Chapter 3

“He’s late to call me.”

Jerome, the head servant, was standing at the door of the newlywed room, waiting for the bell to ring. 

Most of the time, His Majesty the Emperor calls when the sun comes up. 

But today, no matter how long he waits, he can’t call himself inside because there is no signal. 

Normally, he would have opened the door and checked in right away, but today was the day after the Emperor and Empress’s first night, so he couldn’t. 

Perhaps something went wrong? 

It was a night spent with the princess of a country that was at war with them. 

The battle was raging on the battlefield. 

They don’t know what will happen. 

It happened when Jerome was thinking about whether or not to knock on the door. 

Before he could reach the door with his hand, it opened from the inside.

“Oh… Your Majesty!”

When Kiert walked through the door, Jerome jumped in surprise. 

He looked a little haggard, and the area under his eyes was swollen.

He felt more like a general who had just come back from the war than a groom who had just spent the first night of his honeymoon.

“You… Your Majesty, are you alright?”

What the hell happened last night?”

Jerome’s heart was beating quickly, and he looked at Kiert’s face.

But Kiert waved his hand like it was bothersome.

“Breakfast.”

“Yes! It’s all set, should I take it here?”

“Give it to me.”

“Yes, Yes?”

Soon, people with trays came in. Kiert put his hand out for the tray.

“I’ll take it.”

“Your Majesty?”

“Don’t knock unless I call you. I will come out soon.”

What the heck is going on in the newlywed room? 

Jerome looked through the cracks in the door, but all he could see in the dark room was the flickering light of a candle. 

A bad feeling came through the crack in the door. 

Did the Emperor kill the Empress?

Jerome’s imagination went crazy and made him even more worried.

“I… I don’t know what transpired between the Emperor and the Empress, but do call me when you need help hiding her body.”

“What?”

Kiert looked at Jerome like he was crazy, shook his head, and then nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll call you if I need you.”

‘Seriously, I might kill you first.’

Kiert shut the door with his eyes full of poison.

“This is the last.”

Lissie, who was waiting in the room, looked at Kiert with her big eyes and said,

“Go eat first.”

“Leave it and let’s eat.

Lissie was awful when it comes to winning.

But Kiert was finding it hard as well.

They keep fighting in the newlywed room like they always had been.

They both didn’t sleep last night.

They have been playing chess all night long.

Kiert organized the stuff on the table first.

They were both up all night, so their eyes were too tired to even open the curtains.

Lissie felt mold growing on her body because she hadn’t moved from her sleep and the sun wasn’t shining on her.

But the two of them never stopped caring a lot about who won and who lost. 

Kiert won the first battle. 

Even Lissie gave in to the outcome. 

But the match was played once more. 

The wager is one of their secrets, like the topography of the river bank.

That’s when the bet was placed on the table.

Wager, conditions, and bets all over again.

But the fight wasn’t over either.

As the bets were made over and over again, the thrill of winning and losing grew. 

As they thought about whether they would win or lose, the night was dark and the day was bright. 

Anyway, neither of them had a lot going on the day after the first night. 

After waking up late in the afternoon, greeting the nobles, and eating dinner, it’s all over. 

So that the emperor and empress could take a break from the wedding, a slow-paced plan was made. 

Both of them wanted to win so badly at that time. 

It was more important to win than to sleep. 

Because they wanted to win so badly, they forgot how tired they were.

“Wait, let’s loosen up our backs.”

But no matter how strong they are, they will feel stiff  if they stay up all night in one position. 

Lissie got up from her seat, loosened her waist, and fell flat on the bed. 

When she waited for Kiert in a veil last night, it was like sitting on a cushion of thorns. 

Now, it’s as soft as a cloud, so she thought that the situation has calmed down.

“Ah… I think I’ll live. Can we just sit down and do it?”

“Really?”

The same thing happened with Kiert. 

Lissie stopped him from getting up from the chess board when she put her hand up.

“Hey, what are you doing? I was the first one to lay down, if you want to play while lying down, then win.”

“Aha… is that so? Fine.”

This is how it was. 

The battle of the newlywed’s room started again.

— 

“Are you really gonna go in?”

Outside the door, there was a lot of noise. 

After the first night, nobles came to say hello to the emperor and his wife, but there was no sign that the door to the room would be opened. 

Since Kiert ate breakfast, there has been no news. 

They also didn’t eat lunch.

“Is His Majesty sick or something?”

“I think they’re both so busy that they forgot about the time.”

The newlywed room isn’t doing its job.

Even the sound of a fire burning would have to be heard for it to be late in the afternoon, but it was too quiet. 

Even when they looked up from outside the window, the curtains were still closed. 

Even the nobles couldn’t stand it any longer and started pushing Jerome. 

Jerome groaned and shook his head a lot because he was confused. 

“His Majesty said that he’ll come out soon, and I’m forbidden to knock unless I’m called.”

Jerome coughed in front of the door after coming to this conclusion on his own. 

The nobles gave Jerome a narrow look.

“Your Highness, did you call? You will be late on your schedule soon…”

“…”

No answer was given back. 

He talked outside and knocked on the door more than once, but no one answered or even showed up. 

Now, he was more worried than he was impatient. 

Kiert was a light sleeper. 

He could wake up just by Jerome talking outside.

Jerome was scared of what might have really happened this time.

“Sorry, Your Majesty, I have to go in.”

Jerome put his whole heart into opening the door. The guards were nervous and followed them.

“Your Majesty?”

There was not a single ray of light in the room. 

The candles that had been burning all night were not even lit, as if they had run out of orders. 

Someone seemed to have set the mood of the room and not put oil, etc. 

Jerome mumbled to himself and pulled the curtains back carefully. 

A thin ray of light came in as if it were waiting.

“Ung…”

As the light hit the bed, there was a low moan. 

It showed that someone, at least, was still alive. 

When Jerome turned around, he was calm, but he was shocked by what he saw.

“What…”

“Jerome?”

They both closed their eyes while their minds were fuzzy. 

After a while, they looked at their bodies and saw how they were entangled.

“…!”

“AHHHHH!”

There were only screams.

“Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty! What’s going on?!”

When Lissie screamed, guards and nobles rushed in and almost screamed together when they met at the door. 

On the bed, the arms and legs of the emperor and empress were lovingly wrapped around each other. 

It was a position that they can’t differentiate if what they’re seeing are people or a couple of fern.

And their pajamas were a mess, and the bedding was all tangled up. 

Lissie pushed Kiert out of habit and tried to get away. 

But before that happened, Kiert’s hand grabbed Lissie’s arm and waist and pressed it tightly.

“It’s okay.”

Lissie jumped again when she heard Kiert’s low voice above her head. But Kiert’s hand around his body was stronger and harder than she had thought. 

“What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry… I was surprised…”

“Go out.”

Kiert held Lissie in his arms and told her to do something in a growling voice that sounded like a threat. People left as quickly as they came in.

“Hooh…”

When Kiert finally saw that Jerome had gone out, he let Lissie go and put his head on the pillow. 

It was one of the best things he did while sleeping.

“Why did you start screaming?”

She was able to get out of the situation because of Kiert, but Lissie found it unfair.

Even if they’re not sleeping, he could’ve just said calmly that there are servants inside.

“You told me that you won’t touch me…”

“Is that really what happened?”

Kiert put his head down and pointed to where his body and bed were. 

Lissie rolled her eyes once more. 

Kiert was on the other half of the bed, on the other side. 

Lissie had, in fact, taken over the person who had just been sleeping.

“Oh no…”

Lissie coughed and then turned around because she was embarrassed. 

One round in bed, one round half lying down, one round on the ground, one round with eyes half closed, and they both fell asleep.

“Why did they come?”

“We need to greet the nobles. It’s after lunch.”

“…?”

Since this is the first time the Empress is there, Lissie also doesn’t know a lot. 

Before she got married, she heard different explanations, but it was busy and crazy. 

It wasn’t reasonable to try to remember all the information that was given to everyone at once.

“Couldn’t they just wait? Why are they barging in our room?”

“They greet to make the morning better.”

“What a bunch of weird nobles.”

“Just listen to me once.”

“Ah…”

When Kiert told Lysis what she needed to do, she knew right away what to do. 

Being the Empress doesn’t give you all of the power in the world. 

The more people you have on your side, the more people will hear you. 

When choosing a maid for a noble, you have to think carefully about who wants to be liked. 

The maid is an important person who will be by her side. 

Lissie was scared and then she woke up. 

This time, when Kiert rang the bell, Jerome knocked and asked for permission. 

When he got a reply, Jerome and the nobles went inside.

“I’m happy that your holy marriage is now completed. Again, we’d like to welcome you as part of the Royal Family.”

She acted like nothing was wrong and acted like he wasn’t anything.

“Thank you.”

“Head.”

Kiert, who was sitting beside her, gave her a hint.

“You can look up now.”

Then the nobles looked like they were waiting by raising their heads. 

They were actually curious about the empress’s face, which was shown quickly. 

They thought it would be hard and ugly when she was a princess rolling on the battlefield.

“Huh?”

People took a deep breath when they saw Lissie’s face, though.

‘Cute?’

Not only were Kiert’s eyes strange, but so were other things about him. 

Everyone thought that Lissie was cute. 

“Then I’ll give you a bath in the morning. Go over there to that room.”

The women gathered around Lissie and put their hands out. 

At that moment, Lissie turned around and looked back at Kiert. 

Kiert looked back quickly to see if she was thinking the same thing. 

‘If you let someone else wash your body, they will find out that nothing happened last night. 

It’s hard to stop rumors from spreading, no matter how hard you try.’

“Let’s take a bath together,” he said.

This time, Kiert’s quickness was on display.

“Yes?! Your Majesty…”

“Get out.”

He seemed like the kind of person who couldn’t give anyone even a single second of Lissie.