Chapter 13

“I told you to keep the library forbidden from anyone.”

The Emperor didn’t even think of dropping the frown off his face.

Was that all they could do for him? He even let them take over the position, only for them to receive the pay without working properly and let him be killed? They have to do their work. That’s why he felt so angry.

The Emperor said while holding back his boiling anger with one deep breath.

“I know, that’s why I called for you.”

The Emperor sat himself on the throne and looked down at the Knight Commander, who knelt down in front of him while giving him a domineering gaze.

Resting his chin on one hand, he only did a little to hide the dissatisfaction on his face.

“In this palace, you’re the one who got the highest salary among others.”

It was quite ridiculous to hear that he was suddenly called by the Emperor.

At first, he thought there was a problem with the security of the Capital City, but the Emperor suddenly mentioned his salary.

“May I ask why you are talking about this?”

The Knight Commander sweated while observing the Emperor’s face.

He wouldn’t have been surprised if the Emperor had told him to leave for war.

The intimidating attitude of the Emperor made him sweat even after rolling over in all kinds of war fields.

“It’s nothing. There was an intruder in the library at night. Who did you think was responsible for this?”

“!”

There was a small wrinkle on the Knight’s face.

Obviously, there was a strict order that prohibited everyone from entering, but who dared to step into the Emperor’s library?

It was clear the Commander Knight would get severe punishment, but from the Emperor’s expression, he would’ve been given a separate punishment from others.

“I’m ashamed, Your Majesty.”

“You have to pay me back for that. Isn’t that why I pay you with a high salary?”

The Commander Knight let out a shallow breath.

The Emperor couldn’t hold back his anger. Even though he was the type of person who had keen senses, he had never been so angry before.

“I will search around the area and arrest the culprit right away.”

Arrest the culprit.

Would it solve the problem? The culprit was the person who knew about his secret.

The Emperor remained silent for a moment.

As the Emperor was agonizing after he ordered him to catch the culprit right away, the Knight Commander lifted up his lowered head cautiously.

“Your Majesty?”

Viester, his aide, also looked at the Emperor suspiciously while sticking to his side.

“There’s no need to find them. Since I have already found and have to punish you properly, I want you to tighten the security not just around the Imperial Palace, but in the Capital City as well. This is definitely your fault.”

“I’m very ashamed, Your Majesty. I’ll make sure not to let this happen again.”

“You’d better be.”

The Knight Commander bowed his head with a troubled face. The Emperor’s expression while looking down at him was cold.

“I will take over all of the night shifts that were assigned to my men for a month, and my salary would be reduced by half.”

He hated people who couldn’t do their work properly.

This incident was very disappointing because he trusted the knight’s skills and took charge of the expenses.

“…Yes.”

The commander of the knight bit his teeth hard.

I was very angry with myself that my emperor’s Majesty was disappointed by my mistake.

“You can go now.”

After the Knight Commander left, Viester came to the Emperor’s side.

“You went too far. I can’t believe you reduced his salary by half.”

“Then he shouldn’t have made such a mistake. By letting anyone step into the library.”

The eyes of the Emperor, Carmun, were filled with irritation.

The reason why he had no choice other than doing this was because of his curse.

***

When the morning came by, he didn’t remember what happened to his other self at night.

And it seemed like his other self didn’t remember what happened to his other self at day either.

Therefore, why didn’t he say so in his shirt?

“I can’t believe this is the last thing I need to figure out.”

He felt pathetic to himself.

Moreover, who the h*ll has helped him, considering the medicine was cheap and blankets, which were covering him, usually used among the maids.

Did the one and only Emperor of the Idelberg Empire get help from a maid?

Besides, what’s with the candlestick?

It was difficult to just point out a specific person since it was commonly used in the Imperial Palace.

“Medicine and blanket.”

If he were to make assumptions from these things, it seemed like the culprit was one of the maids….

The Emperor looked alternately at the two items with a cold gaze.

-Knock knock.

“The priest has arrived.”

“Let him in.”

The door opened right after the Emperor ordered so, and a high-ranking priest came in traditional attire.

“Greetings, Your Majesty. I am the Mooge of the Acro Temple.”

Mooge was the highest position for a priest in the temple. Besides, he was the type of person who could only be moved around by the Emperor’s order.

The mooge had a neutral appearance because they usually dressed ambiguously so that nobody knew his age nor gender.

Dressed in a white uniform, they entered the Emperor’s room and naturally checked on Carmun with their eyes.

“Did you get injured again?”

His left hand that had been treated just a few days ago seemed to be badly burned again.

“What did you do lately…? How come each time your hands are burned like this, Your Majesty?”

Mogue scolded worriedly.

“…it just needed some treatment.”

The Emperor couldn’t bring himself to speak.

He did it in the middle of the night when he lost my memory, and he didn’t even know what he did to himself at that time.

Carmun grinded his teeth, feeling angry to his other self at night.

D*mn…!”

When the priest started the treatment by drawing a bright light, he felt like his skin was tingling slightly.

During the treatment, the Emperor’s forehead didn’t even think to straighten his brow. His lips was bitten gently as well.

Viester asked in a subdued voice while watching the sight of the Emperor.

“Your Majesty, is it hurt a lot?”

“If you’re that curious, should I burn your flesh as well?”

The priest instantly flinched when the Emperor spat out those words in a terrifying voice.

The divine power emanating from his hand was cut off as well.

“What are you doing?”

Several drops of sweat fell from Mooge’s forehead at the Emperor’s rebuke.

When the treatment began again, Viester said with a slightly stiff look.

“…Your joke has gone too far.”

“Then what do you mean by asking me that?”

Carmun was being sarcastic. He couldn’t figure out the reason behind why they asked him if he was hurting or not, even though they couldn’t do anything to help relieve the pain.

After answering irritatedly, the Emperor leaned his back against the sofa.

His entire body was aching probably because he slept lying on the hard floor.

Suddenly, he was seething in rage toward his other self at night.

Even though it was his own body, he always messed up each time and made a mess of himself. That’s why he locked himself in the library.

He had no other choices because he was using the body of the Emperor of this country, at his own will.

Rubbing his forehead and putting his anger aside, the Emperor dropped his hand and beckoned to Viester.

He was the only one who knew about the curse.

He whispered in Viester’s ear so that the priest could not hear them.

“To have intruders enter the library is not a mere joke for everyone. The items would still be there if you go to the library now. Bring those here.”

Viester nodded and went out to look for the items, meanwhile the Mooge was sweating when there were just two of them in the room.

“Do you need more time to do this?”

“Yes.”

“Then how is it now?”

“Five minutes hasn’t even passed yet, Your Majesty.”

“Five minutes has passed.”

The Emperor’s patience was extremely short. He thought the burnt candles would last longer than the Emperor’s patience, but he decided to just shut his mouth as he didn’t want to die right away.

“It is much harder to treat the injury in the same place each time. If it happens regularly….”

“It’s your job to treat me. Is that really what you are about to say to the injured person like me?”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

The priest just wanted to cry. The Emperor, who was usually as harsh as sandpaper, was particularly harsh today.

There are a few more people other than him who have high divine power like him, but why does His Majesty keep summoning him and making him tired by working restlessly like this?

Suddenly, the priest’s lips protruded out as the resentment arose inside.

After some time passed, the Emperor’s hand finally returned back to how it looked before it got injured.

“The treatment is over, Your Majesty.”

After finishing the treatment, Mooge’s face became thinner than earlier.

The Emperor answered after he was done checking his hands.

“Okay.”

“Your Majesty, t-there is also a limit in treating someone using divine power. …It’s better for you to not be injured and treated in the same place anymore.”

The Emperor’s face hardened each time he heard the words coming out of the priest’s mouth.

It took no more than one minute to treat when his hand was burned for the first time.

Then it took five minutes, ten minutes, and thirty minutes yesterday. The treatment took an hour today.

The time required to complete the treatment gradually increased. Like what the priest said earlier, this sort of treatment might not be possible as it was.

The Emperor replied while fiddling with his left hand which had been cured.

“I get it.”

Limit?

Suddenly, Carmun felt terrified as he looked at his own hand.

“Then what if I go past that limit?”

“You may not be able to treat it, and it will leave a huge scar on your body.”

“Okay… I understand. You can go.”

Even though the priest had gotten really exhausted from the treatment, he also sweated a lot when trying hard to keep up with the fussy Emperor.

He said farewell with a nod toward the Emperor before leaving the room with a more haggard look than the look when he came in earlier.

“Then I’ll get going now.”

After the priest left, the emperor who remained alone felt extremely annoyed.

He couldn’t even figure out what his other self was doing at night, that’s his biggest concern.

Also, he didn’t know if he was going to injure his hand again, or he might try to kill himself next time.

He could only prevent it from happening once or twice, but he couldn’t do that all the time.

Soon after, Viester returned with several items.

“Your Majesty, I’ve fetched the items in the library for you.”

There were blankets, medicine box, pen, and ink in his arms.

After putting down all those things on the table, Viester tilted his head.

“But it didn’t seem like this person had a high status…. But how could they get close to the main palace?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out now.”

The Emperor also had his own doubts. A person with a low status dared to set foot into the Emperor’s library, they must’ve had so much courage to do that.

None of the people who had set foot in the Emperor’s private library ever survived. He thought there wouldn’t be anyone who could survive after that because it’s always been like that since then.

“Why do I even have to clean up the Knight Commander’s mess?”

“That’s….”

That was to hide His Majesty’s curse.

Viester tried to open his mouth but then shut it tightly.

“That’s what? Answer me, Viester.”

If he didn’t watch his mouth when speaking to His Majesty, he might not be able to talk again afterwards.

The Emperor seemed to be in a bad mood today.

“I made a mistake.”

The Emperor’s cold gaze landed on Viester and averted away again.

The Emperor was particularly sensitive today.

“Looking more into it doesn’t bring us any good. If the rumor regarding the Emperor’s curse spreads around, the opposing country will probably invade us in the middle of the night.”

The Emperor ran over his hands on his hair with an annoyed look. His seemingly nice hair was arranged neatly.

The Emperor was so angry that he couldn’t let this slide. Until when did he have to do this?

He was struggling to solve the curse for ten years.

When the night came by, he lost his memory and turned into a different person. He became a moron who didn’t even remember his identity or his status as an emperor.

If someone happened to find out about his secret….

He might have been dethroned and he would’ve ended up in the mental hospital.

“There should be one or two ba***rd who managed to survive.”

Tsk-

The Emperor turned his head while clicking his tongue.

Meanwhile, after the maid informed him that the water for bathing had been prepared, the Emperor took off his shirt and headed to the bathroom.

“Meanwhile I’m in the bathroom, you have to look into those things.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

When Viester bowed his head, his purple hair fell to his shoulder.

The Emperor entered the bathroom with an arrogant expression after watching him intently.

Viester was left alone while sitting on the sofa inside the Emperor’s room as he gathered things that he brought from the library earlier.