Chapter 24
Maxim pushed Natalie aside, who was blocking the door, and entered the room. Rose, who was just about to leave the room, stood there looking embarra.s.sed, surprised to see Maxim standing in front of her door.
“I was just about to leave. I was expecting you to arrive tomorrow, so I couldn"t get ready. I apologize.” Rose looked quite contrite and fl.u.s.tered that Maxim had come up to her room before she could even step out.
“Ha!” Maxim laughed at himself, thinking he was such a pathetic person to have been consoled upon seeing her figure.
It makes me so angry that a Solstern woman ran away, but how could it be that I"m so relieved seeing a woman looking at me with such a thoughtful expression!
“Did everything go well?” Rose naturally approached Maxim, who stood tall with a complex expression, asking him first.
“Well, for now.”
Rose smiled rea.s.suringly, “That"s a relief. I was worried when you suddenly left that day.”
“I"m sorry, Your Majesty. I should have watched over Her Majesty.” Freddie, whose heart had dropped to the floor, returned to his normal position, his head hung low with a regretful look occupying his face.
“What do you mean? I take care of myself.” Rose looked at Freddie with curious eyes.
Mrs. Katriana had a look of disbelief as she pushed people out of the way to scan the room herself.
This can"t be right!
It can"t be. Rose was most definitely standing inside the room. Rose looking as calm as usual with her long hair gracefully lowered to one side, made eye contact with Katriana.
“Inside… You were…”
Rose laughed at Mrs. Katriana"s words, as if she had said something strange. She proceeded to stare straight at Mrs. Katriana and asked, as if she knew what she was up to, “You look disappointed. Did you hope I wasn"t here?”
“I"ve visited several times today to recommend you some tea.” Katriana retorted, irritated that Rose had tried to catch her red handed.
“I"ve been in bad shape all day. I"m sorry.”
“N-No. I"m glad you"re alright.” Katriana lowered her gaze, answering with an uneasy face. Although forced to step back, she still couldn"t understand the situation.
How is that b.i.t.c.h still here? Did he fail?
Yansen, the administrator, who left with her earlier, is nowhere to be seen so she a.s.sumed that whatever it was, something was definitely happening outside without her knowledge.
If this b.i.t.c.h is here, then where the h.e.l.l is the man who left with her?
Now that Maxim has returned, why hasn"t he, the administrator, appeared before him yet?
Katriana suddenly felt anxious, perhaps her trick had been discovered.
“Since you"re not feeling well, you should take a rest.” Maxim opined before quickly turning around to avoid the ensuing situation.
I arrived exhausted after being sleep deprived for a few days, but I feel more tired upon returning to this mess of a castle. It was embarra.s.sing to barge into her room so recklessly.
Maxim thought that his presence, which was covered in dust and soaked sweat, would be uncomfortable for her.
“…!” The moment he was about to leave the room, Rose stopped him, placing her hand on Maxim"s arm.
“What do you mean? I"ve been waiting for Your Majesty"s return.” Rose naturally leaned her head against his shoulder and touched his broad chest gently.
Her unexpected behavior dumbfounded Maxim causing him to freeze like a stone in place. Maxim Lancert was not the only one that stiffened like ice. Freddie, the servants, and even the maids, who had worked inside this castle their entire lives, stared at Maxim and Rose with perplexed eyes.
It was the first time such a couple showcased their intimateness.
Mrs. Katriana"s mouth, which had been tightly shut, gaped open.
Oh my G.o.d.
“Freddie?” Rose called.
“Yes? Yes.” Freddie replied, after being roughly jolted back to the present.
“Have you prepared everything for His Majesty?”
“Yes, I have prepared a bath in the bedroom.”
“Bring something simple to eat to the bedroom, and bring enough for me as well.” Rose looked up at Maxim with affectionate eyes. “I want to be with you tonight.”
Food and alcohol were delivered to the room and set on the table with a cozy candle light.
Rose stared silently at the bustling movements behind the curtain without even taking a bite of her meal.
Hot steam was rising from the bathtub overflowing into the adjoining room. Maxim was served by his servants and took off his uniform one layer at a time. His black silhouette alone revealed the body of a threatening warrior, strengthened by war and training.
Rose, who was watching the scene with her saliva drying up, quickly swiveled her head toward the fireplace in embarra.s.sment.
There was a splash of water to indicate that he must have entered the bathtub.
“Hyu…” Rose drowsily exhaled, pressing down lightly on her temples, then ma.s.saging her stiff neck.
I had a splitting headache. It was like a heavy gong was banging inside my head.
I thought I"d be okay.
On the way back to the castle, there was a shower and cold rain fiercely pelted down on them. Rose was wearing the cloak Yansen gave her, but already being wet, as well as stressed and fatigued still managed to get sick. Nonetheless, it was tolerable; however, the symptoms seemed to be getting worse due to being in the same place as Maxim.
Why is it so cold?
Even though firewood was burning on one side of the room, my body trembled as if I were being embraced by ice.
Would drinking make me feel better?
I heard somewhere that alcohol warms the body when it is cold.
Rose quickly poured a strong drink and drank it in one gulp.
Ugh.
It feels like my throat is burning from my esophagus to my stomach.
I guess I shouldn"t have gone overboard.
I started to regret it once I had started drinking.
When Maxim told me to rest I should have just casually accepted. I"m not feeling well today.
I keep remembering the words that had come out of my mouth unhesitantly mere moments ago.
"I want to be with you."
Her face started to burn up again when she remembered clinging to his body with an unfamiliar excitement.
I quickly poured another drink. It went down better than the first one had.
Of course, I didn"t mean what I said when I said I wanted to spend the night with him. I just thought it was a pretty good opportunity since there were lots of people gathered to witness the scene. Such timing was rare when trying to act like a natural and intimate couple.
Rose had a mind-altering experience before she had returned from her previous marriage.
How desperate the wife who was not loved by her husband and ignored by her subordinates would become. On the contrary, the wife, who was loved by her husband, has the authority of the house. Her mother, Countess Audrey, was such a wife.
Thanks to Count Jared, that poor man, her mother exerted an enormous influence over the estate without lifting a finger or making a noise.
Her mother"s most powerful weapon was to hold her chest in front of Rose"s father and fall dramatically. After getting what she wanted, Countess Audrey"s “painful” heart would magically heal itself.
“Hugh,” Rose softly smiled at the thought of her mother swaying the heart of the great Count Jared with a single move.
It"s not easy to be loved by your husband and establish authority as a mistress in a household after a long time as a couple has already pa.s.sed without any prior respect.
In reality, if one had the status and reputation of Count Jared Etoile many would have been hiding at least one or two young beautiful women. However, for Count Jared, even if he were to die and be born again, Audrey was the only woman for him.
If I had done this to Ca.s.siax, would things have been different?
It suddenly occurred to me.
Ca.s.siax had hated Rose for bringing up political affairs. She often frowned upon the administrative affairs of the castle, which she could worry enough about as an empress.
"Rose, you don"t have to think that complicatedly."
"But Your Majesty. I also worry about what I can do as an empress…"
"I"ve already had to painfully listen all about it in Daeshinjeon."
"The atmosphere in the castle is so unsettling right now, I think…"
"Please shut up! I"m here to rest, but I"m already tired. I"ll come back later."
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"
A wife who looks like a peac.o.c.k in the empress"s seat beautifully dressed, perched in a golden cage, and greets the emperor when he returns.
Ca.s.siax wanted Rose to be such an empress.
Rose did not become that empress instead became a tired woman who told only stories he didn"t want to hear. Eventually, she had just become a vague image of an empress that had left his heart completely. A useless being that couldn"t even earn the emperor"s heart and lived under the ridicule of everyone including the imperial family.
A bird trapped in a cage losing its voice and vitality.
That was Rose"s miserable appearance in the Solstern imperial family.
For that reason, Rose was about to show off what a loving couple she is with Maxim, but she was in this awkward situation.
I want to lie down on the bed, embrace the blanket, and rest my sick body.
She pretended to be a wife who had waited for her husband to return from the battlefield, but became a wife waiting for him to finish taking a bath instead.
When I thought about Ca.s.siax, I suddenly got a fever again and was pouring another drink, but I heard Maxim"s voice, “What are you up to?”
"What are you up to?" He was definitely talking to her.
“What do you mean?” Rose asked back cynically.
“You said something weird earlier.”
Rose stood from her seat, once again pressing gently into her temples.
I"ve been acting as much as I can, but I"m so tactless!
I was displeased with him for saying such useless things in front of the servants. However, if I"m caught deliberately pretending to be friendly, I"ll end up in an even more ridiculous situation.
Drag Drag.
Rose, who dragged her pajamas towards the bathtub, pulled back the curtains and stepped inside the bathroom.
He appeared in the bathtub with his arms relaxed.
The servants, who were attending to him, looked back with astonishment.
“Ahem.” Rose walked near the bathtub with a slight cough. “You can leave now. I can do it myself.”