Chapter 35

Chapter 35

‘…..damn it. If I had more time, I would have planned ahead.’

It has been announced that the finals, delayed by the emperor’s intervention, would be held at the latest within 4 days.

So Juliana planned to gather as much information as possible. She didn’t know much about the character because she didn’t see the end of the novel, but she thought that she had enough time to learn how to get closer to the ‘empress,’ who was said to be a villainess.

Juliana didn’t believe in Evan Hilcheon’s plan. She never thought that he had a chance to win without getting hurt.

‘Evan Hilcheon was a liar.’

A liar who only told Juliana Auburn sweet lies. He was also a fool who had a tremendous unrequited love, and thus, under no circumstances could he allow anything to hurt her or cause her difficulties.

So, this kind of intervention was unavoidable for Juliana.

She had never received such affection in her previous or present life. So it was the right thing to do to keep him from getting hurt.

Juliana shook her head and made a resolution inwardly.

‘Somehow, somehow I have to help you.’

Juliana spoke urgently to Ereina, who was frozen by the people’s shouts.

“The Empress!”

The little face of the empress, named after the sun goddess, was pale. Both women made eye contact and assumed that they were thinking the same thing.

‘Evan must have been hurt.’

‘His Majesty must have been hurt.’

“Oh, come on-.”

First, the empress urged her. Undaunted by the urging, Juliana entered at the same time as her.

The audience seats were placed in a small festival venue, and a mixture of alcohol, meat, and sweaty noisy people could be smelled in the air.

The entire audience was paying attention to the stadium. They all cheered, forgetting about their decency, which they had gained as they settled down in this land. Now they resembled the descendants of the conquerors from the horsemen race.

Juliana closed her eyes again. Anyone with eyes could tell which one of the two men was more hurt.

‘Evan!’

In an instant, the fight was decided. Evan’s shoulder was severely injured even though he had only faced the lance once. As proof of that, he was still on his black horse but held the bleeding shoulder with his other hand without grabbing the huge lance.

“The Empress, I think you should go to the Emperor…..”

The empress first stepped into the emperor’s tent.

Rather than thinking that the Duke was seriously injured, Ereina worried about the wound on the emperor’s cheek. Apparently, it was a zigzag cut made by the ghastly lance.

Her heart was pounding. And Ereina did something she would never have imagined she would do.

She ran into the waiting room and saw the emperor’s face. When the timid empress entered with tearful eyes, the emperor, who was wiping his lance, grinned.

“Your, Your Majesty…..”

“Oh, my. The Empress is here. By the way, I think the Duchess behind you found the wrong waiting room.”

“…..!”

At these words, Ereina turned back in surprise.

Unlike the empress, Juliana, who had revealed herself enough to be seen in the waiting room, was waiting for the emperor’s call.

“Your husband’s waiting room is on the other side. The Duchess.”

“Your Majesty. I have something to tell you, and I hope you will forgive my rudeness.”

“The Duke must be heartbroken. He was ready to get stabbed in his shoulder to give his wife a blue rose.”

Emperor Lucian giggled in a vulgar way. And Ereina was surprised by the way Lucian spoke for the first time. He was a man who always had a polite and cool way of speaking.

Since he was always the same to her, even after a year of marriage, Ereina was at a loss for Lucian’s attitude of speaking comfortably to the Duchess. Tears welled up in her eyes in another sense.

‘……no. His Majesty hates crying.’

In her heart, she felt sorrowful as she witnessed a new side of him that wasn’t looking back at her. Ereina sullenly raised her hands to her chest. In the meantime, Lucian allowed the Duchess to enter, whether he knew or not about the empress’s feelings.

The Duchess, who had come in, was tired of running. Come to think of it, Juliana Auburn, who was called the Empire’s Blue Rose, the most beautiful woman in the world, was a weak person.

‘Just a little bit of running makes me feel like I’m going to faint like that……’

It was the right moment for some curiosity to pass through Ereina’s head. Lucian rubbed his chin as if intrigued by the Duchess’s complexion.

His hands were covered in dried blood. In a short moment, Ereina, who had noticed it, ordered the surrounding servants to bring up something that could be used to clean them. Then the servant who ran out of the tent soon brought a handkerchief.

“Now, just a moment…..”

Ereina managed to soothe her trembling heart and carefully grabbed Lucian’s hand and rubbed it with a handkerchief soaked in hot water to wipe off the blood.

While leaving his hand to her, Lucian did not turn his eyes toward Juliana. Ereina whimpered inwardly in regret of it.

‘You’re so hurt. I hate it…..’

She was cracking down on her broken heart, and Lucian got lucky in the meantime.

“It’s been a long time since you, the famous sorceress, used some skills.”

“My skills were lacking at that time so there was nothing I could do.”

“What did you do?”

Lucian smiled brightly. Of course, the smile only seemed demonic to Juliana.

Juliana, who had gritted her teeth, lowered her eyes. And the sound of her voice inwardly became firm just like that time when she defeated a high school student who was trying to buy alcohol and cigarettes in her previous life.

‘When this happens, you call the boss quickly-. Huh? No. Am I the boss now?’

Juliana, who had finished thinking, took off her lips.

“……Your Majesty must have seen the gift I sent to the Imperial Family.”

When she saw a familiar horse grazing peacefully at the side of the waiting room, Juliana cursed at the emperor, who was a bastard.

Of course, outside of the tent.

The empress, who ran into the waiting room in fear of her husband’s serious injury, probably didn’t hear it.

Juliana sighed inwardly as she saw the little empress wiping the hand of the emperor herself.

‘Yeah. What’s wrong with you? You seem to really like it.’

Juliana spoke boldly to the emperor who pretended not to know

“I heard that Your Majesty also received the letter I sent you. Nevertheless, you made my husband a scapegoat by participating in the finals.”

Despite Juliana’s biting questions, the emperor answered cheerfully, not holding back the laughter.

“Oh, you haven’t heard from the Duke. He said he wouldn’t mind if I wanted to decide the winner or the loser of the game. So I proposed the bet to the Duke. By any chance, Empress-. Did you see our acting too much?”

“…..what, what?”

Ereina was visibly embarrassed by a sudden question. It was obvious that she didn’t watch the game.

Lucian didn’t care that the young empress was on the verge of crying because she couldn’t answer. Juliana said calmly.

“As expected, my foolish husband accepted the bet. But Evan said he wouldn’t win the title….. What does that mean?”

“I guess the Duchess didn’t read fairy tales when she was young.”

‘Do I have to listen to that!’

Juliana took a long sigh inwardly.

‘…..patient, be patient! He reminds me of my first customer who cried out for a warm ice americano!’

Taking advantage of her experience as a part-timer in high school, Juliana managed to laugh.

“I’m not familiar with fairy tales because I’ve been studying magic back then.”

“It’s something that often happens in fairy tales. The story of a benevolent emperor giving an award to a valiant knight.”

‘…..aha. Are you going to end this game like that?’

For a moment, Juliana couldn’t control her facial expression. It was a very brief moment, but Lucian seemed to have noticed her concern.

And he smiled mischievously with his glistening golden eyes and said.

“Are you surprised that it’s such a trifling reward? The Duchess.”

At the words of the emperor who was an able speaker, Juliana shot back as if she wasn’t embarrassed.

“If one can take something from His Majesty, that’s good enough.”

Lucian grinned as he looked at the weak Duchess, who was sweating as if she were about to faint.

For him, the Duchess was an amusing woman. A woman who openly ignored her husband, on the other hand, proposed a mischievous way to save her husband, who was forced to play according to the emperor’s will.

Lucian continued, squinting his eyes.

“Fairy tales always have a happy ending. When two men who have declined their positions and nobility finally faced each other in battle, only the winner would receive the prize.”

“Of course, the winner would be the Emperor, right?”

“Isn’t this a good ending that everyone enjoys?”

Lucian shrugged and laughed. Ereina, who was still wiping his hands, looked at him. Then, she glanced at both of them, and in the end, she lowered her eyes in loneliness.

Even in this situation, she wasn’t able to join the conversation. She was aware that ‘Blue Rose’ meant to be given to her by the emperor would be only a justification of testing rough nobles who rose above their station, and she knew that she was just a means to fulfill the emperor’s aspirations.

On their wedding night, the emperor only smiled, saying that the bride was too weak and delicate.

Hearing this made her feel miserable. She liked him very much, but he didn’t like her. She felt sorry for herself. The sweet and courteous emperor only said this because he felt sorry for her.

“The Empress.”

“…..yes, yes?”

Ereina, who suffered from the massive inferiority complex and was obsessed with the past, looked up at the sound of Juliana’s voice.

The emperor’s hands previously covered in blood were now clean, but Lucian, who was accepting the empress’s touch, looked down at Ereina, not Juliana.

His golden eyes, always sparkling as if they were made of the finest gold, were looking at Ereina.

She looked up at Lucian rather than Juliana, who first called her name. Her heart was pounding. For the first time, he was paying attention to her. Was it because of what they had talked about before?

“The Duchess, go on.”

“As I said earlier, I heard that the Empress is very good at horseback riding.”

“But, co-compared to the capital ladies-.”

Ereina said exactly how she felt, but then she kept her mouth shut because she became agitated.

She foolishly expressed the inferiority complex she had always wanted to hide. Lucian’s eyes gleamed in amusement as he kept his gaze at the empress’s face dyed red.

Ereina realized his interest and came to her senses. Even if it was a matter of interest that would soon die down, she felt brave in every corner of her heart.

Because of him, she changed her answer.

“The Duchess is right. It’s my specialty…..”

And as if she had waited for the empress’s answer, Juliana smiled and said again.

“In the past, our ancestors knew that magic was also a virtue and did not neglect to sharpen and polish this craft. Like men, women also competed against each other with magic and jousting skills.”

What was it like?

As Ereina blinked her eyes as if she still didn’t know what the Duchess meant, Juliana finally used the last resort.

“How wonderful would it be if the Empress participated in the contest and encouraged her subjects to learn magic? Cultivating the traditions of ancestors seems to be appropriate for today’s game.”

“Yes, yes…..?”

Ereina’s innocent brown eyes were drenched with fear.

In the capital city, she learned that the customs of the northern part of the empire should be discarded.

She had to look like a person from the capital city and pretend to be good at things she had never learned as the wife of the emperor. Still, she failed to mark her presence as an empress for a year.

To be precise, she didn’t do it on purpose. This was because she assumed that the emperor would not want her to do so.

“I, I……”

“The Empress, do you want to do this?”

However, Lucian smiled unexpectedly. And as if he were testing her, he took Ereina’s little hand.

It was the first time.

‘Will you mind if I do what I am good at?’

Every day as she loved the emperor she just laid flat, breathed, and kept her mouth shut.

She was worried that whatever she was good at and what she liked wasn’t good enough for Lucian Val Ariakne.

But maybe not.

Emperor Lucian Val Ariakne was a powerful man who liked to test people. Ereina’s heart skipped a beat at the sound of her husband’s voice as for the first time she saw the opportunity to win the love of this powerful man.

Ereina bawled out.

“I, I want to do it!”

Lucian glanced at his wife with an interesting look and said to the Duchess.

“…..hmm. You’ve touched the Empress’s spirit of triumph, so there’s nothing I can do about it. The Duchess. Will you take responsibility for your opponent?”

“Oh, the Duchess, will be my opponent…..?”

Ereina looked at the pale-faced noblewoman known for throwing lavish parties.

Just because you ride the horse from time to time doesn’t mean you’re good at it. There were not one or two people who got on horses that were not tamed and broke their necks.

In reply to her hesitation, Juliana smiled with a face full of weakness.

“I’m sorry I’ve disturbed our husbands’ game, but if we know who’s going to win even before the game starts, that’s no fun at all.”

Whispering-.

Juliana whistled. Then, at the sound of the familiar whistling, a stallion snorted and rolled his feet.

Ereina looked back at the emperor in surprise. Lucian slowly rubbed a scratch on his cheek, nodding his head.

“I’ve heard that the Duchess put quite a lot of effort into bringing the empress’s usual riding stallion. It’s a gift that just arrived at the Imperial Family yesterday, and I brought it with me today because I wanted to show it to the Empress as a gift.”

“I, I’m so glad!”

Ereina’s cheeks were flushed with excitement, and she jumped for joy.

Then she ran out of the tent so fast that she couldn’t notice that a couple of her hair ornaments were missing, and she hugged the beautiful brown-haired horse’s neck.

“Kendell!”

Whinny-. [horse sound]

The horse snorted happily at the sight of his old friend whom he had met after a long time. Ereina hugged the horse’s neck and wouldn’t let it go, even if her makeup was crushed and her clothes were disheveled.

While the two friends were reunited, Juliana was breathing hard, wiping her sweat, not daring to sit without permission of the emperor.

Lucian, who was looking at the scene, erased a gentle smile, and spoke with an arrogant attitude, crossing his legs.

“The Empress’s hometown is located in the very far north. I wouldn’t have known if the Duchess hadn’t kindly noted in her letter how many teleportations she had to use to transport the horse from that place.”

“Since the Empress’s joy is also the Emperor’s joy, I thought my efforts would be praised by Your Majesty.”

“…..considering the Empress’s joy for the first time in a long time, I won’t be angry if she disturbs my bet.”

“Your Majesty.”

Juliana slightly bowed her head.

‘You talk a lot for someone who is only a second male lead. How dare you look at her like that and then be fond of another woman? Yeoju hasn’t even come yet, but still, it’s a pity-.’

She grumbled inside. Then, she calmly continued her words to avoid showing that she was shaking.

“The Empress has a hereditary right to be an idol of the nobility. It’s an honor for me to compete against her.”

It was then.

“I’m curious about something.”

“Yes?”

For some reason, Juliana deliberately blinked her eyes because she thought the emperor might say something difficult to answer. She also did so because she thought it would be more convenient to look naive.

However, unlike Juliana’s efforts, the emperor did not respond much. Rather, the golden eyes, which were like a fairy’s eyes, cooled down, and both cheeks were full of grudges.

He brought up the story.

“I don’t know why the Duchess, who was directly involved in her husband’s participation in the contest, suddenly changed her attitude. Why don’t the Duke Evan Hilcheon go one step further from here and run away with the Duchess before she changes in her double-mindedness again and lives with her for the next hundred years?”

She was wondering what he meant.

Juliana took a deep breath and answered calmly, keeping her equanimity.

“The Marquis of Auburn and Duke of Hilcheon had pledged to marry their children a long time ago. I thought you’d be pleased with the union of two strong families in the imperial court.”

“That’s the Duchess’s idea.”

As soon as Juliana stopped pretending to be innocent and spoke grumpy, Lucian answered immediately.

There was a chill in the air between the two-, and there was some sort of fierce snowball fight between them.

Juliana was the first one who looked down. Being cautious of her words as she came to the capital, and at the sound of the empress’s voice and the neighing of her horse, Juliana stepped back.

“Well, I’ll take my leave then with the knowledge that the Empress’s and mine horse riding and magic skills will decide about the outcome of the blue rose contest instead of the Emperor’s and my husband’s jousting skills.”

“Who do you think will win?”

’Who’s going to win? The little empress, who had been riding up and down the mountains in the northern part of the empire even before she could walk, will win!”

Juliana grinned as she managed to maintain her composure just before the grumpiness burst out.

“Don’t you want to get a blue rose, Sire?” Please wait and see. Her Majesty the Empress will personally present you with a blue rose.”

“I’m sure the Duke must be waiting for the Duchess long enough.”

Even with the emperor’s nasty answer, Juliana only shook her head and quietly walked out of the tent.

She was exhausted as if she lost all her strength and weight in her limbs because she had to use the teleportation magic several times before.

Juliana sighed as she saw the horse, the cause of the hardship, lively eating raw vegetables.

‘…..yes, yes. Eat well. So that your owner doesn’t become the villainess, but instead ends up together with the second male lead.’

The little empress was really cute when she was interacting with the emperor who was so dreary.

She waved her hand, thrilled by feeding her old friend. Ereina’s face looked more radiant than the sun, as she broke free from the cage of discipline with joy.

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Translator –