***
Once she thought about her family, her worried face became clearer, and Ellea made an earnest request to Terban.
“I don’t want it to be known that I was injured. So I ask your Majesty.”
Terban nodded after hesitating at her request.
“Okay.”
“Thank you.”
With that said, Ellea cautiously brought up the story of the accident.
“What are you going to do with what happened at the competition?”
It was the part that Terban was also worried about. Because Ellea had sacrificed herself to prevent a major accident.
And thinking of her who was really angry, he felt the need to investigate this more thoroughly.
“Does the Princess still think that someone intentionally caused the accident?”
“We will have to investigate to know the details, but there is a good chance. At first, the horse Heris rode was a gentle horse. It’s kind of strange that it suddenly changed.”
“Then the target is the Young Lady Heris, or…… .”
“For now, I think it’s most likely me.”
If so, that would be a bigger problem. Ellea was a Princess from a foreign country who had come as a promise between the two empires. That also meant that the matter would not end with just Terban.
This required a more thorough investigation. For the Empire and for all.
“The Princess is right. If that’s true, we can’t just let it go.”
Terban’s decision put Ellea’s heart at ease. If the emperor agreed, there would be no problem to investigate.
‘Be prepared, I won’t let you go quietly.’
Inwardly, Ellea sharpened the sword towards the criminal. She will do everything in her power to make the criminal pay for his sins.
Terban looked at Ellea, who was angry and eating hard at the same time, smiling at her.
“I think it would be better to do just one thing, either get angry or eat.”
“Oh?”
After eating in a relaxed atmosphere, the two came out. Now it was really time for Ellea to return to her palace. But Terban didn’t return to his palace.
“Your Majesty?”
At Ellea’s call, he looked back. She asked, pointing to the inside of his palace.
“Aren’t you going back to your room?”
“Let’s go to your palace together.”
That meant that he would take her to her palace.
He supported her when she went down the stairs, cut the meat to make it easier for her to eat, and now he was going to take her to her palace?
She even doubted for a moment if it was the Terban she knew.
“Aren’t you going?”
Suddenly standing at the entrance, Terban asked and waited, and Ellea cautiously approached him.
Then, as he did just before, she placed her hand on his arm and leaned against it naturally.
At the same time, their eyes met, but Terban looked straight ahead without any other reaction.
“Then let’s go.”
“Yes.”
So the two of them walked together under the moonlit night.
Ellea’s gaze stopped for a moment at the warmth of her hand, even in the cold night air.
After looking at Terban’s face under the moonlight, the question came out.
“Are you really the King I know?”
“I wonder what you mean by that.”
“Literally. I think it’s reasonable suspicion because Your Majesty has been showing strange behaviors.”
In fact, it seemed that Terban was not hesitant to act for her. Just naturally, the body moved first.
“Is that so?”
“You don’t deny it. Perhaps it’s someone else in His Majesty’s disguise?”
Terban smiled, knowing that Ellea was saying it as a half-joke.
‘He smiled again.’
Whenever she was with him, she saw new faces, but the thing that caught her attention the most was that smile. For Terban had rarely smiled so tenderly. She couldn’t have predicted more that it would be directed towards her.
Was it because of her mood that it seemed that the cold atmosphere she has was all gone with one smile?
Terban also responded with a joke, perhaps feeling Ellea’s stinging gaze.
“Are you looking at me like that right now to confirm whether I am the real emperor or not?”
All of a sudden, Ellea enjoyed the conversation, relying on Terban without any awkwardness. He was unaware that he was keeping pace with her.
“Wow. Your Majesty knows how to joke like that. A little surprising, isn’t it?”
She couldn’t even remember what happened today, even the pain.
Borence, who followed the two carefully from behind, thought she was looking at a pair of lovers, a man and a woman who got along very well under the moonlight. It was obvious to anyone that they couldn’t help but to think so.
At that time, the two did not know because they were concentrating on each other’s conversation, but Borence was the first to notice that someone was watching.
‘In a situation like this…’
And before she could continue her thoughts, a voice with a strong sense of surprise reached the two of them.
“Terban?”
The two of them stopped at the voice calling him to find Shanil a little further away.
Shanil, who was approaching the two of them, couldn’t see the details. But when she got close enough, the sight broke her heart mercilessly. Her eyes fluttered at the sight of them being together at this time and folded their arms so affectionately
‘What’s happening now?’
That agitation was clearly visible to Ellea. And naturally strength entered the hand placed on Terban’s arm.
***
Earlier.
Returning to the palace, Shanil waited for Terban to arrive. There was no mistake that Terban was worried about her.
However, even after the royal doctor went and evening came, Terban was not seen.
“Why isn’t he coming?”
Shanil, who was walking around the room biting her nails, didn’t show her shocked face during the day.
The doctor also said that she was surprised, but that there were no serious injuries.
It was unplanned that the horse ran towards her, so she was just surprised, and she knew she wasn’t hurt.
Shanil herself knew it well.
But in that brief moment, she quickly decided that she had to look like she was hurt.
‘It can’t be like this.’
Shanil couldn’t wait, so she decided to visit Terban first. And she found him before she even got to his palace.
Contrary to her expectations, Terban, who was walking affectionately with Ellea.
At first, Shanil thought she saw it wrong. But even as she approached them, the scene did not change.
‘How are you two together? And why are you arm in arm?’
Originally, Ellea’s position was Shanil’s. At that moment, a feeling of jealousy took over in her mind.
Ellea noticed that Shanil’s gaze touched her hand on Terban’s arm.
It was obvious what Shanil was thinking when she looked at it.
‘You’ll be upset. I am with His Majesty.’
“The Princess is also here.” (Shanil)
Terban asked, wondering about Shanil’s appearance at this time.
“What are you doing here in the middle of the night?”
That was rather what Shanil wanted to ask him. Why is he with Ellea in such a friendly manner?
But what came out of her mouth, who had barely controlled her heart, was a plausible excuse.
“Because of what happened during the day, I couldn’t sleep, so I was walking for a while. But why are you with the Princess, Terban….?”
When Shanil was curious, Elsea stepped forward and answered instead.
“Because of the incident, I was hurt worse than I thought, so I got help from His Majesty. He even let me lean on him like this.”
“Oh, I see.”
Ellea emphasized that she was hurt more compared to Shanil. Then she asked.
“Was Lady Shanil hurt? You looked very surprised.”
“Ah … I’m okay.”
“That’s a relief.”
Then Shanil said to Terban in a very sad tone.
“You didn’t come to me because you were with the Princess.”
“I was distracted. But I’m glad you weren’t injured.”
Even though he said so, he didn’t notice that he didn’t show much interest. Ellea thought that this level of provocation was enough.
“It seems that Lady Shanil is here to see Your Majesty, so I will go to the palace by myself. It’s not much further and Borence is with me.”
Saying that, the moment she was about to let go of Terban’s arm, she felt the power that stopped her hand at once.
Surprised by the warm body temperature, she noticed that the owner of the hand was Terban, and he was staring at Ellea with calmness.
“Your Majesty?”
Despite her call, Terban confirmed that Ellea was still and looked at Shanil.
“It’s late today, so I think it’s best to go back, Shanil.”
“Yes?”
“And I decided to take the Princess to her palace.”
To Shanil, those words seemed to mean that he had chosen Ellea, not her. While Shanil was frozen, Terban spoke to Ellea.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes…”
So the two of them passed by Shanil and walked towards Ellea’s palace again.
Shanil, who was left alone, was holding back her anger so much that her whole body was trembling.
‘Terban, how could you leave me…’
The expression hidden in darkness contained resentment towards Terban and anger towards Ellea.
After a while, Ellea and Terban arrived in front of Ellea’s palace. Borence was considerate of the two and left.
“Thank you for coming this far, Your Majesty.”
“If anyone heard it, they would think I had done something hard.”
“Then I say it’s an honor. To be honest, when we met Lady Shanil earlier, I thought you would go with her.”
Terban’s brow furrowed when Ellea mentioned Chenil again. He also felt like she was trying to send him back to Shanil.
“Why is Shanil’s name here?”
“Huh? Isn’t it rather obvious?”
“No.”
Ellea had an incompressible expression on her face at his answer.
Was there anyone in this imperial palace who didn’t know the relationship between Terban and Shanil?
“I am sure Your Majesty knows what kind of stories are circulating around Your Majesty and Lady Shanil.”
Terban had nothing to say about that. Because it was a story that the emperor could not have known. He did not deny it, perhaps in the corner of his heart, he would acknowledge that one day, Shanil would stand by his side.
But when Ellea brought up the subject, he wanted to deny it. He didn’t want to let her think that way.
“Isn’t that why you specifically allowed Lady Shanil to stay in the Imperial Palace?”
“That part is because of the circumstances. It’s not because of the reason the Princess said. Shanil is just a close friend. There was an accident in the past, so I have no choice but to be more concerned.”
When Terban spoke firmly, Ellea wondered why he denied it so much. From the moment she stood by his side as El, there was no doubt that Shanil would become the Empress.
As soon as Shanil found out that El liked Terban, she thought that that was the reason why Shanil framed El.
The way he desperately explained it to her now, and the reason for the kindness he showed her today, she felt like she had to hear it directly from Terban’s mouth.
Because she didn’t want to be liked or disappointed by the words, actions, and expressions he showed to her, intentionally or unintentionally.
“Then, is the favor Your Majesty showed me today also because I am a Princess?”
When Terban could not speak easily, Ellea asked once again.
“If I had not been a Princess, would Your Majesty be here in front of me like this?”
Ellea only laughed at herself when she asked in a self-helpful voice. What kind of answer was she expecting for asking such a question?
“I think I said something wrong. Just forget it. Thank you so much for today, Your Majesty.”
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Thinking it was a question with a fixed answer anyway, Ellea tried to move away. But a strong force pulled her from behind.
“Huh?”
When Ellea came to her senses, she was in Terban’s embrace. (*It’s a back hug)