“You didn’t seem to care. I’m trembling with fear, but you don’t seem affected at all. It seemed like you were trying to send me to Bluebell as if you were handing over a luggage. If I marry Bluebell, I was afraid you’ll leave me with a carefree mind.”
Sienna’s genuine smile leaked from Carl’s confession.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because I like it.”
Sienna put on a pleasant face and put her head back on Carl’s shoulder. She stamped her feet, unable to conceal her joy.
“Now it’s your turn to tell the secret. Why did you ask me to divorce you? I had no choice but to say so.”
“I’m afraid I’ll be greedy…”
Carl asked back as if Sienna’s words didn’t make sense, “What is your greed for?”
“The desire to be loved. By you…but I won’t be loved as long as I am greedy. That’s what the emperor and empress are. It’s a relationship where political interests are prioritized over love…”
Carl asked Sienna to face close.
“So you still want a divorce?”
His smile was so sweet and soft, but Sienna couldn’t answer easily and kept her mouth shut.
“…”
“You still want a divorce? Even if I love you?”
“But… …it’s scary. I know you care about me, but what if I want more than that? What if I can’t stand it because I want to have your whole heart…”
Carl hugged her furiously before she could finish her words. He spoke in a voice filled with joy.
“I’ll give you everything. You are already the only one on my mind.”
The two kissed. The breath of Sienna was mixed with the smell of alcohol, but even that felt sweet to Carl.
He grabbed her face and swept her cheek down with his thumb. It was soft and warm.
When Carl took off his lips, Sienna closed her eyes and poured out her lips wanting to kiss more. The gesture was so lovely. Carl thought it would be nice to just hold on to her like this and watch her all night.
Her heart was also filled with joy that he had the same thought as herself. Her heart tickled as if hundreds of butterflies were flapping their wings in it.
*
“Uh… I got a headache.”
Sienna forced her heavy body up with a hangover.
“How much did I drink?”
She was surprised to find Carl lying still beside her on the bed.
“Why the hell are you here… ahh!”
She suddenly remembered conversations she had with Carl after drinking with him yesterday, and she blushed.
“Oh my… what have I done?!”
Embarrassed, she mumbled, slapping her cheeks, and shut her mouth in fear that Carl might wake up. Then she looked at Carl, who was sleeping quietly. He was sleeping quietly, with a fresh face that was nothing like the man who had been drinking heavily the day before.
The charming light green eyes were hidden beneath his eyelids, and the naturally scattered blond hair and long, neat eyelashes, straight nose, and smooth lips were charmingly placed in her gaze.
Sienna, who was looking at his face, was suddenly frightened. Everything that happened yesterday seemed like a dream. If his words, “I will give you all my heart,” were all dreams, she was afraid that it would be a fictional story created by her brain with the influence of alcohol.
“I think you’ve seen enough of me, so let’s go back to sleep.”
Unexpectedly, Sienna made eye contact with Carl and shouted, “oh my gosh!” Watching her reaction interestingly, he said, pulling Sienna’s waist.
“I’m afraid you’ll tell me what happened yesterday was because of the alcohol or that you don’t remember… but I made it clear yesterday. My heart is all yours, and I have decided not to let you go.”
Sienna shook her head, fed up with Carl’s words.
“Oh! How can you say that in your right mind? Embarrassingly…”
“I’m afraid if I don’t tell you this, you’ll think about crazy scenarios. I feel like if I don’t tell you I love you, you’ll run away.’
“…”
“Come on, don’t worry, and let’s get a little more sleep. I want to sleep more.”
Sienna closed her eyes, penetrating into his arms as if she couldn’t talk back no more. She smiled all over her face.
As Carl said, Sienna was timid and greedy, so she will flee in fear that his heart has left him if he didn’t express his feelings clearly. So she kept hoping that he would hold on to her. So she could stay in his arms forever.
*
“Your Majesty, wake up. Empress Arya will be here soon.”
“Can’t I get a little more sleep, nanny?”
Bluebell, unable to wake up yet, whined with her face buried in her pillow. She was cute because she looked like a child. But the nanny couldn’t spare any more time distracted by that adorableness.
“Your Majesty, I told you. You can’t live like you used to at the Ferrer estate from now on. Did you forget? This is the imperial palace.”
“That’s right! I married Carl, right?”
Bluebell sprang to her feet. However, she still had a half-asleep face because she couldn’t wake up fully.
“You have to get ready…”
But Empress Arya was faster to enter Bluebell’s bedroom than the nanny. She entered with Mrs. Kitroll, a teacher of royal etiquette. Bluebell and the nanny looked at them with surprised eyes.
“Empress Bluebell.”
Arya greeted Bluebell with a bright smile. Bluebell welcomed her because she had met her several times before she got married.
“Empress Arya! You are here? Oh, I didn’t change yet…”
“I must have forgotten. It’s a tradition for an elder in the imperial family to come this way in the morning to make sure that the bride is not ditched and get her dress taken off.”
“Oh, I knew it, but I’m still not quite awake… nanny!”
Perhaps familiar with this kind of situation, the nanny wiped Bluebell’s face with a wet towel.
Arya strode to Bluebell, not waiting for the nanny to finish her work. Then she thrust her face close to her neck.
With such a sudden move, Bluebell couldn’t scream and just stared at Arya, panting.
“Why…”
“Oh, my… the story must have been true.”
Said Empress Arya looking at Bluebell with a look of pity.
“What?”
Asked Bluebell, with an anxious look.
“The news is that the Emperor spent the night not here but at the residence of the Empress Sienna.”
“No, Carl was with me yesterday.”
Empress Arya smiled, pulling up the tips of her thickly painted red lips to the fullest.
“I don’t think Empress Bluebell is lying. But…”
She put her nose in Bluebell’s body again and inhaled the smell to the fullest.
“Your body only smells like a baby.”
Bluebell thought her words were praise and tried to say ‘thank you’ but had to shut up when Arya added another word.
“I thought Empress Bluebell’s bed would definitely smell like an adult this morning.”
“…?”
Arya’s expression implied that Bluebell did not carry any smell of sexual intercourse, but Bluebell didn’t understand it at once.
“Your Majesty must really care about Empress Bluebell. As a younger sister.”Arya emphasized the word ‘as a sister.’ Then she swept Bluebell’s tangled hair with her fingers.
Bluebell had goosebumps behind her back because of the icy hands of Arya. But what was more disturbing was the word Arya emphasized.
‘As a sister.’
“Everyone knows Carl cares about me.”
Said Bluebell, forcing a smile on her face.
“He really does. Seeing how he didn’t even go through the first night properly. His Majesty the Emperor can’t be more indifferent. No matter how hard it is, he should not have put the bride to sleep alone the first night and spent the night in the bedroom of Empress Sienna.”
“What does that mean?”