He clenched his fist in anger.

“How dare you harbor feelings for me.”

Jeffrey was momentarily dumbfounded before belatedly realizing what those words meant. Despite his normally gentle nature, even Jeffrey couldn’t endure this.

“No!”

It was a moment of clear understanding why Aila kept shouting “No!” whenever she looked at Tael.

“Why would I like a man?!”

Tael narrowed his eyes as he did when looking at Aila and trembled with contempt.

“Everyone is embarrassed like that at first.”

“No! That’s not it!”

Jeffrey spoke with more sincerity than ever before, but Tael clearly didn’t believe him.

“W-what is this…!”

Tael appeared to be seriously contemplating before he spoke.

“Fine.”

“?!”

“Since I’m more desperate for Aila than you are, if you step aside, I’ll give you one kiss.”

“!”

Jeffrey jumped in surprise and distanced himself from Tael.

“S-stay away!”

As Tael approached with his torn clothes fluttering, Jeffrey fled in horror but was caught by Tael.

“U-ugh! D-don’t! Just hit me ins— Urk. Th-thank… you.”

Tael had said he would give a kiss, but as soon as he caught Jeffrey, he threw him over his shoulder and knocked him unconscious.

“Tsk, how foolish.”

He shook his head as if pitying him.

“To be swayed by mere words.”

Thanks to Jeffrey’s carelessness, he was able to deal with him easily.

“You are no match for me. So stay away from Aila.”

Talking about Aila made him depressed again. Tael spent a long time gathering his gloomy thoughts beside the unconscious Jeffrey.

Feeling hungry, he searched Jeffrey’s pockets. After casually announcing “I’ll eat this” as if giving notice, he confidently took out a piece of bread, ate it, and then gazed at the sky sorrowfully before finally getting up.

After going through a long and difficult process to return home, he was dismayed to find Aila looking quite happy.

–

After chasing Tael away, Aila was humming while making potato soup. She hummed and talked to herself:

“Now I can live in peace.”

She thought happily that there would be no more instances of an amnesiac emperor insisting on becoming her husband.

Aila was making plenty of soup, thinking about how disappointed he would be. She planned to add lots of potatoes, which Tael liked.

While Aila was raising the corners of her mouth in satisfaction, her eyes drooped as if in pity. The potato looked like Tael.

She spoke to the potato:

“Shall we come to our senses now?”

A chuckle escaped her involuntarily.

“It seems like you’re the one who needs to come to your senses.”

Tael was watching Aila.

“Telling a potato to come to its senses. Are you not just cruel but insane?”

“What? Why are you picking a fight as soon as you arrive… Why are you walking around half-dressed in broad daylight?!”

Seeing Tael’s exposed upper body, Aila rummaged through a corner and pulled out another set of clothes.

This time it had rabbits on it, but Tael stuffed his body into the shirt without much complaint.

With a stretched, fierce-looking rabbit on his chest, he seriously opened his mouth:

“I’ve changed my mind. I’ll reconsider becoming your husband.”

“!”

Aila tried to hold back her laughter, but the corners of her mouth kept rising.

“I won’t worry anymore about you abandoning me.”

“Yes. Yes. That’s an excellent idea.”

“So I’ve decided that I won’t accept your ‘abandonment.'”

“…?”

“Making me a slave might have been your choice, but leaving will be my decision. Know that wherever you marry, I will follow.”

Tael declared this proudly, then hugged a raw carrot lying nearby and left. Aila was flabbergasted and waved her ladle in his direction as she spoke:

“Does he really think he’s a slave?! What kind of slave acts like that?! Well, I wasn’t planning to marry anyway, but somehow I feel like I’m losing out!”

As Aila waved the ladle, she absent-mindedly turned her head and noticed the carrot was gone. She flung the door open and shouted:

“You horse dung! Put the carrot back! I need it for the soup!”

Tael, who had been walking calmly, started running away.

Pretending not to hear Aila’s voice, he quickly outran her and ran for a while until he reached a place where she couldn’t see him. Then he suddenly stopped and collapsed weakly on the ground.

“Evil woman.”

He was depressed.

“Even when I offer everything, she still rejects me.”

Of course, all he had was a perfect, excellent body and a handsome, brilliant face.

“She just doesn’t want me until the end.”

Suddenly the carrot looked unappetizing. Having taken it, he no longer felt like eating it.

“It’s not like I want to be a slave and be in this situation.”

After even eating dirt and offering to marry her, she was still trying to get rid of him by any means.

Tael recalled what Jeffrey had said:

“We like each other.”

Jeffrey and Aila liked each other.

“If you marry Jeffrey, what will… become of me?”

He unknowingly hung his head low.

“Will something change if I regain my memories?”

For some reason, he felt happy for the first time since meeting Aila. But that couldn’t be right. He must have been living like this all along.

Nevertheless, he felt strangely anxious that this dreamlike life—eating potato soup, getting scolded often, occasionally feasting on meat together, and falling asleep in each other’s warmth—seemed somehow false.

“I want to stay by her side, but I don’t know how.”

–

Melia was blowing dandelion seeds as she came home.

Today, Melia had rummaged through the village trash cans and found many discarded cookies. Her pockets were full, making her feel like she could fly with happiness, but surprisingly, she also found a fancy ribbon box.

“Wow!”

The box shape was so pretty that it seemed perfect for playing house with Mimi. Melia took the box to the middle of the field, sat down, placed the box in the center, and sat a doll on the opposite side.

“Mimi!”

It was a rag doll that Aila had made for her.

“You have a new home!”

After saying that, Melia opened the box wide and was greatly surprised. It was full of delicious-looking things. Various yellow and white breads.

Melia took out two of them and threw them on the ground.

Covered in dirt, they looked very delicious. Without hesitation, Melia bit into the dirt-covered dessert.

Seeing Melia, some children who had been catching grasshoppers in the distance approached. Alvin pointed at Melia and began to snicker:

“She’s eating trash again.”

Tommy laughed alongside him:

“Look at that garbage. She plays with that thing every day.”

The other friends who were with them burst into laughter all at once. Seeing this, Melia also laughed with a “hehe.”

“This isn’t garbage, my sister made it for me! It’s my soft, squishy friend!”

Melia looked at Mimi with a smile.

“It’s not garbage, it’s Mimi…”

Melia couldn’t finish her sentence because Tommy had snatched Mimi and run far away.

“Hey! I’ll throw away this trash for you!”

As Tommy snickered and moved away, Melia’s eyes welled up with tears.

“Mimi!”

Melia got up and started running, but tripped over her own feet and burst into loud tears.

“Give Mimi back!”

At that moment, a weak cry was heard from a distance:

“Yaaaaaaah…”

Serna, tightly gripping a light branch, was running slowly but fell to the ground before even reaching Melia’s vicinity.

Serna raised her head with difficulty:

“Melia, your sister will help you… don’t worry… I’ll get that doll back… ugh.”

After saying those words, she fainted.

Serna wasn’t the only one who had peeked out at Melia’s loud crying. Aila was also running over.

“Serna!”

Aila lifted the collapsed Serna and slapped her cheeks.

“Wake up! You can’t lose consciousness here!”

Serna, who had barely regained consciousness, opened her mouth weakly with a pale face:

“Sister, those d*mn bastard scumbags are making our Melia…”

Aila looked around in surprise.

“How can you curse at children?! And we agreed not to curse outside!”

“But those f***ing pieces of s*** are making her cry…”

Serna coughed weakly.

“If only this useless body wasn’t so weak… I’d crack their skulls… if I ever get better… they’re all dead… my revenge begins…”

“How can you curse here?! Everyone will find out you’re a foul mouth! You’ve already been caught cursing openly to butcher Thomas and the vegetable store lady!”

“Those… wh*re bastards… disrespecting sister… such s***…”

“No! Stop!”

Serna muttered weakly with a sorrowful expression:

“My throat is so itchy.”

“Even if it’s itchy, hold it in. You can’t curse anymore. With your pretty face, if you just stop cursing, you’re halfway there.”

Serna shed tears with a pure and pitiful look:

“A dog can’t quit eating s***…”