prolog

Gently curved black hair was overflowing with the wind. Dark and thick black eyelashes cast deep enough to shadow the cheeks.

Like this.

Asuka, who was watching his opponent put down the teacup, smiled subtly.

How long are we supposed to continue this war of attrition?

I don't mean anything to him or to him.

In line with the teacup that the opponent had put down, the teacup was removed from Asuka's lips and placed on a crystal-sculpted table. Once again, the hot wind swept through his body.

The woman in front of me pressed Chadore deeper.

"Your Majesty has a bad smell.』

"What do you mean bad taste?"

『굳이 이곳까지 차를 마시자 부르셔서 왔더니 이런 모래바람 부는 곳에서 차라뇨.』

Apparently, the tone of voice with deep criticism of him was self-righteous. The camel-like black eyes seemed docile at first glance, but Asuka knew well that she was not easy. She is the seventh daughter of her uncle.

"Don't you like this place?』

Asuka asked with a gentle smile.

"I don't like it or not. At least on a windy day like this, I'm asking if tea time indoors would be better.』

I was well aware that my uncle was embarrassed by this seventh daughter. In rare cases, he spits out all the words he has in his heart. Asuka said, thinking that he was good at passing on such a tomboy to himself.

"So what? "

"……What?"

"Don't you like me?』

The words suddenly silenced the woman.

What I hate is the sand in this teacup. It's not that I don't like you.』

It was unexpected. I thought you would say no. Asuka's eyebrow crept up.

"The evidence has not diminished your tea. I'm the only one who chewed on a grain of sand.』

The woman squinted at Asuka. As she said, he only touched the teacup, never swallowed it.

"Oh, my God, you've been caught.』

He had a bitter smile. I tried not to make it obvious, but the woman was sharp.

"I understand, maybe it's poisoned.』

I wouldn't have poisoned her if I didn't mean to kill her, but this was a habit. He was a suspicious and chronic disease since he ascended to the Sultan's seat. In fact, I was addicted to poison and almost died recently.

It's been centuries and it's still poison. I was going to say at the National Assembly that it would be better to hire an assassin as in Ashan.

"Gory old men.』

"What? "

"It's nothing. Thank you, by the way. If it wasn't for the queen, I might really be dead.』

The word "Queen" still stuck in my mouth. It was a political marriage. It's been a long time since I've seen her since I got married. It was the first time she asked her to meet first, so Asuka chose this place where there was no one. The people of this palace were still loyal to Ashan. His tight mouths were more reliable than those of his palace.

He decided to meet the queen not long ago because she warned that Asuka, now a sultan, was poisoned in a cheong she put in. It would have been pretty hard to find if you hadn't told me what poison it was.

"I'm glad it helped.』

After all, you prefer the most classic one. The poison he ate was a poison that caused him to suffer and die after years of ingestion. I can only describe it as a stroke of luck to discover it in the middle. For now, I kept pretending to eat poison. It did not identify the criminal. I thought perhaps he was one of the relatives who found it useless."Shall we get up now?』

Asuka rose from his seat.

"Your Majesty.

She didn't open her mouth easily. This meaningless time has slowly become boring.

"Tell me.』

"Your Majesty has never given me an eye.』

"Didn't you agree with that?』

Why are we bringing up such a boring story now? Asuka looked at his rain with a cold face.

"Tell me that I'm addicted, that I've saved my life, but there's a condition?』

"You can't do that?』

He's the one who used to look down on me when I bumped into him. Asuka suddenly realized. It was both that ended up being scapegoats, the fact that he neglected a woman too close to his eyes. Realizing that, Asuka sighed heavily.

Not once did I listen to a woman properly. No, she was as good as he wasn't. We didn't even make eye contact with each other except for official events.

She was just a woman who was beaten as a wife when his father was alive before climbing to the Sultan's seat. Ashan declared that he would leave the country after inheriting the legacy of the sultan of the former, and he rose to the sultan's position without inheriting anything. His uncle supported him, who had his daughter as his wife. Their marriage started so politically.

But I was going to try to warm up. On the first night, if he had not seen grudging eyes when he entered the bedroom, who had an obligation to hold her in.

Asuka no longer asked when she said she had a separate loved one. Even if she was stabbed to death on the spot, she could not be hugged by her husband. And he no longer paid attention to his wife.

"At first, I told you. You have two choices.』

The woman bit her lips as if she remembered what happened then. They were the perfect couple in front of others. However, they knew all the way to their side, or even the senate. The fact that Asuka hasn't been looking for a queen since the first night.

Have you changed your mind?』

When I first met her, Asuka said she couldn't do anything. I'll be a husband who can't do anything for me even if he wants anything. In fact, I couldn't protect her even if she was screamed at his unstable position. And he had no intention of rectifying that precarious position.

"I just wanted to ask if that appointment is still valid.』

Eventually, the woman opened her mouth carefully. Tears are about to fall from the big eyes. She must have been so pitiful.

Asuka swallowed the horse inside. After Ashan took over all ownership of the oil field of the sultan of the National Convention, the country literally turned upside down. Blame and attacks largely on Asuka. The ownership of the oil field that the Sultan had was enormous, but the ownership of the oil field that his relatives had was also enormous. Even if Ashan took the oil field, it would be a slap in the face for them, but it wasn't a sustained blow. It's just that they have a stomachache that 'foreigner' Ashan, who they've been trying to kill, has acquired an astronomical oil field.

They showed after Asuka became a Sultan that Ashan must have wanted to prevent ownership of the oil field from being transferred rather than eventually becoming a Sultan. Some even said that the government should use force to steal all of its oil fields from Ashan.Asuka, who opened his eyes and lost his inheritance to Ashan, was a scarecrow to them and a young man who did not deserve the Sultan. So now you're even thinking of removing it.

"Go ahead.』

Asuka smiled coolly and said. After Ashan left, and Seo-yoon left, no matter what he did, it became boring. It was longer for Asuka to spend time in this villa with Ashans than in the main palace. Many people see it with their eyes that they don't like it either. The palace was built to keep Ashan locked up.

Surely it is anticipated what the Sultan's presence here would look like to them.

It's more fun to ask people not to do it. You want to go further.

At first, Asuka was sincerely worried about the blood pressure of the elders who ran like bees and nitpicked one by one, but now he wanted to beg them to fall down with that blood pressure.

A bitter smile came out when the story of the woman who carried on quietly and quietly ended.

"Please sleep with me.』

The last thing I said was that.

"Is that really what you want?』

I understood the woman's desire to solve this problem as soon as possible. But it's too fast.

"Even your life could be in danger.』

"I'm ready for everything.』

The black eyes glistened dimly. At least the woman looked stronger than herself. She was a good shield for him. A woman who can be a shield for her uncle, who can keep her distance without hiding her situation.

"Come here.』

He reached out his hand.

I wanted to take off the chador and see her face. I wondered what kind of expression he had when his blurred eyes became clear at the moment.

"I know what you're up against. I know that I'm shameless right now. But it's hard anymore. Please, so...….』

The woman's voice became lower. Asuka raised one hand and stepped back as he looked around.

Neither she nor this woman has a grain of affection for each other. There's also a price to pay if you said you'd protect him. Asuka has truly become interesting in this situation.

………I'm...』

After hearing the woman's conditions, Asuka swept her smooth chin, shaved in the morning with her fingers.

Asuka's eyes turned to somewhere in the desolate desert.

Just as Ashan did, stared for a while like a long-cherished seeker for something in the desolate place.

"What are you going to do?』

She's such a short-tempered woman.

Asuka swallowed a laugh inside. And wrapped around her shoulder.

I don't stop the woman who comes, I don't catch the woman who goes. His life was all about being swayed around like water and alcohol. Such a life ended when he married. I didn't have any more women around.

Even if I thought I swallowed it inside, I was forced to smile on my face was drawn on my face.

"You're such a smile, aren't you?』

He is objectively really handsome. A woman has had several chances to see him since she was a child. He was remembered as a man who smiled brightly like the sun and was cheerful. But at some point he didn't laugh. When I could only smile a little, my cousin Ashan left for a faraway country. And then all the time he had to do was smile weakly, as if he had made it. Then he burst into laughter now, really funny."It's been a while since I've had a little fun.』

Asuka laughed once again. The smile reminded me of an old cheerful man, and the woman laughed a little bit together.

The fingertips of the woman holding the hand he held out were shaking.

"Are you nervous?"

The words gave a weak boost to the hand that held him. It was telling a woman's will. Asuka suddenly spoke in a non-smile voice, beckoning a nearby servant.

"Let's go to my bedroom. Now, I need to take you.』

It's been three years since I married her.

That day, the door to the shrine opened for the second time.