IEJ 08

Chapter 08

‘Youngja’ and ‘Malja’ I’ve heard of, but ‘Taeja’ is a first.

The foreign man she had never seen before was approaching her without hesitation and speaking to her as though they were close.

“Apparently, your clothes and scent were not the unusual things about you after all. In all my life, I have never seen a woman with such an appetite as yours. You look like… something with nothing but an appetite. Yes, you remind me of a sunfish.”

Chungbi, who had finally managed to swallow all the food with difficulty, glared at the man.

“A sun… what? A sunfish?”

Of course. That condescending tone and those rude remarks.

His face matched his attitude perfectly.

I really want to show him just how nasty my temper can be, but I’ll hold it in.

Whoa, calm down, Chungbi.

Don’t cause trouble for no reason in a place where you don’t even know where you are.

Chungbi swallowed her anger and spoke as calmly as she could.

“We’ve only just met. I don’t think you should say things like that.”

“Oh, we’ve only just met?”

What was with that strangely sarcastic tone?

“Judging by that expression, you don’t know who I am. You truly don’t remember?”

Come to think of it, that voice!

And that way of speaking!

As vague memories slowly surfaced, Chungbi pointed a finger at the man, her eyes widening.

“You, yesterday…!”

When the face of the man in front of her overlapped with the masked man from last night, Chungbi became certain.

The man had taken off his mask last night, but it had been dark and the encounter had been so brief that her memory of his face was hazy.

She had been uncertain, but that impossible-to-fake arrogant way of speaking, that sharp voice, and above all, those blue-gray eyes…

He was definitely the same man.

“You’re that jerk who abandoned me yesterday, aren’t you? You pretended to help me and then stabbed me in the back! You should’ve just pretended you never saw me and gone on your way. Why pretend to help someone only to abandon her in that situation and run away by yourself? Are you trying to mess with me?”

Seeing the woman boldly talking back without showing the slightest sign of fear, Rian found it both amusing and bewildering.

But he did not let it show and deliberately maintained a calm expression.

“What if helping you caused trouble for me as well?”

“Am I a criminal? What trouble would you get into? That other man earlier said he was going to help me. Anyway, I don’t need your help anymore, so forget it.”

“You apparently don’t know this, but if you intend to ask for help, you would be better off looking elsewhere. They will be able to do more for you than I can.”

“Elsewhere? Who?”

Chungbi waited expectantly for his answer.

“For example, the Crown Prince.”

“The Crown Prince?”

Although he had practically handed her the answer outright, the woman merely responded with another question.

“The actual Crown Prince?”

Rian tilted his chin with an arrogant expression.

Surely she would have realized who he was by now. After making it this obvious, she had to know who was standing in front of her.

But the woman’s reaction was once again completely different from what he expected.

She tried to suppress the laughter bubbling out of her, her lips twitching, but soon she burst out laughing.

“Pfft! Hahahaha! Your actual name is Crown Prince? I’ve heard names like Youngja and Malja, but Crown Prince is a first. Pfft! And if your surname is Hwang, then wouldn’t that make you Hwang Taeja? Ah, that’s hilarious. Your name is Crown Prince! Hahahaha!”

“You’re wrong.”

“……”

“I said you’re wrong. I’m not talking about a name…”

Rian suppressed his rising anger and explained.

“I’m talking about a position.”

At this point, he expected her to finally realize who he was, become horrified, and throw herself to the ground in submission.

Instead, her response left him utterly dumbfounded.

“Oh, that Crown Prince. I thought you meant it was your name.”

So that man earlier had also mentioned an emperor, and now this man was talking about a Crown Prince.

I guess this is completely an era ruled by an emperor.

“But how am I supposed to ask the Crown Prince for help? I don’t even know where he is. And even if I did, would he help me? Just hearing the title gives me a pretty good idea of what he’s like.”

“An idea? What kind?”

Rian asked indifferently, but his eyes sharpened as he watched Chungbi, clearly interested in what she was going to say.

“He’d probably be some greasy-looking guy with a body like a huge wild boar who’s obsessed with women. Or maybe he’d be a sickly, scrawny, sheltered gentleman who can’t do anything by himself and needs everyone going, ‘There, there.’”

Rian wondered if he had heard her correctly.

Even if she didn’t know that he was the Crown Prince, how could she casually insult the Crown Prince of this country like that?

And not somewhere in an alley or even in the privacy of her own home, but inside Pertain Palace!

Was such a thing even possible?

What was this woman?

Who in the world was she?

He had spent his entire life surrounded by court women who spoke to him with the utmost honorifics and could barely even look directly at his face.

Compared to them, the woman before him was not merely refreshing.

She was downright fascinating.

But only that.

What did she say?

A wild boar? Sickly and scrawny?

With his fiery temperament, Rian was already burning with anger.

Seeing how thoroughly irritated the man looked, Chungbi wondered why he was getting so worked up.

“What’s wrong with you? Yesterday, you were wearing a mask, so I thought you were some petty thief. Seeing how worked up you’re getting, are you perhaps one of the Crown Prince’s attendants? What does it matter? The Crown Prince isn’t even here anyway. You know how people talk behind someone’s back when they aren’t around.”

Chungbi lightly nudged Rian in the side with her elbow, as if wondering why he was getting so worked up over something so trivial.

Even so, the angry expression on the man’s face did not change at all, and a sense of unease slowly crept over her like fog.

“Don’t tell me…”

Just then, Rian’s escort knight, Cedric, entered through the open door, followed by the expressionless middle-aged chief steward and three or four attendants.

Chungbi’s eyes immediately turned toward them.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, were you here?”

Chungbi couldn’t believe her ears.

Did they just call this man the Crown Prince?

When she saw the corners of the man’s lips curve upward, she realized that what she had feared was actually true.

Thunder seemed to crash beside her ears, and her vision went white.

She froze completely, unable to say a word, as though she had turned into an ice statue.

Without taking his eyes off Chungbi, Rian spoke.

“Chief Steward, what brings you all the way here yourself? I assume you did not come to see me, the ‘Crown Prince.’”

“That is correct. I did not come to see Your Highness the Crown Prince…”

Chungbi’s mouth fell open in shock.

He really is the Crown Prince.

And I didn’t even realize it. What on earth did I say to him?

What am I going to do?

Her heart began pounding wildly.

I definitely said all sorts of things I should never have said.

The incomprehensible expression of the man looking down at her made her heart shrivel with fear.

What terrible luck.

Of all people, I had to get caught by the Crown Prince himself.

Seeing Chungbi standing there in panic, unable to utter a single word, the chief steward glanced at her and continued.

“I was informed that the disturbance in the palace last night was caused by this woman. His Majesty is curious about her identity and has ordered that she be brought before him.”

“Understood. I will send the woman immediately, so wait outside.”

The chief steward and attendants left, leaving only Chungbi and Rian in the room.

Now that she knew the man she had thought was nothing more than a petty thief was actually the Crown Prince, Chungbi desperately wanted to find a mouse hole—or even an ant hole—and hide inside it.

Oh no. Oh no.

If he’s the Crown Prince, then he’ll eventually inherit the throne. That means he must be the most powerful person in this country after the Emperor.

He’s not going to lock me in some underground dungeon for insulting and disrespecting him, is he?

As Rian approached her, Chungbi became even more frightened and cautiously watched his every move.

Rian found the woman fascinating.

She was shrinking back and trembling in fear, yet she was still staring directly at him.

What woman could possibly face the Crown Prince’s gaze so openly?

Rian casually let his gaze pass over hers before lowering his face and whispering into her ear.

“You did not see me yesterday. You can do that, can’t you?”

His deep, low voice reverberated beside Chungbi’s ear, and she swallowed nervously.

“Do you understand what I mean?”

Chungbi kept her mouth firmly shut and nodded vigorously.

Apparently satisfied with her response, Rian left the room.

A short while later, the chief steward returned and led her onward.

Chungbi didn’t want to go, but there was nowhere she could escape to from here, so she had no choice but to follow them.

That middle-aged man said His Majesty was looking for me.

His Majesty means the Emperor, right?

I’ve never even seen the face of my own country’s president in person, yet things are somehow so easy here.

The Crown Prince and even the Emperor…

I’m getting to see all sorts of important people today.

She still couldn’t fully comprehend that she had suddenly been dropped into another world, but it felt as though one unwanted incident after another kept happening to her.

Her fear of what might happen next continued to grow.

Get a grip.

I need to stay safe and somehow make it back to Korea, Jacheongbi.

Clenching both hands tightly, Chungbi forced herself to steady her troubled heart.

She had never traveled abroad and had never actually seen a Western palace, but the palace she entered while following these unfamiliar people was truly magnificent.

Even when she craned her neck to look up, the scale seemed almost endless.

The domed, arched ceilings rose into enormous hemispherical structures, carved from stone and embellished with gold-leaf mosaics and vivid colors that created a dazzling atmosphere depending on the angle.

The walls were covered in stucco and pearl powder, making them so dazzling under the sunlight that it was difficult to look directly at them.

There were dozens of marble pillars alone, and on either side of the white limestone-paved platforms stood rows of marble statues, bronze statues, and countless other sculptures.

The ceiling was so high that it seemed equivalent to a three- or four-story building.

The Palace of Knossos and the Venetian palaces she had seen in books were nothing compared to this.

The people walking ahead of her stopped.

Those following her stopped as well.

Everyone lowered their heads toward one place.

Chungbi instinctively followed them and lowered her head too, cautiously looking around.

“We have brought her, Your Majesty.”

Because the throne was positioned high above the floor, Chungbi only raised her eyes slightly and secretly looked at the middle-aged man with graying hair who appeared to be the Emperor.

The Emperor’s gaze, as though it could see straight through a person’s heart, was sharp and intense like particles of ice.

“Both your appearance and your clothing are strange. Where exactly did you come from? And how did you enter this palace?”

The central hall of Pertain Palace, Thorpe Hall, where banquets were held and state affairs were discussed with ministers, became even heavier under Emperor Harsha’s stern expression and icy voice.

Overwhelmed by the oppressive atmosphere bearing down on her, Chungbi couldn’t bring herself to speak.

The only person here she knew was the Crown Prince standing over there, but he merely watched the situation with an indifferent expression, pretending not to know her.

“Why can you not answer me?!”

The Emperor shouted as though he might punish her simply for failing to answer.

I want to tell you honestly too, you old man.

But how am I supposed to say, ‘I came from Korea, possibly from the future or another space-time, and you and I aren’t even people from the same era’?

I thought I was going to die after falling into the water, but then I woke up in this unknown place called the Itan Empire.

If I told them that, even I would think it was completely absurd. Who would believe me?

If they have something like witch hunts here, they might brand me a witch and kill me.

Or they might simply decide I’m a crazy woman and throw me out.

I have to find a way to survive on my own.

I have to do something.

Chungbi let out a short breath, tense with anxiety.