Thank you raw provider: Esme
Enya Valencia sighed as she looked at the garden where the night had fallen.
She entered the banquet very late. One of the servants, who looked exhausted, quickly announced before she could stop them, ‘Morgenda’s Mage Master! The Ducal Princess of Valencia has arrived!”
In the end, she couldn’t overcome the chaotic atmosphere and ran away to the garden outside the venue.
She untied her hair, which had been put up with decorations, and looked around her to see if there was a place for her to sit.
As she left the venue, she brought some alcohol to drink, which was fortunate. If she didn’t have this, she would have died from the extreme sense of injustice.
‘I want to sit down. I want to lie down.’
Just receiving the piercing stares made her mind foggy and drowsy. She was already exhausted.
Enya, pacing around helplessly, found a bench behind the fountain. She ran over and laid down.
As she drew in deep breaths, the distant sound of the banquet hall became as small as a whisper, and only the chirping of grass tickled her ears. The round, white moon and the light beams breaking on the landscape were as scenic as a painting. Shaaaa – the well-manicured grass made a gentle noise as the wind made them collide with each other.
Indeed, the imperial palace was the imperial palace. The night was beautiful.
I hope this peace lasts long.
Taking her scenery as her drinking companion, she took a sip of whiskey, and the scent of lemon spread into her nostrils, while at the same time, the heat of the bitter alcohol stimulated her throat with a burning. Eventually, a cough broke out.
“Uh, wow, it’s so cheap.”
No matter how much the emperor had been a mercenary king in the past, it was ridiculous that he served such cheap alcohol. She felt stupid for bringing this out of all the good drinks.
She grumbled for a while but felt a presence behind the fountain.
Enya quietly raised her eyes and watched the unfamiliar shadow.
As the human figure, blurry behind the water, moved a step, the fountain’s artificial fire illuminated his body.
The bright blonde hair reflected in the light was beautiful as if it were a rough brush stroke of a famous painting, and the green eyes beneath it were plentiful and sharp as if embracing midsummer’s greenery. His massive body looked slender and well-balanced, and the figure with only the right shoulder armor on top of the uniform fit amazingly well.
He was literally the perfect man. Another light seemed to have risen. He was like a star, or rather the sun, that fell in the middle of the night, right here.
It was surprising since she was usually uninspired by appearance.
‘I’m sure Layla will like him.’
Enya’s eyes met the man’s, and he seemed bewildered. From a glance, he looked exasperated. She knew at once that he had run away. Good luck, she deliberately turned her head, pretending not to have seen him.
“If you go east from here, there is a maze-like garden. If you are going to rest, rest there. I came here first.”
Enya didn’t turn back her tilted head, fearing that even her gaze might be mistaken for interest.
After how much time had passed? She quickly forgot his existence and lost herself in her thoughts.
She heard that Hassan was writing a story about a lady and a knight having a tryst, and she was suddenly worried that he might be arrested for writing about such an affair.
In the midst of her thoughts getting more serious—
She heard a small laugh right next to her.
“Can I have a drink, too?”
His manly voice was soft enough to choke her and, at the same time, heavy enough to echo through her body. The emperor’s voice was low as if it had been scraped off the floor, but this man’s voice was smooth despite having a similar deep tone. It was embarrassing even to compare them.
Enya turned her head, not sure if she was surprised to see him sitting next to her or by his voice.
He was clearly tired and sat next to her with a faint smile on his face. Seeing it up close, he was even more picturesque. Amazing. No sense of reality at all.
Of course, his body below was horribly thick, but he was not threatening. Even though his body looked honed and well-refined, he didn’t feel like a beast that grew up in the wild. He was a gentle but also tough man, somehow soft and rough, with a contradictory atmosphere.
“Can’t you, that drink?”
He pointed to a glass, and Enya managed to come to her senses and shake her glass. The ice clattered against each other.
“This one?”
“Yes, that.”
“Hmm, I already drank from it.”
“I don’t care. If you don’t mind.”