Chapter 4
The Witch’s Tomb (1)
He slowly approached me.
Every time Kallio walked, the cloth draped over his shoulder shifted dangerously, revealing every curve.
I rolled my eyes around, unsure where to look, when Kallio asked again in a low voice.
“What are you thinking?”
Thinking of running away.
But I had no courage to declare fleeing in front of an emperor with absolute power.
I forced a polite smile, and my lips trembled slightly.
Kallio smirked faintly and waved his hand toward the servants.
“I want some time alone with the Empress, you may step back.”
The servants immediately obeyed the clear order and left the room in a flash.
As soon as they disappeared, a splashing sound reached my ears.
Kallio, kneeling in front of the bath, dipped his hand into the water and pressed his index finger against my cleavage.
The calloused fingertip dug into my skin, sending shivers down my spine.
“Thinking of running away?”
Kallio murmured lowly, as if reading my mind.
I froze, realizing my situation.
There were no daggers now.
Nothing sharp around me.
Completely defenseless, only my body remained exposed.
I could die at any moment.
“Or…”
Kallio trailed off, meeting my gaze.
His eyes gleamed with an eerie light.
“Trying to kill me?”
His deadly words came from a face smiling brightly.
Like a child discovering a new toy.
‘Ah, no way.’
I suddenly realized.
The reason he hadn’t killed me yet was because of ‘interest.’
Even the female lead in my novel entertained Kallio nightly with stories to maintain his interest.
Since I was the one to wound him first, I had also become the wife who captured his interest.
In short:
‘Damn it, seriously!’
I had become firmly stamped in Kallio’s mind.
And not in a good way.
The thought that I had captured his interest in the opposite way from the female lead made my head throb.
Was he really going to repeat the events of last night? A bet on who dies first, or demanding I stab him once more?
If it’s Kallio, it’s entirely possible.
I hesitated, unsure how to answer, and moved my lips.
“If you haven’t decided yet, I’ll help you.”
Kallio sat fully on the floor now.
He leaned forward, only his feet in the bath, tapping the raised flesh of my chest.
“Uh? W-what is—”
I got goosebumps from the strange behavior.
It might have been normal intimacy for a married couple, but his gestures were lewd, and heat rose to my body.
As I tried to move his hand away, he spoke softly.
“Do you know where your heart is?”
Suddenly? What is he talking about now?
“If you guess correctly, I’ll withdraw my hand.”
“…Left side.”
“How did you know? Did you read the ?”
…Now that I thought about it, that was indeed part of the setting.
The was the most famous medical text in the Amir Empire.
I swallowed dryly and opened my mouth.
“Just… read a little.”
“So you noticed I coated the candy with paralysis poison? My Empress is truly clever.”
That… counts as knowing the candy’s secret? I seemed to have gotten off lightly.
“Right, the heart is on the left side.”
Kallio chuckled softly, pleased.
But the hand on my skin became even more blatant despite saying he would stop if I answered.
“Uh… stop now…”
He curved his fingers in the water, raising his nails.
Well-manicured nails grazed my tender skin, sending a cold thrill down my spine.
“But conveniently, my fingers are on your left chest too.”
He followed with words more chilling than the marks left by his nails.
“You wouldn’t stay in the palace forever, even in death, would you?”
“…Excuse me?”
“Oh, of course, even as a rotten corpse.”
This damn man?
I swallowed a curse and barely restrained my expression.
Kallio stared at me for a while, then smirked.
His slightly curved eyes were like a smiling fox.
I almost stared at his unnecessarily high-quality face, then snapped back to attention.
“More importantly, you should prepare to meet my father and mother soon.”
Kallio then removed his hands and feet from the bath and stood up.
He turned his back to me and spoke lightly.
“My mother has always wanted to see her daughter-in-law.”
I had heard that Kallio’s parents were already dead.
Yet seeing them meant paying respects at their graves.
“I’ll prepare quickly…”
“I’m looking forward to it. My mother will be pleased to see you.”
Kallio left the bath, gradually moving away.
Water dripped from his wide feet, full of old scars.
The red lantern light made it look like drops of blood were falling.
Even though he was just leaving the bathroom, it seemed as if he walked leisurely through a pool of blood.
He must have killed many people in reality as well.
‘Because he’s set up as a tyrant.’
My head still throbbed from tension.
He tried to kill me before, now he seemed to act like a formal family greeting.
Staying near a psychopath who changes moods so unpredictably was naive.
If I wanted to survive, I had to escape from Kallio.
‘But how?’
This family had already thrown me into the palace like an execution ground.
There would be no one to help me.
At that moment, a large, long shape was faintly visible beyond the bath window.
It looked like a building but was actually a gravestone commemorating Kallio’s father and mother.
Although I had forgotten much of my debut work’s setting, being immersed in that world now made details slowly return.
For example, the female lead’s story that won Kallio’s favor.
The tomb of the former emperor and empress.
Thinking of one word, I lifted the corner of my mouth.
There was a way to reuse the female lead’s story.
***
Sitting quietly on the sofa, I could hear stories from the maids around me.
“So people say a ghost haunts the tomb of the former emperor and empress? Couldn’t they have mistaken someone alive?”
“They said it definitely wasn’t a person. The caretaker of the tomb witnessed the dancer ghost wandering with its neck bent.”
“Oh my, oh my!”
Even in a situation where I had to escape the mad Kallio, I needed allies.
After sharing delicious food and giving jewels, the maids quickly let their guard down.
Thanks to that, I even heard rumors circulating inside the palace.
‘A story of a ghost at the former emperor’s tomb.’
Definitely an interesting story, enough to pique the maids’ and the emperor’s curiosity.
If a dancer ghost wandered his parents’ tomb, would Kallio not be curious?
‘The female lead’s story in my debut work started like that.’
The story began with a ghost haunting the former emperor and empress’s tomb.
The female lead used it to capture Kallio’s attention.
Originally, I had planned to tell Kallio the same story.
If it weren’t for the damn scorpion-poison candy.
Now I had to tell it differently.
Having written so many works, my stories shared similarities.
The most notable was that the protagonist overcame obstacles using ‘special abilities.’
Since I transmigrated into my own work, following that route seemed best.
‘A useful “special ability” should be found in that tomb.’
So I prepared to enter the tomb of Kallio’s parents, the former emperor and empress.
I just needed Kallio to come along…
‘He insisted on going first… why isn’t he here yet?’
Thinking that, a maid seemed to misunderstand my expression.
“I-I’m sorry. Did we talk too much…?”
“No, it’s always fun to hear stories.”
“If it’s not too rude, may I ask Your Majesty some questions?”
I nodded with a kind expression to avoid a bad impression.
But that calm facade soon cracked.
“F-first night with the Emperor… how was it?”
“…What?”
“I heard it was such an intense night that Your Majesty collapsed… is that true?”
