"My Queen! There's an intruder who uses ice magic! The intruder froze a servant's legs! Aaah! It's scary! It's really so scary!"
"..."
"Aren't you scared, My Queen?"
Heinley was acting so dramatically, speaking with so much feigned fear and alarm, that it was becoming tiresome.
I glared at him, but Heinley didn't mind because he seemed to enjoy making fun of me.
"Queen, My Queen. What will we do if the fearsome ice mage shows up? My Queen, My Queen. Will you protect Heinley from the ice mage? I'm scared."
'He even pretends to speak like Rashta?'
"My baby, my baby, your mother is warm and cold at the same time."
Then he leaned close to my belly and whispered sweetly to our baby,
"My baby, your mother reads fairy tales full of dreams, hopes and love for you, but she is also able to freeze people alive if she doesn't like them."
I turned around to look at the clock on the wall. It had been half an hour since the palace doctor left.
'Enough is enough... I think I've been pretty patient with him.'
I got out of bed slowly and grabbed the pillow I was leaning on. Holding the pillow like a weapon, strengthening my grip on it, the desire to fight began to burn inside of me.
"Huh? Why do you hold the pillow like that, My Queen?"
Heinley, who had been distracted in making fun of me, stopped and asked in confusion.
'Is his naughty mind unable to guess what's in store for him?'
"My Queen?"
I swung the pillow to hit him.
"My Queen!"
Heinley was surprised, but he quickly stepped back to avoid the pillow, opened the door and ran out.
When I tried to chase after him with dignity, he was careful enough to turn back to close the door and flee just before my pillow caught up with him. As a result, the pillow crashed into the door with a loud thud.
I looked at the closed door angrily.
Since I was concerned about my reputation and honor as empress, I would never walk down the corridors swinging a pillow. Heinley knew my personality well. It was evident that he left my room so I couldn't chase after him.
"Your Majesty? What happened?"
"Are you all right?"
"Did you fall?"
As I took a deep breath to calm my anger, my ladies-in-waiting soon came to ask me from outside in an alarmed voice.
"I'm fine."
Once I opened the door, my ladies-in-waiting sighed with relief and looked at the pillow in my hand with curiosity.
"Your Majesty, why are you holding a pillow...?"
Rather than tell a lie, I shook my head and put the pillow back on the bed.
I didn't want the baby in my belly to misinterpret Heinley's words, so I would take some time later to explain what happened. This chapter's initial release occurred on the N0v3l-B1n site.
***
'What did I just see?'
Heinley wandered down the corridors deep in thought, unable to hide his surprise.
