CH 116

Subjugation and Rakain (7)

“How about going on a trip with me?”

“Oh…… if it wouldn’t pose any problem.”

Roelin hesitated for a moment, then nodded back. He could see that her eyes were already twinkling with excitement.

She must have traveled only once. After living in the Separate Palace, she had traveled far away just to marry the ‘Monstrous Emperor of Seroif’.

He wanted to let her enjoy a real trip, which she never got to experience before.

And he wanted to let her relish many other things that she had never even experienced before this.

One by one.

“Get ready for the trip and wait up. I’ll be back soon.”

Kergel kissed Roelin’s lips once again and turned around. Just as he was about to leave through the bedroom door, she eventually approached and grabbed a hold of him.

“Take this with you.”

Roelin grasped Kergel and held out a ribbon towards him. It was the red ribbon that had been decorating her hair just now. He glanced down at it before looking at her.

“Instead of me, I will pray every day that this ribbon will protect you.”

“……”

He couldn’t respond with anything. It had been due to the fact that his heart was touched for a moment.

A ribbon to decorate one’s hair.

A thin piece of cloth that didn’t have any great power at all.

Moreover, it was nothing more than an ordinary and simple object—it hadn’t been a jewel either.

But… nevertheless, the ribbon that she put out seemed to have the strongest power in the world.

Kergel took the ribbon that was given by Roelin and held out his wrist.

“Tie it up.”

“……?”

“That way, I can feel like I’m not apart from you even for a single second.”

Roelin blushed at Kergel’s words. However, she followed his words with her ears all red already.

Kergel watched as her tiny hands tied the red ribbon to his wrist.

“That’s it. Now……”

“I’m going crazy. How am I supposed to stay separated from you?”

He didn’t think that this ribbon was enough. A lovely gesture, a warm body temperature, a soft voice as well as her soft skin. The thirst for all those things seemed to be soaring already.

Kergel hugged Roelin tightly in his arms and breathed deeply with his nose attached on the back of her neck as if he was taking in all of her bodily scent.

* * *

“……do you know what that is, sir?”

“Well.”

Gilov, the Captain of the Imperial Knights, shook his head while narrowing his brows when he was asked by the Vice-Captain. Then, the Vice-Captain glanced once again at the Emperor’s wrist and began murmuring softly.

“It looks like a ribbon that women usually use to decorate their hair… Is that what His Majesty actually likes?”

“Stop saying such bland things. Do you think we’re just going out to play?”

Gilov managed to hold back from laughing unknowingly at the Vice-Captain’s words before he then criticized him with a much stricter tone.

Words were already being said among knights and soldiers over a red ribbon that was all tied to the Emperor’s wrist.

However, even if the Captain and the Vice-Captain couldn’t stop such words, should they really be talking about it?

‘I think that Her Majesty was the one who gave it to him.’

Gilov murmured to himself as he saw the Emperor, Kergel, was frequently fidgeting with the ribbon that had been tied to his wrist while riding away.

Kergel had never shown any attachment, no matter how precious it truly was. It was not just once or twice that even a precious sword that everyone had coveted got broken while being handled carelessly.

But Gilov simply couldn’t believe that he was now pampering a ribbon like that.

Gilov couldn’t take his eyes off the Emperor because it was both strange and funny. Meanwhile, Kergel’s voice could then be heard.

“Hey, I’m about to get my head pierced in the back of my head. Why don’t you stop staring at me now?”

“What? Oops! I’m sorry, Your Majesty. It’s…”

“On top of that, I hear a lot of this and that, so my ears are stinging a lot.”

“Haha…”

Gilov couldn’t respond to Kergel’s subsequent words as he just smiled awkwardly. Then, after barely thinking about what to say back, he slowly opened his mouth.

“Isn’t it all because of our loyalty towards Your Majesty?”

“How cheeky… That’s not loyalty, that’s just an exaggerated curiosity. You must have thought it was quite entertaining amidst this boring journey.”

Kergel snorted. Then, Gilov couldn’t respond with anything once again.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Even so, they had all been the poor people who never got any token from their loved ones that were talking anyway.”

“Cough, cough!”

When he heard what Kergel said with a smirk, the Vice-Captain coughed out loud without him realizing it. At the same time, Gilov’s eyes grew bigger.

‘I was just thinking about it, but Her Majesty really did give it to him? A token?’

“Did Her Majesty give it to you, Your Majesty?”

In the meantime, the Vice-Captain approached Kergel and asked the question. However, since his voice was so loud, the words immediately went into the ears of the following Knights as well.

“What? A token from the Empress?”

“It’s just a ribbon. That’s too normal. Isn’t His Majesty lying for no real reason?”

Oh, my God! These guys!

Gilov suppressed his original personality, which he had been holding back anyway and secretly looked at Kergel’s countenance. However, when Kergel heard those words, he looked at the ribbon that was tied to his wrist with a calm expression and opened his mouth once again.

“Wishing for my own safety, she tied it up with her own two hands.”

Jealous, right? They’ve never received anything like this, right?

When someone had bragged to him like that of a child, Gilov would immediately punch the person who said it while crushing the nose of the very same  guy. However, it was absolutely not possible as of now.