Tamed or Captured

Asha was so shocked that she was unable to say anything.

Sihan smiled brightly again under the moonlight.

“Is Lady Vanessa’s ability not prophecy, but regression?”

“H-how did you……?”

Shock spread across Asha’s face.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take that truth to the grave. If the truth about your regression is revealed, I’ll be hit hard too because I’ve done a lot of bad things.”

Sihan replied, laughing mischievously, but Asha didn’t find it funny.

Contrary to his cherry blossom-like appearance, he was a dangerous man.

As Asha watched him warily, Sihan stopped laughing and said with a serious expression.

“If you choose me at the Month of Blossoms event, I will be a shield for His Majesty.”

“Why?”

Sihan blinked at her question.

Asha asked, looking into his eyes.

“Why do you want to help His Majesty and me?”

“Just for goodwill… You wouldn’t believe me if I said that, so let’s consider it a kind of trade.”

“A trade?”

“Yes. In exchange for my loyalty, I would like Lady Vanessa to support our family so that we can become the only duke family to stand tall in the empire. I want to live my second life well.”

Sihan smiled again after saying something strange.

He had a rivalry with the Duke of Lilac.

“Since when did you know that?”

“Since Lady Vanessa danced at the Flower Banquet.”

Asha’s eyes widened slightly.

Sihan showed a charming smile.

“When I was watching your dance, I felt dizzy. Suddenly, memories from the past overlapped, and there was no memory of you dancing. It was truly overwhelming like thunderbolts striking my head.”

Asha recalled the moment when Sihan winked at her during their first audience.

He must have known the secret all along.

“As memories of the past come back one by one, I feel confused about whether I was dreaming or all of the past things were dreams. But there was one person who acted differently from what I remembered, and that was Lady Vanessa.”

Asha swallowed hard.

He really seemed to have been secretly spying on her all this time.

As Nia had said, he was a man who was meticulous and yet hid himself well.

He smiled slyly and said.

“It looks like my guess was right, judging from your reaction.”

Asha realized she had fallen into a trap and blushed.

“Did you spy on me?”

“I’m sorry for doing it. I also needed to be sure.”

When Asha glared at him, he added.

“As far as I can remember, Lady Vanessa in the past couldn’t bring His Majesty to bloom. You’ve never joined Lycaon either. So I watched you for a bit to figure out if I could trust you, and after the Flowering Ceremony, I became completely convinced. I wanted to help you two.”

Asha looked at Sihan with meaningful eyes and asked.

“How can I believe that? As you know, I don’t trust nobles.”

“I understand. Just as I have been watching over you, I hope you will also watch over me like a chess piece and make your judgment.”

With a polite farewell, Sihan stepped back and went inside first.

Asha looked up at the night sky, feeling her heart racing and confused, lost in deep thought.

Sihan was one of the few people who knew her secret.

Now that he held her weakness, she felt uncomfortable.

If the fact that the butterfly couldn’t make the flowers bloom because she didn’t do what they wanted, regardless of how baseless the rumors were, it would cause a severe blow to her image.

Asha came out of the balcony, her face pale.

Many nobles who wanted to meet her looked in her direction, but Asha was too tired to meet anyone.

Then, Karaf, who was talking with other nobles, noticed Asha’s state and headed toward her.

In his past life, he always left her alone in the ballroom and tirelessly entertained the nobles, but now it was different.

“Are you feeling unwell, Empress?”

“Ah……Your Majesty. My head ached because I was thinking deeply about something. But I’m fine now.”

“What were you thinking?”

“Ah. I still haven’t decided who to choose as the flower side branch.”

Karaf responded calmly.

“It doesn’t matter who you choose. After all, nobles are all the same.”

Asha looked around. 

He could tell she was struggling with the problem, but he just spoke easily without knowing it.

When Karaft saw her expression, he quickly corrected himself, perhaps feeling that he had misspoken.

“As long as the person doesn’t overtly display their malicious intentions, it should be fine. You have a better eye for people than I do, so you should be able to choose well.”

Asha sighed.

The one who had revealed their evil intentions too obviously was none other than Duke Sihan.

As her face suddenly looked fatigued, Karaf suggested.

“I heard there’s a festival happening outside the palace right now. Why don’t we forget about your worries regarding this event for a while and go check it out together?”

Asha was taken aback and questioned.

“What? But how can we leave if Your Majesty is not here…?”

“It’s fine. We can sneak out.”

As he finished speaking, he looked in a particular direction.

There, Duran was conversing with the knights about security arrangements for the day’s event.

Despite being fully armed and guarding the ballroom, he looked somewhat pitiful, and Asha couldn’t help but stare at his stern expression.

Karaf, on the other hand, spoke mischievously.

“He seems busy. Let’s go.”

     …… Really, what an immature emperor. 

Asha was dumbfounded, but she found herself running alongside Karaf like an accomplice, swept up in the wind of his sudden dash.

He handed her a black cloak with a hood and donned a similar outfit before leaving the palace.

“It’s not so bad to escape the palace like this. I can fully understand your feelings now.”

Asha was taken aback once more, but noticing the unusual expression on Karaf’s face, she kept quiet.

When they arrived at the place where the festival was in full swing, it seemed that fireflies were scattered on the road splendidly due to the lights coming from all kinds of flower lanterns.

Asha was busy looking around innocently like a child.

Karaf found it strange as he observed her joy.

She had never been to the capital before when she lived with him in the past.

Unlike him, who had spent his whole life in the Imperial Palace, she would feel more at ease in this environment.

Furthermore, minority groups were in a position where they were persecuted, so they probably couldn’t even fully enjoy festivals like this that common people enjoyed.

Those little things were more interesting than the tricks of the flashy court performers.

As Karaf let out a sigh, Asha looked up in surprise.

“Uh… I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I think I got too carried away alone without noticing. You must be uncomfortable and bored here….”

“No, it’s not uncomfortable at all. It’s fun. I really like places like this.”

Asha narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Karaf, knowing very well that he hated crowded and noisy places.

Feeling stung by her suspicion, Karaf avoided her gaze and said.

“I’ve been cooped up in the palace for too long. To become a good emperor, I need to see and feel how the people of the empire live…”

He paused with a sigh, then continued.

“If I had known how much you loved this place, I would have taken you here sooner. I might die from all this excitement.”

Karaf suddenly brightened up and dragged Asha to the nearby market stalls she had been curiously looking at. He casually handed over gold coins and bought the goods.

Asha, not knowing what to do, spoke from behind.

“Your Majesty! I don’t need it. I just came to look around.”

“No, since we’re already here, let’s buy everything. I haven’t spent money lately, so it’s a good thing.”

He was still clumsy in expressing his love, so he tried to buy anything first.

His most confident skill and the thing he was most confident in was ‘spending money’.

However, when Karaf really tried to bargain with the vendors, Asha hurriedly stopped him.

“Actually, I have something else I want to do with you.”

“….What do you want to do with me?”

Karaf immediately put things down and his eyes lit up.

At that simple appearance, Asha suppressed a laugh and replied.

“I want to put a flower lantern on the water.”

“That’s a great idea! I’ve never done that before.”

Karaf’s face was immediately filled with excitement.

The two of them headed to a shop that sold flower lanterns to pick out their lanterns.

Asha chose a camellia flower-shaped lantern to make a wish in the shape of her favorite flower, but Karaf appeared hesitant.

Asha approached him.

“Are you still deciding, Your Majesty?”

“Well, I don’t really like my flower….”

The black rose lantern in front of him looked quite plain compared to the other fancy flowers.

Given his personality, a lover of flashy things, the lantern did not appeal to him.

“Then how about that lantern?”

As Asha pointed her finger towards a shelf, Karaf’s eyes widened as he followed her gaze.

There, a large lantern made up of petals in various colors resembling a peacock caught their attention.

The lantern was not only big but also stunningly beautiful and unique, making it unmatched in the entire empire.

Karaf’s eyes initially lit up at the sight of the lantern, but his face soon took on a slightly disappointed expression.

“But that flower doesn’t exist?”

“What if it’s an imaginary flower? Having all the dyes of every flower seems like the emperor embraces all the people.”

When Asha lightly praised him, Karaf nodded with a very serious face.

“The empress is right. It seems more precious and special because it is a flower that does not exist in this world.”

“That’s right. And Your Majesty will become that special existence in this empire.”

Impressed by her words, Karaf’s face brightened up.

He is, after all, a very simple man.

Asha almost laughed, but she felt a somewhat touching feeling.

She had a strong desire for him to blossom into a special flower that was truly one of a kind.

Now each one began to write their wishes on a piece of paper to later put inside the lanterns.

However, Karaf wrote his wish very quickly and put it on the lamp with a relieved expression.

Curious, Asha asked him.

“Have you already written everything?”