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0. Prologue
There’s a saying in the world of murim.
You should be wary of old men who look like they’ve never lifted a finger in their lives, women, and innocent‑looking children.
True masters of murim hide among ordinary people, and—like most clichés—if you get cocky, you can end up seriously screwed.
That may be common wisdom in murim, but honestly, it applies to any world.
In a fantasy setting, the woman casually walking down the street might actually be the Empire’s strongest Sword Master, and the kid running around the alleys could be a ninth‑circle archmage.
But these stupid soldiers don’t seem to know that. They see a child, see a woman, and immediately try to have their way.
“Hehehe! What a jackpot!”
Yeah. That’s my situation right now.
I looked calmly at the soldier who was grinning like an idiot, oblivious to the fact that he was about to die, as he sheathed his sword.
His eyes gleamed faintly, unfocused, as though lost in some filthy fantasy. When he swallowed hard, I finally took a step back, my face sour with disgust.
Whatever he thought my reaction meant, the soldier’s face flushed red as he burst into manic laughter.
“Bwahaha! Curse yourself for crawling in here!”
“Kekeke! Yeah! You’re the idiot for wandering in here without knowing anything!”
“Hey! Everyone, wait your turn, got it?”
Oh? I stayed quiet, and now they’re spouting nonsense like it actually makes sense?
‘Do you really want to do this to a fellow imperial citizen…?’
After that, a stream of words too vile to repeat poured out.
Even I—who’d grown bold enough to stroll casually across blood‑soaked battlefields—couldn’t stand listening to it anymore.
“Hehehe. So, shall we begin?”
Begin what? This is the end.
Unable to tolerate their babbling any longer, I finally reached out my hand.
“Yeah. Curse yourselves for crawling in here, you brats.”
“What? What did you just—ugh!”
Crack—
The soldier whose neck I grabbed died in less than a second.
I immediately pulled the sword from his waist and hurled it toward the soldiers behind him.
I’d only thrown it with force, but golden sword energy gathered around the blade.
As if imbued with a will of its own, the sword spun and darted through the air, reaping lives. Soldiers who had stood frozen in shock fell one by one, their throats cut cleanly.
I watched their bodies collapse without much emotion, then pulled the sword free from the last corpse.
Some blood had splashed on me, but this was a battlefield to begin with—nothing worth worrying about.
After tidying things up, I gathered the valuables that looked expensive. All of it would make for a nice nest egg.
“Oh. Looks like I can buy Adel some beef today.”
It had been ten years since I fell into this damned fantasy world.
I’d realized long ago that this was the romance‑fantasy novel my friend had explained to me until my ears nearly fell off. Still, I had no desire whatsoever to get involved with the original plot.
“Ah, I just want to live quietly and die quietly.”
A long, thin life.
That was my life motto.
Though my body overflowed with enough mana to make even Sword Masters cry, I still wanted to live as comfortably as possible.
Above all, I wanted nothing to do with this novel’s male lead—the emperor, Hayden Berto.
Because that bastard believed the female lead was his “savior” and, by the end, locked her in a cage and brainwashed her.
A legendary psychopath.
I stared blankly at the shackles binding my wrists.
My body felt strangely weak—it must be something that suppressed mana.
“Luisa, does it hurt a lot?”
At the voice above me, I lifted my head.
The boy I had fed, clothed, and raised stood there.
No—he wasn’t a boy anymore.
He was tall enough that I had to crane my neck to look up at him. His face, no longer cute, was cold and sharp.
The softness of childhood had vanished. With his hardened body, he was no longer the Adel I knew.
“Take this off.”
“No. You’d just run away again. Like earlier.”
That’s because I didn’t know you were the insane male lead of this cursed novel.
As I frowned deeply, Adel reached out.
Because the restraints drained my strength, I couldn’t even resist as his hand touched my cheek. Warm fingers stroked my face gently.
“Didn’t you miss me, Luisa? I really—really missed you.”
“Don’t make a big deal out of just three years together.”
“Don’t say that. I don’t feel that way. Those three years were my entire world.”
What on earth did I do to make him like this?
When I shifted my head to avoid his hand, Adel looked hurt.
“You can at least let me touch you a little. I tried so hard to hold back what I wanted, because I didn’t want you to suffer anymore.”
“Then you should’ve kept holding back. It’s not like you’d die without me.”
“I would.”
“……”
“I’d die without you, Luisa. So don’t try to run away from me, okay?”
His sharp eyes curved softly as he smiled languidly.
A look of absolute satisfaction.
For a moment, I shuddered—it was like looking at a well‑fed predator.
Then disbelief washed over me.
No, why are you doing this to me? Haven’t you even met the female lead yet?
“Luisa, you are my savior.”
Sixteen years since I possessed this cursed novel.
My motto of living long and quietly shattered into pieces.
Ah. This is a cage‑confinement flag…
I’m screwed.
01.
According to my friend, this novel was a “legendary plot‑twist romance fantasy.”
According to the public, it was a “romance fantasy that smacked readers in the back of the head and ran,” titled Emperor, What’s Wrong With You?!
That nickname came from the later half of the story completely betraying the promotional tags:
#Lighthearted
#DevotedMaleLead
#PuppyLikeML
Up until the middle, it was sweet romantic comedy.
Then the male lead schemed, slaughtered the female lead’s entire family, and locked her in a cage.
Well—technically, she walked into the cage herself after being gaslit into insanity, so maybe “confinement” isn’t entirely accurate.
Anyway, I’d possessed that kind of deranged trash novel.
Lucky or unlucky, I’d possessed a useless extra and was promptly abandoned after being labeled a “monster.”
“Gooood is goooood~”
Humming as I sang, I loosened the armor of the man sprawled in front of me.
His body was icy cold under my fingertips, but I felt nothing.
After ten years of possession, that wasn’t surprising.
I erased the memory of my Korean self—who couldn’t even imagine harming someone—and focused on searching for valuables.
“Tch. Just a necklace.”
When I pressed the pendant’s center, it popped open to reveal a photo—probably his wife. A flicker of guilt surfaced, then quickly faded.
This man was a soldier from the allied kingdoms fighting against the Berto Empire—my base of operations—and he’d tried to cut off my nose for a bounty the moment he saw me.
I stripped the pendant and even his cheap sword, then stood.
Figures hiding between buildings watched me warily. Some looked intrigued.
“Luisa! Mind if I take that?”
One of them stepped out of the alley with a gentle smile.
A small, young woman who looked like she’d be arranging flowers in a peaceful village, if this weren’t a battlefield.
“What—planning to make another weird chimera and dump it near my place?”
“Oh my, when have I ever dumped chimeras at your house? That was just a navigation error.”
She smiled sweetly.
This woman specialized in bodily and mental modification magic.
“I was thinking of turning him into a guard golem, you see.”
In other words—she was spectacularly insane.
I waved her off with an exasperated look. After checking my expression, she hurried over and slung the corpse over her shoulder.
“Fine. Use it to guard your place. But if you accidentally send it near my house again—Merihen—you’ll die just like the chimeras you sent before.”
“…!”
Her lips trembled as she recalled their fate.
“O‑of course. Don’t worry, Luisa. I’ll never mix up the directions again.”
Ignoring her frantic nodding, I walked off. The day’s haul was poor—I planned to wander the battlefield a bit more.
Then I turned my head.
And saw a boy—very much alive—standing behind where she’d been.
“Merihen. Do you want to die?”
Hey. Even criminals have professional ethics. Are you really going after innocents now?
I was pretty sure I’d only allowed enemies and scum. Now kids too?
Watching her act like she’d forgotten all my warnings made me laugh hollowly.
Mana began to leak out as my anger rose.
“Luisa, it’s not what you think!”
Merihen shouted desperately, her face pale.
Reflected in her widened pupils was my 모습—blond and black hair writhing in the air like Medusa’s snakes.
Noticing the killing intent mixed into my mana, she pleaded.
“Please listen to me! I just hired him this morning to run errands! I’m not crazy enough to break your rules!”
“……”
“I never planned to hurt him! Just some cleaning! Really—believe me!”
She even threw down the corpse she was holding and dropped to her knees.
She was serious.
I stepped past her and looked down at the boy lying on the ground.
