CH 85

Who is the Fake Bride? (27)

“You’re already here.”

“What about Roelin?”

Now, this could be said to be the change that they had shown—calling each other’s names casually. Lucy replied with a smile while forgetting the fact that she had been embarrassed by the sudden appearance of the Emperor himself.

“The Empress is still taking a bath right now.”

“……Ah, the bath?”

Kergel paused and asked awkwardly. There was a tinge of red from the back of his neck. He coughed and looked around for no apparent reason before taking a seat down on the sofa.

“The other day, she finished her bath quite early……”

“It’s actually later than that, but Your Majesty arrived much earlier than expected today.”

Lucy replied while trying to hold back her laughter. Lucy knew better than anyone else that they had slept together, but never had any sexual relationship yet.

She also knew that was the reason why their relationship was more awkward at night.

It was only natural that both of them were actually conscious of each other.

So, Roelin took her bath as fast as she could and went to bed, while Kergel would then come to bed as late as he could in return.

But there seemed to be a change for today.

“Hmm, I was in too much of a hurry. Okay. You can leave.”

“Yes.”

Lucy calmly bowed to the Emperor, whose face as well as his neck and ears had turned red, and stepped out of the bedroom.

“Whew… this must look a bit funny to her.”

After Lucy left, Kergel mumbled to himself while fanning himself with his hands. There was no way that the experienced Head Maid couldn’t grasp what was going on. He eventually swept his whole face with his hands in embarrassment.

At that moment, a strange sound had suddenly stimulated his ears.

It was a sound that he never recognized since he was embarrassed.

A splash of water.

The maids’ voices that were admiring her beautiful skin.

And… her shy, tiny laugh.

Kergel jumped out of his seat when he heard all of those sounds.

“Damn it. What kind of sound am I hearing so clearly?”

He approached the window as he blamed his superior hearing. Then, he opened the window wide enough in order to cool off the heat.

However, once he got heated, his body did not even try to cool itself off easily as if it was laughing at the past. For the time being, he just wanted to calm himself down.

“Hah…”

Kergel shook his head and swept his hair with one hand. And as he was just about to turn around with the window already closed, the bedroom door opened.

“Would you like me to put some rose oil on you today? I think it’ll definitely have a great scent on the Empress.”

“It’s okay. I just want to sleep tonight…… oh, Your Majesty!”

Roelin, who entered the bedroom, was replying to Silloa’s chatter before she soon paused right over there with her eyes wide open. Kergel was also standing in front of the window with both of his eyes widened open.

Roelin’s appearance that was fresh after the bath had been so different from her usual neat dress.

She was wrapped with only one thin gown, so the curves that her body created were revealed. Also, her face was a little redolent as she was speaking without any makeup on, perhaps due to the fact that she was bathed in hot water.

“Oh…”

Kergel stared at her figure before spewing out only a single word. Then, he felt embarrassed and coughed in vain before he opened his mouth once again.

“I heard from Lucy that you went to take a bath.”

“……yeah? Oh, yeah. Yes.”

Roelin was blinking blankly as well before she replied in a flustered manner. There was an air of awkwardness between them. But there was no time to intervene in any other emotions since they were already conscious of each other.

Neither of them had noticed that Silloa already slipped back and disappeared out of the bedroom.

They were just looking at each other while blushing all the way.

Drip, drip.

At that moment, there was a sound of water trickling on the floor. Kergel eventually realized that sound and looked at her once again. He could see droplets of water seeping down from Roelin’s wet head.

“I think you need to wipe your hair off.”

“Oh, I should. You know, the hair…… Silloa?”

Roelin groped around and hurried to call for the maid. But Silloa was nowhere to be seen. Only then did Roelin’s face turn red once again as she realized that she had already escaped. And Kergel, too, noticed the situation and started laughing in vain.

The maid’s efforts to advance his relationship with Roelin were truthfully tearful.

He smirked and spoke with a slightly less awkward face.

“Do you want me to dry your hair?”

“Your Majesty?”

“Yeah, I think I should do that.”

“……”

Roelin hesitated before she approached him cautiously. Kergel then repositioned the sofa so that she could also sit comfortably. She then sat with her back against him with a slight flutter.

“……I heard that you’ll catch a cold if you don’t dry your hair well.”

“……Yes.”

Roelin softly answered to Kergel’s awkward words. He tried to say something again, but then, he just shut his mouth before he began to wring her wet hair with a towel to remove moisture.

“……”

Roelin involuntarily narrowed her brows whenever her hair was pulled. Kergel’s touch was so clumsy. He seemed to be careful in his own way, but it appeared to be rather difficult since it was his first time drying someone else’s hair.

But she never said it hurt. She bit her lips in fear that a moan would eventually leak out from her mouth.

Her heart was pounding. Everything felt like a dream, so she wanted to pinch her arm.

How could she know that the day she thought to be the worst when her secrets were finally revealed would turn into a dream-like day like this?

Roelin hid her red face and touched her cheek with her hands.

“……It’s done.”

At that time, Kergel’s hands were already out of reach. Roelin felt sorry for herself as she almost tilted her head back. But she managed to keep her head straight and stood up in response.

“Thank you, Your Majesty……”

“But why do you keep calling me Your Majesty? You already called my name earlier.”

“That’s… that’s right. I guess it is still a little awkward.”

Roelin cut him off and smiled before nodding at Kergel, who was very quick to complain.

Was it because she faced him at an unexpected moment? It got awkward for no reason. Maybe it was due to how she looked right now.

She wondered if she should have worn a slightly thicker gown over this thin one.