Chapter 9

Kwanach’s lengthy silence took my breath away. I quickly bowed.

“If I’ve offended you, I will call you Your Majesty again.”

Finally, Kwanach’s lips opened.

“No, it’s fine.”

Kwanach’s brows furrowed more and more.

‘Is he not alright, is he?’

By all accounts, he appeared angry.

‘What would make him happy?’

Suddenly, Diaquit’s words came to mind, which I heard from right to left every time.

[If you behave so brusquely, all the men will run away. Who in the world would want you?]

I looked at Kwanach with mixed feelings.

Men are difficult creatures, they say. I didn’t know how to treat him. The frown on the face of the man who was nearly two heads taller than me was naturally making me nervous.

I bit my lip. Kwanach stared at me and said,

“It’s rather inconvenient for you, isn’t it? It looks like you don’t want to call me by my name.”

‘How can it be convenient to suddenly call the emperor by his name ?’

But I couldn’t say that to him, so I answered coyly.

“No, I’m just not used to it.”

“I see. Well then, say it to me again.”

“What?”

I was puzzled, but I did as he asked.

“Kwanach.”

“Again.”

“Kwanach…”

“Yes. Call me like that.”

There was an awkward silence between us for a while. This conversation confirmed that neither Kwanach nor I had a chatty and friendly personality.

Kwanach stared straight at me with fierce eyes, full of determination. Then he moved his lips very slowly. I could see his red tongue between his open lips.

”Usphere.”

Kwanach mumbled my name a couple of times.

“Usphere. Usphere.”

My familiar name sounded unfamiliar only today.

Kwanach took another step towards me. He was almost touching my chest. His large shadow fell on me.

“You are…..”

“What?”

“No, You must have spent a lot of time preparing for the wedding. I’d like to get it going. I’ll meet you at the ceremony in a little while.”

Kwanach spoke and then strode out of the room.

I stood in a daze, remembering this stormy first conversation. At the same time, I labored to figure out what was going through the mind of the man I would be entering the ceremony with in a few hours.

‘I have no idea what kind of person he is.’

It was obvious. We were married in my previous life and I died within hours. All I knew about him was what I was exposed to in the bards and newspapers that were circulating in the world.

I knew the first emperor, Kwanach, but not the man Kwanach.

I wondered if I would be able to marry him.

As the tension in the air became tense, my head began to tingle and my forehead became hot.

I sat in my chair with my hand on my forehead.

* * *

The wedding was simplified at Kwanach’s request. He seemed to want to complete the ceremony as soon as possible and return to the Empire.

‘He’s just as in a hurry as he was in my previous life.’

The maids were even more resentful than I was, saying that they would finish the only wedding ceremony like baking beans on lightning.

“This is ridiculous!”

The maid who was fixing my dress for the last time burst into rage.

I stood like a doll for hours and was exhausted from being groomed.

“It’s amazing that the First Emperor came here in person. I’m sure he didn’t want to leave the Imperial Palace empty handed.”

“It’s only polite for the groom to come in person and take the bride with him!”

“Yes, of course.”

No one should be able to say anything if Kwanach behaved stubbornly. In fact, I was grateful that he had observed the minimum of etiquette.

“I had to dress Princess in something more flamboyant….”

“More than this?”

Compared to the dresses of my previous life, it was way too much.

I couldn’t believe Diaquit spent this much money on the wedding. Perhaps unlike in my previous life, he seemed to be interested in the minister’s complexion.

I lifted my tired face and looked at myself in the mirror.

My hair was tied up in a braid. Between the strands of hair, pearls were inserted.

The pearls were not only on my head, they were excessively attached everywhere. Long hanging sleeves, rosary ornaments that fell down to cover the waist, and so on.

A double pearl necklace wrapped around my neck. The pearls wrapped the entire hem of the white dress with a hint of light.

The long white cotton cloth was also shining with tiny pearl beads scattered all over it. I even had a pearl hairpiece along the veil line.

“Isn’t this enough?”

“Yes …… No, wait a minute!”

There was one more thing left. The maid carefully took out the emerald earrings. The painstakingly crafted emerald showed off its green color.

After a few twists and turns, the attire was finally finished. With a small sigh, I took a small drink of water.

“You’re really beautiful, princess!”

I smiled indifferently at the maid’s words.

“Is that so?”

“No one looks better in pearls than the princess. I wonder if I should curl all your hair up or let half of it down. Your neck is white and graceful like a deer’s, so I think it would be best to let it all go up.”

“Please don’t.”

I waved my hand in the air to interrupt the maidservants. In response, they gave me a look of disappointment.

“This is good enough.”

“I’m serious! I’m not satisfied!”

“But I am.”

I could see that it was gorgeous and beautiful, but it was heavy. I wasn’t familiar with this inconvenience, having made it a habit to lock myself in my room wearing only a chemise.

I looked out the window and the sun was still shining. After getting up in the morning to face Kwanach and getting all dressed up, I was exhausted.

But I had to keep my spirits up.

So far, major incidents have flowed just as they did in my previous life. If I survived today, I would be spending a new amount of time that I had never experienced before.

I grabbed the skirt of my white dress with my hands and waited for the time of death that was slowly approaching.

And then.

“Princess, please come out to the ceremony.”

My second wedding ceremony had begun.

* * *

It was a similar wedding as before, except that my dress was more fancy.

It was the same ceremony order. The second wedding vow.

“Do you take Usphere Catatel to be your wife?

“Yes.”

Kwanach looked at me with his hands folded behind his back.

He was wearing a black satin robe with shiny gold thread embroidered in various patterns.

Generally, men’s robes have collars that come up to the neck, but Kwanach had bare skin.

Even the cold of the north didn’t seem to bother him. His neck and collar bones were visible through the open collar.

It was friendly enough to be the emperor’s formal wear. There were no jewel-strewn cloaks or diamond crowns.

But no one in the entire wedding hall was as intimidating as him.

Even without all the bells and whistles, Kwanach shone on his own.

Rather, it was the slightly rough-hewn attire that emphasized Kwanach’s features even more.

His dark eyes looked even more intense.

We vowed to become husband and wife in front of Goddess Fahar, who opened the beginning of the world and closed the world, and kissed each other as proof of our union.

The vows were done, and now it was our turn to kiss.

According to my spirit memory, it was more than a decade ago since I first kissed Kwanach.

Nonetheless, it came to me quite vividly. It was the heat that was gently pressing against my lips. The scent of musk that touched the inside of my nose. The exotic smell of a man.

I felt lightheaded just thinking about it. The first time he kissed me, I felt my legs weaken. And, since this was the second time, I thought I could act a little more resolute.

However, I soon found out that I had miscalculated.

Kwanach removed his backhand stance and walked toward me with a broad stride. Eventually, his large hand grabbed my upper arm.

My body was quickly taken away by him.

My hips arched back quickly, and that’s when Kwanach’s firm arm wrapped around my waist.

His hot, thick lips completely covered mine.

“Ah…”

Kwanach wrapped his arms around my waist. We touched each other on his chest without a pause. I could feel my heart pounding heavily.

Kwanach bit my lower lip slightly.

My lips parted involuntarily and his hot tongue penetrated between them.

“……!”

I gasped in surprise.

Vow kissing at weddings was just one of the formalities. It was usually finished lightly and quickly. It was the same in my previous life.

This time, however, was different. Kwanach began rubbing the inside of my mouth with each flick of his tongue.

As our saliva mixed with each other, the kissing sound echoed through the quiet wedding hall. It was an overly obscene kiss.

“Umm….”

My head felt dizzy. I couldn’t free myself from the arms that held me tightly. As soon as my tongue tried to escape, Kwanach’s tongue quickly followed, pinning me down.

‘What is this ……?’

I froze, even in my head, and I couldn’t think very well. I was out of breath and busy breathing through my nose. I gripped Kwanach’s arms tightly so that I wouldn’t fall.

When my body was flooded with heat, Kwanach’s tongue slowly fell away from me.

I slowly opened my eyes, which were desperately closed. I looked at him in bewilderment. And his dark eyes were still burning.

I felt my legs weakened once more, as they had in my previous life. I wobbled, but with Kwanach still holding onto my waist, I was spared such shame.

For a while, only the sound of Kwanach’s breath mesmerized my ears.

The ragged breathing and the sound of his heartbeat that I could feel from our touching bodies. All other noises escaped my senses.

“Usphere.”

Kwanach whispered slowly, releasing me from his grasp. Only then did I come to my senses and look around.