“Watch the people approaching carefully. Don’t miss even the smallest detail and report it to me.”
“Is that all I have to do?”
“Yes. And if anything happens that you can’t handle—or if it gets dangerous—you’re allowed to run.”
But even if I ran away from Hamillon, where would I go?
I ran from the labyrinth to survive and ended up being labeled an escaped convict.
If it were in Medderland, I could have at least returned to my family’s home…
“Run where? I’m just a criminal here, remember?”
As he led me in a spin, I let him guide me, our bodies turning lightly.
The moonlight filtering through the glass ceiling of the training grounds sparkled like gems.
I took in the scene briefly before returning my gaze to the emperor.
His lips moved, his voice smooth and pleasant.
“To me.”
I didn’t understand what he meant at first and stopped dancing out of sheer confusion.
The Emperor gently took my hand again and guided me forward.
“The law doesn’t matter in front of me. So wherever you run, as long as you come to me, it’s not a problem.”
“You realize how strange that sounds, right?”
“What part of it?”
“Aren’t you the one who issued a top-level arrest warrant for me?”
“I did. But I’m also the one who can revoke it.”
His relaxed tone and languid smile were filled with the arrogance unique to him.
He was the one who made me a criminal in the first place, and now he had the nerve to say this?
It was irritating… and for some reason, also made me feel strangely hurt.
“Must be nice. Having that kind of power.”
“Not really.”
His face briefly darkened. His calm voice fell like a heavy weight in the air.
“It’s not something I wanted. But it wasn’t a position I could refuse either.”
To me, the Emperor had always seemed like someone born to wield power.
If everyone else was reduced to tearful children, he’d be the one sitting there with a sulky baby face, crossing his legs and issuing commands to his attendants:
“Bring the binky here!”
“Don’t you see I don’t have my bib?”
“This milk doesn’t suit my taste! Bring a fresh one!”
He must have grown up lacking nothing, and yet…
His face, for some reason, looked sad.
Suddenly, I remembered those rare moments in the past when I, too, wished I wasn’t the eldest daughter of the Slimella family.
Everyone’s expectations felt like they were drowning me, suffocating me from the inside.
‘They never really wanted me.’
They only ever wanted to see glimpses of my mother, my father, or Cherrybell in me.
Someone like me—flawed, unlikeable—had no place in that image.
Even knowing that, I tried again and again to prove that I was something else.
Had the Emperor lived the same way, in his own way?
While I was lost in that thought, he let go of my hand.
“This should be enough. I won’t need another dance partner for now.”
Just like that, reality came crashing back.
I was the accused assassin of Hamillon’s Emperor.
And if I wanted to clear that accusation, there was something I had to confirm here.
“Your Majesty, do you think the real culprit is still in Hamilton?”
He looked at me for a moment, then quietly replied:
“Very likely.”
A strange smile tugged at his lips.
“And I haven’t completely cleared my suspicions about you yet, either.”
“What if the real culprit is in Medderland instead of me?”
“Why Medderland?”
While I was preparing myself mentally to be imprisoned in Welchin’s underground cells, I had thought long and hard about it…
Who could have orchestrated all of this?
Naturally, no obvious suspect came to mind right away.
However, the only ones capable of framing me were the sheep beastkin in Medderland.
“I just can’t understand why someone in Hamilton would go all the way to Mederland to involve the sheep beastkin in this.”
“And if what you’re saying is true—then why would the sheep beastkin target me?”
“Maybe it was to endanger my family…”
“Wouldn’t the losses from targeting me far outweigh any gains from putting you at risk?”
That part confused me as well.
To recklessly provoke the Emperor of Hamillon could easily escalate into a disaster not just for the Slimela family, but for all of Mederland.
“Maybe the goal was to create a weakness for me.”
“Then it makes even less sense. How could I possibly become Your Majesty’s weakness?”
“Who knows? They say sheep beastkin uses shady magic to seduce people.”
There it was again.
That same tired narrative.
Why was ‘shady’ always the first word out of people’s mouths?
How had such a deeply rooted prejudice even formed?
Still, I saw this as a chance to correct that misunderstanding.
“That’s a huge misconception.”
“And why’s that?”
“We sheep beastkin strive to become honorable problem-solvers, dedicated to helping those who suffer in this world.”
The Emperor let out a small laugh.
It wasn’t cruel, but something about his smile irritated me.
“How do you prove that?”
“The shaman Tabiren can hear the voice of the gods.”
“Shamans, gods—those all sound like nonsense to me. And even if it were true, can you really say they act out of compassion for the suffering?”
“Of course! Our ancestors taught us so, and that’s what we’ve always believed in.”
Just when I thought we might get through a conversation without fighting, I realized that was wishful thinking.
The sense of kinship I had faintly felt with him disappeared like smoke.
Now, I just found him annoying.
“Then why did your ‘honorable’ sheep beastkin commit crimes alongside the wolf beastkin?”
“Crimes?”
“Oh? You didn’t know about that?”
That vicious wolf must have mentioned it just to provoke me.
But suddenly, my mother’s worried voice from back in Medderland echoed in my mind—when she saw the mark forming on my horn.
“What crimes? What are you talking about?”
“Well, I’ve told you enough. You’ll have to find out the rest on your own.”
He clearly had no intention of saying more.
Then why bring it up at all?
“I think it’s time for me to leave.”
As he turned to exit the training hall, I hastily grabbed his sleeve.
“Wait! I have one request.”
The Emperor looked back at me.
I did my best to hide the tension in my voice.
“To catch the real culprit… I need help from my family in Medderland.”
“Why?”
“Even if the real culprit is in Hamilton, like Your Majesty suspects, the sheep beastkin who accepted the commission would still be in Medderland.
If I can write to my family and ask for help, we might be able to find a lead faster than expected.”
With a good reason, I thought I could finally write to my family—who were surely worried sick about me.
The Emperor seemed to consider it briefly before giving an unexpectedly easy answer.
“I’ll give the order.”
“…Really?”
“But it’ll take some time for the letter to arrive. Of course, it’ll be screened too.”
“I don’t mind that at all!”
Since coming to Hamillon, I hadn’t really started anything properly.
But now—at long last—I felt like I had finally stepped onto that distant, invisible starting line.
The Emperor stared at my bright smile for a moment, then turned his head.
“That’s enough. You may go.”
***
Knock knock.
“Are you in there?”
A voice followed the knock on the door.
Still lost in sleep, I rubbed my eyes, half-dazed.
“Yaaaawn…”
My last memory of the night before was dancing late into the evening in the training hall with the Emperor, then returning to my room and immediately collapsing into bed.
Perry, who had been sleeping next to me, sat up irritably.
“Who the hell is it this early?”
At first, Perryi had insisted on watching me all night as a form of surveillance.
But the next morning, I always found her fast asleep beside me in bed.
“Why do I get sleepy whenever I’m around you?”
She tried to make excuses like that a few times, but eventually gave up.
Now, lying beside me as I slept had just become routine.
Stretching,Perry trudged over to the door, spoke briefly to someone outside, then came back holding her arms full.
“The boss said to give you this.”
It was the letter, paper and pen I’d asked for last night.
I didn’t expect them to deliver it so quickly.
“Already? I only mentioned yesterday that I wanted to send a letter to my family in Medderland…”
Seeing it in front of me made my drowsiness vanish completely.
I jumped out of bed, snatched the letter set from Perry, and sat at the desk.
‘How should I phrase it so they don’t worry too much?’
Looking back now, I’d left home far too recklessly.
All I left behind was a rushed note thanking them for raising me despite the lack of affection, and declaring I’d clear my name to restore our family’s honor.
My family must’ve been completely panicked.
This time, I wanted to write in detail—so they could truly be at ease.
‘Yeah, that should work.’
I began the letter with a familiar, simple line:
[Mom, Dad—I’m in Hamilton.]
Then I apologized for disappearing without a word and reassured them that I was doing well here.
After that, I moved on to the core reason for the letter.
[As of now, I’m technically still a criminal who attempted to assassinate the Emperor. And somehow, I’ve even earned the label of fugitive…]
But midway through, I paused.
Something felt off.
In my mind’s eye, I suddenly pictured my family bursting into the capital in shock and panic.
“Ah—no, no! That part’s definitely better left out.”
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