I’m the Dying Emperor’s Doctor

Episode 88

The game’s rules were simple: complete the tasks written on the mission card to proceed to the next room.

Serena blinked in confusion at the sudden confinement game. On the table lay a card that appeared to be the mission card. The first mission seemed to involve tying up before starting.

[Use the ribbon provided earlier to tie your partner’s wrists. If you untie the ribbon before leaving the room, you’ll turn into a frog.]

While it was unlikely anyone would actually turn into a frog, it was certainly a peculiar instruction. Serena chuckled lightly and remarked,

“I knew Lucy had a unique sense of humor, but this is quite the creative birthday party.”

“Indeed. Ridiculously so,” Azaid replied with a faint laugh, quickly grasping the situation.

Of course, it was typical of Lucy to assist in such an eccentric manner.

Unable to follow the bizarre logic behind Lucy’s thinking, Jade let out a helpless chuckle.

“What should we do?” Serena asked, holding up the ribbon. Azaid stepped closer.

“The only way to escape is to follow the instructions.”

He gently tied the ribbon around Serena’s wrist, ensuring it wasn’t too tight. Serena mirrored his actions, tying the ribbon around Azaid’s wrist. Just then—

Flash!

A burst of light enveloped them, and their ribbons merged into one, resembling handcuffs.

As expected, it wasn’t just a simple ribbon but a magical artifact. In their sudden predicament of being stuck together, Serena spoke in an admiring tone.

“Oh wow, this is intricate. It really feels like we’ve been kidnapped.”

“Is this your kind of thing?”

“What?”

Serena giggled, finding his comment absurd. Knowing it was all fake—and with Azaid by her side—made it enjoyable.

“With the Emperor of the Empire right here, what could possibly go wrong?”

“That’s not the issue. I’m the most dangerous one here…”

“Ah! Another mission card is coming!”

Azaid was mid-grumble when Serena noticed a card drop through a small slot in the door and ran to retrieve it.

“You’re not listening at all,” Azaid muttered, smirking at Serena’s carefree reaction.

He then spotted a recording stone glimmering on the wall near the ceiling. Azaid’s expression darkened.

While he could tolerate confinement, spying was another matter entirely. Without Serena noticing, Azaid incinerated the recording stone cleanly, leaving no trace.

Meanwhile

Lucy, the mastermind who had trapped Azaid and Serena in the same room, grinned from ear to ear. After all, history has shown that locking an energetic man and woman together inevitably leads to “something.”

To ensure they didn’t just sit around like statues, Lucy had added the game element herself.

‘If this leads to a second generation, that would be absolutely perfect,’ she mused, popping a grape into her mouth and humming a tune.

While Azaid and Serena were in their peculiar situation, the other guests wandered through various themed rooms, enjoying unique experiences.

All the rooms, except for Room 5, had ordinary themes—a room with a wine fountain, another with a warm hot spring, and even one with a pleasant walking trail.

The guests were too engrossed in their explorations to notice the two missing individuals. The entire game had been planned to push Azaid and Serena into the same room.

Unlike the other rooms, Room 5 was exceptionally large. Escaping one room only led to another waiting ahead.

Lucy had poured immense effort into creating this “punishment room.” Just as she was about to check on their progress using the recording stones—

“Huh?”

The recording stone for every room had gone dark.

‘What? Impossible!’

The once-functioning recording stones suddenly fizzled out and stopped transmitting.

And it had happened precisely when Azaid had locked eyes with the stone.

Lucy jumped in frustration when she realized Azaid had destroyed them.

‘I thought I hid them well! Do you know how expensive those are?!’

Watching the Emperor casually destroy such valuable stones left Lucy speechless. His sharp instincts had led him to find the hidden stones as if by magic.

From then on, Azaid began destroying a recording stone in every room he escaped from.

‘This can’t happen!’

Panicking, Lucy bit her nails before a thought struck her.

‘Wait… Why would he turn off the recording stones? What’s he planning?’

An ominous idea crossed her mind, and Lucy couldn’t help but giggle mischievously.

‘Honestly, a true confined space doesn’t need recording stones, does it? Maybe this will speed up the process of making a second generation.’

Lost in her wild imagination, Lucy hummed happily. Meanwhile, Leonard, who was beside her, felt a chill run down his spine as he rubbed his arms.

“By the way, the Emperor and Serena seem to be missing.”

“Oh, they’re probably enjoying themselves somewhere. They’re not children, you know,” Lucy replied, deliberately avoiding eye contact.

Even if they destroyed the recording stones, there was no way to escape the final room. It had been designed to stay locked unless opened from the outside.

‘I’ll just ‘accidentally’ open it when the party ends,’ Lucy thought, sipping her wine with a sly smile.

Meanwhile, in the final room

Serena, now completely disoriented, let out a sigh of frustration.

“It really feels like we’re completely trapped, doesn’t it?”

Until the previous room, there had always been a mission paper, and completing the mission would unlock the room.

Most of the missions involved physical activities, like putting a key in a balloon, popping it by hugging, or having a staring contest for a minute without breaking eye contact.

However, there was no mission paper in this room. On the table, there were only some ready-to-eat fruits and a teapot kept at a pleasant temperature.

“There must be an exit somewhere. But without a mission paper, what do we do?”

Serena gave up fumbling along the walls in search of a possible door and looked to her side.

“Who knows.”

Azaid responded nonchalantly and grabbed Serena’s hand, pulling her toward the table.

“Let’s sit down and rest for now. Maybe something will happen.”

At his subtle suggestion, Serena glanced down at her captured hand. While it was easier to hold hands due to the ribbon tying their wrists, the way he grabbed it so naturally left her unsure how to react. Not that she disliked it, of course.

“Shall we?”

Serena resigned herself and followed Azaid to sit by the table. Since their arms were tied together, they had no choice but to sit side by side on the sofa.

The sofa was a bit small for two people, forcing their bodies to press against each other. Sitting so close made the fact that they’d been stuck together in a room feel much more real.

Feeling a bit tense, Serena considered saying something to break the silence. However, Azaid spoke first.

“Want some tea?”

“I’ll do it.”

“It’s fine.”

Azaid quickly reached for the teapot and poured clear black tea into the cups. The soft aroma of roses wafted through the air, creating a pleasant atmosphere.

“Thank you. I don’t know if we should be relaxing like this, though.”

“If we take too long, Leonard will come looking for us. That’s what he’s here for.”

Azaid sipped his tea calmly. Truthfully, if he wanted, he could break the glass ceiling and escape. At least, he could in a truly trapped situation.

“I suppose that’s true.”

Since they didn’t need to worry about being stuck, Serena also felt more at ease.

As she picked grapes off the plate and ate them one by one, she thought about how to pass the time. Then, a question that had been on her mind for a while popped up.

“By the way, do you remember much about the moment your powers manifested?”

For someone as powerful as Azaid, she thought he’d likely recall most of it.

“Well, I remember pretty much everything.”

“There must have been quite an uproar when it happened. How did you manage to hide your powers until your coronation?”

When powers manifest, the surging mana often makes them easily noticeable.

Even in a secluded palace, it was still within the imperial grounds. If flames had surged, surely the other royals would have noticed. She couldn’t understand how the secret had been kept.

With firepower as strong as Azaid’s, he could have easily burned down an entire palace.

“I got lucky. I happened to be outside the palace at the time.”

“Ah, I see.”

“I was actually trapped somewhere back then, too.”

Azaid reminisced about the moment his powers awakened, leaning slightly toward Serena. Serena leaned toward him as well and asked,

“Trapped? Were you kidnapped or something?”

“It’s routine for royals. Though I didn’t expect someone to kidnap a prince in exile like me.”

“Kidnappers don’t exactly discriminate, do they? But I suppose you managed to escape thanks to your powers.”

“Not exactly. My powers made things worse. My mother must have had a hard time dealing with the aftermath.”

If his powers had been exposed, Azaid might have been caught up in the royal conflict as well.

“Plus, my powers were pretty unstable back then. I even dragged an innocent person into the mess.”

Azaid gave a bitter smile as he recalled Levin, who had been kidnapped alongside him. When he couldn’t control his powers, Levin had gotten caught in the chaos. He wasn’t even in his right mind at that time.

With his surging powers beyond his control, even he had been overwhelmed.

Still, Levin had been more concerned about Azaid than himself. Azaid must have looked terrible to him at the time.

As the memory resurfaced, Azaid paused, startled.

‘Huh? Why am I only now thinking about this?’

It was still a vivid memory, yet he had completely forgotten about Levin’s presence at the scene until Serena brought it up.

It was as if he’d lost his memory from the shock, only to recover it now.

‘What’s going on? Why?’

Once the doubt arose, Azaid’s expression turned grave. Until now, he had thought Levin had simply disappeared.

But if Levin hadn’t been seen since that day…

Just then, Serena met Azaid’s gaze and asked,

“An innocent person? Was someone with you back then?”