The Emperor frowned.

“I’ve never seen a man as handsome as you in my life.”

“…”

“You can get by on your face alone. Be grateful for that face.”

The Emperor’s face contorted as if he was about to curse.

“That’s a fair statement I cannot deny.”

He swatted Aila’s hand away and turned his head abruptly. At the end of his carelessly cast gaze hung a mirror.

And the man in that mirror was, to his own eyes, dazzlingly handsome.

The Emperor muttered with utmost seriousness.

“It’s chilling how much I understand now.”

He covered his mouth.

“Even when I’m this filthy, my face still shines?”

‘Was he always like this?’

She had thought he was just mean, but he was narcissistic too.

Aila suppressed the urge to curse and said, “So if you don’t listen to me, I’ll expose you as a thief and have you arrested.”

“!”

“I can tolerate a ‘thief,’ but I can’t stand a ‘disobedient thief.'”

The Emperor unconsciously gulped at Aila’s wicked smile. He turned his head to hide his nervousness, but his confused eyes darted around wildly.

Aila scanned him up and down with a calculating gaze.

‘Good. He’s being manipulated. Should I take more from him?’

The Emperor’s clothes, though dirty, were luxurious. They would certainly sell for a high price.

“Your clothes are dirty. Wait. I’ll bring you something clean.”

Aila soon brought the Emperor several garments she didn’t wear. They were all women’s clothes, so the shoulders looked small, and there was a teddy bear drawn on the chest.

“You want me to wear such childish clothes?”

He adamantly refused.

“I would rather die than wear such ridiculous clothes.”

Aila narrowed her eyes as she examined him, then said nonchalantly:

“Fine. Then don’t wear them.”

The Emperor’s face brightened.

“So you’re finally listening to me…”

“Get out. I have no need for a disobedient slave.”

His face immediately darkened. He was certainly a man with honest emotions.

“You’re going to throw me out into the wilderness when I have no memories?”

Aila’s house sat alone on a wide lawn. With no neighbors or lights, it was an ideal place for the newly arrived Emperor to get lost.

Just then, a growling sound came from the Emperor’s stomach.

“If you don’t want to leave, put them on.”

When she handed over the clothes with an indifferent attitude, as if it didn’t matter whether he wore them or not, the Emperor bit his lower lip hard and made an aggrieved expression.

“I am not someone who can be thrown out by anyone.”

“Then who are you?”

When Aila crossed her arms and asked forcefully, he glared at her with contempt before reluctantly accepting the clothes and heading into the room.

–

After changing in the small room, the Emperor looked down at himself pathetically. The shoulders were tight, and the once-cute teddy bear was stretched grotesquely on both sides as if about to tear.

Even without that, the clothes looked like they had been picked up from somewhere.

The Emperor opened the door and looked around Aila’s small house.

Everything was worn out.

“To think I really lived as a slave in this house.”

He kicked at objects rolling on the floor.

“And that foul-tempered woman was my master.”

He felt wronged. Just then, the voice of the foul-tempered woman came from outside.

“Are you done changing?”

Aila poked her head into the house, quickly entered, and took away the clothes the Emperor had removed.

“Th-those are mine…!”

“Stolen goods, remember? I need to get rid of them.”

As she hummed and took away his clothes, the Emperor reached out toward them with a devastated expression, but only air swirled between his fingers.

“You’re taking my things just like that?”

Having lost everything he had to Aila, the man who knew nothing except that he was handsome couldn’t protest further.

He simply tried to recover his memory while denying his reality.

“I need to remember who I am quickly. There’s no way I lived like this.”

“Why not?! You’re obviously my slave!”

Aila, who had returned without notice, pointed to a pile of straw carelessly spread outside.

“Stack that up.”

“Are you trying to order me around?”

“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”

“Of course. I am not someone you can dare to command…”

“You can just starve, that’s all.”

“!”

Aila raised one corner of her mouth maliciously as she watched the shocked Emperor.

“He who does not work shall not eat.”

The Emperor walked toward the straw pile, clenching his fists and trembling.

The moment the Emperor went outside, Aila staggered.

Though she pretended to be calm, her heart was pounding.

“Am I… facing execution…?”

Her hands trembled violently.

Targaniel, Emperor of the Great Arniel Empire, was a usurper and ruthless tyrant who had killed his parents and one of his two siblings to seize the throne.

Nevertheless, many followed him purely because of his ability.

A very powerful and cruel ability, that is.

Aila turned her head.

Targaniel was busy moving straw in the stable.

“If I’m discovered, I might die…”

In Aila’s frightened eyes, she saw the crooked pile of straw. She unconsciously shouted:

“Stack it properly!”

The Emperor jumped in surprise and quickly rearranged it. Seeing it stacked neatly, her hands trembled again.

Even pulling at her own hair with one hand did nothing to calm her anxious mind.

“What if he decides to cut off my limbs? C-calm down. I’m already a dead person. I hit the enemy emperor’s head.”

Aila tried to convince herself while trembling. Soon she was persuaded by her own reasoning.

“R-right. If I’m going to be discovered and die anyway, I might as well make the most of it before I die.”

Even with that thought, the trembling didn’t stop.

“How horrifically will he kill me?”

Yet despite her fear, her heart swelled at the thought of using him.

‘My house has a slave now! I can work him as much as I want!’

Aila’s hands trembled again, but for a different reason this time.

“Useful. So incredibly useful…!”

A tall man with a robust physique was a top-tier slave. No, even among top-tier slaves, such a well-built man was hard to find.

Aila knew she would regret it later and be terrified, but she couldn’t help being captivated by the premium slave before her eyes.

The dire poverty right in front of her kept blinding Aila’s judgment.

The Emperor, having stacked the straw pile haphazardly, approached with satisfaction.

“I’m done.”

Aila stared intently at the Emperor. Without his memories, the tyrant emperor was just a simpleton.

“Well. Life is an adventure anyway, isn’t it?”

Even the sweat dripping from the Emperor looked like pearls. He was too handsome and too well-built for a slave.

“Slave.”

“It’s unpleasant. Don’t call me that.”

The frightened woman, now transformed by greed, looked at the Emperor with blazing eyes.

“Shall we make some money?”

“…?”

–

Aila packed an axe and some logs in a bag, slung it over her shoulder, and took the Emperor to a village as far away as possible. Then she sat by a forest stream where women might bathe and waited.

When she saw women gathering in the distance, she hurriedly placed a log on the ground and handed the axe to the Emperor.

“Chop it!”

“What are you doing now…”

“You don’t know who you are, right?! If you don’t want to be thrown out of my house today, just chop the wood!”

Though the Emperor narrowed his eyes in displeasure, he raised the axe high.

The approaching women’s eyes widened, all captivated by his artistic arm muscles.

When he struck the log forcefully, it split in two and rolled on the ground.

The faces of the women spectators grew round with wonder. As all their faces flushed, Aila didn’t miss the moment and stood before them with a cunning smile.

“Stop chopping and turn around!”

At that command, the Emperor stopped and turned around, disappointing everyone.

“Would you like to keep watching?”

Aila extended her hand toward the women.

“That’ll be 1 sili.”

“What?!”

“If you don’t like it, you can all leave.”

“You’re charging money just to look at his face?!”

Aila asked very confidently and seriously:

“Have you ever seen such a handsome face in your life?”

At those words, everyone fell silent.

“I’m letting you look all you want at a face you might see once in a lifetime for just 1 sili. Isn’t that a bargain by anyone’s standards?”

“…”

“Doesn’t looking at this man make you happy? The price of that happiness is just 1 sili. How cheap is that? Come on, pay up.”

At Aila’s resonant voice, the hesitant women glanced at the Emperor and each paid 1 sili. Aila, pleased with them, quietly approached the Emperor’s side and whispered:

“Pretend we’re close.”

“?”

“Hurry!”

The Emperor reluctantly placed his arm on Aila’s shoulder. He laid it vertically as if placing a package, but the jealous women booed with a “wooo.”

Ignoring them, Aila puckered her lips and lunged for the Emperor’s cheek.

“Stop! Stop it!”

“I don’t want to believe such a handsome man has a woman!”

The Emperor looked at Aila, more shocked than the women.

“You’re my woman?”

He was horrified, as if a cockroach had fallen in love with him and was stalking him.

As if he had just heard the shocking news that the cockroach had been his lover.