RGBR 06

CHAPTER 06

Elener confirmed who the other person was and immediately looked away. The hand clutching her dress began to tremble.

I never thought I’d run into him like this…

Like Elener, Joshua was not someone who enjoyed attending social gatherings. He was extremely sensitive to people whispering about him behind his back. Elener could hardly believe she had encountered Joshua here.

She had sworn that if she ever met him again, she would get her revenge. She had even vowed to kill him with her own hands.

But suddenly seeing that face again made her hands tremble with rage. Looking at that innocent face that knew nothing made her want to run over and punch him right then and there.

But if she caused a scene here, she would be the one everyone thought was crazy.

Elener took a deep breath and somehow managed to suppress her anger. Before she knew it, the trembling in her hands had stopped as well.

Joshua was still looking in her direction. Since she was sitting in a secluded corner, this area was dim compared to the brightly lit parts of the hall, so it should have been difficult for him to see her clearly.

Yet Elener instinctively felt that Joshua was looking at her.

Unable to endure it any longer, Elener stood up.

Then she slowly walked away from the hall.

She could feel the laughter of the people around her dying down. She could also feel the strange looks being directed at her.

Her mind kept telling her that she must not run away, but she could not stop walking.

She felt that she would only be able to relieve some of her anger after scratching that innocent-looking face that knew nothing and throwing stones at him.

Since she could not do that right now, she had no choice but to leave.

Elener ran without looking back.

Seeing Joshua Herace’s face had made her stomach twist so badly that she felt as though she might vomit at any moment.

“What? Do you know that young lady?”

As the woman hurriedly gathered up her dress and rushed outside so quickly that her waist-length blonde hair flew behind her, someone lightly tapped Joshua on the shoulder.

The man, who had been staring expressionlessly at the woman disappearing from the hall, turned his gaze and casually brushed the hand off his shoulder.

Joshua answered indifferently.

“Yeah.”

“You know her? Who is she?”

Joshua coldly pushed away Lukan’s face as he leaned in close with curiosity, giving him a look that seemed to ask whether he really did not know.

Lukan blinked.

Then he rolled his eyes as he thought.

“Is she some lady I know? Who is she?”

“My fiancée.”

“Oh. Your fiancée? So she’s—what?”

Lukan’s eyes widened at the unexpected answer.

“Your fiancée? That young lady?”

“Yeah.”

“T-The Grand Duke Frihosen’s… daughter?”

“Yeah.”

“What?! I didn’t even get a proper look at her! I need to see her again!”

Lukan hurriedly chased after Elener, but she was nowhere to be seen.

As Lukan stamped his feet in disappointment, Joshua looked at him as though he were pathetic.

Turning his gaze away from Lukan, Joshua fell into thought.

Something about Elener, who had been looking at him a moment ago, had felt strange.

And that wasn’t all.

Why did that woman, who hardly ever left her estate, suddenly decide to attend this banquet?

But there was no reason for him to know that much.

While he was pondering the matter with mild curiosity, Lukan let out a deep sigh beside him.

“Doesn’t the Grand Duke Frihosen’s daughter hardly ever go out?”

“That’s right.”

“Then why did she come to the social gathering today, too? Could it be… because of you? Did she know you were attending?”

Even as he listened to Lukan’s excited voice, Joshua’s expression did not change in the slightest.

“How could she have known I was coming? It must have been a coincidence.”

“Hm. Is that so? Well, she doesn’t have any friends, so how would she have heard the news?”

Joshua stopped thinking about Elener and turned his gaze toward the hall.

People were gathered in groups with those they got along with, chatting pleasantly.

With cold eyes, he looked toward the group centered around the Grand Duke of Raiwens.

Joshua stared quietly at Helena, who was smiling brightly alongside Sebastian in the center of the group.

Then he turned and walked away.

“I’m really sorry, Elener. But I want to seat the person I love on the empress’s throne.”

When she heard those words, Elener could only nod after seeing the sincerity in Joshua’s expression.

Before they were husband and wife, the two of them had been excellent partners.

Elener had never thought she would lose anything by granting him one more wish.

Besides, Joshua, who had only recently become emperor, was keeping a close watch on Elener’s father, Grand Duke Frihosen.

During the reign of the previous emperor, the maternal relatives of the former empress had wielded tremendous power.

That was why Elener willingly agreed to Helena of House Demera becoming empress.

The Demera family was another family that had contributed to Joshua becoming emperor, and to Elener, Helena becoming empress seemed like proof that the House of Frihosen had no desire to seize power.

Furthermore, the maternal grandmother of Duke Demera had been a former imperial princess, so there was no need to worry about the empress’s maternal relatives.

From Joshua’s perspective, he believed that if even one person with imperial blood were involved, they would be more inclined to consider the interests of the imperial family.

And so, Elener became the empress.

“You really are a terrible woman.”

“……”

“I clearly told you not to go to Helena. Why do you keep going to her?”

“I only went to talk to Helena.”

Joshua’s attitude had changed in an instant.

Even so, Elener calmly met his sharp gaze and answered quietly.

She had literally only gone there to talk to Helena.

In this suffocating palace, Helena was the only person who would actually speak with Elener and understand her.

So Elener had never once hated Helena for taking the position that had once belonged to her.

Elener and Joshua had only become husband and wife because of her father’s recommendation and an agreement between their families.

The feelings Elener had for him were closer to friendship than love.

Moreover, since Joshua had been her friend since childhood, Elener had even wanted to support his love.

But whenever Elener went to see Helena, Joshua always reacted sharply.

As though Elener had committed some terrible crime.

As though she might even hurt Helena.

More than once, Elener had been left speechless when he told her that everything was her fault.

“She’s not Helena. She’s the Empress. The Empress of the Lesger Empire. How dare you call her by her name? You and she are completely different in status.”

“Do you still not understand what I’m saying? Haa… This is why one’s background matters.”

“This is your final warning. Even if Helena calls for you, make an excuse and don’t go. I’m telling you to stay quietly shut away in your own palace. Do you understand?”

Elener moved frantically, remembering Joshua’s younger-looking face from that time.

She covered her mouth with one hand, unable to suppress her nausea.

Back then, stupid me thought there must have been a reason behind your words, so I obediently did as you said.

I stopped being close to Helena because of you!

She ran straight ahead without even realizing that one of her shoes had fallen off.

She must have stepped on something sharp with her bare foot because pain shot through her foot, but she could not stop walking.

And what did I get in return?

If she encountered him again in this state, she felt like she might punch Joshua’s smug face.

And even that might not be enough to satisfy her anger.

She might even kill him.

But after everything she had gone through to return here, she could not end up in prison for murder.

“Huff, huff…”

Only when she was so out of breath that she could no longer run did Elener finally stop.

She bent over and gasped for breath.

Only then did she regain enough composure to look around.

The first thing that struck her was a fragrant scent.

Rows of colorful flowers swayed gently in the breeze, creating a beautiful sight.

This seemed to be the garden of the Raiwens Grand Duke’s residence.

The garden, filled with flowers, made her feel as though she had somehow wandered into paradise.

When did I come all the way here?

“Ah…”

Elener stood there blankly, staring at the flowers, when she suddenly let out a groan.

Feeling a sharp sting, she lowered her head.

Her bare foot, no longer wearing a shoe, had been cut and was bleeding.

Elener looked back toward the path she had just run along.

How did I manage to run without even realizing I’d lost my shoe? Honestly…

With no other choice, she limped over to a nearby bench and sat down.

When she lowered her head and examined the wound closely, she saw a small piece of a broken bottle lodged between her big toe and second toe.

Fortunately, it did not seem to have gone in very deeply.

She thought she could remove it without tweezers, so she gently pulled it out with her fingers.

But the wound was larger than she had expected, and a considerable amount of blood began to flow.

Elener frowned and muttered,

“I’m bleeding.”

“You certainly are. I can see that you’re bleeding.”

“……!”

She had been blowing gently on the wound with her mouth, trying to ease the stinging pain, when the voice from behind startled her so badly that her body tilted.

She barely managed to steady herself before falling from the bench.

Then she immediately covered her injured foot with the hem of her dress.

It was only then that she recognized the owner of the voice.

Her expression quickly hardened.

Joshua Herace.

Elener composed herself.

Then, with an expressionless face, she turned around.

Joshua was standing not far from her.

Their gazes collided in midair.

Neither of them looked away first.

Joshua glanced briefly at the tips of Elener’s feet before calmly speaking.

“I was worried because you suddenly ran out, so I came to check on you. Are you all right? No…”

Joshua paused.

Then, remembering the hidden wound on Elener’s foot, he continued.

“I shouldn’t have said that. You’re bleeding like this. Shouldn’t you have a physician look at the wound?”

Elener’s expression turned icy.

How dare you speak to me?

But she did not allow her true feelings to show.

“I only came out because I felt suffocated staying inside the hall. So please don’t concern yourself with me and go back inside. And this kind of wound is nothing, so please stop worrying about it, Young Master.”

“……”

At her firm, unmistakably distant tone, Joshua, who had been about to kneel down to examine her wound, flinched.

It was true that they had been betrothed since they were ten years old, but neither of them had ever viewed the other as a member of the opposite sex.

They both knew that.

Joshua thought that if Elener did not expect feelings from him that he could not give her, then marrying her would not be such a bad thing.

That was why he had even allowed Elener to casually call him by his nickname when they were alone together.

But this attitude of hers was so cold.