Chapter 17 – Why Did You Kiss Me?
“Marquis.”
The aide carefully called Erun, who was so angry that red blood started to flow down through the gap between his clenched fists. However, the sound didn’t reach the Marquis’ ears. He said, revealing his teeth to the nobleman who crouched before him.
“Who spread those rumors in the Imperial Palace? Haven’t you found it yet?!”
“I- I’m looking for it, but none of them say–”
“You idiot! Of course, no one would say anything!”
“Aahk!”
Unable to contain his anger, Erun grabbed the ashtray from the table and threw it at the incompetent nobleman standing before him.
Pak! The person couldn’t avoid it and was hit on the head, collapsing to the floor, but Erun didn’t care.
‘Gloria Blake!’ He glared straight ahead as if Gloria was in front of him.
“How dare you betray me, your fiancé?”
‘Why did the girl who only smiled at me and did anything I…!’ He felt a greater sense of betrayal and resentment toward Gloria than Kaien. Furious, Erun ground his jaw and spoke to the assistant behind him.
“I’m a fool for believing in incompetent things. Find it yourself, Xenick.”
“Yes.”
At his command, the assistant called Xenick bowed his head and replied shortly. Rubbing his hand over his face in anger, Erun thought he couldn’t remain still after not receiving a report about this incident, not even from his planted spy, the brainless Baroness Berne.
“You must be going insane by now.”
“Pardon?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Meanwhile, Gloria was hosting her first small tea party after being crowned Emperor, smiling brightly. She offered tea to a count’s Young Lady who was tilting her head and spoke to the others.
“Thank you all for attending such a small party. How hard it was to have only men in this desolate Imperial Palace.”
“We are sorry for not coming often, Your Majesty.”
“We should have paid our respects, but we cannot easily enter the Palace… I’m sorry for the late greeting.”
“You don’t know how happy I am to have a small party like this.”
At Gloria’s regretful words, the young ladies and madams smiled busily and began chattering. As they said, the Imperial Palace was not open to anyone, so it was quite difficult for noblewomen to meet the Emperor unless it was an official party.
“I’m even more sorry if you say that. I’ll open the Palace and invite you all from time to time.”
“Oh! That’s great news. I’ll have to tell everyone.”
Gloria gracefully lowered her cup and gave a pretty smile. Seeing Gloria smiling like a young Lady their age instead of keeping her appearance as Emperor, the women waved their fans and began to fuss.
‘Why, don’t you know how quickly rumors can spread through your mouths?’ Gloria’s dark blue eyes shone coldly. The mouths of the court servants, who were thoroughly educated to prevent being used in the power struggle of nobles and losing their lives, were like a grave. So, she chose ‘Ladies’ who were tired of their boring daily life. At a time when they couldn’t go about unescorted, the salons were deadly dull, and since the Imperial Palace hosted far too few banquets, this scandal was far too amusing for them.
‘Certainly, it will be inflated several times while circulating.’
Smiling like a nightingale, Gloria observed the women.
Who would think these noblewomen will be spreading lowly rumors?’ If anyone asked, they would faintly claim they heard it somewhere. It was disgraceful as a nobleman to gossip about unconfirmed news. Especially for those with high status. Later, even if Erun tried to find the starting point of the scandal, it was obvious that they would assert they had heard it somewhere, so Gloria couldn’t help but laugh.
Watching the smiling women, she thought of Kaien and their chat a few days earlier.
“You want to spread a rumor?”
After they ended their silly fight over a word, Gloria’s eyes widened at Kaien’s plan. The man said as he plucked fallen leaves from the Emperor’s head.
“Wouldn’t it be possible since the engagement ceremony was held not too long ago? You’ll be getting married in two months, so how do you plan to break it off?”
“That’s it…”
“That’s it?”
When Kaien gently looked down and asked, Gloria covered her eyes with her hands. With Kaien’s cooperation, she was planning to recruit the royalists and push Erun away from politics. That was why she wanted to hold on to Kaien, one of the contributors to the Imperial foundation and the most powerful household after the Imperial Family.
‘I didn’t think there would be a scandal here.’
Erun was clearly guilty of murdering the late Emperor, but there was no solid evidence to break the wedding ceremony. Kaien’s words were tempting because it was obvious he would have got rid of the tiniest evidence upon the smallest hint or suspicion…
‘When should I tell you this?’ Looking at Kaien, who was completely unaware of the late Emperor’s murder, Gloria remained silent. She knew how much Kaien wanted to throw Erun into hell after breaking the marriage ceremony. ‘Didn’t he also lose his younger sister to the damn bastard he trusted?’
‘The feud between me and the marquis has already spread in the Imperial Palace. I have to shake this part more so he’ll focus on this only.’ Gloria bit her thumb anxiously, trying to calm the impatience that was rising from the depths.
‘Damn bastard, how do I make him suffer? Erun you damn–!’ While cursing in her mind, Kaien silently watched Gloria. It was something more. Gloria’s hatred toward Erun was greater than he had expected, and, as far as Kaien knew, she was the type of person who would end up confiscating his noble title, removing his status and property, and sending him into exile. However, the sight of her struggling to put Erun on the execution pyre somehow made his heart ache. Unaware of Kaien’s thoughts, Gloria said with frustration.
“But the mouths of court servants are quite heavy. And I don’t want to sacrifice the people of the Imperial Palace for this.”
“That’s why I plan to use others.”
“Who?”
“Ladies.”
Gloria’s eyes widened in surprise at his answer, but she soon frowned. It was because she didn’t have any ladies.
Noble officials neglected her, perhaps because she was reluctant to appear as the first Empress of the Empire, and to make matters worse, meek Gloria was forced to sit on the throne due to father’s sudden death and couldn’t come to terms with their rejection. As a result, Erun used his position as her fiancé and pulled strings to move the forces who would support him and drove off those that supported the late Emperor. He said he was doing it for Gloria and thoroughly prevented her from making friends with anyone.
“Such outrageous bastard.”
Once again, Gloria cursed aloud, trembling in anger due to his petty tricks. Everything went smoothly, and since Erun was capable enough to stand as the Emperor’s aide at a young age, the forces naturally gathered around him. To him, Gloria was just a stepping stone.
‘I’m angry at Erun for cutting off my hands and feet, but I’m angrier at my pathetic self.’ Gloria’s eyes glittered in rage. She closed her eyes. Slowly thinking… Erun’s neck… But to make sure she could tightly clutch it, she tilted her head. ‘I might not have any lady friends right now, but I can’t expose Diana to anything dangerous.’
Erun was against Gloria meeting with noble ladies. Even though she had her own power, Erun was the one who didn’t allow even a maidservant for herself, so she had no one right now.
At that moment,
“Duchess Praud?”
Gloria’s eyes twinkled as the old lady came to mind. A Royal living in the Imperial Palace, surrounded by many ladies without any interference. Kaien nodded in response to Gloria’s answer and added to her idea.
“To be exact, the Duchess’ ladies.”
“But how? They always flock around the Duchess nor do they approach me.”
Gloria stamped her foot on the ground in frustration. Kaien burst out laughing involuntarily, thinking she looked just like an angry rabbit stomping its paw.
“Pffft–”
“Duke!”
Noticing the reason for his laughter, Gloria screamed, unable to hide her red cheeks. Kaien quickly changed his posture at the Emperor’s anger, but his smile still lingered.
‘Let’s use Duchess Praud to spread the rumors.’ After calming down, Gloria pondered Kaien’s suggestion.
Duchess Praud was at a loss. She had been careful to prevent the ladies of her social circle from going near Gloria except for public affairs, to prevent them from being used as political tools.
“I don’t think it’s time to worry about such things, Your Majesty.”
“However…”
“The timing is perfect.”
‘Timing?’ At those words, Gloria was confused and looked at Kaien, and instead of explaining, he gently wrapped his hand around her small, soft hand.
‘Why my hand? So suddenly. Why is this man who was just laughing lifting my hand as if about to kiss it?’
And her prediction was right.
Peck- Kaien’s kiss was reckless enough to make a sound and Gloria stiffened under it.
‘Wh- why? Why the hell?’
The back of her hand was red as if something hot had touched it, and Gloria heard a buzzing sound in her ear and the sound of the wind blowing. The tips of her toes tickled. Feeling anger and heat rising on her face, she pursed her lips. Kaien smiled broadly when he saw her blush creep up her neck. Gloria tightly closed her eyes to shut out the purple eyes that examined her as if not wanting to miss the twitching reaction of her lips.
“…!”
It passed through the back of her hand and into the palm this time. The soft, moist lips left a hot sensation in her palm, and then he slowly moved his head along Gloria’s fingers.
“Why, why?”
Gloria asked him, barely controlling her trembling lips. Although she understood his intentions, his behavior was far too odd.
As she quivered and shouted internally, Kaien replied with a grin.
“Rumors that start with ‘I saw it’ instead of ‘I heard it’ tend to last longer.”