Lowson ordered Lucretius to rest for a month. It wasn’t a recommendation but a demand. Lowson was speaking to him with an authority of a doctor.
Lucretius, of course, tried to argue, but everyone around him insisted with determination. He had no choice.
If he dared to resist more, I would threaten him that I will have him tied down to the bed. With me on Lowson’s side, Lucretius was forced to listen.
Laying on the bed, covered in bandages, Lucretius argued, “I will be fine in a week or two.”
However, it was all for nothing.
Lowson harrumphed and shook his head.”Even when I first treated you yesterday, your injury wasn’t something that would heal in a few weeks… Now, your wounds have reopened and worsened. It has only been a day since I put a new dressing, so I’m not sure what you did last night…”
Lucretius grinned and I remained quiet.
“…”
“…”
Thankfully, Lucretius didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure if Lowson knew about us when he continued.
“I have closed the wound again, so until it heals, you need to rest. Any strenuous activities are to be avoided.”
“…”
When Lucretius looked away and didn’t answer, Lowson turned to me.
“Your highness.”
“Y, yes?”
“Please make sure his highness doesn’t move too much. You need to watch him and stop him if he tries.”
“… Of course.”
He made me promise.
“No strenuous activities! Please remember!”
“…”
Did he know?
I didn’t have the courage to ask him, so I remained quiet and just nodded.
***
Everyone, including the chancellor, agreed that the emperor needed to rest and recover before returning to work. The only problem was if Lucretius took a break, a substitute was needed to take his place.
This was especially a crucial time for the empire. A major rebellion had just ended and there was an incredible amount of work needed to be done immediately. The chancellor was excellent, but he couldn’t take on everything. There were also matters that involved the fate of the noblemen’s titles and properties, and, therefore, required the royal seal.
Therefore, this was why I volunteered.
Lucretius knew I took the golden ring when he was asleep and went to represent him. He knew I discussed national matters with the chancellor without telling him. However, despite knowing all this, he didn’t say anything to me.
I felt grateful because I didn’t want to talk about it. No matter what he might have said, either something positive or negative, I thought it would have made me feel gloomy.
The fact that I took on this responsibility meant I accepted the position of an empress. Lucretius again didn’t mention anything about it, which I thought was a very thoughtful gesture.
Being an empress implied I had made the decision to stay in this world. This meant I would never return home.
I still hadn’t heard from the priestess, so I didn’t know if it was possible anyway.
However, even then, I felt like I abandoned my home and my family.
I had been having moments of deep sadness often. Luckily, I had a lot of work to do which kept my mind busy. There were many who were involved in the rebellion, and I needed to decide their fates. I also had to decide appropriate rewards for those who helped Lucretius.
While I poured over the papers, Lucretius enjoyed his vacation. According to him, he had never had time off like this where he wasn’t required to keep busy. He whined how lonely he was being alone on the bed, so I ended up taking all the documents to my bedroom to work beside him.
A lot of the work involved reading over the paper and stamping it with the royal seal. One good thing about having him near was I could ask him questions and get his bits of advice about certain actions needed to be done to certain people.
After giving me a few suggestions, he grinned. “It doesn’t sound like you need my help at all.”
“Really?”
“Yes, it’s surprising. I mean it.”
“Then I’m gonna do whatever I want from now on.”
I didn’t know exactly when, but I started to talk informally to him whenever we were alone. Lucretius didn’t say anything, which was very smart of him.
I was glad he knew when to keep quiet in order to keep his wife happy.
I felt relieved that I was doing a good job. Soon, I stopped asking for his opinion.
I read through the documents quickly, and if I found anything odd, I made a note of it to discuss with the chancellor the next day. If I was satisfied with the reports, I marked them with the royal seal to be handed to the scribe later.
Because of the recent rebellion, I had to make many decisions about punishments for the traitors. It was common to take away their titles and properties, and I had to order executions quite frequently too.
At first, I felt uncomfortable about it, but after a few times, I felt nothing as I approved them with the golden ring. Perhaps it was because it felt surreal that a piece of paper decided an actual person’s fate.
I was done with the thirtieth document when I noticed his inappropriate movement.
Lucretius had his eyes closed as if asleep, but his naughty fingers slowly moved across the blanket and started to stroke my thigh. His intention was clear.
I continued to read my document as I reached out and stabbed his hand with a pen.
“Ugh!”
Lucretius screamed exaggeratingly. Ever since he got injured, he had been acting like a baby around me.
“Are you being cruel to a patient?”
I knew I didn’t hurt him, so I laughed at him. “Don’t you remember what Lowson said?”
“What did he say?”
I looked up from my paper and turned to him. I reached out to touch his bare neck with the back of my hand. He seemed to get tense; I could feel the goosebumps on his skin.
“I knew it. You still have a fever.”
Lucretius took my wrist and whined. “If you are here with me, you should actually spend time with me rather than work. I’m a patient, so you should be more sympathetic.”
I gave him a bright smile. This man probably knew very well that when I smiled like this, it meant I was angry.
“And whose fault is it that I have so much work to do?”
“…”
He pretended to be sad, but he moved behind me slowly and put his arms around my waist. He rested his chin on my shoulder, and I could feel his breath on my skin. It felt familiar.
There was an old saying in Korea.
‘If a man has enough strength to hold a spoon, he will try…’
Our ancestors were very wise.
This situation was becoming too dangerous.
He was injured, and I needed to stop thinking about…
Too dangerous.
‘Calm down, Bina. You need to cool down.’
If I gave in, I could hurt him even more.
I finally managed to control myself, but Lucretius clearly had another idea.
He was now groping me openly, making the document I was holding crinkle.
Now that I think about it… This man had become very physical with me over time. The truth was, it felt normal to me.
However, this wasn’t the right place and the right time.
I pinched his arm and announced, “Not for a month.”
Lucretius looked genuinely stunned. “Why!”
“I don’t want to be responsible for reopening you wound again. Do you know how embarrassed I was when Lowson said those things?”
“But if we are careful…”
I had to be firm. “Denied.”
Luc groaned.
He continued to beg me desperately, but I ignored him. I never wanted to go through such an awkward lecture from Lowson again!
I decided that perhaps I could distract him with another important matter.
“By the way… What are we going to do about the Genoa situation?”
My plan worked perfectly.
His naughty grin disappeared, and he answered seriously, “You don’t have to worry about that.”
I was confused. What did he mean?
Before the dowager empress’ rebellion, Ksania’s suicide was the biggest problem we had. In fact, the tension with Genoa was the chance Katleyanira took to attack.
“What do you mean I don’t have to worry? Ksania’s death is a huge issue.”
Lucretius shook his head and said to me, “She didn’t kill herself.”
“What?!”
He smiled mischievously at me. “This is all the free information you’ll get. If you want to know more, you will have to pay for it.”
“What?”
“Let me see… I will only charge… one deep kiss.”
“What?!”
