CH 49

Self-Awareness and Secrets (5)

The door opened and Roelin slowly emerged. Kergel looked at her with a calm look before he immediately opened his eyes wide.

It was because of Roelin’s total change. A cotton dress without a single decoration donned, brown shoes and a set of pigtails.

It was hard to see her as an Empress at all. Of course, it wasn’t that he didn’t expect this change since he was the one who had asked her to change before coming out.

Nevertheless, he was still surprised by her change. Kergel casually muttered to himself while touching his chin.

“…I really don’t know.”

“Do I look that awkward?”

Roelin made an awkward expression before rubbing her cheek with her hand. Kergel instantly waved his hand at her words.

“No. Rather than saying that it looks awkward, it’s just surprising because it looks so natural. Ah! Is that a bad thing to say to you? I hope you don’t misunderstand. I just… I said it because I thought that this looked much better on you.”

“…Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Roelin looked quite awkward as she replied with a beat late. Then, she suddenly thought of something and began to laugh. Kergel immediately asked with a strange look at her unexpected laughter.

“But why are you laughing all of a sudden?”

“I suddenly remembered the time when you said that the makeup I had during the wedding didn’t suit me at all.”

“Ah… You still have that in mind?”

Kergel narrowed his forehead and soon made a humble face. Then, Roelin shook her head as she opened her mouth once again.

“No, I just thought of it suddenly. Besides, it wasn’t something to keep in mind all the time.”

She remembered what he said, which stated that she didn’t have to force herself to follow the custom that is to say in accordance to Seroif’s makeup method. At first, she thought that he was just scolding her for no apparent reason, but she could now see that it wasn’t so at all.

He was simply being considerate of her who had just arrived in a strange country.

Even though she was a woman who made absurd remarks about his own country…

Badump.

At that moment, her heart started fluttering loudly. Without realizing it, Roelin instantly grabbed the front of her clothes tightly and breathed in. Swirls of emotions that she hadn’t been aware of, herself, were trying to surge somewhere within her heart.

“That’s a relief. Shall we go out now?”

But before that could happen, Kergel’s voice could be heard. At the same time, her attention was abruptly directed outwards.

“Are we really going outside?”

“Of course. Otherwise, there’s no reason for us to dress up like we did, right? And we’re already outside the palace anyway.”

Kergel smiled and shrugged before he tugged on the curtain over the window.

As if it was already waiting, sunlight began pouring through the very window. Roelin approached the window as if she were just being drawn to it unknowingly.

“……!”

The scenery in Roelin’s blue eyes was something that she had never imagined before.

She could see shops and people were closely attached together. In order to attract customers, she saw a merchant who was smiling broadly while holding on to fabrics and ornaments, and a street vendor who was constantly boiling hot soup while scooping it out with a ladle one at a time.

And while walking along the street, she saw a child who ran across it and with that, she also saw a mother who was walking behind him with a lively smile even with such heavy loads right in both of her hands.

It was such a raw appearance that could never be seen not only in Rakain but also in Seroif’s Imperial Palace as well.

“Really… this place… It’s all going out right here?”

Her voice started trembling. Her blue eyes were fluttering with emotions that had been difficult to even express.

Kergel, who stood next to her while glancing out the window, looked back at her as he reached out his hand.

The hand was like an answer to all the questions that she just had asked.

***

“Oh, there. Your…”

Roelin was swept away by the mass of crowds as she followed Kergel, but she just missed him.

She wanted to call him out loud, but she couldn’t.

How could she call him—‘Your Majesty!’—right in the middle of this market where there were so many people?

She was not foolish enough to not even be aware of what would have enfolded without having to see it with her own eyes.

“Oh, what should I do…”

Roelin gazed at his back as he was moving away with an awkward look before bowing her head in return.

She couldn’t decide on how to act. However, the distance from him should not have been that far. She frowned right in the middle of her forehead and began to raise her head yet again.

“Your—oh.”

The moment she was forced to speak up loudly in trying to call out for him, her mouth was straight away blocked. It was because of Kergel himself.

The man whom she thought had gone quite far ultimately returned and placed his index finger on her lips.

Roelin stared at Kergel with her eyes wide open. Then, he took his finger off her lips while smirking before he spoke in a low voice.

“Did you really try to call me like that over here?”

“That’s not it. The situation…”

She tried to explain everything, but since she thought that he would then look at her foolishly, she kept her mouth shut instead.

It was then when she heard a low laughter right above of Roelin’s own head.

“Call me Vias.”

“…What?”

And Roelin looked at him with that voice of his which soon followed. Kergel simply shrugged and added.

“It’s a name that I used outside of the Imperial Palace. Since it’s difficult to use my original name. I don’t have anyone who recognizes me just by my name, but I’ve been through quite a few annoying things just because it’s the same name as the Emperor’s. So, I’ve been teased a lot.”

“……”