Chapter 193 - Knowing The Truth (2)
Chapter 193. Knowing The Truth (2)
Translator: Aura / Editor: Maybe
Miss Mastas looked into my eyes and asked, “His Majesty left naked…?”
Rose and even Mastas, Heinley’s knight, didn’t seem to know that Heinley could turn into a bird.
I ruffled my hair at the awkwardness of the situation. I was in such an embarrassing position.
How should I answer?
Even worse, Rose’s neck had turned red. She seemed to be imagining a crude scene.
Shouldn’t I tell her that it wasn’t what she was thinking? But what exactly should I say to dissuade her? That I just took his clothes off before he left, and nothing else happened?
That… would make me look even stranger.
So I responded with, “It’s alright, It doesn’t matter.”
“What?”
“We’re a married couple.”
“What?!”
“…”
Mastas looked towards the window and muttered slowly, “Erm… Of course, you’re a married couple. But the problem is, any other person that sees His Majesty naked, is not married to him.”
The more I spoke, the stranger Heinley and I seemed, so instead of continuing, I quickly bent down and picked up Heinley’s clothes.
If it was just his outerwear, I would have asked my ladies-in-waiting to pick it up. But I couldn’t ask them to do that because his underwear was also amongst the pile.
As I held his clothes in my arms, I smelled the perfume Heinley used to wear.
At that moment, Queen’s sad expression came to my mind.
A couple of days before my birthday, he had put in a lot of effort to bring me a cake. However, when I said it was a little too much, he burst into tears and flew away.
… So it was Heinley who cried that day. That’s why his eyes were red when I visited him.
Heinley… he seemed to have a sensitive heart. I wonder if he’s crying again right now.
At the thought, my heart grew heavy with worry. I felt extremely sorry all of a sudden.
I hesitated before finally asking, “Miss Mastas, has His Majesty ever misunderstood you?”
Mastas was one of Heinley’s knights, so she should be familiar with his usual behavior.
At my question, Mastas blinked and replied, “What kind of misunderstanding?”
“Well, he thinks I’m angry when I’m really not…”
“I’ve been angry before, but His Majesty has never cared much.”
“!”
“Oh, I’m guessing what happened was His Majesty misinterpreted the situation and thought Your Majesty was angry. So… he went out the window in shock?” She asked with wide eyes.
“…Something like that.”
“Uh…” She averted her eyes and spoke again, “I can imagine why His Majesty was so shocked… No nevermind, I can’t imagine anything, so don’t worry about it… What I meant to say is that His Majesty smiles a lot, that’s it, he just smiles.”
“He just smiles?”
“Yes. Regardless of what he is thinking, he hides everything with a smile. I’ve never seen His Majesty in shock,” Mastas added, looking at me carefully, “If His Majesty was so distressed about the queen being angry that he left out the window naked, wouldn’t it be better if you were honest and just told him you aren’t angry?”
I was puzzled by what Miss Mastas just told me. I thought Heinley was very emotional. But apparently, he didn’t show his emotions much. So was he only showing his true emotions in front of me?
In any case, she was right.
“Be honest…” I mumbled, nodding as I walked out with his clothes in hand.
“Queen!” she called out.
“I will go to see His Majesty. I must be honest and clear up the misunderstanding.”
“No, it’s not that, it’s just… I can see everything. It would be better if you wrapped those clothes in a piece of cloth.”
“!”
***
Sovieshu, who had just changed into comfortable clothes, was sitting on Rashta’s bed singing a song for the baby.
Rashta was lying on a pile of soft fluffy pillows. She couldn’t stop smiling as Sovieshu sang.
The emperor was singing to her belly. A year ago, this would have seemed unimaginable to her.
Rashta moved her hand to stroke Sovieshu’s black hair.
How could he be so lovely?
Alan had rejected even his own child because of his status. But Sovieshu, who had a much higher status than Alan, had done everything possible to avoid having an illegitimate child.
For prenatal care, he would sometimes come to talk to her belly and sing to it at night. Whenever Rashta saw Sovieshu’s efforts in taking care of the unborn baby, she felt like crying.
“Your Majesty is very good at singing,” she complimented.
“Because I learned it.”
“Is singing included in the education of the imperial family?”
“It’s not just a part of the imperial family’s education. It’s a lesson commonly taught in high society.”
“The baby will remember their father’s voice well.”
Sovieshu smiled and caressed Rashta’s belly with his hands.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
“Who is it?” Sovieshu asked sharply, looking towards the door. All traces of his newfound fatherly demeanor disappeared.
Maid Delise came in and said, “Your Majesty, Marquis Karl is here.”
Sovieshu glanced at the clock on the wall, “At this hour?”
“Yes. He says he has something urgent to show you…”
“Tell him to wait in the living room.”
Delise replied, “Understood,” and went out.
Rashta looked at Sovieshu with wide eyes as he stood up, “Are you leaving already?”
“Marquis Karl wouldn’t come without a good reason.”
Sovieshu tucked her in, pulling the sheets up to her neck, and left the room.
Marquis Karl was anxiously pacing the room with a newspaper in his hand, not bothering to sit on the couch.
“What’s wrong?” Sovieshu asked.
Marquis Karl quickly extended the newspaper to the emperor, “Look at this, Your Majesty.”
He frowned and accepted the newspaper.
It was a newsletter from the Western Kingdom.
The contents of the newspaper were…
Sovieshu’s expression froze.
He spoke in disbelief, “Navier had overheard me promise Rashta that I would divorce her?”
***
It was too late, so I tried to calm my racing heart and waited until the next day to approach Heinley. I quickly dressed as soon as dawn broke and left the queen’s detached palace.
I wanted to clear the air with him before he entered the conference room.
Unexpectedly, my brother came out of the office. It seemed that he had just paid Heinley a visit.
I ran to him in surprise, “Brother?”
My brother’s eyes widened and he extended his arms, mirroring my movement.
I embraced my brother who was holding me just as tightly. He mumbled a few incomprehensible words.
I looked up when I felt his shoulders shaking, he was crying.
My brother hugged me for a while, finally letting go when Mckenna walked out.
He pulled out a handkerchief, wiped his eyes, and smiled, “It would have been better if we had been completely alone.”
“Brother…”
“When I heard about your divorce, Navier, my heart broke.”
“…”
“Just because you married His Majesty Heinley doesn’t mean the scars left from your divorce will just disappear.”
“…”
My brother hugged me tightly once more.
After staying in this position for a bit, McKenna coughed and my brother let go of me once again.
“I thought I’d get see you as soon as I got to the Western Kingdom,” I said sadly.
My brother replied to my dejected tone as he folded his handkerchief and put it back in his pocket, “I’ve been avoiding you because I feared I would cause you trouble.”
“Why do you say that?”
“That’s what happened in the Eastern Empire. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I heard about your divorce. It was probably my fault that it happened. If I had just stayed calm, maybe you wouldn’t have gotten a divorce…”
While what he said might be true, I knew that even if my brother hadn’t done anything, Sovieshu would still have left me.
Because he loved Rashta. He had to get rid of me somehow if he wanted Rashta to sit at his side.
In fact, after banishing him, Sovieshu took advantage of my brother’s name to get rid of me.
Instead of talking about it further, I smiled and deliberately joked, “So you’ve been avoiding me, but you still meet with Heinley?”
“His Majesty said he would add my name in the ‘Knights’ Expedition’ before the wedding.”
“Knights’ Expedition?”
“It’s a tradition of the Western Kingdom. Apparently, the king’s knights travel through a few cities to provide support to people.”
Ohh… Yes. Come to think of it, I’ve heard of something similar.
It is said that the reputation of the knight who best handled the situations would instantly skyrocket.
“…I appreciate that.”
I could see why Heinley wanted my brother to participate in the knights’ expedition. He seemed to be planning to elevate my brother’s reputation in the Western Kingdom.
I hugged the clothes in my hands tighter. My brother smiled awkwardly and praised him as well.
“I’ve only heard frivolous rumors about him. However, he is very thoughtful in many ways…”
“I agree.”
“You must like him.”
“That’s…”
Well… Liking someone doesn’t necessarily imply that one is in love.
“That’s right”
How embarrassing.
After saying goodbye to my brother, I carefully walked into the office.
Heinley was standing awkwardly in the center of the office, flushing as soon as our eyes met.
“Queen.”
He didn’t approach me as usual, instead, he hesitated. I had avoided him earlier, so he seemed unsure if it was right to approach.
Although I was still embarrassed to look him in the eyes, this time I gathered the courage to approached him.
Heinley clasped his hands together tightly and looked at me with trembling eyes.
“Queen, I—”
I interrupted him, “I’m really not angry.”
“But you have avoided me. Queen, I-I wish you wouldn’t avoid me anymore.”
“I wasn’t avoiding you because I was angry,” I repeated this to him, swallowing the urge to turn around and leave, “Do you want me to be honest with you about why I’ve been avoiding you?”
Heinley responded hastily, “Yes. If you’re not angry at me, please be honest.”
“You might be surprised.”
“On some days, I would get so anxious that I can’t fall asleep at night. I don’t want you to hate me, Queen. Please tell me.”
His eyes were trembling, his pupils looked noticeably darker than normal.
I took a deep breath and hugged his clothes as if they were an amulet.
It was hard to tell the truth, but Heinley did, even though he feared it would make me angry. He proved his bravery, so I had to prove mine.
After taking a deep breath, I confessed it to him as casually as possible.
“I saw you naked.”
“!”
“It’s hard because the image of you keeps popping up in my mind.”
“!”
“That’s why I can’t look you in the eyes. I just keep remembering it.”
“!”