CHAPTER 02
“…Hey, excuse me?”
Slide—
I cautiously nudged the man’s head with the door.
The collapsed man’s face was completely hidden under a curtain of black hair, making it impossible to tell what he looked like.
“Hello?”
Tap.
The moment I nudged him again—
“Gasp…”
I was speechless.
He was so handsome, words couldn’t describe it.
“What… is this? A mirage?”
I rubbed my eyes and looked down again. My heart was pounding, and it was hard to calm down.
I thought I only got shocked like this when I ran into bugs… Turns out a human face can do it too?
I clapped a hand over my mouth and stared intently at him.
His pale, almost sickly skin was smooth like a peeled egg, and his soaking wet black hair added a mysterious, almost decadent vibe.
A high, straight nose, a sculpted jawline, and flawless facial structure—he had the kind of features that radiated presence even with his eyes closed.
I’d never seen anyone like this in my life.
“He never showed up when I was actually looking for a decent guy…”
There was a time I snuck around meeting men to avoid marriage with the Emperor, but not even a shadow of a handsome man appeared then. And now? One literally rolls to my feet.
Is this a dream?
“Yikes.”
I pinched my cheek, and tears sprang to my eyes.
“Not a dream.”
Okay, so it’s real.
But if it’s not a dream, why is this drop-dead gorgeous man lying unconscious in front of my new house on moving day?
I narrowed my eyes and stared at him suspiciously.
I almost forgot why I’m living in hiding, just because of that face.
I’m avoiding the Emperor, remember?
Logically speaking, there is no reason for a man this good-looking to be passed out in this tiny rural village, in this weather, on my doorstep.
Could he be a spy sent by the Emperor?
I nudged him with my toe.
He flopped over helplessly, clearly weak or injured.
“….”
And yeah, I couldn’t help but feel pity for this tragically beautiful creature.
But still… he’s suspicious.
“Could that sneaky Emperor somehow know I’m weak to pretty boys who look like tragic heroes?!”
Thankfully, we weren’t close enough for him to know something like that.
I kept staring at the man, then turned to firmly shut the door—but something popped into my mind.
[I made arrangements so you can stay safe, my lady. –Emma]
Emma. My maid.
She was the only one from my household secretly helping me after I ran away.
When I told her I was heading to Grunvalt, she’d replied:
[I’ll send a sturdy young man! Grunvalt’s too remote for a young lady to live alone. You’ll need someone to protect you. I’ll carefully choose a strong, reliable man, so don’t worry!]
“…So this is him?”
I looked down at the man, wondering if he was Emma’s “gift.”
“She said she’d request someone from the guild…”
I didn’t think she’d actually send someone.
I stared at the man, now soaked in the rain. I hadn’t asked for this, but here he was, delivered to my doorstep.
If he dies out here, I’d be guilty of abandoning a body.
“So heavy…!!!”
I’d brought him inside—barely.
Just as expected, he was built like a rock. Probably solid muscle from head to toe.
I managed to drag him onto the carpet, then collapsed beside him.
“Huff, haah… so heavy… I’m dying…”
I brought him in because I didn’t want to be a murderer, but I still had lots of doubts.
Because I couldn’t be 100% sure he was really sent by Emma.
“Could someone this insanely good-looking really be a background character?”
He was too handsome. That only made him more suspicious.
I focused my tired eyes and carefully removed his soaked cloak.
Since he didn’t have any bags or luggage, maybe something was hidden inside the robe.
“Bingo!”
I searched his robe and found a wooden tag.
“A mercenary pass?”
A long, brown tag carved from wood.
I’d seen them before—used to identify mercenaries.
Mercenaries were usually ranked from S down to D, and his tag said A-rank.
That was quite respectable.
“Name: Dale.”
Dale—a common name.
“At least he’s not the Emperor.”
The Emperor’s name in the original story was ridiculously long—like “Paprika Bell Pepper Tomato I”—nothing like this.
But the Emperor was described as handsome.
Though the genre was R-rated romance, so other “traits” were emphasized more than looks, still, it was never said he was ugly.
“…No way.”
I looked at the man’s hair and gently parted it to see his roots.
“Yep. Black roots.”
The Emperor had blonde hair and blue eyes.
He was a classic royal-type male lead—powerful, rich, tireless. This guy clearly wasn’t him.
But what if he dyed it thoroughly?
“Excuse me.”
I leaned in and studied his jawline.
“Beard’s black, too. Right. You can’t dye body hair.”
So what color were his eyes?
“I swear I’m not usually this intrusive, but just one more thing.”
I gently lifted his eyelid.
“His eyes are… gold?”
Golden irises?
That’s rare…
“Someone with a face like this is definitely not a background character. He’s too handsome for this world.”
I stared at him, thinking of my family and the other servants.
Since this world was from a novel, almost everyone had ridiculously good looks.
Myself included.
“Just because he’s good-looking doesn’t mean he’s not a side character…”
But I still couldn’t shake my suspicions.
“If he’s a mercenary, it’s highly likely he’s here under the Emperor’s orders.”
But the Emperor had six elite knight orders.
If he really wanted me caught, he’d send them, not a lone mercenary.
He was no fool who’d let secrets slip through cracks.
Plus, think about the kind of command the Emperor would’ve had to give…
“There’s this noble lady who ran away to avoid marrying me. I’m the Emperor, but she rejected me outright and disappeared. I need you to bring her back because I couldn’t. Go find the girl who’s smarter, faster, and more resourceful than me.”
Seriously? That’s pathetic.
Would he ever issue such a humiliating order?
And if he did use a mercenary, wouldn’t he send an S-rank, not an A?
“So what’s the truth? Did Emma really send this guy?”
I stared at him, then looked out the window.
It’s not like I could just dump him somewhere…
As a healer, abandoning a sick person wasn’t an option.
“Grandpa smells weird!”
I’d discovered my talent for healing around age eight.
That was also when I realized I was living in the world of a novel called The Empress Cannot Leave, or Empress Confinement for short.
And how terribly screwed I was.
I was fated to marry the male lead Emperor—doomed to be a tragic empress.
Or more accurately, the empress whose whole family would be ruined because of a messed-up political marriage with the male lead.
My family, the House of Lockhart, was originally a marquisate, but after the Emperor rose to the throne, we were elevated to a dukedom.
Meaning my father, Duke Lockhart, was the Emperor’s right-hand man—and our family, the leader of the new noble faction.
Sounds like a happy ending so far, right?
But once I got politically engaged to the Emperor, the original story took a nosedive into hell.
What was the age rating for Empress Confinement?
R-19.
And it was very dark.
In the original, the Emperor and I married for political gain, with no interest or love between us. But after our wedding night, everything changed.
He began obsessing over where I went, who I spoke to, what I ate and wore. And heaven forbid I so much as smiled at another man—I wouldn’t be allowed to step outside.
He became violently jealous of everything and everyone connected to me.
Even my family wasn’t safe.
He cut off all contact between us and eventually destroyed the entire Lockhart family.
Blinded by jealousy, he accused my loyal family of treason and had them all executed—except for me.
The Emperor was that kind of madman.
Ugh!
Anyway, circling back—when I realized all this, I also discovered I had the ability to smell illness.
Thanks to that, I was able to diagnose my grandfather’s disease early on, and in return, he gave me a massive allowance.
And I used that money to run away the moment I received the imperial decree to become Empress.
Three years have passed since then, bringing me to today…
“This man… doesn’t smell sick.”
All I smelled was dirt and rain.
He’s probably just passed out.
“If he rests a day or so, he should wake up.”
I touched his forehead—he had a mild fever.
“No signs of injury or being attacked.”
He’d just collapsed. His breathing was rough, so maybe his stamina was dangerously low.
“I can’t just toss him back out into the rain, can I?”
I stared at the suspicious man.
No matter how sketchy, I couldn’t in good conscience leave someone to die.
Using what few herbs I hadn’t lost during my move, I brewed a basic restorative and fed it to him.
Thankfully, color returned to his cheeks, and his body temperature stabilized.
I stared down at him again.
He was so handsome.
Like… ridiculously handsome. But still.
“I can’t have a corpse in the house.”
Especially not on moving day.
If he died, I’d have to hold a funeral.
If I held a funeral, I’d have to explain who he was.
To prove I had no connection, I’d have to reveal my real identity.
If I revealed my identity… the Emperor would—
Find me.
“This man must live!”
I rolled up my sleeves.
