#23. The Dangerous Beast Reveals Its True Nature
A jawline too sharp to ignore.
A nose so straight it drew admiration.
Eyes filled with the arrogance of someone who knew all too well how handsome he was.
As always, Nikolai flaunted the presence of the most beautiful man in the world.
“Your Majesty. What brings you here?”
“I was passing by.”
“That can’t be true.”
“And how are you so sure?”
“Because Your Majesty’s usual haunts are the audience chamber on the first floor, your office on the second, or the training grounds. None of them overlap with here.”
“You’ve done your research.”
Yes, I had spent money.
And I hadn’t held back on charm, either.
“Then you must also know I’ve no time to mingle with women?”
There was an edge to Nikolai’s tone, as though he disliked being treated like a womanizer.
“Honestly, I was surprised. I thought you spent most of your day in the harem.”
“Didn’t you say with your own lips that I wasn’t the debauched Casanova the rumors made me out to be?”
“Sometimes when I see how you act, I feel tempted to believe the rumors again.”
“Still holding on to that incident?”
That day when his fingers brushed my lips, when he leaned in as though to kiss me.
The sudden move had startled me.
I couldn’t control my trembling.
Not wanting him to see how rattled I was, I had gone on the defensive.
I regretted it ever since.
“First I was the one saying we should kiss, then when it actually happened, I acted like some virtuous lady. He must’ve been so bewildered.”
Even after being reborn as Elisabeth, the core of a Confucian-raised girl had never changed.
When it came to men, I was too stiff, too cautious.
That was who I was.
Back in Korea, living as Kim Yena, it was never a problem.
In fact, I rather liked that about myself.
But now, it was a huge obstacle in seducing a tyrant.
“If it were the original Elisabeth, she would’ve been bolder, more daring. That would’ve given her a better chance of winning. Why become a femme fatale if you won’t use it?”
I had secured my position as imperial tutor, but the seduction game was going nowhere.
Claudia would be returning soon.
Maybe even earlier than in the original.
It meant I had to shed my past life as a proper girl and truly become a femme fatale.
Maybe it was time to practice a little.
“I think it’s not me, but Your Majesty who keeps holding on to that day.”
I whispered sweetly, curling my eyes into a soft smile.
It took a few deep breaths and some mental control, but Elisabeth’s coquettishness was engraved in this body.
“Didn’t you say that kind of tactic would never work against me?”
“It was just advice. If it bothers you, ignore it.”
“I could. But I’d rather try approaching you differently this time.”
Nikolai leaned an arm against the bookshelf, tilting his head toward me.
Blue sparks flashed in his green eyes.
It wasn’t the gaze of an emperor.
It was the gaze of a predator sizing up its prey.
The air thinned around me, and my lips parted.
“Approaching me? I feel like an impregnable fortress right now.”
“It’s harder to conquer you than an enemy stronghold.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Perhaps a complaint.”
Conquest. Surrender.
Did he even realize how dangerous his words were?
Each one struck like a blow to my chest.
“You seem honest, but you’re full of secrets. You won’t let me get close, won’t let me touch you.”
“…”
“Has there ever been another woman who’s given the Emperor such a hard time?”
Nikolai stretched out his hand.
The shadow of his fingers fell across my face.
He was so close I could hear my own heartbeat, yet his skin never touched mine.
Still, every hair on my body stood on end.
The tension boiled deep inside me.
I bit down on the soft flesh inside my cheek.
I couldn’t let him seize the initiative.
“Don’t complain. I’m just as difficult an opponent.”
With a sly smile, I cupped his jawline with my hand.
For a moment, Nikolai’s pupils widened, then narrowed again.
It felt like something taut inside him had just snapped.
“You didn’t expect me to make the first move, did you? Better to attack than be attacked.”
But then came the unexpected.
“Elisabeth.”
His voice was low, cracked, almost a groan.
A slow, curling smile.
And between his straight teeth, his canines looked unusually sharp.
“You really are… entertaining.”
The words felt strange.
He had never once called me “you.”
He had never bared such greedy hunger in his tone.
My instincts screamed of danger.
A chilling certainty seized me.
“This isn’t Nikolai…!”
This was rougher, more impulsive, more feral.
Red warning lights blared in my mind.
It was like facing a starving beast cornered in a dead end.
“I have to get away!”
But my frozen legs wouldn’t move.
Even my breath caught in my throat.
Clinging to sheer survival instinct, I forced out a voice.
“Y-Your Majesty?”
“…!”
“Are you really the man I know?”
Like someone shocked by lightning, Nikolai jerked his shoulders.
He half-collapsed, leaning against the bookshelf.
His breathing grew rough, scraping against my eardrums.
“Haah… haah…”
He looked like he was in agony.
As if swallowing something sharp and dreadful.
What was it?
What was he struggling so desperately to hold back?
“…I’m fine now.”
But he didn’t look fine.
His pale face was stained with some unknown sense of defeat, sweat dripping from his forehead.
Still, this was the Nikolai I knew.
Only then did his hand unclench from the handkerchief he’d been gripping until his knuckles turned white.
“You’re drenched in sweat.”
I dabbed his forehead with his own handkerchief.
He only gazed at me, weary beyond words.
Nikolai had worn many masks before me.
The cold emperor.
The decadent flirt.
The clumsy innocent.
Some faces must have been lies, others truths.
Perhaps every lie contained a shard of truth, and every truth carried a stain of lies.
But this face was different from them all.
It was as if a feral beast had bared its true nature.
Which face was the real Nikolai?
And why now did he reveal such raw sorrow and loneliness without restraint?
“You need fresh air. Maybe wash your face with cold water too.”
I deliberately kept my tone light.
Nikolai realized I was being considerate.
After a pause, he extended his hand.
“Will you come with me?”
He didn’t know.
That somewhere along the line, I had become unable to refuse his outstretched hand.
I didn’t know either.
This trembling I couldn’t resist—where it began, where it was leading.
“Then take me somewhere nice.”
I managed to mimic Elisabeth’s seductive smile.
Nikolai gave a wry smile, yet seemed relieved.
Why did that look break my heart again?
What pity was there for a man who already had the world?
“This is your idea of somewhere nice?”
I pushed back the stifling hood.
Across the filthy, grease-stained table sat Nikolai, also hooded, his chin propped in one hand.
“Forget prejudice. Just enjoy it.”
The rowdy laughter of drunkards nearly drowned out his words.
I leaned in closer.
“What?”
“I said, enjoy.”
The smoky air reeked of cigarettes, charcoal, and rotten vegetables.
Trash littered the floor. Fat rats peeked from the kitchen.
“What’s there to enjoy here, among drunks, gamblers, and rats?”
“It’s more fun than you think. I’ve been coming here since I was young.”
“What refined taste you have.”
“You flatter me.”
“Why not just come alone? Those women would’ve welcomed you.”
I gestured at the heavily painted women prowling for customers, their outfits more like underwear than dresses.
“Handsome man! Come drink with me!”
They shamelessly flaunted themselves, tempting the men.
I was probably the only one here blushing crimson.
“Is it really okay to be doing that in broad daylight?!”
“They all enjoy it.”
A mercenary grabbed a woman into his arms.
She arched back, laughing coquettishly.
Their kiss soon followed, long and heavy.
The Confucian girl’s soul momentarily left her body.
“Ahem. I didn’t bring you here to see that.”
Nikolai cleared his throat over the whistles and cheers.
At least he still had a shred of decency.
“Then why did you?”
“The skewers here are delicious.”
“Skewers?”
“I wanted you to try them. I used to love them too.”
I quickly turned my eyes.
Every table was piled high with skewers—shrimp, pork, chicken wings, mushrooms—grilled over charcoal until they looked mouthwatering.
My throat swallowed on its own.
Nikolai signaled to a waiter in a dirty apron.
“Bring us one of everything.”
“I can’t eat that much!”
That modest claim lasted all of ten minutes.
Soon I was tossing aside empty sticks, grabbing new ones.
Juices burst in my mouth as I sucked my fingers clean.
“This place is amazing!”
“And what happened to the girl who said she couldn’t eat much?”
“Who can resist grilled meat? Especially the pork—it’s heavenly!”
Ah, samgyeopsal.
The taste of home, enough to bring tears to my eyes!
If only there’d been gochujang and spicy peppers, it would’ve been perfect—but even without, I ate my fill.
Nikolai didn’t touch the food, just watched me.
“Why not eat the dishes from the palace chefs?”
“Do you want the polite answer or the honest one?”
“Elisabeth and politeness? Doesn’t suit you.”
“Then I’ll be honest.”
I set down a pork skewer and wiped my mouth with a grimy napkin.
“It was the worst I’ve ever had. Too salty, too sweet, too sour, too greasy. It felt like the seasonings were all fighting in my mouth.”
“That bad?”
“How do you even eat that stuff?”
“Because I have to survive.”
“Come on. It’s not like you’ve lost your sense of taste.”
“I have. Long ago.”
The casual answer startled me more than I expected.
So when he chewed like a machine, he really couldn’t taste anything.
The palace chef’s desperate use of spices suddenly made sense.
“I heard stress can kill your sense of taste. Life as emperor must be harsher than I thought.”
Half to myself, I murmured:
“So that’s why you love chocolate cake the most.”
“How did you know that?”
“What?”
“Only a handful of my closest people know I enjoy chocolate cake. Who told you?”
“I must have seen or heard it somewhere by chance.”
But that flimsy excuse didn’t convince him.
“We’ve only dined together once, and there was no chocolate cake that day. I even banned it, so the chef wouldn’t have baked it. And you say you heard it by chance?”
“Merchants are always quick with information.”
“But you hardly involved yourself with the Emster Trading Company. You only spent their money freely.”
Maybe I should’ve blamed it on my supposed psychic powers instead.
How could I slip out of this naturally?
“Without the joy of eating, life must be dull indeed.”
“Don’t change the subject, Elisabeth.”
“Of humanity’s three primal desires—food, sleep, and sex—food is the greatest.”
“I’ve never known hunger.”
“Ah! So that’s why all your desires got funneled into sex?!”
