Chapter 285

What the hell is this smell?

I pretended to cough and covered my nose and mouth first to understand the situation.

At the conference hall, where only simple refreshments were always prepared, today there were foods that could replace meals.

My favorite sandwich, my favorite tea, and my favorite cake.

I could tell at once who prepared these foods.

Normally, I would have enjoyed it happily.

"...Let's go to our seats, Craney."

The smell of the food grew stronger as I led Craney to my seat.

It was really hard work. And when I arrived at my seat, more and more food was laid out.

Craney whispered quietly so that only me could hear it.

"These are all my sister's favorite foods, right? His Majesty is very considerate."

"Yeah, you're right."

The problem is that the timing isn't very good.

I sat down in my chair, trying to breathe as shallowly as possible.

As I was holding my breath, I could hear the conversations of the nobles next to me, who had completely misunderstood this situation.

"Isn't this meaningful? A meal instead of refreshments."

"Of course, His Majesty must be speaking indirectly."

"That's right. He means you shouldn't think about going home easily today."

That's not it, you got it wrong.

I wanted to say that, but now it's hard to open my mouth.

"Sister, are you still feeling sick?"

Craney asked worriedly.

Instead of answering, I nodded and pushed the plate in front of me toward Craney using my index finger.

"But you should eat something."

"...It's okay."

Vom-, I think I'm going to vomit.

I was demonstrating superhuman patience just by bending down here and not vomiting in vain.

I looked down at the dish that gave off the stinkiest smell on the plate.

It was a sandwich containing thinly sliced ham, cheese, and apples, which was my favorite snack.

But now I don't even want to see it.

"Hmm."

As I was staring at it, I was about to get more nauseated, so I hurriedly picked up the teacup.

Fortunately, the sweet and calming scent of tea seemed to calm me down a bit.

I kept pretending to drink tea, avoiding the smell, but I felt the gaze.

It was a very stinging gaze.

Inevitably, when I looked up from the red tea water, something redder was waiting for me.

It was Perez's eyes.

'Wha- what? When did you come?'

It seemed that I didn't even know he had arrived at the conference because I was holding back the nausea.

"What are you looking at me like that?"

The guy who was originally sensitive but had a more sensitive hunch about me seemed to have quickly noticed something was wrong.

Because I haven't touched my favorite sandwich.

Eventually, his gaze began to scan me from head to toe.

And at first glance, his expressionless face slowly cracks.

A shallow wrinkle was formed between the straight eyebrows, and the drawn eyes were slightly wrinkled.

As if he had noticed something.

I instinctively averted my gaze in a hurry.

I turned my head so much to the point where I could hear a swish unintentionally and covered my face with a teacup.

"Ha."

I sighed automatically.

It was very uncomfortable to have to keep the pregnancy a secret from Perez.

But it can't be helped.

I make a face like that just by not touching the prepared food.

If he find out I'm pregnant.

"Uh-huh."

Once again, I sighed and shook my head.

At the same time, I took another sip of tea.

"This tea is very nice."

It's something I used to drink often, but the scent and taste were especially sweet today.

In addition, as the warm tea water entered, my nausea went away, and the rumbling got better.

"Good."

In this way, I should find food that doesn't upset my stomach.

Although it was only a tea with no nutritional value, I was moved by finding a treasure map of food that I have never encountered before in recent years.

So I didn't know.

The fact that Perez's face, who was still looking at this side, had completely hardened.

***

After the conference, the emperor's office.

The atmosphere was serious.

In the heavy air that the ceiling of the Imperial Palace of the Great Lambrew Empire was about to collapse at any moment, Perez's aides who had gathered right after the meeting were unable to even breathe properly.

They were all looking at one person, Perez.

After a very long silence, he opened his mouth.

"Let's all go out with only the three left."

"Three" here refers to the academy trio.

With a sigh of relief, all the officers hurriedly left the office.

But Perez remained silent for a while.

He just sat with his long legs crossed and stared in the air with a cool face.

The trio hurriedly exchanged silent glances.

'He seems really angry this time, right?'

'I think so. It's different from last time.'

'Someone say something.'

In the end, Lignite Luman eventually spoke carefully.

"Your Majesty, although this is not the first legislation we have proposed, did you not succeed in revitalizing the academy anyway?"

Then, the dark ruby-like eyes slowly glided towards Lignite.

Flinch.

He is a close friend and close aide who has been next to him since he was a teenager, but he couldn't help but get nervous at Perez's eyes like that.

"In the first place, it was the nobles who were completely opposed to the mandatory academy education. It's certainly an encouraging achievement to start imposing the obligation of academy education on them, one per generation, for six months." (TN: In the end it became 6 months, it's just like a vacation than education to the nobles. Haha)

"It's definitely like that."

Perez answered with a surprisingly docile answer.

"The beginning is important. The academy will soon become a social center for young nobles. Then, more and more people will naturally complete academy education regardless of their obligations. I am quite satisfied with the results of today's conference."

"Well then...?"

Why do you look so dead?

A large question mark appeared above the heads of the trio including Lignite.

"Something's weird."

"So, Your Majesty. If you tell me what's weird..."

"Tia didn't eat the sandwich."

"...What?"

What, too.

Then yes.

Roughly, those expressions crossed the faces of the three.

"Sand...wich."

Is this something that serious?

That the Matriarch of Lombardi didn't eat the sandwich?

I'm out of breath.

But to say that you are satisfied with the results of the conference, should I say fortunate?

"She didn't even touch it."

The sandwich was directly ordered by Perez to the chef of the Imperial Palace.

As always, the recipe that Tia likes.

"And she avoided my gaze. Turning her head."

"...are you going to Lombardi?"

Tedro was surprised and asked involuntarily.

The Matriarch of Lombardi, who always had a piercing gaze.

It's burdensome, so even if you have a face-to-face encounter, you avoid eye contact as much as possible.

It was a picture that he couldn't imagine well.

At that time, Steely still pointed out the positive side.

"Could it have just happened by accident while looking away?"

But Perez shook his head, saying it wasn't.

And he said with a gloomy expression on the world.

"She turned her head and sighed."

"Oh!"

"'Oh' too."

"Gasp..."

This time, the trio had no choice but to close their mouths and blink their eyes.

She doesn't eat sandwiches, she can if she's not hungry.

She avoided the gaze, it can happen at any time.

But continue with sigh...

Perhaps Perez was thinking the same thing, he said, "Hmm," and touched his forehead with a deep sigh.

Emperor Perez, who boasted a stronger imperial power than ever, was a complete underdog when it came to dealing with Matriarch of Lombardi.

Therefore, even for the trio who looked after His Majesty the Emperor right next to them, this was never something to be taken lightly.

"Your Majesty, did you do something wrong?"

It was quite harsh to say to the emperor, but no one rebuked Lignite Luman.

Because now it was an emergency.

Perez, too, could no longer hide his nervousness and washed his face dry.

"I don't remember that. I've been busy these days, so I haven't had much time to spend together."

"But you didn't do anything wrong, can't the Matriarch of Lombardi do that?"

"Think carefully, Your Majesty. I'm sure you did something wrong."

"After refusal of food, avoidance of gaze, then sighing. It's just a few days before the wedding."

It was when Tedro said so.

"Ah! Isn't that the answer? The wedding."

The wedding?

The faces of the three men who did not understand Tedro's words tilted at the same time.

"When my cousin sister got married, there was a period of time when she was very depressed before the wedding. What did it say— 'Marry Blue'?"

"Marry Blue? Is there such a thing?"

Lignite asked back as if he had never heard of it.

"I didn't know, but I heard it happens often, when you feel anxious about the future ahead of marriage, or when you regret deciding to marry..."

"What did you just say?"

Perez slowly raised his face that had been buried in his hands as if to hide, and hit Tedro's waist.

Even though he was cool-headed, his eyes, which had always been filled with strong conviction, were shaking like a bird in the rain.

"Oh no, that's..."

Tedro spoke up late, but it was already too late.

Perez murmured in a voice that trembled as sadly as his eyes.

"Marriage... Does she regret it?"