The Tyrant’s Last Doll

Chapter 16

His stories felt like they were reducing my lifespan after each passing minute. Deciding on who he would send to represent the empire for diplomacy, about how he barely withheld killing someone who kept brown-nosing him, or talks about how he was going to deal with a certain someone who opposed his words.

It felt like he was intentionally only talking about confidential things. Because of that, I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable, my back already sweating profusely.

‘Please don’t tell me about those confidential stuff!’

I realized, with every fiber of my being, the reason why the first condition of the head maid before giving this job to me, was that I had to be able to keep secrets. In the instance that I was found to have been leaking information or when any of these talks circulated, my head would be flying right off my body.

For the first time, I felt greatly relieved of the fact that I couldn’t speak. I wouldn’t be able to accidentally spread confidential information and endanger my life.

Then I realized something else.

‘The emperor was a very chatty fellow.’

When the original Liliana was with him, she was so chatty that the emperor didn’t even have much time to speak. Then, when he met the female protagonist, he could not speak much because he felt at loss by the new face.

Because of this, there weren’t many lines in the script for the emperor in the original novel. Since the genre was a tragic romance fantasy, scenes in which blood was sprayed with swords by him were the usual occurrence than him talking.

‘Could it be that he was just talking to himself?’

Suddenly, I felt that he was rather pitiful.

‘So what if you were the emperor of a great empire?  You don’t even have anyone to talk about any of this and you cannot freely converse with others due to your status either.’

Therefore, he has no choice but to complain to a doll as a replacement. If it was a doll, you can just easily to dispose of it when you were tired of it.

The emperor’s seat is said to be a lonely one, and I was aware of his background. In his forlorn childhood, except For Lilliana, everyone in the palace ignored him. After the death of his mother, the emperor his father abandoned him, and this awful world betrayed and started taunting him.

The sensitive and intelligent emperor became increasingly wary and distrustful of people because of his childhood. He already thought it was natural for him to be isolated from others.

Considering his earlier experiences, even though he was revered by the people and surrounded by many of his confidants and servants, the emperor appeared quite solitary.

‘Raven is one of the few people he kept around, and that was only because Raven followed him every day for many years until the emperor finally gave up and let him be.’

I felt pity for him.

‘At least you should be able to trust me.’ I thought to myself.

I was one that just wants to live comfortably for the rest of my life, so there was no reason to betray him if he didn’t want to outright kill me.

Unexpectedly, I felt the room go quiet all of sudden. I realized one step too late that the emperor had suddenly stopped talking. He looked as if he had discovered something he hadn’t thought about, something unfamiliar.

‘What? What?! When did you start looking at me like that?’

I was embarrassed because I didn’t know the reason, but I still maintained an expressionless face on the outside.

“You…”

He rose up, grabbed my shoulder, and pulled his face closer. A strange scent struck my senses.

‘Close! It’s too close!’

He looked into my eyes intently, he was so close that we could feel each other’s breath. His glowing golden eyes seemed to penetrate the depths of my heart.

‘Why are you doing this all of a sudden?’

Without knowing it, a bead of sweat ran down my cheeks. When he noticed, he wiped the cold sweat that had flowed down my cheeks with his thin but strong fingers. It was not just wiping, but a gesture that seemed to be pondering something. What he was thinking about, I didn’t know.

While I was in mentally in panic, the emperor let out a scowl and pushed me gently away from him. Then he left the room.

I unwittingly stroked my neck to make sure it was still attached.

‘What’s up with him this time? Did he not like me sweating? How do I even control the physiological phenomena of a human being?’ I grumbled.

‘That’s it! I’m cancelling the whole you can trust me thing. Go to the female protagonist as soon as possible!’

While I was puzzled and angry about what happened, the door opened and Lina came in.

“Iona, did something happen?” As soon as I saw her face, I felt like I was about to cry.

‘I can’t express my feelings about how unfair everything is! I can’t even talk! Ah, give me back my voice!’ Wishing for something that most likely won’t be granted to me, I was cried on the inside.

Then I detected a scent that smelt very seductive, and my head automatically veered towards its direction.

In Lina’s hands, was a delicious dish.

“Are you okay? I brought you lunch, are you not hungry?”

‘Ah, it’s my lunch!’

Today’s menu seems to be a typical Eterium traditional meal; there was turkey, stir-fried vegetables, mashed potatoes and two, white wheat bread. At that moment, my stomach made itself known.

Rumble—!

I realized I’ve been starving for half a day. The emperor came here, and so I missed out on my midday meal and ended up accompanying him with his nap instead and missing my meal.

It was heartbreaking, not being able to savor mouthwatering delicacies. I shamelessly blamed the emperor for this slight.

When I put a piece of turkey meat in my mouth, I could feel the flurry of ecstasy that surged into my body as its flavorful texture graced my tongue. My brain felt like it was melting.

A bite of a piece of meat. A bite of mashed potato. A bite of a piece of vegetable. I was in heaven.

‘Ha! These are so delicious. Whoever is making these dishes is definitely an angel.’

I paused the fork that was rapidly snatching food left and right. When I saw the yellow mashed potato, I remembered the emperor’s golden eyes that quivered a little while ago.

‘Was it panic that I saw in his eyes?’