“Everyone loves me, but you don’t have everyone’s trust?”
“Yes.”
“Do you? You love me like the people of the empire love me, but you can’t give me complete trust?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what do you mean?”
Ines knows Carson’s behavior well. Once he starts to bite and swear like this, no one can beat him.
“How can my sincere heart reach Your Majesty’s broad heart?”
When she smiled sweetly, Carson’s face grew a deep smile.
“Are you soothing me now?”
“Because you’re throwing a tantrum.”
“Yes, that’s right. But I don’t feel sincerity.”
Ines had never told him a lie in front of him, so she bit her lower lip tightly, feeling a little resentful.
Whenever that happened, she would always push her lower lip out. It was a habit that would hold his breath every time she did that, but it was not easily fixed.
But this time, he did not reach out to her.
“How can I convey my sincerity to Your Majesty? I will do as you tell me.”
“It is also the Emperor’s duty to satisfy the emptiness of his subjects, so should you just be grateful for my generosity?”
“Is there anything you would like to say, Your Majesty?”
“Yes.”
“Do you? You love me like the people of the empire love me, but you can’t give me complete trust?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what do you mean?”
Ines knows Carson’s behavior well. Once he starts to bite and swear like this, no one can beat him.
“How can my sincere heart reach Your Majesty’s broad heart?”
When she smiled sweetly, Carson’s face grew a deep smile.
“Are you soothing me now?”
“Because you’re throwing a tantrum.”
“Yes, that’s right. But I don’t feel sincerity.”
Ines had never told him a lie in front of him, so she bit her lower lip tightly, feeling a little resentful.
Whenever that happened, she would always push her lower lip out. It was a habit that would hold his breath every time she did that, but it was not easily fixed.
But this time, he did not reach out to her.
“How can I convey my sincerity to Your Majesty? I will do as you tell me.”
“It is also the Emperor’s duty to satisfy the emptiness of his subjects, so should you just be grateful for my generosity?”
“Is there anything you would like to say, Your Majesty?”
“Why don’t you just get rid of the wrinkles between your eyebrows and talk?”
At that moment, the shouts of adult men filled the garden and the office. Soon, a giant tree rose tall in the middle of the imperial garden.
Carson smiled brightly like the sun as he watched the golden-colored roots of the tree settle into a hole large enough to bury thirty people.
The towering tree was so overwhelming that it instantly changed the surrounding picture. The light pouring down from the tree and the sunlight shining through the leaves were beautiful enough to make him forget the whole situation.
“Ines.”
When he called her name softly, Ines looked at him as if possessed by something. Even at this moment, the man’s figure, shining alone and solemnly in the sunlight, was so beautiful that it was almost blinding.
He smiled, not only at the corners of his mouth but also at the corners of his eyes, forming a picture-perfect smile.
For a moment, that smile felt dangerous and Ines hesitated and stepped back.
“This tree here has many meanings. This sacred tree not only solidifies the dignity of the imperial family but can also give a new sense of alertness to anyone who enters the imperial family every day. So you don’t have to worry about the trust of the imperial people at all.”
Ines nodded and met his eyes. His fearless gaze was mysterious and mysterious enough that she couldn’t look away without permission.
“And above all...”
Carson reached out and grabbed Ines’ chin.
“I’ll remind you of your promise.”
“My promise?”
Then he pressed his thumb hard against her lips, which had flushed from running all the way here. Then, just a few nights ago, the moment when he had touched her came back to her vividly. The vivid sensations that had kept Ines awake.
“Don’t you remember what I said at the temple?”
“What... words?”
Carson smiled with his eyes closed and his voice became soft, and Ines felt completely captivated by him.
“I told you not to get close to him.”
“...What?”
“Landhill, Edmond, and now that guy who has come all the way to the palace and is persistently taking pictures of you.”
Gasp, Ines took a deep breath in surprise and took another step back from him. But Carson would not tolerate that distance.
“How... did you know?”
“Does that matter?”
“...”
“If you’re going to be wearing a blanket that another man covered you with in front of my palace, you shouldn’t be so beautiful that you shine so brightly. You’d be too much of a draw. Isn’t that right?”
Only then did Ines understand the cause of the cold feeling she had felt that day when she had been walking with Marcus? But Carson wouldn’t let Ines just sit there mulling over the events of that day.
“I found a tree that won’t fall no matter how many times I hit it, just as I promised. So now I’m going to do whatever I want.”
“Whatever you want?”
Ines asked the same question she had that night with a blank expression.
“Yes, anything... What I’ve wanted, what I want now, and what I’ll want from now on.”
The man who spoke in a calm voice like still water took a step closer. Suddenly, his scent filled the air.
Ines raised her eyes with difficulty and faced him again. She could feel her eyes shaking aimlessly.
But Ines couldn’t move as if she had been caught in a trap.
Unable to hold her breath any longer, she exhaled and her body pushed back on its own. As she took a step back, he followed her. Her eyes, which were swaying, were intertwined with his eyes that had not wavered at all.
“What, what is that...?”
The moment she realized that all the playfulness in his gaze had disappeared, his scent hit her neck and ears, suffocating her.
However, there was still a certain space between them.
A distance that people could call space.
His large hands supported Ines’s back and hugged her. And he completely broke that space and hugged her tightly. At the same time, his hot lips covered hers.
Huh, as her breath was blocked, something hot rushed in between her lips that had opened on their own.
It wasn’t a gentle gesture filled with respect and trust.
It was a fluttering of resentment mixed with lust and impatience. The two people, moving clumsily like butterflies that had just shed their shells, were destroying everything they had painstakingly built with their own hands and building it anew from scratch, one by one.
The two men and women, barely able to hide their raw, sharp emotions, simultaneously let out a slurred breath.
“I can’t wait any longer.”
Along with the breath that was not yet fully collected, a voice she had never heard before pierced her ear. Ines could do nothing but catch her breath in his arms because of her confusion and some emotions she could not overcome.
“This is my limit.”
He pulled her away from his arms once again and swallowed Ines’ lips. His actions, which she could not possibly refuse, made her heart, which she had tried to make blunt, sharpen. It was torn apart by Carson’s touch and by his tugging.
When she could not breathe properly and clung to his collar, he barely pulled his lips away and hugged her tightly.
The breaths she exhaled mixed and clumped together in the air. Ines looked at the world only as much as he allowed her in his arms.
“I want to know your true feelings.”
Ines’ face crumpled at the unbelievable words.
“You didn’t know my feelings until now?”
“How could I know?”
Ines couldn’t control the emotions welling up in her and closed her eyes tightly.
As if her closed eyes were giving her permission, Carson brought his lips back to hers. It was a sweet kiss that she couldn’t possibly refuse or even think she could.
“You were a woman to me from the beginning. You never burned my heart for a single moment. But you’re not.”
Ines reached out and touched his cheek at those words.
“I wasn’t the only one who didn’t realize my feelings.”
“...”
“My feelings began in a time far beyond your imagination.”
They were feelings that had already been born in her past and future the moment she first met him.
At that moment, the shouts of adult men filled the garden and the office. Soon, a giant tree rose tall in the middle of the imperial garden.
Carson smiled brightly like the sun as he watched the golden-colored roots of the tree settle into a hole large enough to bury thirty people.
The towering tree was so overwhelming that it instantly changed the surrounding picture. The light pouring down from the tree and the sunlight shining through the leaves were beautiful enough to make him forget the whole situation.
“Ines.”
When he called her name softly, Ines looked at him as if possessed by something. Even at this moment, the man’s figure, shining alone and solemnly in the sunlight, was so beautiful that it was almost blinding.
He smiled, not only at the corners of his mouth but also at the corners of his eyes, forming a picture-perfect smile.
For a moment, that smile felt dangerous and Ines hesitated and stepped back.
“This tree here has many meanings. This sacred tree not only solidifies the dignity of the imperial family but can also give a new sense of alertness to anyone who enters the imperial family every day. So you don’t have to worry about the trust of the imperial people at all.”
Ines nodded and met his eyes. His fearless gaze was mysterious and mysterious enough that she couldn’t look away without permission.
“And above all...”
Carson reached out and grabbed Ines’ chin.
“I’ll remind you of your promise.”
“My promise?”
Then he pressed his thumb hard against her lips, which had flushed from running all the way here. Then, just a few nights ago, the moment when he had touched her came back to her vividly. The vivid sensations that had kept Ines awake.
“Don’t you remember what I said at the temple?”
“What... words?”
Carson smiled with his eyes closed and his voice became soft, and Ines felt completely captivated by him.
“I told you not to get close to him.”
“...What?”
“Landhill, Edmond, and now that guy who has come all the way to the palace and is persistently taking pictures of you.”
Gasp, Ines took a deep breath in surprise and took another step back from him. But Carson would not tolerate that distance.
“How... did you know?”
“Does that matter?”
“...”
“If you’re going to be wearing a blanket that another man covered you with in front of my palace, you shouldn’t be so beautiful that you shine so brightly. You’d be too much of a draw. Isn’t that right?”
Only then did Ines understand the cause of the cold feeling she had felt that day when she had been walking with Marcus? But Carson wouldn’t let Ines just sit there mulling over the events of that day.
“I found a tree that won’t fall no matter how many times I hit it, just as I promised. So now I’m going to do whatever I want.”
“Whatever you want?”
Ines asked the same question she had that night with a blank expression.
“Yes, anything... What I’ve wanted, what I want now, and what I’ll want from now on.”
The man who spoke in a calm voice like still water took a step closer. Suddenly, his scent filled the air.
Ines raised her eyes with difficulty and faced him again. She could feel her eyes shaking aimlessly.
But Ines couldn’t move as if she had been caught in a trap.
Unable to hold her breath any longer, she exhaled and her body pushed back on its own. As she took a step back, he followed her. Her eyes, which were swaying, were intertwined with his eyes that had not wavered at all.
“What, what is that...?”
The moment she realized that all the playfulness in his gaze had disappeared, his scent hit her neck and ears, suffocating her.
However, there was still a certain space between them.
A distance that people could call space.
His large hands supported Ines’s back and hugged her. And he completely broke that space and hugged her tightly. At the same time, his hot lips covered hers.
Huh, as her breath was blocked, something hot rushed in between her lips that had opened on their own.
It wasn’t a gentle gesture filled with respect and trust.
It was a fluttering of resentment mixed with lust and impatience. The two people, moving clumsily like butterflies that had just shed their shells, were destroying everything they had painstakingly built with their own hands and building it anew from scratch, one by one.
The two men and women, barely able to hide their raw, sharp emotions, simultaneously let out a slurred breath.
“I can’t wait any longer.”
Along with the breath that was not yet fully collected, a voice she had never heard before pierced her ear. Ines could do nothing but catch her breath in his arms because of her confusion and some emotions she could not overcome.
“This is my limit.”
He pulled her away from his arms once again and swallowed Ines’ lips. His actions, which she could not possibly refuse, made her heart, which she had tried to make blunt, sharpen. It was torn apart by Carson’s touch and by his tugging.
When she could not breathe properly and clung to his collar, he barely pulled his lips away and hugged her tightly.
The breaths she exhaled mixed and clumped together in the air. Ines looked at the world only as much as he allowed her in his arms.
“I want to know your true feelings.”
Ines’ face crumpled at the unbelievable words.
“You didn’t know my feelings until now?”
“How could I know?”
Ines couldn’t control the emotions welling up in her and closed her eyes tightly.
As if her closed eyes were giving her permission, Carson brought his lips back to hers. It was a sweet kiss that she couldn’t possibly refuse or even think she could.
“You were a woman to me from the beginning. You never burned my heart for a single moment. But you’re not.”
Ines reached out and touched his cheek at those words.
“I wasn’t the only one who didn’t realize my feelings.”
“...”
“My feelings began in a time far beyond your imagination.”
They were feelings that had already been born in her past and future the moment she first met him.
“I always felt thirsty whenever I saw you, Your Majesty. I once thought it was a longing for some unattainable world, but it wasn’t.”
Before he could finish speaking, Ines had already wiped his lips. When she approached him first, Carson closed his eyes and let the sensation she gave him take over. Ines moved away, but he still couldn’t open his eyes.
“This is what I wanted and longed for. Rather than being a woman and sharing Your Majesty with another woman, I would serve You as my complete God, which was my only refuge. It was the only foolishness I had.”
“...”
“But my greed really seems endless.”
Carson opened his eyes and looked at Ines. The slightly playful look in his eyes that he always had was completely gone.
“Do you feel the same way as I do?”
“Without a single bit of misunderstanding.”
“You think of me as... a man?”
“I thought you might be thinking of me.”
He bowed his head deeply and wiped Ines’ lips again as she followed Carson’s joke. Their hearts, which had been focused solely on each other, finally matched their colors and shone together.
“Then, make a vow of love.”
“Your Majesty hasn’t made that vow yet.”
‘Me?’ His expression when he asked seemed genuinely surprised. But soon he smiled as if it was a joke.
“I feel like I did it every single day.”
“Without me hearing it?”
“I loved all of your days.”
At that moment, with a thud, her heart loudly announced its location.
“Your nineteen years when we couldn’t meet, your twenty-one and twenty-two years when you had to leave me for a while, and your thirty and forty years when I haven’t met yet...”
Where was Ines alone?
Ines looked at Carson, who was in his thirty’s. The moment she was placed under his golden eyes, the only thought that she had to live well up in her. She had stuck by his side all this time, believing that since he had allowed her to live, he should take responsibility for her, which was a ridiculous compulsion.
But looking back, it was the moment when Ines first fell in love with him.
Just as a tree is not worthy of holding the sun, and the water of a lake can only hold the moon at night, she could not love him, so she simply revered him.
He knelt down on one knee, holding Ines’ hand.
It was not the first time Carson had knelt down to her, but it was the first time she had felt this way. She had no more intention of stopping him.
His cheeks sparkled in the light, his eyelashes were longer and more delicate than a woman’s, and his beautiful red lips, they were all Ines’s. She could not share them with anyone else.
He knelt down and held out a headdress made of a red jewel that had a brilliant pomegranate color.
Then he took her hand and placed the jewel on it, just as Ines had done.
“It’s my mother’s keepsake.”
Ines was silent for a moment, just looking at the decoration. She had seen a portrait of his mother.
Before he could finish speaking, Ines had already wiped his lips. When she approached him first, Carson closed his eyes and let the sensation she gave him take over. Ines moved away, but he still couldn’t open his eyes.
“This is what I wanted and longed for. Rather than being a woman and sharing Your Majesty with another woman, I would serve You as my complete God, which was my only refuge. It was the only foolishness I had.”
“...”
“But my greed really seems endless.”
Carson opened his eyes and looked at Ines. The slightly playful look in his eyes that he always had was completely gone.
“Do you feel the same way as I do?”
“Without a single bit of misunderstanding.”
“You think of me as... a man?”
“I thought you might be thinking of me.”
He bowed his head deeply and wiped Ines’ lips again as she followed Carson’s joke. Their hearts, which had been focused solely on each other, finally matched their colors and shone together.
“Then, make a vow of love.”
“Your Majesty hasn’t made that vow yet.”
‘Me?’ His expression when he asked seemed genuinely surprised. But soon he smiled as if it was a joke.
“I feel like I did it every single day.”
“Without me hearing it?”
“I loved all of your days.”
At that moment, with a thud, her heart loudly announced its location.
“Your nineteen years when we couldn’t meet, your twenty-one and twenty-two years when you had to leave me for a while, and your thirty and forty years when I haven’t met yet...”
Where was Ines alone?
Ines looked at Carson, who was in his thirty’s. The moment she was placed under his golden eyes, the only thought that she had to live well up in her. She had stuck by his side all this time, believing that since he had allowed her to live, he should take responsibility for her, which was a ridiculous compulsion.
But looking back, it was the moment when Ines first fell in love with him.
Just as a tree is not worthy of holding the sun, and the water of a lake can only hold the moon at night, she could not love him, so she simply revered him.
He knelt down on one knee, holding Ines’ hand.
It was not the first time Carson had knelt down to her, but it was the first time she had felt this way. She had no more intention of stopping him.
His cheeks sparkled in the light, his eyelashes were longer and more delicate than a woman’s, and his beautiful red lips, they were all Ines’s. She could not share them with anyone else.
He knelt down and held out a headdress made of a red jewel that had a brilliant pomegranate color.
Then he took her hand and placed the jewel on it, just as Ines had done.
“It’s my mother’s keepsake.”
Ines was silent for a moment, just looking at the decoration. She had seen a portrait of his mother.
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