"..."
As she opened her eyes, the cold and ornate ceiling of the lord's castle greeted her.
"Are you conscious?"
What came into view was not the distant figure of a family, but the face of a beautiful young man.
As she faced him, his face expressionless like a statue beneath his silver hair that looked as if it had shattered the moonlight, the tears she hadn't been able to wipe away flowed down through Lou's cheek.
"Why are you crying? Are you in pain? Did you get hurt?"
The following question sounded impatient. Lou slowly shook her head.
"I met Rupert and my parents."
Swallowing a stuffy nose, Lou struggled to hold onto the gentle voice in her memory.
"I got scolded. I had held onto my promise to avenge my enemy for too long. Now, I have made a new promise to live under my name, Rosien."
"..."
"They said they were always by my side. I guess that's why I wasn't lonely. I'm happy, but tears just keep welling up."
The sheet covering Rosien turned a dark color and became soaked.
"Because I feel like this is really the last time... and because I feel like they won't come to see me again..."
"..."
Peleus gazed silently at her as she smiled while silently shedding tears.
Watching that silent moisture shown by the small woman before him hurt far more chillingly than the countless stab wounds he had suffered on the battlefield.
"Rosien."
Peleus carefully wrapped Lou's wounded hand.
"Didn't I tell you we need to check if the sky in Valdina is blue?"
He wiped away her tears and cupped her cheeks.
"Please take a look and tell me. I am curious to see what color Valdina looks like to you."
He wants to become a family with her. Wiping away her tears, he wants to become the complete protector of this little person.
"By my side, continuously, together."
With a low voice, their lips met.
He wanted to become the one who sustains this woman, the new reason she lives, just as Rosien did for Peleus.
When the lips that had been pressing in tightly pulled away, a ring was already on Rosien's ring finger.
The emblem of the Imperial Family was engraved on the golden band.
Rosien, in a daze, pushed him away with trembling hands.
"Wait a moment, Les... no, Your Majesty."
The one who was thought to be the Emperor's outstanding knight was actually the young Emperor of Valdina.
The shock she had put aside for a moment to focus on eliminating Joachim has finally become reality.
This ring meant that she would eventually become the Empress of the Empire.
It felt as if her fingers were being crushed by the heavy weight.
"I haven't been educated that much, and it's been a long time since I forgot proper etiquette. I am absolutely not fit for such a high position. It is impossible."
Peleus did not stop her from taking off the ring.
"Such trivial things don't matter. Rosien, if you don't want it, you don't have to accept it. After all, this position is something only you can have."
If she didn't want it, he could simply leave it empty.
Peleus knew.
He's a person who, from birth, cannot hold many people in his heart.
Rosien was the only woman who was the first woman to break through the wall that had been frozen like ice and enter.
Once he took her to heart, there was no way his mind would change.
“Please call me Les.”
"..."
"Hurry."
Peleus's fingers slipped into the empty space where the ring had been removed and intertwined.
"..."
The power felt from the hand that bound without a single gap was so intense that it was hard to believe he was a man who always exuded noble chivalry.
His unwavering blue eyes held only her.
Rosien realized.
Whether she accepts the ring or not, this hand will always be with her.
The wavering amber eyes slowly found their way back to their trajectory.
"...Les."
The small fingers that had been wiggling beneath his hand finally gripped him tightly, as if binding him.
A smile of relief finally spread across the beautiful Emperor's face.
***
The Karkan territory, having been swept by the storm, quickly regained peace as if nothing had happened.
The Kingdom of Barmia was barely able to retrieve its soldiers only after paying an astronomical indemnity.
Even those known as the Blue Soldiers had already been trampled under Agema's hooves in the square.
However, the body of the Second Prince Joachim Lanz, the culprit behind all the atrocities, was never returned.
His head was miserably hung at the highest point of the square, as if to honor the souls of those who were innocently sacrificed.
It was the most brutal example faced by the one who dared to covet the land of Valdina.
Peleus deposed the corrupt Lord Osric and severely punished the nobles and their followers who had sided with his tyranny.
Meanwhile, the Black Anchor gang, which had been plagued by the harbor, occupied the docks and plotted a counterattack of their own.
However, they were eventually captured and executed by Agema's forces, which had annihilated even the elite troops of Barmia, or were swallowed up by the fierce waves while trying to escape.
The Karkans shed tears at the Emperor's stern yet lenient treatment, and finally realized in their bones that they were subjects of the Valdina Empire.
"I hear Lord Lou is heading to the Imperial City now, too?"
"You should call her Miss Rosien!"
The reputation of Rosien, the righteous man who risked execution to return for the sake of his people and personally executed the wicked governor, also soared day by day.
"Miss...!"
Rosien raised her head at the sound of a voice calling her.
"Nanny...?"
How did she get here when she's usually out of the blue?
"I brought her here. She was on her way to the Lord Castle because she had been worried about you."
Seeing Rosien flustered, Maya suddenly appeared and spoke awkwardly.
Returning to the harbor to bring back the nanny while still recovering from her injuries was probably an act of apology and gratitude.
Eric also patted Maya's back as if praising her.
Meanwhile, the nanny ran over as soon as she saw Rosien.
She was so emaciated from worrying so much, and her complexion was poor.
Rosien was embraced in warm and cozy arms.
"Miss, do you know how worried I was? I was afraid that something bad might have happened to that wicked fellow, Joachim..."
By the time the nanny arrived at the lord's castle, everything had already ended.
Thanks to that, she could clearly see Joachim's severed head hanging high in the square.
"Now, even if I die, I can face my masters with peace of mind."
"Why would you die? We've cast off this heavy burden, and all that's left is to live happily and joyfully with me for the rest of your life."
Lou warmly hugged the nanny, who burst into tears.
"Here. Just a moment, miss."
After the touching reunion, the nanny was shocked upon hearing the circumstances of what had happened.
"Who is that handsome knight? His Majesty, ah. No, more importantly. Who, who are you with right now, Young Lady?"
It was when the nanny was unable to regain her composure due to the overwhelming flood of information pouring in all at once.
"My Lady, it has been quite some time since you used your aura; don't you feel stiff and sore? You really need to draw out more right after awakening to truly improve your skills."
D'Angel, who still could not give up on Rosien's genius talent even after realizing she was his lord's lover, strode toward her.
"Commander, please don't call me that. What do you mean, tell me to deliver this?"
"Whether now or later, you will become my master anyway. So, shouldn't you gain some experience in the Royal Guard beforehand?"
It was just when D'Angel was persistently trying to coax Rosien.
The nanny, who had been staring blankly at him, widened her eyes in surprise.
“...D’Angel?”
"Hmm. Madam? Your face looks familiar... Wait, aren't you the one who served Viscount Sylvester and his wife?"
When the nanny left the Valdina royal court, D'Angel was a newly appointed Agema.
At the time, Viscount Sylvester was a close friend of the late King, so he frequented the royal palace as if it were his own home, and naturally, he was close with the vassals of the Viscount's family.
The Viscount, who was particularly skilled in medicine, cared for D'Angel so much that he even personally examined his injuries.
That is, until the Viscount suddenly left Valdina.
"Wait. Then, Lady Rosien...Viscount Sylvester's..."
D'Angel looked back and forth between the nanny's and Rosien's faces.
"No wonder Sir Hertos thought Young Lady's face looked familiar; now that I look closely, it seems the Viscount's face is superimposed. Good heavens."
Later, Lord Hertos, having heard the news, joined in, and the three of them savored the reunion of those days.
Peleus and Rosien smiled at the sight of their reminiscences about the Valdina of a generation ago, which seemed to have no end.
At the end of the war-like revenge, she was simply delighted and surprised to see that the old bond, which she thought was severed, had returned through the years and was firmly connected.
***
On the day they returned to Valdina, all the inhabitants of Karkan poured out into the streets.
Tens of thousands of flower petals thrown by the people scattered brilliantly in the wind.
It was the greatest praise and gratitude they could offer to the heroes who ended the vicious tyranny and brought salvation.
"Rosien."
Peleus, standing tall on his warhorse, reached out his hand toward her.
Over the silhouette with its back to the dazzling sun, the voice of a boy from old memories overlapped.
"Come here, I told you you'd fall."
"I told you not to go astray."
Just like a boy from the village who pulled her by the hand when she was young, that hand still held an unchanging, firm warmth even now that he has become the master of the empire after all these years.
Rosien smiled brightly and clasped his hand.
After confirming that she had safely mounted the horse, Peleus immediately followed and mounted it.
“All troops depart!”
Leaving behind the magnificent spectacle of flower buds embroidering the sky like snowflakes, the cracks in Agema moved in perfect order.
The sound of horses' hooves lifted the earth.
Staring at the solid back of Peleus, who was cutting through the wind at the very forefront of that magnificent vibration, Rosien thought.
I guess I should save the part about how it doesn't matter if the sky in Valdina isn't blue for later.
When she gazes into his blue eyes, even if a turbulent future awaits beyond, the words that they could be together forever.
<The crown I will take from you>
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