The Abandoned Empress

It was the crown prince’s office that I arrived. The bookshelf that occupied one side of the wall was packed with all kinds of books and file folders, along with the piles of documents.

I bowed to the young blue-haired young man writing something hard in front of a large desk.

“I, Aristia La Monique, am honored to see you, the little sun of the empire.”

“Oh, you are here,” he said, taking his eyes from the document and putting down the quill.

“I hear the emperor called you on your way here.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“So, what did he say?”

“He asked whether I was willing to reconsider the position of the 1st Knights captain’s aide.”

“His aide?” He asked as if he had doubt then suddenly hardened his expression. There was silence for a moment. When I was messing around with the hem of my skirt as I felt awkward, he said with a cold voice, “Shall we take a walk for a while?”

“…Pardon?”

I was embarrassed. I knew he hated winter. Then, he offered to take a walk.

I stopped to wonder if I heard wrong, but he already stood up.

“You are not going out?”

“Ah yes. Sorry, Your Majesty.” I hurriedly got up. I thought he would rebuke me right away, but he turned around without saying anything.

Because of the recent snow, the road was covered with snow here and there, but it was quiet. The snow that fell on the naked branches looked like white flowers, and the surroundings with no wind was serene like a picture.

I watched the young man walking ahead a few steps ahead of me, hearing the sound of his shoes trampling on the frozen pebbles. His blue eyes that stood out in the snow-covered world were unusually cold. For that reason, when I looked at the snow-covered garden, I felt warm rather than cold.

Even after he walked long past the wisteria-arched door, he said nothing. My heart was beating anxiously as he was silent all the time. Why is he silent so long when he has something to say?

“…me?”

How much had passed? Stunned to hear his voice that broke the long silence, I stopped walking. He stopped walking and turned to look back at me. His blue eyes stared at me.

“What’s wrong?”

“…it’s nothing. Sorry, Your Majesty. ”

I barely spoke through the frozen lips. My heart, squeezed by the breathless tension, was pounding hard like crazy.

Silently watching me hiding his cold fingertips inside the hem of my skirt, he said, “I asked you if your condition is okay.”

“Ah…yes, Your Majesty. I’m fine,” I said hesitantly.

Why is he asking me that question? No matter what I did, he didn’t care. Obviously, he didn’t ask that question because he was worried about me. Then, what motivated him to ask?

With a puzzled look, I was reflecting on his motivation. Suddenly, I recalled my last meeting with him. Only then did I seem to know why he asked. It’s the first time I met him since I parted with him at the estate. Back then I realized that I was again checking his countenance like I used to in the past despite my vow that I would never repeat my past life.

If that’s the case, did he want to see me for that? Namely, he wanted to see me because he wanted to ask why I was so afraid of him and why I refused him so much? If so, what should I reply? I couldn’t easily avoid replying because I passed out in front of him.

Extremely tense. I looked up at him, but he nodded unexpectedly without saying anything. Then he turned and walked again. I breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to catch up with him.

Suddenly, the cold breeze passed through the snowflakes that bloomed on a lean branch.

White snow fell off in droves. He raised his head and watched the falling snow and asked, “…Are you still dreaming?”

“Pardon, Your Majesty?”

“I mean that nightmare.”

“I don’t understand what you mean…” I asked hesitantly.

When he mentioned a dream, a nightmare, I recalled something, but there was no chance that he would ask about it.

“Never mind. Let’s continue to walk.”

He tried to say something, but stopped and resumed walking.

While trying to calm my trembling heart, I walked after him, pondering over my conversation with him.

‘Dream, and that nightmare? Why did he ask me that thing?’

I felt something strange about him for some time. Tilting my head, I looked at him walking ahead of me. Did he hear some strange rumors about me from someone? Something like the rumor that I was dreaming a nightmare? But that was impossible. My father and Allendis were the only ones who knew of my nightmare.

After walking, lost in thought, I suddenly looked around and felt that the road I was walking along was very familiar to me. Blackened trees stood around the narrowing trail. There were also burnt fallen leaves here and there through the melted snow.

‘This is the garden of Ver Palace! How does he know this place? It’s a small palace in the corner of the inner palace, so there are few who come here.’

I naturally cast my glance at the middle of the garden, where there was an unknown tree that I barely saved from the recent fire.

‘What happened to the silver budding flowers? I hear they bloom in winter, so they should have bloomed by now?’

However, When I got closer to it, the condition of the tree was still disastrous. The damages of the fire were less severe than before, but my heart was broken when I saw the naked tree standing in the middle of the garden without proper landscaping due to the season. I went a little closer and touched the tree trunk. He also looked up at the tree silently.

How much time passed? With his eyes fixed on the unopened buds, he murmured to himself,

“… … Strange. Flowers should bloom around this time. ”

“Do you know that flower, Your Majesty?”

Surprised by his unexpected comment, I asked, forgetting I had been tense all along while walking with him.

He answered without taking his eyes off the silvery buds, “I have seen the flowers once as a child.”

“Ah…”

“That tree blooms irregularly. Mostly, buds start to shoot out in winter, and bloom just before spring. They are not gorgeous but elegant, beautiful silver flowers. ”

“I see. I wonder what kind of flower it is. ”

‘Elegant and beautiful flowers? What do they look like?’ I was surprised while thinking about the various appearance of the flowers in my mind. I turned my big eyes towards him.

‘Did he just explain to me? I didn’t even ask what kind of flower it was! ‘

I felt creepy somehow. Why is he doing this to me out of a clear blue sky? Even if I asked him questions, he was never kind enough to answer them, but he is generous and kind to me now.

However, as if he seemed not to have noticed my gaze full of doubt, he opened his mouth, in a pensive mood, “Hmm, do you know the flower called Dela?”

“… ”

I was speechless when he asked me kindly again, which was somewhat different from what he was until now. However, as if interpreting it in a different way, he explained in more detail.

“I’m talking about the white flower that allegedly bloomed in the place where Mother Earth cried, looking at the sky while yearning for a lost lover. They say that if you share the flowers from a branch, love blossoms.”

“…Oh, yes, Your Majesty. You mean the white flowers blooming in the summer?”

“Right. The flower of this tree looks a bit like that. ”

Only

“I see.”

Although I answered reluctantly, I suddenly recalled Dela. Dela is praised for its beauty because its six white petals shyly spreading like snow looked like a woman who had just begun to love.

‘Is that flower similar to Dela?’

Suddenly, I smiled because I was very excited about the full blooming of the silver flowers.

“Is your curiosity satisfied now?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I guess they will look really beautiful when they bloom. ”

When I replied, looking at the silver buds closely, he said after a little silence, “Now you look like a human.”

“Pardon?”