4. When Things Are Unusually Quiet, It Means Something Is Happening (part 3)
The next day, Marcella sat facing Nell with her teacup as if this were some natural daily routine. This was the same even though Nell had proposed to her yesterday and been rejected.
Facing Nell had never been particularly comfortable, but she had never been as uncomfortable as now. Marcella stole glances at the silent Nell.
He was holding an empty teacup and quietly looking inside it.
What was he doing? Marcella was puzzled but didn’t have the courage to ask him about it. Actually, she didn’t have the courage to say anything at all.
Arthur Digory seemed satisfied that Marcella hadn’t gone home after all, constantly smiling as he stood behind the sofa where Nell sat, watching Marcella.
‘I feel like I’m being monitored.’
Marcella felt uncomfortable after all.
“I’ll forget what you said yesterday.”
Though she lacked courage, she couldn’t sit here drinking tea with Nell, who was staring into an empty teacup forever.
When Marcella spoke, Nell finally lifted his gaze from the empty teacup and raised his head.
He tilted his head slightly and looked back at Arthur.
“My lady, when you say what was said yesterday…”
“About the empress.”
Marcella cut off Arthur’s words. Nell blinked at Marcella and turned his head toward her.
“You mean when I asked you to become my empress?”
Hearing it from his mouth again made Marcella feel strangely peculiar.
Marcella looked straight at Nell and nodded.
“If that’s your wish, then so be it.”
Fortunately, Nell wasn’t as unreasonable as Arthur. Marcella, who had been tense, felt relieved.
Nell was someone she couldn’t understand, and like Arthur, she couldn’t fathom his intentions, but at least he didn’t brazenly lie with a smiling face.
He didn’t lie down on dirt ground, grab her legs, or tell her to step over him.
“I would like you to become my wife.”
Marcella, who had been relieved and taking a sip of tea, was so surprised she almost dropped her teacup.
Marcella quickly set down her teacup.
“Your Majesty, I returned your divine beast to you.”
“Phoenix? Since you returned him directly, I know that too.”
“Yet you’re proposing to me again, Your Majesty’s, proposing to me again?”
The words “Your Majesty’s wife” were harder to say than “proposal.” Marcella frowned and glared at Nell.
Because Arthur had been so unreasonable, she had momentarily forgotten. Though he didn’t roll around on the ground, the root of all this was ultimately Nell.
“Yes.”
“Your Majesty! There’s good news.”
Before Marcella could sharply reject Nell’s proposal again, Arthur hurriedly interjected.
He smiled brightly and clapped his hands quickly.
“Lady Marcella has agreed to stay at the imperial palace for one more month.”
Arthur nodded repeatedly as if it were truly wonderful news.
Marcella glanced at Arthur with a sideways look and rose from her seat.
“Someone who has rejected His Majesty’s request twice can’t shamelessly remain at the imperial palace. I’ll take my leave now.”
“That’s strange. Arthur just said you agreed to stay for one more month.”
“……”
“Whose words are correct?”
Arthur stared wide-eyed at Marcella. Marcella hesitated and sat back down.
“You always only talk about wanting to go home.”
“So, do you find that unpleasant to hear?”
“It’s not pleasant.”
Nell added a little more tea to Marcella’s cup, which she had sipped from.
Marcella frowned and watched Nell’s actions.
“If you don’t like hearing it, please grant my request.”
Since they were forcibly keeping her for another month, they should at least do that much. Marcella bit her lip and looked at Nell.
“What would that be?”
“Please don’t propose to me anymore.”
“If I don’t propose to you anymore, will you not tell me you’re going home?”
“Your Majesty.”
Arthur tried to interject again, but Nell raised his hand to stop him.
When Marcella nodded, Nell also poured tea into his own empty teacup.
“I’ll do that.”
Nell accepted more readily than expected.
Yet Marcella felt somehow uneasy and couldn’t feel relieved or happy.
Maybe it was because he was so calm even after being rejected twice in his proposals. It might also be because she couldn’t understand his intentions at all.
Nell recalled the lecture that had made his ears ache last night.
“They all scolded me for getting the order wrong.”
Scolded? By whom? When Marcella blinked, Nell lifted his teacup.
“They find you interesting.”
Nell tilted his teacup. But he only tilted it so the tea wouldn’t quite spill, without actually drinking.
When Nell raised his head, his eyes met Marcella’s. Strangely, her expression looked worse than before.
Nell set his teacup on the table.
“Why would they be interested in someone like me?”
Who was Nell talking about? Marcella grew increasingly anxious.
“They were curious about the woman who rejected my proposal. They said so.”
Marcella gasped in surprise.
She had thought he was so indifferent it didn’t matter at all, but the emperor was taking it to heart more than expected. How dare she reject the emperor’s proposal!
Nell tilted his head. The more he spoke, the worse Marcella’s expression became, and now she had even turned pale.
Nell watched Marcella as she turned white and moved her lips.
“Is there something wrong with what I said?”
He asked if he had misspoken again, but Marcella’s complexion grew even paler. Was she feeling ill?
“Marcella, why aren’t you answering?”
Then Marcella’s body trembled.
Nell had seen that expression on her face before. When he carefully recalled that strangely vivid day, Marcella had made that same expression when she saw Tamarin and the mist.
“Are you afraid?”
He had left both Tamarin and Phoenix behind, so what was Marcella afraid of? Nell tilted his head as he looked at Marcella, who wouldn’t answer him.
Marcella’s mind had gone as blank as her pale face.
Because the emperor said nothing, even his aide didn’t make an issue of Marcella rejecting the proposal, so she had been mistaken.
Marcella Morris was merely the dead Count Morris’s sister and an Inferior at that. She wasn’t someone who could arrogantly refuse when the emperor commanded her to become empress.
Yet she had rejected it twice. If the emperor wanted to make an issue of it, this was certainly something he could take issue with.
Marcella’s shoulders trembled.
Nell reached out slightly toward Marcella. Then Marcella startled and shrank back.
Nell stopped his outstretched hand. Had he gotten the order wrong again?
Nell recalled Duke Martinez, who had come to him angrily last night.
