Chapter 14

When Ridrian saw that the doll still had a calm expression on her face, he quickly became impatient. Due to his lack of sleep, he became a little reckless.

Originally, the dolls were supposed to get terrified when he threatened or yelled at them. With their harrowing experience from slavery, they would instinctively tremble or struggle to flee.

If the new doll was the same, she wouldn’t have lasted the night, especially with him being half-crazed from insomnia. But despite his bellowing voice and violent behavior, the new doll didn’t even raise a single eyebrow.

‘Quite bold of her.’

In the end, although he fell asleep with the new doll, he was slightly uneasy that she remained expressionless no matter what he did. ‘She has the same face as Lily, but the way she kept looking at me…’

Ridrian continued to review the next document as Raven took note of the time and told him about the next schedule.

“Your Majesty, today’s luncheon is with the Marquis of Vibrio. I was told he has already arrived.”

Ridrian heard but did not answer. The Marquis of Vibrio was the one who had recently opposed his agenda. If he hadn’t been the least bit competent, he would’ve already lost his head.

Ridrian glanced at the clock and turned his attention back to the paperwork.

“Cancel it.”

“Your Majesty?” Raven was perplexed by the sudden turn of events. The emperor has never changed his schedule before.

“I still feel sleepy.” Ridrian expressed derisively.

Raven hesitated.

The emperor’s sleep was very important for the stability of the imperial palace, not to mention, the empire itself. Furthermore, the cynical tone in his voice made it seem that he wasn’t simply cancelling luncheon to go to sleep.

With a corner of his mouth slightly raised, Raven replied, “I understand. I will ask the chancellor to attend the luncheon.”

***

After some time passed, I woke up all of a sudden.

‘Ugh! How long was I asleep?’

Not knowing whether I drooled or not, I wiped my mouth in a hurry. Luckily, it was clean, but since I slept sitting down, my neck felt stiff. I took a glimpse at the clock and noticed an hour had already slipped by.

‘I slept longer than I thought—Huh?!’

As I was about to stand up, I felt a heavy weight on my knees and was stupefied.

“Mm.”

The emperor was talking in his sleep, all the while leaning his head on my knees. His face was shadowed by the obscured portion of a tree clear that blocked the sunshine.

‘When did he come in?’

Cold sweat drenched my back. I glanced at the clock for a moment and gazed back down at the emperor’s face. No matter how much I stare, it was a fact that he was here and had sought out Liliana—or me for that matter—instead of accompanying nobility during luncheon.

‘Why are you sleeping like this?’

I was dazed for some time. It was unbelievable that a man of such an important stature would lower himself to take a nap on my lap, and yet here he was. Thanks to this, I had to sit in that state for a long time, afraid of disturbing the emperor.

‘He should’ve just woken me.’

I didn’t feel tired anymore after sleeping but I was stuck. Unable to move from this position, I started getting bored. In the quiet room, I pondered about what I should do.

‘Should I take a look at his face?’

I chose not to miss this golden opportunity. When will I be this close to the emperor again? Thanks to that nap, I was mentally steadier than yesterday. I held my hair away from his face, bowed my head, and peered at him carefully.

‘It feels different from last night.’

If the emperor was a decadent man who would have caused nosebleeds at night, the emperor at daylight looked handsome but a bit frail.

He had a thin face compared to a body line that was quite solid in its entirety. The sleek jawline and pointed nose were the primary distinguishing features of his face, while the slightly raised outer corners of his eyes combined with dark circles gave him a sexy sultry look rather than it being sharp and domineering.

His straight eyebrows were a little thin, but it was a bit shrouded under the fringes of his hair. I couldn’t see it but I knew, he had beautiful golden eyes shining beneath his eyelids that made my heart pound.

‘His eyes were like jewels.’

The most striking feature he had were his lips that were three-dimensional that appeared as if it were painstakingly carved by a master artist, the color was redder and deeper than yesterday too. It was probably because he had a good night’s sleep.

‘He’s very handsome. What a sight for sore eyes!’

If I was going to live face-to-face with a man I barely knew for every day of the next few years, he should at least have an acceptable face. But having seen this sight, I was exceedingly grateful that it was this kind of exquisite face! I didn’t do anything to him at the moment just because I found him to be extremely alluring, but my heart kept beating in my chest.

I was told that if you if you had a pretty or handsome face, you could be forgiven for anything. Looking at his appearance right now, I didn’t doubt those words. I think I could even forgive him for last night’s rampage!

‘Dangerous, very dangerous.’

I fanned and cooled my warming face with my hands.

Thinking about it again; the emperor, not only did he have a good face, but he was also considered as one of the strongest in the empire.