SOP 03

🌷༺❀༻🌷༺❀༻🌷Chapter 3🌷༺❀༻🌷༺❀༻🌷

“Hmm…”

Sunlight came through the gap between her eyes.

Slowly, Shiodor opened her heavy eyelids.

“Huh…?”

The strange room and the feeling of something soft against her cheek immediately woke her up.

“I… I fell asleep on the sofa…”

She remembered staying awake and turning around for a long time before finally falling asleep near dawn.

She had definitely been on the sofa until then.

Did His Majesty move me?

Shiodor quickly blinked.

But then she shook her head.

No. He was so cold yesterday. He wouldn’t have done that.

She let out a small sigh and remembered Raud from the previous night.

His eyes had been a strong, deep red.

Cold and frightening.

There was one strange thing, though.

Sometimes, it seemed like he was looking behind her instead of directly at her.

“His touch was…”

Warm.

He had only been trying to remove her chains.

But if her heart had started beating faster because of his touch, she must have been crazy.

Blushing, Shiodor carefully got out of bed.

She was about to naturally straighten the blankets when she heard a knock.

“Your Highness, it’s Gentlet.”

Unlike yesterday, Gentlet’s voice sounded very excited.

When she entered the room, her face was also bright with happiness.

“G-Good morn… No, good morning.”

Shiodor still could not get used to speaking casually to someone.

She awkwardly corrected herself.

“Your Highness!”

“…Huh?”

“Congratulations!”

Gentlet suddenly grabbed both of Shiodor’s hands and excitedly moved them up and down.

“Congratulations for what…?”

“You spent the night with His Majesty, didn’t you?!”

Gentlet’s cheeks were strangely red.

Shiodor had no idea what she was talking about, so she simply opened and closed her mouth.

“Your Highness! This is a very big deal!”

“Why?”

“Because His Majesty has never—”

“Never…?”

“He has never spent the night with any woman in his harem.”

Shiodor’s mouth opened in surprise.

“…What does that mean? He said there was only one thing a concubine was supposed to do…”

“There are many women around His Majesty, but except for the Empress, he has never spent the night with any of them.”

Gentlet smiled excitedly.

“You are the first one! That’s why I told you yesterday that he might not come.”

Gentlet looked even more excited than Shiodor.

Shiodor slowly blinked in surprise.

Raud had everything.

He was handsome, strong, powerful, and the Emperor of the strongest empire.

It would not have been surprising if he had a large harem.

So the fact that he had never spent the night with another woman except the Empress really was surprising.

“But you don’t need to be so happy, Gentlet. I also…”

But there was one problem.

“Yes?”

“Nothing happened.”

Gentlet’s face became completely shocked.

Shiodor gave her an embarrassed smile.

“Wha… Really?”

“…Yes.”

Shiodor lowered her head like a guilty person.

She felt strangely guilty because she had not done what she was supposed to do.

“Hmm. But His Majesty…”

Gentlet looked toward the bed.

“I think His Majesty wants to use you for something.”

“Huh? Use me for what?”

“Look at this.”

🌷༺❀༻🌷༺❀༻🌷

Gentlet lifted the blanket slightly.

There was a red mark on the white bedsheet.

“Nothing happened, but he still left a mark like this… Hmm.”

Gentlet tilted her head and thought carefully.

People believed that the Emperor of the Raud Empire was a man who loved women and had a huge harem.

But the truth was different.

It was actually the Empress who had created the current harem, not Raud.

Whenever another woman was brought into the palace, Raud always looked clearly uncomfortable.

There were more than twenty women in the harem who did not even have official titles.

And yet, Raud had never spent his first night with any of them.

That meant he was actually quite loyal to the Empress.

So what exactly was the Emperor thinking?

Gentlet secretly looked at Shiodor.

Even if she tried to think positively, it was difficult to believe that Raud had fallen in love with Shiodor at first sight.

The burn marks on her face were still visible, even though they had become lighter.

Her body was extremely thin.

And her hair was dry and rough, almost like straw.

Then there was only one possible answer.

“Maybe he wants to use you as someone the harem women can hate, so he can change the harem.”

Gentlet accidentally said her thought out loud.

“Gasp!”

She quickly realized what she had just said.

“Someone they can hate?”

“I-I’m sorry, Your Highness. I was only thinking out loud…”

Gentlet nervously opened and closed her mouth.

“So, Gentlet…”

But Shiodor’s blue eyes suddenly began to shine.

“Are you saying that His Majesty plans to use me as someone the harem women can hate so he can change the harem?”

“…It’s only my guess…”

“Someone they can hate…”

Shiodor’s eyes became even brighter.

“I can do that well.”

“What?”

Gentlet looked surprised.

Shiodor had been looking down, but she suddenly raised her head.

Her cheeks were red with excitement.

“Tell me, Gentlet.”

“W-What should I tell you?”

“What can I do to help His Majesty?”

Gentlet blinked quickly.

Shiodor was a princess of a defeated country and now a concubine.

She had enough status to punish Gentlet for saying something rude.

But instead, Shiodor actually looked excited.

Could Gentlet really have misunderstood her?

She swallowed nervously before answering.

“I think I can handle being hated. I’ve experienced it many times.”

“Your Highness…”

“I want to be useful to the Imperial Palace somehow.”

Shiodor shyly played with her fingers.

“But I don’t think they will give me any real work…”

“I will ask His Majesty what he is thinking later.”

Gentlet thought for a moment.

“For now, I think it would be better to pretend that you spent the night with him.”

“Okay. I’ll do that.”

“Yes. And today, you only have one other schedule, Your Highness.”

“But that schedule is…”

“Hmm?”

Gentlet gave her an awkward smile.

🌷༺❀༻🌷༺❀༻🌷

“Isn’t this ridiculous?”

There was only one schedule.

“Where did they even find a woman like this?!”

The schedule was a tea party where Shiodor would meet the women of the harem as the new concubine.

“I thought His Majesty only loved the Empress!”

“So he has a strange taste after all!”

“Exactly! How could the Emperor, the ruler of the entire continent, sleep with a woman who has neither beauty nor intelligence?”

More than twenty women talked badly about Shiodor at the same time.

Shiodor tried to keep a calm expression and lifted her teacup.

But despite her calm face, she had become completely pale.

Her fingers were trembling.

“Isn’t this ridiculous? And she is a concubine! Even Lady Emmanuel, who has the highest status among us, did not receive the position of concubine!”

“A bastard princess from a defeated country, and such an ugly woman too… Honestly, it makes me angry just looking at her!”

Sharp and cruel words flew across the table even though Shiodor was sitting right in front of them.

Her hair had been neatly brushed.

The burn marks on her face had become lighter.

She was also wearing a beautiful dress that Gentlet had brought for her.

She looked very different from when she had lived in the Selene Kingdom.

But her situation had not changed.

Shiodor gently pressed her lip with her teeth and took another sip of tea.

She had told Gentlet that she could handle being hated.

But hearing such direct insults and cruel words was not something she could easily get used to.

It’s okay. I just have to endure it.

Being insulted did not cost money or physical strength.

If this was the role Emperor Raud wanted her to play, she could do it.

If she endured this, perhaps she could finally become useful to him.

For some reason, Raud’s face appeared in her mind.

She quietly continued drinking her tea.

“Look at her. She doesn’t even blink. How shameless…”

“Why are you all so angry?”

A beautiful, clear voice suddenly interrupted the insults.

“Who is being so shameless?”

“Gasp! We greet Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress of the Raud Empire.”

“We greet Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress of the Raud Empire.”

The women immediately recognized the voice.

They were shocked and quickly stood up.

That’s her…

Shiodor, who had been quietly drinking tea, also quickly stood up.

Her blue eyes slowly moved toward the woman walking toward her.

The woman had brilliant golden hair, just like Raud’s.

The sunlight reflected off her hair, making it shine brightly.

She looked almost like sunlight itself as she approached Shiodor.

Shiodor slightly narrowed her eyes.

“You are Shiodor, aren’t you?”

Secrita de Marde Raud.

She was the eldest daughter of the only Duke family in the Raud Empire.

And she was the Empress of the Raud Empire.