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Episode 55: Mind Over Matter
Before getting into the carriage, she tapped her feet twice.
Took a look around.
Ignored the coachman who reached out his right hand.
She haughtily entered and sat with her own strength and only looked ahead.
The speed of the carriage accelerated in the middle, perhaps she ordered so.
Johann’s eyes followed the carriage in which Berylia was riding.
“Hmm.”
He looked at her with black eyes that stopped like still life, and then his gaze suddenly shifted to the wine bottle.
The Dew of Montaigne.
It was his favorite wine.
“I heard from Madam Verdi that you like this wine. I bought it directly from a shop in town.”
Recalling that strangely condescending tone, Johann smiled lowly.
“Do you like it?”
His butler, Melfis, asked from the side.
He wasn’t talking about wine.
“Well…….”
Johann looked at the small carriage that had not yet left his garden, and pulled out the ribbon from the packaging.
Shiiik–
The wrapping, which had been done like a dress, was promiscuously stripped naked by his soft, cool fingers.
He took the cork off the bound woman and brought it to his lips.
And drank from it directly without pouring it into a glass.
“What kind of person do you think Her Majesty the Queen is?”
Melfis kept asking.
Johann shook the wine bottle briefly, made a slight frown, and parted his lips.
“She’s clever, but honest.”
Then, his pale lips gently ran over the ‘woman’s body’ before taking another sip of the wine.
“She’s thorough, but there are gaps.”
“……”
“She shoots wildly according to her nature…”
He looked back and laughed, licking his wet lips.
“So cute, I want it.”
Meanwhile, the carriage in which Berylia was riding completely exited his residence.
Melfis bent over and spoke politely.
“It seems that you liked today’s meeting.”
“I think so.”
Tak– He put down the bottle of wine and turned around.
Melfis followed.
“Are you going straight to the temple?”
“Yes.”
Johann’s steps toward the temple were relentless.
“Don’t let anyone in until I come out first.”
Melfis, who had been silently bowing his head, asked as if he had remembered belatedly.
“If a message comes from Her Majesty the Queen, should I call you?”
Johann smiled strangely for a moment and said,
“It won’t come. For the time being.”
* * *
‘I won’t go back for a while. I need to prepare a little more before I do.’
The next day.
I was reading a book and looking back on yesterday’s meeting.
He was not a formidable man. He was not an easy person.
‘How can he say something that puts me to shame with such a kind face?’
I was a little irritated, and quite ashamed that I brought a bribe.
Since the opponent was not normal, I also had to be armed.
So I read a page of a book I particularly chose, then I moved onto the next with determination.
“Your Majesty, why are you reading such a terrifying book?”
Seryl asked about the book I was reading with questioning eyes.
I proudly held the cover of the book.
<10 Ways to Laugh and Crush the Other Person>
“I think I’ve been through something like this. So I’m trying to prepare.”
I needed to study to deal with a man who smiles and says everything he wants to say.
So, it was half offensive and half defensive.
“Because I don’t have time.”
“Ah.” She asked after shaking her head as if she understood.
“Time is ticking because you couldn’t see His Highness the Crown Prince? Because you miss him so much?”
No, it was not necessarily like that…
“Ah, come to think of it, you can finally see him today. How great is it?”
“It’s fifteen minutes until noon.”
Seryl and Laura were excited in turn.
‘No. I don’t like it at all.’
It occurred to me that I felt more comfortable when he was away.
The thought of seeing him from noon suddenly started to bother me.
Like at the celebration banquet of the first night of the engagement, when I was constantly apprehensive in that large banquet hall.
Even though I knew he couldn’t talk or come to me… I could not escape from his cool and friendly gaze and kept making eye contact.
I was already hyperaware of Rixus.
‘It’s starting again. I’m doomed.’
The text bounced off my eyes and I began to lose focus on reading.
Every second and minute, I was sensitive to the passage of time.
‘It’s not like I’m seeing him right away at noon.’
Technically, today’s noon would flow into one of the meaningless sequences of time.
There was nothing special about it… Why couldn’t I concentrate on the book and was paying attention to something like this?
“Kyaaaah! Ten minutes left!”
Seryl was more excited than me.
‘Seryl, please be quiet. You’re making me more concerned.’
How self-deprecating.
With such an easygoing heart, even though I knew I was about to die in the future… … With a heart of reckless resignation.
That was how I lived my life.
My heart started palpitating at the thought that the three-day ban on meeting Rixus was about to be lifted.
It was like the night before going to an amusement park.
Or, it was like the 10 minutes mark before the end of a math test.
Even I was confused by this unidentified trembling and tension.
Then, I couldn’t bear it and the clock I looked at was exactly…
…It was exactly 30 seconds before noon.
Badump, badump, badump.
20 seconds.
Badump, badump, badump.
5 seconds.
4 seconds. 3 seconds. 2 seconds. 1 second……
Soon, the heavy bell of the wall clock, which announced noon, rang loudly.
Without realizing it, I closed the book and looked at the door.
What was I expecting?
“……”
But in the end, nothing happened
Nothing.
I breathed in quietly and let out a silent sigh.
‘What did I get nervous for like an idiot?’
When it was noon and nothing happened, the pounding of the heart stopped like a lie.
I lowered my eyes slightly for a second and opened them again, placing the closed book beside me.
Fortunately, my mind went back to its usual calmness.
“I’m going to go eat lunch. Something especially delicious.”
“Kyaa! Okay! Seryl wants to eat with you!”
That was when I got up and dusted off my seat.
Tachak–
Before the last bell of the grandfather clock stopped.
There was a man who opened the door without hesitation and entered.
Rixus fixed his deep gaze on me and walked straight to me.
It was a very fast pace.
“!”
While I stared blankly at him, I vaguely saw a doorkeeper with his hand outstretched behind Rixus’ back.
It seemed that he had not been able to do anything about the crown prince who recklessly pushed in.
Hukk–!
Soon, he gave me a crushing hug.
Seeing the scene, the maids next to us blushed and shouted, “Oh my God!”
But I couldn’t hear it properly.
It was because I was so flustered.
Rixus closed his eyes and took a long breath.
I clumsily rested my hands on his shoulders, and just stiffly hugged him.
I could feel the beating of my heart from our touching chests.
It seemed like it was Rixus’. No, it was mine.
In fact, it didn’t matter whose it was. Because I felt our hearts pounding on the same beat.
I didn’t really want to see him.
I would have rather not wanted noon to come today.
But as if strangely contagious, as soon as noon came, the bursting heartbeat of the man who came to see me spread to me as well.
That sweet, blind feeling of coming to me without delay even for a second… I felt it in my chest too.
I quickly took a deep breath.
Just like a person who was suffocated and then took his first breath.
He whispered.
“Why is it so long? One day.”
How the heck did he spend the day from yesterday to today?
I ate well, slept well, and met Johann well, so I had no way of knowing.
“A day…?”
“Why one day?”
“Is there a reason why it’s one day instead of three?”
But it was then.
Seryl, Laura and Maribel tilted their heads and questioned.
Although their cheeks were flushed from the sudden act of affection and intense hugs, they had expressions indicating they could not erase their doubts.
Mischievous curiosity flashed in their eyes.
For a moment, I felt my heart hammering.
My face heated up as I felt like they had uncovered our secret meeting.
It couldn’t be true. No one would know unless I told them.
My heart fluttered as if I was caught during the thrilling moment of secretly kissing in the Imperial Library.
“…He must have said it wrong. Right, Rixus?”
I looked at him, asking for help.
But Rixus just looked at me.
Around his eyes was a cheeky smile like that of a five-year-old child.
Meaning that he would neither correct nor agree. But playfully watch me panic instead.
I felt that very well.
As if I was a sea otter that worked hard to crack the shells, but became desperate while watching the food get swept away by the waves.
From an angle that the maids couldn’t see, poke! I jabbed his side.
“Hmm…”
At that time, Rixus set his gaze slightly up diagonally, and for a moment, his face seemed to be holding back laughter.
He looked at the maids and corrected them simply.
“I saw her from afar at the celebration party. So one day.”
“Ahhh…….”
Maribel quietly nodded her head.
Then, Rixus’ eyes became deeper and darker than usual. He asked with a suspicious smile.
“Why, I don’t think anyone would have snuck in and kissed the queen.”
“!”
Maribel’s face, no, she turned red from head to toe.
It made my face heat up like it was about to explode.
He was a man who was becoming more and more shameless with the passing day.
“Don’t joke around. How undignified.”
I rebuked him in front of the maids who were as embarrassed as I was, and then gently pulled his shirt.
“Come here.”
“If you eat lunch with me, I’ll stop talking and leave.”
“…Okay, so come with me.”
<69 Ways to Deal with Disrespectful and Unscrupulous Men> It was a moment when I desperately needed this book.