Chapter 15

The Bride-To-Be of the Star Palace (4)

Kergel led Roelin to the garden of the Separate Palace. On top of that, he wanted not only his servants, but also the maids of the Separate Palace—including Silloa—to wait outside the garden as they walked through the garden alone.

…But really, she didn’t know that she would have kept on walking like this.

Roelin walked in step with him while being accompanied by an abashed face as she glanced at his side profile. A neat forehead, a sharp nose bridge and a sleek mouth were the first that caught her eye. It never had been a gentle or even a friendly impression at all.

However, it didn’t mean to be extremely terrible as she had once been told that he was a monster.

Wouldn’t a handsome man know of it?

‘Of course, handsome looks don’t even mean that the personality is good as well.’

A typical example would be Lenoff, the King of Rakain itself. No, it could be said that all the Royal Family members of Rakain belonged to that specimen.

Blonde, which seemed to have honey melted as it was and the blue color that resembles a blue jewel were all the characteristics of Rakain’s Royal Family. That was the reason why she had been born with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Thanks to that, even though they had been born as the ominous twins, they were still able to survive so far without being aware of their lives.

A light of sadness slowly blurred her face before it soon disappeared.

At that very moment, Kergel’s voice could be heard.

“You promised me. You didn’t actually forget the promise, did you?”

She stopped at that point. Then, Kergel also stopped walking as he looked back at Roelin. Roelin, who was facing the pair of dry and golden gaze for a while, eventually casted her eyes down again and slowly opened her mouth.

“Of course.”

“You promised me that you would not contact the delegation. You were the one who said that you wouldn’t be making any contacts at all.”

“…yes.”

“But the sight that I saw just a while ago was so different from the promise itself.”

“…I’m so sorry. Since I’ve broken my promise, I will refrain from exiting the Separate Palace from now onwards.”

“…You won’t be going outside the Separate Palace?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Roelin replied with her head still down. Kergel, who was just looking at it, raised one of his eyebrows.

The woman in front of him had said it first that she would refrain from leaving the Palace—without even making any excuses to herself.

Of course, even if she hadn’t brought it up, he would have touched on it first. But maybe because this woman had first uttered so, he felt rather strange.

“Will it be ‘free’ to give up this easily? You said it before. You hate being suppressed and trapped by someone the most, but are you volunteering to do what you hate the most right now?”

“I don’t want to be greedy even after I’ve broken the promise myself.”

Roelin once again looked at Kergel. Her blue eyes and his gold eyes eventually met with each other. Without avoiding the gaze, she soon continued in a calm tone.

“Your Majesty had already accepted the conditions I proposed to you. You trusted me and even made a promise with me. So, I should have lived up to that trust, but as a result—I’m saying that I’ll definitely pay for it.”

“……No matter how serious a sinner is, he is still given one opportunity to make excuses to mitigate himself. Don’t you want to make an excuse to me?”

Right at Kergel’s question, Roelin smiled faintly and shook her head. Her appearance had piqued his interest.

It was a situation that could have been used as an excuse.

She didn’t even meet up with the delegation’s representative on purpose and he was the one who pursued her up till in front of the library in order to meet her, so it was actually okay to say that.

However, she did not make any single excuses and declared that she would refrain from leaving the Separate Palace since she had broken her own promise.

< I don’t want to be greedy even when I had broken my promise. >

Promise—and trust.

Was it because of its value enough to give up the freedom that she had considered to be the most important?

Honestly, it was rather unexpected. How many people would actually give that much kind of value to such things as promises and trust?

Moreover, this felt so regrettable.

It appeared like his prejudice against Rakain’s Royal Daughter was removed once again.

In other words, even though it was just the same as the fact that he had been mistaken, he somehow did not feel that bad.

‘Hey, if the woman who will become the Empress is smarter and wiser than expected, she should be entirely welcomed instead.’

Perhaps that was why he didn’t feel offended. He understood his feelings in that manner. Then, there was this urge to act a little more in a much pleasant course of action.

Kergel spoke out of impulse as if he was just pitching it.

“You can just stay like this until the wedding.”

“…What?”

“I’m not saying that I’m going to ban access outside the Separate Palace.”

“Your Majesty, though—”

“This is an order that I granted you with, apart from the promise I made, so just follow it through.”

As soon as Kergel’s words were over, Roelin’s expression began to change peculiarly. As if it was rather difficult to comprehend him and yet, just as though she could not possibly hide her joy as well. Kergel, who was watching her face change from time to time, eventually turned his attention first. And thus, he started treading his steps again.

At that moment, a small voice could be heard behind him.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Kergel stopped right then once again. He could truly feel the sincerity through her trembling voice.

The Royal Daughter, who was known for being luxurious, had expressed her sincere gratitude for saying that she would not be banned from accessing the outside of the Separate Palace; which ultimately imparted the fact that she didn’t really revere the most of jewelry or even gold.

“…That doesn’t mean I’m allowing exchanges between you and the delegation. I just hope you don’t forget that our promise is still valid.”

“Of course. I’ll absolutely be more careful in the future.”

“That’s all that matters.”

Instead of looking back at Roelin, Kergel replied briefly and took a step again. Perhaps due to the fact that his hair was eventually blown away by the wind, he felt itchy somehow.