The Saintess Returned to the Emperor’s Arms

Author: Chewyy

I’ll Be Happily Free

“Good morning, everyone!”

Early in the morning, Riela’s voice rang out brightly as she stepped into the dressing room, just like always.

The largest dressing room in the main palace, located on the second floor, was filled entirely with white.

White wedding shoes and white flower corsages.

A long, luxurious veil that covered the wide floor, and a dazzling wedding dress as well.

The maids, who had been crouching among the pure white, sparkling items fixing the outfits, quickly stood up and greeted Riela with bright smiles.

“Are you busy? I heard you just need to prepare the bouquet again.”

“Yes. But we’re checking once more in case we missed anything.”

“It’s good that everyone is working hard, but…”

There’s really no need to go that far.

There’s no way anything was “missed.”

The wedding had already been prepared for a long time.

The date had been set and postponed several times already.

During that time, the season changed, so the dress had to be remade for winter, and the bouquet also had to be prepared again with winter flowers.

And now, the wedding date has finally been confirmed again.

It was just ten days away.

“Ah, I can already picture the day Your Majesty wears this dress! How beautiful will you look?”

“Haven’t you said that more than ten times already?”

At that, Lou made an awkward expression, and Riela replied with a playful smile.

“I meant that I like hearing lots of compliments.”

Riela stepped closer to the dress hanging on the mannequin and gently touched its sparkling sleeve.

Even when she had tried it on herself, it had felt like something distant, like it wasn’t really her situation—but this time felt different.

‘Now it’s really the wedding…’

They had already exchanged vows long ago, and had been recognized as a married couple for quite some time.

‘Do people usually feel this nervous and excited?’

Riela blushed, filled with a pleasant flutter of anticipation.

* * *

After checking the bouquet, there was one last portrait session.

For the past few days, the painter Elias had strangely seemed more confident and proud than usual.

“Doesn’t it feel a bit strange, Your Majesty? Maybe he’s excited because today is the final session?”

At **Lou’s** tilted-head question, Riela also tilted her head.

“I’m not sure. It seems a bit too intense for just that.”

Riela tilted her head again.

The reception room, with all the curtains pulled open, was filled with clear winter sunlight.

Before sitting on the chair placed in front of the canvas, Riela, as if performing her own little ritual, walked toward the portrait hanging on the wall.

Looking at Yvonne’s bright smile shining from within the beautiful frame, she made a firm, cheerful promise.

I’ll be happily free today too, Mom.

“…?”

Just then, feeling a strong gaze, Riela turned her head and met eyes with the painter Elias.

He was looking at her with an extremely emotional expression.

‘What? Does he have something to say to me?’

Since their eyes had met, Riela spoke to him first.

“Painter. You see this person, right? It’s a portrait of my mother. She’s very beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Yes. That’s right. She is very beautiful.”

“Will you paint me like this too? With a bright smile, like my mother’s?”

Even though it was simply a request to paint her nicely, the painter nodded so vigorously that his head seemed like it might fall off, looking as if he might burst into tears from emotion.

‘What a strange person.’

Even as she thought that, Riela somehow felt pleased and returned to her spot with a smile.

While continuing the work, the painter suddenly set his brush down.

“Are you finished?”

“Yes. It is almost complete, but something feels missing… Ah! How about adding a necklace?”

“Huh? Ah, then what should I choose…?”

Before Riela could even react to the painter’s sudden suggestion, the maids quickly sprang into action.

They brought over entire boxes of accessories stacked in several tiers, each of them shining with eager eyes as they showed off their choices.

“This one suits you best, Your Majesty!”

“How about this diamond?”

It was right then that Herhan entered the room.

As soon as he stepped inside, as if it were only natural, the first thing he did was look for Riela.

And when their eyes met, he gently softened his gaze and gave her a charming smile.

He approached her, carrying sunlight that sparkled as brightly as a pleasant fragrance.

The most radiant man in the world—my man.

Riela stared at him, then suddenly felt shy, worried he might notice that she had fallen for him all over again, so she spoke first.

“Will Your Majesty choose my necklace? It’s going to be in the portrait.”

“Of course.”

Even though she said it out of nowhere, Herhan nodded as if he had been waiting for it.

He didn’t mind carefully looking through a lady’s jewelry box.

“How about this?”

Before Riela could even check the necklace, Herhan bent down.

‘…!’

His face passed so close, brushing past her lips and cheek, then moved all the way to behind her ear.

Click.

At the sound of him fastening the necklace himself—her heart skipped once.

“You were imagining something naughty, weren’t you?”

“N-no, I wasn’t.”

At his soft whisper that only she could hear, her heart started racing again.

“I was.”

The moment he said that, her face flushed bright red, and Herhan pulled away.

All the maids clapped and admired the necklace now hanging around Riela’s neck.

“Wow. It suits you so well.”

“The color is so clear and beautiful. It’s just like His Majesty’s eye color, isn’t it?”

Looking at the necklace Herhan had put on her through the mirror Lou held up, Riela paused for a moment, then let out a small laugh.

Herhan slightly lifted his chin proudly.

As if to say, *“I’ve got good taste, right?”*

Lou only realized the meaning behind the affectionate glances between them after suddenly looking at the portrait on the wall.

“Huh? Come to think of it, isn’t that necklace the same as the one the lady in that portrait is wearing?”

“That’s right. It’s something my mother left for me.”

Even so, she had never been able to wear it and had let it drift away for a long time.

Even after getting it back, for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to put it on.

But Herhan had put it on her so easily.

No—

Only Herhan could have done that.

‘Thank you, Your Majesty.’

When Riela mouthed the words, Herhan slightly frowned.

Her red, soft lips looked twice as pretty as usual, making him feel like he had to kiss her right away.

“Painter.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“How about taking a break for about an hour?”

“Pardon? Right now?”

It was Riela who was more surprised by the sudden dismissal.

“Why? Is something wrong, Your Majesty?”

“It’s nothing special.”

He didn’t say what he was really thinking—*that he just wanted to hold her alone for a while*—but the quick-witted maids already began preparing to leave.

Just as the painter hurriedly put down his brush to step out, Asion suddenly appeared with a bright, cheerful face.

“Your Majesty! The report from the temple has arrived!”

“I’m in the middle of—”

“Yes! I thought you’d want to check it right away, so I’ve prepared everything in the meeting room!”

“….”

Herhan clenched his teeth.

What he had been about to say was not *“I’ll go right away,”* but *“I’m busy right now.”*

“Asion. You…”

In the end, Herhan had no choice but to postpone his sweet time with Riela and step outside, clearly in a bad mood.

“Yes, Your Majesty. What is it?”

You’re the kind of guy who would drink poison for your lord without hesitation—so why is it so hard for you to learn a bit of awareness?

Herhan was about to scold Asion like that, but stopped himself.

If nagging would fix it, it would have been fixed already.

“Your Majesty. Did you want to say something?”

“No. It’s nothing.”

“….”

“For some reason, my shoulders hurt more than usual today.”

Having already achieved his revenge, Herhan walked past the now gloomy-looking Asion with light steps.

* * *

“It seems the reorganization is going steadily.”

After going through the entire report, Jess gave a brief evaluation.

Considering how strict he usually was with his judgments, that was very high praise.

That showed just how steadily Amelia had been putting the temple’s affairs in order.

“Especially this proposal written by Priest Amelia herself. It surprised me. I didn’t expect her to think this far.”

Jess tapped the proposal spread out on the table with his fingertips as he spoke.

The way he nodded made it seem like he was acknowledging her—like, *“Not bad.”*

The proposal contained a plan to newly establish a “supervisory body” within the temple.

Amelia pointed out that because the central temple had been run as a closed-off group, internal conflicts had formed and corruption had spread.

To stop that, she proposed appointing a firm and principled outsider as a supervisor.

It was a plan filled with Amelia’s honest and determined will to reform things.

“Well, the central temple doesn’t even have a High Priest right now. Priest Amelia can’t keep leading everything on her own forever.”

“But who would take that position?”

At Asion’s question, Jess also tilted his head and looked back at Amelia’s proposal.

The space where the supervisor’s name should be written was blank.

At the bottom, it only mentioned a plan to gather public opinion and recommendations from the international community.

“They call it a supervisor, but looking at the situation, isn’t this basically about bringing in an outsider to lead the temple? Who would willingly take on such a troublesome job?”

If it were a position that still held honor, maybe.

But right now, the temple was like a place that had been swept by flames—only the bare structure barely remained.

“Haah…”

That was exactly why Herhan had a headache.

It was as if the future was obvious.

Jess quickly understood what Herhan was thinking and pressed his own temple in the same way.

Still, Asion alone remained completely unaware.

Looking at him, Herhan gave a firm order.

“Asion. Don’t let Riela find out about this. Especially not before the wedding is safely over. Don’t even mention the word ‘temple’ in front of her.”

* * *

Even long after the portrait session ended, Herhan still hadn’t returned.

After waiting for him with her neck stretched out, Riela finally relaxed her stiff body and called Lou.

“It seems the meeting is taking a while. Shall we go take a walk by the lake palace for a change?”

“Sounds good, Your Majesty! It’s quite cold, so I’ll bring a thick shawl.”

And so, Riela set off on a peaceful walk to the lake palace with Lou and a few guards.

The weather had become quite chilly, but the lake wasn’t frozen solid yet.

“Ah, this feels nice.”

It would’ve been even better if His Majesty were here.

Lost in such thoughts as she walked, Riela suddenly stopped near the side where the embassy office window was.

The office inside, visible through the window, was dark.

Even though it was technically her office, it had always been a place where Iel worked alone.

Though it was still daytime, the inside looked dim and lonely. After staring for a moment, Riela decided to head into the embassy.

The staff, busy moving around in the lobby, were startled by Riela’s unexpected appearance.

“Greetings, Your Majesty the Empress!”

Riela smiled brightly, as if she had met old friends.

“Have you all been well? Today, I’m here as the ambassador.”

“Pardon?”

“You must have a lot of work piled up, right?”

At that, the staff made awkward expressions.

Riela was right.

Since Iel had been absent for some time, the embassy had practically been paralyzed.

“I’ll help—”

“No, it’s alright! How could we possibly give work to Your Majesty the Empress?”

“I’m just doing my own work. Before being Empress, I’m the ambassador of Riota.”

“B-but still…”

“I came because I want to work, so don’t worry about it. If there’s anything that needs approval, bring it to me. I’ll be in the office.”

“Ah… What should we do? Th-this is really fine, but if you insist…”

The staff exchanged uneasy glances, then gathered together to decide.

Let’s just show her the three most urgent documents!

Riela smiled at the sight of the staff hesitantly bringing in documents, looking extremely apologetic.

Then, her gaze drifted to the desk beside her.

She should probably tell them.

Riela looked at Iel’s empty desk for a moment, a bit lonely, then forced a bright tone.

“Sir El won’t be coming to work here anymore.”

“What? Really?”

“Yes.”

“Why…? Did something happen to the aide?”

“Well…”

Riela hesitated for a moment, then gave a bitter smile as she answered.

“It’s a personal matter.”

After cutting off further questions, she smiled brightly again.

She quickly reviewed the documents and handed them back after approving them.

“We’re looking for a suitable replacement, so please wait just a little longer until a decision is made. We’ll find someone even better than Sir El at the job—”

The office door opened.

And at that exact moment, an unexpected voice answered her.

“Where do you think you’ll find someone better than me at this job?”

* * *