I slowly reached out and put my hand on his back. Then I wrapped his hands that were hot with fever, and said with a smile, “Of course. You have always been my one and only love.”

“…Tia. ”

When I spoke word by word clearly, his navy blue eyes trembled. He looked at me silently for a long time, then slowly pulled me and held me in his arms.

“Thank you. Actually, I was worried that I forced you to do something against your will.”

“Oh no! How could I?”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, but I just wanted to find a token that you were mine. That way I wanted to dissipate the fear a bit that you might leave me…”

I felt heartbroken to hear that.

I was such a bad woman. I made him hurt so much because I could not send him a clear signal. How much did he hurt, looking at me who didn’t clearly close my mind to him nor warm up to him? As he had been waiting for me like that, it was natural that he was afraid I might change my mind. On my part, I was also afraid I might be abandoned by him again, although I knew how he felt toward me.

“I will make a scarf for your formal dress tomorrow. Gloves the day after tomorrow and some other thing three days later…”

“…Tia. ”

“So, don’t worry. Okay?”

“Oh, how kind of you…” His navy blue eyes stared at me, which reflected another type of fever that’s different from one caused by body aches.

I glanced down, trying to calm down my pounding heart, and put my arms around his neck.

The moment he was about to kiss me, he suddenly stopped and relaxed his arm. Then he said with a sigh, “Oh, my God…”

“Your Majesty?”

“… You shouldn’t be infected by me. I think I have to refrain from it today with regrets.”

He grabbed my hand with a very regrettable expression and kissed the back of it.

Although I was thrilled by his very affectionate attitude, I was more concerned about his condition because I could feel fever even on his lips.

“Please take a rest. What if your condition gets worse?”

“Got it. Let me take a rest. By the way, Tia?”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

“Do you remember what happened in the imperial garden on the day when the late emperor’s state funeral was held?”

“Of course I do. Why did you suddenly mention…?”

“That day I fell asleep before I knew it. In fact, I had been suffering from insomnia at that time, but I think it’s the first time I slept so comfortably. So…”

My heart was pounding because I thought I knew what he wanted from me.

As I blushed without replying anything, he smiled and leaned on my lap. I stiffened when I felt his warmth on my legs. “Are you uncomfortable?”

“Oh, no…”

His navy blue eyes, which I always looked up at, were now looking up at me. When I blushed because I felt a bit awkward and shy, he fell asleep with a smile.

His disheveled hair kept catching my eyes, but I tried to take my eyes off from him and pulled a bunch of documents carefully. As if to show Duke Verita’s competence, the documents prepared by him seemed to be a bundle of six folders, but two of them were unusually thick.

”Okay, let me take care of these first.’

I put aside one of them because I could easily take care of it, given the emblem of the palace affairs office on its cover.

So, I picked up the documents submitted by the government and handed over the pages carefully.

The document was about the wandering people in the border areas. I heard the emperor sent Marquis of Enesil there a while ago. It looked like he was doing better than expected. Ugh? He mediated a dispute between the kingdom of Lisa and other kingdoms? By diplomatic means without mobilizing forces?

I recalled that young marquise with golden hair, who always smiled with bright green eyes. I knew I had a political sense, but never did I know he was such a superb negotiator.

A satisfied smile came to my lips. I felt good because there were lots of talented people during the current emperor’s reign.

By the way, I don’t think I can’t handle this matter.

There were a lot of sensitive issues written on the thick rolls of paper, including the drafts of the treaties that Marquis Enesil concluded with other kingdoms, which could go into effect as soon as the emperor approved.

I carefully put down the documents in question and picked up a bunch of thin papers. Originally, I tried to take care of the thick documents, but I thought I had better handle other documents because I could make short work of the palace affairs stuff.

The official letter from the temple showed that most of the senior priests had been drastically cut, along with the request of the High Priest that the temple wanted to keep a good relationship with the imperial family in the future. The diplomatic document sent by the kingdom of Lisa said that they would agree to have the princess taken as hostage by the empire.

There were also documents on the traitors. I was shocked to see the results of their wealth returned to the imperial family.

Did Duke Jenna make so much money despite my destruction of many of his merchant groups? Granted, they produced the first empress, but their accumulated wealth was simply too much, so much so that their combined wealth was as much as that of a kingdom.

I came to know it during the investigation, but probably that was why the Jena family hated our family. Even before they were called the foremost loyal family of the empire, the Jena family claimed its stake in what the imperial family had been doing behind the scenes. It was because of their stake that they promoted the banner of Volente Castina, but as my family established an absolutely reliable relationship with the imperial family through the oath of blood, the Jena family had to see its dominant role taken over by my family. As a result, they became more and more estranged from the imperial family and changed their position in line with that of the noble faction.

“Why are you looking so serious? Do you find anything bad in it? ”

“Oh, Your Majesty, you are awake. I wish you slept a little more.”

When I responded to his sleepy voice, putting down the documents, he nodded slightly and looked up at me. He was already awake and looked at me.

“I slept for a couple of hours. I think I had a really good sleep after a long time.”

“I’m really worried as you can’t sleep well all the time. Not a day or two, but almost always…”

“Well, I think I can solve the problem sooner or later.”

“Really? How?”

“I used to sleep well every time you were with me, so I can sleep well if you are with me all the time.”

“…”

He smiled brightly at me, who was speechless at that moment. Much relieved by his better condition, I put my hand on his forehead. He still had slight fever, but fever seemed to have dropped a bit.

“By the way, what made you look so serious a little moment ago? I think there are no serious troubles these days.”

“It was nothing special. Well, it seems that you only need to respond to the official letter from the temple. It looks like the High Priest is bent on cleaning up the temple. ”

“I see. What else?”

“There are three matters raised by the government. One from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and two from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The former was about the returning of the traitors’ wealth. I think the wealth of the imperial family increased a lot because of that. Did you do it on purpose?”

“Are you talking about the fact that I decided to return their wealth to the imperial family, not to the Treasury Ministry?”

He did not answer my question, but he admitted by smiling at me. Well, I thought he would. What’s the big deal anyway? If I had not been a daughter of the Monique family, I would have taken issue with it. But my family always put the interests of the imperial family before the pro-emperor’s.

I said, glanced at him gently, “I think you should review one of the documents sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They contained things like the agreements and treaty drafts with other kingdoms.”

“Really? Hmm. What did you think when you reviewed them?”