*fuu*
'So….' Amethyst eyes swept over the quiet man as a puff of smoke from her lips faded into thin air.
'How long are we going to be this quiet?' Rose wondered when the emperor would state his reason for coming to the empress palace.
Following his kind gesture towards her in the garden, they had silently entered the empress palace and she had gone to wear something more appropriate for their unexpected meeting.
Now they were in the drawing room with an atmosphere resembling the state of a dead mouse. The Emperor's gaze had been fixed on her for a moment now. Rose was someone very sensitive to gazes, both familiar and unfamiliar. It was quite uncomfortable to know that someone has been obviously staring at herself without a word.
Well….she had suffered from this a lot as the Empress of the entertainment industry. It was something not very new to her.
"Your majesty, for what reason did you come to see this empress?" Rose was the first to break the silence between them. Though according to noble etiquettes ingrained to this body, it was not appropriate to speak first before the emperor.
"….I am just visiting the empress recovering from an illness. Does empress have something against my presence?"
"Not at all, your majesty. The empress palace is also your majesty's palace. There is no restriction on your majesty in the entire imperial palace as the emperor." Rose replied calmly to the emperor's question. Following these words, she released the smoke that accumulated in her mouth after inhaling the smoking pipe.
"..."
"Does your majesty need anything else with this empress?" With the smoke fading in the air, Rose questioned further.
"…Is empress doing well?"
"What does your majesty mean?" Rose creased her eyebrow. Didn't she look perfectly well?
"Well…you seem a little different. The head maid had also reported something quite disturbing."
"The head maid?" Rose tilted her head a bit. Her eyebrow lifted in question. Judging from the emperor's sentence, it seemed the head maid had reported to him about herself not too recently.
'So you're watching…'
"As your majesty can see, this empress is doing better than ever. The imperial physicians can testify to this empress's words." Rose replied, holding onto the smoking pipe.
At the same time, she criticized the emperor vehemently in her heart. If the emperor did hear disturbing news from the head maid, why hadn't he visited her immediately after she had woken up?
The days after she had woken up, the maids serving her whispered among themselves how the emperor had immediately visited the queen once she had woken up. They also mentioned how the emperor almost executed the imperial physicians nursing the queen because of her weak health.
She, on the other hand, had only maids and imperial physicians nursing her. Unlike the emperor who personally fed the queen her medicine, and visited her bed chambers every single day.
The empress palace was cold of the emperor's presence…in contrast to the queen's palace.
Such contrasting difference between an empress and a queen.
The side character and the female lead.
"This empress is deeply touched by your majesty's concerns." The corner of her lips tugged into a false smile. The tone of her voice was a bit sarcastic and Rose did not care if this emperor heard it or not.
During these days, she had to deal with the maids comparing the empress palace with queen's palace because of this man in her front. Their words were akin to buzzing flies, disturbances in her peaceful and idle life. Though…it wasn't that she couldn't deal with it. Back in the entertainment industry, she had been compared to many other famous actresses. Beauty, fame, body…anything about her would be compared with another actress that had similarities.
Rose had even dealt with an actress who had changed her face to match hers with surgery.
''Have I offended the empress for not visiting on time?'' The emperor even had the audacity to ask as though he was unaware of his wrong.
''No.'' Exhaling the smoke from her lips, Rose denied with the same false smile. ''Your majesty's care touched this empress's heart. How could your majesty possibly offend this empress?''
'You are just a bad husband.' She said further in her heart. The emepror didn't even bother to ask how the empress had gotten into the lake the first place.
However….the queen might have gotten such privilege.
As a woman, she sympathized with empress for dealing with this kind of man as her husband.
Rose felt it was amazing how the woman did not turn to a villain in the novel with this kind of life as the empress. Even if she had never married before, there was no way she wouldn't feel bad for the empress, especially when she was currently experiencing what the empress felt truly for this man.
Such bittersweet feelings.
The empress hated him as a husband, yet loved him at the same time.
A type of love that Rose did not understand.
She had experienced such marriages, especially in the entertainment industry, where the husband would cheat, yet the wife would still tolerate his disgusting behaviors. This was something Rose absolutely did not understand. In her opinion, if the man was not good, the love should end right there. A woman should make herself happy so as not to regret life because of a failing marriage.
There was still something called a divorce.
'Can I divorce him though?' Rose suddenly wondered about getting a divorce with this man seated opposite her. The novel took place in a world of ancient times.
An era where women were viewed lesser than men in contrast to the independence of women in her world, the modern times. How did Rose knew about such…well she had acted in movies as characters in ancient times.
She had even acted as an empress…though the ancient era was different from this one that she was currently in.
''Empress.'' The voice of the emperor still present snapped Rose from her thoughts of getting a divorce.
''Yes your majesty.'' She focused half of her attention on him.
''May I then ask why you seem a little different? I thought I made our marriage clear from the beginning?''
Now…those words got Rose's whole attention on the emperor.
''In what way does this empress seem a little different, your majesty?'' Rose asked, recalling the memories of the first night between the emperor and the empress. That was the moment when the emperor had shown his true feelings towards the empress.
This man…apparently have some resentful feelings towards the empress....No it wasn't only her, but the nobles in general. Such was made clear in the novel about him and his life growing as a prince.
''Your dressing...'' As he mentioned, his golden eyes suddenly raked over her body. They did linger somewhere for a brief moment. Rose, the receiver of such stare, felt somewhat exposed under such eyes that held indifference but intensity. Perhaps it was the vibrant golden color making the pair of eyes that way.
''…and the smoking pipe in your hand.'' His gaze moved to the smoking pipe in her hand. ''I didn't expect the empress to have such habit.'' He returned his stare back to her.
''…Well…'' Starting with this word, rose slowly brought one of her slim legs over the other, crossing them so effortlessly. Through the long silk robe worn over her night gown, the white skin of her leg could be seen, looking very fair and clean without blemish. Golden eyes flickered over there for a moment.
''Your majesty and this empress are nothing but strangers in this marriage of ours.'' With the tip of her smoking pipe in her mouth, rose bluntly uttered with a thin smile.
''There will definitely be somethings that you would have never known about this empress.''
>Enjoy!<