The Abandoned Empress

My hands were frozen from the cold air. They got cold when he merely touched them in the past, but now they suddenly felt warm. The warmth began to spread to every corner of my body.

“Please grant my wish, my love.”

My eyes were blurred with tears little by little. Clearing my tight throat, I asked with a trembling voice, “May I ask what your wish is?”

“My wish is to be with you until I die. Sleeping together, waking up together, working together with you to take care of the empire, sharing joy and sadness with you, looking at each other only …Living like that. That is my wish.”

I believed that he would not change his mind easily this time, but I still had misgivings that he might. I reassured myself, thinking that even if he changed his mind, I would still be able to live with the fact that I was loved by him so much.

Nevertheless, I was consumed by some fear that I could not shake off, the fear that I might lose him to another woman again.

Perhaps that’s why I didn’t save her for fear that she might hover around him again, changing her mind.

A streak of tears ran down my cheek. There was a thorn buried deep in my heart that I thought I forgot but still didn’t forget. The last piece of mental scar that I thought I had to hold onto with until I died, unless I erased it from my memories, melted into tears. Tears kept coming down because of my overwhelming emotions and affection for him as well as joy and relief. I opened my trembling lips, looking at his sparkling blue eyes.

“There is no precedent in the history of the empire that the ruler has sworn an oath since its founding.”

“Then I’m the first to do so.”

“But you have to pay for its price all your life. Can you do it?”

“If you grant my wish, you are mine for the rest of my life, aren’t you? I think it’s a fair deal.”

“If you break your oath, you will lose your life. Can you do it?”

“It doesn’t matter. I won’t give up my affection for you until I die. So, Tia, my sweetheart! Please answer me now. Will you grant my wish? ”

Tears flowed again from my blurred eyes when he softly pressed me with conviction. Putting my hand on my pounding heart, I said word by word clearly after clearing my throat choked with emotions, “… I grant your wish.”

At that moment, I recalled a boy who looked at me, pretending to be indifferent while hiding an unknown hostility, one day when I first met him after returning. I recalled him looking at me with an annoyed expression, complaining that I was arrogant. And I recalled his smile while watching a play extolling him and me.

That same man now knelt before me and swore an oath of love, even betting on his life.

“Your blood and heart are mine.”

When I said that with a trembling voice, he smiled. He gently pulled me and had me walk a couple of steps closer to him, then held my hand and put it on his chest.

I felt his heart pounding like crazy, as if it said it was mine from the beginning.

“Anybody who breaks the oath will be cursed with blood.”

Was it because of the close distance between him and me? His blue eyes, which looked much larger, reflected all of me.

The woman with tearful eyes reflected in his eyes had a face even unfamiliar to me. Her face was happy with no tears, blushing with a bright expression, just like a girl who received a boy’s proposal for the first time in her life.

“This is the sacred covenant, an oath of blood engraved on the lion and the spear.”

When I was done swearing it, I felt something deeply touch my heart. Only then did he raise his body and whispered, holding me tightly, “I love you, Tia.”

“I love you, Rube.”

He smiled brightly and slowly bowed to me. He kissed my temple, forehead, eyelids, and lips. The last drop of my tears rolled between our lips that touched hot. The teardrops of joy and happiness tasted sweet like his kiss.

When I got carried away with his sweet kiss, suddenly a fascinating scent tickled my nose. Only then did I come to my senses, waking up from my feelings of walking on air.

When I stretched my hand and pushed it gently, he pulled his lips and opened his eyes. His navy blue eyes that seemed a little darker stared at me.

“Tia?”

“Your Majesty, what is this scent? It’s definitely my first time smelling it. It’s like a flower scent …!”

My eyes popped up because I saw some silver buds on the branches of the tree blooming.

Under the moonlight, the six petals that fully bloomed were shining brightly, and the snow-covered silver flowers were boasting of their beautiful figure even when I was exclaiming with amazement. They didn’t look gorgeous like he said in the past, but the sight of the silver flowers shining beautifully under the moonlight was very mysterious and thrilling.

“The flower is beautiful. Just like you,” he whispered into my ears after looking at the flowers silently for a long time. The moment his warm breathing touched my ears, I felt electrified.

When I trembled at that moment, he hurriedly released me and said, adjusting my coat tightly, “It’s cold. Let’s go back.”

“But…”

“You’ll be in trouble if you catch a cold. Let’s go back and come back tomorrow. Got it, Tia? ”

I smiled when he spoke to me with a worried look. Of course, I didn’t tremble because I was cold, but I agreed to listen to him.

As I nodded gently, he breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to me. I grabbed his warm hand and walked back to the entrance.

I saw the lonely trail of my footprints I left behind on the snow.

I thought for a moment that the trail was similar to that of my life until now.

I was always alone in the past, and even after returning, I’ve been always agonizing over the problems alone. As the ruler, he has always been clumsy in expressing his feelings. So, we were always lonely.

‘Yes, we are…”

Suddenly, a smile came to my lips. Now, he and I are not alone, and can be bound together as ‘we.’

The more I reflected on this word ‘we,’ I felt my heart was full. My heart began to pound with a pleasant echo.

I glanced back slightly and found one lonely footprint of mine and a couple of small and large footprints of his, side by side.

Every step we moved, new footprints were left side by side on the white snow field as he and I were not alone anymore.

Suddenly, I got choked up. I stopped and looked at the two footprints. He stopped in front of me, looking back curiously.

“What’s the matter with you?”

“…Oh, it’s nothing. Ah, it’s cold. Let’s go back now.”

As long as there is no future that I remember, I can’t know what the future holds for him and me. But I believe that he and I will live together, with him being by my side all the time. We will always be together.

Looking back at the footprints once again, I left my footprints right next to his, just like our future when we will walk together.

**

“My lady…Oh no, Your Highness.”

I turned my head to Lina’s pleasant voice. When I smiled at her, who was standing cautiously, she pouted with a sullen face. She knew that she had to have the grace and decency as she was now the direct maid of the empress, I felt her behavior awkward a bit because I was accustomed to her making a fuss all the time.

“Don’t laugh at me, Your Highness. I feel embarrassed.”

“Okay. What is that? ”

“Oh, this one? I hear it’s a gift sent from somebody.”

She smiled in no time as if she wasn’t sullen at all, then showed me a small box.

I tilted my head at the familiar surface of the box. It had a silver box with a green ribbon. Obviously, I saw it before… Uh, no way! Only

“Who sent this?”

“I don’t know who the sender is. But the shape of the package is also familiar to me, so I brought it to you. What should I do? Can I open it?”

“Sure, open it.”

She unpacked the ribbon and examined what’s inside the box, then confirmed that there was nothing wrong with it.

At that moment, I was filled with some feelings beyond description, along with joy. It was a queen made of platinum, lying on a soft green velvet fabric.

A silver queen with an emerald jewel tiara.

It’s you, Allen, who sent this gift to me! The man I used to play chess with, and the man who used to send me a gift tied with a green ribbon was also you.