Chapter 4
‘Yeah, how could you possibly understand the deep intentions of this unni?’
Instead of explaining, I calmly sat down and waited for their answer.
If I were exiled like this, I’d be able to leave the Empire safely—even with Duke Perion and Duke Bordi causing chaos behind the scenes.
And there was no reason for the Emperor’s side to refuse this condition.
In other words, my safe escape from the Empire was right in front of me.
Linen and Devon looked puzzled, but in the end, they obediently accepted the condition.
“Very well. We promise. However, if your prophecy proves false, it will be difficult to spare your life.”
“Of course.”
Perion would wake up no matter what. This was a game I couldn’t lose.
Like yesterday, I took the crystal ball from my arms. I rubbed it while muttering nonsense for a while, then suddenly gasped as if a spirit had possessed me. The important thing here was to deceive even myself.
I widened my eyes and raised both hands dramatically.
“A noble person shall come from afar! Before the sun rises today, that person will save the Sun of the Empire!”
I shouted so loudly my eyes felt like they’d pop out, then let my body slump as if my spirit had left me.
Seems like my acting improves the more I do it.
‘Who knew my mom running around like crazy to fortune-tellers in my past life would be this useful?’
For some reason, the thought made me feel a little bitter.
With my eyes closed, my sharpened hearing picked up Linen’s serious voice.
“A noble person from afar will heal His Majesty. That is your meaning. Very well. I shall trust you.”
I heard Linen and Devon begin to walk away.
Inside, I was cheering at how smoothly everything was going—when Linen’s footsteps suddenly stopped.
“Devon, it would be better to take that one with us. I’d feel more at ease keeping her where I can see her.”
A bad feeling washed over me.
‘Haha… Who are they talking about? Surely not me.’
I forced a faint internal laugh and continued my masterful fainting act, when Devon delivered the final blow.
“The fortune-teller? Understood.”
‘…Excuse me? I have to see that crazy tyrant again?’
I screamed inwardly, but a fainted person has no voice. Only cold sweat.
Being near Perion feels like my lifespan ticks away by the second. One slip of the tongue and it’s straight to the afterlife. Of course I’m terrified.
I heard the iron door creak open. A moment later, my body was lifted lightly.
And just like that, I was dragged to the Emperor’s chamber.
Linen, that lunatic, placed me in the room right next to the Emperor’s. Apparently, it had the tightest security, so there’d be no chance of escape.
And he even shackled my hands! At least they were cuffed in front.
‘What am I, some violent criminal…?’
As I ground my teeth inwardly, Linen spoke in a satisfied voice.
“This should do. Let’s go.”
‘Trip and smash your nose on the way out.’
I was cursing him in my head when—
“Ahhh!”
Thud!
“Hey, are you alright, Linen?”
“Ugh— I think my nose broke from the vase that fell when I tripped.”
‘…What?’
Goosebumps prickled over my skin. I cracked one eye open slightly to check.
Sure enough, Linen had fallen backward, and a vase had dropped right onto his face. He was bleeding from both nostrils.
‘Serves you right.’
Feeling oddly refreshed, I closed my eyes comfortably.
“You’d better get treated quickly.”
Soon, the two of them rushed out.
I cautiously opened my eyes again. The room was truly empty.
‘He’s not even nervous leaving a suspicious person alone next to the Emperor?’
I slowly sat up and looked around. For a room right beside the Emperor’s chamber, it wasn’t lavish at all—rather bare and desolate.
Because of the handcuffs, I had to wriggle awkwardly to stand and headed toward the largest door in the room.
Click. Click.
Locked, of course. I’d briefly hoped they’d forgotten to lock it in their hurry, but that was wishful thinking.
So this time, I headed toward a slightly smaller door.
I turned the handle.
Click—creeeak—
It turned easily, and the door opened.
I was the one startled by that.
‘Did they really forget to lock this?’
Standing there blankly with the doorknob in hand, I hesitantly stepped inside.
“…Is anyone there…?”
I called out in a tiny voice, but there was no response.
Reassured, I fully opened the door—and froze at the sight before me.
“Wow—”
It was the height of extravagance.
Even without lights, the chandelier sparkled brilliantly in the moonlight. The patterned carpet was ornate, antique paintings sat in golden frames, and luxurious furniture filled the room. It was a feast for the eyes.
As I stepped in, mouth agape, I noticed the enormous bed at the center—large enough for four adults to sleep comfortably.
Approaching it, I saw someone lying there.
‘Don’t tell me…’
I stepped closer.
“It’s the Emperor.”
I had suspected it from how extravagant the room was, but seeing him in person made my heart pound harder.
Not from excitement—from fear.
I sat beside Emperor Perion, who lay quietly on the bed.
‘He won’t wake up before the heroine arrives anyway, so this much should be fine.’
I hadn’t properly seen his face yesterday because I’d been so tense. Now that I looked carefully, he was breathtakingly handsome.
A sharply defined nose, straight brows, crimson lips. A beauty beyond compare.
‘And with that face, how many people did he kill yesterday?’
Just remembering it made me shudder. And once again, it felt surreal that a character from a novel was truly right before my eyes.
I poked his cheek lightly. His soft skin pressed under my fingertip. Perion didn’t stir at all.
Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind. He felt so vividly alive—could this really be a world inside a novel?
I stared at him intently, but he offered no answers.
As I stood to return to my room, Perion suddenly grabbed my forearm.
“Eek!”
Startled, I spun around, thinking he had awakened.
But his eyes were still closed.
However, his brows were deeply furrowed as if tormented by a nightmare, and he was muttering something.
Curious, I leaned closer to hear.
“…Don’t go… Please… don’t go….”
Only then did I understand what kind of nightmare he was having.
In <My Luck Is Gone> (내.운.고), Perion was a tyrant who had killed all his siblings and even his father to become Emperor.
The reason was simple.
Because he was an illegitimate child, because he did not possess the imperial family’s red eyes of true blood, he suffered extreme abuse.
But if that had been all, perhaps he wouldn’t have become such a tyrant.
In this world, fortune-tellers were considered worse than commoners. People did not believe in superstitions like divination because there was a temple.
Charlatans who dared to imitate the gods as mere humans—that was how fortune-tellers were viewed.
Still, occasionally, there were a rare few rumored to have “stolen” divine power. So there was some demand.
‘But since they were said to have “stolen” divine power, even the talented ones weren’t treated well.’
However, the previous Emperor despised the temple. He kept one fortune-teller close, and that fortune-teller sought to manipulate the Emperor to fulfill his own ambitions.
And deceived by the fortune-teller’s false prophecy, the former Emperor executed Perion’s mother.
That was when Perion decided to become a tyrant.
Perhaps because of this backstory, Perion was immensely popular in the novel despite being the villain. And I was one of the people who liked him.
Perhaps he kept reliving the day his mother left for the execution grounds.
Thinking that, I couldn’t easily leave his side.
So I decided to just hold his hand for a moment—to ease his nightmare, even slightly.
‘I just have to return to my room before the heroine arrives.’
However, despite my resolve to hold his hand only briefly, drowsiness kept washing over me.
Perhaps sleeping in that cold prison earlier had made my body easily fatigued.
‘I can’t… fall asleep….’
And just like that, before I knew it, I drifted off to sleep.
