Plat stared blankly at Arkan with a bewildered expression.
When he tried to say something, Arkan waved his hand without even looking at him as if chasing away an annoying insect.
His gaze remained outside the window.
“Go back, Plat.”
Plat had no choice but to step back without saying anything. The sound of footsteps getting further away rang in Arkan’s ears.
Arkan frowned and looked down.
His feet felt like they were lifting off the floor, and his eyes were spinning.
‘A military officer from the empire. They must have been close.’
His thoughts followed one after another, regardless of his will.
Arkan’s expression, which seemed as if he was going to break through the window, changed from moment to moment.
He would calm down, then become engrossed as if he was thinking about something...
He would frown again. It was hard to see from where he was standing, but Erdene seemed to be smiling.
It was different from the expression he had always seen. It wasn’t mocking, nor was it threateningly fierce.
When he realized that, Arkan suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his chest.
His vision was strangely turbulent, like water swaying in the wind.
[Anyway, at first, we might be fresh and good together, but later on? Won’t younger, more attractive people catch your eye?]
Arkan flinched as if he had been pricked by a sharp needle as he recalled what Erdene had said on their first day of marriage.
His eyebrows and the corners of his eyes tightened, and the bones of his knuckles that held the window frame stood out white. Could that bastard be her mistress?
‘No, not his mistress. Rather...’
Arkan placed his hand on his forehead for a moment and lowered his gaze.
He couldn’t say she was her mistress. To be exact, she wasn’t her mistress...
‘Is she the lover she had in the empire?’
The doubt soon turned into certainty.
He knew what Erdene's personality was like, but he didn't care about that at the moment.
It felt like someone was grabbing and shaking his sharp nerves, and he wondered why he couldn't stop himself from opening the window and leaving.
At that moment, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. The moment Arkan quickly stepped away from the window, Thelma raised her head and looked up.
It was a short moment, barely enough to blink an eye.
Arkan turned around and paced the hallway for a moment before repeatedly opening and closing his hands, letting out a couple of short sighs.
His heart beat faster, feeling like hr had spied on someone else's secret like he had done something shameful.
'No, it wasn't my fault. Why do I have to feel this way?'
He kept telling himself, but the suffocating feeling like a rock was stuck in his throat never went away.
The unfamiliar and reckless feelings, the unpleasantness that stirred inside his body, made it impossible for him to straighten his furrowed brows.
The promise to have lunch together was not kept in the end.
This was because Arkan sent a servant to tell Erdene to eat separately.
“Suddenly?”
Erdene asked, and the servant’s face turned pale and he lowered his head as if she was about to cut off his neck.
“His Majesty has some urgent state affairs to attend to.”
“I see. Then there’s nothing I can do.”
Erdene answered nonchalantly and finished her simple lunch with mead alone.
She knew how busy the position of the King was, but she still felt a little empty.
Erdene headed to the royal study to keep her promise to Arkan.
Just like the last time she had come, the study was a little dark because the curtains were drawn even though it was bright daylight.
When Erdene opened the door and went in, Arkan was already there. He must have sensed the presence, but he didn’t even raise his head and just stared at his book.
‘Here he goes again. He’s getting revenge, childishly.’
Erdene thought as she saw Arkan resting his chin on his hand as if he didn’t care who came or not.
She thought he had found the damned book which she had thrown away last time, but there was nothing on the table.
Erdene walked leisurely between the bookshelves as if she was taking a walk, and lightly glanced at the neatly arranged spines of the books.
“Can I skip studying today, Your Majesty?”
She heard the sound of a page-turning.
Arkan answered without even pretending to look at Erdene, who was standing right behind him.
“You’re not going to read the book I’m giving you anyway.”
His tone was cold. Erdene stared at the back of his head with a puzzled expression.
She couldn’t figure out why he was so upset again. Her head was already so complicated...
A brief silence flowed. She tried to ignore it, but Arkan couldn’t help but feel his nerves constantly drawn to his back. He should have been getting used to the war of nerves with Erdene, but he couldn’t get used to it at all.
Finally, Erdene spoke.
“Yes, that’s true. Your Majesty is right.”
Arkan, who had been stubbornly turning his head, twitched his lips. Erdene circled the bookshelf without knowing what he was thinking. The sound of footsteps echoed softly in the study, which had been darkened to prevent the books from rotting in the sunlight.
It was like the sound of water falling drop by drop from the cave ceiling.
The only problem was that the ripples were shaking Arkan’s heart too much.
The scene that he had seen with his own eyes earlier, where Erdene was hugging an unknown woman—he didn’t know her name, Thelma or something—who had been beaten up, kept replaying before his eyes. She would step back and hug her, step back and hug her...
‘No, stop. I won’t pay attention. Let’s just read a book. A book...’
Arkan tried hard to focus only on the contents of the book.
It was a scene where the two main characters were arguing and insulting each other. They were suspecting each other of having done something wrong, and it was still unclear who was lying.
<If you’re so shameless, then tell me. Who were you with last night!>
<Then why don’t you tell me the name of the woman you were looking at with tears in your eyes?>
Damn it. Arkan muttered curses inwardly, his eyes tightly shut.
It was not a good book to read now.
While wondering whether to close the novel, Erdene brought a large book from somewhere and sat on the sofa.
The book she brought was almost as thick as the binding of the forearm, and it was something that even Arkan, who had read most of the books in the study, had never seen before.
Erdene roughly dusted the cover, took off her dirty gloves, and opened the book. Her dress was probably all dirty because of the dust that she hadn’t been able to get rid of, but she didn’t seem to care.
‘Where on earth was that book? What did you bring?’
Arkan glanced at Erdene. He quickly looked away in case she noticed, but he couldn’t help but feel concerned.
However, he didn’t want to talk to her first.
Erdene seemed completely absorbed in the thick book as if she didn’t know anything about his agitation.
‘What the hell are you reading!’
He said he had no interest in books, but seeing him so intently focused on a book he didn’t even know where he got it from was unbelievable.
I felt like I was going crazy...
In the end, Arkan lost the battle of patience this time.
“You seem to be interested in a book, so you must have seen some strange things.”
Arkan said sarcastically.
“A book about tactics.”
Erdene answered shortly and turned around to Arkan a beat later. Her eyes seemed to be saying something.
‘I thought someone had put glue on your mouth, but it wasn’t?’
Arkan’s eyebrows shot up crookedly. The tip of his tongue twitched, wanting to scratch her with some kind of word.
“Yes. Well, that’s the only thing you’re interested in.”
Erdene knew Arkan’s mind was twisted to the max.
However, no matter how much she thought about it, there was no reason for it.
Was he still upset because she hid the letter? But wasn’t that story wrapped up a little too sloppily?
“What do you want to say, Your Majesty?”
“What do I want to say? I’m just stating the truth. The Queen is only interested in war and weapons, right? Oh, there’s one more thing. Your subordinates. I don’t know about others, but you must be very fond of your subordinates. Isn’t that right?”
Erdene said nothing for a moment, staring intently into Arkan’s eyes before answering.
“Yes, that’s right. You know very well.”
Then she turned her head away as if she was being sucked into the book again.
Arkan’s forehead, which was heated to the tip of his head, had veins standing out.
He glared at Erdene’s profile with eyes that seemed like they were going to devour her.
The bridge of his nose, which was concave along the bridge of his eyebrows and then sharply raised, was both annoying and cute, and he turned his heart inside out.
In fact, the reason they didn’t have lunch together was because he was upset.
After seeing Erdene hugging the adjutant—or it seemed like she was hugging her—his heart thumped and he couldn’t calm down.
He skipped meals because he thought he would vomit if he ate anything, but Erdene didn’t say a word about it.
That made Arkan even more upset.
“Yes, yes.”
Arkan eventually turned his gaze back to the book he was reading. However, the contents were nowhere to be seen.
His hands turning the pages became faster and rougher.
Just before he was about to tear off a poor page, Erdene let out a small sigh and slapped the book he was reading.
“Why are you doing that?”
Before Erdene could finish speaking, Arkan raised his head as if he had been waiting.
He tried to keep his expression cold, but perhaps because the conversation had finally begun, his blocked stomach seemed to be slowly clearing up.
If the problem was that the empty space was filled with anger, then it was a problem.
Arkan responded bluntly.
“Why are you doing that? What are you talking about? Why are you doing that?”
When he tried to say something, Arkan waved his hand without even looking at him as if chasing away an annoying insect.
His gaze remained outside the window.
“Go back, Plat.”
Plat had no choice but to step back without saying anything. The sound of footsteps getting further away rang in Arkan’s ears.
Arkan frowned and looked down.
His feet felt like they were lifting off the floor, and his eyes were spinning.
‘A military officer from the empire. They must have been close.’
His thoughts followed one after another, regardless of his will.
Arkan’s expression, which seemed as if he was going to break through the window, changed from moment to moment.
He would calm down, then become engrossed as if he was thinking about something...
He would frown again. It was hard to see from where he was standing, but Erdene seemed to be smiling.
It was different from the expression he had always seen. It wasn’t mocking, nor was it threateningly fierce.
When he realized that, Arkan suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his chest.
His vision was strangely turbulent, like water swaying in the wind.
[Anyway, at first, we might be fresh and good together, but later on? Won’t younger, more attractive people catch your eye?]
Arkan flinched as if he had been pricked by a sharp needle as he recalled what Erdene had said on their first day of marriage.
His eyebrows and the corners of his eyes tightened, and the bones of his knuckles that held the window frame stood out white. Could that bastard be her mistress?
‘No, not his mistress. Rather...’
Arkan placed his hand on his forehead for a moment and lowered his gaze.
He couldn’t say she was her mistress. To be exact, she wasn’t her mistress...
‘Is she the lover she had in the empire?’
The doubt soon turned into certainty.
He knew what Erdene's personality was like, but he didn't care about that at the moment.
It felt like someone was grabbing and shaking his sharp nerves, and he wondered why he couldn't stop himself from opening the window and leaving.
At that moment, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. The moment Arkan quickly stepped away from the window, Thelma raised her head and looked up.
It was a short moment, barely enough to blink an eye.
Arkan turned around and paced the hallway for a moment before repeatedly opening and closing his hands, letting out a couple of short sighs.
His heart beat faster, feeling like hr had spied on someone else's secret like he had done something shameful.
'No, it wasn't my fault. Why do I have to feel this way?'
He kept telling himself, but the suffocating feeling like a rock was stuck in his throat never went away.
The unfamiliar and reckless feelings, the unpleasantness that stirred inside his body, made it impossible for him to straighten his furrowed brows.
***
The promise to have lunch together was not kept in the end.
This was because Arkan sent a servant to tell Erdene to eat separately.
“Suddenly?”
Erdene asked, and the servant’s face turned pale and he lowered his head as if she was about to cut off his neck.
“His Majesty has some urgent state affairs to attend to.”
“I see. Then there’s nothing I can do.”
Erdene answered nonchalantly and finished her simple lunch with mead alone.
She knew how busy the position of the King was, but she still felt a little empty.
Erdene headed to the royal study to keep her promise to Arkan.
Just like the last time she had come, the study was a little dark because the curtains were drawn even though it was bright daylight.
When Erdene opened the door and went in, Arkan was already there. He must have sensed the presence, but he didn’t even raise his head and just stared at his book.
‘Here he goes again. He’s getting revenge, childishly.’
Erdene thought as she saw Arkan resting his chin on his hand as if he didn’t care who came or not.
She thought he had found the damned book which she had thrown away last time, but there was nothing on the table.
Erdene walked leisurely between the bookshelves as if she was taking a walk, and lightly glanced at the neatly arranged spines of the books.
“Can I skip studying today, Your Majesty?”
She heard the sound of a page-turning.
Arkan answered without even pretending to look at Erdene, who was standing right behind him.
“You’re not going to read the book I’m giving you anyway.”
His tone was cold. Erdene stared at the back of his head with a puzzled expression.
She couldn’t figure out why he was so upset again. Her head was already so complicated...
A brief silence flowed. She tried to ignore it, but Arkan couldn’t help but feel his nerves constantly drawn to his back. He should have been getting used to the war of nerves with Erdene, but he couldn’t get used to it at all.
Finally, Erdene spoke.
“Yes, that’s true. Your Majesty is right.”
Arkan, who had been stubbornly turning his head, twitched his lips. Erdene circled the bookshelf without knowing what he was thinking. The sound of footsteps echoed softly in the study, which had been darkened to prevent the books from rotting in the sunlight.
It was like the sound of water falling drop by drop from the cave ceiling.
The only problem was that the ripples were shaking Arkan’s heart too much.
The scene that he had seen with his own eyes earlier, where Erdene was hugging an unknown woman—he didn’t know her name, Thelma or something—who had been beaten up, kept replaying before his eyes. She would step back and hug her, step back and hug her...
‘No, stop. I won’t pay attention. Let’s just read a book. A book...’
Arkan tried hard to focus only on the contents of the book.
It was a scene where the two main characters were arguing and insulting each other. They were suspecting each other of having done something wrong, and it was still unclear who was lying.
<If you’re so shameless, then tell me. Who were you with last night!>
<Then why don’t you tell me the name of the woman you were looking at with tears in your eyes?>
Damn it. Arkan muttered curses inwardly, his eyes tightly shut.
It was not a good book to read now.
While wondering whether to close the novel, Erdene brought a large book from somewhere and sat on the sofa.
The book she brought was almost as thick as the binding of the forearm, and it was something that even Arkan, who had read most of the books in the study, had never seen before.
Erdene roughly dusted the cover, took off her dirty gloves, and opened the book. Her dress was probably all dirty because of the dust that she hadn’t been able to get rid of, but she didn’t seem to care.
‘Where on earth was that book? What did you bring?’
Arkan glanced at Erdene. He quickly looked away in case she noticed, but he couldn’t help but feel concerned.
However, he didn’t want to talk to her first.
Erdene seemed completely absorbed in the thick book as if she didn’t know anything about his agitation.
‘What the hell are you reading!’
He said he had no interest in books, but seeing him so intently focused on a book he didn’t even know where he got it from was unbelievable.
I felt like I was going crazy...
In the end, Arkan lost the battle of patience this time.
“You seem to be interested in a book, so you must have seen some strange things.”
Arkan said sarcastically.
“A book about tactics.”
Erdene answered shortly and turned around to Arkan a beat later. Her eyes seemed to be saying something.
‘I thought someone had put glue on your mouth, but it wasn’t?’
Arkan’s eyebrows shot up crookedly. The tip of his tongue twitched, wanting to scratch her with some kind of word.
“Yes. Well, that’s the only thing you’re interested in.”
Erdene knew Arkan’s mind was twisted to the max.
However, no matter how much she thought about it, there was no reason for it.
Was he still upset because she hid the letter? But wasn’t that story wrapped up a little too sloppily?
“What do you want to say, Your Majesty?”
“What do I want to say? I’m just stating the truth. The Queen is only interested in war and weapons, right? Oh, there’s one more thing. Your subordinates. I don’t know about others, but you must be very fond of your subordinates. Isn’t that right?”
Erdene said nothing for a moment, staring intently into Arkan’s eyes before answering.
“Yes, that’s right. You know very well.”
Then she turned her head away as if she was being sucked into the book again.
Arkan’s forehead, which was heated to the tip of his head, had veins standing out.
He glared at Erdene’s profile with eyes that seemed like they were going to devour her.
The bridge of his nose, which was concave along the bridge of his eyebrows and then sharply raised, was both annoying and cute, and he turned his heart inside out.
In fact, the reason they didn’t have lunch together was because he was upset.
After seeing Erdene hugging the adjutant—or it seemed like she was hugging her—his heart thumped and he couldn’t calm down.
He skipped meals because he thought he would vomit if he ate anything, but Erdene didn’t say a word about it.
That made Arkan even more upset.
“Yes, yes.”
Arkan eventually turned his gaze back to the book he was reading. However, the contents were nowhere to be seen.
His hands turning the pages became faster and rougher.
Just before he was about to tear off a poor page, Erdene let out a small sigh and slapped the book he was reading.
“Why are you doing that?”
Before Erdene could finish speaking, Arkan raised his head as if he had been waiting.
He tried to keep his expression cold, but perhaps because the conversation had finally begun, his blocked stomach seemed to be slowly clearing up.
If the problem was that the empty space was filled with anger, then it was a problem.
Arkan responded bluntly.
“Why are you doing that? What are you talking about? Why are you doing that?”
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