Chapter 52
“Tsk, you must have learned how to refuse men from being at Duke Lupellen’s side. But it would be such a shame to let you go just like that, so I’ll give you the title ‘Number One Woman Who Courtshiped the Emperor.’”
Before I could decide whether that was a title I should accept or refuse, the Emperor smiled.
“But of course, there must be a price for daring to refuse the Emperor’s request, right? Hmm, shall we make it that you receive this dragon?”
She flashed a wicked smile at Gari, who didn’t even have time to dodge, and suddenly hugged him tight.
“Waaah! Creator, save me! You said companion dragon!”
“When will I ever get the chance to hug a dragon again? How adorable!”
The Emperor bit and nuzzled Gari for a long while, tormenting him until Gari went limp with exhaustion, and only then did she finally let us go.
“All right, then—we’ll hold the official Hero Appointment Ceremony tomorrow. You all must be tired from your long journey; go back and rest.”
Just as loudly as she had appeared, the Emperor vanished in a flash. I rubbed the back of my head in disbelief and bewilderment.
“Is she usually like that?”
I still felt dazed. As I staggered, the Duke chuckled softly and answered.
“She’s sharp enough to have counted every one of her 205 refusals, and bold enough to laugh them off. She’s also seasoned enough to rule the empire at such a young age.”
“Not just anyone can be Emperor, I guess. But why did you refuse Her Majesty’s proposal, Duke?”
I glanced around and asked the Duke quietly.
“If she proposed 205 times, doesn’t that mean she really likes you? If you’d married the Emperor back then, you wouldn’t have gone through such a rough childhood.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Jiana.”
The Duke’s face hardened slightly. He glanced left and right, then lowered his voice as if sharing a secret.
“If you had married Her Majesty back then, Lupellen Manor would’ve been completely taken over and you would’ve lost your life.”
“No way.”
“The Emperor is frightening. Once she gains the upper hand, there’s no turning back. Look at your dragon pup—he spotted her immediately and froze in fear.”
Sure enough, Gari was slumped in his bag, not even able to lift his head.
“I couldn’t hand you over to someone that terrifying. Jiana, from now on, do your best to refuse her proposals. Understand?”
I had no intention— not even the smallest—of becoming an imperial consort, so I nodded vigorously.
The Duke smiled in satisfaction, then said, “And, you know, I’m a bit upset.”
“Upset?”
“Didn’t you feel anything when the Emperor proposed to me? You know, like jealousy.”
What kind of nonsense is that—like a rabbit complaining while eating meat?
“A mere haenyeo daring to be jealous of the Emperor?”
“Why not? I’m jealous every day of that dragon pup you carry around. That wretched little thing got the ‘companion’ title before me. So isn’t it natural, selfish as it may be, that I want my haenyeo to have such feelings for me?”
“You’re greedy. You want to be the Duke’s haenyeo, you want to be his companion, and now you want jealousy too? One body won’t be enough—you’ll need some sort of cloning or duplication magic.”
“Give me all of it. I’d love that.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
We were bickering over jealousy when someone from the palace hurried over, calling out to us.
“Duke, Hero!”
“What is it?”
A retainer who had chased after us quickly arrived and delivered the Emperor’s summons.
“My apologies. Her Majesty the Emperor requests your presence again. You must follow me.”
“The Emperor? She wants us?”
A very bad feeling settled in.
“This is most inconvenient.”
Emperor Ivelyn behaved with manners and courtesy utterly different from before.
“I’ve just been informed that dokkaebi have been appearing along the southern coast of the capital. The initial report was three days ago—what began as one or two has gradually increased in number.”
She looked at me with an apologetic expression.
“I’m terribly sorry. I haven’t even been able to hold your Hero Appointment Ceremony yet, and now I’m asking you to handle this. I’ve heard that you drove out dokkaebi in the Tian Kingdom. Could you possibly deal with those appearing on the southern coast?”
It was a troubling request.
The dokkaebi that had originated in Choi Da-hye’s setting book had now spread beyond the Tian Kingdom and reached the Astria Empire.
It felt as if they were trailing after me wherever I went.
‘So I have to go to the Empire and clean up the mess that girl made?’
I felt unjustified, but there was nothing else to be done.
The gruesome images of the dokkaebi from the Tian Kingdom surfaced in my mind—their hideous faces, nothing remotely like that MeXmong thing.
The people of the Tian Kingdom had been so frightened that no one dared to step outside after sunset.
The Empire’s citizens must be trembling in the same way.
I opened my mouth to respond to the Emperor’s request.
“Of course I’ll go and—”
“Why are you sending Jiana?”
Before my sentence was finished, the Duke interrupted and questioned Ivelyn.
“Don’t order her to go to such a dangerous place just because she’s the hero.”
“It’s not an order; I asked politely.”
“Let Jiana decide for herself. That isn’t for Your Majesty to decide.”
The Duke was stubborn like a child.
“Please, Duke, I’m fine, that’s enough.”
I poked the Duke’s ribs to calm him, but he paid me no heed.
“Has Her Majesty ever seen a dokkaebi? I have. It’s a strange creature that wouldn’t even be affected by my attack as a sword master. Are you really going to send Jiana alone?”
“Wait, Duke. I never said I’d send her alone.”
“Then will you provide a million troops?”
“Even if I gave you ten million soldiers, ordinary people couldn’t injure the dokkaebi, could they?”
“Yes, that’s right. But at least they could protect Jiana. If ten million troops surrounded her, even dokkaebi wouldn’t attack easily.”
What on earth was he talking about? Why was he so intent on protecting me? Why blow things up to that scale?
I could just hit them with a beam of light and that would be that!
“Your Majesty, we’ll depart immediately. Duke, let’s go. Time is short.”
“Jiana, you don’t have to be forced.”
“I want to go, so don’t be stubborn, Duke.”
“Don’t be intimidated in front of the Emperor; do as you please.”
“It’s not like that!”
The longer our quarrel went on, the more severe Ivelyn’s expression became.
“Duke Lupellen, on what grounds are you intervening like this? Are you claiming to be Jiana’s husband?”
“I’m not her husband, but I pride myself on being more tightly bound to her than that.”
“What a load of—no, that’s highly misleading. Correct that at once!”
“Why, Jiana. That’s not an incorrect statement.”
“Wait, tell me again. What sort of relationship?”
Until a moment ago Ivelyn’s face had been ice-cold; now it was filled with interest.
The Duke answered Ivelyn.
“We cannot be apart for even a single day.”
“We’re just in a simple contract relationship!”
“A contract? Is that marriage contract?”
“No! Just a simple, ordinary master-servant relationship…!”
“Master and servant? Which one is the master? Surely, given that you can subdue even dokkaebi or dragons with one hand, you must be the Duke’s master?”
“No, that’s not it—”
Oh, for heaven’s sake!
We were in a hurry and words kept getting mangled.
