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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Chapter 74

I tilted my head in confusion.
The Previous Emperor and the Emperor Before ‌‌‌Previous were half-brothers with different mothers, and their appearances were said to bear little resemblance to one another.
Their personalities and temperaments differed greatly as well.
Looking at the portraits, they truly seemed remarkably dissimilar for brothers.
However, both portraits were in poor condition. ‌Whether from a massive fire or not, both ‌‌‌‌the walls and the paintings were heavily charred.
"...Hmm."
Now I understood what ‌‌‌‌this damp sensation I'd been feeling since earlier meant.
Blood was smeared across the walls.
"This doesn't feel like a haunted house—it feels like the birthplace of ‌‌a ghost...?"
A sudden chill ran down my spine.
I doubted I would have ventured here out of curiosity, even as a child.
'I should leave.'
There ‌had to be a reason this fire-damaged room was left untouched, and it didn't seem like a good one.
Finding my memories mattered, and satisfying my curiosity mattered, but the most ‌‌‌important thing was staying alive.
I turned back to preserve my life.
But then a faint light caught my eye at the tips of my feet as I glanced down.
My heart raced as ‌‌‌‌I stared at ‌‌‌‌the floor. Why was this happening? Had fear and tension become indistinguishable?
I hesitated as I was about to leave.
I'd come this far... and it didn't seem like a place I'd visit again... so why not explore a little more?
'My memory fragments are limited, and my time at the Imperial Palace is restricted.'
Yes, it would be wasteful to simply turn back now.
I stared at the ‌‌‌back exit leading outside for a moment, then decided to follow the faint light visible ahead instead.
While issuing a ‌‌‌bluff into ‌‌the empty air.
"I ‌‌know everything that's here! Come out right now!"
I shouted loudly from left to right.
"But ‌‌‌if you're a ‌real ghost, stay there and don't ‌come out!"
At the place I arrived at with heavy footsteps stood an enormous doorway.
It wasn't a proper door with an actual door frame—it was more like a hole where the wall had been breached to form an opening.
But I wasn't alone here.
"...!"
A ghost?
With black hair, black clothes, and a substantial build, that figure was unmistakably— ‌‌‌‌
"The Emperor...."
The name escaped my lips without my realizing it.
I rubbed my eyes and looked ‌‌again—the hair wasn't black after all.
The hair I had mistaken for black was gleaming gold. Yet The Emperor ‌‌couldn't possibly be here at this hour.
Why had the word "Emperor" slipped ‌‌‌from my lips?
"Um, there..."
"..."
"Who are you?"
His tense shoulders remained motionless before he finally spoke.
"Adeline."
It really was The Emperor.
Only ‌The Emperor could address me by ‌‌that title.
The Emperor appeared to be without his mask at the moment.
Unaware of my arrival, he stood rigid with his back to me, eyes fixed forward without the slightest movement.
His broad shoulders had gone completely ‌‌‌stiff, suggesting ‌‌‌my ‌‌presence here was unwelcome. Could this be The Emperor's Secret Chamber?
I seemed to have disturbed his rest.
"I apologize, Your Majesty. I didn't know you were here and entered without thinking. I'll take my leave now."
"Wait."
The Emperor stopped me then.
"You may remain."
I had ‌tried to pretend I hadn't heard...
Though I had met ‌‌‌The Emperor once before, it still felt awkward and uncomfortable.
With no one else present—just him and me alone—the situation felt even more unbearable.
"Um, well, wouldn't my presence disturb Your Majesty's rest? I think it would be better if I left..."
"I just gave you permission to stay."
"Ha, I see..."
Even when speaking ‌‌politely, there was a subtle edge to his words—perhaps because he was the original male lead.
Dale would have persuaded ‌‌‌me more gently, but this man with his strangely similar voice sounded disagreeable to me.
Yet... his voice was pleasant.
Not as ‌‌‌much as Dale's, but more agreeable than when he had spoken to me last time.
I had to admit that.
'...Comparing him to Dale just makes me miss Dale.'
I bit my lip, slightly irritated.
My Dale must be worried about my absence. I shouldn't be lingering beside this original male lead—I needed to return to Grunvalt as soon as possible.
'Yawn.'
Having left early this morning, exhaustion was finally catching up with me.
I wiped away the tears that had gathered at the corners of my eyes from the yawn and sniffled at my itchy nose.
"Are you crying, Adeline?"
The Emperor's voice came through, tinged with alarm.
"Did I upset you?"
Did the original male lead have eyes in the back of his head?
The Emperor seemed to have gravely misunderstood my tears. But it ‌‌‌wasn't entirely unwelcome.
I could use this as an excuse to escape this situation.
"I apologize, but I must...."
"Forgive me if I startled you."
Did The Emperor just apologize?
Though bewildered, I finished wiping away my tears.
The Emperor I knew would ‌never apologize—yet this one, whom I'd met only twice, had just offered me an apology.
An Emperor, no less.
And it wasn't even something he needed to apologize for.
Something felt strange. He seemed less like the original story's male lead and more like an actual person.
I had always regarded The Emperor as nothing more than a character ‌‌‌from the original narrative.
He was a person, certainly, but still....
For some reason, everything felt different.
"No, ‌‌‌Your Majesty. I wasn't startled because of you. ‌I simply had dust in my eye. I wasn't crying."
"Then I'm relieved."
His words ‌‌‌‌sounded like those of someone genuinely considering my feelings ‌‌and worrying about me.
Why was The Emperor acting this way?
After saying he was relieved, The Emperor said nothing more to me. He simply stood there, showing only his back as ‌‌‌if nailed to ‌‌‌the spot, unable to move.
'This isn't the time for this.'
As anxiety crept in, I suddenly realized something.
Since ‌‌I'd already met The Emperor, there was no situation more dangerous than this. ‌‌‌
I stared intently at The Emperor's back.
But why ‌‌‌was he here?
"I was unaware that the Princess was entering the Palace today."
It seemed The Emperor harbored similar questions. It appeared he was asking why I hadn't ‌‌informed him and had come secretly instead.
"I came briefly ‌‌‌to assist my father. Since Your Majesty is occupied with important matters, I didn't wish to trouble you, so I didn't inform anyone."
"I see."
By deliberately not informing him, I was implying he shouldn't ask further—and his response carried a hint of disappointment.
"It seems ‌meeting the Princess by ‌chance today is a stroke of remarkable fortune."
Though his words sounded affectionate, they were a subtle pressure to inform him next ‌‌time.
Truly, The Emperor was no easy opponent. He let out a sigh.
"Why did you come to this place? It's hardly somewhere one would venture to willingly."
"...I took a ‌‌‌wrong turn."
At my answer, The Emperor chuckled softly. Was he mocking me?
My claim of being lost seemed to amuse him.
"Do you know where this is?"
"I don't."
"It's a place I occasionally visit to rest."
So was he telling me not to wander in here by mistake next time and ‌‌to leave?
I racked my brain trying to interpret his words. ‌‌If he'd wanted to send me away, he would ‌have told me to ‌‌‌‌leave earlier, wouldn't he?
'Could this be the beginning of a private conversation?'
You know, that stage where you're breaking the ice before genuinely becoming close.
There was something ‌‌‌suspicious about The Emperor showing me his back, which seemed to carry ‌‌some untold story.
'No. I can't listen to this.'
Was there any way to escape? I glanced around frantically.
'I have such a weak heart...!'
Once I started hearing The Emperor's story, I would ‌‌‌‌inevitably feel even a shred of sympathy for him.
Because he was precisely the kind of person who carried such burdens.
'Even though his story involved killing both his parents and siblings... even villains have their reasons....'
There ‌‌‌‌must have been something that led him to make such a murderous decision... but he is a villain nonetheless.
Yet what on earth could have happened... why would ‌‌a villain even have reasons?
But strictly speaking, he isn't truly a villain... in the original story, he was only antagonistic ‌‌‌‌to the Lockhart Family, yet he governed the realm well....
'Damn it!'
I was already willing to listen, wasn't I?

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Brought ‌‌‌to you by ‌Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------