The Evil Empress Adores Me

Damian looked at me, beaming with pleasure. 

“Whose letter is giving my Charlize such a happy look on her face?”

“You mean, Ellen?”

“Huh, who’s Ellen? I thought it was Sienna again.” 

Damian’s mood dropped a tad. 

I opened my eyes slowly.

He has nothing to be jealous of, really. 

Noticing how I felt, Damian sat down next to me with an awkward expression. 

“So, what was the letter about?”

“Um, nothing special. It seems that there are not enough books for the children to read, so I will send some later.”

“Good idea. I also heard you decided to visit Her Majesty today?”

Damian quietly put his hand on mine and declared, “I’ll be going with you.”

“Should you really go, Damian? I don’t think Her Majesty, the Empress, will like it that much.”

At my cheeky question, Damian narrowed his brows.

“I know.”

“But you’re still following me?”

“Yeah, what can I do when I like you so much?”

Haaa, I got goosebumps instantly…

When I looked at Damian, he narrowed his eyes and chimed in. 

“I’ll put up with anything because I like you more.” 

“Ah, yes…”

It took a lot of mental effort to conceal my trembling eyes. 

And after the night at the harvest festival…

‘Damian’s expressions of affection are getting more and more forward!’

Of course, I don’t despise it, to be precise, I’m enraptured by it!

Still, can’t it be said that it’s a bit embarrassing?

But if I talk about that specifically, it’ll delight that mischievous self in Damian and make him fawn over me even more. 

And besides…

‘….it’s honestly kind of cute too.’

I glanced sideways at Damian, then let out a deep sigh.

I’m going to be in big trouble. 

Is it just me, or do these situations happen more often?

Damian casually took my hand and stood up.

“Let’s go.”

“All right.”

I looked down at our clasped hands and nodded my head with a smile.

So we headed to the Empress’s palace side by side.

***

The Empress, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, was sitting in front of her desk, deep in thought.

“Your Majesty, we’re here.”

“Oh, my God, Charlize.”

The Empress raised her head and smiled broadly at me.

She proceeded to squint her eyes as she saw me and Damian, but to be more precise, she saw our interlocked hands. 

A sullen voice rang out.

Her sunny demeanor suddenly became moody. 

“You used to say that you cared about how other people perceived you, now you’re this bold?”

Huh?

Come to think of it…

I slowly lowered my gaze.

Damian and I were still affectionately holding hands. 

“Oh, my God!”

In the spur of the moment, I tried breaking my hand away from Damian’s.  

However, instead of emulating me, Damian held onto my hand tightly. 

“We’re engaged, aren’t we? Can’t we hold hands at least?”

With his back straightened, he really just said what I thought he said with a victor’s expression, didn’t he?

Wow! He’s really forward?!

Damian’s not ashamed one bit!

My face inevitably turned red. 

“D-Damian!”

Confused, I tried to dissuade him.

Meanwhile, at that shameless answer, the Empress raised her eyebrows and grinned.

“Uh-huh, a lot must have happened at the festival. Did you two get along very well?”

Ah, really.

I can’t right now…

I blinked repeatedly, managed to quickly fix my expression, and then approached the Empress. 

“I-It’s not like that!”

I was about to make an excuse, but I stopped dead in my tracks.

The sight of all sorts of notes covering the Empress’s desk stopped me. 

Her memo had clear traces of writing and erasing. 

It appeared she was hard at work about something. 

“Oh, you look busy. Should I visit you another time?”

“No, no. Come and sit down.” The Empress offered me a seat.

I sat down and carefully asked a question.

“What’s all this?”

At my question, the Empress gave a cool smile.

“I believe I can no longer remain withdrawn.” 

“What? What do you mean?”

“As Charlize knows, plenty of things happened at this harvest festival.”

The Empress leaned back in her chair and continued.

“Until now, I feared that unnecessary trouble would arise between me and His Majesty, so I kept to myself…”

Her dark green eyes, which usually glowed warmly, were now ice-cold.

“I feel there’s a need to show my presence as an empress would but gradually.” 

Ah.

I seemed to know what she meant.

I nodded slightly.

It was because the Emperor was conspicuously ignoring the Empress at the harvest festival.

Now was the time for the Empress and the Rochester House to split with the Emperor and go their separate ways. 

…she must have already come to that decision. 

And I, on the other hand, always intend to be on the Empress’s side, no matter what the situation.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

At my sincere question, the Empress, widened her eyes, smiling radiantly.

“It’d be great if you could help. After all, you are the person with the highest national popularity as of late, aren’t you, Charlize?”

“Really, Your Majesty!”

….even at times like this, I happen to find myself the target of the Empress, who won’t miss an opportunity to tease me. 

I was in tears.

It’s really too much!

I tried to change the topic while fanning my red face.

“Great. Is there something you have in mind?”

“Well, that’s the problem, I haven’t quite come up with an idea.”

The Empress’ eyes sank deeply.

Damian, who had been standing quietly by my side, opened his mouth.

“Have you consulted the Duke of Rochester?”

“Of course. But he didn’t really do anything different…”

The time when the two of them were talking like that.

As the two exchanged thoughts, an idea flashed across my head for a moment. 

I widened my eyes. 

“Ah, Ellen!”

In an instant, Damian and the Empress redirected their gazes toward me.

“Ellen, what now?”

Um, this is a bit embarrassing.

After clearing my throat a couple of times, I opened my mouth.

“I’m actually exchanging letters with a child named Ellen.”

“Letters?”

“Yes.The children you invited to the spring party the other day. She was one of the children who had the back of her hand injured because of Lady Bennet.”

“Oh, I know who the girl is.” 

I continued speaking as the Empress nodded. 

“Ellen wrote that the orphanage had a shortage of books. 

“Well, that can happen. Books are, in a way, a luxury item.” 

The Empress narrowed her eyes.

“Even more so, if the children’s books were to contain illustrations…” 

And even if they didn’t, they were still expensive. Prices soared when paired with illustrations. 

The Empress’ expression darkened slightly.

“It wouldn’t be simple to afford books when the orphanage has a tight budget, unfortunately.” 

“So, how about donating books to orphanages nationwide?”

I suggested cautiously.

The Empress listened intently to what I said, her eyes sparkling. 

“Hmm, good idea. I hadn’t considered that.”

Encouraged by the Empress’s compliment, I followed it up with another suggestion. 

“I also think it would be nice to create a central library that children can generally use.”

“If it’s the central library…”

“Children can then borrow books and reborrow them.”

I followed the explanation step by step.

“Currently, there’s only the Imperial Palace Library because only nobles can borrow books from the Imperial Palace Library.”

“So gradually expanding the reading privileges to all classes?”

“Yes, that’s it. And if there’s good feedback, I think it would be productive to expand it to the general public. But….” 

I spoke calmly.

“It would be better to open it in the Rochester family’s name, not the Imperial family’s.”

The Empress looked at me, her face overwhelmed with emotion. 

Ooh, this is unexpected.

To be honest, I didn’t make a groundbreaking proposal…

What’s happening? Those eyes are the eyes of someone who’s incredibly proud, aren’t they?”

At the same time, the Empress stretched out both her arms and hugged me all at once.

“I can’t believe I have to yield my smart Charlize to the Crown Prince.” 

She then glared at Damian with an antagonizing gaze. 

Damian was stunned as his eyes narrowed. 

“Why am I on the receiving end?”

“Charlize’s supposed to be mine; we’re meant to live together for the rest of our lives.” 

“She’s not yours, Your Majesty; can’t you see she’s with me?”

“And what kind of ridiculous argument do you have to back up your claim?”

“First, Charlize’s my fiancée!”

“Prior to Charlize being the Crown Prince’s fiancee, she was a maid of the Empress’s palace since she was five! I’ve been with her longer!” 

…sigh 

Well, it’s not like they haven’t done this before.

Will it be over if I wait a bit?

***

“So, the Empress plans on donating books to an orphanage?”

“Yes. They claimed to be building a children’s library.”

“A children’s library…”

The Emperor’s eyes lit up as he listened to his chamberlain’s report. 

“The Empress is up to something intriguing. She didn’t even mention a word of this to me.”