Pen and Paper Translations

“Hm….”

Lev thought that would be the end of the conversation, but the Emperor, as if pondering something, twirled a black stone around in his hand.

“You’re the one who cleaned the water-lily garden, aren’t you?”

After staring searchingly at Lev’s face for quite a while, Guien asked.

“The water-lily garden?”

‘Where is that again.’

For a moment Lev couldn’t recall the place Guien meant, then he pictured the secluded garden where they had met and let out an “Ah.”

“Yes. Rather than cleaning, I just did a bit of tidying.”

“You had no tools, and yet your handiwork was very neat.”

But Guien praised that time as if Lev had done something remarkable. Lev, if anything, found that suspicious.

“I’ll have the chief attendant assign you work tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow.”

“Yes.”

“What kind of work?”

As the Emperor suddenly brought up what had happened in the afternoon and then followed it with that, Lev began to feel wary. Whether he noticed or not, Guien unfolded his arms and turned his gaze to the waiting attendant.

“The wine’s gone. Bring more.”

Only then did Lev look at the empty plates and the glasses showing bare bottoms. It seemed they had eaten and drunk everything while playing.

And the wine bottle had been fairly large. Realizing that, he felt a slight heat in his face and body. Lev rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand. Every patch of skin he touched felt quite warm.

He had mindlessly sipped that slightly sweet wine with a hint of fruit and nuts, and it seemed he was more tipsy than he thought.

“I think I’ll stop drinking.”

Just as Lev declined, Marco appeared carrying a tray piled with wine and snacks. Guien glanced between Lev and tray-bearing Marco, knit his brows, then waved a hand.

“I’ll sleep here tonight. Clear this away.”

At the command, Marco quickly came over, cleared the table, and even snuffed the candles that brightly lit the room.

With the atmosphere changing in an instant, Lev stole a look at the Emperor. He was tired of the wine, the game was over, and it was late at night. He wished Guien would leave, but had no idea why he wasn’t budging.

Not that Lev could say to the Emperor, You’re going to sleep, so why aren’t you going.

He quietly began putting the board away, hoping Guien would simply rise and go.

“You’re rather good at running away.”

Lev lifted his head to see what he meant, and Guien, a smile on his lips, was looking his way.

“If I were, I wouldn’t be here now.”

Guien was probably talking about the white king that escaped. But Lev brought up the day he had tried to flee and been caught by the Emperor.

Even now it felt absurd. Why had the Emperor gone out of his way to chase him that far?

“Why did you do that then?”

“Then?”

“Coming to find me in Toulon.”

Unable to ask why he had rushed after him, Lev circled around the point.

“Ah… when someone runs, you want to chase.”

But Guien deliberately emphasized the running and the chasing, the corners of his eyes curving. It was infuriating.

A sly fox. Thinking again of the Emperor’s nickname, Lev thrust out his lower lip.

“Shall I get up then?”

Watching Lev work his lips in displeasure, Guien rose to his feet.

“You’re going back?”

Lev asked with a small hope, but instead Guien gave an order to Marco, who was standing in the corner.

“Bring the chief attendant.”

And when the chief attendant entered, the Emperor said something even more outrageous.

“I’ll sleep here tonight.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The chief attendant bowed. Marco beside him also bowed as if he had heard something entirely matter-of-fact and stepped out. Before withdrawing, the look that met Lev’s eyes brimmed with unhidden joy.

‘Marco, why are you giving me that look!’

As the situation flowed in an unthinkable direction and Lev silently screamed, he saw where Guien turned and went, and his eyes widened.

“You really mean to sleep here?”

“Yes.”

As if to say, What’s wrong with that, Guien crossed his legs and perched on the bed. Well, of course there was nothing wrong. Nothing, and yet…

Lev, now outright stroking his flushed cheeks and brow with his hands, very belatedly realized something new. Only now did he notice that the Emperor wore a single gown through which his shape faintly showed, a comfortable outfit.

In other words, he had intended from the outset to spend the night here.

Well, the original purpose of coming had been to spread a rumor! How could he have forgotten that!

“I’ll just—!”

“Where are you going?”

Lev sprang up and turned, and the watching Guien asked. Since the Emperor had spoken, Lev couldn’t very well bolt.

He stopped short, turned back, and muttered:

“I’ll wash up! And change clothes.”

Having seen through the ploy to slip away, Guien called to ask who was outside. The chief attendant soon opened the door and came in and was ordered to bring wash water and nightclothes.

After a while, Marco entered with clean water and soap, and a page with clothes over his arm came in with him. The page’s gaze flicked briefly to Lev and away. He seemed to be probing what the two would do, as the Emperor had said.

Even so, wasn’t it a bit rude to observe so openly?

Lev sighed inwardly and returned to his spot. If only he could escape like this, how nice that would be. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem possible.

Even when he washed his face with clean water, the Emperor’s gaze never left him. It was the same when his hands went to his shirt to change.

“Your Majesty.”

Unable to endure it, Lev finally called to him. A pleasing arc hooked Guien’s lips as he sat on the edge of the bed. No, it was a downright mischievous smile.

“You embarrass easily. So what? We’ve already seen enough of each other, haven’t we.”

No sooner had he said it than the page holding the basin widened his eyes. Marco, who was waiting to help Lev change, did the same. Only Lev, the Emperor’s consort, was different.

“Excuse me?”

Lev’s eyes met the Emperor’s, full of absurd disbelief. Since when had you and I “seen enough”? That was exactly what it meant.

“But I ought to respect you. Well then, is that enough?”

Guien, still wearing that mischievous smile, closed his eyes. In other words, he wasn’t going to move aside.

“Your Majesty.”

Lev called desperately, but Guien didn’t budge.

“Hurry and dress. If I get bored, I might open my eyes.”

He even threatened him. Drag it out, and in the end, it would only hurt Lev.

Lev hurried to change. He was so flustered that he misbuttoned his shirt and one side sat crooked, but he didn’t even notice.

No sooner had he somehow finished dressing and turned toward the bed than his face filled with dismay. At some point Guien had opened his eyes and was smiling again.

‘Did you see? Did you see?’

As Lev’s face flushed deeper with confusion…

“Come here.”

The Emperor crooked a haughty finger. The distance was not even five steps, and yet it felt impossibly far.

Lev lifted feet that felt like lumps of iron and slowly approached the bed. He tried not to show his nerves, but when do things ever go one’s way.

Unfortunately, Lev’s expression had gone stiff in a way anyone could see. There was no way the Emperor, who hadn’t taken his eyes off him, would miss it. Guien’s mouth curled even higher than before.

But whether it was fortunate or not, Lev, his gaze cast down in embarrassment, didn’t see it.

Before he knew it, they were close enough to touch if either stretched out an arm. Lev was still looking at the floor, where he saw the Emperor’s bare feet in silk slippers. The slightly exposed insteps were white, with blue veins standing clear.

That was all, and yet even that made him swallow dryly, for reasons he didn’t understand himself.

Then Guien, who had been sitting and waiting, suddenly rose.

“Gah!”

Completely unprepared, Lev gulped and stepped back. His head rose on its own. The Emperor was standing.

Guien slipped off his slippers and climbed up onto the bed. Then he sent a look that said, Get up here too, now.

It wasn’t a mistake. Seated on the bed, Guien even lifted one side of the quilt.

Lev, hesitating, took off his shoes and set one knee on the bed. It sank with a soft, plush feeling.

‘Is that how it usually feels?’

He should have gotten used to it in the past few days, but today it bothered him especially. Of course, the reason was right before his eyes.

A preternaturally beautiful person waiting for him on a bed.

‘Is this a dream or reality?’

“That lively… so you’re not tired, I see. Why, do you want to do something else?”

The statue-like man—no, the Emperor—asked Lev, who was dawdling. His tone was calm, but somehow the content felt like a threat.

“Something else?”

“What else is there to do on a bed at this hour?”

Only then did Lev grasp what he meant, and he stared at the Emperor in shock. The eyes looking at him seemed perfectly earnest, without a speck of deceit.

“No! I’m fine.”

Lev, horrified, hurriedly climbed onto the bed and lay on his back. It was wonderfully soft, but the person right beside him made it impossible to ignore.

Worse, the page had, in the name of letting them rest, extinguished the remaining lamp, and the Emperor’s presence only grew.

The quiet of his breathing, the faint warmth reaching over, even the slight rustle—all of it set Lev on edge, while the side next to him was quiet.

‘What, am I the only one nervous?’

Just as Lev, feeling unjustly put upon, was about to turn his head…

“Did the lord use his son as a servant?”

“Huh—yes?”

He could have sworn he was asleep, but apparently not. Startled by the sudden words, Lev blurted something between plain and polite speech.

Fortunately, the Emperor didn’t seem to notice.

“You said you’ve done it all—restaurant work, garden maintenance, carriage washing, cleaning, and so on?”

Only then did Lev remember the question the Emperor had asked him.

“That could never be. I was cherished and loved.”

Of course, that wasn’t about Lee Jun, who had possessed Lev, but surely it had been so.

In fact, the lord’s reputation wasn’t bad. He was kind in his way, moderately fair, and not overly greedy.

And the family got along fairly well. Even after losing his wife early, he played a fairly loving father to his children.

Admittedly, once grown, none of his children seemed to do much of anything.

“Really?”

And yet he worked like that? The lord’s son?

Guien spoke only that short reply, but somehow Lev could hear the words within it.

“As Your Majesty knows, our family’s situation wasn’t very good. I tried anything that might help at home.”

“Since when?”

Well. What should he say that wouldn’t sound odd. Lev hesitated only briefly.

Back when he was Lee Jun, he had earned money doing odd jobs from seven on, but here he had at least been a lord’s son.

“Thir… teen?”

“You say you were a beloved son. They made you work from thirteen?”

“Uh…”

For some reason the Emperor’s voice sounded a bit cold. Lev, who had even padded the age a little, felt embarrassed again. At that age he had already been sweeping at the orphanage.

Even if not that, at about that age he should have been performing the roles assigned him at school as well. There was a reason you had class monitors and cleaning duty.

Thinking that far, he came to conclude the Emperor was simply in a peevish mood.

“Well, I hear that the pages and maids who work in this palace enter at ten to be trained.”

Earlier, some even entered at five or six.

“That’s investment in their own future. You were just exploited.”

Exploited, really?

And yet it didn’t feel bad to hear the Emperor say so.

What to call it—the ticklish sensation of someone declaring unjust what everyone had always taken for granted.

“For someone who had a hard time, you played hard to get.”

Played hard to get, my foot.

“No matter how difficult a situation, who would jump at such an offer.”

“The Emperor’s consort. Refuse that? What kind of idiot would?”

Suddenly made the idiot, Lev felt a surge of anger but settled for grumbling in silence.

He’s the Emperor. I’m the consort. I can’t mouth off to the Emperor. But even if he is the Emperor… knowing the outcome, how could I meekly obey.

“Even if not an idiot, if you value your life, you wouldn’t.”

Oops. He shouldn’t have said that. Lev belatedly regretted it and sneaked a look to the side.

It was clearly dark, and yet for some reason he felt the Emperor was looking at him. No, it wasn’t a mistake. Even in the dark he could feel that keen gaze.

“Value your life? Pointless fretting.”

Lev answered with a bitter smile. To the Emperor, the words and deeds he’d directed at Lev seemed to count for little.

But not to Lev. He’d been threatened that his family would be killed; over a found button he’d almost lost his wrist.

And not only that. For stepping out with a page to the garden, he was now in a position where he had to get permission every time he left his room.

“Don’t worry and sleep. As long as you’re my consort, I’ll protect you. You’re the one who asked me to spare your life, aren’t you?”

Perhaps taking Lev’s silence for something else, the Emperor spoke offhandedly. If that wasn’t giving the sickness and then the cure.

Lev grumbled inwardly and, deciding to just sleep, quickly shut his eyes.

Thankfully, drowsiness soon washed over him. Just as he was sinking below the surface of sleep…

He thought he heard a small laugh beside him.

‘What… why are you laughing?’

He was curious. But under the heavy tide of sleep, the curiosity was swept away like a wave and vanished.

Guien quietly gazed at the face sleeping with light snores. Fearless, or should one say bold.

“Honestly…”

Honestly, what should one call him. After a moment’s thought, Guien mischievously pinched the sleeping man’s nose. Even in sleep, Lev’s eyelids twitched in discomfort.

As if he had done nothing at all, Guien quickly lay down beside him and closed his eyes. Presently, in the dark room, only the two men’s quiet breathing could be heard.