I can’t sleep.

Leonhardt tossed and turned on the wide bed for a long time, and finally got up.

In order not to disturb the prince’s nap, everyone had retreated.

The quiet bedroom with no servants around him was a little unfamiliar.

Leonhardt crossed his arms and fell into troubling thought.

Why have I been so indifferent to the Empress?

It was a question that had been ingrained in his heart for several days.

He looked back on how many times he had met her before her first wedding.

Once when he was a young child and acquainted her for the first time as her fiancée, once when he was a little older and they were formally engaged at the cathedral, and once when he had become a full-grown adult and married her as the Crown Prince.

After that, the only moment he met her outside of her imperial court back then was when he had become the emperor and crowned her  as his empress.

Then Leonhardt recalled the impression he had from Elizabeth each time.

She was…

She was like a well-made, elaborate doll.

He remembered feeling chills crawling onto his spine when he saw that she was able to do her job perfectly as the Crown Prince’s fiancee, the Crown Princess, and the Empress with a beautiful but somewhat unnatural smile, even when no one asked her to do it.

Didn’t people say that seeing a doll that is too well-made would give one goosebumps and a sense of resistance? He just felt that way.

His faint but unpleasant feeling towards the perfect doll grew darker and more vivid with each encounter with her.

Thanks to this, he continued to regard her as a nuisance throughout their adulthood, and as a result, even with her as his empress, he never once acknowledged her… Wasn’t he utter garbage?

Leonhardt banged his head on the soft pillow just when he arrived at the conclusion.

He knew that it would not be enough even if he slammed his head to the wall, not just a pillow, but if he did, he might not be able to practice swordsmanship tomorrow morning.

That was not possible.

He regretted letting the Duke be even though he had wondered where that perfection came from, and ignored her for the rest of his life.

Leonhardt then lifted the pillow and started hitting it at his small head. Eventually, he was determined to dedicate his whole body, his whole life, to live only for Elizabeth’s happiness.

The first thing he wanted to do was to get all the high-heeled and corset out of her sight.

He wanted her to grow like a normal eight-year-old child who could run and play  in the flower garden freely and innocently like girls her age, and be loved by everyone.

The Duke of Elysium…

The Ducal family, rumored to have mixed angelic blood, was a family with a long history listed on the first page of the imperial genealogy as the family that produced the empress.

Although there was a slight difference from the Duke in his memory as there were side effects of turning back time, the Duke of Elysium now still looked like a man blinded by power and self-interest, corrupted as ever.

After a long period, when the blood of Elysium flowing through the members of the imperial family began to fade, they were trying to make their daughter an empress again.

She was the perfect empress, a doll that could carry out the duty as an empress silently and flawlessly even when she was treated like her existence was nothing, aside from that, she was a bridge to get those vicious people involved in the political affairs whenever they wanted to.

That is not going to happen!

Leonhardt clenched his fist as he made a plan with the highest probability of success for a ten-year-old Crown Prince.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth tilted her head as she read the Prince’s letter, which arrived in the late evening with her name on it. Difficult words were written all over it, and she also saw misspellings everywhere.

“Mother, what does this mean?”

[How has your helth been?]

[With love and worrys]

The Duchess of Elysium rubbed her forehead contemplatively.

“Love and worries…Perhaps he made a mistake when he tried to express his affection and concern for you. It is a polite expression used to ask how the other person is doing, so take this opportunity to memorise it. And I see that the Crown Prince cares about you a lot. But don’t ever be conceited! There are many beautiful women like flowers out there and you are just the prettiest of them all. Once a flower is picked, it withers. It’s not strange for him to find another flower, so don’t be proud of being loved by him now and keep yourself humble!”

“I will keep that in mind.”

The Duchess raised her voice, forgetting that her daughter was still too young to talk about the love life between men and women. Elizabeth just nodded her head gently.

“Do you want me to write him back?”

“It’s a document to an imperial member, so you know how to write it properly, right?”

“Yes, mother.”

Then she hurriedly went outside and closed the door.

Elizabeth fell asleep as she spent the whole night contemplating what kind of reply she should send.

***

Elizabeth’s day began with the imperial routine schedule.

When the emperor opens his eyes, she also opens hers. When the empress dressed herself up, she also tightened the corset and put on a gown. Breakfast was always alone, during which the Duke and Duchess were enjoying a leisurely late sleep.

But it was a little different today.

Just as she had finished dressing her, an imperial carriage arrived.

The Duke was still asleep at the time, but she could not leave the guest from the imperial family unattended, so Elizabeth, as the little host of the family, had to somehow buy time for her parents to prepare to welcome the guest.

‘Oh, what do I do?’

The large and heavy stone door opened and guests from the imperial family made their appearance.

The guests stood with their backs against the morning sun, so she could not see their faces, but only their shadows, it was as if they were wrapped with black veils.

Elizabeth bowed deeply to greet them out of courtesy. Even if these guests were not of the royal blood, they still served them, so she could at least do this much.

“Greetings from Elizabeth Isolde von Elysium, the eldest daughter of the Family of Elysium. Good morning.”

“…Where’s the Duke?”

It was the first that she had ever heard such a low and thick voice.

His voice was as sharp as a beast that had just woken from hibernation, with that, the terrified Elizabeth unknowingly took a step back.

“You have scared your daughter-in-law!”

The lady standing next to him gave him a light nudge.

The context was undefined, but it was a beautiful voice that was so elegant, perfect to every syllable of pronunciation.

“Lizzy, did you sleep well?”

And at the last voice she heard, Elizabeth was astonished that she almost fell back.

It was Leonhardt’s voice, it was the nostalgic voice of Leon whom she met in her dreams every night.

“Th…The…Em…Emperor!”

A shrill voice could be heard from behind her back.

Had there ever been a time when her father was so staggered like this? She did not think so.

When she turned, Elizabeth slipped on the high-heel and spun around as if she was dancing. As she was losing her balance, she fell into an embrace with the scent as that of the spring and the warmth as that of the sunlight.

“Your Majesty the Empress!”

Her father was rushing down the stairs, unaware that his Cravat was still loose. Following him, her mother also appeared with her long hair only half clipped up.

Elizabeth’s eyes widened even more.

Who would have thought that her mother, who was always a perfect, neat and elegant lady, like a glass doll herself, also had that kind of appearance!

Then, all of a sudden, Elizabeth belatedly realised the meaning of the phrases that had just escaped from her parents’ mouth and why Leonhardt was here, her face turned pale.

“Lizzy, Lizzy? Elizabeth!”

Eventually, Elizabeth fainted right before the emperor and the empress, her future father-in-law and mother-in-law.

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