🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 9
When I woke up the next morning, brilliant sunlight streamed through the large windows, filling my room with warm golden light.
I stared blankly at the peaceful scene.
Then, without warning, tears poured from my eyes.
It finally hit me that Raymond wasn’t anywhere in this vast mansion.
An overwhelming emptiness swallowed my heart.
If only I had a video… or even a single photograph. It would have made enduring this longing so much easier.
But in this world, there was nothing.
The only way I could see the Grand Duke was by closing my eyes and imagining him.
So I kept closing them whenever I had the chance.
Soon I began wasting away with lovesickness, and before long, I developed a fever.
Worried, my parents summoned a physician to the ducal estate.
“There is nothing physically wrong with the young lady.”
“Oh, Eileen…”
After finishing his examination, the doctor slowly shook his head.
Seeing that, my parents’ faces filled with worry.
The diagnosis wasn’t surprising.
I knew my own body better than anyone.
It was that illness.
Lovesickness.
I miss the Grand Duke.
I miss him so much.
That single thought occupied my mind completely, and tears refused to stop flowing.
Now that I had actually met him once, the disease called affection had only grown deeper.
…Could the original Eileen have also fallen ill from lovesickness?
Was that why she shut herself inside the mansion?
For some reason, I was convinced that had been the case.
Breathing heavily through my fever, my consciousness gradually faded.
Soon, I drifted into a hazy dream.
In that dream, the Grand Duke and I ran happily through a flower field bathed in warm sunlight.
We laughed together as we chased each other around.
When we became tired, we simply held hands and walked side by side.
It was a happy dream born from my deepest wish.
Then…
My eyes suddenly flew open.
An entire day had passed.
And my body felt much lighter.
Despite feeling like I was going to die from missing the Grand Duke, I recovered completely.
One good night’s sleep, and both my body and mind were perfectly fine again.
Thinking about it, it was probably because all the stress from possessing someone else’s body had hit me at once.
Thanks to that, however, my parents had accumulated an enormous amount of delayed work.
Between my kidnapping and my sudden illness, they had lost far too much time.
Now they had to make up for it, which meant they would be too busy to see me for quite a while.
As a result, I was finally left alone under the excuse of “recovering.”
Honestly, that was perfect.
The fragmentary information I’d read in I Tamed the Mad Emperor wasn’t nearly enough to save the Grand Duke.
I needed to gather more knowledge about this world.
Since Eileen had originally been a complete bookworm, her room was overflowing with books.
I walked over to the shelves and read the titles.
The History of the Prares Empire.
Successive Emperors of the Empire.
The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Merchant Guilds.
Just looking at them made me sleepy.
“…Yeah, these definitely aren’t my kind of books.”
I shook my head.
As someone who only read web novels, Eileen’s tastes were difficult to understand.
Then one colorful book cover caught my eye.
The Best Restaurants in the Capital, Ferment.
“Oh! This looks interesting!”
I immediately pulled it off the shelf, sat down in a chair, and began flipping through it.
Since this world didn’t have photographs, the book instead featured beautifully painted illustrations of each dish.
The artwork was so realistic that it made my mouth water.
Gulp.
I just ate… but now I’m hungry again.
Apparently, the universal law of having a separate stomach for dessert still applied even after being reincarnated.
Smacking my lips, I admired each dish while carefully reading every line describing its appearance and flavor.
One day, I promised myself, I would go on a full restaurant tour of the capital.
I was happily enjoying my reading life after recovering from my illness when, one day, some unwelcome news arrived.
“Young Lady, someone sent by His Majesty the Emperor has come to see you.”
“The Emperor sent someone?”
I blinked in confusion at the butler’s announcement.
Before I could even process it, maids rushed into my room.
They brushed and braided my hair, changed me into an elegant dress, and replaced my shoes with luxurious ones.
I was first astonished by their flawless teamwork…
…and then by my own reflection.
Before I knew it, I had been transformed into a beautiful young lady fit to attend a royal banquet.
Wow.
If this much happened just because someone came from the Emperor…
What would happen if the Emperor himself visited?
They’re not going to replace my face entirely, are they?
Being the daughter of a noble family certainly wasn’t easy.
Thinking that, I followed the butler to the reception room.
A middle-aged man with an impeccably groomed mustache was already seated there.
Judging by his luxurious attire, he was undoubtedly one of the Emperor’s officials.
“Welcome, Lady Eileen.”
“Good day.”
I didn’t know who he was, but since he’d been sent by the Emperor, I politely bowed.
So this is one of the Emperor’s people.
Although his rank should have been lower than my father’s, he carried himself with an almost arrogant stiffness.
His words were polite.
His tone wasn’t.
It perfectly reflected Eileen’s status as nothing more than the Emperor’s fiancée in name.
“When news of your kidnapping reached His Majesty, he was deeply distressed. He ordered soldiers to search the entire region thoroughly. Unfortunately, they were unable to find you. Seeing you safe and sound today brings me great relief. Hahaha.”
Did they really search that thoroughly?
I couldn’t tell whether the Grand Duke had simply hidden himself exceptionally well…
…or whether the Emperor had merely pretended to search.
While I was silently mocking him, the man suddenly clapped twice.
“His Majesty is overjoyed by your safe return. Although he wished to visit personally, state affairs have kept him busy, so he has sent gifts in his place.”
The reception room doors opened.
Then came an endless parade of colorful flowers.
The Emperor’s servants continuously carried in bouquets prepared especially for Eileen.
Before long, the entire room was overflowing with flowers.
Seriously?
If he was so worried, why didn’t he come himself instead of sending flowers?
Inside, I ruthlessly cursed the two-faced Emperor.
Outside, however, I smiled gracefully like a proper noble lady.
“Oh my, how thoughtful of His Majesty. Please convey my heartfelt gratitude to him.”
“Certainly.”
Satisfied with my response, the official smiled contentedly.
Then he clapped once more.
I wondered what would come in this time.
Instead of another gift, a man walked in.
“Greetings, Lady Eileen.”
He gave a half-hearted bow before slowly surveying the flower-filled reception room.
His brows twitched slightly, but his face quickly returned to an expressionless mask.
The middle-aged official introduced him.
“This is an investigator. His Majesty has dispatched him to investigate your kidnapping. Please explain everything that happened in as much detail as possible.”
Having said that, the official quietly excused himself.
The moment he left, the investigator abandoned even the small amount of courtesy he’d been pretending to show.
He dragged out a chair, slouched into it, rested an elbow on the table, and immediately began questioning me.
“I need to know exactly what happened. Tell me everything you know.”
He was technically using polite language…
Yet somehow every word sounded like an insult.
His overbearing attitude left me speechless.
My parents hadn’t even mentioned the incident because they feared it would upset me.
Yet this man was doing the exact opposite.
Under the pretense of gathering evidence, he was stabbing at the wound again and again.
“I’m not sure where to begin…”
“Start with how you were abducted.”
If I had truly been the victim, I probably would’ve developed panic attacks from reliving the trauma over and over.
Fortunately, I’d actually had a rather enjoyable three days.
Even so, his attitude was awful enough to make anyone lose their temper.
What an asshole.
I cursed him silently.
Only now did I understand why the original Eileen had refused to speak about the kidnapping.
And I realized how strong-willed she had been to answer with nothing more than,
“They wore masks the entire three days, so I couldn’t identify them.”
I wasn’t nearly as tough as the original Eileen.
Nor did I have any confidence I could withstand this investigator’s relentless interrogation.
Still, I could proudly say that my loyalty was second to none.
After all, it was directed toward my favorite character—the Grand Duke.
So…
I chose to lie.
If I sprinkled in enough believable details, he’d stop asking questions.
“I was taking a walk in our garden when someone suddenly covered my face from behind. I lost consciousness immediately. When I woke up, I was in a shabby house.”
“A shabby house? An ordinary commoner’s home?”
“Yes, I believe so. It was filthy, dirty, and smelled awful. I’d never been somewhere like that before, so just being there was unbearable.”
I deliberately made my arms tremble.
Fortunately, my acting seemed convincing.
“Hmm… I can imagine. What did the kidnapper look like?”
“He wore a mask, so I couldn’t see his face. He was about your height and build, Investigator. His hair was cut very short, and his voice was low and deep.”
The investigator took out a notebook and rapidly scribbled down every word I said.
He continued asking several more questions.
I diligently answered every one of them…
With carefully crafted lies.
“Hmm. Thank you for your cooperation. Based on your testimony, we’ll conduct a thorough investigation.”
Perhaps because I’d cooperated so willingly, his expression softened considerably.
Though even then, it only turned his face from looking like a crushed tin can into… a slightly less crushed tin can.
