I'm Sorry I'm Not Qualified to Be Empress

Chapter 37

“I was passing by, and I saw you, so I wanted to hand you a towel.”

When she saw Maxim’s wet body and his thin pants that stuck to his thighs, Ayla turned her head because she was embarrassed.

He looked at Ayla suspiciously and brushed the water off his head.

“Do you have anything to say to me?”

Maxim asked indifferently, but she didn’t answer. He looked at her and wondered.

Tears were welling up in Ayla’s pretty but sad eyes. It looked like the tears would fall at any moment.

“Your Majesty knows it. I came to this castle when I was very young so this place is like my home.”

“……”

“Even if I return to my family now, I’ll feel like an outsider. Asking me to get out of this castle is akin to kicking me out when I have nowhere to go.”

“Why are you talking about all of a sudden? Did someone ask you to leave?”

When Maxim asked, Ayla bit her lip as if to hold back her tears.

“Your Majesty!”

She suddenly hugged Maxim’s neck.

He raised his eyebrows. He didn’t understand why she was doing this all of a sudden. Maxim slowly shook off her arms as he looked down at Ayla.

“Don’t cry and tell me.”

“A few days ago… the Empress said… sniff.”

Maxim’s face hardened when an unexpected name came out of Ayla’s mouth.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Her Majesty called for me… so I went.”

“Speak clearly.”

“I guess she didn’t like me being in this castle. I think the Empress wants me to leave.”

“Did she ask you to leave the castle?”

Maxim was lost in thought after hearing something unexpected.

Ayla nodded with tears in her eyes.

“That’s exactly what I meant. That’s the reason she called me.”

“……”

“Please don’t kick me out, Your Majesty.”

Ayla pleaded sadly, but Maxim didn’t even look at her because he was thinking about something else.

Meanwhile, there were people watching Ayla and Maxim.

“Oh my goodness, what a bizarre scene.”

Natalie opened her eyes wide after seeing them.

“Let’s go back.”

After watching Ayla hug Maxim’s neck, Rose turned away.

“My lady, are you just going to let this go?”

“Natalie.”

Rose quickly walked away, holding the wolf cub, so that they would not notice her presence. Natalie kept grumbling in anger.

Maxim, who went to the training field after swimming, began a duel with Rishar. They aimed for each other and skillfully stepped back when necessary.

His sword training with Rishar, the Commander of the nights, was a usual occurrence, but Rishar noticed something strange today.

His master instinctively moved his hand, but his head was full of other thoughts.

Maxim’s swordsmanship was so clean that no one else could notice. Except for Rishar, who was always training with him. Rishar immediately recognized that Maxim was different from usual.

When Rishar hesitated to attack, Maxim immediately relaxed.

He placed the training sword on the floor.

“That’s enough for today.”

“Your Majesty, do you have any concerns?”

“Not really.”

Rishar asked worriedly, but Maxim shook his head as if it was nothing and left the field quickly.

Then, Jansen approached Maxim from the other side.

“I have something to tell you. Last time… Your Majesty?”

Jansen looked at his master, who passed by him as if he was invisible.

“……?”

While he looked at his master’s back in bewilderment, Rishar approached him. The two looked at Maxim in concern, and crossed their arms.

“What’s going on?”

“Something’s wrong.”

“Is it a couple fight? We’re not supposed to get in the way, are we?”

“Cough.”

“Cough.”

Maxim was lost in deep thought and headed somewhere.

‘I guess she didn’t like me being in this castle. I think the Empress wants me to leave.’

What Ayla said earlier by the lake was stuck in his head.

He never thought that Rose Etoile would be uncomfortable with having Ayla in the castle. She cared about those things all this time?

Ayla came to this castle when she was very young and grew up in this castle, so to him, she was like a niece or a distant relative.

He knew, to some extent, that she had feelings for him, and that Mrs. Katrian tried to wed her to him.

But after he got married, he thought that she had already settled her feelings and that everything would be fine.

More than that, he didn’t know that Rose was uncomfortable with having Ayla around.

Of course, the story about Ayla would have reached Rose’s ears even before their marriage.

Why didn’t he think about this seriously beforehand? He once again blamed himself for his insensitivity.

Maxim, who stopped walking, slowly folded his arms.

However, it’s a little weird. He thought Rose Etoile had no other feelings for him. Why does she feel uncomfortable with Ayla?

Rose sat on the sofa and stared out the window. The wolf cub was dozing off on her lap under the warm sun. As she swept her hand through its warm fur, Rose recalled a scene she had seen by the lake.

Ayla hugged Maxim tightly and talked to Maxim seriously. They looked like a couple.

She didn’t know what had happened after that because she left in the middle, but she didn’t want to know.

She had heard a few times that Ayla had feelings for Maxim, but when she met her yesterday, she seemed unlike those rumours.

In a way, Ayla was similar to her. They both left their home and came here. It’s a shame that they couldn’t be friends.

But it was weird how she felt strange when she saw the two of them.

They become a couple to achieve their own respective goals, but why does she keep thinking about that scene? Why did she feel weird?

‘Our circumstances were a bit different from others, so it’s natural that he was attracted to the pretty lady next to him.’

Rose smiled bitterly at the thought.

It was funny that she was making excuses for him. She wasn’t in a position to do that and she didn’t have the right.

Didn’t she tell him already? That they wouldn’t interfere with each other’s love life?

Rose lowered her eyes gently and looked at the wolf cub quietly.

Once she left the castle, her current position would belong to Ayla. She’ll be his real wife.

Knock knock!

Surprised by the knock, she raised her head.

It was Maxim who stood at the door, knocking on it.

“I didn’t disturb you, did I?”

Maxim strode into the room with his long legs before Rose could answer.

His eyes naturally went to the wolf cub sleeping on Rose’s lap. The wolf cub she had picked up from the hunting ground. It was snoring and sleeping peacefully.

He looked at it with disapproving eyes as it slept comfortably on Rose’s lap, as if that was its home.

“Just because it’s an animal, it’s taking things for granted.”

When he snorted and spoke sarcastically, Rose covered the wolf cub’s ears with her hands.

Seeing Rose look at him in contempt, Maxim was even more amazed.

“What’s the matter?”

Rose asked coldly.

She saw something on the shore of the lake earlier, so she was not in a good mood to speak nicely.

“I can’t even meet my own wife?”

Maxim walked to the sofa opposite her and leaned on it.

Since Rose had seen such a scene earlier, she thought it was disgusting to see him acting so casually.

“I’ll bring in the tea.”

Breaking the cold and awkward atmosphere between the two, Natalie entered the room.

“It was sent from my home and it smells very good.”

Natalie put down the tea cup in front of Rose with a motherly smile, and proceeded to put another teacup down for Maxim with a sour look on her face. It was her own little revenge for Lady Rose, but in fact, no one apart from Natalie noticed her actions.

Maxim tapped on the armrest of the sofa with his long fingers and opened his mouth first.

“In the morning…”

Yipp… yip.

When he was about to say something, the wolf cub groaned in its sleep.

As Rose hugged it, Maxim missed the timing to speak.

That wasn’t the only thing.

After its nap, the playful wolf put his front paw on Rose’s chest and face. The wolf cub only went after her lips as if it were a man.

“Hey, it tickles.”

Rose smiled brightly and accepted the wolf cub’s affections.

Maxim turned his head with a glum look.

He shouldn’t have allowed Rose to bring it here. It was only now that he deeply regretted it.

As he stared at the wolf cub that was licking Rose’s lips, Maxim’s lips and throat suddenly felt dry and he was parched.

He picked up the teacup in front of him.

“Max! Stop it. Max!”

Sputter!

When he heard what came out of her mouth, the tea gushed out of Maxim’s mouth.

“Max…”

Maxim stared at Rose, doubting his ears.

“Did you name that wolf cub?”