38. Gifts I’ve never given (1)

“Can’t I be your ideal type?”

Stunned, So-hee blinked for a moment.

His right hand easily turned her face towards him when she tried to avoid his serious gaze.

“What kind of man is your ideal type?”

Answering him seemed to be the only way to get out of his powerful grip.

So-hee briefly threw her head back as she thought of a suitable answer.

After agonizing for a while, she eventually began to explain the type of celebrity she liked.

“I’m attracted to a kind of person who evoked a protective instinct in me. It makes me want to protect and care for him.” She finished.

Joshua glanced at her face and Sohee stared back at him.

He looked like he wanted her to explain further.

When she sensed that he wasn’t offended at all, Sohee completely let go.

“There was a famous actor I watched and adored from afar and he looked a little like Hugh. However, it was a thing of the past——-”

His red lips opened to cut her off.

“Wow! You even have two ideal types.” Joshua’s low voice broke out like a sigh as he pointed out unexpectedly.

Surprised, So-hee shook her hand.

“No, it’s not that——”

“All right.”

“What?”

“I understand.”

Joshua’s response was so obedient.

As he hugged Sohee, Joshua grabbed a bunch of papers on the table again.

Thanks to the tree he had cut off just recently, the sparrow hovered for a long time under the sun before it left.

So-hee, who was watching it over Joshua’s shoulder, sighed.

Hugh had gone to the battlefield  and it was highly probable that he would die.

The fact weighed heavily on her chest.

It wasn’t just because she was the author of this web novel.

As a compassionate human being, she couldn’t just leave it this way.

Therefore, she had to continue this uncomfortable conversation.

“Joshua, Are you aware that…” She paused, waiting for the crown prince to shift his glance at her.

“Those who live are the victors but the dead aren’t.”

His raven eyebrows shot up.

Even if he didn’t say anything more, he seemed to have already figured out what it meant.

“I really don’t have any feelings for Hugh. But if Hugh dies like this, I’ll never forget him. I’ll suffer from guilt for the rest of my life that he died because of me. Do you want that to happen?”

“Hugh Carlywood had already left for Montroll so just forget it.” He declared.

Nevertheless, So-hee insisted. “I know. I’m not telling you to pull him out of the battlefield this instant.  Can’t you just move him from there to a safer area?”

“Ariad. The battlefield is not a safe place.”

“I’m just asking you to change his location to a safer place.”

Joshua’s eyes turned to the papers again as if ignoring what she just said.

This time, So-hee’s hands suddenly approached his face to cup his cheeks.

Joshua could have avoided her touch but he merely looked at her frostily instead of ignoring her entire existence.

“Joshua, I can’t forget him if he died because of me.”

“….”

“The guilt will remain forever in my heart.”

She even glanced at her heart for emphasis.

As the strange silence ensued, So-hee foresaw success.

“Yes. I’ll just have to let him breathe for  a bit.” He replied.

That sounded ominous.

“You’re going to move him to a safer place, right? You’re going to do me a favor, aren’t you?”

Joshua’s fingers picked up a macaroon on the table despite her continuous barrage of questions.

After confirming what dessert So-hee liked, the macaroons were placed on her table day after day.

“Stop talking about him now.”

“Move him at the corner. Not the front line.”

All right.”

“Yes. That’s enough for me.”

Joshua inserted the sweet macaroon on Sohee’s lips.

He wanted her to shut up and eat.

* * *

The second schedule Mary had told her began.

The palace she just arrived at was much larger, although its splendor wasn’t much different from where the crown prince and the crown princess lived.

The light penetrating through the colored glass reflected on the white marble floor was iridescent red.

So-hee had stepped on the beautiful colors before arriving in front of the dining room with the maids’ guidance.

She couldn’t help but feel nervous knowing that Bianca McKinley hated Ariadne’s guts.

What did she want to tell her today?

A large door, engraved with gold patterns, opened just in time as Sohee took a deep breath to prepare herself.

She didn’t know anything about aristocratic etiquette but she greeted them with courtesy at least.

She was worried that she would get insulted for not being able to do basic things.

However, she didn’t hear nasty comments from the opposite side.

Her polite greeting was a success!

Satisfied with the elegant image she created, Sohee opened her mouth to speak but Bianca intercepted the first word.

“I received your birthday present well.”

So-hee’s heart began to flutter from relief.

A gift?

She couldn’t believe she got a gift that she had never given in the first place.

Come to think of it.

The Thanksgiving Festival and the Queen’s Birthday celebration were held last week.

She should have given the Empress a gift.

Unfortunately, the author, her daughter-in-law, had never even thought of it even for a moment.

So-hee smiled awkwardly from embarrassment.

Bianca smirked, her dark burgundy lips twinkling faintly under the light.

“I didn’t expect much from you because you said you weren’t feeling well, but you still didn’t forget to take care of me.”

“Oh. I hope you like it, Your Majesty.”

The corners of her mouth trembled when she told a lie without hesitation.

She was confused about what she received and who delivered it instead.

No longer considering the aristocrat’s etiquette, Sohee crammed the bread into her mouth in front of everyone.

She felt nothing but relief, thinking it would be better to be embarrassed for a while than to be hated despite the Empress claiming she had received a gift that Sohee had never given.

“The gift you gave me. Where did you get it?”

And, the mysterious conversation began.

What the hell was this gift she had been talking about?

What is it?