Chapter 1. The beginning of everything
****
Sponsored by H 💖 (11/14)
***
Looking at Ellea for a while, but they couldn’t just stay here forever, so Terban decided to wake Ellea up.
“We’re at the Imperial Palace.”
Terban, who confirmed that Ellea woke up with sleepy eyes, got off the horse first. And waited for her to come down.
But she was still in a daze, and it looked like she was not fully awake.
It looked like she was going to fall asleep again at that rate, so Terban had no choice but to reach for her. He couldn’t force her down when she was half asleep, because she could get hurt.
“I’ll hold you, so come down. You’re not going to stay up there all night, are you?”
However, Ellea could not easily overcome the rush of drunkenness and sleepiness.
Normally, she would have refused a helping hand, but it was as if her thinking circuit was cut off and she couldn’t see that the person reaching out towards her was Terban.
Just thinking that she had to get down, she reached out and fell into Terban’s arms.
Terban gently embraced Ellea without difficulty. At that moment he even felt her body scent pulling him in.
Once he was ready to let her down, Ellea didn’t remove her arms that were wrapping his neck, as if she liked the warmth.
“One moment, please.”
As she dug into Terban’s arms, Terban hurried to call her, but as if his voice couldn’t reach her ears, Ellea closed her eyes again.
All he could hear was the sound of her breathing.
Just when he thought it would be difficult to wake her up, he felt a presence approaching them.
It was Bandel who discovered Terban in the distance and approached him. He was just waiting for Terban, who went out without saying anything.
“Your Majesty, until this hour……….”
Terban gave Bandel a “be quiet” look as he tried to say something.
Bandel was puzzled but then he saw Ellea cradled in Terban’s arms, and he knew why. Then, in a smaller voice than before, he asked Terban.
“Why are you here with the Princess…. ……”
“She’s in a deep sleep somehow.”
“Then let me take her to her palace.”
Bandel wanted to take Ellea to the palace instead of Terban, but Terban refused.
“I will take her back, you bring the horse.”
“Okay.”
Terban held Ellea and walked past Bandel.
Bandel just watched him with a look of surprise as Terban moved away, holding Ellea in his arms.
It was the first time Terban had shown this behavior. It was like he didn’t want to leave Ellea in the hands of anyone else. In the meantime, while Terban was walking towards the palace, Ellea didn’t move a muscle, completely asleep.
Even in the cold night air, he could feel Ellea’s warmth.
‘You’re sleeping without knowing anything.’
Ellea also felt the warmth and dug further into his arms. Terban couldn’t help but smile.
At this moment, a strange feeling arose from his heart, as if Ellea was relying on him.
‘You’re a strange person, Princess.’
But unlike what he said, he hoped in the back of his mind that this moment would never end. And so it was no surprise that Borence and the maids, who had been waiting for Ellea’s arrival, were surprised by Terban’s appearance.
On top of that, Ellea was asleep in the emperor’s arms.
The only person who was calm among the panicked maids was Terban.
“Where is the Princess’s room?”
“I will show you. Please follow me.”
Both Borence and Jane calmly led Terban to Ellea’s room.
Jane rolled up the covers to make room for Ellea to lie down while Borence helped take off her jacket and shoes.
Terban laid Ellea on the bed himself with a very careful touch, trying not to wake her up.
All settled in, Terban looked one more time at Ellea who was sleeping comfortably and went out.
Borence hurried to follow. She bowed respectfully to Terban as he was leaving the palace.
“Thank you so much for taking the Princess home.”
“How is the Princess doing here?”
Not caring about the greetings, Terban asked about Ellea’s life. Borence replied politely.
“I think she’s gotten used to living here. She is very kind to everyone and I’m honored to serve the Princess.”
“Is there any struggle?”
“She’s a strong person and wants to handle everything alone. Sometimes my heart feels heavy.”
Borence often got the feeling that Ellea was kind, but at other times she felt like Ellea would disappear as quickly as a mirage.
Somehow, Terban understood it completely.
The Princess was kind and gentle with his people, but at the same time she drew a line and sometimes even showed coldness.
“I should get going now. Tell her to think carefully about what she owes me today.”
“Thank you very much for your time today, Your Majesty.”
Borence felt that there was a hint of mischievousness in Terban’s words. She couldn’t imagine that he was the emperor everyone knew.
When she returned from seeing Terban off, Jane had turned off the light and was out of Ellea’s room.
“How’s the Princess?”
“She’s sleeping deeply. Perhaps she doesn’t even know who brought her back. I guess she was drunk.”
“I’m worried about how she’ll react when she finds out about this tomorrow.”
Borence laughed, anticipating the reaction Ellea would have.
Then she thought about making breakfast for a hangover and left the palace. Not knowing how today’s event will spread in the palace.
***
“Oh, my head…”
Unlike usual, Ellea woke up late and couldn’t even get up from the bed.
The aftermath of the alcohol she had consumed yesterday seemed to be quite large. She looked around and later remembered that she’d had a drink with two unexpected people.
“Ah, yes. We drank alcohol yesterday, didn’t we? By the way…………………How did I get here?”
Ellea thought back carefully to last night.
She remembered getting on Terban’s horse, but she couldn’t remember how she got to the palace after that.
It was as if the memory had just cut off and disappeared.
“What’s with this ominous feeling?”
While Ellea was groaning, Borence entered her room.
“Are you awake?”
“How did I come back yesterday?”
“Don’t you remember?”
“No. But what’s wrong with your expression? You’re scaring me.”
Borence was at a loss as to how to explain this situation to Ellea, who couldn’t remember what happened yesterday.
It was exactly Ellea who intuitively feared the aftereffects in her expression.
“Please tell me I’ve walked on my feet here safely.”
“Yesterday…… His Majesty brought you back here.”
“His Majesty? Is it the Emperor I know? I don’t remember at all.”
The name that came out of Borence’s mouth already made Ellea afraid of the next situation.
When she was sleeping, Terban took her home.
“His Majesty came to the palace with the Princess in his arms.”
“Oh, please. That’s not all I wanted to hear!”
Ellea screamed, grabbing her head in the worst possible situation.
However, Borence wasn’t finished.
“His Majesty asked me to deliver a message.”
“What is it?”
“He said the Princess should think about how to repay your debt to him.”
Hearing the message, Ellea sat up with a bewildered look on her face.
Then, as if trying to deny reality, she lay down on the bed again and pulled the covers over her head. To escape from reality somehow.
But Borence didn’t leave her alone.
“I don’t think the reality will change if you sleep again, Princess.”
“Someone please turn back the time!”
“His Majesty didn’t look like he was mad. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Do you really think so, Borence?”
As if soothing a child, Borence intended to get Ellea out of bed first.
“It’s a beautiful day, so I’m going to prepare breakfast outside. You’ll feel better.”
“Thank you. In the meantime, I’ll try to resolve my hangover and see what to do.”
A few moments later, sitting in a sunny spot and eating breakfast, Ellea felt more relaxed.
“I think I’m alive now.”
“I’m glad you liked it.”
“How on earth should I look at His Majesty’s face?”
Unfortunately, that was the question that the Borence could not answer. Ellea felt her head throbbing again as she remembered what had happened yesterday. She couldn’t believe Terban held her all the way to her bedroom.
‘Everyone in the palace must have seen it.’
The first defeat was to drink without thinking about the future, and the second was to overlook that this body was weak against alcohol.
“I hope you didn’t make another mistake.”
“There was nothing special to tell you.”
“Please don’t let it happen.”
While talking to Borence about what to do, Jane was seen running in a hurry in the distance and calling Ellea in an urgent voice.
“Princess!”
Jane stopped in front of Ellea, out of breath.
Ellea didn’t care, Borence scolded her when she showed rude behavior in front of the people she served.
“Jane, I told you to be careful in front of the Princess.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. But what’s going on? What’s with the running?”
“Oh, this is not the time. We’re in trouble, Your Highness.”
Ellea and Borence looked at her strangely as Jane caught her breath.
“I went on an errand and heard the people of the palace whisper.”
“What is it?”
“Yesterday, His Majesty brought the Princess to her palace in his arms. Rumors are already spreading in the imperial palace.”
However, Ellea wasn’t very surprised. It was just a troublesome situation that gave her a headache.
At Jane’s words, Borence bowed her head, thinking it was her mistake.
“I’m sorry. I asked the maids at the palace to be very careful.”
“No, it’s not Borence’s fault. There’s no way to prevent such interesting news from spreading.”
Until now, Terban, who had never had another woman by his side except Shanil, was with Ellea. And he was holding her in his arms.
Looking at Jane’s reaction, she seemed to misinterpret it in a completely outlandish direction.
The Princess was bound to be a fun prey at the Imperial Palace.
“I just don’t want to be bothered more than anything else. You know what people will say.”
“What should we do now?”
“Well, what I want the most is to stay still until it subsides, but I don’t know if it’ll work out the way I want it to. From what Jane says, it will only be a matter of time before His Majesty hears about it.”
“And that woman, Shanil.”
Ellea’s head just throbbed as she was getting into unexpected trouble.