Chapter 4: His Majesty the Emperor Is Not My Type
He’s just a slightly handsome man.
No—thinking that he’s handsome makes my heart race even more. Cancel that. Cancel.
That man is just a yellow chick. A chick. There’s absolutely no reason to be scared. I stared at him while silently hypnotizing myself.
Either the hypnosis worked well, or I was simply very talented at self-hypnosis—at some point, the Emperor genuinely started to look like a chick to me.
Peep. Peep.
A cute little yellow chick.
Of course, the moment his voice came out of his mouth, the spell shattered completely, but at least my pounding heart calmed down a bit.
“How novel. It certainly caught my attention.”
“…Thank you for the compliment.”
The sharp edge in his voice made my tension surge back all at once. It felt like the champagne I drank earlier was about to come back up. My heart thudded so hard it felt like it might leap out of my mouth. Anyway—I felt like I was going to die.
“A compliment? You staggered toward me like a newborn foal, so I thought you were challenging me to a duel. I even wondered if you were an assassin.”
“…There’s no way I’m an assassin.”
That was all I could manage in response. Nothing else would come out. Seeing the Emperor look visibly displeased, the people around us quickly backed away.
“Haha…”
“Isn’t there something you want to say? Or did you approach me because you’re an assassin?”
“No. I’m not an assassin, and I don’t really have anything to say… No, I mean—I do have something to say.”
At my words, the Emperor’s expression relaxed—if only by a hair.
“It seems you do have something to say. Go on. I’m in a very good mood today. I’ll listen to the words of someone who came at me as if ready to fight.”
“I didn’t come here to fight…”
I cautiously glanced at him and met his eyes. Despite claiming to be in a good mood, his face was stiff.
I should deny everything and run away—but my legs wouldn’t move. Whether it was the champagne I drank too much of or the pressure of being the center of attention, my legs were shaking uncontrollably. Still, there was no escape now.
‘It’s not like he’d kill me just for proposing… right?’
Cornered and half out of my mind, I blurted out the words I’d already thought about hundreds of times today.
I’m not afraid of him. Not at all.
Reapplying my hypnosis, I swallowed hard.
“You have to marry me. You—no, Your Majesty.”
I had no idea where that courage came from. The moment the words left my mouth, I bit my tongue in panic. Not please marry me, but you have to marry me—I was definitely insane.
But surprisingly, the Emperor merely tilted his head calmly.
Thankfully, there was no dramatic “How dare you propose to me!” followed by execution.
Perhaps because of that, my tongue seemed to gain a will of its own and kept moving. The hypnosis worked too well—my fear suddenly vanished.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because I need to become your son’s mother.”
The Emperor, who had been standing there leisurely sipping wine like he was enjoying a show, suddenly sputtered and sprayed wine out of his mouth.
Something damp splashed across my face.
“Ah.”
“My apologies. That took me by surprise.”
He handed me a handkerchief, and without even thinking, I wiped my face with it. He’d been drinking red wine—my face must look absolutely awful now.
Then the Emperor spoke again.
“Not the Empress, but my son’s mother?”
“I know… that you already have a son.”
The Emperor already had a child. One that no one knew about. A child who would suddenly appear at the age of eight and immediately become Crown Prince.
At my words, his face stiffened in shock.
“I don’t. There’s no such thing.”
“I know there is.”
“There isn’t.”
“There’s no need to hide it. I’ll keep it secret.”
At that, the Emperor let out a short laugh. As he wiped his mouth with a freshly taken white handkerchief, he looked like a dangerously charming devil.
It almost looked as if what stained his lips wasn’t red wine, but blood.
Still, his gaze toward me was filled with suspicion—an entirely expected reaction.
A royal secret. No, the Emperor’s hidden secret. Every emperor has at least one, don’t they?
‘It must be a pretty big secret to him—his son’s existence.’
“I said there isn’t.”
“It’s okay. I won’t tell anyone.”
The Emperor shot me a sharp look, irritation flickering across his face. He changed expressions completely and fell silent for a long while.
An Emperor whose only charm is his looks—he suited that description perfectly.
“I despise people who spout nonsense,” he said at last. “And I find it unbearable to even share the same space with such people.”
His suspicion and wariness hadn’t eased at all. Still, I’d charged in headfirst to make an impact at our first meeting—maybe I’d gone too far.
“And you,” he continued, “are exactly the kind of person I dislike.”
“But it’s true.”
“Even with a blade at your throat, would you insist that nonsense is the truth?”
“Yes.”
Ah… maybe mentioning a blade was a bit much. Instinctively, my hand brushed my neck, as if my body itself was afraid something unimaginable might happen.
“You’re quite bold. What exactly are you relying on?”
Though his doubt remained, his tone suggested he was at least willing to listen.
If I backed down now, I’d gain nothing. So I lifted my chin even higher. Maybe because of that—or maybe because something struck a nerve—his face, which had moments ago claimed ignorance, hardened.
My heart lurched violently.
“…An unknown child,” he muttered.
“Huh?”
My ears rang as I stared at his chilling expression. I hadn’t even heard his quiet words properly. An unknown child?
Was he testing me? Doing it on purpose?
As I hesitated, his face grew dangerously cold.
I swallowed.
“You really want to stay by my side that badly? Then why not perform a little trick instead? Stop spouting nonsense. Who knows—I might even clap for you.”
What an infuriating bastard. A man who’s been eating and living on bad manners for twenty years. How could he be like this?
The tension drained from my body in an instant—replaced by a different kind of anger.
“Why? Are you offended?” he asked.
“Offended? Not at all.”
“But dozens of people covet the Empress’s seat. To beat them, shouldn’t you be more appealing? A pretty face alone is far too common—”
“I don’t need the Empress’s seat.”
The Emperor’s confident expression froze instantly.
“You don’t want to be Empress? So your approach wasn’t because you desired that position?”
I nodded.
I didn’t need to be Empress.
As long as I could become his son’s mother.
As long as I could raise that child properly—so he would never become entangled with my younger sister.
‘As long as I can prevent that damned Crown Prince from becoming the bastard who betrays my sister in the future!’
That was why I had to marry the Emperor.
That problem child—Rederlo Solevan.
The Emperor’s one and only son. The only child of a man whose misogyny bordered on obsession.
Rederlo Solevan, whose very existence was unknown, would suddenly be revealed to the world on his eighth birthday—as if he had fallen from the sky—and immediately be named Crown Prince.
That future never changed. It was explicitly written in the novel.
‘And Rederlo is also the only man my sister, Sasha, ever loved.’
Sasha, who had been used by her family all her life, left them the moment she came of age.
She realized she’d been gaslit throughout her childhood and ran away. Then, one year later, she reappeared—
By the Crown Prince’s side, as his loyal subordinate.
Used by her family, betrayed by others, left with a gaping hole in her heart—Sasha saw herself in the Crown Prince and fell in love with him.
But the Crown Prince fell in love with the novel’s female lead.
Even knowing Sasha loved him, he gave her not a single shred of affection. To him, she was nothing more than a tool.
Rederlo used Sasha thoroughly to kill his own father and ascend the throne.
If even a drop of imperial blood flowed in someone’s veins, he didn’t hesitate to kill them—even infants. As if no royal besides himself should exist, he slaughtered them all mercilessly.
‘I don’t know all the circumstances, but killing your own father is crossing a line.’
Just thinking about it sent chills racing down my spine.
That wretched Crown Prince who used my sister simply because he didn’t want to do the dirty work himself.
“Your eyes look sharper than before,” the Emperor said. “Do you desire something even greater than the Empress’s seat?”
Afraid he might misunderstand, I waved my hands quickly.
“N-no. What I want is the position of Your Majesty’s son’s mother.”
“Do you intend to act as regent?”
“Not at all. I just want permission to raise the child.”
There are futures that can’t be changed—and futures that can.
Sasha being used by her family was a future already set.
The birth of Crown Prince Rederlo was also inevitable.
But stopping my family from exploiting Sasha—that was a future I could change.
Preventing the Crown Prince from using the emptiness in Sasha’s heart—raising him properly so he wouldn’t become a monster—that too was a future I could change.
That was why I proposed to the Emperor.
“I can’t understand you.”
“All I need is a small detached palace within the imperial grounds. I don’t want the Empress’s seat, nor do I have ulterior motives.”
There, I would raise Sasha and the future problem child together.
As close siblings.
A relationship where they never hurt each other.
Both of their personalities were twisted by how they’d been raised as children—nothing more.
Just imagining it made a smile bloom on my face.
“…You’re making a rather sly expression,” the Emperor said.
“Me? Not at all. Sly, you say?”
“You were trembling so badly earlier you could barely speak, yet now you seem perfectly fine. For a performance, it was entertaining.”
At his words, I checked myself. Strangely, all my earlier tension was gone—like the relief after successfully finishing a presentation.
Of course, the Emperor’s words still made my heart pound.
‘Maybe I really am good at hypnosis. Except when he uses that serious tone, everything he says sounds like a chick chirping.’
Afraid he might misunderstand, I quickly wiped my thoughts and expression clean.
“Anyway… I’m not asking for much.”
“It was amusing. But most women eventually ask for more. For example—”
“Don’t worry. I’ll never fall in love with you, Your Majesty.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re not my type.”
I meant it to reassure him—but the Emperor’s face twisted.
“No one has ever said something like that to me before.”
