Chapter 7 - When the Emperor Takes Notice

"Ugh..." Aristia opens her eyes. Her head is hurting, and her body is, too.

"Your Majesty, you're awake." Her maid, Mari, bows respectfully.

"What time is it?"

"About 4 o'clock, Your Highness. You are invited to dinner with The Sun and Prince Felix in 2 hours."

"Tsk. You're so polite now." Aristia scoffs and gets out of bed.

"I would like to humbly apologise for my behaviour so far..." Mari gets on her knees and bows lowly, and when Aristia doesn't say anything, she raises back to her feet and asks: "Would you like some soup before the dinner, or should I get you ready?

"I don't want anything. Call for Hyunjin."

She looks down and immediately notices the blood-stained gown.

"Wait, bring me something to change into first."

The maid follows her instructions and brings her a new dress and a damp cloth to wipe the blood off her skin, and then leaves again, returning with the doctor moments later, giving the Empress enough time to go to the bathroom and freshen up.

"I humbly salute the Moon of the Empire." Hyunjin bows respectfully. "How are you feeling, Your Majesty?"

"Hyunjin... I need help." She whispers, the façade that she's strong slowly slipping away from her expression. "The pain is unbearable..."

"We should've changed your bandages in the morning, but His Highness ordered us not to disturb you and let you rest instead..."

"That's fine. Just... please do it now." She turns around and begins taking off the dress.

Hyunjin grabs a chair and places it before the bed, instructing Aristia to sit down on her knees on the bed while he carefully takes the bandages off.

"You seem rather frail." He remarks while disinfecting the wounds again. "You should eat more, otherwise you might have trouble conceiving."

Aristia decides not to comment on this matter any further. It's not like she has any intention of conceiving. Chris doesn't care about her enough to bed her, and she can't remember the outcome of their conversation last night.

"How are my wounds?" She decides to ask instead.

"Most of them seem to be healing."

"They are really painful today."

"Some of them appear to have reopened. You ought to be more careful if you don't want to keep seeing me every day for the next few months." He replies, and Aristia starts to chuckle.

It doesn't take long for Hyunjin to fix her wounds, but he is more demanding of her maid regarding what she is to wear.

Nothing tight, no corsets, no harsh fabrics.

She's only allowed light garments made of silk, and she ends up looking like she stepped out of her room in a nightgown.

She is escorted by her usual guard, although Aristia remembers clearly asking Chris to give Changbin to her. It appears that he didn't care of her requests once again, which sends a slight pang through her heart.

Her guard is still unable to look her in the eyes.

Good. She thinks.

She continues walking towards the gardens and wonders why they couldn't have taken dinner elsewhere instead of in the greenhouse. The way to the gardens is not particularly long, but some of the court ladies' rooms are in the way, which inevitably means that she'd have to deal with them.

She raises her head and keeps walking, not wanting to entertain the ladies at all, but as she passes next to them, she suddenly feels her leg stop in something, and the next thing she knows, she's on the floor.

Her back starts burning immediately, and the crown falls off her head and rolls on the floor.

As if this is a joke, it stops right at the Emperor's feet, who picks it up and examines it for a few seconds before beginning to move towards the women, who haven't yet noticed his presence.

"Your Majesty!" Her useless guard exclaims, trying to help her stand back up, but it's hard to focus on his words when some of her wounds are probably reopened by now.

It hurts.

"Oh my! Your Highness! Are you able to stand?!" A woman asks, as if shocked. Aristia refuses any help and stands up on her own, dusting off her dress, listening to all the court ladies' laughs.

She then looks at the girl who most likely tripped her, and she recognises her.

What was her name again...?

Arabella...?

She can barely remember, as she hasn't thought of her in a long while.

"I'm fine. Thank you for your concern." Aristia replies blandly, without forcing herself to show an insincere smile this time. What point is there in any courtesy, when this girl just tripped her, and everyone else is laughing at her?

Immediately, all the court ladies stop their laughter and start bowing, and as she turns around, she sees Chris right behind her.

She bows her head shortly and thinks about how embarrassing she must've looked on the floor. Thankfully, the pain in her back seems to mostly keep her away from any further thoughts on the matter.

"What happened? Arabella?" Chris turns to the girl, and Aristia knows it's checkmate for her. She remembers clearly how infatuated with each other they both looked during her wedding night, the cunning smile Arabella gave her when she turned around, and the blush creeping in Chan's cheeks when she looked at him.

No matter what truly happened, he will trust Arabella's word over hers. She's also from a powerful family of the Empire, and she was supposed to be his bride.

"Her Majesty happened to trip, and we were just trying to help her." Arabella replies, and all the court ladies start nodding.

"Oh, is that so?" He looks at Aristia, who stays there expressionless. She doesn't agree nor disagree, for it doesn't matter. Saying anything would just make her lose more energy, so she keeps to herself.

He already believes Arabella, so why would she even try to-

"Because I've seen something completely different. You do know that for any affront to Her Highness the Empress, you could be executed, right?"

"Wh-what?" Arabella's eyes go wide, but Aristia's go even wider.

"However, you might be happy to know that Her Highness is a really kind woman. Thus, she would probably agree with me to not have you executed this time. Isn't that right, Aristia?"

"... Yes." She replies.

"Th-thank you." Arabella starts bowing respectfully, and all the court ladies are confused by Chan's demeanour. They all thought Arabella was his favourite, especially after talks of their marriage began spreading around the Capital sometime last year, before Aristia came in the picture.

"However," he starts again, "this is not something that can be overlooked, is it?" He turns his eyes to Aristia again, who just watches him in shock.

"Your Majesty-" Arabella tries to speak, but Chris cuts her off.

"You shall pack your bags and move to Count Eckard's estate. I hear he needs some help over there, and a lady as knowledgeable as you would surely make the South more prosperous."

Count Eckard?

Aristia tries to think where she's heard that name before.

This is a count living at the far south border, hundreds of kilometres away from here.

Chris is essentially banishing Arabella from the Capital... for her. The same Arabella, who's apparently lived her whole life here, with whom he shared intimate looks at their wedding.

Was it all in her head?

He turns to Aristia and places the crown steadily on her head, smiling at her.

"Let's go. Felix is waiting for us." He places a hand firmly on her back, and the contact immediately makes her wince. He is quick to notice and retract his hand, letting it hover a few centimetres in front of her back instead.

All of a sudden, he leans in, whispering in her ear.

"Biting your tongue back doesn't suit you."

And with that, they continue walking together to the gardens, with neither mentioning anything else about what just transpired.

~

The gardens are as beautiful as ever, and once they get there, Felix excitedly greets Aristia, who smiles back at him, and they engage in some pointless dialogue as the food is served.

Her back is still burning.

Everything smells delicious, and Aristia can already picture the taste her steak will have as it will melt in her mouth.

It looks that good, and she is so hungry, her stomach almost grumbles at the sight.

She cuts a piece of her steak and puts it in her mouth, but immediately, something is wrong.

She knows that some people still dislike her, that they wish she wouldn't have come here to marry Chris, that they still view her as an outsider, an enemy; however, she never expected them to show such outright disrespect right in front of the Emperor and the Prince.

Her steak is so salty, it is simply impossible to eat.

"How is the food? Delicious, no?" Felix asks excitedly, and Aristia smiles back and simply nods two times.

She takes a bite of the salad, hoping she can at least consume that, but to her dismay, even the salad has been tampered with: it has too much vinegar, making it too acidic and unpleasant on her taste buds.

She watches Felix and Chris eat their steaks and salads as they talk about politics, and since no one is paying any attention to her, she quietly places her fork and knife on the table and hopes she can excuse herself to her room quickly, to accept Mari's offer of serving her soup. She regrets not taking her up on it earlier. Some soup in her stomach would've made everything a bit better, perhaps.

The hunger is ravaging her stomach, her head hurts, and her back – God, her back is on fire.

She should've eaten something in the past few days. She should've-

"Is there something wrong with your meal?" Chris asks, pulling Aristia out of her thoughts. She didn't notice he began looking at her.

"No." She denies quickly, shaking her head, and begins lying through her teeth. "I just don't have an appetite."

"Aristia." He replies sternly, and Felix's face falters.

"Yes?"

"Hyunjin said you have to eat more. Please eat."

"Yes, sister. You're really frail. I mean, you look beautiful, but... I think it might be good for you to eat a bit more. You said you liked the food." Felix chimes in with a frown. He thinks he's helping, but he isn't realising how bad her food is tasting, and she doesn't want to say anything about it. People already hate her.

So, Aristia smiles briefly and reassures Felix that the food is great, and cuts another piece of steak, but as she lifts it to her mouth, she hesitates.

She doesn't want to eat it.

Is there any way around it? She wonders, looking at Chris and Felix, who are both watching her attentively.

She tries to hold her breath as she reluctantly puts the piece in her mouth, but as she chews it, she can't help but grimace. She wants to spit it out immediately but forces herself to swallow.

"You're lying to me." Chris starts. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not lying."

"Aristia."

"Nothing is wrong."

Aware that they're not going to get anywhere like this and slightly annoyed, Chris stands up and grabs her plate, taking the cutlery from her hands and cutting a piece of the steak.

He puts it in his mouth and immediately feels the salty taste, and he sees red.

"What's wrong, brother?" Felix asks, concerned.

"Tsk. Why are you forcing yourself to eat this trash?" Chris spits the steak in a napkin and turns to Aristia instead of answering Felix, and she shrugs.

"You made me."

He drops the cutlery on the table and signals to the maids outside to come.

"Yes, Your Highness." They bow.

"Call the chef immediately, as well as everyone else who served us the food."

In under 5 minutes, a bunch of people stand in front of the table with their eyes stuck to the floor.

Aristia's back hurts badly again. It shouldn't, after just getting bandaged 30 minutes ago, but the pain is stronger than ever.

Did my wounds rip open again when I fell?

"Your Highness, I swear on my life that my team and I did our best to prepare the most exquisite meal for you." The chef begins promptly in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Yeah? Taste this." Chris points to the plate, and as soon as the chef tastes it, he spits it out.

"Blasphemy. We would've never done this to sabotage Her Highness' meal." He shakes his head, and Chris nods.

"Then, let's see. Who did it?" He turns to all the maids and butlers, and none of them seem to want to fess up.

Chris notices one of the younger maids fidgeting, so he asks her to step out.

"What's your name?" He asks gently, and Aristia can't help but be impressed with how quickly he is able to change his tone depending on who he speaks with. The girl couldn't have been more than 13.

"It's Alice, Your Highness." She bows politely.

"What a beautiful name. Alice, I have a gut feeling that you know who did this to my wife's meal." He continues in the same gentle, encouraging tone.

"Your Highness..." she raises her gaze unsure.

"Go on." Chris smiles kindly. "You won't be punished for not speaking out earlier."

"It was..." She looks unsure from left to right, before letting out a big breath. "... Juliana. I saw her pour salt on the steak before serving the meal."

"What?! It wasn't me-" Another girl – Juliana – starts defending herself but shuts up when her eyes land on Chris. She bows apologetically.

"Thank you, Alice." He pats the young girl's left shoulder two times, before going to Juliana, who falls to her knees at his approach.

"Your Highness, please believe me!"

"You," he looks at one of the butlers, "go tell one of the guards outside to take her to the dungeon and execute her by tomorrow morning."

"Your Highness!" Juliana screams, moment when Aristia stands up and puts her hand on Chris' shoulder.

"There's no need for something so extreme." She smiles coldly. "It's just a meal."

"You are a member of the royal family. It's treason." Chris insists.

"I just have a different idea on how to punish her. May I?"

Chris looks in Aristia's eyes and sees that flicker once again. It makes him unable to say no to her when they are burning so bright with passion and interest.

"What do you suggest, then?"

"I want her to become one of my personal maids. That young girl, Alice, too."

Chris was expecting a lot of things, but not this.

"Thank you, thank you!" Juliana grabs Aristia's feet, but Aristia throws her a disgusted look for a brief second. The maid is quick to get back.

"... Fine. You're all dismissed. Chef, do prepare a new meal for the Empress." He nods with a sigh and turns around to go back to his seat, but he remembers that he should act more politely towards Aristia.

He turns around once more to help her to her seat, when he notices red flowers of misfortune blooming on her white gown.

"Aristia." He starts, concerned.

"Yes?"

"You're... bleeding." He says, and Felix immediately stands up.

"That would explain why it's so cold." She smiles weakly, before sitting down in her chair.

Chris grabs one of her hands immediately.

"What are you doing?" He frowns.

"Sitting down. You wanted me to eat."

"Sister, you should really take care of yourself more." Felix grabs her other hand and holds onto it tightly, his eyes glossy.

"I'm all right, Lix. It doesn't even hurt." She smiles, trying to reassure him, as Chris shakes his head.

"Let's get you back to your room." He takes off his coat and places it on her shoulders, hiding her back, and Aristia feels a foreign tightness in her chest at the sight of the Empire's golden emblems on her body.

"What about the meal?" Felix frowns. "She has to eat."

"Go tell the maids to bring it to her room."

Felix nods and almost runs outside as Chris begins guiding her back to her room.

"How much does it hurt?" He asks as soon as they're outside the greenhouse.

"A whole lot. Please call Hyunjin again."

"Aristia, when did this start?" Chan asks, truly concerned.

"What?"

"The mistreatment."

"Oh."

"Tell me."

"Ever since I came here." She shrugs.

"I wasn't... I wasn't aware of the extent of it. What did they do?" He grabs her arm and stops her from walking, looking into her eyes.

"Cold baths, old food, laughing behind my back, tripping me." She shrugs again. "It's fine. I was expecting things to be this way."

"It's not fine. You're their Empress. They should respect you. You should've come to me."

"Yeah?" She laughs bitterly.

"Of course. This is serious-"

"Chris, let's be honest, you didn't even want to grant me a library pass."

"Because I thought that you wanted intel on us..." He scratches his nape. "But this is different."

"To you, maybe. To me, though, it's the same, if not worse. They would treat me badly, but you forbade my access to the most important thing in my life. And I didn't trust you." She says, but quickly corrects herself. "I don't trust you."

Chris breathes in deeply and looks into her eyes.

"Aristia..."

"Besides, reporting everything back to you so you can punish them is not the way to get them on my side."

She starts walking again, signalling that she doesn't want to talk any more about it.

Approaching her room, she notices Mari chatting brightly with Alice, while Juliana sulks next to them with her arms crossed.

As soon as they notice the pair, they start bowing respectfully.

"Mari, go call Hyunjin." Chris commands, opening Aristia's door himself.

"What should we do, Your Highness?" The young girl, Alice, asks brightly.

"Just stay outside until Mari gets back with Hyunjin." Chris continues.

"Understood, Your Highness!" Alice bows lowly, while Juliana averts her gaze and does an awkward bow as well.

They walk inside and Chris closes the door behind them.

"Why are you still here?" Aristia asks with a raise of her left eyebrow.

"To make sure Hyunjin does his job right." Chan replies.

"He does."

"To make sure you eat this time."

"Just send someone else to watch me like a hawk if you want."

"What's wrong if I stay here?"

"You talk too much." Aristia answers, sitting down on the sofa without pressing her back against the cushions. It's already hurting enough.

"After how chatty you were last night, I didn't think you'd mind." Chris counters with a slight smile playing on his lips. "So many demands in one night are tiring to listen to, you know?"

"And yet, none of them have been met. It appears I wasted my breath." She shrugs while Chris plops himself down next to her.

The sofa is too small, Aristia notices. It's uncomfortable that their legs brush against each other, and she feels suffocated when Chris rests his arm on the backrest. It's like he's holding her, only without touching.

He turns his head around and talks softly, directly in her ear.

"All of your demands have been met."

Aristia's eyes go wide as she twists her body to face Chris properly. Their proximity is anxiety inducing, and she feels her heart skip a few beats.

"What do you mean?"

"You have a meeting scheduled for next week with my assistants, where you will have to choose one of them to teach you about the bookkeeping and the way they've been handling the budget, staff and the nobles up until now. See which one of them you click with better."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course." Chris smiles cunningly. There's something behind his smile that she can't put her finger on. "I gave you power... even today, in the greenhouse. I let you decide that maid's punishment, haven't I?"

"You didn't give me everything I asked for, though..."

Chris quirks an eyebrow, but his lips hold a prideful smirk, as if challenging her to keep going.

"You didn't give Changbin to me."

"With how badly you want him, one might think you're in love with him." Chris brings his face closer to Aristia, who doesn't move away one bit. Instead, she keeps her head high, looking straight into his eyes.

"So, what if I am?" She tilts her head, provoking Chris, and she would've better asked him for a duel, with how quickly his gaze darkened.

"You can't be serious." He replies immediately.

"What, are you afraid I might fall for someone?"

"Well, it's only natural. You're supposed to only have eyes for me. You're my wife."

"Your wife." She replies with a chuckle.

"I would be truly dejected if you searched for love somewhere else."

"It's not love I'm after, and it's not like I can find it anywhere here." She wears a fake smile, wanting to show Chris that despite his efforts of being close enough to her to feel his breath on her lips, she will not mistake what is between them.

Before Chris has a chance to reply, the doors open and Hyunjin steps through them in haste.

"Your Highness, did you call for me?" He asks as Aristia stands up from the sofa.

"Thank you for coming, Hyun." Chris answers before she has the chance to open her mouth. "There was a small incident earlier and her wounds opened back up."

"Again?" He frowns, and Aristia smiles sheepishly. "I just told you one hour ago to be more careful!"

"I'm sorry..." She heads towards the bed, not hesitating to take her gown off. She covers her breasts with her hands as she's done every time Hyunjin worked on her back.

Chris approaches the bed first, as Hyunjin is taking out his utensils, and whispers in her ear.

"You were pretty quick to undress in front of another man."

"Imagine that another man saw your wife naked more times than you did." She replies in a mocking tone, challenging Chris even further.

It seems she discovered a new twisted pleasure in annoying the Emperor.

He tongues his cheek and says quietly "This will simply have to change.", then heads to the sofa and waits for Hyunjin to treat her.

It's hard to keep the blush from creeping onto her cheeks, and she's happy Hyunjin only has to treat her back, and not her front, for he would have surely seen it.

~

(A/N) I'm sort of pissed off at Chan for being so ignorant so far, but what did you think about how he acted today?

Oop

Let me know!

Love,

Storm