(T/N: Hey everyone! Sorry for being super damn late. Again. As I said a lot in the comments in the previous chapter, life has been choking me and dragging me along. My living situation got worst and I have until May to get my shit together for when I get kicked out; my college life has been super stressful with exams and tests back to back to back. The stress between home (along with medical bills) and college has gotten so bad, I am failing a class T_T College life is great….

Anyways… I would like to give a special thanks to Zen Wistalia (my editor) for actually finishing chapter 36 for me while I was gone! And to end my rambling, I would also like to give a special thanks to Ars translations for picking this up after I post chapter 36!

*POV: Leonhart*

"Your Majesty, can you do a little work instead of just thinking?"

I heard a loud voice that caught my attention, and saw Kristoff sigh who knows how many times today. After I realized my feelings for Shane, this state continued.

'I'm sorry', I answered as I held the documents, but none of the words were processing. Towards such a me, Kristoff gave another sigh.

"I don't know what happened with Shane-sama, but isn't it better to tell him your feelings instead of worrying like this?"

"No, I'm just troubled because I can't express the feelings that I want to convey."

To be honest, I was amazed at the sight of myself.

"You keep thinking about Shane-sama, and you can't get any work done; you even came back here because you were jealous of Shane-sana's former lover. Even I can understand how Your Majesty feels. How slow can you be?"

Even if you say that, I don't know what I don't understand.

"In this situation, isn't it best to prepare a birthday present for Shane-sama?"

I was stabbed right in the bull's eye.

"Now that I think about it, I don't even know what Shane likes. The only thing I know that he likes is flowers, but I have been sending that to him everyday recently."

"So, do you want to invite the jeweler to the castle this time? It seems like Shane-sama doesn't like glamorous jewelry, but I remember him wearing some earrings."

It was a good idea, so I left it to Kristoff to arrange it. Even though one of my problems were solved, another one arose when I had to figure out what color would suit Shane best, or what design would look good or not.

* * * * *

And finally the day had come, Shane's birthday party was organized by me. For that reason, Shane wore the dress that I had gifted him before; their hair was loosely gathered giving off an elegant, adult-like appearance. I decided I would give them the present after the party was over. I was worried, but now I was feeling rather nervous.

It wasn't my first time dancing with Shane, but obviously my feelings were different than before. I put my arm around his thin waist that didn't seem like a man's waist. It was a given that there were participants who were fascinated by Shane's beauty.

When the song finished, I had to go dance with the other women as the host. It was irritating that I couldn't keep dancing with Shane.

While I was dancing with other women, Shane was drinking alcohol slowly, waiting for time to pass. As expected, there was no man reckless enough to dance with the Emperor's wife, so I was relieved.

However, while I was distracted, I noticed the surroundings becoming noisy.

When I looked around, I saw Shane dancing with another man. When I looked closely, it was the Duke's son from Orania.* Their breaths were in perfect sync, showing that they have danced many dances together. I couldn't express the jealousy that I felt towards this man who knew the Shane I didn't know. I was astonished by the strong feelings I held.

After a short time passed, it seems the alcohol was too much for Shane as he was being supported to the terrace; when I saw their faces near each other, I pushed away the women who were surrounding me. At the terrace, the two people started to talk, but when I heard Shane's laughter, I unconsciously aimed hostility towards the Duke's son.

At that moment, my voice was surprisingly cold.

Footnotes:

*It says Marquis, but I kept it as Duke’s son as that's how the previous translator translated it

(T/N: This chapter was a hell of a lot easier than the next chapter. I should have it as soon as I get this one damn sentence to make sense. I don’t understand Japanese idioms which is why I am struggle XD Anyways, thanks for reading and thank you all so much for being patient with me!)

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