Chapter 3
Even if she hated it, she had to at least pretend.
She could feel her trembling lips twitching upward in a forced smile.
Rosiate quietly gazed at her daughter, who couldn’t even compose her expression in front of her, then gently rubbed the corner of Sieta’s trembling mouth with her thumb.
“My daughter is not very good at hiding her expressions.”
Leaving behind nothing more than a light warning, she leisurely turned her gaze elsewhere.
However, the atmosphere among the gathered nobles instantly grew heavy at her casual remark.
After all, it was only yesterday that the entire staff of the Princess’s palace had been executed because of an incident involving her.
Feeling the subtle way the people gathered for the hunting competition averted their eyes from her, Sieta simmered with resentment.
‘They’re afraid they’ll get caught up in it too.’
Normally, as the only princess of the Shikan Empire and its sole heir to the throne, Sieta should have been surrounded by nobles buzzing around like flies.
But now, those very nobles were carefully watching the emperor’s mood and avoiding Sieta altogether.
‘Even the nobles are steering clear of me.’
What had she done to deserve this treatment from Rosiate.
The sorrow over the unjust massacre of her palace’s staff had yet to lift, and now it only grew heavier.
Before she could even gather herself.
Rosiate, smiling ever so gently, turned to her and said.
“Would you like to hunt a tiger?”
For a moment, she thought she had misheard.
“Pardon?”
And so, in a dumb voice, she dared to question the emperor’s words.
A knight who had been nervously fidgeting beside Rosiate spoke up with the obvious concern.
“Your Majesty, the princess is only six years old…”
“Do you not think I know that much myself?”
Just the fact that he stood so close to the emperor in such a large procession meant.
‘He even dared to speak to the emperor first.’
It was clear the knight held a high position.
But Rosiate cut him off mid-sentence without hesitation, plunging the atmosphere into complete ruin.
Looking at the pale, trembling Sieta with pity, the knight finally replied to Rosiate’s words.
“Yes, my apologies, Your Majesty.”
Though flustered, he glanced back and forth between Rosiate and Sieta, but Rosiate ignored him entirely.
“Well then, my daughter. Shall we hunt a tiger?”
Still fixated on hunting the tiger.
“You’re not going to back out now and make this boring, are you?”
At that, Sieta could only shut her eyes tightly and sigh.
‘It was a good six years.’
Drunk on the privileges of being a princess, she had planned to escape ‘after growing up a little more.’
And now she was hit with an absurd dead-ending.
‘I should’ve just escaped…’
She hadn’t merely failed her long game. She’d failed spectacularly.
As Sieta silently clenched her eyes shut—
Rosiate personally guided her tiny hand to hold the bow, even placed the arrow, and aimed it at a fox.
And just like that.
“Yes, just like that.”
She loosed the arrow without hesitation.
Sieta reflexively shut her eyes tightly.
“Did you just close your eyes?”
But Rosiate.
“That won’t do.”
Did not even entertain Sieta’s flimsy attempt at escape from reality.
“You won’t be able to properly see the target that way.”
She forced her daughter to face reality.
“My lovely daughter.”
At the sound of that low voice, Sieta had no choice but to open her eyes and meet the gaze of both the prey and Rosiate.
“Aiming at the target properly.”
Chillingly—
“Is more important than anything.”
Goosebumps broke out all over her.
“Isn’t that right, my daughter?”
In that moment.
Sieta was convinced.
The Sieta of the original story hadn’t been falsely accused, she must have truly attempted rebellion.
Because.
‘To survive, no matter what.’
She had to escape Rosiate’s grasp.
At least, that’s how Sieta felt.
‘Just wait and see.’
She swore she would escape this damned emperor’s clutches no matter what.
And as if to laugh at her determination, Rosiate casually gave another order.
“Now then. Let’s catch a tiger this time.”
So cruel.
Unbelievably cruel.
How could someone give a six-year-old a bow, teach her for barely three seconds, and expect her to hunt a tiger?
‘You freaking sociopath!’
This was the moment her favorite character became her most hated.
Rosiate, seemingly unfazed by Sieta’s mouth dropping open in shock, smiled with her eyes as she handed her a bow and a quiver.
“I look forward to your results.”
…She had truly issued an outrageous command.
Behind her, the murmurs of shocked nobles filled the air.
“Heavens, wasn’t she the only heir? Asking a six-year-old to hunt a tiger out of nowhere.”
“She’s being punished because of her father.”
Among the whispers, there were even comments about Sieta’s father.
But Sieta had no room to think about her father at the moment.
She was forced to go out on a tiger hunt.
***
Left alone in the middle of a winding forest, Sieta gripped the bow tightly.
‘This is seriously…’
Insane, isn’t it?
Sieta thought this was way too much.
She already suspected that Rosiate hated her—after all, she hadn’t visited once in six years.
She had guessed as much.
‘But to abandon her own child in the woods in front of other nobles?’
And that wasn’t even the end of it, she had ordered her to hunt a tiger.
‘Is this a joke? She should at least wish for something possible.’
No matter how she looked at it, this was clearly a command designed to torment a child.
In <I’ll Execute That Villain>, Rosiate had always cared about her image.
She slaughtered her entire family in the struggle for the throne and became the first female emperor of the Shikan Empire…
So of course, she would’ve wanted to maintain a benevolent image.
‘But now she’s openly abandoning me in the woods.’
This uncharacteristic aggression from Rosiate, if anything.
Was also a warning to the nobles.
That the emperor would keep her only heir in check, so if they were thinking of aligning with the princess, they should think twice.
Before the young Sieta could even establish a solid foundation, she had been cut off at the knees.
‘That aside.’
Her small body trembled involuntarily in the unfamiliar forest…
No matter her will.
No one else was there but her in this empty, wind-blown place.
‘I need to stay calm.’
Stay calm.
But no matter how hard she tried to maintain composure, her body was still that of a six-year-old child.
“Hu-hic!”
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
And so.
She forgot all about her supposed mission to hunt a tiger and simply.
Ran, desperate to escape this dark forest.
She ran and ran.
“Princess!”
She ran again and again until…
She reached a place.
A blue pond, in stark contrast to the dense, dark forest.
Only then did she regain her senses.
“Huh?”
Where, am I?
Right.
Where was this place?
She had run so frantically that she had no idea.
The way back? She didn’t even remember it.
Realizing her situation, Sieta fell into a panic.
If she got lost like this, would Rosiate even bother to rescue her?
That…
She didn’t know.
No matter how much Rosiate cared about appearances, would she really care about the life of a princess she had deliberately kept at arm’s length?
As she stared blankly at the blue pond, her mind spinning on how to return.
[Grrrrr…]
“…Huh?”
A small, but unmistakable, growl echoed from behind her.
Sieta slowly turned toward the source of the sound.
And what she saw.
‘A… tiger?’
But not just any tiger.
No.
It was a blue tiger.
Right before her eyes, the blue tiger glared at her coldly.
As she faced it, fragments of the original story surfaced in her mind.
‘Originally, that blue tiger.’
Though once thought to be just a legend, the male lead, Rashita, successfully hunted the real blue tiger.
And that gave him the justification to oppose Emperor Rosiate, who had committed endless atrocities and corruption.
If that was the case.
‘Then at least until the beginning of the original story, that tiger should be alive.’
