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Chapter 8
Well, if this world follows the game, then it doesn’t really matter.
If this was a world that progressed according to the game’s events depending on the choices made, then there would be nothing threatening her for quite a while.
The next event doesn’t happen until much later.
The period that was simply summarized in the game as, “Several years passed,” until the protagonist came of age.
No major incidents occurred before the next event. As long as she quietly stayed in the palace, nothing that could affect the story would happen, so whether she did chores or not was entirely up to her.
And now that Eugene had taken the player’s place instead of Kanis, if this world wanted to safely reach the next event exactly as the game intended, it had no choice but to keep her alive.
She didn’t know whether something like the world’s will or the original story’s force of correction actually existed.
Whatever.
Either way, it made no difference.
In the end, she couldn’t actually replace the protagonist. Whether she ended up being killed by the prince who had just returned, or some unknown force kept her alive until it was time to choose the next event’s dialogue option—
Whichever it was, Eugene decided she would spend her time lazing around as she pleased. She was tired of desperately worrying about everything.
By the time she had rolled from one end of the bed to the other three or four times—
“…You.”
Prince Michael returned.
Sometime in the meantime, he had changed his clothes. Unlike before, he was now wearing what looked like a light formal military uniform. The white collar trimmed with gold only made his handsome face stand out even more.
Behind him, the attendants and guards escorting the prince entered and lined up.
Silent shock spread across their faces as they stared at Eugene comfortably rolling around on the prince’s bed.
“Why are you here?”
Unlike everyone else, Prince Michael showed almost no change in expression as he looked at Eugene sitting on his bed.
Meeting his unreadable, expressionless gaze, Eugene smiled brightly and answered,
“Because… I’m Your Highness’s dog!”
Master!
The moment she addressed Prince Michael that way, an even heavier silence filled the room.
One of the younger attendants unconsciously gaped.
“…”
Even Michael seemed taken aback this time, remaining speechless.
His expressionless face, lips tightly closed, somehow appeared even stiffer than before.
Hmm.
She waited for a moment, but no one moved.
To break the silence—
“Woof.”
There you go, Master.
Consider it customer service.
That was the attitude with which she barked.
What is wrong with this lunatic?
Intense stares seemed to scream exactly that from every direction.
Completely unconcerned by the eyes fixed on her, Eugene shamelessly continued,
“You said you were going to tame me into a dog.”
To tame someone meant forming a bond.
If you come at four in the afternoon, I’ll be happy from three onward.
She wanted to quote that famous saying, but since she had no idea whether it even existed in this world, she kept it to herself.
Well… in a way, maybe he’s already tamed me.
Judging by the fact that he hadn’t immediately ordered her dragged out the moment he saw her, it seemed Prince Michael intended to faithfully follow the game’s storyline.
And if he was the same Prince Michael who treated the protagonist the way he did in the game, then Eugene wasn’t afraid of him at all.
If anything, he was the most trustworthy person here.
The prince who would cut down everyone around the protagonist once he became obsessed with her…
…would never lay even a finger on her.
That was the reason his character was so popular.
Thinking absentmindedly, Eugene calmly replied,
“Normally, a dog lives by its master’s side, doesn’t it?”
The prince silently looked down at her confident face.
His gaze shone like sunlight.
After a moment, he quietly said,
“I don’t let dogs sleep in my bed.”
“Uh…”
This time it was Eugene who was startled, her eyes widening.
I didn’t see that coming.
So that was it.
The prince was the type who didn’t allow dogs onto the bed.
Adding another piece of information about her favorite character to her mental database, Eugene stared blankly at him.
“Head Butler.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Prepare a doghouse.”
“…A doghouse?”
The flustered head butler unconsciously repeated the order.
A doghouse?
Aside from the stables, there was no place in the prince’s palace specifically meant for animals.
Does His Highness intend to stuff her into a wooden crate and leave her outside in the garden?
Completely confused, the head butler involuntarily glanced toward the garden outside the window.
Glancing at him, the prince clarified,
“Somewhere near my room.”
“Ah… Yes, Your Highness!”
Only then did the head butler finally understand what his master meant.
Quickly reading the situation, he ordered the servants to clear out one of the rooms closest to the prince’s bedchamber.
The room was fairly spacious.
For generations, it had been used as a playroom for young members of the imperial family.
Although Prince Michael himself had rarely spent much time there even as a child.
Since it had remained unused for years, the room felt slightly chilly.
However, being located on the same floor as the prince’s office, it had been meticulously maintained without a speck of dust.
The head butler instructed the servants to light the heating before escorting Eugene inside.
“You may use that bed.”
Although she was a filthy slave of unknown origin…
As long as His Highness had not denied the words ‘the prince’s dog,’ the girl before him was His Highness’s property.
Whether it was a puppy or a kitten, no servant could treat a member of the imperial family’s pet carelessly.
Come to think of it, there was once even a cat that received a baron’s title.
Recalling the historical fact to himself, the head butler respectfully explained the room to His Highness’s dog.
“If you need anything, pull that cord. A bell in the servants’ waiting room will ring.”
Listening to his explanation, Eugene found herself oddly fascinated.
It felt like she was touring Europe while listening to a guide.
After explaining everything from how to increase the heating if it became too cold, to how to open the unusually designed window locks, and how to use the lamp beside the bed—
The head butler withdrew.
“Have a pleasant night.”
Click.
Moments earlier, the room had been bustling with servants removing dust covers from old furniture and lighting the fireplace.
But once they had finished their work and left, silence instantly settled over the room.
“…”
Sitting quietly on the bed she had been given, Eugene slowly looked around.
A lot happened today.
Really.
Far too much had happened for one person to process in a single day.
Damn that section chief.
Silently wishing misfortune upon the man who had been the source of her terrible day, Eugene lay down.
The exhaustion she had been putting off was finally catching up to her.
Come to think of it…
Closing her eyes, a face framed in gold and silver unexpectedly came to mind.
The boy she thought she was already familiar with after seeing him countless times through a screen…
…yet who had been far more handsome in person.
Prince Michael…
She remembered him quietly listening to all of her ridiculous nonsense.
In the game, it had been said that before realizing his feelings, he treated the protagonist with indifference, practically ignoring her.
Certainly, he had spoken coldly to her as well, telling them to leave her alone or take her to an appropriate doghouse.
But…
…He’s kinder than I expected.
Considering how he hadn’t stopped her outrageous behavior in front of the servants, and how he had given her such a nice room…
There was a certain generosity hidden beneath that indifferent exterior.
Well, it was probably because she had chosen the correct dialogue option.
Thinking no more deeply about it, Eugene slowly drifted into sleep.
Gentle moonlight filtered through the large window.
And so, her first night in the imperial palace came to an end.
Prince Michael had lived a rather colorless life.
And much of that was because of his father, Emperor Dietrich.
Michael Sar Imperator.
The future ruler of the great Imperator Empire that dominated the continent.
Born carrying the duty of imperial royalty, the prince never knew the touch of his biological mother.
Long before he was old enough to understand anything, the Empress had already died in what was officially called an unfortunate carriage accident.
Or perhaps…
She had been eliminated by the prince’s own father.
Emperor Dietrich.
Born as the only son of the previous emperor and destined for the imperial throne from birth, he had spent his entire life arrogant, never learning how to respect anyone else.
Then he met a woman.
And everything changed.
Her name was Anat.
She possessed black hair, black eyes, and an otherworldly appearance that made her seem as though she did not belong in this world.
The emperor fell hopelessly in love with the mysterious foreign woman almost instantly.
From that day onward, unlike before when he looked down on everyone beneath him, there was only one person whom he placed above himself.
The words of his beloved Anat became the emperor’s own will.
Keeping everything about her a secret—her origins, her homeland, even her identity—he claimed that Anat had suddenly appeared in a burst of light and silenced anyone who dared suggest she might be a spy.
At the time, Emperor Dietrich was already married to the Empress, his childhood fiancée, to whom he had been promised since they were still in their mothers’ wombs.
Yet that did not stop him from pursuing Anat.
The sacred vows of marriage, in which he had sworn lifelong devotion to a single woman…
Nor the precious imperial children already born from the Empress…
None of it mattered to Dietrich.
Even the fierce objections of the nobles, who insisted that the Empress—daughter of a founding family that had devoted itself to the empire—could not be treated this way, failed to extinguish the emperor’s burning passion.
Ignoring the Empress, who had only recently given birth to twins, Dietrich devoted himself entirely to Anat, the woman who had captivated him at first sight.
Not long afterward, rumors spread like a shadow behind the emperor.
People whispered that he had murdered the Empress.
After all, she had died in that so-called unfortunate carriage accident.
As a result, the twins she left behind—Princess Raphaela and Prince Michael—
grew up never knowing the warmth of their mother’s touch,
never once experiencing the unconditional love of someone who existed solely to cherish them.
