Lady to Queen

Chapter 78: CHAPTER 76. I SEEM TO BE IN LOVE WITH YOU

“Right, I forgot about that. There has been a lot on my mind as of late. So are all the preparations ready?”

“I have secured a dealer. Everything will probably go as you plan.”

“Sure… it better go according to plan.”

Rosemond nodded her head with a satisfied expression on her face. This time, she would not just give a hard time to the Empress. Lucio, it would not be so bad to watch that man be humiliated as well.

“Do not let things go wrong this time. I will not let you go if you fail like the last time during the situation with the Christa Empire’s envoys.”

“Do not worry, Your Majesty. No one will be able to catch on to our plan this time.”

Glara was absolutely confident, and in fact, Rosemond was also quite confident in executing this plan as well. Rosemond drew an expectant smile on her face, and began to mentally devise a way so she could ruin the Emperor’s birthday celebration more effectively.

“… ”

Lucio slowly opened his eyes and looked around his surroundings. All the scenery around him perfectly proved that he was lying down on his bed, in the Central Palace. Lucio muttered to himself in a dazed voice.

“…Was it all a dream?”

Was last night, where he had gotten so drunk off the aphrodisiac that he unleashed his passion to the point of not knowing whether he had dreamed it up, or if it actually happened, make-believe or real? As he was twisting his face into a frown because he was not able to make the distinction, a maid walked into the room. She asked him a question.

“Your Majesty, should I bring you a glass of water?”

“…More than that.”

He asked in a skeptical voice.

“Where was I last night?”

“…Ah.”

The maid was at a loss, but managed to reply quickly.

“Your Majesty spent the night with the Empress at Iste Palace.”

“I did?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. The Knights of the Central Palace brought Your Majesty back in the morning.”

“…Then where is the Empress?”

“…”

The maid was forced to shut her mouth closed regarding this matter. But she soon opened her mouth again and replied to him faithfully.

“Her Majesty in the Empress Palace.”

“…”

Lucio was a bit shocked, but soon grasped the reality of the situation. After he let her know that he understood, he told the maid she was free to leave. After a while, he fell into deep contemplation for the moment, drinking the lukewarm water that the maid had brought. Soon after, his face became etched with a guilty expression.

“…I am crazy.”

It wasn’t the first time for him, but it was for her. He should have been more considerate towards her… He continued to rebuke himself as he hit his head with a fist. He felt that he was basically a piece of trash.

“Haaa…”

Was it alright? Lucio worried about her with a serious expression on his face. Whether he should go to the Empress Palace, or not, was the question. To go to the Empress Palace, he did not know how he would be able to face her, and if he didn’t go, he would be hated even more than the current amount of hate he was receiving. Eventually, Lucio stayed immobile for an hour determining the choice of one of the two, finally made up his mind and got up from his spot to leave.

Patrizia eventually failed to achieve her grand ambition in being able to sleep in for the whole afternoon. She could not waste away the whole day because of the pain from one night, when there was so much work to do, and there would even be the Emperor’s birthday celebration as well.

She had said she would not care about it early on, and told others to take care of it without much sincerity, but nevertheless, her work had not been reduced much as a result of certain duties only she could accomplish with the authority of being the Empress.

Patrizia was reviewing the budget for the amount of chocolate that would be used for the birthday celebration, when a maid walked in bearing news for her.

“Your Majesty, His Majesty the Emperor has arrived.”

“…”

Patrizia frowned. Their awkward relationship seemed even more uncomfortable because of the incident from last night, but she couldn’t figure out the Emperor’s intention in trying to make things so unpleasant. If she followed her desire, she would have turned him away before he could enter through the door, but managed to squash that down.

“… Escort him in.”

With those words, the Emperor appeared in the room. When he entered the room with his usual appearance, Patrizia felt extremely irritated without knowing the reason. ‘I am in so much pain, while you!’ Of course, strictly speaking this was something Lucio could do nothing about, so Patrizia managed to calm herself down by using her level-headed reasoning. She greeted him with proper respect.

“I greet Your Majesty, the Sun and monarch of this great nation. I hope there is only glory in the Marvinus Empire.”

“Is your body alright?”

Was it her body condition that he was going to ask about first? Patrizia opened her mouth with a strange expression on her face.

“…I am sorry, but I cannot lie and tell you that I am alright.”

“Then the court physician will…”

“…It is not necessary to that extent.”

Most of all, it would end up leaving a steadfast impression on others that they had spent their first time barely on the previous night. Lucio woke up to the fact that it was a thoughtless remark, and apologized.

“… I apologize. This is all my fault.”

“If Your Majesty apologizes for this… I do not know. I do not think there is anything to apologize for.”

She covered up yesterday’s incident with a voice that was unmoved.

“Was I not the one that had hugged Your Majesty first, when you kept saying you were alright? Your Majesty did not forcibly take me, and as you know, the two of us are actually married.”

Patrizia said these words, but the expression on her face did not look too happy.

“So it is fine, Your Majesty. If you are uncomfortable with what happened last night, you can just forget about it.”

“…Will you forget about it?”

“I will forget if you want me to.”

In response to her words, Lucio’s expression revealed hiow wounded he was. Patrizia flinched and paused for a moment, but there was no room to put down her pride now.

“It must have been a trivial time spent for you if you can forget if I tell you to forget it, and remember if I tell you to remember.”

“It was not a great night for both of us, because I did not love Your Majesty while I chose to be held by you, and Your Majesty also embraced me while being drunk off the effects of the aphrodisiac.”

“…It was our first night.”

“What significance does that have?”

Patrizia spoke to him coldly.

“For me, it was solely the night that gave me my first pain, nothing more and nothing less.”

“…It almost seems like you are intentionally trying to hurt me.”

“You will be making things more difficult if you continue to act like this, Your Majesty.”

She laughed with a flabbergasted face.

“The one who hurt me first is Your Majesty, and the one who admitted that is also Your Majesty. In addition… I am the one who went into your arms yesterday, despite my loathing Your Majesty.”

“… ”

“So just forget about it. Yesterday night. Everything about it.”

“…For myself, as I hugged you yesterday, a very inferior thought came to my mind.”

“…”

“I wondered if you might perhaps look at me, at all. Because our bodies had become tangled together, I wondered if you might show your heart to me, even if it was a little bit.”

“It is often said that a woman can never spend the night with a man that she has not given her heart to… I am not sure. Yesterday I was able to do so.”

Patrizia closed off his heart without allowing any gaps.

“The women of the red-light district give their bodies without any feelings. If you are really uncomfortable then…”

“Why are you trying to cut yourself down that way? Do you think you can hurt me more in doing that?”

“…”

“If that was the idea, it was a success. Thanks to you, I am hurt.”

“Why.”

Patrizia asked with clear eyes.

“Why did you get hurt from that?”

Lucio hesitated at Patrizia’s question, but eventually opened his mouth.

“I seem…”

“…”

No, don’t say that.

“I seem to be…”

Close your mouth. Don’t say any more than that.

“I seem to be in love with you.”

Finally, Pandora’s Box was opened.

Love.

When he placed that one word in his mouth, Patrizia could not help but ridicule him in her thoughts.

“Love.”

“…”

“Your Majesty had also loved the Marchioness in the past.”

“…”

“I also fall under that kind of love for Your Majesty, Your Majesty is currently mistaken.”

Patrizia spoke to him with sad eyes.

“You are looking at me like you did with the Marchioness. Because I had shown pity for Your Majesty’s wounds.”

She, who had been deceived by those wounds and had then given him some genuine sincerity, had made a fool of herself.

“If someone other than I had heard such a story and wept for Your Majesty, would Your Majesty love that woman as well?”

“…I.”

The Emperor failed to open his mouth, because the mistakes of the past were obvious. Because her words were all correct, word by word.

“You are unable to deny it. Since there already is a record of it.”

“…”

“And the heart. Heart was it.”

She laughed to scorn him.

“I showed Your Majesty my heart. When I heard the story of the past, the story from Your Majesty.”

Rather, she should not have listened then.

“So, do not want any more than this, Your Majesty. Do not even say that is love.”

She should have known that the feelings of compassion she had for him, was simply her being arrogant as well as wasteful.

“Yesterday, nothing happened between us.”

With that, she then placed the knife into his heart.

When it was finally the Emperor’s birthday, Patrizia wore a pure white dress. The maids told her to wear a more fancy dress, but well. Patrizia did not really have the desire to celebrate his birthday.

“I greet Your Majesty, the Empress. Glory to the Empire.”

“It has been a while, Count Grancia.”

Patrizia stood still like a doll, exchanging greetings with many nobles. If she repeated the task of bringing forth the names of the nobles that were familiar enough to pop out of her head from having memorized them all already, her thoughts would disappear, and her anxiety would be forgotten. Of course, apart from him, her mind was becoming hazy. She was like a doll with no emotion.

“You look a bit tired today, Your Majesty.”

Mirya could not stand seeing her like that anymore, and said that out of concern, but Patrizia responded calmly.

“But I am fine, Mirya.”

“You always say that.”

“… Perhaps that time of the month is starting for me.”

Patrizia quietly whispered this, and Mirya nodded as if she understood.

“It would be nice if you could leave to rest up early, but the timing is quite bad.”

“There is no helping it.”

Patrizia asked Mirya for a request with a slightly strained expression on her face.

“Could you bring me a glass of sweet cocktail?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Please wait a moment. I will bring it over soon.”

“Alright. Take your time.”

With a light smile and nodding of her head, Mirya quickly disappeared for the cocktail. Meanwhile, Patrizia stumbled as she felt a slight dizziness, and there was someone who caught a hold of her.

“You should be careful.”

“…”

It was a voice that was so familiar to the point of getting goosebumps, Patrizia froze in the spot. She calmly set herself back up and faced him.

“I greet Your Majesty, the Emperor. Congratulations on your birthday.”

“Everyone I encounter says the same thing.”

He laughed bitterly. There was a sign of disgust all over his face.

“…”

Patrizia said nothing. Suddenly, she remembered the conversation they had together the day after spending the night. At that time, she had been a bit worked up over the night’s incident, but now she was unaffected by it. Rather, she felt like she had nearly backed him into a corner, and it bothered her a bit…

“Where are you sick? You look quite haggard today.”

“I think the makeup did not take well to my face.”

“Those are ridiculous words.”

He denied that with a serious expression on his face, and Patrizia said nothing, but gradually felt herself getting dizzy. The bleeding had been severe this time around. She couldn’t hold it in anymore, and confessed frankly.

“…It is that time of the month.”

“Ah.”

He nodded with a slightly awkward expression on his face.

“It should be very difficult for you. Would it not be alright if you went and took a rest?”

“I must endure it. The event is quite the event.”

“If the birthday flowers are presented quickly, then you can go and rest.”

“… I can hold on. I cannot let there be a crack in the honor of Your Majesty and the Imperial Family…”

“The Empress’ health comes first before all of that.”

“…”

While Patrizia was not able to say anything, Lucio whispered to her in a low-pitched voice.

“I will slightly change the order of the celebration. It is an Imperial order, so just leave and get some rest after the presentation of the birthday flowers.”

“… Yes.”

When she barely managed to answer, only then did his face seem brighten a bit. Patrizia looked at him being like this, not knowing how to feel.

“However, you are alone once again today.”

“Mirya went to get a cocktail for me again, and my guard briefly went to the bathroom. My sister said she will be a little late because she has some matters to attend to.”

“Your Majesty, the Emperor.”

When the unpleasant voice interrupted, Patrizia barely managed to take care of her facial expression.