The doors to his new quarters were immense beyond measure. Luan looked up at the imposing sight spread before him and thought:
I suppose this is my coffin.
The palace where the Emperor resided was so magnificent it was nearly blinding. Everything about it seemed to warn: This is the Emperor’s domain — do not breathe without permission. Wasting oxygen is also prohibited.
What on earth was he supposed to do here? Standing there in a daze, feeling a sigh rising unbidden, a flustered voice came from beside him.
“Your Imperial Highness the Empress, your belongings…… is this truly all of it?”
The head chamberlain asked with a look of obvious bewilderment. And understandably so — the scene before him was nothing like what he had imagined.
There was hardly anything to call belongings. Just two attendants carrying two bags — that was the entirety of it. Even accounting for the sudden move, this was a scale no one could have anticipated. But even this was more than enough for Luan.
A bag with a few changes of clothing and emergency funds. It was a pitifully sparse haul for the moving luggage of an imperial empress — yet it was more than sufficient as travel packing. For the amount one person could carry alone when the time came to leave, this was the optimal arrangement. With this much, even a midnight escape could be executed swiftly.
“I have no hobby of accumulating things.”
Luan answered dryly. The truth he left unspoken was his firm resolution to slip lightly out of the imperial palace in half a year’s time.
“S-still, with only this, Your Imperial Highness’s dignity……”
“How long do you intend to leave me standing here?”
“S-sorry!”
My battery is draining. Feeling his stamina leaking away, he replied with indifference, and the head chamberlain hurriedly had the heavy doors opened. There was a certain pressure to that dry urging.
With a resonant thud, the doors swung open to reveal a vast bedchamber. And right in the center of it, legs crossed on the sofa as though declaring I am the master of this room, sat a man in all his arrogance.
Kirian Eckart.
He held a glass in his hand and greeted his spouse — who had walked in of their own accord, presumably — with eyes brimming with interest.
“Welcome, Empress. Welcome to my domain.”
Domain. What a choice of words — sounds like a beast’s lair. More importantly, wasn’t this supposed to be my room? Luan clicked his tongue inwardly and dipped his head slightly.
“My gratitude for the warm welcome, Your Majesty. The room is quite…… spacious. The upkeep costs must be considerable for just one person.”
“Don’t worry. Arje is not so poor that something like this would make it stagger.”
Kirian smiled and rose from his seat. As he slowly approached, Luan instinctively wanted to step back — but couldn’t be bothered, so he held still. Kirian’s gaze swept over Luan’s belongings. The attendants’ shoulders drew inward.
“This is all the luggage? For someone who came to merge households, the effort is quite lacking.”
“Unnecessary objects only serve to clutter the mind. One must always be prepared……”
“Prepared?”
“……Prepared in spirit, I mean. Life is fleeting, after all.”
Luan trailed off vaguely, and Kirian’s eyes narrowed. He naturally didn’t believe a word of it. A different theory had simply come to mind.
Is he trying not to leave a trace.
Kirian scoffed inwardly. It was a transparent tactic. Minimizing one’s possessions — that was the classic habit of those who did not wish to be caught by the tail.
How meticulous. Just like a true Requies bloodline.
Even though this move had been arranged on sudden notice from him, Luan had composedly withheld any unnecessary information. The thought crossed his mind that this might not be as simple a person as expected.
Without letting it show, he stepped right up to Luan and stopped directly in front of him. When he bent slightly to level their gazes, a cool, faint scent grazed the tip of his nose.
Up close, Luan’s face was even more unreal. It was the same pallid, doll-like appearance he had seen at the wedding. A face that conveyed no emotion whatsoever. No — if anything, he looked even more dried out and precarious than that day.
“This room is connected to my bedchamber.”
He indicated the small door on the wall with a tilt of his chin.
“That door has no lock. I can walk in at any time, and you can come through to my room as well.”
“……Are you familiar with the concept of privacy?”
“Are we strangers? What an unfortunate thing to say between spouses.”
“We have lived as less than strangers.”
“Which is exactly why we need to close that distance from here on out. As the priest prescribed.”
Kirian’s eyes curved with a mischievous glint. This is harassment. Blatant harassment! It was enough to report to an ethics office. But rather than showing any agitation, Luan looked at the door with blank, indifferent eyes.
If there’s no lock, I’ll just block it with a bookcase.
I’ll wait until the Emperor’s asleep and seal it shut as though by accident. Having decided that, Luan shifted his gaze to check the bed. That size was a king. The duvet appeared to be goose down. It looked soft. He wanted to fling himself onto it and pass out right then and there. The grudge of not even being able to sleep after dying — all thanks to a god — had followed him all the way here.
“I am nearly moved to tears by Your Majesty’s deep consideration. With that said, may I rest now as I am quite exhausted?”
Kirian tilted his head at Luan’s words. Outside the window, it was still bright. He had said before evening, but since Luan had nothing much to pack, he had simply grabbed things haphazardly and arrived straight away.
“Already? The sun is still high.”
“The counseling drained every last ounce of my energy. It feels as though I had five years’ worth of conversation all in one day.”
More like double that, he thought. Luan had genuinely grown too tired even to stand and let his shoulders droop. He looked utterly devoid of life — like a corpse that had just crawled fresh out of a grave.
Kirian found the excessively dry and composed demeanor still suspicious, yet at the same time, he was rather taken aback. With the Emperor right here before him, he wanted to lie down?
Not trying to seduce me, and not trying to dig for information either?
“……Fine. Rest.”
Kirian stepped back and gave a strange smile.
“But leave the door open.”
“……Pardon?”
It must have been a genuine surprise — that mask-like expression went slack and blank. For some reason, he found that rather satisfying.
“Is this not a shared room for the sake of improving our relationship?”
You decided that unilaterally. Luan was exasperated, but Kirian’s eyes curved with amusement.
“Let me hear every breath you take.”
Have you lost your mind? He barely managed to swallow the words fighting their way up his throat. It felt deliberate — like he knew exactly what he was doing.
“If the door is closed, I can’t see you, after all.”
He added helpfully to the now-speechless Luan.
“Sleep well, my darling Empress. With me watching over you, surely you won’t have any nightmares.”
You are the nightmare.
But he had no energy left to retort. Blocking it with a bookcase is out of the question then. With no strength left to protest, he simply gave a small bow of his head.
Shortly after Kirian finished toying with him to his heart’s content and returned to his own room, Luan made straight for the bed. Behind him was a door that was, quite genuinely, open. Damn it all.
Thud. His body sank into the mattress. It was as soft as he’d imagined. But it brought no comfort. The ceiling was high, the lighting was ornate, and next door lived an Emperor afflicted with a paranoia so severe it had become a hobby. He wasn’t sure peaceful sleep was even possible.
“……They say marriage is a grave.”
Luan murmured, face buried in the pillow.
“But this grave is far too noisy.”
Contrary to his words, the moment he closed his eyes, his consciousness cut out completely. The fact that Kirian was keeping a sharp watch on him from beyond the door of the room next door was no problem whatsoever in the face of a sleep so crushing it swept everything away.
Meanwhile, in the room next door, Kirian could not bring himself to look away from the scene beyond the open door — equal parts bewildered and disbelieving.
“Is he…… actually asleep?”
“If there is nothing wrong with my eyes, then I am seeing the same thing as Your Majesty.”
“He’s asleep.”
Having confirmed from Kael’s words that he was not seeing things, Kirian was utterly dumbfounded. Not a single thing had gone according to what he had anticipated.
He had expected Luan to check whether there was any eavesdropping equipment while unpacking. Or to read the atmosphere and begin making preparations to bribe the attendants. At the very least, he had expected him to pace around, too anxious to settle. After all, he was a spy and a watchdog sent by the Requies family.
And yet…….
That man had been breathing in a steady, rhythmic pattern not even a minute after lying down. Perfectly still, like a corpse.
He dared to fall dead asleep with the Emperor in the next room? I feel like I’m being disrespected.
“Ha.”
Kirian let out a hollow laugh. It was the first night of two people dreaming entirely different dreams under the same roof.
