Episode 44: The Day You Fall In Love With Me, Tell Me Then

When Chloe opened her eyes, she was on Raymond’s bed. She raised herself thinking about when she moved from the carriage to here.

“Did you wake up?”

Raymond asked, dragging a chair beside her.

“Why… didn’t you wake me up.”

“I couldn’t wake you up because you slept so soundly.”

Raymond replied with a short smile. Chloe stretched out her arms and tried to hug him.

“Wait a minute.”

Raymond thought, holding her back, who was naturally trying to mix herself with him.

Chloe, with what kind of heart have you been sleeping with me?

Raymond felt that this relationship should be made more certain. He hoped that it would be a relationship where they both exchanged their hearts fully, not just physical pleasure.

“Can you get up?”

“Of course.”

Chloe nodded and stood up after him. Raymond slowly reached out and grabbed her hand.

As he interlocked her fingers between his fingers, he felt her warmth.

“Your Majesty?”

“I have something to show you.”

Raymond took her outside, feeling that her palms were getting wet little by little.

As she was walking slowly, he suddenly looked back at her. He was a little angry at the way she just followed obediently without asking where he was going, why he was doing this.

He didn’t know when he first met her, but now he can see her so clearly. Chloe Garnet was such an easy-going woman, as if she had no will.

As such, Raymond had no choice but to get angry because he could guess who had wiped out her will.

“Ah, here……!”

“It’s a greenhouse. Only the emperor of the Asta Empire can step on it.”

“Is it okay if I join you in such a place?”

“Of course.”

Raymond looked back at her and smiled.

“Because you’re the only one I love.”

“…….”

Raymond, the one in love, led her, who was unable to answer any of his words, into the greenhouse.

Surrounded by colorful flowers and trees, Raymond briefly disappeared and reappeared, leaving her as she looked around with sparkling eyes.

“Ahem.”

She looked back at him with a smile at the sound of a small cough.

“It’s really incredible, Your Majesty. It’s such an honor that you showed me the greenhouse of the Imperial Palace that I had heard from rumors.”

“I can bring you whenever you want.”

Raymond also felt better when he saw her secretly showing signs of joy.

“This flower.”

Raymond suddenly handed her a bunch of red flowers.

“It’s Astaroth.”

The symbol of the empire, the red flower, Astaroth. The red flowers, identified with the empire in themselves, also symbolized Raymond himself.

“This is…”

Chloe looked at the flowers he gave and stuttered as if embarrassed.

“I want to give you Astaroth.”

“Ah…”

“I like you. I love you. So, Chloe. I… I’m never trying to force this feeling on you. However….”

Raymond glanced at her and confessed.

“I hope you will like me someday. I hope you love me, too.”

“Your Majesty, I…….”

At first glance, a look of embarrassment crossed her face. Raymond did not wait for her to say, but continued.

“Because I already love you.”

The red flowers in his hand suddenly came into her hand. With a somewhat hasty confession, Raymond hugged her waist tightly.

“The day you fall in love with me, tell me then.”

He whispered to her, who couldn’t say anything the whole time.

“I love you.”

A voice that burst out with a small moan gently tapped her ear.

“I love you.”

“…….”

When she couldn’t answer the sudden confession immediately and blinked blankly, Raymond felt anxious and his throat burnt.

“…….”

“…….”

Why aren’t you answering anything? Is it burdensome?

……Yes, it must be burdensome.

Raymond, who couldn’t stand the long silence that followed, hugged her more strongly, and a gentle voice came out of his arms.

“I don’t know why you’re saying that.”

As he lowered his head, she slowly made eye contact and said, curving her red eyes languidly.

“I’m already Your Majesty’s person.”

“…….”

A gentle sigh poured through Raymond’s lips.

If I had been a little more stupid. If only I had been foolish enough to dismiss all the words that flowed from her lovely lips as truth.

“That’s a heavy sigh.”

Chloe smiled and patted Raymond on the back.

“What are you so worried about? Please tell me. Let’s share it together, Your Majesty.”

“No, I’m not worried…… There can’t be.”

Raymond shook his head with a bitter smile. Recalling once again that it was still his greed to win her heart.

* * *

Since that day, Raymond has often sent carriages to the Ludwig Duchy. One thing that changed was that the place where they met was not the emperor’s bedroom.

The greenhouse of the Imperial Palace that she liked, the drawing room where Raymond welcomes guests, and the back garden of the Emperor Palace in full bloom…….

Chloe seemed to be impatient with his subtly changed attitude.

“Why didn’t you let me in the bedroom?”

“Just…”

Raymond smiled faintly and stroked her head. Even her hair fluttering in the wind was lovely.

Really, I must have been possessed.

“Sometimes it’s okay to just look at each other’s faces.”

“…….”

“Don’t you like it too?”

Chloe nodded her head slowly at his question.

“I like it too, Your Majesty.”

Her eyes curved beautifully, capturing him. When he first met her, she couldn’t hide the tension in those two eyes, but after two seasons, her face became quite calm.

The sun was warm and the wind was gentle. It was a time when everything around Raymond and Chloe seemed only peaceful.

In fact, Raymond was struggling alone outside to protect the peace.

The nobles, including the Duke of Caroline, who was Daria’s uncle, and the Church of Ramie, the state religion, could not tolerate Raymond bringing in another woman as a wife other than Daria.

‘Is this impossible?’

Raymond, who had been silently listening to their arguments, smiled coldly and repeated their words.

Yes, they were right. Even if it was just a fake, Daria was the emperor’s wife, and Chloe’s position was always in jeopardy as long as she existed.

‘As you say, there should be only one wife of mine.’

So, Raymond declared. Only Chloe Garnet would be his wife.

“You eat like a bird even when you eat dessert.”

Raymond held his chin slowly, looking at Chloe, who held a piece of cake on a fork. Chloe shyly blushed and put down her fork.

“Oh no, I didn’t mean to disturb you from eating. Keep eating.”

“No, rather than that…… I feel like I’m the only one who’s been eating. Your Majesty, why aren’t you eating?”

“I’m happy just by watching you eat.”

“What?”

Chloe blinked her eyes and looked at Raymond.

“…Your Majesty is a very strange person.”

Raymond laughed out loud at the whisper that flowed out.

As she said, recently he was strange. He was very strange. Raymond himself did not know that a man in love would be so foolish and reckless.

“Should I ask for more cheesecake?”

Raymond asked, glancing at the piece of cake she left behind as she chewed it.

“No, I like chocolate cake…….”

“You like cheesecake.”

Chloe looked bewildered at the decisive tone.

“Oh, no. Your Majesty! I don’t like cheesecake! Really!”

Even her desperate denial felt cute, so this was a big deal. Raymond smiled and stretched his index finger and pressed her forehead hard.

“If you’re trying to fit me because of false rumors that I don’t like cheesecake, stop it. I’m not so bad at eating that I don’t even recognize your taste.”

“Oh, that’s….”

Chloe became teary and rolled her eyes. When Raymond rang the bell, the bell came up and served a new dessert.

Raymond watched Chloe pecking at the cheesecake with gleeful eyes. Then she took a bite while she was hesitating and laughed quietly.

Sadly, he really hated cheesecake, but was willing to eat anything for her.

How can there be only a bite of dessert? Raymond del Astaroth was a man who was determined to give his life for Chloe Garnet.

“I like you.”

Chloe blushed again with a fork in her mouth at the sudden confession.

When I was with her, a soft smile lingered around my mouth as usual. Raymond whispered in the sweetest voice he could make.

“I love you, Chloe.”

“…….”

Chloe still didn’t answer, but Raymond smiled at her.

* * *