Chapter 21

I looked around the room in despair. I'm alone.

It may have not been intended, but the sense of betrayal still rose momentarily. She said she'd stay here all night.

Meanwhile, I start to feel suffocated. Soon, my brain began to rush because of the lack of oxygen. I tried swinging my arms, but I couldn't move forward as if this water isn't normal. It's not the only strange thing.

People would usually wake up when there's a water leak problem, but it was frighteningly quiet in here. The water isn't leaking out of this room. This could be from a concubine with water ability. I lamented in this urgent situation.

'Why of course…!'

I remembered he was a supporting character in the beginning. But what's the point of knowing that now! I was even more annoyed that I knew why he wanted to kill me. Van Liu so far has been jealous of other concubines, but he didn't dare to touch them. Except he is trying to kill me right away.

The reason was so transparent that I feel nauseous: because I was weak. He didn't know that I'm powerless, but the younger you are, the weaker you are in this world. Therefore, I became the target.

I feel like I was trapped in a torrent. I tested out by screaming, but the voice only could be heard in front of me. It was a quiet and cruel prison. I could feel more pressure as if someone were strangling me. My eyes felt like they were going to burst because I couldn't breathe.

I quickly turned my head. I can't die like this. None of the concubines want to be hated by the emperor, so just in case I came out alive, he didn't reveal himself. The only way I could live was to somehow get out and ask for help. There were only two ways: the door and window.

I swam towards the window without wasting more time because the door was farther away and it was too solid for me to break. I pushed as hard as I could and moved forward, then I heard a sound. It was like the sound of a person's neck breaking.

I can't even see anything since my vision was round due to the lack of oxygen. It was like being trapped in the dark sea. At that moment, I saw a white window in front of me. I swung my body with all my strength, and the window broke with fresh air coming through.

I couldn't breathe for a long time, so I screamed as hard as I could before something else could happen.

"Save me!"

I guess it's true that humans exert superhuman power when driven in extreme situations. I couldn't even believe the loud noise I made while shouting. After that, before I could even recover, my body fell. I suddenly felt a faraway pain in my arm and thought, wasn't my bedroom on the second floor?

***

I was in water.

Naturally, I was getting suffocated, and I struggled to get up. However, my body was heavy as if I was wearing a weight. As the movement became intense, I inhaled without realizing it. My lungs were filled with water instead of air, and it was painful. The more I coughed, the more it came out. Someone grabbed my ankle to hold me down while I was struggling.

My hands were getting stretched and then I felt cold hands slowly dragging down…

"Ahhh!"

I twisted my body in disgust. Someone was holding me strongly. No. No. Stop it. Let go of me!

"Sanya!"

At that moment, the thunderous voice surprised me and I stopped moving. There were worried azure eyes in front of me. I looked at the reality of the place without even checking who he was. As if checking to see if I was alive, he breathed heavily.

Neither my throat nor my nose hurt. The same was true for the other parts of my body. I could see the scenery of an ordinary room, not the creepy blue like yesterday.

Oh. I'm alive.

As soon as I thought that, my body relaxed.

"…Are you alright?"

At that moment, I heard a worried voice above. I raised my head reflexively at the sound of the voice and saw what I've seen earlier. It was Mirina. So, Mirina was using his ability. Why is he here?

Fortunately, Mirina quickly let go of me and got a cloth from the court lady to put around his eyes. I looked around the room again like a lost child trying to find their mom and found my court ladies with a face that looked like they were about to cry.

"Miss…"

Among them, Heesa was trying to hold in her tears. Her eyes were red as if she had already been crying.

"There was an assassination attempt."

I was caught off guard by Mirina's quiet words. I wasn't surprised, but his words were making me feel awkward.

"Since this unpleasant thing happened in the palace, I will definitely catch the criminal."

The words that followed were trustworthy. I'm glad to be alive. While I was thinking that, I felt something warm hold my hand. It was Mirina's hand. Why? The answer to that question was slow. Come think of it, my hands were shaking.

"It must have been scary, you did good."

"…"

"You're fine now."

The words were warm as usual, but I felt like I was going to cry. Mirina knew that it wasn't because I was worried about myself, but the fact that he could kill me too. So I swallowed a bitter and painful lump in my throat.

***

After that, my palace became more busy. Security became stricter, and one of my court ladies, Yeonsu, was called out. During the process, rumors were spreading that a rebel was executed. Then I heard rumors of a rebellion.

The day I found out that Van Liu was executed with full responsibility, I graciously lifted my teacup. There's no way I would be sad while hearing the psycho who tried to kill me is dead. After what happened, Seo Yeon knelt on her knees and put her forehead to the ground. It was because she willingly left me alone to the court lady named Yeonsu.

Although it was unintentional, it was still a felony that almost killed one of the emperor's concubines, so Seo Yeon was either sent to another palace in a different position or exile. But I let her stay with me. That's because I remembered the warm look she had before I went to sleep that day.

Before I went unconscious, I felt pain on my arm, which was broken due to my fall from the window. The reason for Mirina's visit was to heal my arm. I'm guessing it wasn't because he wanted to do me a favor since in the original, the emperor often had Mirina heal the injured Sanya. But the eyes that I saw from him felt warmer than usual, so I pushed that thought in the back of my mind.

So when everything went back to normal,

"This is the child that will serve Miss from today."

The sugar in my hand fell to the table at Seo Yeon's words. Heesa, who was standing next to me, smiled and handed me another piece of sugar.

Well, this… I don't want another one.

… That kid?

I stared at the child standing next to Seo Yeon. Compared to her, there was a big height difference. Besides, the child has a guy's complexion. I know that one court lady was missing and the spot needed to be filled, but you're a boy. If he were an adult, I would think him escorting me would be safe, but he was very young.

I wondered if they sent him for me to have a friend, but if that were the case, a girl might be more ideal.

Where on earth… That boy…

"Is that the boy who would be serving me?"

I asked Seo Yeon while trying to hide my trembling voice. She flinched at my question.

"… It's your choice to decide, but this child might still be a little awkward at attending, so he might be better…"

"Well, okay that's good."

Seo Yeon's voice was trembling as if she was embarrassed by my question. I was relieved she felt the same way as me. At my answer, she explicitly sighed a breath of relief and lightly pushed the child's back as if telling him to say hello.

The child, whose face was covered by his grey fuzzy hair, bowed. Although I had learned manners, it was not perfect. I looked at him quietly. His grey hair was shaggy enough to cover his eyes, and he had white skin with red lips. Those features still made him look handsome even though I couldn't see his eyes.

… Are you a character I didn't know of? There was no other child mentioned besides Sanya in the original.

"So what will he do?"

"He will do whatever Miss asks him to do."

I looked up at the vague answer for a moment, but I was soon astonished by her quiet words.

"He will focus on escorting Miss during the day, and at night he will be your shadow."

Shadow.

I stopped chewing on the sugar when I heard that. The Imperial Palace's armies are secretly operated, and-

'The Emperor's direct escort.'