🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 39
How much time had passed?
Roabellin, who had been lying on her side asleep on the bed bench, suddenly opened her eyes wide. The surroundings were strangely quiet, and an ominous feeling washed over her. Rolling only her eyes to look out the window, she saw that the sun had already set.
‘Gasp… How many hours did I sleep like this?!’
Startled, she jumped up—but because she had slept in an awkward position, her arms and legs were completely numb. She ended up collapsing back onto the bed bench.
“Oww….”
As she massaged her tingling limbs and raised her head, Roabellin noticed a faint light ahead. Light was leaking through the gap in the bathroom door at the far end of the spacious room. She could also hear the sound of running water.
‘Huh? Who is that…?’
Having just woken up, her thoughts did not immediately organize themselves.
But as her mind gradually cleared, her reason reminded her that there was only one person who could possibly be bathing in this room.
‘Gasp. Th-the Emperor is here? And with no lights on, and no other servants or maids around?
…Ah, that was supposed to be my job! And I fell asleep on my first day of duty? Am I crazy?!’
Shocked, Roabellin sprang to her feet for real this time.
‘It’s dark, so maybe the Emperor didn’t see me… He must not have… Right. First, I need to do what I was supposed to do!’
She moved around the room and lit the sleeping lanterns. At last, the room grew brighter. The yellow glow of multiple candles quickly filled the bedroom with a warm and cozy atmosphere.
Meanwhile, the sound of water from the bathroom stopped.
‘I already put towels and a robe in there earlier… He must have used them, right? I wasn’t told that assisting with bathing was part of my duties, but since I’m an attendant, I guess I can start now…?’
Tense, Roabellin walked toward the bathroom door, clasped her hands, and bowed politely.
After a moment, the Emperor emerged from the bathroom wearing a robe. He walked soundlessly across the carpet, and his slippered feet stopped in front of her.
“So you are the maid assigned to attend me personally.”
His low, calm voice sounded strangely familiar. But Roabellin had no mental space to wonder where she had heard it before.
“Yes, I am Yulri. I will serve you to the best of my ability.”
Afraid that he might have seen her sleeping on duty, her voice trembled thinly. At the moment, she could not even think of him as the man she had come here to seduce.
‘Is this what they call the Emperor’s pressure? Or am I shaking because I know I did something wrong?
Ah… what do I do? If someone serving the Emperor is negligent on duty… do they die? Is it a capital crime?’
Like a rabbit before a lion, she trembled with her head bowed. The Emperor spoke to her. Fortunately, his voice was calm and did not sound angry.
“Lift your head.”
At his words, Roabellin slowly raised her head.
Her gaze traveled up from his slippers, past his long legs wrapped in a bathrobe, past the loosely tied robe that revealed a hint of his abdomen, and up to his firm chest.
But she did not dare to meet his face and lowered her eyes again.
The Emperor commanded once more.
“Again. Lift your head and look into my eyes.”
Grateful that he had at least given her a place to look, she raised her head—and met his golden eyes.
For an instant, Roabellin almost shouted, “Kai?!” But with superhuman willpower, she swallowed the word and replaced it with another.
“Ka… Chief Attendant…?”
That morning, she had confirmed that he was not the chief attendant, but she had no other title to call him.
‘Kai, why are you coming out of there?’
He looked at her confused face and spoke.
“No. I am the owner of this room, and the ruler of the Prahenfelt Empire. I am Kaisertern Erlenkönig Prahenfelt.”
Roabellin’s mind instantly turned white.
‘Why… what… this… what is… Ah!’
A word suddenly passed through her dazed mind.
‘Kaisertern… Right, I remember. In the old language of the western continent, it means “ruler”…’
Having learned the languages and royal customs of the major nations as a child, Roabellin quickly recalled that in the Prahenfelt Empire, only direct imperial blood could use such a name. Her mouth fell slightly open.
‘The man I spent a night with, thinking I would never see him again… was the Emperor…’
Shock came crashing over her in second and third waves, relentlessly battering her consciousness.
While Roabellin stood frozen in shock, Kaisertern, just like the night before, reached out and restored her hair and eye color to their original appearance.
She blankly watched as her side-braided hair turned platinum blonde. She no longer had the mental strength to be surprised.
Where the shock passed, reflection and regret took its place.
What had she said to the Emperor yesterday?
And she had fled without a word after spending the night with him.
Only then did fear crash down on her.
Roabellin’s fear was not simply because the Emperor had discovered her disguise.
‘If I could freely change into any face, I could escape this situation for now and somehow leave the palace…’
But at present, her divine power was incomplete, so she could not freely change into just any face.
‘He’s seen both my real face and the face I can currently change into.’
Now it was impossible for her to escape using a face the Emperor did not recognize, like she had after the festival.
‘Am I going to be executed immediately for deceiving the Emperor? Or toyed with and then executed? No… I can’t… I should forget about having the Emperor’s child and just find a way to escape first…’
She bit her lip lightly in distress. Both faces she could use had been exposed, and she could also be charged with the crime of insulting the Emperor. Now, all she could do was search for a way to escape alive.
In contrast to Roabellin, whose thoughts were scrambling in panic, Kaisertern was relaxed. He gazed quietly at her face with deep golden eyes and spoke.
“Didn’t you say you would seduce the Emperor?”
Even without his imperial authority, he was a man with immense magical power, feared by neighboring nations.
‘No, forget magic. He’s just… huge. Even with strength alone, I can’t escape…’
She felt like a deer standing before a lion. Lost in such thoughts, Roabellin processed his words a beat too late. Then another realization struck her mind like a bell.
‘Ah… I see. I really did tell the Emperor to his face that I would seduce him…’
Thinking about how he must see her now made her too ashamed to raise her eyes.
And then, another important thing came to mind.
‘Ah—contraception!’
On the last night of the Visent Festival, while Kaisertern was showering, she had taken a contraceptive pill in advance. It was one of the medicines she herself had made and carried.
Because before meeting him, she had not known who he was, and she could not bear the thought of carrying the child of an unknown man.
But…
‘Kai was the Emperor… Then why did I even take it?’
Her vision swam, and a sigh escaped her.
If she had known he was the Emperor and had not taken it…
‘I wouldn’t be suffering like this. I could have just confirmed the pregnancy and gone straight back to Avery’s house.’
At the time, she could not have known—but now, looking back, she was filled with regret.
Watching her face darken by the second, Kaisertern asked calmly,
“So? Now that you know I am the Emperor, do you feel like seducing me?”
Roabellin could not bring herself to meet his eyes and lowered her gaze. Though she could not say it aloud, a silent plea burst out in her heart.
‘No! Seduce you, my foot—just please let me live…’
Seeing her helpless expression, Kaisertern spoke again, a sigh mixed into his low voice.
“That day. You and I were both sincere, weren’t we? Or was it not so? Without knowing who the other was, we simply fell for the person in front of us. I planned to tell you who I was the next morning and bring you to the palace.”
At his heartfelt confession, Roabellin felt her conscience prick painfully.
‘Back then, I thought Kai was just the son of a wealthy noble family. So I assumed he would think lightly of a common woman who spent the night with him, and I left lightly too. But Kai… no, Kaisertern… no, His Majesty the Emperor… he was sincere with me.’
Unable to express her apology, she simply pressed her lips together. Kaisertern continued.
“If you did not feel that my heart was sincere, then that is my fault for not conveying it well enough. But in the end, you became a woman who took the Emperor’s first night and fled without his permission. Do you know that this, too, is a crime?”
“What?!”
Roabellin raised her head in shock.
‘They said the Emperor had never been with anyone… and that was true? I really was his first woman?! My goodness…!’
How could she possibly escape this unbearable situation? Her confused mind could find no good answer.
But Kaisertern misunderstood what she was shocked about. Those standing before the Emperor usually feared the word “crime” the most.
“Yes, it is a crime. You acted against the Emperor’s will. And if you had fled while carrying the Emperor’s child, it could even be considered equivalent to abducting a member of the imperial family.”
Roabellin’s face turned pale. She had not thought that far.
‘Ah… there’s nothing I can do now.’
