‘He called me here and didn’t say anything… What on earth does he intend to do?’

Since Ariel didn’t know his true intentions, she thought he was angry with her.

Based on the facts, it was clear that she was a rude woman who had spent the night with the Emperor and secretly escaped.

If his reason for coming here was to punish her for her rudeness, she wished he would get to the point.

Ariel had been waiting for him to speak up. But he firmly kept his mouth closed and showed no intention of speaking.

Only his possessive gaze turned beneath her face.

His sensual gaze aroused Ariel’s body. No, it felt like fire. Where his gaze rested.

Remembering yesterday’s ecstasy, her body was engulfed in heat.

‘I never thought the memory of one night could be so deadly.’

She could vaguely guess why the original Ariel had become obsessed with Leopold.

If she hadn’t cultivated patience during her sword training, she guessed she would have already thrown herself into his arms, giving him everything.

But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

When he turned his head and buried his face in his hand, she finally gathered the courage to speak.

“Why have you come to see me?”

She tried to hide her emotions with a cold tone of voice and expression, although all her efforts were shattered by his words.

“…. Where did you run off after taking my first night?”

A low-toned voice echoed through the dining room.

Ariel stared at him with unruly emerald pupils.

Strength flowed into her hands, tightly clasped on the lush ruffles.

***

“…. Where did you run off after taking my first night?”

Leopold defiantly repeated the word ‘run’ and smirked.

He intended to observe how Ariel would react.

Would she remain speechless out of surprise, withdraw, or perhaps apologize? It doesn’t matter anyway since she’s going to be by my side, but still…

He’s the emperor, so he’s never had to worry about anyone’s reaction before.

But now, he focused his entire attention on noticing even the slightest change in the woman sitting in front of him.

He didn’t want to miss any gestures, changes in expression, or anything else.

A sensitive and profound tremor of emotion arose in his heart.

Tap, tap.

Leopold waited for a response, tapping the armrest of the sofa with his index finger. His gaze was still fixed on her.

Her round eyes momentarily widened, then she soon regained composure.

“Run? No, I just returned home.”

But since it was nothing more than a pretense, Ariel subtly averted her gaze.

She had expected him to take advantage of this opportunity and make a move, but when faced with the situation, she couldn’t help but feel flustered.

Ariel scolded herself. Leopold was merely someone she spent a night with under the influence of alcohol. The reason she was emotionally affected by his presence, gaze, and conversation was because last night’s events had brought her carnal desires to the surface.

‘Nothing more, nothing less.’

But contrary to her thoughts, warmth spread in her chest. Her face soon flushed a light pink.

“I see. So, you just came back home. But why did you return home without saying anything to me? It doesn’t seem like the proper etiquette towards someone you spent the night with.”

“I thought it would be more impolite to wake Your Majesty the Emperor, who is sound asleep.”

Ariel bowed her head, showing proper manners.

She mustn’t upset the emperor with her words or actions. Creating excuses any further is even more unacceptable.

Today, she had to put an end to this absurd relationship.

‘I shouldn’t show any emotional turmoil until this person leaves. I need to draw a line.’

Ariel collected the remaining emotions from her face.

“From the sounds of it, you’re not wrong.”

Leopold chuckled, and his deep eyes beautifully narrowed.

He thought that Ariel’s appearance, perfectly balancing respect and skillful rebuttal, was quite charming.

“Why did you come to me?”

“I have come to tell you that I will welcome you as my empress.”

What, what? Empress? She barely suppressed the turmoil in her heart. Her thick lips slightly parted in surprise.

Ariel’s mind went blank for an unexpected reason.

Ariel turned her head to the side. A rough breath escaped her lips. Her mind went blank, unable to grasp how to respond.

So she quickly recalled the original content.

In the original, it was clearly stated that she would be welcomed not as an empress but as a mistress.

The original Ariel was angry at the fact that she was not the empress. But soon, she accepted reality, satisfied with the fact that she was the only woman who could stand by his side.

‘Yes. He welcomed Ariel as a mistress because of a sense of responsibility.’

Ariel stared into Leopold’s eyes again. His eyes, flickering with interest, were filled with sparkling interest.

“Your Majesty, you don’t have to take responsibility for what happened yesterday.”

“I certainly have no intention of holding you responsible.”

“What?”

“Ariel, I think you should take responsibility for me. You are the one who took my, the Emperor’s, virginity, after all.”

Ariel was at a loss for words.

She couldn’t outsmart Leopold, who always said the right thing.

Cold sweat trickled down Ariel’s back.

An uneasy premonition struck her—that she might soon become his empress.

“When you put it that way, I feel like I’m being unscrupulous.”

She calmly brushed off his words as if they meant nothing.

But soon, the calmness shattered like an approaching storm.

She tried to control her emotional turmoil, but ultimately, Ariel’s abyss stirred.

‘This man seems to have already made up his mind. It seems useless to say anything more…’

Her emerald eyes shook intensely.

Her trembling hand lightly brushed away the hair that fell alongside her face.

Her vacant gaze focused on her own lap.

It seemed that she had no choice but to follow the flow of the original.

Regret flooded in. She should have run away when she heard his name. No, she should never have attended the victory party in the first place.

‘Having my mana sealed alone is enough to make my ten years of effort go up in smoke!’

She’s paying the price for her carelessness. It was a mistake to let alcohol cloud her judgment.

As much as she hates to admit it, it was the consequence of her actions.

Ariel found it difficult to accept the fact of this situation in the end.

The tears welling up in her eyes, her trembling lips, and her trembling hands captivated Leopold’s gaze.

“Your expression seems to say that becoming the empress is worse than death.”

“……”

‘She doesn’t deny it.’

A sharp energy spread around Leopold’s heart.

Yesterday, he held her tightly, so tightly that it felt like her sunny smile, as she smiled and embraced him, had become unbearable.

The woman who longed for him, filling her eyes with only him, had become a completely different person overnight.

Of course, Leopold was equally perplexed since he assumed Ariel would accept his proposal.

He bent over and approached Ariel.

His eyes were still fixed on her.

“Is it me you dislike, or do you dislike the position of the empress?”

Leopold frowned as he spoke. He felt a pain radiating into his heart.

“I dislike the position of Your Majesty’s empress.”

“So you dislike both, I see.”

The pain emanating from his chest spread throughout his body. He gritted his teeth as if trying to endure the pain. But soon he raised his arms, buried his face in his hands, and laughed with a sense of disappointment.

At the sound of his laughter, Ariel examined Leopold’s face.

“That’s not true.”

Seeing his expression, which could easily give way to tears, Ariel instinctively denied his words.

But if Ariel didn’t know what happened in the original, she would have been swept away by his affectionate appearance and proactive courtship.

‘It’s not that I dislike Leopold himself, so I didn’t lie in front of the emperor.’

It was an excuse for what she said unconsciously in response to his words.

Leopold withdrew his hand that had been covering her field of vision and looked at her.

‘It’s a relief that she doesn’t dislike both.’

He had no idea what she was thinking with that little head of hers.

Her expression had improved somewhat, but Ariel still avoided his gaze. She was only looking at her own lap.

“Well then, why? What’s your reason for rejecting my proposal.”

Ariel finally raised her head in response to Leopold’s question.

Her moist eyes were directed towards him.

Her tempting lips quivered as if she were about to say something.

‘If I tell him the fact that I’m a character reborn in a novel and that in the original work, he killed Ariel in cold blood… Will he believe me?’

Instead of believing, he would probably treat her as a crazy person.

Ariel, who had finally made up her mind about what answer to give him, spoke.

“Because I don’t want to die.”