Episode 8
“Your Majesty!”
I was waiting outside the banquet hall, and when I saw Enoch from a distance, I ran toward him with small steps.
“It’s cold out here, why are you waiting here?”
“Just… I felt stifled inside the hall.”
After dealing with the urgent situation, the stares directed at me weighed heavily, so I came out to avoid people. My shoulders shrank from the cold, and I looked at Enoch.
“By the way, how did things go?”
“…Duke Herrington will participate in the Hashin War.”
“Ah.”
Well, there you go.
“Good, that’s a relief.”
I nodded, scratching my chin, and Enoch wrapped me in his large, warm coat.
He raised an eyebrow as he carefully covered me.
“By the way, you seemed indifferent about whether I lost control or not. I didn’t expect you to help me like this.”
“Oh, I wasn’t *that* indifferent…”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t want to be my cure?”
I had no response to his accurate words, so I groaned. Enoch extended his long, slender fingers toward my neck.
He adjusted the crumpled fabric around my neck as if tidying my clothes and carefully buttoned it before stepping back.
“There, that looks good.”
“Ah, this is tight, Your Majesty.”
“Even if it’s tight, no choice. The wind is cold.”
Enoch glanced at my neck, then covered it with his coat and nodded in satisfaction.
“By the way, how much wine did you drink?”
“Um, not much? One sip?”
“…”
I averted my eyes from his clear gray gaze and cautiously raised one finger.
“One glass…?”
“…”
Is he not buying it?
I glanced at Enoch and stealthily raised another finger.
“Two glasses…? Or three?”
Enoch let out a faint laugh as he saw my fingers gradually increase.
“Riana, did you forget the doctor’s advice to cut down on drinking?”
“No, I didn’t forget! I just tasted it, just a taste.”
“Go to the carriage now. I’ll join you soon.”
“No, Your Majesty, I can go alone.”
I refused Enoch’s offer to escort me and headed out, but I leaned toward a pillar instead of the door.
Before I could crash into the pillar, Enoch grabbed my forehead with his hand and sighed deeply.
“Hah, I’ll escort you.”
“Fine… as you command.”
* * *
“I’m walking straight, so why is the path curving?”
As I headed to the carriage with the knight Enoch sent, I focused on my wobbling legs.
But it was no use, as I stumbled and fell due to my swaying legs.
*Thud!*
With a loud sound.
“Miss! Are you okay?”
“Yes… I think I’m okay…”
Except for the extreme embarrassment…?
I sent the knight to wait around the corner, dusted off my hands, and tried to stand, but sat back down.
“Ah! Ouch… I’m hurt.”
Lifting the hem of my dress at the stinging sensation, I saw a drop of red blood on my knee.
I shook my head in surprise at myself and quickly wiped the blood, when I heard an unwelcome voice.
“You fool! You can’t even do that, and you’re making me go to war?”
“I’m sorry, my lord Duke. The young lady intervened suddenly…”
I heard a sharp, angry voice and the sound of something breaking.
“But it seems the information was wrong. His Majesty didn’t seem hesitant to touch the young lady.”
“Nothing’s right! To be absent at such a critical time!”
“Even if my lord Duke is absent, we’ll prepare for His Majesty’s marriage to the princess without issues. Don’t worry.”
“Of course it should be! Make sure to watch Elisha closely so she doesn’t get distracted until ‘that person’ arrives!”
“Yes, of course.”
“Fortunately, there’s still time before heading to war. In the remaining time, I’ll settle things…”
The Duke, fuming like a raging bull, began counting his plans, folding his fingers.
I noticed this as I stood and adjusted my shoe, frowning.
“Ah, that man again? What a bad temper.”
How can the heroine’s father have such a foul personality?
In the book, he was ambitious, but not to this extent…
“With this, isn’t the tyrant this guy instead of Enoch?”
I muttered as I twisted my ankle and decided to leave.
I’d gain nothing from confronting the Duke again.
But either life isn’t easy, or my luck is particularly bad.
Of all the paths, the Duke chose the one I was on, spotting me as he stormed forward.
“Ha! Snooping around like a rat!”
“I wasn’t snooping, I was here first, I fell, and then you came…”
My body tried to freeze again in front of the Duke, but perhaps because it was the second time, I managed to move my mouth and mutter.
The problem was my voice was so weak, only my ears heard it.
Anyway, unlike last time, my body responded a bit, so I tried to head toward the knight around the corner.
But at that moment, a sharp scraping sound rang out, and I felt a burning pain on my face.
“Where are you going? To run to the Emperor and tell him what you heard?”
A slap.
With the second sound, my weak legs collapsed.
“You resentful thing! You don’t know gratitude for those who raised you, and you dare disrupt my plans?”
A metallic taste… or blood?
I smelled blood seeping into my small mouth as I slowly moved my eyelids, while the Duke continued shouting.
“As usual! You should’ve stayed quiet like a doll, so why do you cause trouble at every banquet?”
When the Duke saw Enoch’s coat around me, he scoffed, tearing at his hair in anger.
“Oh, it seems you’ve caught the Emperor’s attention. And then what? You think getting close to him will save you? Change something? Did you think you found a way out?”
‘What’s he talking about?’
I licked the corner of my torn lip and frowned.
The Duke’s words made me feel that Riana approached Enoch not to become Empress, but…
‘As if she wants to stay alive.’
What’s this? Is Riana, like in some novels, suffering from a terminal illness?
I felt my body, but concluded that wasn’t true.
Though thin and frail, Riana was physically healthy.
Maybe if she kept drinking for decades, it’d be different.
As I thought with a mind muddled by wine, the Duke seemed to think I was ignoring him and raised his hand again.
“You’re ignoring my words now?”
“No, that’s not…!”
Ugh, I shouldn’t have come here today.
I closed my eyes, bracing for the coming pain, but a cold voice stopped the Duke’s hand.
“What are you doing now?”
“Your Majesty? How…”
“I asked what you’re doing.”
The Duke was startled by Enoch’s sharp response, unusual for someone who typically ignored others.
He hesitated for a moment, then put on a mask of gentleness and helped me up from the ground.
“This girl was causing chaos at the banquet, so I was disciplining her as an elder in the family.”
“Is that true? But, strictly speaking, the Herrington family isn’t superior to the Daphne family.”
Enoch pulled me from the Duke’s rough grip and spoke with a hardened face.
“How… do you find room to hit on such a small body?”
“Ah, Your Majesty, this hurts. Don’t squeeze.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Are you in a lot of pain?”
Enoch’s hand hesitated in the air as he saw me wince.
Of course I’m in pain!
I was about to say my teeth were shaking from his rough grip, but the Duke stepped forward shamelessly.
“I didn’t do anything, Your Majesty. She fell on her own, that’s all.”
If he’d stayed quiet, it would’ve been better.
I glared at him as he spoke fluently, wiping his greasy beard.
My ear was still ringing from the slap, and he lied without shame.
Angry, I pressed my torn lip with my finger.
I felt my lip tear more under the pressure.
Frowning at the uncomfortable sensation, I looked at Enoch, who was staring at the Duke coldly.
“Your Majesty.”
“…? Riana! Your lips are bleeding…!”
I felt blood drip from my torn lip as I opened my mouth and pointed my finger, which was pressing my lip, toward the Duke.
“Your Majesty, this man, I mean the Duke, hit me.”
“No, that’s not true! Riana, how dare you lie in front of His Majesty?”
Who’s lying now?
I didn’t look at the Duke, pulled my finger back, and raised my hand in front of Enoch’s face.
With two fingers, the index and middle, confidently.
“He hit me. Twice.”
