The standoff continued for quite some time, with neither of us speaking, engaged in an unintended staring contest.

Finally, Ivester broke the silence with an awkward smile.

“You’re doing this on purpose, right? Just joking around.”

I looked at him with a desperate face.

I hoped he would realize that I wasn’t Leila.

“Who are you? Are you really Leila?”

He began pacing around the room with a face that said this couldn’t be happening.

“I’m sorry. I asked an absurd question. Are you sick? Having trouble remembering things? If that’s the case, at least tell me. I’m sure I can find a way to help.”

I was just as anxious.

I couldn’t tell what the right action would be in this situation.

Could I continue deceiving Leila’s old friend? What if this friend became my ally?

I considered various directions but couldn’t find the right answer.

He seemed to have calmed down a bit and sat down in front of me again.

“If you’re sick, we need to treat it quickly. I can help you without anyone knowing. Leila.”

“Really? Can you help me no matter what I say?”

“Of course. Trust me, Leila.”

His eyes looked sincere.

After much deliberation, I made my decision.

It was all or nothing.

I decided to go all in with everything I had.

“You know, I’m actually not Leila.”

His face contorted strangely.

“Stop joking. Leila.”

“I’m not joking. If you dismiss my words as a joke, I can’t continue talking.”

He anxiously tapped his fingers on the table, then nodded.

I began pouring out everything to him.

After explaining everything that had happened over quite a long time, I looked at him.

He was deep in thought with a very complicated expression.

Then he asked his first question.

“So what happened to Leila?”

I shook my head and said.

“I don’t know either. When I opened my eyes, I was already in this state.”

“You don’t know what happened to Leila? Do you think that makes sense?”

He seemed to be taking it calmly, but unable to believe this situation, he eventually slammed the table and burst out in anger.

“Hey, Ivester, calm down.”

“How can I calm down? This doesn’t make sense. How is this possible?! Just tell me it was a lie, even now. I won’t get angry even if you say it was a joke. Please.”

“I also think this whole situation doesn’t make sense. But no matter how many times I open my eyes, it doesn’t change. It’s scary, unpleasant, and unbelievable, but this is reality. Me being in Leila’s body. Do you think I like this situation? I’m also struggling and scared.”

With feelings of sorrow, resentment, fear, and all emotions mixed together, I barely held back tears by gritting my teeth.

Ivester, who had been looking at me with suspicion, closed his eyes, put his hands together, and fell into thought.

Having calmed down somewhat, he brought up the topic again more composedly than before.

“The most rational suspicion is that your soul and Leila’s might have switched.”

“That’s both the most rational suspicion and the most ideal scenario. If we switched, there would be a way to go back. But I’m not you, I’m Yun-ah, Jo Yun-ah.”

“I’m sorry. It’s hard to believe, unfamiliar, and confusing. So what are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know either. First, I need to survive here to have a chance of going back, so my goal now is to adapt and survive. So about that……”

I proposed cooperation to Ivester.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment but eventually agreed for Leila’s sake.

I wanted to return to being Jo Yun-ah, and he wanted to find Leila, so we decided to join forces.

Having my first ally made me feel considerably more secure.

First, Ivester promised to help me study three times a week to tell me everything I needed to adapt well to the Oneroad Empire.

Tears suddenly welled up.

Having even one person to confide in made me feel reassured and less afraid.

Ivester was startled by my tears but soon took out a handkerchief and awkwardly wiped them away.

At that moment, Mary came in to refill the tea, but both of us were too emotionally complex to pay attention.

* * *

For information about the Oneroad Empire, ask Ivester Pahorder!

If there had been a title for the empire’s best instructor, Ivester would surely have claimed it.

He said it was amazing I hadn’t been caught yet and summarized the most important information in the first lesson.

Thanks to this excellent ally, I was able to learn the empire’s basic knowledge in the first lesson, including the imperial Whyman family and other noble families, and factional political struggles.

I thought Charte had absolute power with his absolute monarchy, but surprisingly, that wasn’t entirely the case.

Rather, it was surprising that the last three years, when he became a tyrant, were the most stable period for Charte.

He said that the Whyman, Pahorder, and Russell marquis family, known as the Empire’s Sword, were the founding contributors and the most loyal servants of the imperial family.

He said that probably because of this special relationship, they had no choice but to overlook the minor mistakes I had made as Yun-ah.

“Still, Yun-ah, it’s really amazing. The fact that you’re still alive.”

Oh, he doesn’t know the half of it.

I didn’t just survive; I paid a price to survive.

That price is still ongoing.

Even with an ally, I couldn’t tell him everything.

The contract marriage based on storytelling was a secret between Charte and me.

The first lesson wasn’t long, but Ivester provided a lot of information.

I thought he was like a smartphone of this other world for me.

And thanks to this human smartphone, I learned about an even more surprising and new world(?).

“What did you say? Did you just say magic? Ivester. Real magic?”

Everything that had happened so far didn’t make sense, but this seemed even more nonsensical.

Amazingly, magic existed in this world.

He said the empire had a separate Magic Department, and regardless of nationality, if you registered, you were guaranteed autonomy, independence, and legal command, attracting the most talented mages in the continent.

“Do you happen to know any mages? If they could do some abracadabra with magic, couldn’t we find Leila and I could go back?”

“I can make contact, but we need to be careful. You’re not just anyone; you’re the empire’s empress.”

I nodded at his words.

“I have an afternoon meeting, so I need to go now. I’ll come back the day after tomorrow.”

After he left, I organized my thoughts alone.

Until now, I had been desperate just to survive, and I deliberately avoided thinking about finding a way back for fear of not finding one.

But now the situation had changed.

Magic! I might be able to return to normal more easily than I thought.

As a ray of light entered what had been a completely dark future, the world looked different.

* * *

“Strange Garden……”

“Pardon? Your Majesty?”

At Charte’s sudden mention of a garden, Viscount Catano fell into thought and then asked with a face that seemed to have found an answer.

“Shall I prepare for a walk?”

Looking at Viscount Catano with a face that said he was talking nonsense, Charte thought for a moment and then, as if he had made up his mind, revealed his hidden thoughts with a composed face.

“I will have dinner with the empress.”

“Yes, should I just prepare dinner?”

Viscount Catano looked at Charte with a somewhat regretful expression.

“I will spend tonight at the Empress’s Palace.”

“Yes! Your Majesty! I will prepare right away!”

Watching Viscount Catano run out with a happy face as if he could fly, Charte, left alone, mumbled with an embarrassed face.

“I was just curious about the story.”

* * *

Hearing the news that the emperor was coming to the Empress’s Palace after a long time, the palace bustled like a festival.

Ominous rumors began to circulate about the emperor who had not visited recently: “The honeymoon period is already over,” “The empress has been abandoned,” “It was just the emperor’s whim,” “She has received her death date.”

In such circumstances, the news of the emperor’s visit was like welcome rain after a drought.

“Pay special attention to everything.”

Following the instructions of Grand Chamberlain Dalton and Madam Peggy, everyone in the Empress’s Palace moved in perfect coordination.

Everyone except for one person: Mary.

Mary wandered aimlessly around the palace with a displeased face.

When she first came to the palace, she thought everything would proceed smoothly and quickly.

She thought there would be many opportunities to come between the emperor, who didn’t accept others, and the empress, who only had a good family background, but their relationship was peculiar.

They seemed close but weren’t, and they seemed distant but weren’t.

She thought she wouldn’t need to devise separate schemes, but that wasn’t the case.

Mary carefully observed the food being prepared to enter the empress’s room soon.

Meanwhile, Yun-ah was being tormented, surrounded by ladies-in-waiting after a long time.

Though there were still two weeks left, Charte’s sudden announcement of his visit had caused a commotion.

She temporarily put aside her plans to study magic and research materials to find a way back over the next two weeks.

But perhaps because of the hope that she could return, she felt impatient to learn about magic quickly.

She wished she could hold a mage audition to quickly find someone who could send her back.

Mage audition? She thought the emperor might be able to make such a thing possible.

Thinking she might try her luck, she headed to the dining room with anticipation.

“I think this is the first time I’m having dinner alone with Your Majesty.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, you came because you’re curious about the story, right?”

He neither confirmed nor denied it.

“It’s really interesting, so you can look forward to it.”

“When I just heard the title, it didn’t seem particularly special……”

“Not at all! It’s a magical love story.”

“Are there mages in that story too? I hope it’s not some predictable story about falling in love through magic?”

“No. It’s not like that. But do you think, Your Majesty, that one can fall in love through magic?”

“Well. But if such magic existed, there would be no suffering because of love.”

“But I think true love would also disappear.”

“That could be the case, assuming true love exists.”

Sensing his mood worsening, she quickly changed the subject.

“What kind of magic do you think is the most impressive, Your Majesty?”