/
She pulled out a handkerchief and tried to wipe the wine-soaked in Ethan’s clothes.
Dorothea saw that, and strength entered her hands.
“It’s okay. Everyone makes mistakes.”
Ethan smiled at the young lady, removed her hand, and wiped his clothes with his handkerchief.
Dorothea just got angry when she saw Ethan like that.
‘Don’t smile, Ethan. Don’t smile!’
It’s also a problem to grow things up in the banquet hall, and Ethan was rumored to be socially friendly, but Dorothea hoped he was being a jerk for once.
‘I wish I could push that Young lady.’
Dorothea thought so and suddenly realized that she was having a bad idea.
‘Pushing someone who made a mistake with Ethan! You’ve lost your mind, Dorothea, and you shouldn’t be jealous.’
Dorothea took the new wine next to her and gulped it again.
Meanwhile, the Young lady, who spilled wine, didn’t leave Ethan’s side.
“But please take off your jacket first. I’ll get a servant to take it off for you.”
“I said it’s fine.”
Ethan removed the Young lady’s hand holding his jacket.
While the Young lady was embarrassed by the knife-like rejection, he took off his jacket himself.
Then the blue vest and white shirt that fell snugly against his body were revealed.
When his body, hidden under the jacket, was revealed under the light of the chandelier, the people watching him stopped talking for a moment.
Usually, it is said that clothes are wings, but for Ethan Bronte, it should be said that clothes benefit the body.
Ethan handed the wine-soaked jacket to the Bronte servant, and slightly rolled up the sleeves of the slightly damp shirt.
“I can do this.”
“Ah…”
Ethan said to the mesmerized Young lady, then turned to Dorothea, who stood in the distance.
The gaze at the end of his long eyelashes, his meaningful smile.
Dorothea’s heart skipped a beat as she Made eye contact with him.
‘What is my heart beating so fast for!’
Dorothea had to swallow the wine next to her to calm herself.
* * *
The banquet continued until the sun went down, and as time passed, people began to return home.
The banquet hall was empty as many had disappeared, and even those who hadn’t come home yet were drunk and cluttered.
Ethan was supposed to be gone, but tonight he was going to see it through to the end of today’s banquet.
Ethan decided to get some air in the garden outside the ballroom, away from the drunks.
There was only one reason he was still here, even though he didn’t want to deal with the drunks.
He was waiting for the time when he could have Dorothea all to himself.
Carnan held a birthday banquet for Dorothea, so even if a date was impossible after the banquet was over, he planned to make time to spend alone with Dorothea.
“Ethan….”
A hand grabbed his sleeve.
He was deliberately out to a remote place without people, so he turned his head to see if someone else was following him, and it was Dorothea.
“Princess…!”
Ethan was startled and grabbed her hand.
Then Dorothea looked up at him, pursed his lips, and pulled his sleeve.
“Why are you pretending not to know me…?”
Dorothea raised her head and looked at him.
Her pronunciation is a little messed up. Ripe red cheeks signaled that she was drunk.
“What do you mean?”
“You pretended you didn’t know. You acted like a stranger…”
Dorothea shook his sleeve and blamed him.
Ethan was taken aback by the sound of her crying.
“That’s because we have to hide our relationship in front of others….”
“You didn’t even give me a present…”
Dorothea pursed her lips and buried her head in his forearm.
At that moment, Ethan almost couldn’t control the surge of desire.
“Princess, are you drunk?”
“Yes, I’m drunk. But the drunk people said they weren’t drunk. Then am I not drunk?”
Dorothea muttered, resting her forehead on his arm.
Ethan seemed to go crazy at her pronunciation as she tried to speak without twisting her tongue.
‘You had spent the entire banquet trying to act like you didn’t care, and you’re going to do this at the end?’
“Yes. I get depressed when I’m drunk, Ethan.”
“I know, Princess.”
Before her return, Dorothea the tyrant would open a splendid feast during the day to drink and suffer from depression at night.
If she drinks one or two drinks, her mood is moderately good, but if she crosses that line, she will sink to a frightening depth.
That is the reason why Dorothea stopped drinking the alcohol she used to drink often before returning, and she only drank one or two after returning.
‘I know myself well, so I’ve been keeping that line well…’
It’s all because of Ethan. He lifts her heart all day, letting her go, and makes her anxious.
Dorothea murmured and confessed to Ethan the depression that came from alcohol.
“I think I feel at ease. But I get greedy.”
Dorothea shook her head and muttered.
‘After the return, I was afraid of everything and I was busy running away, but life slowly began to catch my eye.’
She wanted to live. The punishing life she had once thought she deserved to die, no, had to die, was now good.
She had come to love her life, and she had looked forward to tomorrow.
“You can be greedy like that.  Princess.” Ethan said to Dorothea.
“All of a sudden, I’m thinking, I wish I could do these things…. like I’m an emperor.”
Dorothea let out a small sob.
She would sometimes be absorbed in thinking about Ubera’s work as if she had become an emperor.
Dorothea thinks they should also do water and sewage maintenance, and she wants to pay attention to the neglected technology development side.
Greed, which she thought had been well suppressed, filled every nook and cranny of her daily life.
Having failed as an emperor before, Dorothea sometimes felt deeply disappointed when she found herself thinking those thoughts again.
“There were a lot of things I really wanted to say during the meeting. But I couldn’t…”
“I know, Princess.”
‘Because I have seen the thoughts you have hidden in writing that you cannot spit out.’
“I guess there is still a part of my heart that wants to be emperor..”
Dorothea squeezed her chest tightly.
I’m not jealous of Raymond’s position and I’m not arrogantly greedy for the power of the emperor.
She just wants to be more proactive about the things she dreams of doing in Ubera from a position where she can easily spread her influence.
The desire to have a voice without having to borrow someone else’s mouth.
If she had been born into a noble family instead of a princess, she would have gained a position and used her power even a little bit, but it is difficult for a princess.
Ubera, which has continued for a thousand years, has already been shared by numerous nobles, and there is no land left to give Dorothea the Grand Duke status.
So it was better to shake off this greed and turn away.
Then Ethan stroked Dorothea’s hair. Dorothea stood still, feeling his touch. Gradually, the gloomy and depressed mind from drunkenness finds stability.
“Yeah, I think I’m drunk.”
Dorothea smiled bashfully, brushing her thoughts away. Then she looked at Ethan and asked again.
“But why didn’t you give me a gift, Ethan?”
The same topic comes back.
Apparently, she was pretty bothered that he didn’t give her a gift.
Ethan found Dorothea adorable like that.
“I was going to give it to you in a place where there were no other people after it was over.”
“Then you should have told me before… That upset me and I drank until I got drunk.”
Dorothea slapped him in the chest.
His heart was beating so hard that it throbbed as if he had been hit by a cotton fist that had been beaten with force.
“So….what’s your gift?”
As Dorothea hurriedly asked, Ethan hesitated for a moment before grabbing her hand.
The patience in Dorothea’s eyes had long run out.
“Follow me.”
He took Dorothea’s hand and walked somewhere.
They gradually moved away from the banquet halls where people remained.
* * *
Ethan, who had already visited the Imperial Palace before returning, skillfully went into a garden, avoiding the eyes of knights and people.
The dark garden, not lit by a single light, is surrounded by shrubs and tall trees and cannot be seen clearly from the outside.
As the sun went down and the shade was thick, there was even an eerie atmosphere in the garden.
Dorothea wanted to get out of the banquet hall like this, but it felt strange as if she was running away with Ethan secretly.
In the middle of the garden was a small, white-domed gazebo. Ethan sat Dorothea in the gazebo.
“Would you mind closing your eyes for a moment?”
At Ethan’s words, Dorothea gently closed her eyes.
Then she heard a small rustling and moving sound in her ear.
After a while, Ethan called her again.
“You can open your eyes now.”
At Ethan’s permission, Dorothea carefully opened her eyes.
Then, an unbelievably enchanting landscape unfolded in front of her.
In the garden embroidered by the spirits, the bad atmosphere disappeared like snow melted and glistened with bright lights.
The flowers that had been sleeping in the darkness were in full bloom, and the things covered in darkness were revealed.
A luminary that sparkles as if the stars in the sky were brought down here to the ground.
A feast of the spirits of light that cannot be made even with the power of Carnan and Raymond.
And in the middle, Ethan, who shines brighter than anything else, was standing with a violin.
Dorothea felt like she was in a fantasy.
“I dedicate this song to my princess.”
He bowed politely like a musician on stage and then placed a bow on the violin.
Dorothea clapped, doing her part as the only audience member.
As he moved his bow gently, like a butterfly slowly spreading its wings, a rich sound came out.
The melody of the violin wrapped around her, enveloping her in warmth.
Tiny balls of light swayed in time to the music and hovered by her side.
Dorothea, who knew nothing about music, didn’t recognize the title of the song Ethan was playing.
However, the gentle waves produced by his fingertips dug deep into her heart.
His unwritten words spoke to her.
As if she had known the power of music from birth, she grasped Ethan’s secret language, which she had never learned, and held her hand to her chest.
It was as if he was comforting her that she was doing well.
You have endured it well just by coming so far, so let’s be happy now.
And I love you all the time.
Dorothea raised her head because she felt like she was about to cry.
‘I shouldn’t cry when I’m so happy. I didn’t want to show tears in front of Ethan.’
But in the end, tears fell from her eyes.
The music from Ethan’s fingertips shook her, leaving marks clear and dark enough to cover her old wounds.