Chapter 02
After finishing her conversation with the Emperor, Lia was able to return to her room with a lighter heart.
However, before Lia could even take a break, a knight came to see her. He was a remarkably handsome man, but his stiff and inflexible expression made it clear that he had not come with good intentions.
“You were lucky this time, so it ended without incident. But do not think that will always be the case. I remember it clearly.”
“What do you mean?” Lia asked.
For some reason, it felt like what he was “remembering” was not just the fact that she had hit the Emperor.
“Everything Her Majesty the Empress has done until now. If His Majesty regains his memories, he will never leave Your Majesty alone.”
It was rude behavior for someone addressing the Empress, but what mattered to the knight was the Emperor, not the Empress.
Especially when the Empress was one who caused trouble whenever she could.
Despite the knight’s threat, Lia remained calm.
After all, she had the written pledge the Emperor had given her.
Even if he recovered his memories, at least she would not be punished for this incident.
After the Emperor regained consciousness, Lia began seriously investigating her position and situation within the Imperial Palace.
They said that if you know your enemy and know yourself, you will never lose. She did not know if it would truly help her, but it certainly would not hurt.
Through that effort, Lia learned who the knight who had come to threaten her was.
His name was Baron.
He was the captain of the Imperial Guard, a man who cared only about the Emperor.
By chance, the man—once an orphan from the back alleys—had been taken in by the Emperor. He learned swordsmanship and became a knight. Now, as the Emperor’s direct guard, he was the person the Emperor trusted the most.
He followed the Emperor more than anyone else and bowed to no one but him. He was inflexible by nature, and because he was a commoner, other knights looked down on him. But with his outstanding skill, he silenced all such contempt.
Knowing this, Lia could understand why he hated her.
Not only had she struck his precious lord, she had also caused him to lose his memory. Even before that, she had done everything that would make him dislike her.
Most of all, she was the daughter of the leader of the noble faction—the Emperor’s greatest obstacle. By Baron’s standards, it was only natural that he could not stand her.
Whether Baron hated her or liked her did not matter much to Lia.
What bothered her more was the Emperor himself.
The Emperor’s attitude—friendly toward her after losing his memory on the first day—did not change the next day. In fact, it got worse. He clung to her so much that it became annoying.
Lia had never been interested in the Emperor to begin with.
At first, she had worried that he might kill her because of what she had done, but that fear was gone now.
She even had a written pledge saying the matter would not be pursued anymore. There was nothing left to fear.
If he recovered his memories later and tried to say something, she could simply give up the position of Empress and leave the Imperial Palace.
She wanted to tell him right now that she did not need the Empress’s seat and ask to be deposed, but judging by the Emperor’s current state, that did not seem possible.
“Lia.”
Lost in thought, Lia frowned when she saw the Emperor coming to see her again today.
Was the position of Emperor really that idle? Ever since he lost his memory, he came to see her every single day.
She did not particularly want to see him.
“You come often,” Lia said coldly, her dissatisfaction clear.
At that, the knight Baron, who had followed the Emperor, immediately released a fierce aura, but Lia ignored him.
“Lia, do you not want to see me?” the Emperor, Kartian, asked, looking completely dejected.
The dignified, emperor-like figure from the first day was nowhere to be seen. Kartian now looked like a large dog whining because it was not receiving its owner’s love.
The change was extreme.
“No.”
She could have denied it out of pity, but Lia answered honestly.
“…Why?” Kartian asked gloomily.
“Is there any reason I should want to see you?”
Not only was his coming unwelcome, but the knight trailing behind him was equally unpleasant.
Lia did not care much about others’ goodwill or malice, but the obvious hostility in the knight’s eyes bothered her.
If possible, she wished neither of them would come to see her.
“But you are my Empress,” Kartian said.
So what if she was?
That Empress’s position was never something Lia wanted. She was not even truly the Empress. She was merely a parasite inhabiting the Empress’s body.
And yet, unaware of that, he followed her around calling her his Empress. It was almost laughable.
“Just because we’re married doesn’t mean we have to like each other. I heard it wasn’t even a marriage of choice, but a political one.”
In a place where political marriages were the norm, there was no reason for a married couple to be close.
“But…” Kartian looked hurt, his shoulders drooping as he gazed at Lia.
If he had ears and a tail, his ears would have been drooping, and his tail would have been dragging along the floor.
“And I heard we weren’t on good terms to begin with. Wouldn’t it be strange to suddenly get along now?”
She was not trying to blame Kartian. Everything about this situation felt awkward and unreal to Lia, as if it had nothing to do with her.
“I’m sorry, Lia. It’s all my fault. I don’t know why I treated you that way,” Kartian murmured.
He had already heard from knights and maids what their relationship had been like before he lost his memory.
The shock had been immense.
To ignore and coldly treat someone so beautiful—and even bring in another woman as a concubine.
So Lia had every right to be cold to him.
It was all his own doing.
Still, he could not just sit back and do nothing.
From the moment he opened his eyes and saw Lia, Kartian understood what love at first sight meant.
It was the first time his heart had ever trembled and raced like this.
Whatever he had been like before losing his memory, this feeling was new to him.
“I wasn’t asking for an apology,” Lia said.
The person who had committed those acts was not here. She was merely someone inhabiting another woman’s body. The apology belonged to the original owner, not her.
“Lia, you’re so cold.”
Though it was natural to speak formally to the Emperor, to Kartian, her formality felt like distance.
He wished she would speak more casually, call his name, treat him warmly.
“I wasn’t warm to begin with,” Lia replied indifferently.
The former owner of this body had been the same, and so was Lia herself. She did not torment others, but she was not affectionate by nature.
She had often been told she was cold even back in Korea.
Still, people gathered around her. She could not harshly reject those who clung to her, so she stayed friends with them.
The Emperor clinging to her now was similar, but the reason was different. He had simply lost his memory. Once he regained it, he would return to his original self.
“……”
Kartian looked as if he might cry.
Seeing that expression, Lia frowned in discomfort.
The Emperor in the novel was never like this. How could he be so soft-hearted?
“Lia… do you hate me?”
His voice was wet with emotion, his drooping shoulders pitiful.
Lia felt irritated.
“What did I even do to deserve that look?”
“…I don’t hate you.”
She was not saying it to comfort him. She meant it.
Kartian was a stranger to her. There was no reason to hate him—or to like him.
How he had treated her in the past was irrelevant to Lia. She had not lived through it. To her, it was no different from a story in a novel.
At her indifferent answer, Kartian suddenly smiled brightly, as if his earlier hurt had been a lie.
It was just “I don’t hate you,” yet he looked that happy.
“That’s enough. As long as Lia doesn’t hate me.”
He smiled again and again, as if filled with hope.
Seeing him that happy made Lia feel oddly tempted to be mean.
“I don’t think I’ll come to like you either,” she said, extinguishing the spark of hope.
Kartian’s face fell instantly.
“Why… why?”
“I don’t want to,” Lia answered.
She knew the reason he treated her well now was because he had lost his memory. Once he regained it, everything would end.
Liking someone like that would be foolish.
“…Why?” Kartian asked softly.
“Won’t you go back to how you were once you regain your memories?”
“No.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I just know.”
“You don’t know that. The you from before didn’t expect this, didn’t want this. No one knows what will happen after you regain your memories.”
“…It won’t be like that.”
“That’s not something you can insist into being true.”
Kartian looked like a child.
“Then I can write another pledge,” he said.
Baron’s cold gaze shot toward Lia.
She ignored it.
If she were the original Empress, she would have tried to crush Baron out of spite. But Lia was not her.
“Lia.”
Kartian took her hand and pressed it against his cheek, rubbing against it.
“Please… look at me.”
It was a desperate plea.
“Why do you like me?” Lia asked quietly.
“I… I just did.”
“I can’t believe that,” Lia replied calmly.
“But it’s true.”
Lia looked away, her gaze briefly landing on Baron, who was scowling deeply.
Kartian gently held Lia’s face.
“Don’t look. Just look at me.”
“…If you take that knight and leave, no one will be looking,” Lia said tiredly.
“I just want to rest. I’m tired.”
“…All right.”
“Don’t get sick. If you’re sick, I’ll be sick too.”
“…You too, don’t get sick.”
At her words, Kartian smiled brightly.
After he left, Lia collapsed onto the bed.
She was exhausted.
“This really is exhausting…”
Unable to share the truth with anyone, Lia closed her eyes.
Soon, sleep claimed her.
