Chapter 81

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***

At first, she didn’t realize it, but when she recognized that Terban was hugging her, Elea immediately froze.

“Ha, Your Majesty?”

Although he must have felt the trembling of her voice, Terban did not loosen the strength that was holding her. She could also feel his body scent wrapped around her.

“Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”

When Ellea, who belatedly came to her senses, pushed him away, Terban unexpectedly relaxed without resistance and retreated.

She tried to distance herself from him, but still couldn’t get away

because of his arms around her waist.

Carefully raising her head, Ellea’s eyes looking at him were shaking, but Terban’s eyes looking at her were only calm.

“Why on earth did you hug me… ?”

“Did I?”

Terban didn’t even deny it. No, because holding Ellea made his complicated head become lighter.

“The Princess asked if I treat you well because you were a Princess?”

Instead of speaking, Ellea nodded her head.

Perhaps it was because of Terban’s eyes staring at her from a close distance, her heart was beating faster than normal, like it was going to jump out of her chest.

“It may have been in the beginning, but at least not now.”

“You mean…”

“If you weren’t a Princess, I would have done the same. A person named Ellea does not change.”

Terban replied as if he had seen through what she had been pondering up until now. He cared about the person, not the appearance of the Princess.

Ellea asked, trying to keep her voice from trembling.

“What does that have to do with hugging?”

“It’s fun to be with the Princess. It’s the first time I’ve experienced it and it’s beyond my expectations.”

This was Terban’s sincerity. Looking back, the times he spent with Ellea were only pleasant memories.

“That’s why I laugh without knowing it. Sometimes I feel so comfortable that I forget that I am the emperor.”

“Your Majesty….…….”

Ellea, who was looking closely at Terban’s eyes, could tell. There was no lie in his words.

And she couldn’t take her eyes off Terban.

“You asked why I hugged the Princess? Because I wanted to.”

“Why… … ”

That question could not be easily defined even by Terban. All he could do was be honest about his feelings.

“At least, what I can say with certainty is that you’re the only person I want to hold and care for, El.”

At the last words Terban uttered, Ellea seemed to stop breathing.

‘Am I hearing it right?’

When Ellea doubted whether this was real, Terban said in a serious voice, whether he knew what she was thinking just by looking at her expression.

“I’ll tell you for sure, now it’s not a dream or anything. It’s a reality.”

“No, how can you say that all of a sudden?”

It was cute and he didn’t hate it when she said gibberish with her face blushing.

‘What should I say at a time like this?’

Ellea was looking for something to say, unable to look into his piercing eyes.

But there were no words coming out of her mouth, only lingering inside.

‘I have to say something.’

Contrary to what she had thought, the words that came out of her mouth were completely inconsistent with the current situation.

Hiccup.

Ellea was even more startled by the sound she had made, so she hurriedly covered her mouth with her hand. But the cruel hiccups did not stop.

“Hiccup, hiccup. Your Majesty, this…”

It wasn’t intentional, but her hiccups broke the tense atmosphere between the two of them at once.

‘Oh my God.’

Seeing that she was desperately covering her mouth for fear of getting hiccups, Terban decided to step back today.

Because there will be time to be together next time.

“I think your hiccups will stop when I go.”

Having said that, he slightly swept Ellea’s hair as if he was treating a child, then turned and walked away.

Ellea, who was blankly watching Terban disappear, was only able to breathe out the breath she had been holding back.

“What the hell happened…..”

As Terban had predicted, Ellea’s hiccups had ceased when he left. Conversely, Terban’s words seemed to explode in her head.

***

“Oh, what a long day.”

Ellea, lying on the bed with her injured body, felt as if the fatigue of the day was rushing in at once.

“I made you worry for no reason.”

When she returned to the palace after breaking up with Terban, the maids who heard what had happened during the day, were waiting for her with concern.

Ellea has been healed and said several times that she was fine, but Jane found the bandage wrapped around Ellea’s body and even showed tears of regret.

After comforting Jane and her maids, Ellea was finally able to lie down on the bed.

After taking the medicine, the pain was less than before, and the tension was completely relieved, so there was no pain in her body.

Ellea closed her eyes trying to sleep, but unlike her exhausted body, her mind was wide awake. And what made her that way was because of what happened with Terban. His words still lingered in her ears.

‘No, don’t worry. He probably didn’t mean it in a special way.’

But as soon as the thought was over, Ellea got up from the bed and slapped her head.

“His Majesty won’t say something like that without any reason.”

“At least, what I can say with certainty is that you’re the only person I want to hold and care for, El.”

Having struggled with Terban’s voice and finally reached the end was self-blame.

“I am just crazy. Why did I ask such a strange thing at that moment?” 

Ruffling her hair, she eventually got up from her bed and stepped out onto the terrace.

Her complicated brain desperately needed ventilation.

“I feel like I slept all day today.”

Ellea’s eyes, with her head bowed with a sigh, saw scratches all over her hands. She still had work to do.

“I’ll catch the criminal.”

The urgent thing right now was to find the person who targeted her and the evidence. She thought she would never forgive the person.

It seemed that this resentment would have to be resolved by returning it somehow, or even several times more desperately.

“I was so careless. If I had paid a little more attention, none of this would have happened.”

She should have been more careful on a day like today when many people gather, but she was too relaxed. Perhaps this peace has become familiar now.

Instead of sighing, Ellea looked up at the night sky blankly. As she was looking at the sky, a man’s face came to her mind.

‘I miss Bellea.’

The last time she drank, it was like that, and she felt that the days she thought of Bellea increased when she was upset.

Especially since they were twins, she felt more comfortable with Bellea than with other family members. She could feel what he was thinking without saying anything and vice versa.

That was why she wanted to keep what happened today a secret even more.

“Bellea and my family really shouldn’t know.”

They must have been worried about her alone in Rubain, so if they heard that she was injured today, they wouldn’t stay still.

“Let’s just go to sleep.”

Even though she wanted to see her brother, Ellea knew that it wouldn’t be until the promised time, so she pressed down her heart and went into the room and forced herself to sleep.

Even at that moment, without realizing that her accident was riding the night wind to Zevenica.

****

“What? Is that true?”

Bellea was so startled by the story the aide had told him, he jumped up from his seat. The aide was bewildered for a moment, but calmly nodded and reported the news from afar.

“Yes. It was said that the Princess was injured while trying to save a young lady when her horse suddenly ran wild during a horse riding competition.”

“No, what have other people been doing all this time? Maybe they were aiming for Ellea on purpose?”

“I don’t even know. Rubain is still investigating…”

Bellea, who could not stand still after hearing that, left behind the work he had to deal with and left the office.

Then he hurried somewhere.

‘I haven’t heard of anything going on lately.’

He and Ellea exchanged letters regularly, but he never heard anything special. Still, he was a little concerned when Ellea said he was doing well every time.

But now listening to the situation, it seemed that something was going on around her.

Besides that, when he learned that Ellea was injured, he had to look into it.

He arrived at the office where the emperor worked. Bellea approached her father, the Emperor, without hesitation.

The emperor showed a calm reaction even when Bellea came in. As if he had expected it.

“What is going on at this hour?”

“I heard about Ellea. They said she was hurt.”

“I already know that.”

Of course, the news had already reached the emperor’s ears. At those calm words, Bellea could not bear it and raised his voice.

“Then why are you still standing still?! Ellea is hurt. Something happened there. It’s clear that Ellea didn’t tell us because she was afraid we might worry.”

“Hmm.”

The emperor put down the papers he was looking at and looked at his son. Bellea was convinced that there was another reason behind Ellea’s injury.

“Yes. As you said, it seems that Ellea is hiding something.”

“Do you know anything?”

“Of course. Do you think that I didn’t care about Ellea, who was sent alone to that foreign land?”

In fact, the emperor had been watching the movement of Ellea after she arrived in Rubain. Especially around her.

So he knew that an unusual air current was flowing around Ellea.

“Then you should have moved sooner. Either bring Ellea back or make a formal protest to Rubain’s Emperor.”

“It’s not that simple. If we make a mistake, the promises and trust we have kept so far can be destroyed in an instant.”

“But…..….”

He was both the father of Ellea and the emperor of Zevenica. He had to move more carefully for Ellea’s sake.

“This is what their ancestors were trying to protect for a long time. Above all else, it seemed that Ellea didn’t want us to know. If she needed help, she would have said it already.”

Bellea knew in his head that the emperor was right, but Ellea, his family, was much more important to Bellea.

Seeing Bellea was getting frustrated, the emperor opened his mouth with a calm voice.

“But I think just watching is enough so far.”

“You mean…”

“I just sent a formal letter to Rubain. I want to visit in person and see how Ellea is living. They probably won’t be able to say no easily because of this matter.”

“Father.”

How could he not worry about Ellea?

His daughter would not get hurt if he paid attention a little more and she was a child with a weak body. 

After Ellea left for Rubain, even conversations with the Empress would always end up worrying about her.

Now that they had endured enough, it was their turn to move on their own.

“I will ask you to do that, Bellea.”

“Yes. If anything really happens to Ellea, I will bring her back without delay. Please don’t stop me then.”

With that determination, Bellea waited with antics for the day he would go to meet Ellea. 

Shortly thereafter, a letter arrived from Rubain, welcoming his visit.