Chapter 50
Chapter 50. Bright Red Fruit
“His Majesty Emperor Emeritus Maxiul de Tessibania is entering!”
With the attendant’s announcement, the Emperor Emeritus appeared.
Instantly, the air in the banquet hall became tense. It was due to the sharp atmosphere between the Tessibanian and Veshnu factions.
She had tried to prevent the Emperor Emeritus from attending the banquet while her uncle was in Tessibania for this very reason.
Tatar hadn’t expected the Emperor Emeritus’s appearance either, as his brow furrowed irritably, pressing his temple.
Though the music continued to play, the hesitant atmosphere showed no signs of recovery.
As they weren’t on friendly enough terms to exchange greetings, Vinea and Tatar silently watched his movements.
The Emperor Emeritus, not even glancing at the Veshnu side, headed towards Vinea.
Tatar stood up and blocked the Emperor Emeritus’s path. As Deron hurriedly ran towards the band, the music soon grew loud enough to prevent the conversation on the platform from leaking out.
“You have a knack for ruining the banquet atmosphere.”
“No one can prevent a member of the Tessibanian royal family from participating in the Empire Foundation Day.”
The Emperor Emeritus’s gaze turned to Vinea behind his son’s back.
Seeing her sitting in the chair with a relaxed expression, her eyes curved, made anger surge within him, but there was another reason he had come here directly today.
“Hand over the knight.”
“So you’ve decided. I thought you had given up on revenge since you didn’t give an answer for so long.”
Of course, the Emperor Emeritus had checked the knight’s name written on the card in the meantime and used every method to extract him.
Having failed at all attempts, he had no choice but to come here in the end.
A sneer flashed across Vinea’s face towards the Emperor Emeritus. Though he noticed it, the Emperor Emeritus only glared with fierce eyes without spewing any particular abuse.
“This will be the last time you can propose a deal to me, Princess of Veshnu.”
“The knight should be in the basement of the Empress’s palace. Do as you please, I don’t care how you handle him.”
The Emperor Emeritus turned around as if his business was finished and left the banquet hall without lingering.
At Tatar’s gaze demanding an explanation, Vinea called Lineue.
For now, they needed to restore the atmosphere disrupted by the Emperor Emeritus’s appearance. Lineue, receiving Vinea’s order, instructed the band to start playing dance music for the banquet, and soon a calm, gentle melody began.
Vinea rose from her seat and placed her hand on Tatar’s arm. Without a word, the two stepped out to the center of the banquet hall and began to move.
Vinea’s deep green dress spread out magnificently. Tatar’s movements leading her also matched perfectly without any excess.
Even nobles who had learned dance all their lives watched the two’s movements with admiration. Everyone in the banquet hall looked at the two, moving perfectly as if they had practiced together for decades.
With those beautiful gestures, the earlier commotion gradually faded, and the atmosphere began to ripen again.
As if buried in the music and people’s voices, Tatar whispered lowly while dancing.
“I heard reports of people coming and going from the empty Empress’s palace since two days ago. Who were you hiding?”
“Not hiding, but imprisoning. It was a very suitable card for dealing with the Emperor Emeritus.”
The two separated briefly, then joined hands again and spun around.
“He’s not a person easily moved by ordinary things.”
“I gave him what he had been searching for all his life. The cause that made your mother pass away early.”
“You found the knight?”
“Are you disappointed you couldn’t take revenge yourself for your mother?”
“I don’t have a hobby of being immersed in revenge, clinging to ghosts long dead.”
“That’s a scathing assessment for your father.”
Following the sequence, Tatar and Vinea came close enough to almost kiss, then held each other’s right hands and stepped back two paces.
“When did you discover it?”
“During the thirty-third regression.”
“That was…”
Wasn’t that when he was deeply immersed in debauchery?
It was when Vinea was in a relationship with Balak. And when he lived a truly rakish life, changing women every night.
“I received help from Balak Utar. The Emperor Emeritus spewed all kinds of insulting words at me in front of him.”
The enraged Balak used all the trading company’s resources to find out the knight’s identity so the Emperor Emeritus could be manipulated. There hadn’t been any particular use for it until now, so she had just kept it in mind, but today she finally played that card.
“The price?”
“Not to help Eurene Castallo attend.”
“You could have told me.”
“I could have handled simply preventing her from coming on my own. What I wanted was to completely cut off the lifeline she believed she had.”
“Still, the knight could have been a better card to use elsewhere.”
“This will soon reach the duchess’s ears too. Blocking entry to the banquet to protect Eurene Castallo and trampling on the helping hand a child desperately extended are different matters. She would have been disappointed in the child who eventually sought out the Emperor Emeritus too.”
“Seems you had quite some fun.”
“It’s one of the few pleasures in this wearisome regression. The Emperor Emeritus will never be close to the duchess or Eurene Castallo again.”
With this, she had paid back the price of being slapped by the Emperor Emeritus handsomely.
If this was the last regression he so desperately wanted, he would live lonely like this until he died. Shunned by his sister, niece, son, and daughter-in-law.
Vinea and Tatar, finishing their dance, bowed facing each other.
The purpose of refreshing the atmosphere was sufficiently achieved with this. The next task was to find the man who had been staring at her as if burning up until just now.
“I feel stuffy. I’ll be out on the terrace for a moment, Your Majesty.”
“You could at least make a more sincere excuse.”
“You know that excuse was the most sincerity I could show.”
Tatar’s lips, which had been loosely relaxed throughout the dance, pressed into a straight line as if displeased.
Vinea turned around, lightly ignoring the nobles trying to speak to her, and headed straight for the terrace.
She had seen him enter here when everyone’s attention was on the dancing Emperor and Empress.
Vinea, out on the terrace, untied the curtains that had been bound as if no one was there. As the dark purple fabric fluttered to cover the window, the gazes of nobles disappointed at not being able to speak to her disappeared from view.
In the night terrace full of moonlight, a black shadow stood behind Vinea.
Someone reached out behind her and grasped the upper part of the curtain she was holding, lifting it slightly. If lifted just a bit more, someone could peek into the terrace.
“What will you do if His Majesty sees you with me?”
At those words, Vinea flung open the left curtain she had been holding.
As the bright light from inside the banquet hall leaked into the terrace, the man standing behind quickly stepped back.
“Why don’t you check if you’re curious? How His Majesty will react.”
“Oh my, I misspoke.”
As she turned around, Balak stood with his back to the moon, raising both arms as if surrendering.
His large body in a somewhat awkward shirt buttoned up to the neck and a cloak draped over his left shoulder, his big build and sturdy body made him look more like a knight than a merchant.
“You seemed to prefer more casual attire.”
“Does it… look strange?”
“No, it suits you well. With that face and body, it would be faster to find something that doesn’t suit you.”
At Vinea’s direct compliment, he hurriedly turned his head to hide his reddened face, but unfortunately, Vinea had already seen it all.
Though it was a dark night, Vinea secretly swallowed a sigh at his red emotion revealed by the moonlight.
‘What am I going to do with you.’
If she had considered future regressions, she would have freely wielded and used his emotions regardless of whether he got hurt, but since that wasn’t the case, she had to be careful.
She had hoped it could end with a fleeting first love that would be forgotten after a few nights. But looking at him now, it seemed already too late.
Even a first love ripens bright red with time. It gives off a scent so sweet it might sting the tongue, making it impossible to endure without swallowing that love.
Vinea was wary of this. Because she knew better than anyone how Balak’s mad love had once led us all to ruin in some way.
“You are beautiful too, Vinea. Always, more than any jewel I’ve ever seen.”
Balak liked flashy things. It must have been for the same reason that he always gave her an armful of dazzling jewels.
Colorful dresses, thick jeweled accessories. Knowing his taste well, she had dressed up flashily every time she met him in other regressions. The more he fell for her, the more certainly he would bring what she wanted.
But thinking about it now, she felt he would have done the same anyway. Because he was someone who couldn’t even properly hide a face reddened by clumsy first love.
“This is what you asked for last time.”
Balak pulled out two small pouches from his chest. As soon as he took out the pouches, a faint fragrance spread. It was exactly the same scent that remained in her memory.
“You should use the one tied with a red ribbon carefully. Its effect…”
“You don’t need to explain. I know better than anyone.”
As Vinea took the pouches with a bitter smile, Balak grabbed her hand.
“…Balak.”
“Just once, just once, may I kiss you? On the back of your hand, like a knight swearing loyalty to you.”
It was unlike the Balak of this life. Vinea looked up and examined his face closely. She could smell a strong scent of wine from him.
Glancing aside, she saw a glass placed on the terrace railing. Unlike his free-spirited nature, he wasn’t good with alcohol, so it wasn’t surprising that he was acting so impulsively.
Vinea asked him, who couldn’t take his wavering eyes off her red-painted lips.
“You’re asking for more than the price.”
“Is it my greed to ask for more than your name?”
“Yes.”
Balak bowed his head deeply and then raised it. Thirsty desire wavered in his shaking dark red eyes.
“Don’t you easily allow other nobles greeting you to do this? Is it because my status is too low?”
“If that were the problem, I wouldn’t have mixed words with you from the start.”
“Then why, why on earth…”
“Because your reason for wanting to kiss is different from theirs.”
Balak put down the hand he was holding as if struck at a vital point. As his rough, thick palm disappeared, the cool night breeze brushed Vinea’s hand holding the pouches.
“I won’t ask how long you’ve known. I acted like such a fool that it would be strange if you hadn’t noticed.”
He clenched and unclenched his empty hand. It felt like the soft warmth that had briefly resided there remained like a dream.
“May I receive the answer to one question as payment for the items you requested?”
As Vinea nodded, Balak lowered his gaze and exhaled deeply as if trying to drive out the remaining effects of alcohol in his body.
Eventually, he raised his head and his eyes captured Vinea.
The emotion pooled in his dark red eyes had finally ripened. Like a bright red fruit giving off a very sweet scent.
“I want to be by your side, Vinea. Please tell me how.”
