Chapter 26 - CHAPTER 24. IN THE RAIN

She replied with an expressionless face, “I was riding a horse.”

As he could see. She had come here for a stress reliever, but it appeared she was going to get more stress. The biggest source of stress that she had received was right in front of her eyes.

She readied her posture to get back on the horse with a weary look. It must have been a day of bad luck since she had been bitten by the horse and even met the Emperor.

Then, he suddenly stopped her.

“Wait a moment.”

“…”

Why was he stopping her? She asks him with a clearly apparent bad look.

“What is the problem?”

“That hand.”

“…”

Ah, she had shown a side that she shouldn’t have. At least in front of this man, she didn’t want to look like this. So Patrizia exaggeratedly pretended that it was nothing.

“I am fine.”

“It does not look okay.”

His face was frozen and she couldn’t understand his expression. Whether she was hurt or not, it was none of his business. Because she wasn’t Rosemond. Patrizia, like a really nice person, cut off his attention with a voice that showed how trivial it was.

“It’s just a light bite. It’s really nothing.”

“…”

He stared blatantly at her with no response as if he hadn’t heard her, or maybe he had heard her but was pretending he hadn’t heard it, and soon got off his horse.

Up to this point was fine. It was after this that she embarrassed her.

He started to approach where she was. She took some steps back without realizing she was, but it was pointless.

“I am really curious when the meaning of ‘light’ has changed.”

“…”

She turned her gaze silently in another direction. The sound of his sighing reverberated in her ear. She waited for him to go, but he seemed to have no intention of doing what she wanted.

A familiar white handkerchief came into the eyes of Patrizia who turned her gaze. She laughed as if to ridicule. He was pretending to worry which didn’t fit him at all.

“I see that handkerchief often.”

“… ”

He grabbed her hand toward himself without responding back. She tried to get her hands out of his grasp but it wasn’t easy. He did not let go of her hand. She grumbled in a voice to complain.

“It hurts.”

“…”

He shook off some of the power in his hand, and she silently watched what he was doing. His hand-wrapping skills of the wounded hand with a handkerchief was surprisingly good. She smacked her lips without her knowledge and spoke.

“You are doing this well.”

“…I am used to it.”

He replied with a restrained voice. At that time, he must have mistakenly touched the wrong side, and Patrizia was overcome by an enormous amount of pain. She spits out a sharp moan without realizing she was hurt.

“Ah ugh!”

“Ah…”

He was noticeably taken aback when he heard her moan. She bit her lips to the point of almost making it bleed to deal with the pain. He apologized quickly.

“I am sorry.”

“…It is fine.”

In fact, it wasn’t okay at all, but she had no desire to tell the truth. It was a shame to look like this in front of this man, but she let herself get more ruined here. She barely endured the pain and watched him tie the wound with a trembling hand.

“It is done.”

It was a word he said a long time later. She pulled her hand out carefully. The part tied with the handkerchief was hot and stung. She stared at the hand tied with the handkerchief, and at one point opened her mouth.

“Handkerchief…”

“Hm?”

“You had said it is important.”

She said this in a bothered voice.

“Even if I try to wash out the blood, it will not erase well. Your Majesty did not have to do this…”

“I can not just pass on by when the patient is in front of me.”

Patrizia’s mouth closed from the words that felt beyond firm.

“I am not so heartless to leave an injured person that is in front of me.”

“…”

She said nothing. She wasn’t sure what to say rather than she didn’t want to say anything.

It felt strange. A long time passed before she opened her mouth.

“… I’ll wash it up as clean as possible.”

“It is fine. Do not waste your effort on this.”

“I feel strange as if I feel like I owe something.”

At that, he sighed.

“How demanding.”

“…”

She wanted to tell him that it was the demanding one. It was because of him that she was being demanding. No, it was because he, and no one else, was at the heart of all this misery. She spoke to him with a slight frown.

“Thank you anyways, Your Majesty.”

“You don’t need to say that. I owe you something for the other day.”

“…”

Was it the story of the night when it had rained? Patrizia’s expression turned blank thinking about that day. A strange, night of the full moon.

-PLIP PLOP, PLIP PLOP.

At that moment it started to rain. Up until earlier, the sky had been clear, and at some, it was rapidly darkening now. Patrizia looked up at the dark sky with raindrops falling on her face. It was definitely a clear sky until just now, and now there was sudden rain, so for sure, she must have been receiving a lot of bad luck today.

“Ah…”

It was then she made a dry sound as she was dragged to the side of Lucio. Before she could panic and ask what he was doing, his mouth opened first.

“It is unreasonable to go back on horseback now. There is a place that serves as a shelter from the rain, so let us go there.”

“…”

Just a little further, was the Imperial Palace, but the problem was that they couldn’t drag the horses there. She had no choice but to follow his words.

They arrived under a large tree. Patrizia’s mouth opened at the immense size of the tree, the biggest one she had seen since she was born. It was a magnificence that seemed to be a few hundred years old. She muttered in a voice that was full of marvel.

“It is very big, this tree.”

“This is a thousand-year-old tree. It is a tree that comes down from the time of the founding Emperor.”

During his explanation, she was forced to be surprised again. The tree was large enough to boast a thousand years of greatness, and thanks to this, the two people and two horses were provided with enough space to escape the rain.

Patrizia sat anywhere, and Lucio followed, sitting by her side. She didn’t try to stop this.

“…”

“…”

Both of them were silently staring at the raindrops falling beneath the leaves, which made a light sound. The silence between the two was accompanied by some awkwardness, but Patrizia did not feel that the silence was only so strange. The clear sound of raindrops falling on the floor removed some of the awkwardness.

“Coming out to ride a horse today… Is it because of the hunting competition?”

He spoke to her first. She replied quickly, “Yes.”

“It was surprising. I did not expect you to participate.”

“That must be regretful. That Lady Phelps did not participate.”

She said it without much attention when saying this, but this wasn’t the case for the one receiving it, and his forehead narrowed slightly.

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“It is just pure regret.”

Silence continued after those words once again. Raindrops fell for a few seconds more, and his voice came back.

“I did not know that you had an affinity for the martial arts side.”

“I am embarrassed to say yes, just a little… I can only shoot a bow.”

“Do you like hunting?”

It was a sudden question, but she answered calmly.

“No. Actually, I do not like it very much. I do not enjoy killing.”

After answering, she felt like she should ask him as well for some reason. Patrizia politely decided to ask just once.

“What about Your Majesty?”

“I also, not so much.”

His face was dark as he spoke. Patrizia wasn’t interested, even though there seemed to be something behind that. She didn’t think they even had the kind of relationship to do so. She didn’t want to have something like compassion for him because she heard a strange story that would otherwise have been hidden.

The distance between him and herself was just right like this. There was so much more to know about each other, and they were a little closer than strangers and much more distant than family members.

“I heard that the previous Emperor enjoyed it, but you must be like your mother.”

“…”

He said nothing, and the conversation naturally ceased. Silence became uncomfortable for the first time. Because the last person to speak was her, and not him.

She stared silently at her injured hand. The red blood has already stopped moistening the white handkerchief.

Nevertheless, she was caught up in the illusion that she seemed to still be bleeding for some reason, with the thought, ‘Can I really erase this bloodstain’?

“That time…”

“Yes?”

“About that time.”

He brought it up seriously. Patrizia looked at him with a puzzled look. He was cautious as if he seemed to be hesitant about something.

“If it was at that time…”

“The day there was a meeting with the envoys’ wives.”

Alas, that day. Was he talking about the day she had hit Rosemond’s cheeks without remorse? Patrizia nodded as if telling him to talk with a little blank expression.

“Please speak.”

“What did Lady Phelps do to you that day?”

“…”

Patrizia shut her mouth up for a moment. Why did he want her to bring out the story of that day only now? She had done nothing wrong, but this topic was uncomfortable. However, since she could not ignore this, she asked without as much emotion as possible.

“What… would you like to hear about?”

“I am just asking.”

“I think you have already heard something. If not… is there another reason?”

“It is not like that, and you do not have to respond so sensitively. If you do not want to talk about it, you do not have to.”

“Do you want to hear the truth? Or… reassuring words?”

“Truth.”

He replied briefly, and Patrizia closed her lips tight. She raised her head up and looked at the sky. The thick raindrops pouring from the sky were still strong. No signs of a stopping motion could be seen. That meant she would have to spend more time with this man than she had thought. Patrizia pondered for a moment and then slowly opened her mouth.

“I tried not to tell Your Majesty.”

“Why is that?”

“You know why.”

She spoke with arsenic.

“Even if Your Majesty listened to me, I did not think that would lead to a direct punishment for her.”

“…”

“Is I wrong?”

“It would depend on the situation.”

‘It would depend on the situation.’ Patrizia, quietly chewing over those words, soon opened her mouth again.

“Can I interpret that to mean you would punish her if the situation mattered?”

“…First, just tell me.”

“…”

She didn’t expect any punishment in the first place. She knew better than anyone else that this would not be publicized.

So the reason she was revealing this was just that … let’s say it’s just a curiosity. The reaction that she would see when he heard this. She was really curious about that.

“The taboo on consuming pork in the Christa Empire is better known to you more than anyone else.”

“…”

“Lady Phelps changed the beef prepared for the steak into pork.”

Ah, so it was like that? He had already known, but it was shocking to hear it again. Lucio had to admit now. That his Rosemond did this horrendous thing. A dangerous action that could have led to diplomatic friction between the two countries.

“…Did you already know?”

Patrizia was the one surprised at seeing the lack of shock on his end. If so, was it just a question of confirmation? Or was he already aware of her wrongdoing? Or if it wasn’t that… Despite the constantly rising hypotheses, Patrizia couldn’t hide her embarrassing thoughts, but still just pretended to be casual about it.

“You do not seem surprised.”

“I am surprised.”

“…”

He was saying he was surprised, so she couldn’t argue with that here. Patrizia, who had been moving her lips around for a while, soon asked Lucio.

“Will my words have some kind of effect Your Majesty?”

“…”

He said nothing, but Patrizia instinctively noticed. He was confused. She was not sure what had bothered him, but surely…