Chapter 7
I couldn’t sleep because of the emperor’s marriage announcement.
Am I really going to end up marrying the emperor?
I thought only rich people had loveless marriages… But that wasn’t the point. I had never even thought about marriage before.
Because of my parents, who used to fight every day and eventually divorced, I had promised myself I would never get married.
Naturally, I thought the emperor would find the witch and burn her at the stake. But now marriage?
“How could he say he’ll marry his enemy…?”
I muttered to myself, and then a question suddenly popped into my head.
Wait, was this part in the book?
Even though I didn’t finish the novel, I was sure the story didn’t go like this.
If the plot was about the emperor marrying the witch, I would have been too curious to stop reading.
Not that I’m excited about it now, of course.
Anyway, since I couldn’t disobey an imperial command, I would soon have to predict that the emperor and the witch would get married.
Then, how would the witch react?
I was a bit curious.
She’d probably hate it, right?
Would she grab my hand and run out of the wedding hall shouting, “I object to this marriage!”?
I tossed and turned all night thinking about these things and finally fell asleep around dawn. I woke up late, and for some reason, the bed felt especially warm today.
Naturally, I turned my head toward the warmth—and saw golden hair sparkling in the sunlight.
The emperor?
That didn’t make sense, but the only blond person I knew was the emperor. My heart started racing as I carefully looked at the face under the golden hair.
“…!”
It was a much younger face than the emperor’s. The features were sharp and handsome, similar to the emperor’s, but it wasn’t him.
“Ahhh!”
I screamed and jumped out of bed. Then I quickly grabbed a pillow to cover myself in my thin chemise dress.
“Who are you?!”
I shouted loudly to wake the man who had been lying next to me in my bed. He slowly sat up, still half-asleep, revealing his bare chest.
I quickly looked away, and in a sleepy voice, the man said,
“I don’t remember clearly, but… did I sleep with you last night?”
It was so shocking that I turned to glare at him—and saw deep blue eyes, like the ocean, full of annoyance.
“If you want money, I’ll pay. Just be quiet so I can get more sleep.”
I was so angry that I stormed over and slapped him across the face.
Smack!
His head snapped to the side, and his smooth cheek slowly turned red. After taking a moment to understand the situation, he jumped up and shouted.
“Do you know who you just slapped?!”
He completely lost it.
“I’m royalty! I’m from the imperial family!”
Royalty?
Now that I looked again, he did have blond hair and blue eyes.
Then could it be…?
As I stood there confused, the young man—who didn’t look older than twenty—shouted:
“I am—!”
That was when a cold voice cut in.
“What’s all this noise?”
I quickly turned to the voice. The emperor was standing at the door, leaning against the frame.
“Your Majesty!”
“Brother!”
The young man also called out to the emperor. I looked back and forth between the man standing at the door and the half-naked young man in front of me.
If he said “Brother,” then… was he Duke Harry, the emperor’s younger brother?
❖ ❖ ❖
When Louisville became emperor, he gave his only brother, Harry, the title of Duke. He was given a huge estate and a castle, but that wasn’t what Harry had wanted.
With a war-obsessed father, a mother who denied her children, and an emotionally distant brother, Harry had always longed for love and attention. Women gave him that freely. That’s why he liked them—their warmth and affection.
And yet, just before leaving the palace, in the room that used to be his, he got slapped by a woman. For the first time in his life.
“Brother!”
Harry ran to Louisville and complained.
“This woman just slapped me!”
He pointed at Anier and showed his red cheek. Louisville let out a deep sigh.
“Well, you did enter the bedroom.”
“This used to be my room! And I have sleepwalking issues. It was a mistake anyone could make!”
Harry looked genuinely upset, his eyebrows forming a pleading shape. With a rounder face and large features, he looked about twenty years old.
“Still sleepwalking? Even now?”
Louisville crossed his arms and asked indifferently. As far as he knew, Harry had been dealing with unexplained sleepwalking for over a year.
“Yes. It’s been really hard for me at night.”
Harry slumped his shoulders with a sad expression, but Louisville looked at him with disappointment.
“Isn’t that just part of the problem?”
At Harry’s age, Louisville had been living on battlefields, facing death as naturally as breathing and killing enemies to protect his people. He couldn’t understand Harry, who spent every night partying and enjoying pleasures.
Harry ignored his brother’s words and glared at Anier again.
“It’s a sleepwalking illness. I must have come to a familiar room by accident. But she slapped me without knowing the situation!”
As his voice rose, Anier hugged the pillow tighter and glared back.
“You were the one talking about payment the moment you woke up.”
Harry gave a short laugh, looking at her bold gaze in disbelief.
“So? You’re not going to apologize?”
“No. So please leave. I need to get dressed.”
She firmly tapped the pillow that was covering her and asked him to leave.
Louisville turned around first.
“Let’s go.”
Then Harry quickly grabbed his shirt and vest and followed him out.
❖ ❖ ❖
Duke Harry, the emperor’s younger brother. In the beginning of the novel I read, he didn’t appear much, and all I knew was that he had a simple, needy personality and lacked affection.
But I didn’t know he was this reckless!
I glared in the direction where the emperor and Harry had gone. Then I noticed they hadn’t even closed the door.
What kind of manners were those?
I walked over and was about to shut the door when I heard Harry’s voice from the hallway.
“I’m going to the empress’s palace now.”
He was speaking to the emperor. I hugged the pillow even tighter.
This was it.
I had finally found it—a way to get into the empress’s palace.
I ran out into the hallway.
❖ ❖ ❖
“You’re going to the empress’s palace?”
Louisville asked as he walked beside his brother.
“Yes. It’s been two months since I came to the palace. I should greet Mother.”
After moving to his own estate, Harry only visited the palace once every few months.
While the two of them were talking, a voice called from behind.
“Duke Harry!”
They turned around at the same time. Anier was running toward them, hugging a pillow. Her face was flushed.
“I’d like to formally apologize. Could you wait in the drawing room for a moment?”
“Apologize? Didn’t you just say you wouldn’t?”
Harry seemed surprised by her sudden change in attitude, but he scratched his head and reluctantly agreed.
“Well, whatever. Sure.”
Anier smiled as if satisfied, turned around, and walked off. Watching her back, Harry tilted his head.
“Did I tell her my name?”
“You didn’t know?”
Louisville started walking again. Harry quickly followed him, and Louisville added,
“She’s a prophet.”
❖ ❖ ❖
Duke Harry looked even more handsome than I imagined. If the emperor looked like a movie star, Duke Harry was more like an idol. His blond hair and blue eyes—traits of the Gardener family—were also very charming.
“Sorry for the late greeting. I’m Anier, the imperial prophet.”
I approached the duke, who was sitting on the drawing room sofa with his legs crossed, and bowed my head.
“I sincerely apologize for earlier.”
At that, Harry suddenly stood up. Wearing a coat over his fancy embroidered vest, he looked about 20 centimeters taller than my height in the mid-160s.
“I got slapped really hard. You think one apology is enough?”
He muttered in a cold tone and suddenly raised his hand high. Thinking he was going to slap me, I squeezed my eyes shut.
Whoosh—
But instead of hitting me, his hand landed on my shoulder. I quickly opened my eyes and looked at him.
“There’s something I want to know.”
With his deep blue eyes shining, Duke Harry leaned in close to me.
