Je Ne Sais Quoi (1)

I shook the thought away. I should have been asking myself, why is he here? And how did he know I was here? I thought he left to talk with Pavel. Now that he has caught me, will he take me with the Empress?

Before I knew it, Kaiserin tightened his arms around me while burying his face into my neck. If anyone else saw this, I could imagine the millions of misunderstandings in their tiny heads.

Not even a second later, I could hear Kaiserin's chuckle. 

Once he spoke, it was such a switch-up from his concerned expression that he acted like nothing had happened. "You know, my mother has been obsessed with you ever since you came to her palace. You have a certain je ne sais quoi that makes people notice you instantly."

I felt slightly irritated, not knowing what he meant. Is he insulting me or complimenting me? Je ne sais quoi? 

Kaiserin noticed my expression and started laughing before stopping while resting his head on my shoulder. 

"What should I do, Liselotte? After your rejection, I didn't know whether to pursue love again. If I gave up you now, I'm guaranteed a life resigned of solitude. You wouldn't want your future ruler to rule in isolation, would you now?

The sarcasm in his voice was apparent. He looked like he was about to burst into laughter any second now.

I was irritated and replied, "As long as you rule fairly, I don't care what you do with your love life."

Kaiserin looked confused but hurt at the same time. "Liselotte, what if I don't have an heir? How will I expect to rule without a beautiful woman by my side and an heir to take over after I pass."

"Your parents didn't love each other, so look where that resulted."

"Oh, so we don't have to be in love to be married. Is that what you're implying?"

"I don't know where you got the "we" but it ain't happening."