Chapter 14

Today was going to be even harder than handling the banquet. Rosaline put a hand on her stiff shoulder and stretched. Hui, who was watching the scene from afar, ran over in a second.

“Secretary, are you tired? Why don’t you take a break today?”

Rosaline visited Cahir’s bedroom early in the morning because she thought she could get a day off today. Somehow without sleep, he still got up before the sun and finished grooming.

As soon as Cahir saw Rosaline, he sprang up and handed over the crown. Rosaline accepted the crown skillfully without panic, as this was often the case. At this point, people might even think that the crown was broken, considering it spent more time in Rosaline’s hands than on Cahir’s head.

“Rosaline, no more banquets.”

No more, why? Rosaline thought the banquet had been very successful. Everyone enjoyed themselves and had fun, which made for fantastic promotional material for today’s royal family.

Rosaline raised an eyebrow in question.

“I don’t want them because you are so close to me. It’s uncomfortable”

Alas, a selfish human being.

Rosaline had tried hard to meet with her landlord, and she pushed for a banquet to boost the image of the Imperial family and get rid of unsavory rumors before they get a chance to grow.  Was he telling her not to hold a banquet just because he took care of her?

This is really not the way to go.

She didn’t do it for compensation, but it was a brilliant achievement, so she believed she at least deserved some words of praise.

‘You’re being way too cheap and dirty, I want to quit!’

Unaware of Rosaline’s thoughts, Cahir set out for the conference hall.

***

The morning came swiftly like an arrow, all of the secretaries and staff who attended the banquet all night long rubbed their eyes and got ready to work at dawn.

The Aetheus Empire had regular aristocratic meetings where the council of nobles discussed important matters of the state. The overall task of dealing with the decisions of the aristocratic council were undertaken by the secretaries and administrators set up by the emperor. Most of them graduated from the academy, were tested with difficult problems given by Cahir himself and personally interviewed, and had excellent brains and guts.

Cahir listened to the war reparations proposed by the other country and discussed in depth how to revise some unsatisfactory proposals and how to proceed with future negotiations.

He asked sharp questions non-stop, more like an interrogation to make sure Rosaline was sober and working rather than wanting to know the information.

At the end of the meeting, Rosaline finally gave him some advice.

“That wasn’t advice, it was verbal abuse”

It was good as far as solutions were concerned, but…

“…Can’t the nobles read a report? You know how to laugh and drink at a banquet, but you don’t know the basics of what to do first when you sit at the negotiating table. Do I still have to tell you this much myself? And as for the administrators… Did you go to the academy through the back door? Or were you not the ones who took the exam and were interviewed? Did your twin siblings take over that day?”

The problem was what Rosaline added later.

Rosaline was butting heads with the aristocrats and her colleagues, whose faces were getting darker.

***

“Your Majesty, it’s time for tea.”

Tea was prepared by Derek at two in the afternoon. At Rosaline’s words, Cahir stopped frowning and he and Rosaline walked side by side. In the afternoon, the corridors of the Imperial Palace were calm. Sunlight came in and touched the jewels of the crown in Rosaline’s hands. The light passing through the jewels illuminated the area, creating colored refractions.

‘Pretty.’

At this moment, Rosaline loved walking in this sunny corridor. Cahir walked in front of her, always one step ahead of her stride.

“Has he really grown this much?’

As time went on, Cahir grew bigger and bigger. It wasn’t just a matter of mind.

‘It’s really time for me to quit.’

Rosaline smiled bitterly as she looked at his gorgeous back.

There were six rooms that were made specifically for the emperor.

One of them was sponsored by the Imperial Palace, the one where the tea table was placed. Large evergreen trees surrounded the garden and flowers were in bloom throughout the entire year. It was completely cut off from the outside.

This space was called Lucete.

Cahir loved it. The fresh air, singing birds, and especially the afternoon sun pouring in from the sky. The best thing about it was that Rosaline didn’t care about other people’s eyes here and she was comfortable with him.

The tea tables were set and the servants left the garden. They stood invisibly behind the tree and would only come out when Cahir called. The same was true of the guards.

“Peppermint tea.”

Rosaline offered Cahir a moderately chilled cup. He missed and grabbed her hand, unable to take his eyes off of the documents before him.

“You used to rest when you took breaks.” Rosaline moved the teacup so that he could easily reach it.

“I can’t rest because of these idiots.”

Cahir was reviewing data compiled at today’s meeting. It was thanks to him that the country was able to maintain this much order despite its unruly nature. He was capable enough to offset the atrocities that made him famous as a tyrant. Meticulous, brilliant, and always on the right side of a bet.

‘This is the male lead’s buff. But God mischievously doesn’t grant everything.’

He had everything, it seemed. Appearance, wealth, ability, and power. The only thing he was missing was a good personality.

‘That’s the biggest flaw.’

Rosaline drank down the tea, lamenting that there was no perfect man in the novel. Similar to Cahir, Rosaline liked peppermint tea as well.

“…No.”

“Please, I have an appointment. I need you to let me through. Please…”

Rosaline, who was about to put her glass down, doubted her ears for a moment. Beyond the garden, she heard a delicate, womanly voice.

‘Ella?’

Rosaline had completely forgotten about her appointment with her. Ella had told her yesterday that they would meet at tea time, right? Was she here?

Rosaline leapt to her feet. Cahir glanced up at her. He followed her gaze and heard a noise. There was a sound, but he couldn’t quite hear it without concentrating.

“What is it?” Having his tea time interrupted, Cahir’s eyes flashed.

“I’ll go check it out, Your Majesty. Finish your tea before it gets any cooler.”

Rosaline grabbed the hem of her dress and moved clumsily towards the scene like a toddler. Cahir was angry, but he had to stay quiet now before he stabbed somebody.

“Ah… Rosaline!”

Ella grinned as soon as she saw Rosaline, girlishly raising one hand to wave hello. People would think they were really close friends. The knight flinched at the innocent laughter and gesture. Rosaline was right.

The knights blocked Ella. She was the daughter of an aristocrat, so they couldn’t touch her recklessly, but she wasn’t allowed in Lucete. Then things became noisy.

“What is going on?” Rosaline asked Sir James. He was a valiant and loyal knight who fought on the battlefield with Cahir.

“This young lady said that she had an appointment with you, Miss Secretary, and wanted to get into Lucete…”

“Rosaline, right? Yesterday, you asked to meet with me today, didn’t you? Did you forget?”

Ella looked at Rosaline with her hands clasped in front of her chest and shoulders drooping. It made her look really pitiful.

Yeah, it was natural to stop a stranger from entering Lucete, but James felt guilty. He looked at Rosaline with a troubled expression.

‘Damn, you’ve fallen for it too.’

She sighed. “Yes, she is someone I know. She is also right about having made an appointment with me, but we haven’t decided on when or where.”

Rosaline intended to talk to Ella in a quiet place. To do so, she needed to get permission from Cahir first. Rosaline was about to tell Ella to wait for a while when she suddenly smiled brightly, grabbed the hem of her skirt, and bowed.

“Greetings to the Sun of the Empire.”

Cahir approached the two ladies. “Who is this?” he asked Rosaline, ignoring Ella.

“Your Majesty, from yesterday’s greeting… I’m Ella Paulos. I’m Rosaline’s friend, right Rosaline?”

Rosaline froze in her bewilderment and Cahir’s eyebrows shot up.

“Friends…?”

His gaze sharpened. He studied Ella silently for a long time.

“Let me explain, Your Majesty. Lady Ella is…”

‘She isn’t my friend, I just happened to meet her, but I need to talk to her right now.’

The situation was a bit hard to explain. Still, Rosaline didn’t want to be labeled as Ella’s friend.

“No, wait.”

Cahir cut Rosaline off in the middle of her sentence. Rosaline trembled. She should have expected that Cahir couldn’t take his eyes off of Ella.

‘Destiny is destiny, right?’

The original author used the term “fated love” more than a hundred times in the novel. This meant that Ella and Cahir were strongly connected.

Rosaline took a step back. The picture of the three of them together didn’t look too good.

‘I’m the third wheel in this situation, aren’t I?’

However, Rosaline was unable to get away from them. Her attempt remained an attempt. Cahir grabbed Rosaline’s wrists in the middle of her retreat. Ella continued looking into Cahir’s eyes as he held onto Rosaline. Rosaline turned around.

Think about what it means to be the emperor.

Rosaline remembered what Azela once told her when they met in the hallway. The advice coming from the empress dowager’s mouth was unbelievable. However, those words now came to Rosaline’s mind because she was confused. What did work mean for Cahir?

She looked back at Ella. For the sake of Cahir’s happiness, it was necessary to cheer for Ella as it was originally written. But why didn’t she like it?

Rosaline felt strangely frantic, and her wrist began to hurt in Cahir’s grip. Rosaline tried to twist out of it, and only then did Cahir’s eyes finally move to Rosaline.

“Rosaline, what are you doing?”

“Let go of me.”

“Why?”

‘What do you mean, ‘why’?”

It is impolite to grab another person’s wrist without permission. Especially between men and women! Rosaline couldn’t answer because the question was too vague.

“First, finish drinking your tea. What do you think, Rosaline? Oh, and did you say that you were Rosaline’s friend? Lady Ella, should come talk together.”

Cahir walked back to the table holding Rosaline’s hand in his. When the two disappeared, Ella grabbed the hem of her voluminous dress and hurried after them.

Tea time, which should have been quiet, relaxing, and peaceful, became a battlefield. The more Rosaline thought about why this happened, the angerier she got. Ella was selfish.

After returning to their seats, neither the emperor nor the secretary wanted to speak first. Cahir’s eyes were aching, Rosaline was in a bad mood, and the atmosphere was bleak.

Ella continued to talk by herself, praising Lucete’s beauty.

Cahir was lost in thought.

‘That can’t be a friend of hers.’

Cahir had noticed Rosaline’s frown when Ella said she was her friend. It was gone in a flash, but that meant that whatever Ella claimed, they weren’t truly friends.

‘Who is she?’