Chapter 18 – Assuring the Word Spreads
“What do you— No way!”
At Kaien’s strange pronouncement, Gloria hurriedly looked at her hand. Of course, he didn’t have red lipstick nor did he kiss her hard, so the back of her hand was still smooth and unmarked. He stroked her cheek as if happy to see her unable to grasp the meaning of his words.
“Duke…!”
His touch felt very hot yet careful, as if he caressed a weak petal. As he drew closer to her, noting her long eyelashes fluttering like butterflies, her red-tinted lips clasped nervously under her white pearl-like teeth… her sweet scent brushing his nose, Kaien’s eyes grew darker, filled with unknown desire.
It was only to spread rumors. The more their body temperature blended and the more their fingers were entangled, the more they could think of anything. They sighed hotly, wordlessly, and faced each other with eyes filled with something inexplicable.
He wanted to swallow her whole. Rumors or whatever, Kaien wanted to be faithful to the desires that slowly rose from deeply within.
Crazy. Even if he was crazy, now he thought he was beyond crazy.
‘What would it taste like to cover her cheeks so she can only see me and swallow those sweet ruby lips?’ Unknowingly, Kaien drew his face closer to her, driven by the irrational thirst that welled in his chest. Swallowing, Gloria closed her eyes tightly upon seeing his neck move greatly,
‘I died due to poison and now I’ll die because of this man.’
Gloria was about to push him away, saying she would return to the Lord if he kept moving his face closer with that kind of deep gaze,
“Hush.”
Kaien covered her lips with his index finger and approached her ear instead of her lips to whisper.
“The ladies are watching.”
“Ugh.”
As he said ‘Ladies’, Gloria reflexively tried to turn her head, but Kaien cupped her cheeks in his palms. His move prevented her from turning her head, and Gloria tightly closed her eyes again.
‘This is acting. It’s just acting to spread rumors!’
Although the sly smile was hard to bear, the body temperature was so stimulating that she felt giddy. Kaien smiled faintly observing Gloria’s reaction and glanced to the side. He saw women hiding and peeking from behind trees. Two in the tree on the left. Three in the tree on the right.
‘If it’s not just one or two, then it’ll be easier.’
Kaien pretended not to see the hem of the clearly visible dresses and reached out to stimulate the ladies’ imagination even more.
No, he tried to reach out to Gloria.
“Your Majesty?”
Kaien’s eyes widened as two slender arms hugged his back. As Gloria hugged him tightly, her faint scent grew stronger and stimulated him further. His upper body hardened and Gloria, feeling it, buried her blushing face in his chest and said softly.
“If we’re going to do it anyway, it’s better to do it right.”
Trying to convince herself that it was for a purpose and trying to bury her shyness at displaying an unfamiliar side of herself, she closed her eyes tightly again and hugged Kaien’s back more tightly still.
“…”
Not only did she wrap her arms around him but also locked her hand together. Suddenly caught in a situation where he couldn’t move even in a typhoon, Kaien straightened his body.
“Your Majesty.”
Flinching at the hoarse voice that seemed to hold something untamed and as answer, Gloria rested her forehead on his chest.
‘It’s just a play.’
We even held hands for the same purpose. Gloria bit her lower lip as the emotions she had contained were leaking through the cracks in her shattered heart. Feelings from a past where she had no other choice but to accept her fiancé.
Gloria faced Kaien, who looked at her with his deep purple eyes wavering slightly. Fearing that this complex emotion, which seemed to drive her into an endless abyss, would be transmitted to Kaien, she quickly avoided his gaze. Perhaps sensing her arms were dropping, Kaien wrapped his big palms around Gloria’s back.
“Duke…!”
“A little bit.”
“…”
“Just a little bit more.”
He hugged her tightly enough to suffocate, but Gloria inhaled sharply at the heartbreaking voice whispering in her ear.
‘It’s my own delusion.’
Gloria struggled to move her head to another place at the subtle scent of Kaien caressing the tip of her nose and the warmth she felt from the close body. And as she did, she saw nothing more than…
“…!”
It was the hem of a colorful dress protruding from behind a tree. She closed her eyes tightly again, having forgotten at the moment that Duchess Praud’s ladies were witnesses.
‘Crazy. I’m so crazy!’
‘What kind of situation was this, and what was I feeling? Did he notice my feelings?’
Kaien silently held Gloria deep in his arms and whispered in her ear softly.
“Please be patient.”
At the sound of Kaien’s breath and his low voice tickling her ears, Gloria nodded frantically.
‘Rumors or whatever! I can’t do it! I want to run away!! I’m going crazy!!!’
Gloria wanted to cry with her face buried in Kaien’s chest. It was so embarrassing that she felt as if steam was rising from her body.
‘Okay. Let’s think like this: I’m hugging the tree. I am hugging a tree! I. Am. Hugging. A. Tree!!!”
Whether he knew Gloria’s feelings or not, a smile began to form on Kaien’s lips as if he felt better with the force of her grip. And with that satisfied expression, he turned his head toward the ladies hiding behind the trees. With a loud ‘Kyaah!’ They lifted the hems of their dresses and ran away from the scene.
“They’re gone.”
Watching the backs of the ladies fleeing in the distance, Kaien spoke, and Gloria pushed his chest away with her hand. Kaien felt strangely regretful at her rush for distance but slowly released her. Seeing her head lowered as soon as she fell from his arms, Kaien cautiously called her, thinking that maybe he had gone too far.
“Your Majesty.”
“…”
“Your Majesty?”
For some reason, there was no response. Flustered by the lack, Kaien wrapped his hands around Gloria’s cheeks and made her, still facing the ground, look up. And as soon as he looked at the Emperor’s face, the Duke’s face turned deathly pale.
“Your Majesty!”
“Uh…”
A small moan escaped Gloria’s lips. Her face was bright red as a wild rose and…
warm blood dripped from her nose.
In front of such a sight he had ever experienced before, Kaien lost his usual pace and shouted at her.
“Wake up, Gloria!”
Instead of answering his yelling, Gloria kept repeating the same phrase over and over.
“I’m hugging a tree… I’m hugging… tree…”
“Damn it! Gloria…!”
Responding to her unusual state, Kaien hastily lifted Gloria. Her voluminous dress skirt was very annoying but couldn’t be torn apart, so Kaien secured her in his arms and ran towards her Palace with all his might.
“You-! Your Majesty…!”
“Your Majesty!”
As soon as they entered the palace, the court ladies screamed and ran toward them. Why would the person who had gone out unharmed a while ago be bleeding?
Making eye contact with the court ladies approaching them, Kaien shouted with urgency.
“A physician or a high priest, bring anyone immediately!”
“Right away!”
As he hastily shouted, they rushed towards the Main Palace for the court physician or the high priest. In the meantime, Kaien strode towards Gloria’s bedroom.
“Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty!”
Diana and Baroness Berne had rushed out due to the fuss of the court ladies and their faces paled.
‘Why did Gloria, who had been fine until a while ago, come back with a nosebleed and carried in Kaien’s arms?!’
Amid the commotion, Gloria covered her face with her hands and spoke in a voice that sounded like she was about to cry.
“It’s nothing. Don’t make a fuss.”
“What do you mean it’s nothing?!”
It was none other than Kaien who shouted angrily at her words. As he covered her nose with a handkerchief, he looked down at Gloria with his face showing all his concern and anxiety.
‘Why the hell? Why all of a sudden?’
Kaien couldn’t quite comprehend the current situation. Why did Gloria, who was in his arms, suddenly have a nosebleed with a heated face like that? Did she have some chronic disease that he hadn’t heard about?
On the other hand, Gloria knew the reason for the nosebleed and swallowed her tears. She wanted to kick everyone the hell out and just crouch down on the floor in a small, pathetic ball…
And after such a commotion. Kaien frowned greatly at the physician’s and high priest’s opinions that the Emperor had a nosebleed from a sudden rise in fever due to unknown reasons.
Afterward, Gloria noticed that the rumor had spread to some extent, and to inflate it further, she quickly hosted a small tea party and invited the ladies.
‘I’m amazed how those five spread the rumors so quickly.’
Gloria leisurely sipped her black tea and glanced at the ladies chatting around. They were waving their fans gracefully and smiling like nightingales, but their eyes flashed like hyenas.
‘It would be nice if someone brought up the unlucky scandal first.’
They were from high-ranked households and didn’t want to gossip about each other like low leveled nobles, so they just sat, glancing at each other and fanning themselves.
Observing the ladies busy looking around, Gloria sighed inside and looked down at the teacup.
‘It doesn’t matter whoever’s name comes out, whether it’s Kaien or Erun, somebody please just say something!’
Both Gloria and the ladies were waiting for someone to open the door and broach the topic.
Unable to curtail her curiosity any longer, a renamed Countess slammed her fan, folding it, and asked Gloria in a disingenuous tone.
“Your Majesty. Do you know of the strange rumors circulating in the palace these days?”