“Stop thinking and telling me. What are you going to do? I can hear you writhing like a coward.”
But he didn’t have any strength left to wait for her. From the moment he heard the news that Angelina would come and meet Ines, his anxiety had already reached its peak. Ines clenched her teeth at his gentle tug on her arm and urged her on.
“I’m not doing this because I’m a coward.”
“So prove it.”
“I’ll go. By Your Majesty’s side.”
At those words, Carson took a deep breath. But his cold face remained the same.
“I’ll tell you again, I have no intention of becoming your God.”
“It’s been a long time since I dragged you down to earth and made you a human.”
He raised one eyebrow. It was to ask her to explain more precisely what she meant. In her urgency, she blurted it out, but Ines couldn’t express herself any further.
However, he didn’t spare her any mercy and kept pushing her on.
“Ines.”
“I’ll go.”
“As the chamberlain?”
Ines shook her head. Only then did Carson straighten up toward her.
“No, but don’t ask me anymore. I don’t know what I’m saying that I can’t handle.”
Ines, relieved by Carson’s warm expression, unconsciously glanced at him. She felt annoyed at how coldly he had turned away, saying that he would never let her be by his side. To Ines, Carson’s ignorance was something she couldn’t handle.
He gently grabbed her arm. It was a firm touch.
“You don’t need ten steps. Just take one step. I’ll take care of the rest.”
This time, Ines shook her head again.
“What does that mean?”
“Don’t come down even one step. I’ll go up no matter what. Your Majesty, stay where you are.”
Carson’s forehead slightly furrowed at the words that were hard to understand.
“So, you’re saying that you’ll be my wife?”
When Ines nodded, Carson searched her face thoroughly. As if he was trying to find a lie hidden somewhere.
“Why, did you change your mind...?”
“Don’t come down even one step. I’ll go up no matter what. Your Majesty, stay where you are.”
Carson’s forehead slightly furrowed at the words that were hard to understand.
“So, you’re saying that you’ll be my wife?”
When Ines nodded, Carson searched her face thoroughly. As if he was trying to find a lie hidden somewhere.
“Why, did you change your mind...?”
“It’s not that I changed.”
“...”
“I always told you. I can never leave Your Majesty. That’s why I will definitely stand by your side. A perfect place where no one can rebel.”
“So?”
“I will become the Empress. Since Your Majesty is the Emperor of this empire, that is the only thing I can become.”
His manly Adam’s apple rose and fell once.
“Yes.”
It was a very calm answer for him, who had been pressing her to give him the answer he wanted so far. Ines raised her head and examined his face carefully.
“Are you feeling better now?”
“...”
“Yes?”
“Are you thinking of a cat or a mouse right now?”
“Is Your Majesty a mouse?”
“Then am I a cat?”
When Ines snickered at the sudden change in topic, he hugged her tightly. Only then did she feel the heartbeat of the man who had spoken calmly. Somehow, the sound of his heartbeat comforted Ines.
“I’m sure I’m not a cat. What kind of cat would be so scared of a mouse?”
Wanting to hear more of the heartbeat of the man who was so scared, Ines dug a little deeper into his arms. If what he said was true, Ines wasn’t a cat either.
Her heart sank at the sight of him turning away.
“Please wait.”
“Again?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t marry anyone?”
“Yes, don’t marry anyone.”
Ines, who had been in his arms for a moment, pulled away slightly. Then she knelt down on one knee in front of Carson as if proposing to him.
Carson’s eyes widened in embarrassment, but he didn’t stop Ines.
Ines took off the green-jeweled necklace that Carson had given her one day. It was something she had always kept in her arms but had never shown since she had sinned and gone to the temple.
The color that resembled her green eyes sparkled as if it had been soaked with water.
Carson couldn’t even breathe properly and just watched what she was doing.
Ines smiled like Carson and pulled his hand.
She placed the jewel that resembled her own eye on his palm.
“I’ll leave it to you. This is as precious to me as my life. You know that?”
Carson couldn’t answer right away because his throat was blocked.
“...I know.”
“I’ll go find it. Please keep it safe until then.”
“Yes.”
“And cheer me on. So that I don’t get tired.”
“I thought I’d only cheer you on.”
Ines laughed heartily at Carson’s characteristic joke. It was a brilliant smile that left her speechless.
Ines folded his palm where the necklace was and held it tightly. There was a moment of silence between the two. She held his hand tightly, which was too small to fit in one hand, and looked straight into his eyes.
“I don’t know how to say grand things.”
“...”
“Just as a river flows to find the sea, as a flower that falls to the ground becomes one with the soil, as moonlight always illuminates the earth, I will go to you without wavering.”
Then she quickly turned his hand over. And she gently kissed the back of his hand. When Ines’ lips touched, Carson closed his eyes tightly.
“Your Majesty was my perfect faith. You never let me down even once.”
“...”
“Just as the sun rising in the sky is, to me, you were my light and salvation.”
Ines looked up at him. There was no room for anything else in their gazes that met in the air.
“I will never leave you alone, Your Majesty. I don’t know what the consequences of my choice will be in the future, but... This one thing is certain.”
The two looked at each other and smiled at each other.
“No matter what happens, I will never regret it.”
“...”
“Thank you for waiting for me for so long. Thank you for enduring everything I’ve done with me. Now, I will not live the rest of my life for Your Majesty.”
A wind filled with the scent of winter suddenly blew through the slightly open window.
The green eyes of the woman looking up at him, kneeling on one knee, shone richly in the winter sunlight. Her dark blond hair, blown by the cold wind, swayed slightly over her puffy white forehead. When Carson reached out and swept the hair covering her forehead and tucked it behind her ear, Ines smiled brightly.
Carson was certain that he would never forget this moment.
“I’ll spend the rest of my life with you.”
Carson looked at Ines silently. The surrounding noises died down, and he could no longer feel any of the sensations surrounding him. He knew that too. He had to convince her right away, not just look at her.
Ines was a very strong woman. And in fact, she was a very fragile person.
Even though he knew that he couldn’t come up with plausible words.
“Yes.”
A soft voice that felt completely calm lingered in Ines’ ears. The heavy voice resonated throughout her body. Unlike before, he was very calm. Rather, that sight firmly bound Ines’ heart. She was certain that nothing would happen if she just walked away looking at him. At that moment, he reached out and grabbed her arms. As soon as her body stood up, their lips met. Even though it wasn’t the first time they had touched, the hot sensation as if she had been burned took away all her thoughts.
His fingers suddenly entered and tangled with her hair. The moment she felt that the back of her head was completely wrapped in his hands, her head twisted because of him.
Without hesitation, the man’s parted lips completely swallowed Ines’s lips.
It felt like he was sucking not only her breath but also her soul as if he had been thrust in without any gap.
She couldn’t even remember how to breathe as if it was the first kiss since she was born. Her breath was puffing up to her chin, and when she couldn’t bear it any longer, she grabbed his collar and arched her back as far as she could, and Carson broke away from Ines.
She couldn’t tell how much time had passed. Her rough exhalation mixed with his. He gently pulled her lower lip again and released it.
Ines gasped and couldn’t open her eyes, feeling as if all the moisture in her body was draining away or as if her entire body was submerged in water.
His long fingers stroked the edge of Ines’ chin. Even the touch that touched her body was deeply filled with emotion. He slowly stroked the wrinkles of Ines’ lips and said softly as if she was melting.
“Don’t think too hastily.”
Ines slowly opened her eyes at the affectionate yet confident voice. And she still looked at the face of the person who understood Ines’s heart first. His beauty struck her heart anew.
“If you made that decision, I won’t push you any further.”
“...”
“That alone is enough for now.”
Unlike his cold expression, his eyes were hot enough to burn her. The time between them seemed to have evaporated and disappeared.
“Are you no longer angry?”
Carson smiled faintly at her words.
“I’m holding it in, not angry.”
Ines couldn’t bring herself to ask him what he was holding back.
If it was past dinner time, neither the maid who came to visit nor the chief chamberlain who lingered outside and barely knocked on the door let anyone in.
The two simply sat side by side on the living room sofa. They had just reached the same conclusion and were probably thinking the same thing as they looked at the sun rising high above.
“I did it because I was bad.”
Carson suddenly confessed without context.
“It wasn’t something to be angry about, but I felt bad about myself, so I pushed you around for no reason.”
Carson gently grabbed the inside of Ines’ wrist as if asking for forgiveness.
“The more I look at you, the more you seem to do things that are not godlike.”
Instead of answering, Ines put her arm through his and dug into his side. Carson lifted his chin slightly and took a deep breath.
“You got slapped?”
“...”
“I felt so helpless when I saw that. I was so... like my father.”
Ines' flushed face overlapped with her mother's past. How is it any different from his father's in that he calls her eagerly and then fails to properly guard her?
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