Episode 7: Caught Your Attention? (2)
Despite the Emperor’s seemingly erratic behavior, his governing skills were surprisingly sound.
The reason why the nobles didn’t rise up in protest, even though the Emperor’s personal life was a mess, was because of this very reason.
In fact, the nobles were rather comfortable. As long as the “Marrygold” was in the Emperor’s arms, he acted like a satiated monster, turning a blind eye to the nobles’ indulgences.
The real madness, however, resided within the palace itself.
She had a fair face, black hair as dark as ebony, and crimson lips. Her ghostly long nails caressed the face of the young man seated before her.
“Julius.”
The young man with straight chestnut hair and slender eyes looked up at the sound of his name. The woman whispered with an ecstatic smile.
“Why do you resemble your father so much?”
“My, my.”
She was the Empress of this empire. From the moment of her marriage, the Emperor’s infidelity had driven her slowly mad.
It had begun when she was young and continued even after she gave birth to a son who was destined to inherit the throne. In fact, it had become even more complicated. She had everything at her fingertips, yet her adversary was already gone from this world. She would forever be the loser.
Her long nails left a red mark on her beloved son’s neck.
“When you find a woman you love, you’ll abandon this mother just like your detestable father.”
Julius stared at his mother’s hand, shivering as if from a chill, then gently wrapped it in his own.
“That won’t happen, Mother. I am your son, after all.”
“Even your father swore eternal love when we first married, Marrygold, before he met that hideous woman.”
Marrygold, a woman already deceased. She had lowly status, fitting for a palace maid who cleaned the corridors. Moreover, she didn’t even like the Emperor.
Nevertheless, the Emperor became infatuated with her and not only danced around her but also gave her the position of queen, second only to the Empress.
If it weren’t for Julius, she might have taken the Empress’s title as well. Even though it was just an imaginary scenario, the Empress constantly felt defeated.
“She killed that woman, but I can’t believe her daughter was born. I shiver every time I pass by the corridors. It’s as if Marrygold is still alive and wandering!”
Julius immediately understood what the Empress was saying.
Marrygold’s daughter, Sienna Liata, was born. The princess bore no resemblance to the Emperor; she was the spitting image of her mother, the Queen.
As she grew, she only resembled her mother even more. Many were reminded of the terrifying past when they looked at her face.
At least to Julius, she wasn’t just a horrifying woman.
-Pretty Prince, want some candy?
No one treated him with as little ambition as she did.
Before and after, it would be hard to find anyone like her. At the funeral of the person he had a fondness for, Julius was the only one among the mourners who didn’t shed a single tear.
He comforted his mother and whispered to her.
“Mother, that woman died in childbirth. She didn’t kill anyone.”
“Yes, yes, that’s right…”
Julius barely suppressed the urge to scream, unsure if he was speaking to himself or his mother.
“We must remain strong in our hearts.”
“Yes, my son. The day is near when my son will become the greatest person in this country.”
Julius couldn’t help but nod in agreement.
‘Well, Mother…’
Can someone so broken, even with such a high position as an Emperor, really be allowed to sit there?
Julius couldn’t ask for an answer. His mother was even more insane than he was.
❀❀❀❀
She would have been better off just staying in the palace. She had no idea how she managed to return to the palace. As soon ass he got back, she was so tired that she fell asleep. Honestly, she felt this way:
‘Come on, sleep. Sleep. When you wake up, you’ll forget everything.’
A self-indulgent self-justification. However, instead of forgetting, her memories remained sharp even the next day. She trembled with shame in bed.
‘Daniel’s expression when he looked at me was ridiculous.’
Why on earth did Beth have to bring the tea to the reception room in Bohan’s mansion, of all things? She thought of the face of the heroine who had no equal. She buried her face in her palm.
‘Oh, darn it! I’m sorry, Beth!’
It wasn’t my intention to pour tea on her. It was the way the choices were presented. At least the tea wasn’t scalding hot.
‘Oh, is there nothing going right at all?’
The thought that kept spinning in her head was the fact that she had gone to Bohan’s mansion for nothing.
Maybe, because I accidentally poured tea on Beth’s head, there might be a thaw in the relationship between Daniel and her.
‘Yeah, that’s right. It’s like, healing her wounds in a clumsy way.’
Even though it’s a burn, a real burn. Like a true female-oriented game, there probably won’t be any real burns, but he might be able to pretend to be affectionate and apply some ointment.
‘Affectionate? Can Daniel really act affectionate?’
He didn’t know. He looked at me with a look that was lower than that of a bug.
‘Ah, I’m really tired.’
Even though I had just woken up, my body felt heavy. I wanted to forget about all these death flags and just flip the blanket over and go back to sleep.
‘Yeah, I’m screwed. Judging by Daniel’s expression, he probably wants to kill me if he could. What a mess.’
I might as well grab a bag of money and run away. Everything was so miserable that the desire to escape, waving a white flag after only two days, welled up within me.
I was momentarily seriously considering planning my escape, but then I let out a sigh and got up from my bed.
‘Enough. What a pointless thought.’
An antagonist carrying a bag of money and escaping from a game? There had never been such an antagonist in any female-oriented game.
‘If you do something like that, they’ll penalize you for not being a proper antagonist. In serious cases, they say it’s ‘existential annihilation’.’
Writing down ‘annihilation’ instead of ‘death’ was bothering me. I clenched my fist and made a growling noise.
‘What exactly does the system want to achieve through me? Is it just trying to mess with me?’
I wondered if the system had some grudge against me for playing the game for a whole month while working night shifts or something…
※ The system does not have personal bias.
As I was thinking that in my mind, the guidance suddenly appeared, which startled me. I let out a snort.
‘It does have a bias.’
Anyway, I had to avoid the dead ending. And there were now 98 days left for me.
‘First, let’s have a meal. Then we’ll come up with a new plan.’
My plan to prevent Beth from entering Bo-Han’s mansion had fundamentally failed. So, I needed to find the next move.
‘Like breaking up with Daniel or something.’
With such thoughts in mind, I left my room.
‘But why is it so empty here?’
I couldn’t see any maids or servants. It was when I was wandering down the corridor, tilting my head in confusion.
“Hello.”
I was walking toward my palace, and at the end of the corridor, a man I had never seen before approached me in a friendly manner.
‘Who is he?’
I had my suspicions. His neatly combed brown hair and his face that bore an uncanny resemblance to the emperor gave it away.
‘He must be my brother.’
I didn’t look anything like the emperor. I recalled how the emperor used to call me “Marrygold” repeatedly, and even though it was daylight, my arms trembled.
As I stood there in confusion, he calmly approached me. Then, he gave me a kind smile and started talking.
“Oh, so now you won’t even greet me?”
Right at that moment, a dialogue option appeared above my head. It was a helpful one, indicating that it would help me identify who this person was.
▶ Get lost. If you want royal treatment, go find someone else, Julius.
▶ We’re not on friendly terms where we laugh and greet each other, Julius.
He was probably Julius, the prince of the empire. He seemed to be my half-brother, born to the empress.
‘It’s only natural, but it looks like he doesn’t get along with Sienna.’
I wondered if Sienna was being antagonistic towards him, or if they couldn’t kill each other and were frustrated with each other.
After swallowing a dry gulp for a moment and scrutinizing the other person, I calmly chose my response.
“We’re not on friendly terms where we laugh and greet each other, Julius?”
Even though I had chosen the line, the voice that came out still sounded awkward in my ears.
Regardless of the dialogue choice, I knew nothing about the man standing in front of me, so it was only natural.
Fortunately, his voice sounded a bit stiff, making it less awkward, I guess.
“What’s there to be awkward about? I’m glad you’re still grumpy, little sister.”
Julius’s voice as he patted my shoulder was so affectionate. It was a bit awkward to my ears.
I had forgotten the fact that this female-oriented game was ruthless towards the antagonist. And thankfully, Julius quickly helped me regain my composure.
“Do you think I wanted to throw you into a pit where bugs crawl? I had no choice because of Empress mother’s order to find out if your scream sounds like your mother.”
