Chapter 44

* * *

‘Ha, I’m proud…’

Returning from the salon, I was admiring the trophy.

A trophy that shone luxuriously in gold and a trophy that glimmered brilliantly like crystals.

I liked both.

Although one of the phrases was a bit embarrassing.

It was the first time I received the first prize for doing well.

‘I’ve never had such fun in Spinel…’

‘I don’t think life in Aktoum is bad either.’

In this sense, I mean. Only in this respect.

“Oh, Your Majesty… seeing you smile like that, are you thinking of Crown Prince Rixus?”

“Fufufu. It’s when lovers think about each other for a long time.”

Laura and Maribel, who were observing me, trembled with excitement.

Even if I smiled, it seemed like I couldn’t avoid being related to Rixus anymore. Turning my head, I said indifferently.

“I was just smiling at the trophy. I wasn’t thinking of Rixus.”

“Ah, you’re hard on yourself! Rixus must be thinking of Your Majesty right now!”

Seryl replied, blinking her pink eyes.

I shrugged again and brought my gaze to the trophies.

It couldn’t be just my thoughts.

“With his personality, if he wants to see me, he would have already come to me.”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

At the same time, the maids’ faces became bewildered at my answer.

Then Laura asked.

“Your Majesty, didn’t the Crown Prince explain it to you?”

“What…?”

“Even if the Crown Prince wanted to see you, he can’t come to see you for three days.”

……What did that mean?

“In Aktoum, after the first night of the engagement, the bride and groom must keep a distance of at least 100 steps from noon on that day for three days!”

“…We have to be at least 100 steps away from each other from noon?”

“Yes, it’s believed that this will maintain the marriage’s luck.”

It was three days from noon… Why didn’t Rixus explain it to me?

Then, a scene came to mind – he looked at his watch as he invited me to have lunch with him.

‘No wonder he asked even though it wasn’t lunchtime.’

I thought he was hungry because he asked to eat at a very early hour.

‘He was trying to match the time.’

I just thought of it, but for some reason, this seemed to make sense.

I still didn’t know why he didn’t explain it to me. If he looked at the watch at that time, it must have meant that he had not forgotten.

While I was pondering over the scene and thinking about it, Seryl said to me,

“That’s why the two of you can’t dance at the ‘First Night Celebration Banquet’ tomorrow!”

“…What kind of banquet is that?”

I thought I had heard Seryl wrong.

But Seryl swung her fluffy pink cotton candy hair, and continued in excitement.

“A banquet to celebrate the first night!”

‘……Hey, what’s there to celebrate? Why is a couple’s ‘first night’ celebrated by the whole neighborhood?’

I asked with a bewildered expression like a sea otter who mistook castanets for a scallop, and licked my lips.(TL/N: castanets is a percussion instrument.)

“What kind of banquet are you holding?!”

“Because fertility starts from that hot day!”

The reason was more ridiculous.

“……”

‘What country in the world celebrates having sex…’

‘Please, I don’t want to be congratulated by the nobles for ‘completing’ the first night.’

“It’s a festival for all the people! Tomorrow, to commemorate the first night of the engagement, everyone will hang flowers on their doorsteps.”

Correction. It seemed that I would be congratulated by all the people.

“…Is it really necessary?”

“It’s a tradition!”

As I looked at Seryl, who answered cheerfully without a single bit of embarrassment, I thought,

‘It’s a crazy country, Aktoum.’

I, who had Spinel’s scholarly temperament, was too burdened with Aktoum’s unrestrained sensuality.

Was it because of the climate? Wasn’t it said that if one gets a lot of sunlight, one will be happy?

There was too much sunlight here, so people went crazy…

“…Can I cancel it?”

Laura replied calmly.

“Absolutely not.”

I smiled brightly, but my eyes looked as if my soul had been robbed.

‘Okay… Let it be as it is.’

There was also round 1 and round 2 for the first night. This was a country that took care of such things in advance.(TL/N: referring to the ‘first night of the engagement’ and ‘first wedding night’.)

I decided to give up and humbly accept it.

The thought of receiving congratulations from all over the country tomorrow was already making me feel like I was losing my energy……

“Okay. You guys can leave now.”

I thought I should go to bed quickly for that kind of tomorrow.

I had overworked today, but it seemed like something would happen tomorrow too, so I should fill the HP gauge from now on.

“Ah! Yes, Your Majesty… Seryl stayed up too late!”

“Good night, Your Majesty.”

Seryl and Laura greeted her in turn.

Maribel was very shy, after hesitating for a while, she said,

“Your Majesty… Uh, thank you so much for your letter of recommendation today. It’s the best gift I’ve ever received in my life.”

With those words, the maids gathered around me and said words of gratitude.

They had already given me a big greeting as soon as they entered the salon earlier.

I said in a relaxed manner.

“I can do that much. Because you are my people. Feel free to tell me if you have any other requests.”

“Your Majesty…….”

Seryl was moved and hugged me with tears in her eyes. And Laura and Maribel also followed suit.

As I patted them, I thought – it was a crazy country, but there were a lot of pretty good sides. Because there were such cute people like this.

After expressing their appreciation once more, the maids hurriedly retreated to the door.

At that time, I was lying on the bed, and suddenly I raised my head.

“Laura.”

I had an impromptu question.

“That custom. No access within 100 steps for three days. What if I don’t follow it?”

“That…….”

Laura whispered quietly. It was as if she was revealing God’s plan.

“It is said that the groom will suffer as if he is about to die because of the bride.”

“……”

“Or really die because of the bride.”

She told a rather creepy myth, and went out with Seryl and Maribel.

In the finally quiet room, I laid on my bed with my eyes wide open and fell deep in thought.

‘Suffering because of the bride?’

‘I know. It’s just a custom and it’s just a myth.’

But somehow… Those words caught onto my heart like a hook, and I couldn’t easily turn them over.

“If such a dangerous and evil being appeared, I would have to kill it… Whoever it is.”

Because I could one day really make Rixus suffer.

* * *

The next day.

After lunch, I stopped by the Imperial Library.

To begin with, the library was one of my favorite places.

A space with tens of thousands of books lined up on splendid golden columns and bookshelves made of ash wood.

Perhaps it also somehow calmed my heart.

“Please write down in the guestbook.”

I also liked the fact that the gatekeeper of the Imperial Library asked me to sign the guestbook.

In front of the book, everyone was equal and fair. Regardless of one’s status, one had to write his real name in the library and enter.

I opened the old parchment-wrapped guestbook and checked the names.

‘Oh, Rixus came and went last week.’

It was evident that the scribbled powerful signature was his.

I traced Rixus’ signature with the tip of my finger.

What book would he have read? I suddenly became curious.

For some reason, beyond the time gap of a week, it felt romantic to share the same sensibility in such a place.

It was one of the charms of the guestbook.

I wrote my name in cursive under his name.

A quiet smile crept up on my lips.

“Please enter. Your Majesty.”

“Okay.”

It was my second visit to the Imperial Library.

Last time, I was unintentionally misunderstood by the imperial librarian, an old man with a kind expression.

Today, I would surely get rid of that false charge.

I must break away from the image of a ‘queen who reads lewd books’… 

I looked around and found the imperial librarian. And I said it out loud on purpose.

“Hmm, it’s been a while, shall I read the practical book?”

The surroundings were disappointingly quiet. There were no other guests in this place except me.

Because there was only my name in the guestbook (since the librarian did not have to write his name in the guestbook).

Flip, flick–

I rummaged through the bookshelves for nothing, gave strength to my lower abdomen, and said with sincerity.

“Or, a philosophy book, that would be fine. But, a practical book can be helpful for state affairs.”

I was talking to myself, desperately wanting someone to hear.

But really, there wasn’t even a single ant. 

Apparently, I could not redeem myself today.

I sighed lightly and fiddled with my own ear, feeling embarrassed that I had talked to myself loudly.

Then I turned around the corner to find a book I really wanted.

It was the section of books related to ‘foreign culture’.

Diplomacy was one of the important things in running state affairs, and understanding other countries was essential for good diplomacy.

So, it was a section I usually visited frequently.

I was casually pulling out a book, but suddenly I saw the cover and stopped.

He looked like Rixus. The man on the cover.

No, they didn’t really look alike, but maybe it just looked like it for some reason.

‘Come to think of it, it’s disgusting. He didn’t contact me at all?’

He acted so sweet on the bed two nights ago.

He asked me to have lunch together, but was disappointed as he was rejected by me.

Back then, he sent a note almost every other day, asked for a date, and even sent his lieutenant to relay everything he wanted to say.

Then, suddenly, no contact like this?

‘Aren’t customs supposed to be explained?’

Shouldn’t it be explained later in a note?

What if I went to him without knowing anything and went within 100 steps?

So what if I really bothered him later?

As my thoughts continued, I suddenly realized that my feelings were not normal.

‘Why am I getting angry now?’

‘……I don’t even know why I’m doing this.’

It was at that time when I left the book in its place with embarrassment.

A hand protruded from behind and covered my mouth.

“!”

At that moment, numerous thoughts ran through my mind.

Because I couldn’t see the arms and torso, as well as the hand of the person who was covering my mouth.

It was a magician. And an assassin.

‘Deborah sent him.’

Krrr-crack!

Everything was in an instant. I summoned a sharp ice dagger from the air.

At the same time as I removed the hand, I pushed the person against the bookshelf and raised the dagger.

Bang!

I felt the assassin’s body hitting the bookshelf.

However, the air was still transparent, which gave me goosebumps.

“Reveal your identity. If you don’t want to die.”

I said so while holding the dagger close to what was supposed to be the opponent’s ‘neck’.

But then, as I was wondering if the air was slightly distorted, it flowed down, revealing the opponent’s face.

It was a face I knew well. As soon as I saw it, my heart raced.

“Rixus? Here… What’s going on? You can’t come here.”

‘We have to keep the 100 steps……!’

As I was thinking about it, the blue-purple eyes that came into my line of sight curved gently.

“Because I can’t stand it.”

Why? That trivial smile touched my heart.

“…….”

Rixus came closer to me despite the dagger pointing at his neck.

Without realizing it, I swallowed my breath and drew the dagger back.

My heart was pounding, and it fluttered helplessly as if it had collapsed.

Looking into my eyes, he said,

“I miss you.”

It seemed vaguely familiar.

The reason I was angry with him for not contacting me.

The reason I was waiting.

That… That was the reason I couldn’t admit it.