Chapter 428. Just Around The Corner (1)

Translator: Aura / Editor: HB168

Uh… he’s trying to manipulate me. I was in shock for a few moments before I came to my senses, as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on me.

“First of all… I should apologize.”

“Why?”

“Because I hadn’t believed you when you said you had gone crazy.”

I pressed my temples. It wasn’t funny at all, and it made my head hurt.

“It’s clear now that you weren’t lying. The only explanation I can find for your offensive proposal is that you have gone crazy. Completely crazy.”

“Don’t you want to?”

Has he no shame?

“Of course not. The question itself is absurd.”

“Absurd? Is it because I am the Emperor?”

“No.”

“Then?”

“Because of the person you became.”

“!”

“I don’t love you.”

“That isn’t true.”

“I don’t love you.”

“I know you’re not telling the truth.”

I was surprised that Sovieshu spoke with such determination.

‘What’s the matter with him? How can he be so arrogant?’

“In my memories—”

“Search well in your memories.”

I held back a little because he had lost his memory. At last, I said coldly.

“Once you search well, you’ll know why I hate you.”

“I want to redeem myself for my mistakes. I want to apologize. I ask for your forgiveness.”

“You must recover your memories first. How can you sincerely ask for forgiveness if you have lost your memory?”

Finally, I pointed a finger at the door and ordered him to leave.

“Go away.”

“…”

“You said you would be obedient. Go away.”

Once I raised my voice, Sovieshu slumped his shoulders and walked out.

As I looked at his pitiful figure, I put my hand on my forehead.

Rationally, I could understand his motivation for doing this.

Back then, in the time Sovieshu currently remembers, he and I never quarreled so seriously. He wouldn’t have given up, even if I was angry.

When Sovieshu fell in love with Rashta and treated me coldly, I could not understand it at all. This must be how Sovieshu feels right now.

I didn’t even know I loved him back then, but we were friends and accomplices and his actions hurt me. It was hard to believe that a person could change so much from one moment to the next.

Sovieshu, who lost his memory, probably thinks the same.

But that was it. Emotionally, I could never, never accept him.

All the anger and annoyance I felt was due to indignation that the person I spoke to coldly was not the Sovieshu I hated, but the Sovieshu who was my friend.

“Sovieshu… you must recover your memory quickly. Don’t hide behind your past.”

I eventually looked at the papers again, but I couldn’t concentrate like before. Even the sound of the pen scratching on paper was annoying, so I paced back and forth across the office before leaving in search of Heinley.

“Where is His Majesty Heinley?”

I felt that the only way to calm myself down was to see Heinley.

The knight I asked informed me that he was in the training grounds.

As I expected, as soon as I saw Heinley, I was reassured.

He was swinging a wooden sword at a large dummy. Every time the sword collided with the wooden dummy there was a soft thump.

As I watched him, Heinley seemed to notice my presence, so he lowered his sword and looked at me. Just then the wind blew hard, which ruffled his hair that I liked so much.

When I waved at him, Heinley smiled so warmly that I finally regained my composure. He immediately approached me.

“You came to see me?”

“That’s right.”

Heinley seemed momentarily surprised by my straightforward answer, so I immediately reaffirmed it with a soft smile.

“I’ve come to see you.”

Heinley ran his hand through his hair.

“I’m drenched in sweat. Should I go take a bath?”

“You look good like that.”

“You like to look at my body when I’m covered in sweat?”

Oh, that was a misunderstanding. I was just trying to say there was no need for him to take a bath.

Just as I caught the change in Heinley’s smile, he took off his shirt to show off his firm chest and abdomen.

His smile turned into a naughty one. ‘I want to tease you, I want to tease you,’ he seemed to say, so I deliberately put my hand on the sword he held and looked away.

“Can I try it too?”

“Huh?”

Heinley handed the sword to me in some confusion.

“Wait, do you want to hit it… with the sword…?”

He gestured towards the wooden dummy.

“That’s right.”

I wanted to hit it while I imagined it was Sovieshu.

“Won’t it be hard now that you are pregnant?”

“It will just be a light hit.”

“Did something bad happen and now you want to swipe at the wooden dummy with my sword?”

“…”

“I guess that’s a yes.”

“That’s right.”

Rather than explain further, I gripped the sword tightly and headed for the wooden dummy.

I held the sword with both hands and struck the wooden dummy’s head.

***

“Watch closely. This is you. Think of this dummy as you. That’s what Her Majesty meant.”

“Really?”

“Of course! The Empress even sent you a message through a painting, but Your Majesty didn’t catch it. So the Empress is angry.”

“My Queen is not usually so violent…”

“Everyone has a violent side. I may seem very nice on the outside, but sometimes very violent thoughts come to my mind when I see Your Majesty.”

“!”

“’I have to work harder! I have to work harder!’ That’s what I think.”

McKenna had been speaking energetically as he waved his hands, but he nervously changed his words at the last minute. Heinley chuckled and praised him.

“You’re so cute, McKenna.”

McKenna’s face became stiff.

“Are you kidding me?”

Heinley shook his head with a soft smile.

“It’s true. I’m serious.”

Goosebumps broke out on McKenna’s skin and he rubbed his arms.

“Don’t say disgusting things. It’s awkward.”

Heinley sighed, then crossed his arms and turned serious again.

“What is certain is that something happened that upset her…”

McKenna was finally relieved and lowered his hands. He then muttered, “It could be—”

“The painting has nothing to do with it.”

Heinley flatly cut him off.

“I’m not talking about the painting… I heard that Emperor Sovieshu visited Empress Navier’s office during the day.”

Heinley’s eyebrows rose as if by magic at those words.

“What?!”

As he jumped up his chair fell to the floor.

“Well, he was there for a short time. Apparently he came out with a sour face.”

“Really? I suppose My Queen treated him very coldly.”

“It may have been unpleasant to Her Majesty even if she acted with the formality of the Empress.”

“Yes, it makes sense. That would explain why she attacked the head of the wooden dummy with so much vigor.”

Heinley nodded several times, lifted the chair off the floor, and put on his coat.

“I must leave now.”

“Where to?”