Chapter 11
Clark had probably gone to get an umbrella for Louisville.
The emperor, left behind with the knights, didn’t even try to avoid the rain—maybe because of pride.
“Oh dear, what if you catch a cold?”
Actually, I had a dream today about the Emperor standing in the rain. In the dream, he just stared up at the drizzle without moving.
He looked like a wet puppy, so pitiful that his sad expression almost brought me to tears.
Step, step.
“Your Majesty.”
I carefully approached the emperor and held an umbrella over his head. I did it with good intentions.
“Ah.”
But because he was so tall, the umbrella hit his forehead. Again, I want to say—I meant well.
“I’m sorry.”
I quickly raised my arm higher. The emperor looked up at the umbrella I was holding and murmured,
“This looks like a parasol.”
“Whether it’s the sun or rain, as long as you stay dry, it works. Haha.”
I forced a loud laugh to hide my embarrassment.
Step, step.
Then the emperor started walking. It seemed like he wanted to continue his walk, so I followed him.
But another problem soon appeared. My arm started to ache from holding the umbrella up for someone who was 190 cm tall.
“My arm feels like it’s about to fall off…”
I was secretly rubbing my shoulder when I finally confessed out loud.
“So?”
The emperor looked at me like, “And what do you expect me to do about it?”
“…If it falls off, I’ll try putting it back in.”
Nervous under his scary stare, I gave a polite answer. Just then, thankfully, Clark appeared like a savior, holding an umbrella.
I whispered to him as he came closer.
“Sir Clark, can we switch?”
Maybe he didn’t hear me well because he was opening the umbrella.
“Pardon?”
“Please switch with me. My arm feels like it’s going to rip off.”
“Arms don’t rip off that easily.”
Clark answered immediately. Huh??
“Is that really the point right now…?”
Without replying, Clark just pushed me aside with his usual blank expression.
“Step aside.”
“Oh, thank you.”
I quickly handed the umbrella to Clark.
All I did was hold an umbrella, but why did it feel like I was being punished?
“Well done.”
The emperor passed by me with Clark.
He didn’t seem particularly happy—well, I didn’t expect him to be—but I still smiled as I watched the two men, who were about the same height, walking side by side.
Even if it felt like a punishment, I was glad the emperor didn’t get too wet.
But at the same time, I felt a bit bitter.
Even someone he just met felt sad seeing him get wet, but why didn’t my mother care when I got caught in the rain?
No, what was she thinking when she saw me wet in the rain? Did she even think about me at all?
As I walked through the rainy street, all sorts of thoughts filled my head, but when I saw the emperor in the distance, I pushed them all away.
❖ ❖ ❖
The Danveria territory, next to the capital Estate of the Louis Empire, faced the blue sea. Across that sea was a large island, which also belonged to Grand Duke Jefferson, the lord of Danveria.
Grand Duke Jefferson was currently resting at a villa built in the center of that island. Though in his forties and still relatively young, his health was poor.
That was the main reason his younger brother, Cutter, had taken the throne instead of him.
Late in the afternoon, as Grand Duke Jefferson leaned against a wooden post in the backyard, his butler Sebastian ran up to him. Since it wasn’t mealtime, Jefferson had a guess about what it might be.
“I told you not to bring me any news.”
Jefferson scolded him, and Sebastian’s wrinkled face stiffened. He carefully began to speak.
“I thought you really needed to hear this one.”
It didn’t sound like good news, so Jefferson frowned.
“Is it about Julia?”
“No, sir.”
Julia was Jefferson’s only daughter. Thinking that at least it wasn’t bad news about her, he asked again.
“Then what?”
“It’s about the prophet His Majesty appointed while you’ve been away.”
“Yes?”
“They say she made a ridiculous prophecy.”
“What prophecy?”
“That His Majesty will marry the witch…”
What nonsense was this? Jefferson was so shocked that he sat up straight.
“Marriage?”
A strange light flickered in his deep blue eyes.
“What on earth is he thinking…?”
Jefferson clicked his tongue and got up.
“Prepare for my return.”
He started walking, his face still tense.
❖ ❖ ❖
Nicole, the maid who woke me up every morning, was a newcomer who had only been in the palace for about two months. She was much younger than me, but since we had entered the palace around the same time, I felt strangely close to her.
“I brought water for washing.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
After washing my face with the water Nicole brought, I changed into a lovely dress. Nicole helped me dress with her small, delicate hands and then left the room.
After she was gone, I pulled a leather notebook out from under the bed. It was the diary of the witch, Anier. I tucked it inside the cloth that wrapped around my waist.
Knock knock—
Just then, there was a knock, and Head Maid Emma entered.
“I’m here to escort you to the Empress’s palace.”
I wasn’t surprised at all. I had already seen this scene in my dream.
“Her Majesty the Empress Dowager is looking for you.”
When I heard this line in the dream, I knew—it was finally time.
❖ ❖ ❖
The Empress’s palace was spotlessly clean today as well, almost suffocatingly so.
The Empress Dowager was waiting for me in a drawing room as big as a hall. She wore a fancy light green dress adorned with jewels and even a tiara. But maybe because I remembered her throwing a shoe at me, she didn’t look beautiful at all.
As soon as I grabbed my dress and knelt in greeting, she asked,
“Did you not prophesy that the emperor will marry the witch?”
“Yes, I did.”
After answering, I looked around. A bit further away, Emma was standing alone by the drawing room door.
Rustle—
I discreetly pulled out the diary and dropped it on the floor.
The Empress Dowager’s narrow eyebrows arched.
“What’s that?”
I picked up the diary and glanced at her. She reacted just as I hoped.
“Give it to me.”
She roughly snatched it from my hands and tried to open the cover.
But it wouldn’t open.
Of course not. The witch had cast a spell on it.
I thought back to two weeks ago, when Nicole was changing the sheets and found the diary under my mattress.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Just don’t read it.”
“Huh? But it won’t even open.”
“It won’t open?”
That’s when I realized it.
The witch had cast a spell on the diary so no one but herself could open it.
So if the Empress Dowager were the real witch, she would’ve known that the diary wouldn’t open unless it was touched by her original body.
But she kept trying to open it and failed.
If she had ignored or rejected the diary, I had planned to open it in front of her and even write something inside—as a dramatic way to announce I had found the witch.
“Tsk, did someone glue it shut?”
The Empress Dowager clicked her tongue in frustration and threw the diary over my shoulder.
Like it was trash.
Seeing that, I was sure—she wasn’t the witch.
I had become the imperial prophet just to meet the witch in her body and name. But the Empress Dowager wasn’t her.
Then where was the witch now? Would she appear after hearing my public prophecy? What if she didn’t come?
I was sinking into a swamp of anxiety when—
“What is this?”
A deep voice rang out.
I instinctively turned my shoulders fast. And in my view, I saw the emperor, bending down to pick up the diary.
“A diary?”
He flipped the leather notebook back and forth and then looked at me.
I almost nodded without thinking, but suddenly froze.
Wait.
A chill spread through my body.
That man has Gardener blood… Doesn’t that mean he can open the diary? The witch’s spell won’t stop him! If he reads it, he’ll find out I’m the witch…
But the emperor’s hand was already reaching for the cover of the diary.
