The Evil Empress Adores Me - Chapter 77

“I don’t think so…”

“Oh my, don’t you believe me?”

The Empress chortled as she nodded her head at me. 

Well, that’s not the point. 

What I’m trying to say isn’t about brownies and ice cream. 

I opened my mouth with resolve. 

“Anyway, what I want to say is!” 

“Yes, what do you want to say?”

“Your Majesty is so beautiful today, I think I will fall in love with you.”

Empress, please believe me. 

I’m telling you nothing but 100% of the pure truth! 

Hearing that, the Empress’s eyes fluttered.

Um, did I say something wrong?

I tilted my head. 

“…well, that’s what my Charlize would say. Still, it was worth going through the trouble of dressing up for.” 

The Empress’s cheeks appeared slightly blushed mentioning that. 

Oh, no way. 

Is the Empress embarrassed now?

Wow, our Empress is so adorable!

Just then. 

“Aren’t you headed to the banquet?”

A hoarse voice interrupted our conversation. 

Oh, wait a second. That voice?

I glanced behind me. 

It was Damian with his makeup removed and a fresh set of clothes on. He stood behind me with a sullen expression. 

“Why, are you jealous that Charlize is going to fall for me?” teased the Empress as she poked fun at Damian with a victor’s smile. 

Red-faced, Damian protested. 

“Why should I be jealous over a small thing!”

“If it’s really how you say it is, then why don’t you look so good?” 

…I know I’ve heard a similar conversation from somewhere, haven’t I?

I squinted my eyes, recalling a hazy memory. 

Oh, I remember!

When the Empress lied to Damian!

I think it was the same scenario when she said she slept in the same bed as me.

Damian curled his lips and said. 

“I was just worried her Majesty would be late for the banquet.”

“Uh-huh, is that so?”

“Yes. I wasn’t aware of Charlize at all-”

“You know what, prince?”

The Empress raised her chin, cutting Damian mid-sentence. 

That mellow voice rang out. 

“Strongly denying something can be considered as strongly affirming it.”

Perhaps hitting the nail on the head, Damian bit his lip. 

The Empress added a sharp remark.

“Anyway, I was going to be on my way even if his Highness hadn’t urged me.”

“Oh, you’re leaving now?”

“It’s almost time. If I’m late for the banquet, I won’t hear the end of it from the Emperor…”

The Empress got up and gave a pat on my head with a gentle touch. 

Her Majesty’s smile widened. 

“I think I’ll be back late, don’t wait for me, and go to bed early, Charlize.”

I was stunned by that. 

Did the Empress emphasize ‘Don’t wait for me?’ She did, didn’t she? 

“My Charlize always waits for me, I feel so bad when I return late in the night.”

Oh, that’s why. 

…to be precise, all the maids of the Empress palace, not just me wait for her to return. 

But I wasn’t in a mood to explain that. 

I glanced over to Damian, smiling awkwardly. 

He was looking at the Empress with a defeated expression. 

With a victorious voice, the Empress dealt the final blow.

“There’s no need to go out of your way to see me off. Make yourselves comfortable.”

“Ah, yes….have a good time, Your Majesty.”

I waved a fond farewell. 

The Empress exited the room with an elegant gesture. 

Click.

The door was closed. 

Damian immediately turned to face me. 

“Lize.”

“Y-Yes?”

“When Her Majesty comes back late. Do you stay up and wait for her?” He asked with a fire in his eyes.

“Well, yes but…” 

Damian became even more ill-tempered when he heard that. 

I hurriedly opened my mouth in an attempt to defuse the situation. 

“Since I am the Empress’s maid, isn’t it obvious I would wait for her to come back?”

“But aren’t you also my maid?”

“But the crown prince has no business staying up late…”

Coming up with these haphazard excuses, I wanted to cry on the inside. 

Why are you both doing this to me?

 

***

 

Throughout the dinner, I had to pacify and soothe a sulky Damian. 

My persistent efforts started to pay off, and Damian was less grumpy by the end of the meal. 

“By the way, your Highness, the crown prince.”

“Yes?”

Damian looked at me as he put down his cutlery. 

I asked him carefully. 

“…is everything all right?” 

“What?”

“It’s because…I was wondering why his Highness isn’t at the banquet.”

Damian was the crown prince and without a doubt, has the right to attend. 

However, I was worried he couldn’t attend the banquet because of the Emperor’s bad mood. 

Seriously, the emperor of a country should be able to be bolder/better than that. 

The Emperor doesn’t have to be that petty, right? 

Damian thankfully shook his head with a relieving smile. 

“Didn’t I offend the Emperor with today’s blessing?”

“Well, you did but…”

“So. For the time being, it’s better to lay low and stay away,” Damian advised in a low voice.

Laying low isn’t that bad compared to getting on the Emperor’s bad side. 

I mean Damian’s already on his bad side but we don’t want to make him angrier, right? 

While nodding my head casually, I remembered Damian’s blessing earlier.

“Oh, I have one more question.”

“What is it?”

“Back in the courtyard, how did you handle the power so well?”

Damian had suffered from a fever before because he struggled to control the power of the divine beast. 

Recalling the time when Damian collapsed to the floor, my heart felt cool like I had just swallowed a large chunk of ice. 

His body temperature was scorching hot, and his face that was as pale as a ghost’s…

Damian shrugged his shoulders. 

“I don’t know how exactly, I just somehow had this feeling I could do it.”

“…wait, your Highness. Did you take that risk just because you ‘felt like you could do it?’”

I looked at Damian with a dazed expression. 

His Highness doesn’t know how precious he is! Why does he throw himself in harm’s way? 

Unable to bear my constant judging gaze, Damian slinked his gaze away. 

“The feeling back there…I was. I was confident I could do it.”

“Where did you get that confidence from?”

“You.”

Me?

I was confused. 

Damian narrowed his brow slightly. 

He muttered to me, divulging his thoughts. 

“Because you were by my side, I felt like I could do it.”

“What, you’re saying I’m the reason? That can’t be right!”

“But what if it’s true?”

Damian looked at me with a saddened expression. 

After a while, he sighed and continued. 

“To tell you the truth, I don’t think I can do it again.”

“But haven’t you done it once already?”

“That was then…I don’t even know how I did it, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it again.”

Damian seemed pretty frustrated with himself, so I struggled to suppress the desire to hit him over his recklessness. 

*Sigh* ‘Don’t beat yourself up over it, Damian.’

Damian grumbled and pondered for quite a while. Then he glanced at me. 

Why are you looking at me like that?

“Buw…”

He slurred his speech trying to say something. 

“But?”

“Looking at you gives me peace of mind.”

Yeah, that is hard to get out, isn’t it?

I stared at him pitifully. 

Indeed, in the original novel, there were very few people who awakened the power of the divine beast. 

Among the few who had awakened the power, only one had succeeded in awakening the power of purification. 

So to say it’s difficult is an understatement. 

Just as I was about to convince myself. 

“It may come off as weird, but when I’m with you everything feels like it’s going to be okay.”

….Yep, that sounds really weird. 

I didn’t mean to, but I reacted immediately with a somewhat disgusted expression. 

Noticing my disapproving reaction, Damian continued with a downcast face. 

“Don’t make that face, please,” pleaded Damian. 

“Okay, I’ll try.”

I struggled to push the tips of my lips upwards. (Smile) 

It was then Damian changed the subject. 

“About the fever.”

“Are you feverish?”

“No. Ever since I’ve known you, I’ve never had another fever.”

“…”

Damian’s words left me feeling strange. 

Come to think of it…

He’s right.

The first and last time Damian was sick, was when he was eight years old. 

He’s changed since then. He’s such a strong boy, it completely escaped my mind!

“And about today’s harvest festival.”

“Yes?”

“Honestly, the Emperor hurt my self-esteem at first, but I was still with you.”

Before I knew it, Damian recollected what happened with a faint smile.

He ended that note tenderly. 

“I knew it would turn out well.”

His frank words came out of nowhere, I was speechless for a moment. 

He slowly turned the other way.

His golden and scarlet eyes stared out the window, into a distant place I couldn’t figure out. 

“Do you remember what her Majesty said?”

“What about it?”

“On the day of the harvest festival, I mean the real festival outside the palace…there’s a lot to see and do.”

Oh, she did say that. 

I nodded slightly. 

She also said there would be a lot of snacks and fun things to do. 

Especially the sight of endless floating lanterns, like a Milky way flowing on the ground from far away.  

I want to see all that scenery with you.”

“…will that day ever come?” I unknowingly asked in a skeptical voice.

Perhaps because I was born in the palace and only lived in and around the palace grounds, I couldn’t imagine leaving this place very well.