"No."
"If someone comes looking for you, don't open the door."
After putting Aswin onto the moving stairway, Kwon Minseong firmly pressed the button.
The stairway carried Aswin silently up to the second floor.
Only after confirming several times that he had arrived safely did Minseong turn toward the entrance.
What kind of lunatic pounds on the front door of an obstetrics clinic hard enough to knock it off its hinges?
What if someone went into labor from the shock?
Thump—
Minseong slammed the door control.
The heavy entrance slowly began to open.
Through the narrow gap, a single red flower petal rolled across the polished lobby floor.
"A rose...?"
He bent down and picked it up.
The soft, velvety petal belonged to one of the few flowers he could actually recognize.
Frowning in confusion, he raised his head.
"...Good grief."
The words left him.
If a fragrant hell existed, perhaps this was it.
The hospital garden was overflowing with crimson roses from end to end.
There wasn't a single patch of ground visible beneath them.
The rich scent of flowers saturated the air.
Passersby had stopped in the street and were peering through the gates at the unbelievable spectacle.
Among the crowd gathered to stare, Minseong spotted the hospital staff and Ian.
But above all else, one person dominated the sea of red.
Standing at its center like a mountain was the Emperor of the Empire.
Tillio was dressed exactly as he had been the previous day.
A blue military uniform.
A white mantle.
His golden hair was neatly swept back.
He looked every bit the dignified and majestic ruler one would expect to find in a history book.
It was impossible to believe this was the same man who had once slung Minseong over his shoulder like a sack of grain and raced around the borderlands.
A man wearing a yellow ceremonial uniform stepped forward from behind the Emperor.
He knelt before Minseong and bowed.
"I deliver the decree of the Emperor of Elunem, descendant of Eickhalden."
The imperial messenger rose and unfurled a scroll.
Then he glanced meaningfully at Minseong.
His eyes flicked between Minseong and the ground, clearly urging him to kneel and receive the imperial decree properly.
Naturally, Minseong had no idea what he was implying.
Behind him, Tillio gave a brief cough.
The messenger immediately understood the Emperor's intent and abandoned any further attempts to educate Minseong.
"Doctor Sisi. Through your generous medical service wherever it was needed, you have contributed greatly to the prosperity and advancement of Elunem."
The messenger's voice rang across the garden.
"Therefore, on behalf of Elunem, your achievements are hereby recognized, and you are granted the title of Count Von."
Gasps erupted outside the gates.
One nobleman watching from a carriage clutched the back of his neck and nearly fell backward.
A knighthood would already have been excessive.
Yet a mere physician had been elevated to a count?
The nobles' faces twisted with outrage.
Elunem's collective sanity still had a little farther to fall.
The messenger immediately produced a second scroll.
"I, Tillio Eickhalden, descendant of Eickhalden and Emperor of Elunem, hereby formally propose marriage to Count Von Sisi."
The crowd froze.
"Count Von Sisi shall gladly accept this imperial command."
Thud—
The moment the proclamation ended, another nobleman collapsed unconscious among the spectators.
Not only had the Emperor granted a countship—
He was proposing marriage.
Their Emperor.
The crowd could not even decide what expression they should make.
Instead, they watched the Emperor cautiously.
Servants began carrying enormous gift boxes through the roses and stacking them beside Minseong.
"Terrible."
Minseong muttered as the pile grew higher.
Count Von?
What kind of ridiculous name was that?
It sounded like the title of a top-performing mobile phone salesman.
Only after the presentation of gifts concluded did Tillio finally move.
The Emperor deliberately positioned himself where the audience could see him clearly.
Then he smiled at Minseong.
A surprisingly gentle smile.
Taking Minseong's hand, he pressed a kiss to the back of it.
"Will you accept my proposal, Count Von Sisi?"
The crowd erupted exactly as Tillio had intended.
People shouted that the icy Emperor could actually smile.
That he was obviously in love.
That they had never seen anything like it.
"What an awful name."
Minseong grumbled.
"You sure talk a lot for someone without a family name."
Tillio lowered his voice so only Minseong could hear.
"Without a family name? I'm Kwon Minseong of the Kwon family. Those idiots started calling me Sisi on their own, and now they're changing my entire name too? Do they have some Japanese ancestor hiding in their family tree?"
"You should be grateful. I personally chose that surname."
Tillio smirked.
"It's the only thing you've received today that I selected myself."
"Then I'm returning it, you brat."
Minseong snatched his hand away before the kiss could properly land and hid it behind his back.
"Don't come to the hospital anymore. Don't even touch the front door."
He pointed toward the building.
"This is an obstetrics clinic. If patients get startled by all that pounding and something happens, are you going to take responsibility?"
What did the man think he was?
An Emperor was not a god.
He couldn't put a baby back if something went wrong.
There was a perfectly functional doorbell installed.
Yet he insisted on assaulting the front entrance every time he visited.
Grinding a rose petal beneath his shoe, Minseong stepped back into the hospital.
"Don't come back."
His expression hardened.
"I'm warning you."
Creak—
Bang.
The entrance slammed shut mercilessly.
And the mighty Emperor of Elunem was left standing alone in an ocean of red roses.
"Is it true that His Majesty proposed to him?"
"Apparently so."
"And he got rejected?"
"Oh, absolutely. I saw it myself. Doctor Sisi ran back into the hospital crying and said he'd never look at His Majesty again if he kept showing up."
"Why would he cry? If the Emperor proposes, that's an honor for the entire family."
"He knows his place, that's why. Besides, His Majesty proposed in front of all those people. Imagine how embarrassing that must have been."
The speaker sighed dramatically.
"You should've seen His Majesty's face when the door closed. He looked like he'd lost an entire nation."
"Know his place? Doctor Sisi isn't some ordinary physician."
Another person scoffed.
"He delivered His Highness Visha's child. He handled Reiner's child too. You could practically say every noble child born in the past month was delivered by Doctor Sisi."
"Hmm... Still, he's only a physician, isn't he? You can hand someone a title and land, but you can't change their blood."
"Stop saying foolish things. The Emperor proposed to him. That means he could become the future Empress. You should be figuring out how to get on his good side." Find the original chapter at novelping dot com.
"That's true..."
The woman nodded.
"The way His Majesty looked at Count Sisi wasn't normal."
She lowered her voice.
"It felt like he might set the entire hospital on fire with that gaze. Maybe he's desperate because he can't have him."
"Ha. I used to look at people like that once."
A wistful sigh followed.
"Time is truly cruel."
The Emperor's proposal transformed Kwon Minseong into the darling of high society overnight.
People found it strange that he continued practicing medicine despite becoming a count.
But regardless of what they thought, everyone wanted an excuse to visit the place where the Emperor had proposed.
The hospital.
As a result, the reception room overflowed.
So did the lobby.
So did the garden.
Patients packed every available space.
The waiting line stretched all the way beyond the front gates.
The nurses eventually had to start distributing numbered tickets.
"How many are left?"
After sending out the eighty-first patient, Minseong turned to Ian.
"One hundred thirty-two."
"Ugh..."
He grabbed his throat.
"I'm happy, but I think I'm about to lose my voice."
His Adam's apple genuinely felt smaller than it had that morning.
"The line is this long and they're still waiting?"
"The patients are looking at the roses His Majesty bestowed upon the hospital."
"You didn't throw those away?"
"How could we discard a gift personally bestowed by His Majesty?"
"You sent all the other gifts back to the Imperial Palace."
"A cut flower would only be thrown away if returned."
Ian adjusted his glasses.
"It seemed pitiful."
Minseong slowly turned toward him.
His expression resembled someone who had just seen a ghost.
"Ian... understands pity?"
"Tomorrow, I was considering making potpourri from the roses. Would that be acceptable?"
"Ian... is making potpourri?"
"I plan to distribute it as gifts to the patients who visit the hospital most frequently."
Minseong's jaw dropped.
Ian was managing VIP customer retention now?
"Ian."
"Yes, Count."
"Did I propose to you today?"
"You did."
"When?"
"This morning. When I delivered Yvonne's stew."
"Can I do it again?"
"No."
"Even though I've been proposed to by the Emperor?"
"That is precisely why I refuse."
Smacking his lips, Minseong rubbed his stomach.
"Out of the remaining one hundred thirty-two patients, only ten actually require genuine treatment."
Ian glanced at the schedule.
"See ten more and close for the day. The staff are waiting for quitting time more eagerly than ever."
"Hmm..."
Minseong stretched his sore neck.
"In that case, maybe we should close after those ten. I haven't even had lunch yet, and—"
"Ah!"