Chapter 1. Kill the Empress
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As soon as the door opened, Perso jumped up from his seat.
“Miss Anna.”
Anna flinched back as Perso rushed towards her.
“…… Your Excellency.”
Anna couldn’t help being embarrassed.
No matter how secretly she disappeared, why would he go looking for her like this?
Duke of Gertium, who was said to be the pillar of the country.
“Are you hurt? Why, why did you go out alone? If you had told me, I would have taken you.”
‘I came out secretly because I was afraid you would come after me like this.’ The words came up to her throat.
Anna stared at Perso with complex eyes and stepped back from him who had come too close.
“I came here on my own. Don’t worry. I am by the side of the person whom I feel the safest.”
At Anna’s words, Perso unconsciously held his breath and clenched his fists.
He looked at Anna with trembling eyes, and was silent for a while.
It’s been a long time since he felt this unpleasant.
Anna glanced at Asha and Tamon, who were watching them from a distance, anxiously.
Asha nodded her head slightly as if it was okay.
Perso looked at Anna with a stiff face in the direction she was looking in, and opened his hardened lips.
A slightly shriveled voice broke through the silence.
“Didn’t you say that you don’t think you’ll be able to love anyone anymore?”
Why is he talking about that now?
Anna looked up at Perso with her bewildered eyes.
Perso looked at Tamon with a slightly darkened face and said.
“Could he be…”
“No, what are you talking about!”
Anna shouted involuntarily and cut off Perso’s words.
“You just told me you’re with the person you can feel the safest.”
“It’s not him…!”
Anna, who was about to say it was Asha, suddenly bit her lip.
It was because she herself was confused as to why she had to desperately explain it to this man.
“Ah, it’s not him. But I don’t know why you’re curious about that.”
Anna looked confusedly at Perso who was driving her with these questions.
She really didn’t know why this man was doing this to her.
Even if, as Tamon Krasis said, Perso was genuinely worried about her, she thought there was no good reason for that.
Perso looked at Anna with complex eyes.
Even when he bumped into Tamon a while ago, his eyes were so docile that he wondered if it was the man whom Anna liked.
“… In fact, I don’t even know.”
He muttered in a hoarse voice.
With only one step between him and her, Perso looked into her eyes as if confused.
“I can’t stand still when I see you.”
“Yes?”
“If I can’t see you, I’m anxious. If I see something good, I want to give it to you, and if the wind blows, I’m afraid you’ll fly away.”
The longer Perso spoke, the more Anna’s face turned red.
Oh my gosh! Did this man even know what he was saying out of his mouth?
With such a blunt and expressionless face, Perso poured out unfamiliar words one after another, and pulled something out of his coat and held it out.
“Ha, what is this?”
“….”
He just held it out without a word, and Anna couldn’t help but open the small package he had held out to her.
Anna looked down with her bewildered eyes at the stack of cookies and jellies piled up inside the package.
Somehow, her face turned redder than before.
“I’m… I’m a single minded person and don’t know much about the world. I don’t have the talent to read people’s minds well, nor the charm that permeates them. I’m not good at all of these… so I don’t know how to explain my feelings.”
Words sweeter than the sweets Anna was holding in her hands poured out.
It was really confusing that he poured out strange words with a bloody face that seemed to cut off anyone.
“I just … wish you always be safe and peaceful wherever you are.”
“Ah, no….”
He looked into Anna’s eyes and added in a slightly gloomy voice.
“If possible, I wish I was the one who could provide you with that safety and peace.”
“Ack….”
Anna was so startled that the hiccups came out. She quickly covered her mouth with one hand, and she rolled her eyes to and fro and looked at Asha.
“Wait a minute, I will step aside…”
“Gladly.”
Asha grabbed Tamon’s wrist, who was watching the two with so much interest. It wasn’t until the two left that Anna took a deep breath and fanned her face.
“Do you know what you said to me now, Duke?”
“I’m very sane.”
“Oh, no!”
As Anna circled the place, she stood tall and said.
“No, I don’t think we’ve ever had that kind of feeling.”
“Then why don’t we just start making that kind of feeling now?”
This guy must be really crazy!
Anna, with her round eyes wide open, hesitated and stepped back. Her throat burned, and she hurriedly drank the glass of water that was on the table.
No matter how much water she drank, the intense heat that rose on her face did not go away. No one had ever made a confession like this to Anna Rotrega. Because of that, the situation now shook her head.
She married her ex husband under obligation, and Cain went away before her young love was perfected. Her love was all in unfinished form, and she had never won the heart of anyone.
“I’m Anna Rotrega. Of course, you are well aware of this, Duke of Gertium?”
“Of course.”
“I am the most ardent supporter and close friend of Her Majesty the former Empress, whom the emperor hated and destroyed. And I was married to Count Puglish. Of course you are aware of that too, right?”
Perso’s eyes darkened slightly. He nodded his head slowly.
“… But are you saying that you want to protect me?”
“That’s right.”
“I’m sorry, but isn’t your heart a fleeting impulse?”
Perso’s face hardened immediately. But Anna couldn’t back down either.
The two were standing on a road that was completely incompatible.
That man must have forgotten that.
If it was a man who inherited the surname of Gertium, he should never have had these feelings in his heart or spit it out.
“My heart is not different from back then. Even if it’s not you, I don’t have the confidence to love or be with anyone yet. What’s more, aren’t you the head of a family that supports the person I hate the most in the world?” (Anna)
“…Is that such a big barrier?”
“For your sake and my sake, we must not be together. Because the road we want to go is so different.”
“… But Miss Anna.”
“Your Excellency said you wanted me to be safe, but I will continue to hate your Emperor, even if I am not.”
“…”
“To be more honest, I wish Gillotti Tanatos would die in the most brutal and devastating way like he did to my people.”
“Miss Anna!”
Perso was startled and took one step closer to her.
“Your hatred is yours, but don’t let those words out. You’ll be in danger.”
“That’s right. I was so fearlessly uttering treason in front of Gertium. Sir, do you think I can still be with you?”
“That’s why!”
Perso hurriedly grabbed Anna’s wrist.
“…… That’s why you need me more.”
The tough man’s face twisted painfully. He clenched his teeth to persuade her.
“You can do whatever you want in front of me. But if you do it anywhere else, you will inevitably die. I will not stop you from hating His Majesty. But if it’s going to happen out of my sight, I’m very, very nervous.”
Perso was serious.
Anna looked at herself reflected in Perso’s dark green eyes.
She couldn’t tell if it was his eyes or her real self that was shaking inside.
As she looked at the hardened face of the man who couldn’t hide his expression under his disheveled red hair, her palms felt ticklish.
Anna clenched her fists as if swallowing the rising tickling.
Perso looked straight at her, not hiding himself.
What’s really strange was that she didn’t hate Perso’s heart, which came crashing into her like this.
Although she was bewildered and confused, she was not strangely repulsive.
When did he become so serious?
No matter how much she thought about it, they didn’t meet too long ago…
It was strange that he could grow his heart this much on his own.
But that was all.
“Go back, sir.”
“Miss Anna.”
“I don’t want to hide behind you. It’s up to me to take risks. I don’t want to sacrifice you for my hatred.”
“What if I want to?”
In response to Perso’s urgently added words, Anna laughed sadly and recounted.
“Don’t sacrifice yourself for me. I’m tired of things like that…”
She roughly removed Perso’s hand that was holding her wrist.
“Please go. This is my answer to your confession.”