Chapter 1
Serina was a genius physician who, at just nineteen years old, had been selected as the youngest Imperial Palace physician in history.
She had been called a prodigy since childhood and was renowned for having no illness she could not cure.
She loved and respected her patients more than anyone, and she often treated those who were poor free of charge.
But even someone like her eventually encountered an obstacle she could not overcome.
“I’m not drinking it.”
The obstacle was none other than the Emperor, the royal pain in the ass standing right before her.
A lazy good-for-nothing whose only occupation was rolling around in bed!
“Your Majesty, I heard you developed another fever yesterday. So I’ve brought you a medicinal decoction to bring it down.”
Serina put on her professional smile and held out the bowl once more.
After one regression, she already had a rough grasp of Emperor Azeid’s entire list of outrageous behavior.
Stay calm. Stay calm.
If she failed to placate this spoiled Emperor again and he skipped his medicine, it would all be over.
I don’t want to die again.
Serina anxiously prayed that the Emperor would hurry up and reach for the bowl.
But the Emperor was no ordinary difficult patient.
He was a rapidly evolving difficult patient—the kind who always came up with some unexpected behavior no matter how thoroughly Serina prepared herself.
“I absolutely hate bitter things.”
The Emperor snorted and turned his head away from the medicinal decoction.
This time, he was apparently planning to use the excuse children often made:
It’s too bitter! I can’t drink medicine this bitter!
Haah. It’s not like I can just leave him to die…
A tiny crack appeared in Serina’s smile.
She wanted nothing more than to grab that handsome face and force the medicine down his throat right then and there.
I’m only doing this because I want to survive…! But wouldn’t it be nice if both of us survived?!
Serina desperately suppressed the boiling rage inside her and silently repeated the words Be patient ten times in rapid succession.
A moment later, her professional smile bloomed once again.
As though she had anticipated this exact situation, she produced a glass jar filled with candies.
“I knew you might say that, so I prepared some candy. If you have one after taking the medicine, it should help lessen the bitter taste.”
At Serina’s bright smile and gentle words, Azeid finally reacted.
He tilted his head to the side and met her gaze.
Reflected in his crystal-clear blue eyes was Serina, smiling awkwardly.
After a while, he reached a hand toward the medicinal decoction.
Serina’s eyes lit up.
But—
The hand moved away from the medicine and instead pointed toward Serina, who was sitting in front of it.
“What’s your name?”
“Pardon?”
Serina was so caught off guard that instead of answering, she repeated his question.
“You’ve been behaving very suspiciously for a while now.”
“……”
Serina’s eyes darted around nervously.
Apparently, that only made him more suspicious, because Azeid narrowed his eyes and stared sharply at her.
“Why are you so desperate to make me drink that medicine?”
Because if you die, I die too! And what’s suspicious about a doctor taking care of her patient?!
Serina felt as though she might explode from sheer frustration and screamed inwardly.
Outwardly, however, she remained the very picture of composure.
“Because I am the Imperial Palace physician chosen specifically to place Your Majesty’s health above all else.”
“To place my health above all else.”
Azeid chuckled repeatedly.
The maids standing behind him let out little gasps.
Well, it was understandable.
A handsome man was smiling, after all.
But Serina felt absolutely nothing at the sight of that handsome face.
To her, he was nothing more than a somewhat handsome, incredibly annoying patient.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
“Yes. So, as a token of appreciation for this physician’s sincerity, would you please drink the medicine?”
Serina held out the bowl once again with a gentle smile.
Azeid merely giggled and rejected her request.
“Your face is practically screaming that you’re lying.”
“That’s…”
“Bluntly speaking, how do I know whether that’s poison or not?”
“……”
“I trust no one. I know my own body best, so leave.”
Apparently finding her bothersome, Azeid lay back down on the bed and pulled the blanket over himself.
He was a lazy man who rarely left his bed, much like he had during the years he had been confined to the annex palace.
Boil, boil.
Haah. This man is a terminal case of paranoia… How can he refuse to take his medicine even once without making things difficult?!
It was almost as though Serina could hear the heat rising inside her head.
She barely managed to keep the lid from blowing off.
The very man who had nearly melted the maids’ hearts with worry the previous night when his fever had soared close to forty degrees was now refusing his medicine.
No matter how brilliant the physician assigned to him was, how could she possibly save an Emperor who refused to follow his doctor’s prescriptions?
He looks like he’s hell-bent on dying. Should I just kill him myself?
No. Even if I leave him alone, he’ll die on his own anyway.
Serina entertained the utterly disrespectful thought for a moment before shaking her head.
No.
He could not die.
If she failed again, what else awaited her except another pointless death?!
Serina forced a smile and spoke.
“If you’re worried, I’ll taste it first.”
“You’ll taste it yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. Go ahead, then.”
The Emperor seemed as though he was about to turn away again, but instead he propped his head up on his arm and stared intently at Serina.
Naturally, his loose nightclothes slipped slightly, revealing a glimpse of his chest.
Serina had no idea why, but the sicker he became, the more dangerously alluring he seemed.
The maids coughed awkwardly, their cheeks turning red.
Even though his clothes made him look practically like a beggar, his face still radiated an unmistakable nobility.
Serina, however, did not so much as blink.
She calmly tasted the medicine.
Only then did the Emperor reach for the bowl.
But—
“Cough!”
Before Azeid could even drink the medicine, he suddenly coughed up blood and collapsed.
And Serina was executed for the crime of attempting to assassinate the Emperor.
That was her second death.
And so, when she regressed for the third time—
“AAARGH! Damn that fucking Emperor!”
Serina grabbed handfuls of her violet hair and glared with murderous eyes.
After returning to the past once again, she made a decision.
If I’m going to die anyway, I might as well go down fighting that bastard Emperor.
After calming herself down, Serina fell into deep thought.
What good was being a genius physician?
Her patient refused to follow her prescriptions.
No matter what kind of legendary physician came to treat him, there was no way they could save that damned Emperor.
I pitied him all this time because everyone called him a tragic Emperor, and this is how he repays me? Twice?!
Serina trembled with rage as she unleashed every curse imaginable in her head.
Azeid Khan Crotten.
He was currently the one and only direct descendant of the Crotten Imperial Family.
Before ascending the throne, he had been a worthless illegitimate child born to a mere maid and confined to an annex palace.
Unlike the other members of the Imperial Family, who possessed red eyes, he had blue eyes.
Red eyes were the symbol of the Crotten Empire and the very measure of its power.
The Crotten Imperial Family ruled a nation of fire, and the stronger their power, the more intensely red their eyes became.
Thus, when the previous Emperor saw the bluish hue of Azeid’s eyes, he had him confined to the annex palace immediately after birth.
Since everyone assumed he possessed no power anyway, the other members of the Imperial Family lost interest in him as well.
No one cared whether he was alive or dead.
After all, anyone incapable of wielding the power of fire could never become Emperor.
Then the previous Emperor fell ill, his life hanging by a thread, and a struggle for the throne erupted among the princes and princesses of the Crotten Empire.
A storm of blood swept through the Imperial Family.
By the time it was over, neither princes nor princesses remained.
Amid the killing and slaughter, no one had spared a thought for the prince who remained confined in the annex palace.
The problem was that every single member of the Imperial Family had died.
And so, in a frantic search, the nobles finally found the abandoned prince—
Azeid.
He possessed no power, but he still carried Imperial blood.
The nobles intended to use him to continue the Imperial lineage, even if it meant arranging a marriage for him and producing an heir.
But once Azeid became Emperor, he revealed his true nature.
He, too, possessed the power of the Crotten Imperial Family.
And not just any power.
His strength was so immense that it rivaled that of the First Emperor himself.
His eyes were not blue because he lacked power.
Blue fire was stronger than red fire.
That was the truth the former Emperor had overlooked.
Azeid’s late mother, Medeia, had made certain that her son concealed his power completely in order to avoid the Imperial power struggles.
Since he had no powerful maternal family to protect him, possessing such strength would have made him the first target for assassination.
Medeia’s foresight had been extraordinary.
Thanks to her, the other Imperial Family members fought over everything until they destroyed one another, while the throne ultimately fell into Azeid’s hands.
Azeid had merely needed to set down the spoon at a table where the feast was already prepared.
Faced with his overwhelming power, the nobles had no choice but to kneel.
They had intended to place a puppet on the throne.
Instead, they had installed an uncontrollable tyrant.
There was, however, one saving grace.
Azeid suffered from an illness of unknown origin.
Because of it, he rarely used his powers.
And perhaps because of his humble origins, he was extremely lazy and hated having anyone interfere with him to an almost pathological degree.
He was practically a wild beast.
Serina suspected that his illness was connected to his blue eyes, which differed from those of the other members of the Imperial Family.
But even if she came up with such a hypothesis, she could not properly conduct research.
That damned Emperor was difficult enough to examine in the first place, and he absolutely hated anyone touching his body.
There was simply no way to discover the cause of his illness.
Then why the hell does the Imperial Palace even have a physician? Why not just keep an astrologer beside him and have them perform some quack blessing?
Once again, Serina bit down hard on her lower lip to suppress her rising frustration.
At the very least, if the Emperor would properly manage his condition, he might be able to prolong his life.
But he showed no intention of doing even that.
It seemed that his memories of being confined had left him with severe trauma.
That was why, until now, Serina had done everything she could to persuade Emperor Azeid as gently as possible.
During her first life, she had been too frightened to properly deal with him simply because he was the Emperor, and she had ended up dying before she could accomplish anything.
By her second life, she had gained some confidence and believed she had figured out how to handle him.
When she coaxed and soothed the Emperor into living longer than he had during her first life, she had thought,
Maybe I’ll survive this time.
But in the end, the Emperor died anyway.
And Serina had her head chopped off.
She wasn’t a phoenix.
Yet she had already died and come back to life twice.
Die.
And die again!
How long was she supposed to keep cleaning up after the Emperor only to die in the end?
Remembering everything she had suffered through, Serina clenched her trembling fists.
That damn Emperor… I should’ve at least plucked out his hair before I died.
