Chapter 360

‘Are you happy there, Daddy? Are you having a good time with Mom, who you missed all the time? Then, I won’t be sad anymore. Although I can’t let you go in a happy mood as you wished, although I miss you so much, I won’t cry.

So, please don’t worry about me and stay happy with Mom there. Until the day we meet again, I will live happily ever after.’

I was walking with a heavy heart when I suddenly noticed a red light shining across the hallway.

A red glow was pouring into the mansion through the open balcony with the approach of sunset.

“Is your mind working?” He walked silently the whole time and stopped in front of the balcony.

Did he feel the same way? While walking silently all along, he stood on the balcony.

Standing at the balcony side by side with him, I watched the evening sun slowly setting with the red sky getting dark with the sunset’s glow, the shadow of the mansion looked black against the sunset, and the gloomy and subdued air peculiar to the sunset.

When I was silent with a subdued mood, he suddenly interlocked his fingers with mine gently. I looked up at him, turning my head, feeling the warmth of his palm. I could see his lips moving gently, which turned red in the sunset.

“Tia.”

“Yes, Rube.”

“To be honest with you, when I saw the box in the secret place a little while ago, I felt a bit embarrassed.”

“Really? Why? ”

“From the day I discovered the identity of the box, I was always afraid that I would see it again.”

“Ah…”

Oh, that’s why he was making such an uncomfortable expression. Was he afraid that I might use the immunity right to leave the imperial family?

“But when I see that again after a long time, it reminds me of old memories. I had a lot of thoughts on my mind during that short moment.”

“Really? What kind of thought?”

“When I first found the box, we were on good terms, as you know. But a lot of things have happened since then. We hated and feared each other, we were on a parallel line for a long time, we were hurt numerous times because of our uncontrollable emotions, and I couldn’t sleep at night, trying to soothe my wounded heart…Although I can tell you like this because it’s now a thing of the past, it was really a hard time for both of us at that time, right?”

“Yes, it was.”

“Thank you, Tia, for living with me like this after overcoming so many difficulties and so much fear. Without you, I wouldn’t have lived a life as a man, even though I was the emperor. Thank you so much for giving me the gift of a decent life as a human.”

As the wind suddenly blew over, his blue hair fluttered gently. I whispered to myself as I looked at it, which turned dark by the spreading twilight, ‘Same to me. If you had not been considerate enough to accept and care for me who was trying to avoid you because of my painful memories, I would have remained the abandoned concubine Aristia instead of becoming the beloved empress Aristia.’

I seemed to conjure up the images of the two children standing together in the dark garden. The silver-haired girl with a bright smile and the boy with blue hair who would have looked at her smile with mixed feelings. I don’t remember exactly what happened at that time, but I would have certainly felt bitter about it a long time ago, but it was now a good old memory.

Come to think of it, I once saw him standing right on this spot in the garden.

Suddenly, I remembered my conversation with Sir League a long time ago, but I shrugged it off with a light smile. What’s the point of getting the answer now? He and I went through ups and downs through many years and finally stood here on the same spot. We got out of the painful past that tormented us so much and looked at the same place, holding hands together like this.

When I looked up at him, tightening my grip on his hand, he stopped looking straight and slowly turned to me. His blue eyes shining brightly in the darkness reflected me.

“Tia, you…”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Can you stay with me forever?”

“… Yes, Rube, I will.”

“Always?”

“Always, forever.”

When I answered with a tearful voice, he gently pulled my hand and held me in my arms.

Held in his arms, serving as a strong fence for me, I smiled brightly at the man I loved.

Only the setting sun was shining on us brightly.

Supplementary: Did they live happily ever after?

Rublis was in a very bad mood now. It was almost three years after he exterminated the Monique family, one of the founding families of the empire, on charges of treason, and beheaded the concubine from that family. When the concubine was alive, he hated her so much that he didn’t even want to see her. But now that he keenly felt her absence, he missed her so much that he could not do anything, rather than hating her.

“Rube, what are you doing?”

Embarrassed to see the documents presented by the head of the palace affairs office, he frowned at her sudden call. Jiun, the woman sent by God, his one and only spouse and the child of God’s prophecy. She was now standing before him, who was the very woman who made him very uncomfortable right now.

“I have something to ask you, empress.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve just read a document submitted to me today. Is what they say about you here true?”

“Let me take a look.”

While looking at the contents of the document, she tilted her head. When she asked him to explain several expressions that she could not understand, he raised his eyebrows. Although he was annoyed all of a sudden, he took pains to explain the meaning of the phrases one by one, holding back the urge to scold her. He could understand and give it a pass if he could treat her like he used to, but today he was very annoyed to find that she could not even read and understand a document.

“Well, this is correct. What’s the issue here?”

“… How did you handle this like this?” he said, putting down the document roughly.

The document was about a petition submitted by the director of the palace affairs office, full of people’s complaints about the welfare policy she introduced recently.

Rublis hysterically knocked on the desk.The more he thought it the more he was dumbfounded.

Nowadays he felt the officials of the palace affairs office were full of discontent, and he now knew that she was the target of their complaint by taking such a ridiculous measure.

“Don’t you really know what’s the problem here?”

“What? Do you think it’s strange? I’ve taken the measure after several days of hard thinking.”

When she made an expression as if she didn’t understand at all, he felt he didn’t even feel the urge to get upset. He realized suddenly that no matter how well he explained and taught her, she would never be able to assimilate to the empire.

“That’s enough. I’m a bit busy, so please get out. ”

“Um, are you very busy? I don’t hardly see you these days. You don’t even come to my palace.”

“Let me stop by your palace today, so go and take a rest.”

“But…Okay. You should come and see me later, okay?”

As if she noticed he was annoyed at the moment, she stopped saying anymore. As soon as she got out of the office, he sprang to his feet and paced up and down, stroking his hair roughly.

‘Who the hell is that woman!’

Isn’t it time for her to adapt to her palace life? He brought the best teachers to teach her for a long time, but she was still struggling. Of course, he was aware that she was much better than when she got here first, and that she was trying hard on her own. Nevertheless, he was not satisfied with her at all. He was going crazy because he tended to find fault with her shortcomings. He even felt the strong urge to gouge out his eyes because he thought he was stupid enough not to notice her shortcomings from the beginning.

He kept sweeping back his hair roughly. When the concubine was alive, he didn’t have to worry about the matters of the palace affairs office because she handled any matter perfectly. Probably he didn’t realize Jiun didn’t fit the empress position because of that.