Carl has been in a bad mood since morning. It was strange because today was his wedding.
“What’s wrong with your face? You’re not nervous, are you? Are you so nervous even though it’s your second wedding? Oh! This is your first time at the actual ceremony, right?”
Pavenik said to Carl in a playful voice.
“If you’re so nervous that you’re scared to enter the ceremony, would you hold my hand and enter?”
Only after Carl glared at him did he flinch and avoid his gaze.
“Don’t stare at me like that. You look so stiff, so I was just joking to make you laugh.”
“It was the worst joke I’ve ever heard in my life.”
“You didn’t have to say it’s terrible…”
When Carl kept glaring with a harsh look, Pavenik said, drawing a small circle on his toes.
“If you felt that way, then you did. Well, later in the history your Majesty will be recorded as the emperor whose sense of humor was at its worst… Ugh, yeah. I’ll stop talking nonsense.”
He joked as Carl glared at him as if Carl would break Pavenik’s neck bone right away.
“How do you feel?”
“What do you mean?”
“Until yesterday, the First Empress welcomed you when you entered the palace, but now the Second Empress is going to welcome you.”
So far, Sienna has been preparing to give Bluebell the palace. Even though Carl said she didn’t have to move, Sienna insisted. Carl said he was sorry and would decorate the princess palace splendidly, but Sienna said she would use the room the way she had used before.
One might have praised the queen’s frugality if he heard, but for Carl, Sienna’s words sounded like she would leave any regret behind. She didn’t spit it out, but Carl knew from her actions and facial expressions that she said, ‘I’m not going to stay here for a long time, so I don’t need it.’
Sienna always thought of departing in her mind. Although that’s what Carl also agreed when he entered the marriage, he was worried that he would not be able to keep his promise with Sienna. Because he was getting hung up on her.
“Everyone is envious of you. I’m worried that the 14th emperor, Emperor Sterek, might jump out of his grave in envy for his Majesty. He fought a lot with the officials to get more wives at an old age. It’s amazing to see that the Leipsden Empire did not allowed that even though it was a country with a strong imperial power. All the nobles now call you with a successful life. Her Majesty the First and Her Majesty the Second.”
Carl, who was lost in thought and never listened to Pavenik’s words, asked back.
“What are they envious of?”
“Ah, you know everything but pretend you don’t. To be honest, the First Empress is famous for her beauty. She’s not the most beautiful woman in the world, but she has a mysterious atmosphere. She didn’t like banquets that much, so she didn’t show her face, but she worked with the Goddess of the Land. I think she has a goddess image. There has been a rumor among ordinary people that carrying a portrait of Empress Sienna could bring blessings. I’ve heard that many people hang portraits of the Empress in their bedrooms in secret, perhaps even aristocrats.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Right? To be honest, I’ve seen the portrait before and its power is exaggerated. But the artist who drew it has become popular and is being called around. People are asking him to draw one naked. Oh, I mean…”
Pavenik closed his mouth with his hand. He went too far. He couldn’t tell the emperor that there were nobodies asking the painter to draw the naked figure of the empress.
“How insane…! Bunch of fools! Do I have to cut their heads off? How dare they!”
Pavenik made an excuse when Carl showed off a temper that was incomparable to the one he had just exhaled. If Carl could now meet the nobleman who asked the painter to paint Sienna’s naked figure, he would tear off his neck.
“Who would have really drawn it? Unless the artist has ten lives…”
Carl was angry. How dare they own a portrait of Sienna. Moreover, the thought of them keeping it in their bedroom made his head go dizzy.
‘And they’re asking for a naked picture?’
As Carl shook his hand, he listened to Pavenik’s protest, forcibly holding back his anger.
“That’s how blessed you are. Moreover, Her Majesty the Second Empress is younger and more beautiful than Her Majesty the First. At the coming-of-age banquet, there are many children of aristocrats who fell in love with the Second Empress. After finding out that Empress Second was the companion of the emperor, some of those children bought a group of curses from a black sorcerer to put spells on you… Haha, it’s all just jokes. Anyway, everyone is envious that you have flowers in both hands.”
Even with that remark, Carl’s expression still didn’t relax.
“Why don’t you legalize that at this time? Pass a statute that allows nobles or emperors to welcome more wives based on their abilities. Probably most of the aristocrats are in favor. They don’t talk, but they all have a secret mistress. Everyone knows that the foster daughter of Count Mobir was actually his mistress. Well, she’s been famous in society for a long time, but…”
“So what the hell do you want to say?”
“What do you mean? I’m so jealous. Just relax your face. Make a face that you are the luckiest one in the whole world. You have what others really want but can’t.”
“Are you so envious too?”
“Yes, I envy you so much that I have a stomachache.”
Pavenik said, holding his belly in his hands.
“I’ll pass on your words to the maid of Sienna.”
Said Carl, who was well aware of how devoted Pavenik has been lately to Hain. Pavenik said in a desperate voice as if he was ready to cling to Carl’s leg at any moment.
“No! What a cruel thing to say. She still treats me like the most promiscuous person in the world.”
“Well, she sees through you. What she said wasn’t just wrong, was it?”
“I am not even close to that! No one can be more romantic than I am.”
Carl looked up and down at Pavenik with a pathetic look. There were dozens of cases that Carl knew.
“There were a couple of women who cried because they were abandoned by you. I remember one—the one that’s married now—the young lady who came to my residence and said she’d kill herself. And then you got slapped on the face by her sister while playing tricks on her.”
“You have a big misunderstanding. I’ve never worked with or dated Lady Arnold. I didn’t do anything! I was just being nice to her, but she’s the one who’s suddenly offered to run away with love, saying her father was trying to force her to marry. I just told that lady that she seems to have misunderstood. But she didn’t accept it! And so did her sister. I just met her and said hello but then she slapped me on the cheek. It’s unfair. I’m the victim.”
“Well, somehow I’m more convinced of what they say than you are. It seems to me that you’re working everywhere.”
“No, that’s not true. And I’m misunderstood all the time because of the charming smile around my eyes.”
Pavenik said, pointing to his eyes that become half-moon shaped whenever he laughed.
“I just smiled at them, but they said I smiled slyly with my eyes or I am being naughty. That’s all wrong. Sigh, it’s my sin to be born with such a handsome face.”
“You’re not in your right mind.”
“Oh! That look! You looked at me with a face saying you want to cut my head right now!”
Pavenik shouted, wrapping his neck in his hands.
“You are unnecessarily good at catching my intentions…”
“I’m a good witted person! Wait… was it real? Did you really want to cut my throat?”
“Be quiet.”
“Quiet! Are you telling me to keep my mouth shut when my life is threatened?”
He circled around Carl to protest, and the servant reported that Sienna had visited. Pavenik hurriedly straightened himself.
As Sienna entered, he greeted her in a very different posture than before.
“I’m pleased to meet Your Highness the Empress. You look beautiful as usual.”
“The Chancellor is here too.”
“I’m done with my business, so I’ll be out now. Do you happen to…”
Pavenik looked to see if there was anyone behind Sienna. Sienna and Carl knew who he was looking for.
“Hain is waiting outside right now.”
“Haha, I didn’t mean to ask you that. Well, I’m going to…”
Saying so, he hurried out of the room. Sienna, who gazed at Pavenik’s back with a smile, looked back at Carl as soon as Pavenik stepped out the door.
Since Carl was a child, he has been pushed deep into the political world. So he was quite capable of inferring thoughts from a person’s facial expressions. Nevertheless, every time he saw Sienna’s face, his head was filled with question marks.
He didn’t know what she was thinking. No, he didn’t know what she felt about himself now. What’s more frustrating was that he didn’t even know his own feelings clearly.
“What are you thinking?”
Carl’s thoughts popped out of his mouth. Sienna smiled slightly at the odd question.
“I think you look really charming today. You look great in your robes.”
It was true. The robes in which Carl was dressed were very elegant. But even with praise, Carl was not happy at all.
“Carl, why are you making that face?”