Chapter 461 --461
Chapter 461: Chapter-461
"I know," Julian laughed, walking right up to the grand oak desk. "But I figured the Empress Regent wouldn’t arrest me for bringing her proper tea. I bribed the kitchen staff to use the imported leaves from the West. No plain hot water for you today."He set the silver tray down right on top of a stack of resolved provincial reports.
Then, with entirely unearned audacity, Julian hopped up and sat casually on the edge of the massive oak desk, crossing his ankles and leaning forward.
Elara stared at him.
Her mind instantly superimposed the image of Mahir from the night before—sweating, desperate, and entirely submissive—over the current image of Julian sitting in the exact same spot, swinging his legs like a boy without a care in the world.
With Mahir, she had felt nothing but physical friction.
But looking at Julian now, just sitting there and blowing the steam off his teacup, that heavy, suffocating warmth in her chest flared so intensely she almost had to check her pulse to ensure she wasn’t experiencing cardiac arrest.
’Hypothesis confirmed,’ Elara calculated, grasping at her logic like a lifeline. ’This is an isolated error code triggered strictly by his presence. It is completely irrational.’
"You look different today," Julian noted, taking a sip of his tea and watching her over the rim of the cup. His ice-blue eyes were incredibly perceptive. "Your shoulders are down. You don’t look like you’re about to declare war on a neighboring country. Did you actually get some sleep?"
Elara blinked. She ran her mental translation matrix, suppressing the clinical explanation of her physical maintenance.
"Yes," Elara said, the simple words feeling awkward and heavy. "I rested. The tension is... gone. I feel good."
Julian’s smile softened into something deeply genuine and achingly tender. "I’m glad, Elara. Really. You work too hard."
He reached across the desk.
Elara froze as his hand moved toward her face. He didn’t grab her waist. He didn’t drop to his knees. He simply extended his fingers and gently, softly tucked a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear. His fingertips barely brushed the sensitive skin of her jawline.
’Thump.’
Her heart rate spiked violently to ninety-eight beats per minute. Her breathing hitched, a tiny, involuntary catch in her throat that she could not suppress.
"Are you alright?" Julian asked, his hand lingering near her cheek, his expression shifting to mild concern. "Your pulse just jumped. You’re not getting sick, are you?"