“Are you crazy?”
Arkan asked in disbelief, and his eyes widened.
“Am I crazy? To you? No, what...!”
Arkan grabbed his neck for a moment. He was speechless.
Crazy, who on earth? No, there was no need to ask who or what. The word ‘crazy’ itself was ridiculous.
The moment he was searching for a response, Erdene’s hand struck his back like lightning.
“Keuk!”
A rough scream escaped Arkan’s mouth as the shock pierced his spine straight through the pit of his stomach.
Fire flashed before his eyes, and for some reason, he thought he saw his deceased father’s face...
As he bent forward and waited for the shock to subside, a tingling pain, like being stabbed by a small needle, covered his entire back like a wave.
The spot where he had been hit was numb.
'If it was my back, I'd have had a hard time putting my bulging eye back in if it had been the back of my head,'
Arkan thought.
Even as his eyes flashed white, he unconsciously thought, 'Thank goodness it wasn't the back of my head,' and he was dumbfounded. Erdene tilted her head toward Arkan and asked.
"Are you okay? Did it pop out?"
Arkan, who had barely straightened up—the spot where he had been hit still seemed to be attacked by bees—gave Erdene a wide-open mouth like a broken nutcracker.
"Did it pop out? Did you say it popped out now?"
"Oh, I'm surprised. What is it? What was it that caught you?"
At that moment, Arkan was overcome by an impulse he had never experienced before in his life.
It was an impulse to grab anything he saw and shake it wildly...
If she had been just a little more, just a little more irritable, he would have grabbed the desk in front of Erdene and shook it violently.
“What are you talking about, right now! Are you trying to kill me? I came here to see my dead father!”
Erdene frowned and replied.
“Are you doing well?”
“Well... Are you kidding me right now?!”
Arkan, who had been yelling at the Queen’s palace to leave, suddenly stood up.
Startled by this commotion, Plat and Sophia tried to come in but turned back when Erdene gestured for them to leave.
To be exact, it was more like Sophia dragged Plat, who was trying to come in, away.
Erdene looked at Arkan’s flushed face and suddenly placed her fingertips on his lips.
Then she pressed his lower teeth to open his jaw and stared at his tongue. Of course, Arkan almost fainted at this action.
“This moment, this moment, uh...”
“What are you saying? What on earth was stuck in your throat? There was nothing. Did you swallow it back?”
“What are you talking about...”
At that moment, the strength left Arkan’s shoulders.
His feelings could not have been more complicated. The most absurd and confusing part was that he ‘wanted to cry.’
For Arkan, who had never met such a reckless opponent, each day was surprising.
It was like being a dove being played with by a circus juggler.
“You suddenly hit me because you thought something was stuck in my throat?”
Erdene narrowed her brows.
“Then why would you have done it? When Your Majesty suddenly grabbed your throat, I thought something was stuck and did it in a hurry.”
Arkan’s face moved strangely. The corners of his mouth, the corners of his eyes, and even the bridge of his nose flinched slightly. It seemed as if he didn’t know what expression to make, and in the end, he ended up with a strange expression that was neither frowning nor crying nor smiling.
One corner of his mouth was loosened as if it had collapsed, while the other was still stiff and twitching, his nose was furrowed, and his eyes were slightly drooping downward.
Erdene looked at him and thought, ‘He’s stupid,’ but since he knew that if she said that, he would get angry again, he expressed her feelings indirectly.
“Your Majesty, you have the face of a dog that ate the wrong ten-year-old jerky.”
Arkan, who had unconsciously closed his eyes, glared back and shut his mouth tightly.
He bit his teeth so hard that a walnut-shell-like wrinkle formed on his chin.
“Did you just call me a dog-like face?”
“No, that’s not what I meant by dog-like. Did you hear me? I said, ‘Your face is like a dog that ate the wrong ten-year-old jerky.’”
“What’s the difference between the two? After all, they’re both like dogs.”
“If you’re overly sensitive about everything, Your Majesty, you’ll grow old early. And what’s wrong with dogs? Do you hate dogs?”
“No, it has nothing to do with me disliking dogs. And ten-year-old jerky? Why would you feed that to a dog?”
“Did I feed it to you? I said that because Your Majesty got it from somewhere and made a strange expression.”
Arkan closed his eyes tightly. He felt the need to sort things out again...
Why did I come here?
Arkan asked in disbelief, and his eyes widened.
“Am I crazy? To you? No, what...!”
Arkan grabbed his neck for a moment. He was speechless.
Crazy, who on earth? No, there was no need to ask who or what. The word ‘crazy’ itself was ridiculous.
The moment he was searching for a response, Erdene’s hand struck his back like lightning.
“Keuk!”
A rough scream escaped Arkan’s mouth as the shock pierced his spine straight through the pit of his stomach.
Fire flashed before his eyes, and for some reason, he thought he saw his deceased father’s face...
As he bent forward and waited for the shock to subside, a tingling pain, like being stabbed by a small needle, covered his entire back like a wave.
The spot where he had been hit was numb.
'If it was my back, I'd have had a hard time putting my bulging eye back in if it had been the back of my head,'
Arkan thought.
Even as his eyes flashed white, he unconsciously thought, 'Thank goodness it wasn't the back of my head,' and he was dumbfounded. Erdene tilted her head toward Arkan and asked.
"Are you okay? Did it pop out?"
Arkan, who had barely straightened up—the spot where he had been hit still seemed to be attacked by bees—gave Erdene a wide-open mouth like a broken nutcracker.
"Did it pop out? Did you say it popped out now?"
"Oh, I'm surprised. What is it? What was it that caught you?"
At that moment, Arkan was overcome by an impulse he had never experienced before in his life.
It was an impulse to grab anything he saw and shake it wildly...
If she had been just a little more, just a little more irritable, he would have grabbed the desk in front of Erdene and shook it violently.
“What are you talking about, right now! Are you trying to kill me? I came here to see my dead father!”
Erdene frowned and replied.
“Are you doing well?”
“Well... Are you kidding me right now?!”
Arkan, who had been yelling at the Queen’s palace to leave, suddenly stood up.
Startled by this commotion, Plat and Sophia tried to come in but turned back when Erdene gestured for them to leave.
To be exact, it was more like Sophia dragged Plat, who was trying to come in, away.
Erdene looked at Arkan’s flushed face and suddenly placed her fingertips on his lips.
Then she pressed his lower teeth to open his jaw and stared at his tongue. Of course, Arkan almost fainted at this action.
“This moment, this moment, uh...”
“What are you saying? What on earth was stuck in your throat? There was nothing. Did you swallow it back?”
“What are you talking about...”
At that moment, the strength left Arkan’s shoulders.
His feelings could not have been more complicated. The most absurd and confusing part was that he ‘wanted to cry.’
For Arkan, who had never met such a reckless opponent, each day was surprising.
It was like being a dove being played with by a circus juggler.
“You suddenly hit me because you thought something was stuck in my throat?”
Erdene narrowed her brows.
“Then why would you have done it? When Your Majesty suddenly grabbed your throat, I thought something was stuck and did it in a hurry.”
Arkan’s face moved strangely. The corners of his mouth, the corners of his eyes, and even the bridge of his nose flinched slightly. It seemed as if he didn’t know what expression to make, and in the end, he ended up with a strange expression that was neither frowning nor crying nor smiling.
One corner of his mouth was loosened as if it had collapsed, while the other was still stiff and twitching, his nose was furrowed, and his eyes were slightly drooping downward.
Erdene looked at him and thought, ‘He’s stupid,’ but since he knew that if she said that, he would get angry again, he expressed her feelings indirectly.
“Your Majesty, you have the face of a dog that ate the wrong ten-year-old jerky.”
Arkan, who had unconsciously closed his eyes, glared back and shut his mouth tightly.
He bit his teeth so hard that a walnut-shell-like wrinkle formed on his chin.
“Did you just call me a dog-like face?”
“No, that’s not what I meant by dog-like. Did you hear me? I said, ‘Your face is like a dog that ate the wrong ten-year-old jerky.’”
“What’s the difference between the two? After all, they’re both like dogs.”
“If you’re overly sensitive about everything, Your Majesty, you’ll grow old early. And what’s wrong with dogs? Do you hate dogs?”
“No, it has nothing to do with me disliking dogs. And ten-year-old jerky? Why would you feed that to a dog?”
“Did I feed it to you? I said that because Your Majesty got it from somewhere and made a strange expression.”
Arkan closed his eyes tightly. He felt the need to sort things out again...
Why did I come here?
Whenever he faced Erdene, he had to ask himself the same question without fail.
What was I doing?
What was I talking about?
“Let me sort things out.”
Erdene narrowed her eyes as if to ask if he was starting again, but she let him continue talking.
“First, the story of the duel.”
“Does it go all the way back to that?”
“That’s why I came here in the first place. Of course, you, the Queen, don’t need to report your daily schedule to me, the King. However, if it’s important, it’s different.”
“Most...”
Arkan reached out and stopped Erdene.
If she had been a little closer, his palm would have touched Erdene’s lips.
The moment he felt her ticklish breath, he flinched and withdrew his hand, saying at the same time,
“I want to ask you what your criteria are for important matters, but let’s figure that out later. I don’t really know what criteria I should set for you either. Oh, you should tell me in advance if you plan to kill someone.”
Erdene stared at Arkan with eyes that asked if he was serious.
But then she thought about it again, and there was no guarantee that she wouldn’t kill anyone.
When she blinked her eyes to quietly nod, Arkan continued with a slight headache.
“Anyway, it wasn’t necessary, but when I heard that story from Plat, I felt... not good. I wasn’t offended or angry. I wasn’t annoyed either. It’s just that something... felt uneasy, like a thorn was stuck somewhere and I couldn’t tell exactly where it was, and anyway, it wasn’t a state where I could say I was feeling good or okay. So I came to hear that story from you, but you were writing something that you absolutely could not show me.”
Arkan’s gaze turned to the tightly closed drawer.
Erdene reflexively leaned her upper body slightly toward the desk, even though she knew that he was not the type to suddenly rush in and open the drawer.
Erdene sighed for a moment and said,
“It’s my problem. It’s not like the government or anything like that, as Your Majesty said, so don’t worry. It’s not something I curse Your Majesty either. Speaking of which, do you really think I would write something like that?”
Arkan, who had been tightly shutting his lips, nodded with a sudden realization.
“Come to think of it, that’s true.”
Then, Erdene’s brow furrowed this time.
‘You’re so quick to agree, I’m getting angry again...’
Arkan looked at Erdene’s wrinkled forehead and felt a little pleased—she almost always had that kind of expression—and continued talking.
“But then you suddenly hit me and called me a dog face.”
“Don’t omit it to your advantage and tell me as it is, Your Majesty. I hit Your Majesty on the back because I thought you were on the edge of life and death with something stuck in your throat, and when I said a dog face, I didn’t mean that Your Majesty’s face was a mess.”
“But my back hurts from being hit, and I don’t feel good when people call me a dog face.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“I’m not saying that we should do anything about it. I’m just organizing the situation up until now. I’m systematically reviewing how things got to this point.”
There was nothing I could say other than, “So what do you want me to do?”
Erdene simply chose to keep her mouth shut.
However, Arkan’s expression suddenly became serious.
“What I’ve always wondered about was why I... felt bad when I heard that you sparred with the soldiers today, and what that bad feeling was. I still don’t understand it.”
Erdene burst into laughter.
“Will you get an answer even if you tell me that?”
“No, I won’t. I know. I’m not asking you to think about it with me... No, no. Let’s throw it all away. Just tell me how the sparring was. I’m curious about that.”
Arkan rested his arms on one side of the desk and let out a short, rough sigh.
That wasn’t all he wanted to say, he thought.
It was true that he was curious, but there was something he wanted to confess while looking at Erdene’s face.
However, he still didn’t know how he felt...
Then Erdene suddenly said.
“Are you saying that you were upset because I didn’t tell you... or that you were upset, right now?”
“What? Upset? Me?”
“From what I heard you say just now, it seems like that’s what happened.”
Blink, blink.
What was I doing?
What was I talking about?
“Let me sort things out.”
Erdene narrowed her eyes as if to ask if he was starting again, but she let him continue talking.
“First, the story of the duel.”
“Does it go all the way back to that?”
“That’s why I came here in the first place. Of course, you, the Queen, don’t need to report your daily schedule to me, the King. However, if it’s important, it’s different.”
“Most...”
Arkan reached out and stopped Erdene.
If she had been a little closer, his palm would have touched Erdene’s lips.
The moment he felt her ticklish breath, he flinched and withdrew his hand, saying at the same time,
“I want to ask you what your criteria are for important matters, but let’s figure that out later. I don’t really know what criteria I should set for you either. Oh, you should tell me in advance if you plan to kill someone.”
Erdene stared at Arkan with eyes that asked if he was serious.
But then she thought about it again, and there was no guarantee that she wouldn’t kill anyone.
When she blinked her eyes to quietly nod, Arkan continued with a slight headache.
“Anyway, it wasn’t necessary, but when I heard that story from Plat, I felt... not good. I wasn’t offended or angry. I wasn’t annoyed either. It’s just that something... felt uneasy, like a thorn was stuck somewhere and I couldn’t tell exactly where it was, and anyway, it wasn’t a state where I could say I was feeling good or okay. So I came to hear that story from you, but you were writing something that you absolutely could not show me.”
Arkan’s gaze turned to the tightly closed drawer.
Erdene reflexively leaned her upper body slightly toward the desk, even though she knew that he was not the type to suddenly rush in and open the drawer.
Erdene sighed for a moment and said,
“It’s my problem. It’s not like the government or anything like that, as Your Majesty said, so don’t worry. It’s not something I curse Your Majesty either. Speaking of which, do you really think I would write something like that?”
Arkan, who had been tightly shutting his lips, nodded with a sudden realization.
“Come to think of it, that’s true.”
Then, Erdene’s brow furrowed this time.
‘You’re so quick to agree, I’m getting angry again...’
Arkan looked at Erdene’s wrinkled forehead and felt a little pleased—she almost always had that kind of expression—and continued talking.
“But then you suddenly hit me and called me a dog face.”
“Don’t omit it to your advantage and tell me as it is, Your Majesty. I hit Your Majesty on the back because I thought you were on the edge of life and death with something stuck in your throat, and when I said a dog face, I didn’t mean that Your Majesty’s face was a mess.”
“But my back hurts from being hit, and I don’t feel good when people call me a dog face.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“I’m not saying that we should do anything about it. I’m just organizing the situation up until now. I’m systematically reviewing how things got to this point.”
There was nothing I could say other than, “So what do you want me to do?”
Erdene simply chose to keep her mouth shut.
However, Arkan’s expression suddenly became serious.
“What I’ve always wondered about was why I... felt bad when I heard that you sparred with the soldiers today, and what that bad feeling was. I still don’t understand it.”
Erdene burst into laughter.
“Will you get an answer even if you tell me that?”
“No, I won’t. I know. I’m not asking you to think about it with me... No, no. Let’s throw it all away. Just tell me how the sparring was. I’m curious about that.”
Arkan rested his arms on one side of the desk and let out a short, rough sigh.
That wasn’t all he wanted to say, he thought.
It was true that he was curious, but there was something he wanted to confess while looking at Erdene’s face.
However, he still didn’t know how he felt...
Then Erdene suddenly said.
“Are you saying that you were upset because I didn’t tell you... or that you were upset, right now?”
“What? Upset? Me?”
“From what I heard you say just now, it seems like that’s what happened.”
Blink, blink.
Arkan's eyelids moved up and down. His long eyelashes were seen quivering slightly.
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