Chapter 6

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I was curious, so I went to the side room and looked at my face with the bracelet removed.

‘It seems because I slept well, my complexion got better than yesterday.’

If I wore the bracelet, I couldn’t know my body’s condition, because it changed my appearance.

I was originally determined to die in the slave cage when I lost my voice and got sold again.

I was in bad health enough to me to die, and most of all, all that was left of me was a pretty, dumb, female slave.  But at least I wanted to die with my dignity as a human being, so I thought I would kill myself if it were sold for the purpose of s3x.

‘Because that was the only freedom I had left.’

Of course, I didn’t  think about taking my life now, when there was hope that I could live, after finding the memories of my previous life.

‘Why would you give up when you have a chance to eat well and live well?’

Lets work, work, work! Now, I was on the verge of shuddering.

‘If your mentality is strong, there’s no such thing as a better opportunity as this. Let’s live comfortably now.’

I laughed internally and made up my mind.

‘Yeah, what’s the matter with that crazy guy hugging you to sleep? Just think of him as a big dog when you sleep together. It feels good to be warmed…’

The thought of thinking along the stream of consciousness made me blush.

My face blushed at thinking along that stream of consciousness.

‘What are you talking about? You’re acting as if you  like that tyrant! No, the only good thing is his warm body temperature. No— I mean!’

The maid laughed lightly when she saw how I was tearing at my hair.

“What made you blush so red?”

At those words, my face flushed like a ripe persimmon¹.

She laughed again and put the conversion bracelet on my wrist.

“Don’t take this out if you can. The other day, His Majesty said you dropped your bracelet in your sleep, and you… oh! Nothing. Well, it’s just expensive, so don’t lose it.”

The maid faltered, perhaps it was a slip of tongue, because she turned back in a hurry.

‘Never take it off.’

I double-checked to see if the bracelet was on my wrist.

And I decided to ask what I was curious about since yesterday. I approached the maid who was diligently cleaning the room and  mouthed ‘name’ with the shape of my mouth.

Then the maid looked at my lips for a moment and smiled as if she realized what I was trying to say.

“I’m Rina! Rina Foid.”

First of all, I nodded and mouthed again.

[Why am I called Marie?]

Rina, who had been following the shape of my mouth seemed a little embarrassed to understand my words.

“It stands for Marionette. Several people came in as ‘dolls’, but the maids called them all Marie.”

When I accepted the answer, Rina, who was looking at me for a while, asked carefully.

“What’s your name?”

Rina’s question surprised me. I never thought a maid of the Imperial Palace would be curious about my name.

I hesitated a little and gave her my name.

“Lona?”

I nodded slightly.

Then Rina smiled happily and held my hand tightly and waved it up and down.

“Let’s take care of ourselves, Lona!”

No matter how much you look at, this bright maid did not suit this imperial palace.

“Oh! It’s morning. Hurry up and eat because I have to go for training.”

With that being said, Lena gave me a sandwich full of eggs and a glass of fruit juice.

“Someone’s taking care of me for breakfast!’

I forgot the situation and almost shed tears.

In most of my two lives, I was either skipping breakfast or, at best, having breakfast as an accommodation when I was on a business trip, so it was like a dream of having breakfast that someone else takes care of. I bit into the sandwich with a thrilled face.

‘This is also delicious!’

The juice was also fresh and sweet, as if it was carefully juiced. Having emptied the bowl cleanly without any debris, I went to the training center, guided by Rina.

Fortunately, the etiquette lessons weren’t that difficult. There was etiquette education that I received, fit for a noble when I was young. I also received etiquette education for maids while working for an aristocratic family.

Only the courtesy of the Imperial Palace was a bit complicated when dealing with the emperor or various other nobles. The courtesy classes were said to be over in a month, so I would soon be able to laze around in the emperor’s bedroom all day long.

But that was later, but now I felt like I was going to die.

‘This is tiring.’

Both my mind and body had  gradually exhausted, perhaps because of the turbulent routine ever since the dawn of yesterday.

As soon as the etiquette class was over, Rina and I returned to the side-room.

Rumble—.

Then there was thunder in my stomach.The sound was so loud that my hand that was changing my clothes stopped reflexively.

‘It’s been only two hours since I ate that heavy sandwich.’

Will my appearance change if I eat like this? I was thinking seriously for a moment, but Rina smiled little, as if she heard the sound.

“It’s your first day, so I guess you’re nervous. I’ll bring your lunch right away. His Majesty will have lunch with the nobles, but he always comes back in the afternoon.”

After tying my waistband in a pretty ribboned shape, she told me to rest and left the room.

As soon as she left, I sat in my reserved seat by the window where I sat, yesterday. As I sat in the chair, the tension in my body was relieved, and a sagging sigh poured out of my lips.

‘Ha, I will live.’

The morning sun by the window brought out my drowsiness.

‘I thought I got a little better after sleeping well. If that’s the case, why do I get tired easily, like this.’

Well, my skinny body wouldn’t be able to recover after only two days of rest. So her situation was more like honey.

‘How long on earth has it been since you’ve been so laid back?’

In my previous life, I didn’t have enough time to sleep on the weekends because I was working, and in my present life, I’ve always been a slave, except when I was young. So, having the time to enjoy the sunshine and tranquility, peacefully was rare.

In situations like this, I wanted the time to stop.

‘How much time has passed.’

Two maids entered the bedroom with a small knock.

“Well, I did! Well? Who is it?”

“Oh right. They said this Marie was new.”

When they saw me sitting in a room where they thought no one was in, they stopped, and soon, once they understood the situation, began to clean the room.

At first, I was nervous about the appearance of strangers, but I realized that I didn’t need to help them, so I decided to ‘wait’ quietly. I glanced at the cleaning maids, and soon began to doze off like a cat basking under the sun.

My body was human, and felt the need for sunshine, while I enjoyed this mellow break. Then the maidens began to talk loudly about me, as if they didn’t like me dozing off by the window.

“I envy her. She’s a lowly person, while I’m a maid who serves her, while she’s just sitting around and playing.”

“I don’t know when her neck will fly, so I’ll let it go.”

“Well, the last Marie died in three days, right?”

“But the b*th was so cheeky. She acted like she was his concubine.”

“I was kind of happy when the b*itch disappeared. Well, she should’ve known her place.”

It was as if they was threatening me secretly, saying, ‘If you mess with us, you don’t know when you’re going to die.’ I was curious if the tyrant would think of the complaints of his maids, as better than an ant’s opinion.

‘There is no way.’

At that thought, I smiled and the maids flinched.

“Are you laughing at me, now?”

“Didn’t you learn anything, as a slave?”

As soon as they tried to jump at me in a fit of rage, the bedroom door popped open. It was the head-maid, Elmeria.

“Marie, His Majesty will be here soon, so be ready. Huh? They haven’t even finished cleaning yet! Do something!”

The two maids who were discovered by the head-maid, that were about to attack me, ran away from the bedroom after cleaning up with a fleeting, bitter cry.

In the meantime, the maid who found me sitting quietly in my reserved seat went back with a satisfied expression.

Silence flooded back into the bedroom.

I looked out the window for a while at the news that the emperor was coming, but this bedroom was located in the secluded, innermost area, suited for the sensitive emperor, so I could only see a tree. Instead, the sunshine felt so good that I decided to enjoy it while I was waiting. It was because I didn’t have the chance see the sunlight properly for such a Iong time, so the shower of sunlight felt perfect.

I started dozing again.

‘They said the emperor is coming soon. But just a little more. . .’

In the feeling of floating, I fell asleep while thinking about it. A feeling of happiness, as if the sun, covered, and wrapped around my whole body.

***

In the morning, the Emperor’s office, where government affairs were taking place, was crowded with assistants, escorts, and attendants carrying out documents and doing other chores.

“This is the next document you want to pay for.”

Raven stood by his side and handed the following documents to the Emperor. At the same time, he carefully peered at his master’s face.

His face was expressionless, but just by not frowning, Raven could see that the Lord liked the new doll. Besides, whether he slept well or not, his paperwork speed was incomparably faster than last week.

However, Ridrian, who received the documents, was scanning the contents with his eyes, but all he could think of was the new doll.

‘I mean, that her expression is on my mind.’

This time again, it was at Raven’s earnest request that he had been forced to live with the ‘dolls’.

The things that resemble her are only their faces, but they’re completely different inside.

He spent a month or two with them, at the longest.

‘Either this doll is crazy, or I am crazy.’

I thought it would be the same this time, that she would fail, but I tested the doll, like a habit.

‘The doll didn’t even budge.’

Ridrian stamped a seal on the reviewed papers and handed it over to another aide.

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[ persimmon¹ ] ~ a fruit that is orange, but ripens to a red-ish shade.

On a side note though—today we discovered our FL’s name! Lona, how cute.

Also—I don’t like how everyone calls her a marionette, like huh? whooo decided to give that horrendous nickname.

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