the knight, Van, asked in a low voice.

“What brought you here?”

“W-well, w-why is sir Knight here…! I almost had a heart attack.”

Black-colored knight attire, gray hair.

Although he had a rough-looking appearance, the maid’s voice gradually died down at Van’s expressionless face.

“Really, why are you here…?”

The maid asked as she stroked the area near her chest with her hand, Van’s gaze scanned the maid up and down.

“It’s none of your business. You’d better return.”

He seemed adamant, as if he had no intention to give out an answer to her.

Overwhelmed by Van’s look, the maid retracted her steps, and by the time she realized it, she was already outside of Concubine Edith’s abode.

She couldn’t see the knight, but she had a strong hunch about it.

The backyard of Concubine Edith’s abode was blocked by him.

“That’s weird….”

Why is a knight in black-colored knight attire guarding the backyard of the abode where Concubine Edith, whom no one paid attention to, lived?

The situation was very suspicious.

***

“What…?”

Ersa frowned, finding it hard to believe what her maid had said.

There’s a knight in the backyard.

“I saw it myself. He was guarding the backyard in a black-colored knight attire.”

She doesn’t seem to lie.

‘Her eyes are sparkling as if wanting me to be convinced, she shouldn’t be a maid if this is a lie, but a theater actress.’

Ersa bit her lower lip slightly.

‘It seems like she’s messing with me.’

If he wore a black-colored knight attire, he would likely belong to chivalry under the Emperor.

Why is such a knight guarding in Concubine Edith’s backyard?

‘Is it on the order of His Majesty…?’

If so, it would be a big problem. However, she can’t just wait and see.

If one of the 26 concubines became the Emperor’s lover, it had to be her. [refer to herself, Ersa.]

Ersa, who had been chewing on her lower lip for quite a while, ended the string of her thoughts with gleaming eyes.

“Lit the candle tonight.”

In the end, she decided to do it.

***

It was late in the evening. It’s when the sun sets and sleepy hours begin.

It wasn’t really hard because lately, the day and night have changed. She had to meet Mar at night, so she had to sleep now.

She closed her drowsy eyelids, which kept drooping after laying down on the bed.

He seemed to fall asleep as soon as she laid down, perhaps due to the new, soft quilt that had been bought for her thanks to the budget that was recently increased by the Emperor.

She wondered if it’s probably because she was still light asleep.

-Creak

Her ears pricked up at the slightest sound of the door opening carefully.

She could hear the sound of cautious footsteps.

Moreover, the faint scent similar to herbal medicine pierced her nose.

“Ellie?”

She asked, unable to open her eyes.

Ellie was the only one who would enter the room, so she pulled up the quilt to hide her face.

After coming in, Ellie immediately left in a hurry after placing the candle.

Did the maid feel guilty for waking her up?

“It’s okay to talk….”

Lifting her body slightly, she saw the scented candle that Ellie had left behind.

It was not a scented candle, but the burned leaf on the tray that had a unique scent. The more she smelled it, the more drowsy she felt.

“I’m sleepy….”

Helen rubbed her eyes and slid down to the bed as if she had fallen.

She had never been so sleepy before.

Helen fell asleep as if her consciousness had submitted to the dizziness.

Due to the dizziness, she let something slip as she couldn’t think properly.

That Ellie would never enter the room because she would have been asleep.

That she would never come during the night.

***

The agreed time had passed, but Helen didn’t come, and Van rushed into the residence looking for Helen.

Van, who opened the window without difficulty and entered the room, immediately held his breath once the stinging smell pricked his nose and looked for the source of the smell.

‘There it is.’

The burning leaf behind the livingroom table.

What is this?

It was unusual that his sight was shaking slightly.

Rather than burnt leaves, Ellie would always pour tea that had been prepared for her.

Shriks.

Even though the crushed leaf were mangled with the tea, the strong scent did not just go away.

When Van took a look at the leaf with a frown etched on his face, he heard a very drowsy voice behind him.

“Van?”

Helen sat up in bed and wobbled.

She rubbed her eyes as if feeling very sleepy, but she couldn’t wake up.

“We must get going.”

“I’m very sleepy…. Give me a second….”

Helen yawned, her mouth was wide open.

“I’ll take you in my arms.”

Van had a calm look on his face and kept his extremely brisk attitude, so she knew he didn’t mean it like that.

However, Van thought she was going to reject the offer.

This was because Helen didn’t prefer being in his arms every night when they were heading there.

However, Helen answered while dozing off, perhaps she was really too sleepy today that she couldn’t recover from the drowsiness.

“Yes.”

Van took Helen, and she quickly fell asleep in his arms.

Van couldn’t shake off the memories of the suspicious leaf he had seen in her room.

It was when he realized Hazel, who was laid in his arms, looked weaker than a sickly person.

“Can you go on your own?”

When they reached the corridor, Van put her on her feet while wrinkling his eyebrows edgily.

Van had been keeping himself from showing as little expression as possible, so when he showed a frown, there was a huge change in his expression.

“Of course….”

However, Helen wasn’t able to get a hold of herself.

She shook her head from side to side and pinched her cheek, but her body kept losing strength as if she was in a sleeping state.

However, lies escaped her mouth consistently.

“I’ll get going now….”

Stumbling on her feet and holding the window, when Helen looked like she was going to lose her consciousness at any moment, Van supported her shoulder slightly.

“Thank you.”

Helen’s eyes didn’t look normal, even though she was smiling.

“Your eyes are only half-opened.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

After expressing her gratitude, Helen slapped her palm against her cheek.

She’s so dizzy. What’s wrong with her?

She was wondering about that, but her head couldn’t work properly. She stopped thinking and could barely take a single step at a time.

Van was looking at her back for some time.

Helen finally reached the Emperor’s chamber with difficulty and knocked on the door.

At that moment, she felt as if she was so drunk because of alcohol that she couldn’t get herself together.

She had seen alcohol mentioned in books, but she now knew this was exactly how it felt to be drunk.

“Huh, ah….”

As soon as she opened her mouth and breathed out heavily as if she was really drunk, the door opened and Mar greeted Helen.

From Helen’s strange perspective, Mar’s head was tilted at 45 degrees.

“Hehe, Mar.”

Helen chuckled softly and snuggled into Mar’s arms.

“Huh?”

A muffled sound broke out from Mar, who was bewildered.

Helen, who would have stepped back because she felt guilty like usual, now was rubbing her face against Mar’s chest as if it was a natural thing to do.

“Why is Mar so pretty?”

“…Edith?”

Mar had no clue on what he should do and was frozen in his spot. Helen hugged him tightly in his waist and didn’t let him go, as if she never realized her actions.

Mar felt like he had gotten into an unexpected accident. He felt as if being beaten by a fist as he stood still in his spot.

His heart kept pounding that the throbbing pain might go through his head as well.

“Hehe.”

She lifted her head slightly and smiled, that was when their eyes met.

The way she acted was a little strange today. Mar covered his flushed face with her hand as he didn’t think it couldn’t turn even redder, and pushed Helen away slightly with his hands.

“It’s better for you to retreat a little bit.”

“…Why? You said you wanted to stick with me.”

Helen’s voice suddenly sounded dejected.

“Huh? No?”

He thought she would come off him if he pushed her away, but he didn’t think she would end up clinging more to him.

Mar felt his whole body become heavy. His body was uncomfortable, but his heart was content.

“Yes…. why don’t you want to?”

In the end, Mar also burst into laughter. Although she was wearing a light smile on her face, it was very hard for him.

Especially the lower part of his body.

“Mar, I’m so sleepy….”

Helen staggered like a drunken person.

As he didn’t have any clue about Helen’s condition, he picked Helen up off the floor and headed to bed.

He laid her down carefully and covered her with a quilt that reached under her neck. After carefully arranging her disheveled hair, he sat down beside the bed.

“There. I’ll wake up in a bit.”

“…Okay. Mar should rest, too. I’ll sleep and wake up later.”

Helen took a deep breath after she finished talking.

It hasn’t been long since she laid down there, but it seemed that she managed to fall asleep right away.

When Mar saw Helen casually sleeping beside him, all sorts of thoughts came to his mind.

He had never felt such a long and painful night before.

“Huft… Why are you doing this to me.”

She said to keep the boundaries between them while she….

He poked Helen, who was sleeping with a serene face, cheekily in the cheek.

He poked her soft cheeks several times and smiled mischievously at the fact that he was bothering a sleeping person.

He felt guilty for Hazel, who seemingly fell into a deep sleep without tossing and turning around.

As she had to come here at night for him.

Mar looked at the sleeping Helen, stroking her hair, and put his finger on her opened palm.

The long nights were always lonely for him, but Helen’s presence alone could fill him.

Mar followed Helen laid down in bed. It felt different when he looked at Helen’s face while lying down beside her.

‘I wished this was my place.’

At their first meeting, she revealed that she had a husband.

Keep away from her. Don’t make her have hard times.

He knew that, but he wanted to keep crossing the line between them.

“So pretty….”

Her fine and mystic golden hair, face with sharp jawline and large, doe, blue eyes that he saw every time she blinked made him know that there was a sea which he had never seen yet.

Her voice was also beautiful, and he liked her small body, which was less than half as big as he was. She was able to make him tremble with only her breath and she didn’t seem to be aware of that.

He tried to hide it because he thought she would run away if he said that to her.

The closer he got, the more he craved for her, and the more anxious he was in case of making a muff.

Mar carefully pressed his lips on Helen’s palm, which was in front of him.

“You don’t have to keep your promise. Just stay like this. Okay?”

Mar’s eyes were gleaming dangerously with a strong possessive desire in it.

Then, Helen exhaled and inhaled softly.

“Answer me.”

Mar smiled with his eyes curved upward. Along with the small smile, his slightly raised chin and good-looking exposed neckline accentuated his handsome appearance.

The strong possessiveness in Mar’s eyes gradually subsided when he wore an intense and pleased smile.

-Chup.

After pressing his lips on it again, he whispered cheesily.

“Good night, Edith.”

Through the long night, he stayed by Helen’s side, waiting for her to wake up.