He put his tongue into my mouth and licked my palate. When he showered me with a deep kiss, I softly touched his hair that hung around my fingers. As if he didn’t want to lose me, he pulled me toward him and wrapped his arms around my waist tightly. As he got close to my body, my heart was pounding hard, and I felt his warmth all over my body.

I moaned and breathed roughly when he kissed me passionately.

“Hah… ”

When I breathed out roughly, he licked the inside of my mouth with his tongue, then slowly released his tight grip around my waist. My body trembled with a pleasant thrill when he touched my back slowly.

He pulled me toward him lightly when I came near and I flopped down because my legs felt weak.

“Please tell me again.”

“Your Majesty.”

“I think I have heard you wrong. I think I should double check if I heard you right.”

“I also…”

“Then?”

“I also love…”

With all smiles on his face, he kept looking at me as if he urged me to go on.

As I blushed, I put my hands on my burning cheeks. When I tried to turn my head away from his eyes, I suddenly felt something wrong.

Why am I seeing his eyes at the same level? Because I hugged him, I am supposed to look up. Ugh?

The moment I breathed in and raised my body quickly, I lost my balance and found myself bent back. When I was closing my eyes, anticipating a sharp pain in the back, he already reached out and held my waist tightly.

“Whew…”

When I was breathing a sigh of relief, I heard somebody knocking on the door.

“… Your Majesty, here is the paperwork that you need to approve.”

After clearing his throat, his aide put a bundle of paper on the desk. I stared blankly at the man who quickly turned away without even making eye contact with me. I was so embarrassed that I wanted to hide somewhere right away.

Oh my God! What would he think of me? Dang it! It’s all because of the emperor! I wish I were not in that posture when he came in…

I blushed after recalling the situation right before he came in. I didn’t know when I got there, but I was hugging his neck, seated on his lap.

‘Gosh, let me just forget it!’

I shook my head to forget about it. I cautiously pulled my body from him and adjusted my dress, taking pains to turn away from him who was looking at me with a sullen expression.

“Why don’t you approve the paperwork first.”

“…”

“He’s waiting outside.”

“…”

“Oh, what if it needs your urgent approval…”

When I murmured with my eyes fixed on the floor, he sat on the sofa with a light sigh. Then he stopped reviewing the paperwork and suddenly stiffened.

‘Oh my…”

“What’s wrong?”

“The document on the breakoff of my engagement with you. I forgot to retrieve it.”

“Ah…”

“Is there anybody outside now? Come on in! ”

Startled by his sudden calling, the chief attendant came in quickly. His eyes were open wide when he saw the emperor very nervous.

“Run to the government building right now…Oh, no. Bring the prime minister here immediately. No, let me go there directly.”

“Your Majesty?”

The chief attendant was so embarrassed by his different attitude that he looked back at me.

Obviously, his glowing eyes suggested that he wanted my help.

Somehow, I wanted to calm him down by speaking to him, but a man with green hair stepped in. Even though he might have noticed a confused atmosphere, Duke Verita politely greeted the emperor who was so happy to see him.

“I’m honored to see you, the Sun of the empire.”

“Duke, I’m glad you are here. I’ve got something to tell you with respect to the official paper on my breakoff. Have you already processed it?”

“Well, I was coming back because of that…”

“Oh no, have you already processed it?”

“No. When I heard that Lady Monique regained consciousness, I put it on hold for a while, but I guess I don’t have to process it anymore.”

The duke took out a piece of paper and presented it to him with a smile. Opening the paper urgently and confirming its contents, the emperor breathed a sigh of relief.

I hurriedly closed my mouth to hold back the urge to burst into laughter, but I couldn’t help it when I saw the chief attendant looking at the emperor blankly. In fact, it was natural that the chief attendant reacted like that because he had never seen the emperor so nervous because of a piece of paper.

I laughed heartily for a while, then raised my head, sharply conscious of their intense gaze at me. The emperor was looking somewhere blankly, the duke was staring at him silently, and the chief attendant was standing, totally confused about what was going on.

Touching his glasses, the duke said with a smile, “Hmm, I think you have to hurry up with the wedding ceremony, Your Majesty. Let me draw the budget for that. ”

“… Duke.”

“You look much better now, Your Majesty. You have been stuck in your office for a while…Hummm, I think I can go home comfortably from now on.”

“Are you going to keep teasing me like this?”

“Oh, let me stop here, Your Majesty, Let me leave now.”

The duke smiled at the emperor who threw a tantrum at him, then said goodbye. He suddenly looked back right before he was getting out of the office, and said, “Lady Monique?”

“Yes, Duke Verita.’

“Let’s leave together. If you keep staying here, you’re disturbing his work a lot.”

“Ah yes. I will. ”

Come to think of it, I think I overstayed in his office. As he was always on a tight schedule, he was snowed under with work most of the time.

When I bowed to him politely, he nodded with a dissatisfied expression, then he said he would come to me in no time. He looked annoyed like a child who had his toys taken away.

As he looked cute at that moment, I left the office, trying to hide my bursting smile.

While walking along silently as if he was lost in thought, the duke looked back at me a little later and said, “So, how about your condition?”

“I’m fine. Thanks for your concern.”

“What a relief! Whew… I think I can breathe freely now.”

“Pardon? What do you mean…”

“Well, we had a big trouble while you were sick in bed. Not only the emperor but also your father worked like hell. Everybody was restless because of it.”

“…Oh, I see. I’m so sorry for causing you trouble.”

“That’s fine. Thanks to that, we all solved lots of delayed work. Good riddance to the backlog of work!” he said with a smile.

While walking with him in a cheerful mood, I slowly opened my mouth when I suddenly recalled something, “Duke Verita, may I ask you a few questions?”

“Sure. What are you curious about? ”

“Well, I think I heard you identified the mastermind of this plot. Who was it?”

“Oh, you seem to be more interested in the mastermind than how you survived. I think the late emperor might have been happy to hear you if he had been alive.”

Laughing heartily, he looked around and said with a low voice, “The mastermind is the one we have been suspicious about from the beginning.”

“You mean the black rose?”

“Yes. This time it will be impossible for him to deny it. We have secured a surefire witness.”

“Are you referring to Marquis Mirwa? But…”

“Are you saying it could be deception? I don’t think so. I’ve obtained the relevant document to prove he was the main culprit.”

“Pardon? Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m still trying to figure out whether it’s authentic, but it’s probably true. Even if it isn’t, we have secured his seal. So, we can make a relevant document. The thing is who is going to testify for us.”

“That ‘s right…”

I nodded slowly. Anyway, politics is the fight for cause. The reason why the pro-emperor faction was holding out for a long time despite the noble faction’s numerous attacks was not because the former didn’t know the truth, but because the former didn’t have any good cause to crack down on the latter. In that respect, it was encouraging that Marquis Mirwa was back on our side.

“And even if he betrays us, we have no problem because we have another witness.”

“Another witness? Who is it?”