Chefila quietly turned around.

‘She must be crazy.’

Looking more closely, the woman had a flower tucked beside her ear.

‘I should avoid her.’

As Chefila was quietly trying to move away, someone firmly grabbed her arm.

“!”

“You too?”

When Chefila turned her head, the crazy woman with flowing hair was looking at her. Madness flickered in the beautiful woman’s eyes.

“Wh-what… what do you mean…”

“You just had to provoke me while I was minding my own business.”

As the woman stretched out her arm as if to punch Chefila, Chefila became frightened. She was definitely a crazy woman.

“W-wait, I am a prin—”

Suddenly, there was a thud. The woman, without landing a single blow, had collapsed to the ground, her clear eyes still filled with madness.

“A-are you okay?!”

“You’re Jeffrey’s fiancée, aren’t you?”

The woman, lying on the ground like a corpse, rolled her eyes toward Chefila.

“D*mn it all. He was flirting around and now he’s getting married?”

The woman had a beautiful, innocent face and a lovely voice, but her eyes were glaring fiercely. They were eyes overflowing with anger.
“If you’ve come to tell my sister to back off, you’ve come to the wrong place. Jeffrey is the one who keeps flirting. You don’t seem to know, but all of Jeffrey’s ex-girlfriends who came here ended up in my hands…”

The angry woman suddenly went limp.

Chefila’s mouth fell open. She seemed to have died from rage.

“A-are you dead?!”

Chefila shook the woman vigorously.

“P-please don’t die! I don’t even know who Jeffrey is!”

The woman weakly uttered:

“You don’t even know who he is…?”

“That’s right!”

“Oh, no…”

The woman’s breathing became increasingly shallow.

“Serna!”

A voice called from the distance. Aila was running toward them in alarm.

“S-sister…”

“Why are you lying here? Did you get angry again? I told you not to get angry. Your body is weak, and you collapse whenever you get angry!”

“Sister, my head keeps spinning. I feel like I need to kill everyone to survive.”

Serna shed tears pitifully and looked at Chefila.

“Sister, I lost my temper again and made a mistake with this person. I don’t know who you are, but I’m sorry. I keep losing it…”

With her beautiful expression and nightingale-like voice, Chefila felt as if she had heard a song made of pretty words. Aila, looking at Chefila, scratched her head and apologized.

“I’m sorry. My sister suddenly cursed at you, didn’t she? She’s not usually like this, but as her illness has dragged on, she’s become more irritable.”

Chefila, still feeling as if she had heard a song, replied:

“It’s okay. But is there somewhere nearby where I could rest for a while?”

Aila, feeling sorry, was about to carefully offer when she hesitated.

Tael was in the house, and Chefila was an outsider. As she hesitated, Serna stepped forward and said:

“If you have nowhere to go, why don’t you come to our house and rest for a while? You could also join us for a meal. My sister said she’s making plenty of soup today.”

Chefila’s eyes sparkled.

“Would that be alright?”

Aila was flustered but didn’t know what to do. Even if she wanted to send her elsewhere, there was no suitable place to rest nearby.

Then Aila realized that although Tael had met several people, not once had anyone recognized his face.

This village wasn’t grand enough for Arniel’s royal family or nobility to visit.

Even Arniel’s soldiers had all gone to the neighboring village because it was larger and wealthier.

‘Right. Why would someone from Arniel come here alone?’

That’s what Aila thought.

–

As Chefila headed toward Aila’s house, she anxiously looked around.

‘He’s not here.’

She felt relieved.

‘Of course he wouldn’t be. It doesn’t make sense for the Emperor of Arniel to be in such a remote place.’

She felt increasingly reassured.

‘At least I can sleep comfortably tonight.’

But as soon as they arrived at Aila’s house, her heart seemed to stop. She murmured softly:

“Emperor Your Majesty…?”

The emperor she had been trying so hard to avoid was here. And he was giving a small girl a piggyback ride while eating a raw potato.

The Emperor of Arniel was a gourmet who would never eat such raw ingredients.

He was so sensitive and picky that he had thrown away meals prepared by the empire’s best chefs multiple times.

It was a famous story. The chefs, hurt and covered in their own dishes, were too afraid of the emperor to quit and would discuss each meal all night.

Yet here he was, hastily devouring a potato as soon as he saw Aila, as if afraid she would take it away.

After quickly finishing the large potato in his hand, he smiled with satisfaction, potato smeared around his mouth.

‘Is this really Emperor Targaniel?!’

Moreover, the little girl on his shoulders shouted loudly:

“Giddyup! Giddyup!”

This was unthinkable in the Arniel Empire.

“Big brother! Make a ‘neigh~!’ sound!”

“…Neigh.”

Melia shouted and pulled Tael’s hair hard, but Tael showed little reaction and quietly produced another potato from somewhere and continued eating.

Tael’s hair was being pulled out bit by bit, and his forehead was being slapped by small palms, but he still showed no reaction. It was the same even when fingers poked his eyeballs.

Serna glided over to Tael like a ghost and asked:

“Want to go destroy Jeffrey with me?”

Tael replied indifferently:

“That’s the most welcome thing I’ve heard.”

Melia giggled and asked:

“What does ‘destroy’ mean?”

“……”

“……”

Aila exclaimed in alarm:

“Don’t talk about strange things and behave yourselves!”

Conscious of Chefila’s presence, Aila gave an awkward smile and guided her to the table in the yard.

“Please come this way.”

As Aila passed by Tael, she called out loudly:

“Horse dung! Come help with this!”

Tael, still giving the piggyback ride, moved in the direction of the voice.

“Horse dung…?”

Chefila muttered in shock. What was more surprising than Emperor Targaniel being called “horse dung” was that he obediently moved at the command.

“Is this really Emperor Targaniel…?”

Until the meal preparations were complete, Chefila sat at the table, staring intently at Tael. No matter how she looked at him, he was definitely Targaniel.

The large build, fierce eyes, and calloused hands. Everything was identical to Targaniel.

When Tael approached, Chefila instinctively became frightened and lowered her head. Her hands trembled, fearing he might suddenly rise and kill her.

He was the one who used to walk around with bright red blood splattered on his face. She still vividly remembered his face as he wiped the blood flowing under his chin, smiling as if amused.

A sturdy arm suddenly extended in front of her. Chefila, terrified, shrank back and squeezed her eyes shut, but nothing happened.

When she slightly opened her eyes, a bowl of soup with potatoes and meat was placed before her.

As Chefila raised her head, she saw Tael placing the soup on the table. Feeling her gaze, Tael turned to look at her.

“Do you have something to say?”

“Ah, th-that…”

Flustered, Chefila blurted out:

“Th-thank you! For the s-soup!”

Tael replied without changing his expression:

“You’re welcome.”

He kindly placed a spoon beside the bowl. A loud voice came from inside the house.

“Tael! Take this too!”

“I’m coming. But I’m not obeying your order. I just happen to like moving dishes. So don’t think I’m being obedient.”

“Aren’t you coming quickly?!”

“I will come. But I just happen to like walking. Make sure you understand that clearly.”

“Walk faster!”

“I naturally walk fast. Don’t misunderstand that you can order me to go faster.”

Tael tightened his apron and headed to the kitchen with rebellious eyes but obedient steps.

‘He is the Emperor. He’s definitely the Emperor. But why is he acting like this? He doesn’t even recognize me.’

He seemed like a different person.

“Has he lost his memory…?”

Chefila inadvertently muttered aloud.

Just then, the sound of a large beast crying out came from outside.

Tael rushed out, glared sharply in the direction of the beast’s cry, and ran outside with a thick wooden stick, still wearing his apron.

After he disappeared into the distance, there was a commotion, and then after a while, it stopped.

The door opened, and Tael proudly entered carrying a wild boar, looking at Aila with satisfaction.

“I will eat five bowls of soup today!”

“Wow!”

When Aila and her two siblings cheered, Tael was pleased.

“Eat six bowls!”

At Aila’s words, Tael’s chest swelled with joy, but trying not to show too much happiness, he just lifted the wild boar higher.

But his face couldn’t hide his joy and was full of pride.

Chefila was dumbfounded.

‘Is he really… the Emperor…?’