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AFTER that, Sai lost her parents to the war, entered a betrothal with the Holy Knight Alexei Streltsy, and moved to the capital. She balanced jobs as a maid and an irregular office worker at the Department of Medicine while swearing to herself that she would lead an honorable life that wouldn’t disgrace her title—just like the oath she had made to Haruka. She strove toward that goal without rest.
And until the day the recently ascended Emperor Haruka of Orient, on a trip to observe the Department of Medicine, erased her memories, her brief meeting with “big brother Haruka” had been one of the most brilliant jewels in her lonely life. It was a memory that had always helped her climb back to her feet when she was knocked down.
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Chapter Ninety-Three: The Foolish Emperor, a Beautiful Angel Who Would Ruin His Empire, Saved Me Once
“SAI, wake up.” I heard the warm, quiet voice of the emperor. “The dream is over.”
As I regained my awareness, the first thing I saw was the emperor’s face right in front of me, his eyes closed. Our foreheads were touching. My mind was slowly dragged back to reality as my senses came into focus: the sound of his steady breathing, the faint scent of aromatic oils from his wings, and the large, warm hands cradling my cheeks.
In a daze, I mumbled, “Your Majesty… Um…”
He drew back a little and opened his eyes. The face I had just seen in the “dream” seemed to overlap perfectly with the reality before me. The delicate, heartbreaking older boy was the emperor, who smiled gently at me.
“Do you remember now, Sai?”
Though his voice had changed, the softness of his tone and his habit of inclining his head somewhat had persisted. My heart felt full, emotion threatening to burst out of my chest. “Your Majesty, you… Back…then, your wings…”
“Yeah, you saved me back then. You’re the only person who outstretched a hand to me when I was on the brink of madness.”
“You’ve grown up into…such an amazing man…”
“That’s my line. You grew up into such a reliable and beautiful young woman.” Holding my hands, he gently leaned in, our foreheads touching. “I respected you from the bottom of my heart, and I still do.”
Warmth welled up in my chest, in danger of spilling over. He watched over me. He remembered me. Always.
“When you saved me, you opened my eyes. I had been born with a great power, and I needed to use it properly. I watched you, who lived life to the fullest even when a cruel fate awaited you, and…for the first time, I thought from the bottom of my heart that I should become a great emperor. I thought that I should lead my life responsibly and protect what is important to me in my own way. That I should take over what my father and Raiya couldn’t achieve. That I should use my life to prove that the choices of those precious to me were correct—so their lives weren’t spent in vain.”
“Your Majesty…”
“I wanted to meet you again with pride in my heart—as the Emperor of Orient and the Wagtail Priestess of Centoria.”
“It is a shame that…I ended up as the evil priestess and nearly got executed.”
“But it was a destiny completely out of your control, right? I think you’re admirable for resisting to the very end.” He smiled. “You never begged them to spare your life, nor have you ever uttered words of resentment toward them. You watched your home as it burned, then straightened your back and lowered your head to your fiancé. That was beautiful—I will never forget that scene. The little girl whom I’d cherished in my memories for the longest time grew up into a person so stunning that I found myself reeling.”
“You praise me too much,” I protested. “I…remember myself as someone filthy and pathetic back then.” I felt embarrassed as I recalled the memory. When he had lifted me in his arms, I had been tattered and unsightly. Yet… “I…can never thank you enough for saving me that day.”
“Once again, that’s my line. Thanks to you, I didn’t end up a foolish emperor.”
When I heard those words, I felt as if I had been struck by lightning. Once again, I recalled memories from my previous world that I had completely set to the side. An image floated to the surface of my mind—the illustration I had skipped without a second thought during my countless braindead playthroughs of a game in my past life. The cutscene in which he lay lifelessly on the ground as the Foolish Emperor.
A destroyed plaza in Orient. Lightning. Torrential rain. White silk sullied with mud. Deathly pale skin and disheveled ivory hair. That was the Foolish Emperor who had been spat upon for causing the demise of his empire as he fled the imperial court, abandoning his body-double to the wolves.
If I, Sai Cutrettola, hadn’t attempted to save the young Haruka that day… If I had shrunk into my shell out of fear of my nightmares, perhaps the plot would have happened as planned. The hands of fate would have led the emperor, as well as Orient, to ruin.
“Ah… I changed your destiny without even realizing it…”
“You really did. Because I met you that day, I avoided becoming a self-destructive, lonely, and insignificant emperor.”
I had altered his doomed fate earlier than I had ever suspected. I was suddenly sure that he would never be called foolish—not in the past, not in the future.
“Hey…” the emperor said in a slightly husky voice.
I felt a pleasant tingle spread throughout my body, although I didn’t know why. I shuddered. “Yes.”
“…Can I hug you?”
“You do not even have to ask.”
“I don’t want that. I don’t want you to let me because your emperor is ordering you or because that’s your emperor’s wish.”
I realized that his voice was trembling. His fair cheeks were bright red, rose petals falling on fresh snow, and he looked anxious—so much so that I feared he might cry depending on my answer.
And I thought, Ah. He is so endearing.
“I don’t want to do anything that you don’t like,” he said. “I don’t want to do the things that you’ll only let me do because I’m the emperor.”
“But I want you to hug me, Emperor Haruka.” I hesitated. “If you are all right with hugging me, that is.” Before I could go on, however, he pulled my body to him and locked me in a tight embrace. “Mmph—…”
“Sai.”
His soft hair was ticklish against my face. His hot breath brushed my neck. I could feel him more vividly than ever before—he was a living person right in front of me, and really hugging me. Through his soft silk garments, I could feel his sturdy arms. Hidden further inside was his gentle warmth.
“Your Majesty…”
Though hesitant, he slowly nuzzled his cheek against mine. As if in reaction, his wings quietly stretched to their fullest extent.
And all I knew was the emperor as he enveloped my entire body in his embrace. The emperor—no, Emperor Haruka—was warm. It was a warmth that reached even the most secret crevices of my heart.