“Good morning, Uncle Allen! I think we’re seeing each other for the first time in three days. Didn’t you miss me?”

“… I’m glad to see you. By the way, I’m still working, and I think I saw you two days ago…”

“Can’t you give it a pass? You are so meticulous, Uncle Allen. By the way, where are you going? Can’t you give me tea?”

“I’m going to see the emperor now. Let me serve you tea next time. I’ve got lots of documents he has to sign. I’m too busy today.”

“I see. Got it. I’ll wait for you until then. You should come back to me quickly, okay?”

“Oh, I really can’t…”

“See you a little later, Uncle Allen!”

Then she quickly disappeared.

Allendis once again sighed and rubbed his stinging temple. He didn’t lead a good life all the time, nor did he lead a bad life. He couldn’t figure out why God gave him trial after trial like this.

After arriving at the Central Palace with a heavy heart, he turned to the garden instead of heading to the office because he heard from a royal knight on shift that the emperor was having tea in the garden.

When he entered the emperor’s private garden, escorted by the knight, he noticed the emperor and Tia, the empress, in the verdant place.

They were sitting in front of a snow-white table in an amiable mood. As the table was a small round table, they could sit across it, but they sat side by side, chatting.

The silver-haired woman was telling something to the emperor with a gentle smile, who was listening to her with a gentle nod.

His heart ached all of a sudden, so he clutched his chest with the hand that wasn’t holding the documents. He thought he would be fine by now, but whenever he saw her hitting it off with the emperor, he felt heartbroken like before.

Was he caught clutching his chest? One of the royal guards, who were standing a few steps away from him, approached him and asked with a worried voice, “Duke, what’s the matter with you? Are you sick? ”

“…I’m fine. I did so because I had something to think about for a moment, so don’t worry.”

“Ah yes. Well, are you here to see the emperor? Do you want me to convey your message?”

“No. It looks like he’s taking a break, so I don’t want to invite his hatred by disturbing him. If you don’t mind, can you send me a servant when the emperor is done? I think I had better come back later.”

“Okay, I will.”

“Thank you. Then, see you later.”

After greeting the guard, who slightly bowed to him, Allendis turned, taking pains to turn his eyes away from her.

When he was about to walk away from the garden, trying to erase the images of the emperor’s couple from his mind, somebody charged toward him from behind and wrapped his shoulders suddenly. Frowning at him, Allendis disengaged from his arms around his shoulders. Given the color of his scattered hair, he knew who the man was. Even if he didn’t do this, there was only one man in the world who could do it to him.

“Hey, Allendis, why are you keeping a poke face today?”

As expected, the man didn’t show any displeasure even if Allendis hysterically shook away his arms.

Allendis replied, pressing down on his stinging temple.

“Why are you so childish as to do this, Sir Carsein?”

“Well, why are you using honorific language all of a sudden? What happened to you? Oh, I see you look haggard all the time.”

“…Dang it! That’s enough. What brought you here anyway?”

“Do I need something to want to see you? That sucks, man, given our longtime ties.”

“Our ties? Do you think you and I have been on close terms?” he retorted coldly, feeling a surge of anger at Carsein’s remarks.

Given that most people were scared when he used honorific language like that, Carsein was obviously either a man of strong nerves or a stupid guy who he could do nothing about.

Allendis wanted to believe Carsein was a stupid guy, but unfortunately he was not. Carsein knew how to control himself while rubbing Allendis the wrong way.

As if he showed he was smart enough, Carsein quickly gave up and said, “Okay, okay. Let me stop here today. In fact, I was on my way to the Central Palace when I saw you coming out of it. So I just wanted to say hi. Enough?”

Allendis felt a bit upset about his sudden turnaround, but he said, swallowing, “… If you’re here to see the emperor, you had better come back later. ”

“Really? Why?”

“Oh, he is having tea time with the empress.”

“Oh, I see. I think I know the atmosphere. Well, I had better come back later like you say.”

Carsein clicked his tongue, looking toward the garden, and turned without any hesitation. When Allendis also began to walk away, thinking he had bad luck today, Carsein quickly approached him and said, “Well, they are having tea time? Alas, I envy the emperor. Don’t you feel the same way? I sometimes miss the tea Tia made for me. She used to make lemon balm for you, and hibiscus for me. She made tea to our taste, didn’t she?”

When Caresin spoke to him casually, Allendis quickly looked around and warned, “Hey, watch your language. She is now the empress.”

“Come on, man. Don’t be so sensitive. I’m talking about her between us.”

“As you know, they can overhear us everywhere in the palace. So, you should be extremely careful about what you say.”

“Man, you’re really fastidious. That’s why you are still single…”

“Can you shut your mouth?”

As Allendis retorted sharply with glaring eyes, Carsein hastily waved his hand and said, “Oh, okay, okay. I will be careful in the future, so calm down. You might hit me if I don’t stop you.”

“…”

“Well, I just wanted to say that I sometimes missed the tea she made for me. As you know, there are not many people who are as knowledgeable about tea as her. It’s sad that I can’t drink such tea as often as I did before. Besides, this is my secret. In fact, my wife is really bad at making tea.”

Allendis became briefly sentimental about Tia’s tea when he mentioned it, but he was so dumbfounded when Carsein compared his wife’s skills in brewing tea with Tia’s that he just remained silent, watching Carsein blankly.

As if he noticed Allendis’s suspicion, Carsein quickly disappeared, waving at him. Allendis turned away with a heavy heart, then suddenly touched his forehead when something crossed his mind quickly.

Come to think of it, he had one more problem he had to solve, which kept tormenting him all along

As he had not the heart to go back to his office, he wandered for a while. After some time passed, he headed to his office in the government building. But he was shocked to find the little girl with silver hair sleeping soundly on the sofa, lying on her side.

As if she dishevelled it, her curly silver hair was reflecting the moonlight over the sofa. Given that she was smiling, it seemed that she was dreaming a pleasant dream.

Suddenly, he felt heartbroken. Even though Tia was married to the emperor, she was once a slender and little girl like her on the sofa. Whenever she dozed off after hard fencing training, he used to have her lean on his shoulder for a nap.

While watching the little girl with bitterness for a moment, he slowly took off his coat and covered the girl. Turning around her body, she hugged the white jacket tightly and whispered with a smile, “Um…It’s so warm.”

He stopped putting my hand on her shoulder while trying to pull my coat over her because what she just said was exactly what Tia had told him a long time ago. He vividly remembered that she said the same thing when he secretly kissed her as she was asleep on the day when Carsein had a banquet to celebrate his official inauguration as a full-fledged knight.

His heart, which seemed to be empty all the time, was full, and he felt so warm at that moment.

Suddenly, he was choked up with emotions, so he took his eyes off from her. Whenever he saw the little girl, his heart ached because of his recurring past memories associated with Tia.

“Ha…”

When he stood up as he couldn’t stand it anymore, he heard somebody knocking on the door, and a woman came in.