Last Part (3) : Always Be With You

How long has it been?

A stream of tears gradually stopped flowing from her eyes, and the trembling body gradually regained stability.

Only then did she realize that she was sobbing in his arms. 

Tia wiped away her wet eyes and catching with her breath, Ruve who patting her back when since she was crying said in a low voice.

“……are you all right now?”

“Yes, yes, Your Majesty.”

“I thought you had already known it for a long time……… Even though I know your father kept the principle, you went through so many things, but he still didn’t tell you about it to the end.”

“Sorry… but what do you mean by the principle?”

“Well, the existence of this immunity should be known by only two people. The head of the Monique family and the emperor at that time. I also came to know about it only after I rose to the throne,”

Ruve gently swept her back when he answered with hesitation.

“Do you remember that I told you? When I was a kid, I was scolded very hard by your mother”

“Yes, I remember.”

That story was from a long time ago, but she still remembered their conversation vividly. It was not easy to forget the feelings of those days when she was grateful for the unexpected comfort from him.

One day shortly after Jieun appeared in the empire. When she felt really depressed because she was forced to be the crown prince’s concubine and her mother’s birth, which was unexpectedly revealed. He told her about his memories with her mother instead of blaming her.

He said her mother was a great woman, bright and warm, and strong enough to scold him who was a crown prince. Then he explained why he was scolded.

Suddenly Tia raised her head and looked up at him because something flashed across her mind.

“Then, was this the thing you told me you took out secretly?”

“Yes, it was. At the time, it was just a decoration, so I never thought it would be such a meaningful item. You don’t know how surprised I was when find out the truth afterwards. Come to think of it, your father is a great man. I can’t believe he keep such an important thing carelessly?”

“Well, I hear that the more precious things are, the more carelessly people should treat them. Maybe that’s why he maintained it without much caution. I think he was stunned when he heard that you almost took it. So, I think that’s why he kept it here after that.”

She spoke to him with a gentle smile, and Ruve nodded lightly, and said with mixed feelings, 

“But Tia, it……you’re gonna keep it?”

“Well, I don’t know. I think it’s better to keep it here because it’s my family’s stuff, but if I think about my father’s will, I think I should keep it personally…”

“Wouldn’t it be better for you to leave it here for its security? It seems like this is a secret space can only being accessed only by the head of the family and its successor I think it’s a secret space where only you can come in.”

“That’s true. Then let me leave it here, well.”

Tia took it lightly and put the red jade stick and parchment into the box and closed the lid.

When the letters on the cogwheel were jumbled up like the first time, she put the box down to its original position. Then Ruve reached out to her as if he had been waiting.

She was a bit puzzled with his unnatural attitude somewhere, but she holding his hand without a word and walked out of the secret place. 

When she closed the door disguised as a wall and lowered the tapestry, the office was restored to its original interior.

Tidying her father’s belongings finely on the desk, Tia looked around the room for the last time before going out and closed the door quietly. 

Walking in the quiet hallway, she suddenly came to recall a special memory about her father

When she opened that door over there, Keiran would welcome her with the unique smell of books.

While he was reading a book, she used to brew tea for him with a throbbing heart. And the memories of them smiling face to face with relief after he said her tea tasted good filled her heart.

All those memories came back to her aching heart while she walked along the hallway.

On a sleepless night, his big hand patted her until she fall asleep and he will gave a good night kiss on her forehead carefully.

His soft touch that stroked her hair, and his low voice spoke to her sweetly all the time. His navy blue eyes looked sometimes icy, and sometimes affectionately…and his e broad embrace that has always been a strong fence for her.

She walked through the spacious hallway and buried all those dear memories of her father in her heart. 

All those days when I shared joy and sorrow , crying, laughing, tired, and happy with him now became a distant memory. 

It’s been quite a while since his funeral took place, and it’s only now that she can let her father rest in peace.

……

< Father….are you happy there ?

Are you having a good time with mother who you missed all the time?

Then I won’t be sad anymore.  Although I can’t let you go in a happy heart as you wished.

 Although i miss your face that I’ll never see again, but I won’t cry.

So, Father…, please don’t worry about me now and be happy with  mother there.

Until the day we meet again, I will also live happily.>

……

Tia walk silently with a heavy heart, and suddenly the red light  shining across on the other side of the hallway.

A red glow was pouring into the mansion through the open balcony with the approach of sunset.

“Is your mind calm now ?” Ruve who walked silently the whole time  stopped in front of the balcony.

Did he feel the same way? 

She stood side by side on the balcony with him and looked at the evening sun slowly setting. A red sky gradually getting dark with the sunset’s glow.

The shadow of the mansion looked black against the sunset, and the gloomy and subdued air peculiar to the sunset.

Somehow, when Tia was silent in a solemn mood, she suddenly felt he interlocked his fingers with hers gently.

She turned her head and looked up at him, felt his warmth flowing down in her palm. 

She could see his lips turned red in the sunset

“Tia.”

“Yes, Ruve”

“The truth is. When I saw that thing earlier…… to be honest, I felt a little scared….”

“Really? Why?”

“From the day I found out the identity of the box, I always afraid that I might see it again.”

“Ah…”

<So that’s why he’s been looking like that all along? We’re bound by a blood oath, so it won’t be happen, but he’s afraid that I might use the immunity right to leave him and the imperial family?>

“But when I see that again after so many years. I had so many thoughts in a short moment.”

“Really? What kind of thought?”

“When I first found the rod, we were on good terms, but a lot of things have happened since then. We hated and feared each other for a long time and we walked on a parallel line for a long time. We hurted countless times by unruly feelings. I couldn’t sleep at night, trying to soothe the pain……. now I can speak like this because it’s now a thing of the past. But that time was a very difficult for both us right?”

“Yes, it was.”

“Thank you, Tia,  after overcoming so many difficulties and so much fear, you come and living with me like this. Without you, I’d just be the emperor, and I wouldn’t have lived my life as a man. Thank you so much for giving me a decent life as a human.”

The sudden wind blew his blue hair. Looking at the black in the dusk that had begun to fall, she whispered in her mind. 

<‘That’s the same for me. If he had not been considerate enough to accept and care for me who was trying to avoid him because of my painful memories, I would have remained as  Aristia, the abandoned empress, and  wouldn’t have become Aristia, the beloved empress like now.’>

The sunset conjure up the images of the two children standing together in the dark garden. 

A silver-haired girl with a bright smile and a blue-haired boy who saw her the smile with a complex expression.

Tia don’t remember exactly what happened between them as a child at that time. But the scene, which  she’s imagined a long time ago with a bitter look, was now beautifully colored with just one memory. 

Come to think of it, she once saw him standing on this spot in the garden like what he’s doing right now.

Suddenly, Tia remembered her conversation with Sir League a long time ago, but she shrugged it off with a light smile.

What does it matter if they find out the answer now?

They already went through ups and downs through many years and finally stood here together  on the same spot.

Looking at the same place, holding hands like this, breaking away from the past when they’re hurt each other terribly.

Tia looked up at him and tightening her grip on his hand, and he stopped looking straight and slowly turned back at her.

She was captured by his sea-colored-eyes that shining brightly all alone in the darkness.

“Tia, you…….”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Will you be with me forever in the future?”

“…yes, Ruve, i will.”

“Always…..?”

“Always, forever…..”

When she answered with a tearful voice, Ruve pulled her hand together, and locked her in his arms.

His arms have been a strong fence for her since a long time ago.

Tia smiled brightly at the man she loved.

Only the setting sun,  shining over them brightly

***

The End

*A Beautiful Bitter-Sweet Ending*