Chapter 1

“It’s free.”

On the throne, the man sitting at an angle opened his mouth.

Beneath the dark hair which is darker than the starless night sky, frightening blood-colored eyes, sharp nose that falls at the perfect angle, a jaw that seems to have been shaved off with great care, and a bored smile.

Red lips twisted indifferently.

The man’s appearance resembled a masterpiece made by a genius artist burning his soul, but she didn’t blink.

That high stand. It’s all shells.

It’s also thinner than paper.

“I can’t believe that Hythronia, the eternal sun, His Majesty is bored, for the heavens and the Earth will open and the dormant volcano will breathe fire.”

She spoke enthusiastically without pause and bowed deeply.

“Your Majesty, please leave this important task to this humble servant. Should we call out the dancers from the southern territory right away?”

Next to her, she felt the resentment of other nobles blooming. In particular, the eyes of the lords in the southern region were not good.

They had the hardest time. She was looking for dancers who could catch the eyes of that emperor who has unnecessarily high standards.

But no one could say anything.

“It’s done.”

“Should I pick a new concubine who looks good when I come home?”

She felt the aristocrats with daughters become nervous.

She was worried that one day, she might get killed by an assassin they sent for her.

Nothing stopped her because being killed by the trash that occupied that throne comes before being killed by any nobleman.

“There are rumors about the character of the Marquis Danos’ second daughter, what do you think? It’s said that she’s a lovely girl.”

Now, only Marquis Danos was stiff and waited for the emperor’s mouth to open.

“Daughter of the Marquis of Danos, isn’t she just 7 years old now?”

The phrase, “Hey, you’ve swept away all the women at the right age among the nobles already,” rose to her throat.

At first, it was not difficult to find a concubine.

Because, despite the rumors of the emperor being promiscuous, any noble woman who sees him falls in love.

But what?

Who knew, that the emperor was trash among the trash, and that he meets once with women and never meet again afterwards.

As such, the number of women abandoned by the emperor increased, and the number of new concubine candidates decreased.

They have also selected people with excellent character among commoners, but can’t it be talked about at the State Council?

“Hmm. To add my humble opinion, I think it would be good to bring her to the palace in advance and see the possibility.”

Damn it. It’s up to her now.

However, the emperor still looked gloomy.

He leaned his head against one hand and shook the other.

“Are you telling me to live with my head down at a child’s eye level?”

The emperor doesn’t know.

That he’s sending her a letter full of cake crumbs every week.

They’re saying that the emperor is cool. She really wanted him to get married, so as the Duchess she tries to work harder.

It was not even a letter to Santa Claus, but a very earnest request.

She was going crazy.

But she can’t give up here.

She took a deep breath and bent down even lower.

“Of course, it would not be enough to give all the beautiful things in the world to satisfy the aesthetics of the great emperor. However, I apologize, for noblewomen of the right age worthy of his noble lineage is hard to find. I will look for a princess from a neighboring country.”

He shouldn’t reject everything at once. It had to be presented along with an unconditional solution to make it impossible.

“Never mind. It won’t even make sense to bring in foreigners who can’t speak the imperial language properly.”

Damn, he’s being so picky.

“There’s no longer a suitable woman among the noble families?”

As she bent down a little more, her forehead almost touched her knee.

“I have no face to see Your Majesty.”

The sound of the emperor tapping the throne with his fingers was heard.

“Isn’t there one person left?”

The emperor’s voice rang low over my head while she was thinking hard about the woman she missed.

“You.”Sometimes she wonders.

｡+.｡☆ﾟ:;｡+ﾟ ☆*ﾟ¨ﾟﾟ･*:..ﾞ

She wonders if her past life in Korea was all a preparation period for this tearful skit.

“Customer’s happiness is our happiness, how can we help you today? Ma’am?

My voice, working as a call center agent, was softer than the weather forecaster’s, but only her face showed a shitty expression.

‘I can’t believe you’re selling this trash to customers! Are you out of your mind? Do you want to be sued?’

When swear words began to flow out, she took her headset off her ears for a while and waited for the customer to run out of breath.

“Yes, customer. I apologize that you are upset and that our product was unsatisfactory.”

She stretched out her middle finger and raised her glasses to draw mechanical comments.

“If you explain in detail what you were dissatisfied with, we will be able to provide more efficient consultation.”

Why can’t you understand what I’m saying?

She rubbed her tired eyes with her middle finger and dropped the headset from her ear again.

She stayed up all night reading a novel yesterday, and the aftermath was great. So she had no regrets.

Reading a new piece of waste every day was the only hobby she has in her monotonous life.

Even though the headset was dropped far away, there was a strong swear word asking her parents’ safety and whether she had proper education. But she didn’t get a rough beating, her face wasn’t bleeding, nor her eyes were wet.

Despite all of this…

No, she was rather sleepy.

Obviously, in her early days of joining the company, there was a time when she secretly shed tears and blow her nose, but after a few years, even that became annoying.

There may be people who sympathize with her while feeling sorry for her dulled emotions, but she’s fine.

Her life was already barren enough to be caught up in unnecessary emotions, and it was her simple goal to live this life as well as possible.

“I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.”

She held back her yawn and pinched her thigh, for her not to fall asleep while listening to the customer’s complaint, which boasts a higher volume than the before, as a lullaby.

However, rather than waking up, only the sensation of the thigh became dull, and eventually the heavy eyelids began to droop.

Bang!

I was surprised by the sound of a shot and the fierce wind that cut my cheek.

And I was frozen by the scene.

Endless high ceilings, chandeliers pouring dizzying lights.

Luxurious velvet curtains wrapped around one side of the wall, elaborate oil paintings, flawless marble floors.

The large hall was filled with men dressed in splendid medieval clothing.

Among them, the person who stood out was the most beautiful man sitting on the golden throne with boredom.

Black hair darker than crow’s wings, nose that falls in a smooth line, straight dark eyebrows, and bloody lips that are mischievously curled.

The jawline cut like a sculpture passed through the beautiful neckline where the neckline twists and led to a wide shoulder.

Strong chest and abs that are clearly drawn even though they are wrapped in a shirt.

The man, who leaned obliquely back from his upper body, twisted his long legs and moved his feet.

He was the only one with a leisurely smile in the frozen venue, colder than frost.

The man, who was spinning a silver dagger with one hand, slowly opened his lips.

“Answer me again, Sir Ethan.”

As he shifted his gaze to the place where he was looking, he saw a man standing close to the wall on the other side of the chairman.

Dagger was closely attached around the limbs of a man who’s stretched out like a scene in a circus.

“Sir, what did you do wrong?””

“Sorry, I’m sorry. Your Majesty.”

Sir Ethan stuttered with a white face.

He looked pitifully terrified, but the emperor, a man called His Majesty, only turned the dagger around with a mysterious smile. If not for this situation, it seems to be innocent.

Once, twice. The dagger is starting to spin.

The nobles around him whispered in  frightened voices.

“Sir Ethan, will you be able to answer in 3 seconds?”

“You have to do it somehow. Baron Manuel, who broke the three-second rule last time, was also hanged.”

Someone even cried.

“Shouldn’t someone stop him?”

However, everyone was busy shaking.

“How can we stop Your Majesty? Only the neck of the person who came out will be able to escape.”

“Shh. Lower your voice. Your Majesty will hear it.”

The dagger circled the air for the third time.

And-

Bang!

In a blink of an eye, a dagger stuck on the wall trembled near Sir Ethan’s neck.

A stem of blood went down the back of his neck and wet his collar.

“Argh!”

Sir Ethan screamed as if her were strangled, but the emperor only raised one eyebrow with emotionless eyes.

Even the small movement was breathtakingly beautiful, so if it weren’t for this situation, I would have looked at it with admiration.

“Oh no. There are only two dagger left now.”

With the emperor’s small humming, the new dagger slowly began to spin in his hand.

Once, twice.

“Po, Polo game.””

When Sir Ethan hurriedly said something, the spinning dagger paused.

“Block the way of His Majesty, the Emperor-.”

Bang!

“Argh!”

Shortly after the dagger left the emperor’s hand, a terrible scream filled the hall.

When Sir Ethan trembled in fear, the servants next to him crouched and trembled.

“It hasn’t been long since I’ve selected a new commander, and it looks like I’m about to pick someone else again.”

“How did Your Majesty lose the Polo game? The guards should have lost in moderation if they were in their right mind.”

“The losing team decided to buy alcohol.”

“Gasp. To cover His Majesty’s drinking expenses with a knight’s salary…”

“It’s a disgrace.”

As the emperor’s gaze slowly headed toward the sound of from the captain of the Guard, the whisper was cut off.

The servants lowered their already bowed heads to avoid the emperor’s gaze.

“Duchess Baloa, tell us”.”

Duchess Baloa?

The eyes of my servants were all drawn to her. Only then did she realize that Duchess Baloa was her.

Realization led to the very next thought. If that tyrant fails to receive a satisfactory answer in three seconds, she will be executed.

She suddenly felt dizzy.

She managed to straighten up my staggering body.

Now she knew what kind of situation it was. It was weirder not to notice.

Because it perfectly matched the contents of the novel she read all night last night.

Duchess Baloa.

A tyrant who puts people at the conference hall for fun and punishes them immediately if they don’t get the answer he wants within three seconds.

She thinks he’s possessed.

He was also the tyrant male lead in an R-19 novel.

The emperor’s blood-red eyes, with the corner of his mouth raised, strangely flashed.

“What did Sir Ethan do wrong?”

The emperor began to slowly turn the last remaining dagger and stared at me with a lively gaze.