Chapter 2. Twisted Salvation and the Flower of Embrace

<Twisted Salvation and the Flower of Embrace>.

The main stage of this 19+ dark romance fantasy novel was the palace harem within the imperial palace. It was where the male protagonist, sent as a hostage, stayed until he returned to his country.

Ailexia was the master of that harem. She would either call him to the separate palace where she resided or go to the harem herself, using him like a sex slave.

Then, the female protagonist entered as her maid, embracing the male protagonist with a kind heart, during which the male protagonist killed Ailexia. That was the plot up to the middle of the novel.

However, Ailexia’s presence did not easily die out even until the end of the novel. The male protagonist couldn’t get her out of his mind and went mad until just before the conclusion. The female protagonist, who reunites with him whose heart has died, stays by his side again, but due to the shadow of Ailexia remaining with him, the novel continues in a triangular relationship until the very end.

That was why Ailexia had no choice but to have a leading presence.

‘Actually, I was a bit curious.’

According to the novel, the evaluation of Ailexia was as follows: A woman who enjoyed herself in the secluded separate palace next to the imperial palace like a remote island, even in the midst of the noisy struggle for the throne. A hedonist who spent each day in the bedroom with men of various tastes. In short, a promiscuous and reckless woman.

The story began with such a woman favoring only the male protagonist.

However, while living in the body of Iella in the novel, the evaluations and rumors she heard about Ailexia were more diverse and numerous.

First of all, Ailexia was not part of the imperial family. She did not carry the surname of the imperial family. Despite this, people made many speculations about her residing in the separate palace.

The first speculation was that she was the current emperor’s mistress. It was the current emperor who first revealed her existence and also the one who overlooked her actions afterward. However, this rumor quickly subsided and eventually disappeared.

One bold noble mentioned this rumor to test the waters and lost his head. Right after that incident, Ailexia’s actions of even creating a harem silenced the rumors about her and the current emperor.

Next, people suspected her relationship with the former emperor. Naturally, people’s attention shifted to the higher-ups due to the current emperor’s attitude of letting her do whatever debauched acts she pleased. From then on, many rumors stuck to her.

The former emperor’s illegitimate child, or a young mistress brought in by the former emperor, etc. All these rumors ultimately proved that she was an abandoned person.

The current emperor neither confirmed nor denied this speculation. The rumors, which were almost certain in the gossip-loving society, eventually swept across the entire empire.

‘They spread even to our small and humble territory, which is far from the capital and closer to the north.’

Of course, none of these speculations were officially confirmed. But there was one common descriptor that everyone agreed on.

A guest in the separate palace.

That was what puzzled Iella.

How could someone in such an abandoned position, a guest, create a harem and cause such reckless incidents without any hesitation? Even if the current emperor turned a blind eye, she would be afraid. The emperor could change his mind at any moment.

But thinking back to her previous life somehow resolved her doubts.

Was it all possible because it was a setting in a novel?

‘No, this is not the time to think about such things.’

Quickly regaining her senses, Iella turned her body, which had been lying prone, to lie flat. The unfamiliar canopy of the bed came into view.

‘If the novel’s setting has an influence, the biggest problem is that man.’

The man with purple eyes. The original male protagonist who would kill Ailexia.

The moment she met his eyes, the memories that flooded her were from her past life. It was because she remembered everything she had read in her past life, including the novel and the male protagonist.

The problem was that even after several days, she couldn’t think of a way to overcome this situation. At first, she thought it was a dream, and then she was too busy recalling the novel by digging through the memories of her past life.

The only fortunate thing was that she had regained her sanity. Whether it was because he wasn’t in front of her, or because she had time to think alone, she didn’t know. Perhaps she was too busy bridging the gap between the 20 years she had spent being loved and pampered here and the opposite life she had lived in her past life.

In any case, the conclusion was that she couldn’t die unfairly in someone else’s body. She had to find a way to survive immediately.

But there was one more problem.

“This is a big problem…”

It was that she hadn’t read the entire novel. This might be why the situation hadn’t progressed. The only parts she remembered were a few bits and pieces her friend had explained to her. Naturally, she didn’t know much about the male protagonist either.

It was fortunate that she at least knew about the color of his eyes and the brief description of his relationship with Ailexia. If she hadn’t known even that, she would have been bewildered and faced an inexplicable death.

Of course, separate from regaining her sanity, she was still scared.

But according to the few memories she had, Ailexia could only act as the mistress here in this secluded palace. Only here, where there were lower-ranked attendants and members of her harem that she brought along. This meant that once she left the secluded palace, she wouldn’t know what would happen.

‘Leaving here without any plan would be dangerous right now.’

She couldn’t jump into another danger in a situation where she had nothing. Since she didn’t know why she had entered someone else’s body, it was better to move cautiously and carefully for now.

‘I wish I could return to my original body if I died, like in the other novels Seon told me about…’

If she had known that there were more novels where you couldn’t return to your original body even if you died, she wouldn’t have thought about it.

* * *

Swish—.

A ticklish sensation, like a butterfly gently landing, brushed Iella’s cheek.

‘……I fell asleep like this.’

When she slowly lifted her eyelids, her blurry vision was filled with darkness without a single ray of light.

The forced rest her overworked brain took after days of failing to find an answer was quite long. Still, thanks to that, her mind was clear, so it wasn’t bad. However, the moment her vision, which had been as opaque and stained as a frosted window, cleared up, the situation changed.

‘Is the drowsiness not completely gone yet? Am I actually dreaming?’

That seemed more realistic. Iella blinked stupidly because it was a situation that was hard to believe. Even though the unchanged scene suggested it wasn’t a dream, it still didn’t feel real, so she blinked again.

“……Ailex.”

“Kyah!”

Maybe she was denying that it was reality.

He, who had been making eye contact with her, slightly parted his lips and let out a sound through the gap. Although it was forcibly cut short, it was enough to completely block her consciousness’s escape route from reality.

“H-how are you here…!”

Iella jumped up with a shrill scream and hurriedly got up from lying down. Then, as if to escape, she clumsily moved her bottom backward.

“Ah!”

But her urgent movements were not stable. Before long, her fumbling hand slipped on the blanket, and her body flipped over. As her vision turned upside down, the solid bedpost quickly approached.

‘Of all directions!’

Imagining her head breaking naturally made her mind go blank. She tightly closed her eyes, clutching whatever she could grab in a hurry. Amidst this, Iella suddenly had a ridiculous thought that even she found absurd.

‘If I hit my head hard, could I return to my original state?’

At the same time, a dull thud echoed.

Iella inhaled, expecting the impending pain. But strangely, there was no pain. Even after waiting a bit, fearing that it might come all at once the moment she let her guard down, nothing changed. Instead, she slowly felt the sensation of a large hand stably supporting the back of her head. Iella slightly opened her closed eyes.

In fact, there was only one person besides herself in the room, so there was only one possible owner of this hand. Even so, the reason she checked was…

“Haa.”

…because she didn’t think she would receive such help from him.

“……”

The beautiful face she encountered up close for the second time hadn’t changed since their first meeting. Only the furrowed brow and the sigh filled with displeasure were added.

“You always manage to make my hand reach first somehow.”

After confirming that Iella’s head hadn’t hit the post, he immediately withdrew his hand. As if he didn’t want to touch her for even a moment longer.

‘…They say a person’s heart gets cold when they’re too surprised. I guess it’s true.’

However, his tone was still disguised with politeness. Thanks to that, Iella’s heart, which had been pounding with shock and embarrassment, calmed down in an instant, and she regained a bit of her composure. Then she noticed something strange.

‘Why did he save Ailexia?’

During their first meeting and now, he had consistently despised and hated Ailexia. But why did he save her just now?

‘Is he the type who can’t stand seeing someone get hurt in front of him? But if he hated her enough, would he care if she got hurt or died? Or maybe he doesn’t hate her enough to want her dead yet?’

If so, that was good news. It meant she still had some time.

Feeling somewhat relieved by this thought, Iella’s stiffened demeanor slightly softened. But she still didn’t want to be in the same space with him, so she opened her mouth to get him to leave.

“I don’t think I gave you permission to enter.”

…sir. Iella swallowed the word that was about to follow automatically. Still, this wasn’t too awkward, right? She had practiced Ailexia’s mannerisms and speech based on the fragments of her memory whenever she could, in case she had to face the male protagonist.

Hoping her imitation of Ailexia’s tone and gestures was natural, Iella cleared her throat.

“Do you have the right to say such things after entering without permission?”

Of course, every time she spoke a sentence, it felt like her heart was shrinking. The pressure she felt from him kneeling on the bed was considerable, making him seem even larger than she had thought. She could only look up at him, who was glaring down at her as if he might bite her at any moment.

She quickly guessed what Ailexia might have thought in this situation.

‘She wouldn’t like this position, would she?’

Ailexia, who liked to have the upper hand, wouldn’t welcome this situation.

Just when Iella was about to get off the bed for a more seamless imitation, he broke the short silence.