“...Huh?”
I asked back, surprised by his sudden request to lie down.
“Wouldn’t you like me to do that?”
Oh, right. Back.
“Are you really going to do it?”
My back is too embarrassing for that.
It felt a bit awkward to ask that when he had already taken off his shirt, but how many husbands in the world would do back rubs for their wives? And that husband is the Emperor?
After a moment of hesitation, I didn’t hesitate and boldly lay down.
It was quite embarrassing to lie down and stretch out in front of His Majesty the Emperor, in front of my husband. However, since the weather was particularly hot today, I had to cool down my body like this.
“I don’t care about other places, but I’ll just do back rubs. Yes? Just back, just back.”
I pointed out the area where I was going to pour water, feeling like an old woman.
“You’re worrying so much. Of course, I’ll do back rubs and... Yes, I’ll stop talking.”
Linel put both hands together, dipped them in the stream water, scooped up some water, and poured it mercilessly on my back.
“Euuuuu...!”
The stream water inside the cave was much cooler than the stream water outside, perhaps because it wasn’t exposed to sunlight.
“Are you okay? How is it?”
“My mind is clear, it’s so cool!”
As I spoke while lifting one foot at a time from my prone position, feeling the thrill spread to my toes, Linel’s already deep and resonant laughter echoed throughout the cave.
Linel poured water on my back several times and rubbed my back back and forth with his large hands.
“Uuuuuu.”
I groaned involuntarily as the cold water soaked into my bones.
“Since you're already washing, should I wash your hair?”
Linel asked, gently rubbing the back of my neck.
“No. If my hair gets wet, they’ll think the raspberry expedition was called in by His Majesty and tortured with water.”
“Is my image that messed up? To the point where people would misunderstand me as torturing the Empress?”
“Wow, did you think it would be good? It’s more surprising that you thought that way?”
I burst out laughing.
Then he put his hand in the stream water, scooped up some water, and splashed it on my face.
“Ugh! Hehehehe.”
I couldn’t stop laughing even as I tightly shut my eyes from the splashing water.
“It seems so fun, but can you make me laugh more?”
I barely stopped laughing at his ominous voice.
“No, I’d like to decline.”
Linel poured water on my back again without saying anything, and then suddenly put his hand inside my armpit.
“Ah, puhaha, what are you doing? It tickles!”
“You need to wash here, too, to feel refreshed.”
Unlike his carefree voice, his hand was rubbing my armpit.
When he said, “Want to laugh more?” did he mean that he would make me laugh like this?
I writhed in ticklishness and then exclaimed,
“Uh-pupupupu!”
I was completely submerged in the stream up to my chest.
As soon as my eyes met the bottom of the stream, his hand lifted my waist.
As a result, it was he who put me in the stream, and it was he who pulled me out.
If he hadn’t grabbed my waist, I would have completely fallen.
“You even washed your hair in the cold.”
He squeezed the water out of my wet hair like he was washing clothes, and held back his laughter.
“What the hell are you doing?”
When I glared at him, he stopped laughing and said,
“Go here.”
He put my arm on his chest with a serious expression.
Then he smiled at me, took off the shirt he was wearing, and wiped the water off my face and body.
“Don’t look at me. It’s exciting because I’m wet.”
Who else would have wiped their armpits?
If he hadn’t tickled me, I wouldn’t have fallen into the water up to my chest and gotten soaking wet like this.
I tried to say something to him after putting on my slip, but his lips covered my mouth.
I accepted him without even putting on my clothes.
His softness, which had been swimming freely in my mouth for a while, slipped out of my mouth.
He gently pressed my lower lip with his index finger and whispered,
“Even though you fell into the water, it’s still hot here. Good...”
The words that came out of his lips, which had just refreshed my mouth, made my body temperature rise again.
“What if you wipe me with Your Majesty’s shirt? Your shirt is already wet.”
“You can’t wipe me with your shirt.”
“Your Majesty should wear at least one more layer than I.”
A person whose body was also cold.
“It’s okay because the sunlight is warm.”
It wasn’t warm, it was hot enough to make my skin tingle, but it seemed warm to him.
“You want me to see my wife wearing only a uniform without a shirt? If you do that, the gap between the uniforms will come apart!”
He shouted in surprise as if the gap between the buttons of my uniform was cracking open.
“Get dressed. I want to button it up, but my hands are frozen, so I can’t do that.”
He said as he put my shirt on my arm.
Only then did I remember Linel’s hypothermia curse and quickly grabbed his hand.
“You can’t live! Your hands are completely frozen!”
I shouted without realizing it. I wasn’t angry at him. I was angry at myself for forgetting that he was under the hypothermia curse and for making him keep dipping his hands in the cold water.
Even if I had forgotten that fact for a moment, his hands must have been freezing cold while he was wiping me down.
He endured that and kept dipping his hands in the cold water to wipe me down.
And he even used his shirt to dry me.
Why on earth is this man so devoted to me...
“What are you doing?”
“It’s cold.”
I took my shirt and put it on his arm.
“So you want me to wear your shirt?”
My shirt sleeve went up to his elbow and got stuck.
“It won’t go any higher...”
“No thanks. You're catching a cold. Go ahead and put it on.”
He took the sleeve of my shirt off my elbow and put it on me.
You’re worried about your own hands that are on the verge of getting frostbite, right?
I put on my shirt and held both of his hands, blowing warm air on them, glaring at him.
“Hooooh~. Why do you have to get your shirt wet?”
I let out the sound of “Eugh, ugh” on my lips.
Linel’s cheeks were flushed, staring down at me, flushed.
“Do you think it’s getting a little warmer?”
I asked, worried, even though it was still too early, and he nodded obediently and looked down.
“Why? Is your chest cold too? Well, you’ve been taking your top off for a while, so you must be cold.”
I felt his chest too... And I breathed warmth into him.
His chest muscles twitched, and his abs hardened.
“Can you hold me for a moment?”
Linel asked with a voice that was filled with a cough.
Why would you ask such a thing?
Without hesitation, I hugged him tightly with both arms.
“Oh, so that’s what happened.”
His lower body was fighting a war alone.
“Yes. So let’s stay like this for a moment.”
I patted his butt in response to Linel’s honest physical reaction.
“Don’t tap there, please.”
He said, “If you don’t, it won’t calm me down,” and took my hand away from his butt and held my waist.
“But if you do this, it’ll get harder.”
Judging from how I felt, it didn’t seem like he would calm down easily.
“You’ll give up on the map.”
Linel glanced down and said in a voice soaked in pain.
But I knew.
My other Emperor, His Majesty, was someone who never gave up. As I continued to hold him, it felt like his body was telling me the truth.
I’ve been angry for a while, but I’m just holding on and being patient.
The soldier looked at Roxana, who suddenly became proud, with a puzzled look.
Roxana took advantage of the soldier’s letdown to strike his wrist and snatch his sword.
“...W-what are you doing? Your Majesty!”
The moment the soldier panicked and called out to Hetor, Roxana screamed at the same time.
“Gyaaaaaaaah!”
Roxana’s piercing scream drowned out the soldier’s call to Hetor.
“Huh!”
Nancy’s short scream followed.
Roxana cut Nancy’s left arm, which was being held by the soldier, with her sword, then crouched down in the corner of the stairs and cut off the front of her dress with her sword.
The soldier was startled by Roxana’s sudden action.
“What the hell is this crazy woman doing?!”
“Miss... Huh.”
As Nancy watched Roxana cut off the front of her dress, she thought she knew why her master had cut off her arm with his sword.
As expected, Hetor and his men came running after hearing her screams.
“Roxana?”
Hetor approached Roxana, who was crouching on the stairs, shivering.
“What’s wrong?”
Hetor looked back and forth between Roxana and Nancy, then asked his soldier.
The soldier, as if he had been waiting, began to tell Hetor.
“Your Majesty, this Princess is plotting.”
He spoke with great confidence, but Roxana was trembling weakly, so it sounded completely out of place in the current situation.
“What? Speak clearly so that I can understand.”
Hetor’s eyes turned eerie as he looked at the soldier.
“Well, I overheard the Princess and this servant talking as they were going down the stairs, and this Princess said she was pregnant...”
At that moment, Roxana stood up with her face covered in tears and hugged Hetor.
Hetor was surprised by the state of Roxana’s clothes, so he pulled her out of his arms and checked again.
The front of Roxana’s dress was completely open, exposing half of her chest.
The front of the dress seemed to have been torn by a sword.
The sword had already fallen to the soldier’s feet.
When the bewildered soldier opened his mouth to speak, Roxana struck first again.
“Your Majesty! That soldier tried to rape me! Nancy tried to stop him and got cut by his sword! Sob, sob, sob, it was so scary...”
“What?”
Hetor’s facial muscles slowly began to twist. Roxana, who caught that expression, swayed her body even more as if she was going to faint, and Hetor quickly supported her waist.
“W-That’s right. Your Majesty! Even if I told that soldier that she was the Princess, he wouldn’t believe me. He asked why the Princess was in a place like this. When our young lady goes out for a walk, she usually likes to walk along the garden path connected to the back door. But this man didn’t believe what I said, and when I tried to stop him from dragging her away...”
Nancy grabbed Roxana’s bleeding arm and interrupted her.
Her hands and feet trembled at the lie, but in this situation, it actually helped.
The soldier shook his head and denied it, feeling aggrieved by the two women’s plausible lies.
However, all the circumstances matched Roxana’s lies perfectly.
Hetor’s eyes began to fill with anger.
“You’ve always been close to women, and now you’re causing trouble in the Principality of Aklatto.”
I asked back, surprised by his sudden request to lie down.
“Wouldn’t you like me to do that?”
Oh, right. Back.
“Are you really going to do it?”
My back is too embarrassing for that.
It felt a bit awkward to ask that when he had already taken off his shirt, but how many husbands in the world would do back rubs for their wives? And that husband is the Emperor?
After a moment of hesitation, I didn’t hesitate and boldly lay down.
It was quite embarrassing to lie down and stretch out in front of His Majesty the Emperor, in front of my husband. However, since the weather was particularly hot today, I had to cool down my body like this.
“I don’t care about other places, but I’ll just do back rubs. Yes? Just back, just back.”
I pointed out the area where I was going to pour water, feeling like an old woman.
“You’re worrying so much. Of course, I’ll do back rubs and... Yes, I’ll stop talking.”
Linel put both hands together, dipped them in the stream water, scooped up some water, and poured it mercilessly on my back.
“Euuuuu...!”
The stream water inside the cave was much cooler than the stream water outside, perhaps because it wasn’t exposed to sunlight.
“Are you okay? How is it?”
“My mind is clear, it’s so cool!”
As I spoke while lifting one foot at a time from my prone position, feeling the thrill spread to my toes, Linel’s already deep and resonant laughter echoed throughout the cave.
Linel poured water on my back several times and rubbed my back back and forth with his large hands.
“Uuuuuu.”
I groaned involuntarily as the cold water soaked into my bones.
“Since you're already washing, should I wash your hair?”
Linel asked, gently rubbing the back of my neck.
“No. If my hair gets wet, they’ll think the raspberry expedition was called in by His Majesty and tortured with water.”
“Is my image that messed up? To the point where people would misunderstand me as torturing the Empress?”
“Wow, did you think it would be good? It’s more surprising that you thought that way?”
I burst out laughing.
Then he put his hand in the stream water, scooped up some water, and splashed it on my face.
“Ugh! Hehehehe.”
I couldn’t stop laughing even as I tightly shut my eyes from the splashing water.
“It seems so fun, but can you make me laugh more?”
I barely stopped laughing at his ominous voice.
“No, I’d like to decline.”
Linel poured water on my back again without saying anything, and then suddenly put his hand inside my armpit.
“Ah, puhaha, what are you doing? It tickles!”
“You need to wash here, too, to feel refreshed.”
Unlike his carefree voice, his hand was rubbing my armpit.
When he said, “Want to laugh more?” did he mean that he would make me laugh like this?
I writhed in ticklishness and then exclaimed,
“Uh-pupupupu!”
I was completely submerged in the stream up to my chest.
As soon as my eyes met the bottom of the stream, his hand lifted my waist.
As a result, it was he who put me in the stream, and it was he who pulled me out.
If he hadn’t grabbed my waist, I would have completely fallen.
“You even washed your hair in the cold.”
He squeezed the water out of my wet hair like he was washing clothes, and held back his laughter.
“What the hell are you doing?”
When I glared at him, he stopped laughing and said,
“Go here.”
He put my arm on his chest with a serious expression.
Then he smiled at me, took off the shirt he was wearing, and wiped the water off my face and body.
“Don’t look at me. It’s exciting because I’m wet.”
Who else would have wiped their armpits?
If he hadn’t tickled me, I wouldn’t have fallen into the water up to my chest and gotten soaking wet like this.
I tried to say something to him after putting on my slip, but his lips covered my mouth.
I accepted him without even putting on my clothes.
His softness, which had been swimming freely in my mouth for a while, slipped out of my mouth.
He gently pressed my lower lip with his index finger and whispered,
“Even though you fell into the water, it’s still hot here. Good...”
The words that came out of his lips, which had just refreshed my mouth, made my body temperature rise again.
“What if you wipe me with Your Majesty’s shirt? Your shirt is already wet.”
“You can’t wipe me with your shirt.”
“Your Majesty should wear at least one more layer than I.”
A person whose body was also cold.
“It’s okay because the sunlight is warm.”
It wasn’t warm, it was hot enough to make my skin tingle, but it seemed warm to him.
“You want me to see my wife wearing only a uniform without a shirt? If you do that, the gap between the uniforms will come apart!”
He shouted in surprise as if the gap between the buttons of my uniform was cracking open.
“Get dressed. I want to button it up, but my hands are frozen, so I can’t do that.”
He said as he put my shirt on my arm.
Only then did I remember Linel’s hypothermia curse and quickly grabbed his hand.
“You can’t live! Your hands are completely frozen!”
I shouted without realizing it. I wasn’t angry at him. I was angry at myself for forgetting that he was under the hypothermia curse and for making him keep dipping his hands in the cold water.
Even if I had forgotten that fact for a moment, his hands must have been freezing cold while he was wiping me down.
He endured that and kept dipping his hands in the cold water to wipe me down.
And he even used his shirt to dry me.
Why on earth is this man so devoted to me...
“What are you doing?”
“It’s cold.”
I took my shirt and put it on his arm.
“So you want me to wear your shirt?”
My shirt sleeve went up to his elbow and got stuck.
“It won’t go any higher...”
“No thanks. You're catching a cold. Go ahead and put it on.”
He took the sleeve of my shirt off my elbow and put it on me.
You’re worried about your own hands that are on the verge of getting frostbite, right?
I put on my shirt and held both of his hands, blowing warm air on them, glaring at him.
“Hooooh~. Why do you have to get your shirt wet?”
I let out the sound of “Eugh, ugh” on my lips.
Linel’s cheeks were flushed, staring down at me, flushed.
“Do you think it’s getting a little warmer?”
I asked, worried, even though it was still too early, and he nodded obediently and looked down.
“Why? Is your chest cold too? Well, you’ve been taking your top off for a while, so you must be cold.”
I felt his chest too... And I breathed warmth into him.
His chest muscles twitched, and his abs hardened.
“Can you hold me for a moment?”
Linel asked with a voice that was filled with a cough.
Why would you ask such a thing?
Without hesitation, I hugged him tightly with both arms.
“Oh, so that’s what happened.”
His lower body was fighting a war alone.
“Yes. So let’s stay like this for a moment.”
I patted his butt in response to Linel’s honest physical reaction.
“Don’t tap there, please.”
He said, “If you don’t, it won’t calm me down,” and took my hand away from his butt and held my waist.
“But if you do this, it’ll get harder.”
Judging from how I felt, it didn’t seem like he would calm down easily.
“You’ll give up on the map.”
Linel glanced down and said in a voice soaked in pain.
But I knew.
My other Emperor, His Majesty, was someone who never gave up. As I continued to hold him, it felt like his body was telling me the truth.
I’ve been angry for a while, but I’m just holding on and being patient.
***
The soldier looked at Roxana, who suddenly became proud, with a puzzled look.
Roxana took advantage of the soldier’s letdown to strike his wrist and snatch his sword.
“...W-what are you doing? Your Majesty!”
The moment the soldier panicked and called out to Hetor, Roxana screamed at the same time.
“Gyaaaaaaaah!”
Roxana’s piercing scream drowned out the soldier’s call to Hetor.
“Huh!”
Nancy’s short scream followed.
Roxana cut Nancy’s left arm, which was being held by the soldier, with her sword, then crouched down in the corner of the stairs and cut off the front of her dress with her sword.
The soldier was startled by Roxana’s sudden action.
“What the hell is this crazy woman doing?!”
“Miss... Huh.”
As Nancy watched Roxana cut off the front of her dress, she thought she knew why her master had cut off her arm with his sword.
As expected, Hetor and his men came running after hearing her screams.
“Roxana?”
Hetor approached Roxana, who was crouching on the stairs, shivering.
“What’s wrong?”
Hetor looked back and forth between Roxana and Nancy, then asked his soldier.
The soldier, as if he had been waiting, began to tell Hetor.
“Your Majesty, this Princess is plotting.”
He spoke with great confidence, but Roxana was trembling weakly, so it sounded completely out of place in the current situation.
“What? Speak clearly so that I can understand.”
Hetor’s eyes turned eerie as he looked at the soldier.
“Well, I overheard the Princess and this servant talking as they were going down the stairs, and this Princess said she was pregnant...”
At that moment, Roxana stood up with her face covered in tears and hugged Hetor.
Hetor was surprised by the state of Roxana’s clothes, so he pulled her out of his arms and checked again.
The front of Roxana’s dress was completely open, exposing half of her chest.
The front of the dress seemed to have been torn by a sword.
The sword had already fallen to the soldier’s feet.
When the bewildered soldier opened his mouth to speak, Roxana struck first again.
“Your Majesty! That soldier tried to rape me! Nancy tried to stop him and got cut by his sword! Sob, sob, sob, it was so scary...”
“What?”
Hetor’s facial muscles slowly began to twist. Roxana, who caught that expression, swayed her body even more as if she was going to faint, and Hetor quickly supported her waist.
“W-That’s right. Your Majesty! Even if I told that soldier that she was the Princess, he wouldn’t believe me. He asked why the Princess was in a place like this. When our young lady goes out for a walk, she usually likes to walk along the garden path connected to the back door. But this man didn’t believe what I said, and when I tried to stop him from dragging her away...”
Nancy grabbed Roxana’s bleeding arm and interrupted her.
Her hands and feet trembled at the lie, but in this situation, it actually helped.
The soldier shook his head and denied it, feeling aggrieved by the two women’s plausible lies.
However, all the circumstances matched Roxana’s lies perfectly.
Hetor’s eyes began to fill with anger.
“You’ve always been close to women, and now you’re causing trouble in the Principality of Aklatto.”
When Palto, Hetor’s right-hand man, pointed out the soldier’s usual behavior, Hetor’s expression became even fiercer.
“How dare you try to covet the woman who is my wife?”
“Oh, no, Your Majesty! The Princess is lying! I clearly heard that she said she would kill the Great King. Please believe me!”
The soldier felt the murderous intent in Hetor’s gaze and burst out in anger.
“How dare you try to covet the woman who is my wife?”
“Oh, no, Your Majesty! The Princess is lying! I clearly heard that she said she would kill the Great King. Please believe me!”
The soldier felt the murderous intent in Hetor’s gaze and burst out in anger.
“Shut up! You’re talking nonsense when you’re cornered.”
Hetor snickered at the soldier’s words and looked down at Roxana, who was in his arms.
Me, with a body that’s not even a handful? What a mess.
Hetor’s gaze fell on Roxana’s sword-torn front.
“Stay back.”
Roxana turned around with Nancy at Hetor’s command and covered her ears with both hands.
She looked down at the back door that was visible at the bottom of the stairs and laughed faintly.
“Aah!!”
Hetor took out the axe he had on his belt and struck the soldier’s neck with one blow.
Hetor put the axe back in his belt and turned around to apologize to Roxana.
“I’m sorry. Because of that foolish soldier.”
Roxana nodded meekly, wiping away her tears as if she accepted his apology.
“You must have been surprised, but go back to your room.”
“No, Nancy is hurt. I’ll go to the doctor.”
“I thought there was a doctor here?”
“...Oh, if my father found out, it would be unnecessarily difficult for you. He worries about me a lot. I don’t want to make a fuss either.”
It made sense.
“Your clothes are in that bad shape, and you’re just going to leave? You should change your clothes and go.”
“Then it’ll be too late. There’s a dress shop I frequent near the castle, so you can stop by there and buy a dress. I’ll just cover myself with a robe and go. If I take the carriage and come back, there won’t be anyone to see.”
There was nothing to quibble about in Roxana’s words. Hetor felt uneasy, but he had no choice but to consent.
“Then, I’ll go.”
Hetor stepped aside from the stairs he was blocking.
“Yes, I’ll be back early.”
Roxana squeezed Hetor’s thick hand once and then let go.
Hetor stared at Roxana’s face as if he was slightly surprised.
“Nancy, you’re bleeding a lot. Let’s go quickly.”
“Yes, Miss.”
Roxana wrapped her arms around Nancy’s shoulders as if supporting her and hurried down the stairs.
“Wait. Stand there.”
At that moment, Hetor called out to Roxana, who was hurriedly going down the stairs.
Hetor snickered at the soldier’s words and looked down at Roxana, who was in his arms.
Me, with a body that’s not even a handful? What a mess.
Hetor’s gaze fell on Roxana’s sword-torn front.
“Stay back.”
Roxana turned around with Nancy at Hetor’s command and covered her ears with both hands.
She looked down at the back door that was visible at the bottom of the stairs and laughed faintly.
“Aah!!”
Hetor took out the axe he had on his belt and struck the soldier’s neck with one blow.
Hetor put the axe back in his belt and turned around to apologize to Roxana.
“I’m sorry. Because of that foolish soldier.”
Roxana nodded meekly, wiping away her tears as if she accepted his apology.
“You must have been surprised, but go back to your room.”
“No, Nancy is hurt. I’ll go to the doctor.”
“I thought there was a doctor here?”
“...Oh, if my father found out, it would be unnecessarily difficult for you. He worries about me a lot. I don’t want to make a fuss either.”
It made sense.
“Your clothes are in that bad shape, and you’re just going to leave? You should change your clothes and go.”
“Then it’ll be too late. There’s a dress shop I frequent near the castle, so you can stop by there and buy a dress. I’ll just cover myself with a robe and go. If I take the carriage and come back, there won’t be anyone to see.”
There was nothing to quibble about in Roxana’s words. Hetor felt uneasy, but he had no choice but to consent.
“Then, I’ll go.”
Hetor stepped aside from the stairs he was blocking.
“Yes, I’ll be back early.”
Roxana squeezed Hetor’s thick hand once and then let go.
Hetor stared at Roxana’s face as if he was slightly surprised.
“Nancy, you’re bleeding a lot. Let’s go quickly.”
“Yes, Miss.”
Roxana wrapped her arms around Nancy’s shoulders as if supporting her and hurried down the stairs.
“Wait. Stand there.”
At that moment, Hetor called out to Roxana, who was hurriedly going down the stairs.
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