Chapter 4

In this situation where most ‘dolls’ were rejected, Raven wasn’t sure if it was the right judgment to bring in a new doll. Like the last ones, she might have to be disposed of after three days.

Nevertheless, he hoped that his master would fall asleep properly for at least a day, for the few days he had scoured the islands to find a new doll.

Ridrian looked down at me with his flimsy eyes. This loyal dog listens to everything he says, but he is adamant about the doll, knowing that it is his fatal weakness.

Raven’s judgment was not wrong, but he didn’t like the fact that he, the Emperor of the Empire, was showing such a weakness. It was no good to ignore Raven’s request, because refusing out of arrogance would create a “mad killer.”

Suddenly, a little while ago, the eyes of the doll, staring at himself, came to mind. She dared to look straight into the emperor’s eyes. A very small interest arose in him.

“Let’s go and see.”

“Your Majesty.”

Raven, anxious by Lidrian’s sudden change of heart, called him, but the emperor just left the room and waved his hand.

“Well, let’s try not to break her today. I can’t get my excellent aide out searching for one again.”

He still giggled while his eyes gleamed sharply.

***

The Emperor’s appearance was sudden.

After a satisfying dinner, I was sitting in my designated seat, rolling my eyes back and forth, and watching the emperor’s bedroom.

“Hmm. It really only has bones.”

t/n: basically calling her meatless/bony

She was surprised to hear the sudden voice as if his voice burnt her.

‘Oh, my God. I can’t believe you showed up without a clue.’

The emperor did not enter the room, but leaned against the door in an arrogant manner and stared at me. Fortunately, unlike before, he was sane and his eyes were focused.

It was clear in his eyes whether he was mentally focused or not.

After washing, the emperor’s black hair was moist and wet.

Even that alone gave me sensational feelings, but I even saw some of the tight, bare-chest through his robe that was wide open. As soon as I saw it, I felt blood rush to my face.

Perhaps it would have been dangerous without the transformation bracelets.

‘Are you going to kill yourself with excessive bleeding!’

t/n: bc she has a nose bleed bc of how hot she thinks he is. the idea is that sexual arousal causes an increase in blood pressure, which in turn sets off a nosebleed.

I wanted to cover my nose and turn my head right now, but I couldn’t because I was pretending to be a doll. I repeated desperately.

t/n: *face to face with the person who could, and will kill her without regrets in the future* FL: wow he’s so hot. *gets a nose-bleed*

‘I am a doll, I am a doll!’ 

I was fortunate that my expression of emotions were dull due to the environment in which I grew up.

He looked at me for a while and then slowly walked into the room.

Standing right in front of me, he raised my chin with his index finger and made me face him.

Very unfortunately, I was in a position where I could not face the emperor’s face, so I glanced lightly at his lower body. Then I couldn’t bear it anymore because I could see his clearly exposed, and naked neck and chest, and closed my eyes.

It was the first time I knew that the nape of a man with water droplets was so destructive.

“Excuse me for a moment, Your Majesty.”

The emperor’s finger fell from my chin at the voice of the maid asking his patience.

Soon, the women who were waiting outside came in and arranged their beds.

In the meantime, the emperor’s gaze didn’t fall from me. Despite not doing anything wrong, I started sweating.

‘I’d rather them say something than just leave the room in silence.’

She was tortured with the awkward silence.

Soon, the maid bowed politely and announced that the arrangement was complete.

“I will step back. Have a peaceful night.”

I was taken aback by the words.

‘Wait! You’re leaving me and the Emperor alone? You’re not going to stay? Not even to change his clothes?’

Come to think of it, there was no way this tough tyrant would allow anyone to touch his body. They all backed away from my mournful internal screams.

The door closed.

A moment of breathtaking silence flowed into the room. The atmosphere in the room was even more subtle as the maids went out and dimmed the illuminating lights. My heart beat faster and faster.

Then the emperor suddenly covered his mouth and turned his head.

Whether he was yawning or not, his ribcage greatly expanded and contracted. The emperor’s dark eyes, which I glanced at, were moist and my heart dropped with a thud.

It feels like I secretly stole something I shouldn’t see, so I quickly turned my gaze.

‘Hey, this is so bad for my heart!’

Anyway, he sighed with a frown as if he saw something he didn’t like.

“Woo. I can’t.”

While hearing him doing this, my head was scattered.

“Fuck.”

He swears gently and suddenly put his hands on my shoulders. I slightly flinched from the sudden contact, but fortunately, as soon as my hand moved, my shoulders were slightly pressed down and it was not noticeable.

As he lowered my posture, I saw the emperor’s face in front of me.

‘Uh?’

His eyes were a little different from when he was standing at the door and looking at me. Previously, if it was just looking at an interesting inanimate object, now, it was a look of missing something.

He closed and opened his eyes with black shadows beneath them.

Then, the expression of the longing that I had just seen disappeared orderly as if it was my mistake. He slowly dipped my face and whispered a little in my ear.

“Liliana.”

Suddenly his tone changed. The emperor’s breath tickled my ears. The emperor’s breath was chilling, as if slicing into my ear.

‘Stop! I have weak ears!’

‘Go away, why are you doing this to me all of a sudden?’ 

The emperor took her head and smiled once when he looked at my face. The eyes, which used to be full of irritation, were gently loosened unlike before. His golden eyes were half-stretched, attractive as if tempting me.

He sat down comfortably on the carpet and leaned comfortably against my legs. His hand on my shoulder suddenly overlapped my hand.

“My hand is cold.”

He laughed slowly, took the back of my hand and pressed it against his lips. I was stunned by the sudden change of the emperor’s attitude, and when his soft lips touched the back of my hand, I stiffened as if I had been hit by lightning.

‘Hey! Why are you doing this so suddenly!’ 

Blood spurted towards my face fiercely at the unexpected contact, and my vision spun.

‘How do I hide this?’

I had ended my previous life without even having a lover or a relationship. Even in my present life, I have never been interested in men because I was working as a slave.

To me, this colorful emperor’s attitude was too provocative.

Whether he knew my feelings or not, the emperor, who leaned his head on my thighs at all, said to himself.

“Lily.”

Every time he talked, his hot breath touched the back of my hand, and my heart was beating more and more like crazy.

“The ones I saw earlier during the day were Count Beben and Count Ligrath.”

My ring finger flinched.

`Why are you talking about catching people all of a sudden! Why do you think I’d be interested with you killing people?’

His brow lightly frowned. Then he still rubbed the back of my hand on his mouth with his thumb.

“The incompetent things kept vomiting at my words. So I gave him a hard time.”

Oh, yeah. You were such an emperor. I realized again that he was a tyrant.

At the same time, my body temperature, which had heated up for a while, cooled down.

‘I bet they pay the poor souls who clean up twice their normal pay, to get rid of the body.’

Unlike the external image of a holy, saint-like emperor for the commoners, he was more famous among the nobles as a bloody tyrant.

However, the reason he became a tyrant started with the nobles, so whether or not their necks fell, it didn’t matter much to me, because I was a slave.

Rather, while reading the original work, whenever such a bloody-noble scene appeared, I felt like popping out cider.

‘Because the man who suffered such a thing was pitiful.’

Then the emperor asked me in a hesitant tone.

“Do you hate me like this?”

As soon as I turned my eyes, I felt like I was out of breath. The Emperor is looking at me like a puppy stuck in the rain with moist, teary eyes!

Thanks to that, I almost shouted out reflexively, ‘No, you are very good!’

In reality, only a very small sound of breath leaked through, despite my prayers, but my heart thumped at the momentary action.

Luckily, he didn’t even notice, just staring straight into my eyes.

I was at odds for a moment.

‘Should I give you an answer?’

But when I saw the golden eyes without a single grain of apology, I suddenly felt shivers down my spine. And I realized.

This is a trap. 

I secretly squeezed my skirt. My instinct shouted that if I answered here, I would die.

‘If you answer here, you die. You’ll definitely die, today!’

If I nod, the emperor will grab his sword, saying that I can’t hate him, and if I shake my head, he will grab the knife and tell me not to lie.

This wasn’t a question I needed to answer in the first place. When I didn’t respond, the tyrant emperor asked again.

“Why don’t you answer? Did you really hate me?”

Even in the feeling of a cold sweat, I persisted in silence and gave no reaction.

‘Endure! If you react here, you lose, you die! I’d hate dying as soon as I found my old memories!’

The emperor’s face became more distorted by my unresponsive reaction, and his spirit became fierce.

“Answer me, Liliana!”

Eventually, he shouted ferociously and threw the pottery next to him. What a mess!

‘Jeez!’

When I glanced at how it was thrown, the pottery made a sizzling sound and turned completely into powder. The strength in his arms are also good. But even when I think about it, it seemed a little too great.

Right in front of you, a wild beast is struggling and I can’t even budge a single eyebrow!

‘Was I this bad at the dolls’ job?’ 

I shook my head only inside, after making the bull$h1t for a while.

‘No, no, no! No, my facial muscles are barely moving!’

Since I lost my mother when I was 10 years old, I haven’t laughed properly, so I guess my facial muscles have hardened.

But no matter how hard I could keep a straight face on the surface, I was actually scared to death.

After all, he was the tyrant emperor.

But I knew well what kind of person he was. In the original work, he was basically expressed as an emotional person who doesn’t care about other people’s thoughts and behaves at will, but I feel that he is a very rational person.

I trembled lightly and watched his reaction. As expected, the emperor was looking at me secretly while I was struggling. I thought to myself.

‘He was now trying, and playing around with his new ‘doll’.’

☾*✲⋆.

my god—I love this girl so much. her thoughts are everything. but like, when u look at the cover.. . they’re obviously both out of this world in terms of looks, ethereal looking beings. but like. . . let’s be honest! if I were to choose who was better looking… I would choose ms. girlie. without a doubt. like I would simp 24/7 over home girl’s face.

so. . . if she’s tripping over his good looks. . . well. . . how does he feel ab hers? let’s sit on that.

yep

I love you all, please take care and stay safe. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, of course, far from perfect so please feel free to reach out and point out any mistakes!