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Chapter 40
‘Ah… there’s nothing I can do now. I have to pretend I don’t know anything. None of that ever happened.’
Avoiding his eyes, Roabellin put her newly decided denial strategy into action.
“Y-Your Majesty… you’re saying that we… spent our first night together? What do you mean by that…?”
At her strange reaction, Kaisertern, who had been wearing a relaxed expression the whole time, frowned.
“You’re saying you don’t remember?”
“W-We did sleep in the same room that night, but we really just slept. Nothing… happened… right? Don’t you remember…?”
Roabellin, unused to lying, stammered awkwardly. At her completely unexpected words, Kaisertern stared at her in disbelief.
“Did something happen to you in the meantime? Did you hit your head hard somewhere?”
Panicking when her lie clearly wasn’t working, Roabellin didn’t realize that while she had been drunk that night, Kaisertern had not been drunk at all.
In fact, his memory of that night was far clearer than hers.
‘Ugh… When it seems like it’s not working, I have to push harder and be more confident! I have to insist!’
Forcing away her flustered expression, Roabellin lifted her head as boldly as she could.
“No. My memory is perfectly fine. We drank, got drunk, and just fell asleep.”
Kaisertern was so dumbfounded that he almost laughed.
“Hah. You don’t remember? Was that night so insignificant to you that it isn’t even worth remembering?”
Of course, that wasn’t true.
‘Of course not. It was the only and best memory of my life… But I can’t say that honestly now.’
She bit her lip once, then added more lies. The first lie had been hard, but now she found herself able to tell even bigger ones.
“It’s not that. It’s just that there’s nothing to remember. Because we didn’t do anything. I remember all the time I spent with all the men I met before that…”
Kaisertern recalled how she had seemed unfamiliar with a man’s touch that night—awkward and slightly afraid. He also remembered the small bloodstain he had seen on the bedsheet the next morning. His lips twisted into a faint, mocking smile.
“Fine. Let’s say that’s true. That nothing happened between us.”
His words, ending with “let’s say,” were unsettling, but Roabellin hurriedly nodded.
“Yes, yes. That’s right. Nothing happened! How could a mere commoner like me dare to take Your Majesty’s first night?”
Kaisertern stared at her with a sharp gaze that seemed to see straight through her. After a moment, he spoke.
“Didn’t you say that what we did was just a one-day deviation?”
He was referring not to that night long ago, but to what she had said just yesterday.
‘Ah… why did I say that yesterday of all things… Now what I’m saying doesn’t even match…’
Roabellin lamented inwardly. She wanted to go back to yesterday and cover her own mouth.
While she regretted it, Kaisertern continued.
“Then I’ll return those words to you. You do know that right now, you belong to me—the master of this imperial palace.”
In simpler terms, he was saying that he was now her owner, and that he could do whatever he wished with her, especially since she was now technically a criminal.
“I feel like enjoying you and then discarding you as I please. Just as a deviation. What do you think?”
Of course, abandoning a woman who had spent the night with the Emperor had never happened in the empire’s history. There was the possibility of an imperial heir, and even without that, the Emperor’s woman could not simply be thrown away. It was absurd—and Kaisertern himself knew that best.
But he wanted to throw those words back at her because she kept saying such hurtful things. He wanted her to know how much they had wounded him.
At his words, Roabellin’s eyes widened.
‘Oh my god… that’s exactly what I want?!’
Unfortunately, those were precisely the words she most wanted to hear from the Emperor.
‘Oh heavens! Thank you, Dominadorsi! You have granted my wish!’
But as she struggled not to smile, her face twisted strangely—and that made Kaisertern misunderstand her again. To him, she looked like someone desperately hiding her shock and sorrow. Only Roabellin herself didn’t realize it.
“Ka—no, Your Majesty.”
Roabellin finally managed to steady her voice and expression. Kaisertern looked at her with a faintly regretful face.
“As you said, no matter what happened, I am a sinner who hurt Your Majesty’s feelings. So, if treating me that way will make you feel better, then please do so.”
Caught off guard by her unexpected words, Kaisertern forced himself to maintain a cold expression.
“What do you mean by that?”
Roabellin spoke with her eyes lowered. Her large, beautiful eyes created a sorrowful atmosphere.
“Just as Your Majesty said. If playing with me and then throwing me away will ease your heart, then please do that.”
Kaisertern’s brow creased deeply.
“You’re saying… you wouldn’t care if I did that to you?”
“Before the most exalted Emperor, what does the heart of a mere commoner matter?”
Kaisertern was left speechless. After organizing this absurd situation in his mind for a moment, he spoke.
“I understand your position well enough. I will decide what to do with you in time. For now, serve me properly as my personal attendant. And from now on, you are forbidden to leave the imperial palace.”
“What?!”
Roabellin looked up in shock.
“Why are you so surprised? Do you have some reason to study the outside terrain?”
Hit right on the mark, she couldn’t answer right away and only darted her eyes around.
“If not, then stay inside the imperial palace at all times. And whenever possible, remain within my sleeping quarters. Always somewhere I can see you whenever I want.”
She felt everything had gone terribly wrong. But she couldn’t question the Emperor to his face, so she could only bow her head.
“Yes… yes…”
She was doomed. How on earth was she supposed to escape now?
“Hah… you may go for now. Don’t go far. I never know when I might call for you.”
Although everything was a mess, Roabellin felt relieved that she could at least leave this place for the moment.
“Yes, please rest…!!”
She bowed deeply and fled the room as if escaping. Once outside, she closed the door and her legs gave out beneath her. Only then did her heart start pounding violently.
“Hoo…”
Her shock and countless thoughts tangled together.
‘Kai—no, the Emperor—did drink that day too, so maybe his memory is a little confused because of what I said. For now, I’ll work and look for a chance to escape. You never know what might happen, so always carry the Illusion Fragrance and the Succubus Fragrance.’
After barely calming herself, Roabellin forced her trembling legs to carry her back to her quarters.
Left alone in the bedroom, Kaisertern stared at the door through which she had left and fell into thought.
‘“Play with her and discard her”… Was I too harsh? I was really just planning to keep her by my side and watch her.’
He told himself it was because he was angry that she had lied to him and run away—but in truth, he simply wanted to keep seeing her.
‘Should I have just used my authority and made her a concubine immediately?’
Regardless of her will, he could have simply announced, “I spent the night with that woman.” Even without that, appointing her as a concubine would have been easy. As he thought that, her reaction felt even stranger.
‘Even if nothing had happened, she could have insisted that it did.’
Did she not know how rare and precious it was for a commoner to gain the position of the Emperor’s concubine?
Why would she pretend nothing happened when something clearly had?
Kaisertern couldn’t understand.
There was not even a single concubine in the palace, let alone an Empress. Even noblewomen would never refuse such a position.
‘Does Yulri think I’m such a bad choice for a husband that wealth and honor don’t matter? Or am I only good enough for a one-night stand?!’
Kaisertern’s eyes widened. It was time to sleep, but there was no way he could.
In the end, he pulled the summoning bell. A night-duty servant entered and bowed.
“You called, Your Majesty.”
“Bring Yulri.”
“Yes? Y-Yes. Ah, um… should I tell her to prepare herself first?”
The servant hesitated. Calling a famously beautiful maid to the Emperor’s chambers late at night made him misunderstand the intention.
At the unexpected question, Kaisertern felt his face heat slightly. But he hid it skillfully and put on an expressionless face.
“No, it is not that. I cannot sleep, so I intend to work in the study. Tell her to come to the study.”
“Yes, understood.”
Among the servants of the imperial palace, there were those who harbored impure thoughts upon seeing Yulri’s beauty.
But since she was a maid belonging to the imperial palace—meaning a potential woman of the Emperor—no one dared approach her directly, though rumors spread.
Especially after she became the Emperor’s personal attendant, everyone in the palace began to notice her.
The imperial palace was filled with beauties, but Yulri’s beauty was on a level no one there had ever seen before. Moreover, there was an unknowable noble aura about her.
She did not look like an ordinary commoner at all. Though they did not say it openly, most believed that Yulri would soon catch the Emperor’s eye.
That was why the servant had spoken as he did.
Soon, Roabellin arrived at the study. She looked slightly out of breath, as if she had hurried, but she was neatly dressed in her maid uniform, just as before. Fortunately, it seemed the servant had not said anything strange to her.
She simply looked flustered at being suddenly summoned again so late at night. After what had just happened, she might even be harboring the same misunderstanding as the servant.
