/
(Anastasia’s 3rd Person POV)
‘
How could this have happened?’
“Greetings to His Majesty the Emperor, the sun of the empire.”
Anastasia felt flustered when she noticed that she was the only one present and was alone with Wilhelm.
It was touching that the young ladies from the south left discreetly to give the two of them their privacy.
“Congratulations on your birthday, Your Majesty. May goddess Rosenia protect you always.”
“Thank you, Empress.”
Wilhelm greeted her in a dry tone.
“It does seem that I received my birthday greetings a bit too late, though.”
“There were just too many people who came to greet me.”
Anastasia immediately apologized. ‘As expected, you’re very sharp.’
“I apologize for my delay. I was just about to come over to give you my greetings.”
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
“Can I believe that lie, though?”
(T/N: Woah
 Wilhelm is now starting to be affected by her actions.)
[pr/n: Her hubby is jealous that others got her attention first
poor Wilhelm.]
“

.”
‘I am half dazed and shocked
.. How did he know that was a lie?’
“I’m just kidding.”
His answer seemed to be as sincere as what it shows on his face but technically he was accurate in his statement.
“

”
Anastasia decided to cut the meeting short after a brief silence between them.
“Then I hope you will enjoy your birthday, Your Majesty.”
That would be the last of her wishes before she leaves Wilhelm.
Anastasia didn’t want to communicate with him more than she had to.
It was too painful. The pain was immense when she realized that this would be the last time that she would be able to attend Wilhelm’s birthday as she will be gone after her dethronement.
Therefore, even if it may seem rude for anyone looking at them, she will have to cut it short. Even if the person himself considered this to be disrespectful.
‘This will be the right thing to do. I shouldn’t get any closer to him than I already have.’
Anastasia once again recalled what she had promised herself from the beginning.
‘Be kind to everyone. Except for one person
and that is him.’
“Where are you going?”
“I will be returning to the Empress’ palace.”
“Already?”
“I’m a little bit tired.”
“

”
When she said that she’s already fatigued, he wasn’t able to keep her there any longer.
‘Hold on a second
’
Anastasia felt strange at that moment.
‘
.Will he make excuses just to keep me there?’
‘Or rather
is he someone who was willing to end this conversation sooner.’
‘So even if he appeared to be disappointed for a moment, it would indeed be the perfect illusion.’
‘It is rather absurd for me to project my feelings onto His Majesty.’
Anastasia quickly decided to wrap up the conversation.
“Then, I’ll be going now.”
“

Birthday greetings.”
At that moment when Anastasia was about to leave, Wilhelm opened his mouth as if he couldn’t prevent the words from bursting out.
Anastasia looked at him with puzzled eyes.
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
“I mean, is that all?”
Anastasia couldn’t seem to grasp his intention.
[pr/n: Your hubby doesn’t want you to leaveeee.]
‘Then
what more should I be doing now?’
“A gift or
..”
“ 
Pardon me?”
“
.No, it was nothing.”
At that moment, Wilhelm’s eyes became dull, as if he had been splashed by cold water.
[pr/n: there there buddy, there there.]
“I must have gone crazy for a second. I’m sorry, I have made a mistake.”
“
..What?”
“Hurry up, and go take some rest.”
“

.”
Anastasia couldn’t understand what was wrong with him all of a sudden.
However, she didn’t want to spend more time with him while answering useless questions, so she immediately bid him goodbye.
“May the Goddess be with you always, Your Majesty.”
She mumbled softly and gracefully bowed her head, as she slowly moved away.
“

.”
Wilhelm looked at her with a complicated look in his eyes for a long time.
-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-
(3rd Person POV)
“Oh my gosh. Just how in the world did I manage to drop my cuff links?”
In the midst of the birthday celebrations, Colton grumbled as he entered the Central Palace.
Perhaps everyone, including Wilhelm, was already at the party. There would only be a minimum amount of people left in the palace.
“Well, now I regret making fun of His Majesty when it happened to him. But who would have thought that they could fall off this easily?”
‘If someone hadn’t quietly informed me that one of the cuff buttons had disappeared, I would have been disgraced.’
Colton decided to search inside his office, where he was present just before the banquet started.
‘Huh?’
That’s when he noticed something strange and wondered.
‘Why are there so many guards standing in front of His Majesty’s office?’
With Wilhelm still attending the party, all the guards were expected to watch over where His Majesty was present.
Even the captain of the Imperial Guard, Sir Morgan, was seen here. Colton decided to approach him and asked about what was going on.
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
“Sir Morgan?”
“Oh, Sir Colton. What are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to be at the banquet?”
“That is what I wanted to ask you. His Majesty was supposed to be at the party as well. So why would the captain of the guard be standing here?”
The following answers were quite shocking for Colton to hear.
“His Majesty had returned back to his office earlier than expected.”
“
Returned back to the office?””
“Yes. He said something about an urgent business.”
Colton was stunned for a while upon hearing this, and then hurriedly went inside to Wilhelm’s office.
“Your Majesty!”
It was as Morgan said, Wilhelm was working in his office!
Colton froze in shock.
“What kind of issue would you be here for that cannot wait until tomorrow?”
At Wilhelm’s displeased voice, Colton’s spirit seemed to have returned. He then asked with a puzzled face.
“Your Majesty, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be attending your own party?”
“Since when did I start to enjoy something like that?”
“Oh, no. What I mean is, at the very least, you should be greeting your guests.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Those who deserved to receive it had already been addressed.”
“Even so, it’s your birthday. You should be relaxing today. Not doing overtime!”
“You’re so noisy. My head is spinning because of you.”
He pointed to his forehead as if to express he had a really bad headache.
But even if his head was pounding, it wasn’t because of Colton.
“Something has been bothering me. That’s why I couldn’t stay in that noisy place any longer.”
“Something keeps bothering you? What do you mean by that?”
“

.”
“

.?”
Looking at Wilhelm, who did not answer right away, Colton suddenly had a realization.
‘What could it be
’
“Wait
..no way?”
Then
a sudden realization came to mind and he immediately asked Wilhelm. Just to test his theory.
“Is
it because of Her Majesty the Empress?”
[pr/n: DING DING DING. WE HAVE A WINNER.]
Immediately, a heated glare fell upon him. Thanks to this, Colton found his answer without any difficulty.
‘It really is because of Her Majesty the Empress? But why?’
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
“I-
”
Wilhelm started to answer in a displeased voice. Colton nodded.
“You think so.”
“No.”
“Really?”
“

..”
Wilhelm didn’t answer back, and turned his gaze back to the documents.
Colton now looked at Wilhelm with a contemplating gaze.
Whether or not he was conscious of Colton’s piercing gaze, he became rather frustrated and was unable to bear being stared at. Wilhelm finally decided to speak and uttered a deep sigh.
“That’s true
”
‘What? If you were going to admit it eventually, why were you so stubborn earlier?’
As he swallowed his inner thought, Colton then asked Wilhelm.
“Are there any problems? I hadn’t received any reports of anything unusual.”
“There was nothing alerting us to strange and suspicious activities?”
Wilhelm snorted.
“No way! My intelligence team is not that terrible.”
Colton, who was usually praised for his knowledge, made an absurd expression.
Since he was very proud of his information network.
“About the Empress, do you really think that she truly has changed?”
“For now, it remains the most valid information that we currently have.”
Colton nodded his head as he replied  .
“His Majesty has the same thought as well, right?.”
“
No. It was my misunderstanding.”
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
Colton’s eyes widened in shock at those words, and Wilhelm continued with his convictions.
“If she’s really that determined to change, then of course there are other things that are equally as important to be considered. But isn’t it more crucial to improve our relationships as a chief concern? Don’t you think that should be the main priority?”
“
.Yes?”
“The way she treats me is no different from usual. No, I spoke too quickly. There is indeed a difference since she doesn’t pick a fight with me anymore. It just seems like she already decided to avoid me entirely.”
“If I hadn’t come to her today, she would have gone back to the Empress’s Palace without even saying goodbye! Hah! And what about my birthday present? She should have known that I was expecting it.”
(T/N: Hahaha!! Wilhelm throwing tantrums is soo cute..)
[pr/n: Poor hubby just wants his wife’s attention. There there.]
“Then
”
Colton asked cautiously as if to imply that he had already figured it out.
“Are you upset because Her Majesty the Empress did not bring you a birthday present?”
At Colton’s words, there was a suffocating silence in the office.
Wilhelm had his drop dropped in astonishment and after a while, he finally was able to speak.
“Am I upset? Me?”
He said it with an incredulous tone, as if he had heard something outrageous.
Hearing Wilhelm’s slight irritation in his words, Colton immediately tried to backtrack.
“No,what I’m trying to say is
that’s what it sounds like when you speak.”
“
Then your hearing is questionable. Why would I be upset about something trivial like that?”
‘Hmm
but I think it’s clear that you’re sulking about it.’
But of course, Colton only thought about this in his head. Self preservation.
‘For now, it doesn’t seem to be the time to honestly say it out loud.’
“However, I really don’t understand the situation at all because the Empress’s attitude has always been inconsistent. Why is she being so kind to everyone else, but towards me she-
..!”
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
“You are very concerned about how Her Majesty the Empress treats you.”
Colton spoke out loud without realizing it. Wilhelm paused and glared at him.
“I didn’t know that you cared about such a trivial issue. I thought you would be glad that you and Her Majesty’s relationship would stay the same.”
“I don’t care
 !”
[pr/n: We believe you like we believe we would win the lottery.]
Wilhelm raised his voice without realizing it, and was stunned that he was too affected by this situation.
He realized his behavior was becoming more erratic than usual.
Suddenly he came to his senses like a person who was splashed with cold water. He then remained silent for a long time, and soon touched his furrowed forehead, as he sighed deeply.
“Okay, that’s enough. Let’s stop talking about this. I must have drank too much.”
But according to Colton’s intelligence network, he  only drank one cocktail today.
And
it was also a non-alcoholic drink.
But if he pointed that out, he would definitely not hear the end of it, so he decided to just keep quiet.
[pr/n: smart Colton smart.]
“Sir Colton, what brings you here? Did you not enjoy the banquet?”
“Oh yes, I think I may have dropped my cuff links here. I came to find it.”
Then, a shiny gold cuff link was spotted in the corner of Colton’s eyes. He picked it up with a pleasant expression.
“Oh, here it is.”
He quickly returned the cuff links to its original position with quick movements, then quickly greeted Wilhelm, who still looked quite annoyed.
“Then have a good evening, Your Majesty. I’m going back to the banquet now.”
Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.
He quickly left the office as if his shoes were on fire.
Wilhelm frowned at seeing him depart so quickly and soon returned to the documents on his desk as if nothing had happened,and began to focus on the documents.
[pr: my brain
nothing like a good ole fashioned ‘Curse you AP’ to come save the day.]