Chapter 4
“After yesterday’s events, I find myself quite curious about you.”
His peculiar way of speaking kept leading me to the wrong conclusions.
“I hope you realize that such interest on my part is quite an exceptional occurrence.”
Is it his habit to omit the subject of his sentences? He keeps saying things that stimulate a person’s delusions.
“Could you tell me about yourself, in your own words?”
For a split second, I almost confessed everything, starting from my kindergarten days when I used to ride the yellow school bus.
Thankfully, a sliver of reason remained.
Gulping down my dry saliva, I asked cautiously.
“What sort of explanation are you referring to…?”
“Let us start with that suppressant from yesterday.”
“Ah… the suppressant.”
“After that, I think it would be good if you could tell me about your past and your credentials in order.”
Having finished speaking, the Emperor summoned an attendant with a graceful gesture. He gave a brief instruction, and the attendant, bowing deeply, quickly left the room.
It seemed to be a command to bring some tea.
Soon, he turned his head and flashed a smile at me. Naturally, a bead of cold sweat trickled down my forehead.
I had to make a choice here.
1. Bolt from the Imperial Palace, which is essentially a minefield.
2. Somehow endure it here and find a way back home.
Recalling the state of the Imperial Palace in the original novel, a coward like me, who treasures her life, might have considered the first option. However, I wanted to return to reality far too badly.
I hadn’t even tried the things everyone else seems to do—banging my head against a tree, dipping my nose in a bowl of water, or looking into black magic.
In that case, there was only one answer.
“Um… Your Majesty. Actually, there is something I must tell you.”
As I cautiously broached the subject, the Emperor’s gaze settled upon me like a feather.
“…My heart is truly wide open, and I wish to answer all your questions, but…”
“But?”
His neat eyebrows twitched minutely. As much as his eyebrows moved, my heart fluttered.
“The thing is, there was an unfortunate incident last night.”
At the word ‘unfortunate,’ the corners of the Emperor’s mouth, which had been calmly upturned, dipped slightly.
Accordingly, my heart sank a little. I’m going to die of a heart attack at this rate.
Seeing the look in his eyes telling me to continue, I hurried on.
“A few days ago, I came up with a truly magnificent recipe for a medicine. I thought, ‘Eureka! This is groundbreaking!'”
“And?”
“So, I began experimenting immediately. It must have been for about three days. I didn’t sleep, I didn’t eat, I devoted myself entirely to the experiment…”
“And?”
“Well, you see, during the experiment, I must have eaten something wrong or inhaled something wrong—anyway, I made a grave mistake.”
As I stealthily gauged the Emperor’s reaction, he spoke.
“Continue.”
It seems he believes me, more or less.
“At some point, I felt a zing in my heart…”
“Your heart?”
“Ah! No, I think the headache came first. My head started throbbing, then my heart began racing, and suddenly the world started spinning, you see?”
“Hmm.”
The Emperor crossed his long legs and leaned back.
He rested his back against the comfortable sofa, placing his interlaced fingers on his lap.
“So, what is the conclusion?”
He must have found my storytelling frustrating. Note: The Emperor’s patience is as shallow as a creek during a drought.
I hurried to answer him.
“…After collapsing for a while and waking up…”
“And when you woke up?”
“…I lost it.”
At my dwindling voice, the Emperor’s brow furrowed deeply. Simultaneously, my heart shriveled, and I quickly added in a clear voice.
“I lost my memory.”
“…Ah.”
When the core of the roundabout story was finally revealed, the Emperor’s eyes widened slightly for a brief moment.
However, the emotional agitation he showed vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
The Emperor continued with a serene expression.
“You are saying you lost your memory.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Hmm…”
At my words, the Emperor looked as if he had fallen into thought.
Thump, thump. My heart was anxious, wondering if he would believe me.
Still, this is cleaner than getting caught making up lies, right?
“Does that lost memory happen to include the recipe for yesterday’s suppressant?”
The Emperor asked with a kind smile, but my intuition told me: he is currently furious.
I nodded solemnly.
“Then, the exact scope of what you don’t remember is…”
“Everything. Who I am, how I got here, the medicine recipes—everything.”
“I see.”
Creak, creak. Why did my joints feel like they were creaking as I nodded?
No matter how I thought about it, this was not a place I should stay in for long. That feeling grew stronger as the conversation progressed.
It felt strangely like walking on thin ice. Should I really leave the palace and find a way back?
Putting on the most pitiful expression I could muster, I pressed the area around my eyes with my sleeve and spoke.
“…It is truly unfortunate, and I wonder if I have become a useless existence to Your Majesty and the Imperial Palace…”
The moment I finished speaking, the Emperor’s elegant brows distorted into a deep frown.
A red signal went off. It felt as if a beast had bared its teeth right in front of me; the back of my neck grew cold.
Oh, he’s going to kill me.
So, I quickly cleared my throat and corrected myself.
“…I momentarily felt that way, but I think my memories are slowly returning.”
I fixed it out of fear that my head would roll if I were deemed a useless human. Only then did the Emperor soften his murderous expression.
“Is that so?”
“Yes, the moment I beheld Your Majesty’s countenance, I remembered clearly. I wondered what purpose led me to enter this great Imperial Palace, and I realized that purpose was not far away! Your Majesty is the future!”
“…?”
Oops, my terrible habit of over-flattering kicked in.
Why on earth did the sycophancy skills I built through years of part-time jobs and the fan-girl tropes I’d accumulated since my childhood explode right here?
“I mean that I will do my best to recover my memories to be of help to Your Majesty.”
My face burned. I almost confessed outright that his face was a blessing.
“I see. So that was the situation. No wonder the atmosphere felt a bit… strange.”
What did the long silence between ‘bit’ and ‘strange’ imply?
“Well, very well.”
Phew, I can breathe now.
Just then, the attendant brought the tea, giving both the Emperor and me time to organize our thoughts.
The clinking of the teacups filled the void between us.
‘Please, watch your mouth. No matter how abnormal your brain state is, just a little! You have to survive to go back or whatever!’
I had to steel my resolve.
After two sips of tea, the Emperor reopened the conversation.
“Then it seems there is no more information to be had.”
“Yes, sir!”
I was being far too disciplined. Ahem, I cleared my throat and shook off the tension.
“As you know, I desperately need that suppressant. Which means, you could become a very important person to me.”
If I were the real Hailey, how sweet would these words have sounded? Rapid promotion, a smooth path, a golden future, honor, and wealth.
Every happy future one could imagine would have been right here.
Moreover, the Emperor’s words were very meaningful. At this rate, maybe I could plan some sort of rosy future with him…
No, not that kind of rosy, but as a subject and sovereign.
“Then let us wait for your memories to return.”
…They aren’t coming back.
“First, I would like you to remember the pheromone suppressant.”
Pheromone suppressant? The one I used yesterday was a rampage suppressant.
“Pheromones, you see, have many quite bothersome aspects.”
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
Was the reason I had been so out of it while facing the Emperor due to the influence of the pheromones he mentioned? It was a reasonable suspicion.
“Well. A normal person like you wouldn’t be able to detect them, though.”
Ah, I was just a sucker for a pretty face. I suspected for nothing.
“If it’s you, you’ll soon become a useful person to me, right?”
The pressure… what is this pressure? Is this the oppressive politics of the pinnacle of power…?
“That… that will have to wait until my superior returns…”
You said I was just an assistant! Why are you expecting anything from a mere assistant!
“No. You do it.”
No, Your Majesty. If you say it while curving your eyes so prettily…
“I’ll be counting on you.”
Ah. I almost wanted to reward that trust. Looking at him now, the protagonist Emperor is actually quite human and kind, isn’t he?
Honestly, the medicine he thought would be his salvation had essentially vanished overnight, yet his reaction—saying he would wait calmly—was quite gentlemanly.
Is it because he hasn’t turned dark yet, before meeting Joshua? Or was his original personality not that terrible?
“Since you were renowned for being exceptionally brilliant, you’ll find a way quickly even if your memories don’t return, right?”
“Pardon?”
“In that sense, I will give you one week.”
“What…?”
One week? What… surely not.
“Create the pheromone suppressant within one week.”
You… this…
I take back everything I said about him being human.
