Ch158 - Side 2 - To you, far away (3) END

The Emperor could not hide the trembling of his hands as he hastily broke the seal and read the words Eugène had sent. The neat, familiar handwriting, so familiar that he felt he could imitate it himself, conveyed the longed-for proof of his survival.

‘To His Majesty, the Emperor’

Eugène’s letter began with that same blunt phrase as ever.

‘I woke suddenly in the dark of night and lay still for a time, then lit a candle and took up my pen. Though I write a letter every night without fail, it has been a very long time since I have written with the belief that I might truly be able to deliver these words to you.

I will speak plainly.

I am now returning to you.’

No matter how many times he read it, Ebroin V’s heart trembled each time his eyes fell upon that passage. This was the first time Eugène had said that he was returning not to the sea, but to him, to no one else but him. The sea was no longer Eugène’s home. Now, for Eugène, the place‘he had to return to’was the Emperor’s side, where he was being awaited.

‘Many things have happened in the meantime. I have cried, laughed, grown angry, and at times felt my heart ache. They are vivid memories, each moment astonishing and new. If you read the other letters enclosed with this one, Your Majesty will come to understand what has happened to me during this time. I have nothing further to add regarding those matters. Rather than belated explanations, the detailed records left at the time will be of far greater help in understanding.

Tomorrow, we will arrive at a nearby port. It will be a civilized city I set foot in again after a long while. Three months have passed since I last sent you a letter. It feels distant enough to be called remote. I still remember your scent. The gentle, beautiful smile you would wear as you quietly looked down at me each morning, and the mischievous laughter with which you would deliberately tease my chin just to see the expressions I disliked, I remember all of it. As time passed, more and more things about you came to mind. They were small, everyday details I did not even realize I remembered while always by your side. Only then did I realize how much I truly knew about you.

In truth, Your Majesty does not care for wine very much, do you? Each occasion to drink it proves rather troublesome. Instead, you secretly enjoy whisky, having it sealed and produced in small oak casks so that there is no need to go through the inconvenience of poison inspections. To relieve your fatigue, you enjoy bathing, and at such times, you remain immersed for thirty minutes at a stretch. That is likely the only moment when you allow yourself to waste time without purpose.

Did you know this? When you are completely at ease, you hum softly to yourself. The tune you hum most often is a lullaby sung by mothers to their children at bedtime. I know that this is the finest legacy the Late Empress Mother left to you. You were raised properly, with earnest love. Because of that, you grew into a person of steady and balanced character. For the empire, what greater blessing could there be than that? One need only look at the case of Shaak to imagine what kind of disaster would unfold if a ruler as intelligent and meticulous as you possessed a corrupted nature. That someone as ordinary as I gained the love of a person like you may indeed be a fortune, as people say.

But I refuse to dismiss your existence as mere luck.

I believe I cannot live contentedly, accepting one-sided care while being satisfied only with your love.

As deeply as you cherish me, so deeply do I love you. Though the manner of expression may differ, you are the only one in my life whom I can adore with such depth. I cannot turn away from the things I am able to do for you, even if those actions cause you disappointment.

You will remain a great Emperor. Not only to me, not only to the people of this era of the empire. But to all who come to know history, you will be a wise ruler whom they cannot help but praise and love.

Your Majesty, I am a person of great desire. Just as you wish to place only the finest things into my hands, I harbor the same desire toward you. It is for that reason that I wish not merely to return my own love, but to bestow upon you a greater love and greater glory. For that is the greatest gift I can offer you.

My beloved Majesty. My Ebroin.

I am now returning to you. I am also bringing with me a small gift that I may give you.

It is not yet enough to satisfy me, but at last I possess an offering that I need not be ashamed to present to you. To accept your proposal without even a dowry would have been shameless. Only now am I qualified enough to respond to your proposal.

I will give you my answer after we meet face to face again. I do not believe you will be disappointed. I, too, have waited a very long time to be able to give such an answer.

To you, far away,

Your love.’

To you, far away,

Your love.

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The opinions of the nobles, who desperately urged him to reconsider for the sake of the empire’s dignity, were not without merit. However, the Emperor, who had always placed justification above all else, did not heed their pleas this time.

The Emperor overcame all opposition and saw the marriage through to the end. Knowing that if it were not resolved swiftly, the matter would be dragged out indefinitely, he made the decision all the more decisively. Eugène, aware that it was an unreasonable course, nonetheless followed his will in silence. He understood the Emperor’s wish to keep him by his side in a legitimate manner.

It was the only time, ever, that Ebroin V handled a matter of grave national importance purely out of personal desire.

When the marriage finally succeeded after many twists and turns, Ebroin V harbored the premature expectation that nothing but long happiness now remained for him. It was an uncharacteristically optimistic hope for someone usually so cool-headed and realistic, but could one really fault a man who had just become a newlywed for indulging in such an illusion?

…Yes. As one can tell from a careful reading of everything up to this point, all of this belongs to the past.

Several years later, Ebroin V once again lies alone in an empty bed, unable to sleep, passing his days in insomnia. His beloved spouse no longer remained by his side. All that was left to him were fleeting memories of incomparable happiness and the letters left behind by the one he loved.

“Are you still awake?”

Ebroin V, seated in a chair before the fireplace and indulging in every sort of gloomy self-pity, did not lift his head even at the voice that came from behind him. What kind of question was that? Solitary nights could be endured for a day or two, but had it not already been two full weeks?

During that long period, Eugène had taken his meals and lodging not at court but at the Ministry of the Navy, immersing himself in work. It was not because of any national emergency, nor because war had broken out. Simply put, annual taxes had flowed in along the trade routes secured by the empire, and the Ministry of the Navy tasked with overseeing them had become eye-wateringly busy.

Ordinarily, when adventurers discovered something new, they were entitled to claim one-tenth of what they found as their own. This was the golden rule policy consistently upheld by Ebroin V. However, the one who benefited most from that policy was not an ordinary adventurer, but Empress Eugène, who, from what might be called a once-in-a-generation fraudulent contract… no, rather from an investment that carried great risk and therefore yielded equally great returns, reaped staggering profits.

Eugène looked at the Emperor’s back in puzzlement when he received no answer despite having spoken, then noticed the letter in his hand and curved his lips into a wry smile. Through repeated experience, he knew this situation well. It was a kind of omen that Ebroin V was about to sulk at him.

“Are you reading the letters again?”

Eugène asked gently as he stretched out in the chair opposite the Emperor. As he sank into the cushioned seat, the stiffness in his limbs made their weariness newly apparent. He removed his shoes and placed his feet on the footrest. It was a posture no one would dare assume in the Emperor’s presence, but Eugène was the only person who possessed the right to do so before Ebroin V.

“What else am I to do, with my spouse not staying by my side? The nights are long, and there is nothing to occupy me, so I can only trace old memories.”

The Emperor’s most senior officials, and even those considered his closest confidants, such as Baron Bouilhet or Victor, would doubt their own eyes if they were to witness this scene. Eugène, however, accepted the sulking with practiced ease. Had it ended after a few days as usual, that would have been one thing, but this time it had dragged on for nearly a fortnight. Even by his own reckoning, it was somewhat excessive.

“There were too many matters requiring resolution, so I could not even take a brief walk and was confined to my office. I took my meals with my aides during meetings, and even slept in short snatches on a makeshift bed set up inside the Ministry of the Navy. It is not as though I was off enjoying myself away from Your Majesty’s side.”

“It seems you are still not fully aware of what position you occupy. When one who is no less than an Empress behaves so, how heavy a burden it must have placed upon those under your command?”

“Then what would you have me do? Though administrative matters are delegated to state officials, my share in the trade routes secured by the empire amounts to nearly twenty percent of the whole. As a result, without my signature, not a single matter related to those trade routes can be resolved. Your Majesty is well aware of that fact, are you not?”

The flames of the fireplace crackled pleasantly, their warmth beyond reproach, yet a faint tension began to circulate between the two seated before it. Still, both of them knew that this conversation would not escalate into a true quarrel.

Though he was making no effort to hide his hurt feelings, in truth, the Emperor could not be unaware that Eugène had not absented himself for trivial reasons. And Eugène, for his part, also knew that the Emperor was not merely reproaching him for the time they had been unable to spend together.

The Emperor had always disapproved of Eugène’s habit of immersing himself so completely in work that he neglected everything around him. Though the Emperor himself was a severe workaholic, he openly disliked seeing Eugène focus on work to the point of harming his own health. He would often say this bluntly.

“It is one thing because you are still young. But your body has been battered and broken on the battlefield, and you even once came back from the brink of death. I am constantly anxious, fearing something might go wrong, so on what grounds do you treat yourself this way? Whom do you intend to make suffer if you grow old and infirm?”

He spoke such words, genuinely concerned for Eugène’s health….

Upon hearing this, Eugène looked at the Emperor with a rather mischievous face.

“That is a rather hurtful remark. Are you suggesting that you would abandon me when I grow old and sick?”

“Huh? Why would you take my words that way?”

Ebroin V raised an eyebrow at Eugène’s teasing and looked at him.

“Is that not what you mean? I am fully prepared to care for Your Majesty when you grow old and ill and need someone to attend you. Yet you speak of it as if it were a tiresome and bothersome duty.”

“It is not tiresome or bothersome, but rather a heartbreaking and distressing matter. It would be as grievous for me as it would be for you. How am I to live if I let you go early? Simply look at what became of King Feldiner after Queen Gwyneth went before him.”

While conversing with Eugène, the Emperor suddenly noticed him unconsciously kneading his own thighs to relieve fatigue. After a moment’s thought, he pulled his chair closer and placed Eugène’s feet on his lap instead of the footrest.

Eugène, suddenly resting his ankles atop the Emperor’s noble thighs, was startled and adjusted his posture. Then, when the Emperor took hold of his ankles and gently rotated them side to side to loosen the muscles, Eugène’s eyes widened in surprise.

“…No, Your Majesty. There is really no need for this.”

“Your muscles are very stiff. Perhaps from not exercising lately. Now that I think about it, we have not sparred in some time, have we?”

“We have both been busy, so it seems nearly a month… Ah, no, it is fine. There is no need for Your Majesty to do this yourself.”

The Emperor rotated Eugène’s ankles a few times to check flexibility, then began kneading the backs of his calves as if loosening the muscles. Eugène’s body tensed further. The Emperor’s massage was unexpectedly skillful. Having received formal knightly training from Sir Gromanic, it was not surprising that he knew the method, but the practiced movements of his hands were astonishing to witness firsthand, no matter how much one had experienced them.

Though the fatigue in his muscles had certainly eased, receiving a massage directly from the Emperor himself, no one else, was overwhelmingly flattering, to the point of being burdensome. Eugène tried to pull his feet away from the Emperor’s lap, only to have them tugged even further, dragged along in a straight line. It was a good thing the chair he had been sitting in had armrests to hold onto; otherwise, he would have tumbled to the floor.

“Hngh… Your Majesty.”

The Emperor, seemingly annoyed at the constant interruption, pressed sharply on a pressure point in his calves. Startled by the sudden pain, Eugène let an unintentional cry escape his lips. Neither of them had intended this reaction, but that single, small sound instantly broke the dry, measured atmosphere that had prevailed until then.

“…Why that moan? Surely you are not doing this on purpose?”

The Emperor asked, low and grumbling. Though the question was brusque, his hands on Eugène’s ankles had already become persistently insistent. Eugène felt the strange, almost unsettling energy radiating from him and shook his head. Already exhausted from consecutive all-nighters, he could not fathom what this person was trying to do the moment they met eyes.

“What are you talking about? I am simply going to rest today. If I were to lay my head on the pillow right now, I could sleep like the dead. Ah, wait a moment, Your Majesty, that hurts—”

“That is such a hurtful thing to say. Winter nights are so long… Are you truly planning to fall asleep while leaving me all alone, so cruelly?

Winter nights? It was already past midnight. Eugène, staring into the Emperor’s ominous gaze, slowly backed away. But it was no use, as the Emperor advanced as much as he retreated.

The Emperor grabbed the ankle he had been holding as though it were a hostage, stopping his partner from fleeing, then wrapped that leg around his waist and lifted the back of the other knee to settle himself between Eugène’s legs. He gazed down at his lover with greedy eyes, meeting the startled look directed at him.

“From time to time, I thought there could be no one who moans as without allure as you… But it seems I was mistaken.”

“Pardon?”

“Damn it. This is all your fault. You starved me too long.”

After two weeks of being unable to touch the body of his beloved spouse, the Emperor pounced on him like a famished beast. Despite the absurd remarks of his partner, Eugène could not bring himself to push his lover away as he burrowed into his arms, and he let out a bitter smile upon realizing that the rest he had longed for was slipping away from him.

Given how things had come to this, he would not sleep a wink tonight. The Emperor was a shrewd man. If anyone owed him a debt, he made sure to collect not just the principal, but even the interest, like a cunning creditor.

The End.

T/N:…We have finally arrived at the end of this long journey, and frankly, I’msoemotional over letting this one go 🥹 I picked this novel up back in August of 2022, after falling wholly in love with the prose and characters, with the desire for it to reach an even wider audience and create a special place in many others’ hearts, just as it did mine. More than 3 years have passed since, and I would like to convey my utmost gratitude to all those who never failed to express their unwavering support and love for this novel, despite the many ups and downs. Thank you so, so much. I couldn’t have done this without you all.

Even though I was unable to reply to every comment made under each chapter, I cherished each and every one of them. Reading everyone’s thoughts and reactions to each chapter filled me with joy and motivated me to work harder. Once again, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all the love. Let’s now pray that this gets adapted to a webtoon and the author releases a special side story in commemoration 🙏 Until then, let’s meet again somewhere else~ Love you all, and take care 💗

P.S. If possible, I’d genuinely appreciate it if you could rate the novel and leave a review on NU (novelupdates) for others to see! ^_^ and join my discordserverif you would like to keep up with the other novels I’m translating!