Chapter 34
34
Nora stood there with a flushed face, having arrived unnoticed.
“My lord, I apologize for interrupting, but I need to take Maria away urgently.”
Nora rushed over and grabbed Maria’s hand, pulling her along. Of course, Maria knew why without being told. There could only be one reason for Nora to come all this way to find her.
‘The Great King must be looking for me.’
Whatever the reason, he always came looking for her as soon as she was out of his sight for too long. Maria tried to ease Aiden’s stiff expression by giving him a bright smile. She knew he would worry if she left so abruptly.
‘I finished all the work I was asked to do.’
She had neatly organized a mountain of documents, enough to make her eyes pop out. But Nora led Maria in a different direction, not towards Gunther's Main Palace. Maria stopped abruptly, pulling on Nora’s hand.
“Those awful men, the high and mighty ones are all the same.”
“?”
When Maria gestured, asking what she meant, Nora said in an annoyed tone,
“The Great King went to the Immigration Office to look for you. So, I beat him to it.”
‘He must be worried about Aiden.’
But why was Nora taking her in a different direction? If she intended to help her out of a difficult situation, she would have quietly taken her to Gunther’s bedroom.
“No, after rubbing lips with that harlot Witch during the day, he’s making a fuss looking for you at night.”
‘Making a fuss…!’
Maria burst out laughing at Nora’s coarse language. Just moments ago, she had been so moved to tears meeting Aiden, but she was now laughing so readily that it was almost embarrassing. Nora seemed to resent Gunther’s nature.
“He can’t have her easily. He needs to be burning up inside with impatience.”
Nora boasted that she knew about a secret space in the Court Physician's residence and led Maria there. On the way, she kept scolding Maria, telling her not to show her face to the Great King until the Ritual tomorrow night.
‘Hmm, that sounds like a good idea.’
Honestly, she didn’t want to see Gunther right now. Not because of Samantha, but because she needed some time to herself for once. And Nora seemed to feel the same way. Nora took Maria to a high Stone Tower far from the Main Palace. It was all well and good to go to the tower, but there was one problem.
“There are quite a few stairs, aren’t there? I found this place to lose some weight, but when I got to the top, the view was amazing.”
Maria nodded with a smile. Roughly, there seemed to be over 300 steps. She was worried that her heart might stop before she even reached the top.
“Let’s go, Maria.”
Maria looked at Nora and steeled her resolve, then began to climb the stairs before her. Of course, she started off well, but gradually she became breathless and felt like her lungs would burst. Not only that, but her legs were shaking so much that she almost collapsed several times. But the reason she couldn’t give up was too clear, so she gritted her teeth and climbed again. She felt a strange sense of competition with Nora, who was older and larger than her, and who was climbing without stopping. After steeling her heart and climbing over 300 steps, an awe-inspiring sight awaited them.
‘Oh my god! It’s so beautiful!’
Standing on the highest Stone Tower in the Royal Palace, it felt like she could reach out and pluck a star. Conversely, looking down, the lights illuminating every corner of the Royal Palace sparkled brilliantly. She never knew the night view could be so enchanting.
“When you look down from such a high place, everything is insignificant. People, houses, even the Royal Palace, are all tiny.”
Indeed, it was the perfect place for meditation. She should come here often when she wanted to be alone without being disturbed. Then Nora said something unexpected.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”
“?”
“Maria, you said your parents are still alive?”
Nora had gone to the Immigration Office to find Maria and overheard her conversation with Aiden. Maria nodded in agreement. Then Nora put her hands on Maria’s shoulders and looked at her with a sad expression.
“Maria, you can shout here and no one below will hear you.”
That’s why she came up here and shouted her children’s names whenever she missed them after they were sold into slavery.
“Shout loudly. Since they’re alive, they’ll hear Maria’s voice from somewhere.”
Maria’s heart sank. She had been moved when she heard news of her parents from Aiden, but Nora’s suggestion squeezed her heart, making her feel both pain and excitement.
“What if you can’t speak properly? No one here will make fun of Maria. And your parents will understand even if Maria just shouts.”
“!?”
“Because you’re their child. Parents understand everything, even if their child just babbles.”
Maria burst into tears. When she thought about it, the most tragic thing she had experienced was the death of her parents. It was an unbearable event, incomparable to being abandoned by her husband and becoming a deposed Empress. Maria wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, then put her hands together and held them to her mouth.
‘Yes, if I call out, they’ll hear me even in their dreams.’
“Ah… Iji!, Uh… Ini!”
Maria shouted with all her might. Even though tears were pouring down like rain and blurring her vision, she imagined her parents standing right in front of her.
“Gii… Joo-uh. Man-i-na… Uh!”
Then Nora, who was beside her, also cried and called out her children’s names. In that moment, a feeling of happiness welled up after a very long time. She also felt confident that she could overcome any hardship that might come her way in the future. The hope that she would meet them someday was enough to endure the present. Maria cried like a child, calling out to her parents without worrying about anyone’s judgment.
“It’s almost done now.”
After crying for a long time, Nora spoke with a sob in her voice.
“I’ve almost collected all the money for my children’s ransom. I must get them back.”
Maria stroked Nora’s back as she cried. She even felt grateful because it seemed like the emotions she had been suppressing had been released thanks to her.
“Maria, do you… like him?”
Just as her intense emotions were gradually calming down, Nora asked subtly.
“!?”
What an unexpected question. But Maria couldn’t avoid Nora’s sharp gaze, and she felt her pupils darting around anxiously. She just shook her head violently, denying it.
“If you keep repeating to yourself that you don’t like him, that it’s an unavoidable choice to survive here, then that’s proof that you’ve already developed feelings for him.”
She felt like she had been caught off guard. Then Maria was reminded of how Nora had embarrassed her by saying, ‘I know your face turned white’ when Gunther and Samantha kissed. Was that really the case? Well, she had been more surprised than when Henry had an affair with Laurent.
‘It’s my heart, so why can’t I control it?’
It was a strange thing.
‘Maria, I’m upset. No, I’m jealous.’
He had kissed Samantha to show her. Even as he pressed his lips against Samantha’s, all his attention was focused on Maria, who was watching from afar. But she was just giggling with Ero and Nora, not even glancing his way. In that moment, anger surged within him, along with a sense of disappointment and inferiority that choked him.
He had believed that she liked him at least a little. He had even branded her as his own, but was all of this just a futile effort on his part?
‘Are you really such an idiot? What am I to you, anyway?’
Even surrounded by so many people, his gaze followed only one person. If everything around him was a meaningless landscape, then only Maria was clear. And he saw it clearly. Her indifference…
“If Your Majesty wishes, I will serve you with pleasure from tonight.”
Samantha’s seductive invitation didn’t even reach his ears and bounced right off. What was the point when Maria had disappeared from his sight?
“You must be tired, go and rest.”
Gunther turned around and headed to his office. Solskjaer would take care of entertaining the Witches, so he only needed to focus on state affairs. But he was too upset to work.
‘I’ve been too lenient.’
He should have carved Maria’s flesh and engraved his name on her bones. He felt like he would feel better if he did that. But the fact that she hadn’t appeared before him even after midnight was clearly defiance.
‘I must punish her severely. I’ll torment her all night so she can’t sleep.’
He would make her cry while being crushed under his heavy body. He regretted saying such nonsense as he wouldn’t force Maria to do anything she didn’t want to do. Now, he didn’t care about her opinion. He would give up the pretense of wanting to possess even Maria’s heart entirely as his own. He should have made her submit long ago, so that she only looked at him, thought of him, and followed him.
“She’s not here.”
Solskjaer, who had rushed to the Immigration Office first, brought the news.
“She’s not?”
He was certain that she had run off to that cousin of hers, Aiden, but she wasn’t there. In any case, Aiden had saved his life tonight. He felt like a madman for giving her soulless permission to visit Aiden and then being so angry. He couldn’t even imagine what he would do if he witnessed them together.
“I will release the palace staff.”
Things had gotten very big. He had become so numb that he was no longer angry, and only his instincts remained.
‘Is it because of you? Or is it because of me?’
This time, he couldn’t admit that things had escalated solely because of him. Because it was Maria’s fault for not showing up until after midnight. It was defiance, a crime punishable by death.
‘You better appear before me soon, Maria.’