CH 52

Self-Awareness and Secrets (8)

At that moment, Roelin’s body was descended. And she could feel the back of a chair was now touching against her back. She opened her eyes again and looked up in embarrassment.

“I’ll let you go now. Or are you going to keep on hugging me?”

When Kergel made eye contact with Roelin, he smiled as he opened his mouth. However, she was blinking without really understanding what he just said. Then, he frowned slightly through the middle of his forehead and softly touched her hand, which was still hugging his neck.

“Ah!”

Only then did Roelin finally notice what he had meant and hurriedly loosened her arm.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize for that.”

Kergel shook his hand as he sat opposite to Roelin. Then, he turned his head and beckoned at someone—a waiter.

As if he already had, the employee instantaneously approached him.

“The grilled sea bass here is just delicious. Do you want to try it?”

Kergel opened his mouth to Roelin. She seemed to have some heat on her cheek still, so she simply nodded while fanning them with her hands. Then, he gave the order to the employee and added.

“But first, bring me a cup of cool apple juice.”

“Yes, please wait for a little bit!”

After the employee took the order and wrote it down, he turned around with a pleasant smile. She looked at him with puzzling eyes instead.

“Since you look hot.”

“Oh, no. This is…”

Roelin was embarrassed and tried to respond to his words, but she soon shut herself up.

What would she say?

It was not because it had been hot, but because her heart was racing after having seen him?

She breathed out and began fanning out with her hands because she thought that her face would heat up once again.

“Your apple juice is here!”

Just in time, the employee eventually brought out the apple juice. He then handed her the juice that the employee had left behind.

“Drink. The heat will go away.”

“Thank you. Uh… By the way, you are not drinking, Your—no, you are not drinking, Vias?”

“I don’t like apple juice.”

Kergel shrugged and responded back to her. Roelin looked at him as she lowered her gaze with an awkward look and took a sip of the juice.

The sweet taste had wrapped around the tip of her tongue. As if no separate sweetener was added to it, the original taste of apple was also very strong.

“What do you think? It may not suit your taste, but this restaurant is quite famous around here.”

“I like it. The atmosphere of the restaurant is good, too.”

“The atmosphere of this store is nice? Are you serious?”

“There’s no reason for me to lie.”

Roelin wrapped her cup with both hands and drank a sip of juice once again before responding. Then, Kergel looked at her quietly before bursting into laughter.

“That’s a relief. I can’t believe you’d actually like it.”

He held his chin and gazed around the store with a relaxed look.

“This is Seroif.”

“……”

“My country is quite noisy and free.”

While listening to him, Roelin turned away and looked around. As Kergel had said, the store was noisy. The people sitting at one table were busy discussing and the people sitting at the other were playing the guitar while singing along. And those who were at another table were whispering their love while sitting side by side as she wondered if they were lovers.

She withdrew her attention when she felt that her face was already turning red slightly at the last sight of the man and woman. At that time, Kergel’s voice could be heard once again.

“You‘re just another one person here. Well, you’re a beautiful woman, so you will be attracting other people’s attention… but that’s about it. It doesn’t matter what your status truly is.”

“……Do you mean, to breathe?”

Roelin thought for a moment and asked him. Kergel raised one eyebrow at her words and soon smiled as he nodded. He seemed to have just come up with what he had said earlier.

“Yes, that’s the gap there.”

“……”

“Of course, I’m not saying that you can just come out like this from time to time. No matter how much you pay attention to security, you cannot guarantee that you will be perfectly safe, and if you really fulfill your duties as an Empress in earnest, it will be rather difficult to find such free time.”

“……”

“However, if you don’t forget this feeling right now, wouldn’t you be able to find a time to breathe back in the Imperial Palace then? Oh, it finally came out.”

Kergel immediately welcomed the employee who began approaching while still talking. The table was quickly filled up because a whole sea bass had been baked and brought out.

“Okay, let’s try it.”

He skillfully picked up a fork, separated the flesh of the fish from its bones and immediately handed her a large piece of flesh.

“Try it, Roelin. It’s light and savory. Plus, it tastes good too.”

“Oh… yes.”

She picked up the fork that he handed over. The crisp skin and its soft flesh were all in harmony.

“Oh?”

“It’s really good. Vias, you should eat too.”

Roelin opened her eyes wide as if she were quite surprised while savoring the taste and recommended it to him. However, Kergel was just staring at her which seemed like he had no intention of eating at all.

“Why do you think so…”

Roelin stopped trying to drink the apple juice again and began asking awkwardly at Kergel’s direct gaze. Kergel then smiled before shaking his head as he took a plate of grilled bass towards himself.