🔊 TTS Settings
Prologue
The emperor returned from the hunt and headed straight to his study.
The vast corridors of the imperial palace, emptied of people, seemed to grow heavier with his presence alone.
Clayden A. Locarso.
A young emperor—beautiful and powerful.
When he reached the hallway outside his study, the palace attendants lined up and bowed deeply in unison.
They stared down at the carpet, lips tightly sealed, hiding their excitement.
Neatly kept, shining blond hair.
A face so perfect it looked as though the god of creation and the goddess of beauty had fought over shaping it.
His deep green eyes, burning like flames, pierced everything like arrows.
He was breathtaking even in his usual uniform, but dressed in hunting gear, he gave off a different kind of shock altogether. He was a man who casually threatened the very limits of how beautiful a human was allowed to be.
And on top of that, his swordsmanship surpassed even that of a Sword Master.
The reason he—who had been exiled to the frozen edge of the world not long ago—now sat on the throne was simple.
He had single-handedly wiped out a horde of monsters.
When the emperor entered his study, his only maid followed him inside.
“I’ll take your cloak.”
The emperor stopped where he was and spread his arms.
She was the only person he never hesitated to entrust his body to.
The hunting cloak trimmed with fine fur was as heavy as the authority it carried.
He had already been thinking that the first thing he wanted to do upon entering was throw this cumbersome thing off.
His maid always knew exactly what he wanted, and she never lost her focus on him.
Sometimes, it even felt like he wanted what she wanted.
In short, she was highly capable.
While she carefully hung up the precious cloak, he walked to his desk.
And then he quietly watched her move—silent, efficient, flawless.
But for some reason, his mood began to sour.
The sharp-minded emperor soon realized why.
It was because of her.
Again.
He clearly remembered the moment in the hallway earlier—amid the maids holding their breath in excitement, she alone had remained calm. Even though today, of all days, he had been shining more than ever.
That unchanged, almost creepy calm expression.
A face that had never once looked flustered because of him.
Annoyed beyond measure, the emperor tapped his fingers rapidly against the desk.
My maid has three great sins, he thought.
The sin of distracting me when I’m busy.
The sin of irritating me from time to time.
And lastly.
The sin of not falling in love with me!
The emperor stopped tapping his fingers and looked straight at her.
She’s harder than slaying monsters.
Once again today, the emperor found his maid unbearably irritating.
