Special Story 1.3

Adrian’s mood was at rock bottom from the morning. He had clearly fallen asleep with Claire in his arms, but he was once again plagued by that strange dream.

Back in that small bedroom, the woman who had opened her eyes woke the man, and he got up and hugged her. And as if it were the most natural thing, he lifted her and sat her on his lap and began to kiss her. She pushed him away for a moment, but soon, with a shy look, she responded to him.

The Adrian watching them was no longer the emperor. Clothed in the same shabby slave’s attire he had worn when he stayed at Count Ianster’s estate years ago, he was rooted to the spot, unable to move, as he watched the scene. He felt a hole in his chest, an emptiness, and a boundless rage.

What was this woman to him…?

But then, the world was turned upside down. And Adrian found himself standing face to face with Sebastian, whom he had personally driven to his death. Although Sebastian had clearly died by his hand, he was now holding a bloodstained sword, looking down at Adrian with a pained expression. Even more terrifying was the woman standing beside Sebastian. Celine Ianster, the dreadful woman, was looking at him with large, teary eyes filled with pity.

“You’ve finally done it, Grand Duke. Why on earth?”

Sebastian’s voice sounded as clear as if he were truly alive. But the Adrian in the dream wasn’t looking at the crown prince. He was standing there, his arm and chest dripping with blood, looking only at that woman. He was desperate to hold Celine in his arms. It was the emotional extreme of a man who thought he had gone insane, yet couldn’t stop himself.

“Celine…”

As he uttered the name, Adrian felt the soft body that had filled his chest suddenly slip away, and he woke up.

“What did I just say?”

Adrian realized he had called out Celine’s name in his sleep. And of course, Claire was standing by the bed, her back to him.

“Claire, that…”

He called her name, but she didn’t turn around.

“Please, look at me. I had a nightmare, please, Claire.”

But the woman stubbornly stood with her back to him, not saying a word.

“Sebastian was in my dream, killing me, and that woman was standing next to him, so I called out her name without thinking. It didn’t mean anything.”

Adrian’s heart ached unbearably because the woman wouldn’t look at him. What had he done? He was terrified that her heart might move even a little farther away from him because of this, and his hands grew cold.

Just as he was about to get up and grab her, he heard her trembling voice.

“Ah, Adrian. It seems you had a bad dream, so get some more sleep. I… that is… I’ll see you in a bit.”

With those words, Claire left for the adjoining drawing-room without looking back at him. Adrian, unable to stop her, held his head in his hands and let out a heavy sigh.

“I’ve really gone mad.”

***

“Ugh, what in the world is happening?”

At first, I woke up startled by Adrian’s voice calling the name Celine. But as I listened to his excuses, I simply couldn’t turn to face him. No matter how much I tried to think otherwise, I couldn’t ignore it any longer.

‘Oh my god, what? Is Adrian experiencing the original story in his dreams?’

I knew what kind of torment he must be going through, but my shock was too great to comfort him right now.

‘Then is Han Hyuntaek going to appear, too? Or is it just this world? What on earth is going on?’

“Aargh! How much am I supposed to say?”

After pacing around the drawing-room for a while, I decided to put the thoughts aside and smiled brightly. Anyone watching would have thought I’d lost my mind because of the sudden change in my mood, but I had made up my mind. I believed that if I just pretended not to know, he would never be able to figure out any of this.

I only met Adrian again that evening. His face, after a half-day apart, was etched with deep worry. Even as he escorted me to the large first-floor office, which was set up like a conference room, he couldn’t meet my eyes. But to be honest, I felt perfectly fine. I already knew too well that he had loved Celine in the book, and that event hadn’t actually happened. And I couldn’t get upset that he had loved someone else in a fictional world, especially since I had a past of my own. And my past wasn’t even in a fictional world.

***

But the emperor’s situation was not favorable. Adrian was in a hurry to finish this matter and talk to Claire. He glanced at her, and her expression was so cold that he momentarily stopped breathing.

“It is not possible to annex your country to Quinze-Nouais.”

When the emperor, who was now seated across from the king, uttered the words of refusal, the King of Hadena was devastated. He wanted to end this miserable cycle of starvation and life-or-death battles he faced every year. His country was desperately lacking in resources and manpower. And to make matters worse, half the year was winter.

“Is there no room for reconsideration?”

Instead of answering, the emperor nodded.

“But I will help your country.”

“We don’t need such temporary help.”

It was a rather disrespectful remark, but Adrian didn’t mind. He believed that a true king should be able to abandon his pride for his country and walk into life-threatening danger without hesitation.

The emperor calmly continued the king’s words. “There is a basin in the Krivosk region of your country.”

“…I am aware of that.”

The King of Hadena’s face filled with bewilderment at the unexpected mention of a familiar place name.

“That basin has a mine with a vast amount of iron ore.”

He looked at the Emperor of Quinze-Nouais in surprise.

“You must be wondering how I know that.”

Adrian had, of course, gone to Hadena during the time he was looking for Claire. He knew there would be mines in the cold region, but he hadn’t imagined they would be so large. However, Hadena was underdeveloped and didn’t know how to use the iron ore.

“I have no intention of telling you how I know. However, in exchange for your country supplying iron ore to our empire, I promise that the empire will provide you with food.”

The King of Hadena was deep in thought. He didn’t know the value of the iron ore, so he didn’t know how to react.

“It will be a difficult decision for you. But I promise you this, on the name of the emperor: this agreement will be beneficial to both your country and my empire.”

Although he was thinking, the King of Hadena didn’t have many options.

“Since I am here, let’s draft and finalize the contract. I will give you a month’s grace period, so you can return to your country, prepare for the contract, and come back here.”

The meeting was brief. Soon, the King of Hadena paid his respects to the Emperor of Quinze-Nouais and left the Grand Duke’s castle. They, too, would be quite busy preparing for various things from now on.

***

After the meeting, as soon as I entered the room, I asked Adrian in a slightly excited voice, “Adrian, how on earth did you know that? You’re amazing.”

The emperor looked at me with a bewildered expression. “Are you alright?”

“Huh? What about?”

“I mean, this morning…”

Only then did I realize that it was a perfectly natural situation for me to be a little angry. But what could I do? I wasn’t angry at all.

“You said it was just a dream. I’m not that small-minded of a woman. So you don’t have to worry about it, Your Majesty.”

Instead of answering, Adrian let out a long sigh. It was the first time I realized a sigh could contain so much meaning. It seemed to be a mix of relief, anger, and a little bit of disappointment.

“You really…”

“Why? Do you wish I was angry right now?”

I asked out of genuine curiosity. I couldn’t be sure if that’s what he really wanted.

“It’s not that.”

Adrian didn’t hide his impatience and anxiety. He seemed ready to look into my eyes to know if I was being sincere. But instead of speaking, he hugged me.

“I don’t know my own heart well either. But it’s also true that your not being angry is a great comfort to me right now.”

I hugged him back tightly.

“Adrian, don’t overthink it. No matter what happened in the past or in your dreams, the two people who love each other right now are you and me. So don’t think about anything else. I won’t either.”

The emperor rested his chin on my shoulder and let out the rest of the breath he had been holding.

“When it comes to you, I’m never in my right mind. They say anxiety disappears over time, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. But Claire, just as you said, you’re the only one I love.”

I nodded and patted his back. Nothing would go wrong for us. I was certain of it.

***

After the king left, peaceful days continued for us. At least, they did for me. And exactly a month later, the King of Hadena came back to us with the contract. It didn’t take long to make a few revisions, and the alliance was successfully concluded. We were scheduled to return to the Hesse Capital, where the imperial palace was, in three days.

With the Hadena matter resolved and a chance to look around the northern territory, I had time to revisit the Grand Duke’s castle. When I came to the greenhouse after a long time, old memories flooded back. All those countless events felt like a dream. Even though the weather was cold, a warm sensation rushed to my face as I opened the greenhouse door.

“That space has been left empty, Your Majesty.”

“I don’t know how this will sound, but I want you to just call me Lady. ‘Your Majesty’ is too grand, Ben.”

Ben, who had followed me without my noticing, approached and smiled warmly.

“That’s where you wanted to plant something, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I ended up leaving without being able to buy the flower seedlings. Anyway, Ben, you’re amazing. Thank you for taking such good care of this place. It’s truly precious to me.”

At my words, Ben puffed out his chest with a look of pride.

“I tried very hard to protect this greenhouse during the terrible three years after the Grand Duke’s castle was restored. Even though we have an alliance now, those Hadena bastards… Oh, my apologies. Such disrespectful words in front of Your Majesty…”

I chuckled at Ben’s attitude. “What are you talking about? It’s fine.”

“Yes, well, I had a hard time persuading them not to destroy this place.”

“How did you change their minds?” I was genuinely curious. As enemies, they would have instinctively wanted to destroy anything good they saw on the other side.

“I told them we could grow food in here. That we could eat fresh vegetables even in the winter.”

“Oh, you were very clever.”

“Yes, so for a while, we didn’t see any flowers in here. It took a few more years to decorate it like this again.”

He had a right to be proud. The greenhouse was more beautiful than ever.

“But I left that particular flower patch empty. You can think of it as an old man’s stubborn wish for Your Majesty to visit this place again.”

“Then I should grant that wish, shouldn’t I?”

At my words, Ben smiled a rare, wide smile. All the time I had been away, I had been replaying that day I couldn’t buy the flower seedlings. Now was the time to finish that task.

I soon left the Grand Duke’s castle, accompanied only by Leila, Owen, and Cedric. Adrian couldn’t leave the castle because he had many things to take care of. The problems the King of Hadena left behind were not one or two. He had to solve all the issues with the goods to be procured from the north within three days before we could leave.

Adrian was not as anxious as before about me going to the market with such a small group. Now that even Hadena had allied with us, there were virtually no threats to us. And besides, who were those two? They were the best swordsmen in the empire.

“The weather is so nice.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Leila, though young, was very sensible. Sometimes, she didn’t show much emotion, like a doll, which made her a little hard to approach. I often found it hard to believe that she had shown such passion for Cedric.

“This kind of weather is rare in the north. You never know when it’ll change its face and start to rain.”

“It’s much more beautiful than I thought, Your Majesty.”

Leila seemed a little excited to be out on a simple outing, and a slight flush appeared on her cheeks, making her finally look like a girl her age.

“When we get to the market, let’s eat delicious things and just wander around. Don’t call me ‘Your Majesty’ there. It’ll be a problem if people start to notice.”

“Yes, don’t worry.”

Just as Leila smiled brightly and nodded, there was a small commotion outside, and I felt the horse slow down and stop.

“Your Majesty, we’re at the entrance to the market. From now on, I will call you Lady Ianster.”

Thanks to the quick-witted Cedric, I let out a little laugh.

The central market in the northern city, which I was visiting after a long time, was much more lively than before. I had lived here for two years, so finding my way around was not difficult. It seemed to have changed a lot, but most of it was just as it had been. We chattered and roamed the market. It felt just like we had gone back to that time.