SOP 02

🌷༺❀༻🌷༺❀༻🌷Chapter 2🌷༺❀༻🌷༺❀༻🌷

“E-Emperor Raud, I greet you.”

Shiodor quickly stood up and nervously bowed to the Emperor.

Maybe it was because she was such a coward. They were only alone together in a room, but she could already feel an incredible pressure coming from him.

What… what should I do?

Her confused eyes moved around the room.

She thought Gentlet had told her something about what to do, but her mind had gone completely blank. She could not remember anything.

Her blue eyes moved nervously.

Then, for just a moment, Shiodor’s eyes met the Emperor’s.

Ah!

She was so startled that her shoulders jumped.

She had only looked at him for a moment, but his golden hair, shining under the soft candlelight, looked like the sun.

He was extremely beautiful.

But at this moment, Shiodor could feel only fear.

Raud’s presence reminded her of a tiger she had once seen when she was very young at a hunting ground.

He was wearing a long robe very loosely, leaving much of his body exposed.

Not knowing where to look, Shiodor simply lowered her head.

Finally, after silently watching her, Raud slowly opened his mouth.

“When you see the glorious Emperor of the Raud Empire, you should greet me like this.”

“…What?”

His voice sounded like he was teaching a child.

Without realizing it, Shiodor raised her head.

“Ah… Ah, yes. Glorious Emperor of the Raud Empire…”

Only then did Shiodor realize that she had used the wrong greeting.

She quickly corrected herself.

“Enough. That’s fine.”

But Raud coldly stopped her.

It was as if his gentle voice from a moment ago had never existed.

He slowly walked toward her and lifted her chin with his hand.

Their eyes met.

A ripple seemed to move across Shiodor’s blue eyes.

She stared at his deep, bright red eyes.

For some strange reason, her whole body began to tremble.

She tried hard to stop herself from shaking and tightly bit her lip.

“You’re ugly.”

His cold voice immediately brought her back to reality.

“I-I’m sorry…”

Shiodor could barely speak because she was trembling.

Yes.

This was her place.

The ugly and powerless Attic Princess.

No.

Now she was probably nothing more than a simple war trophy.

There had been many beautiful princesses.

But Shiodor was the one who had been lucky enough to survive and end up here.

“You don’t need to apologize.”

Raud released her chin without hesitation.

“I like that you’re ugly.”

“…What?”

What was he trying to say?

It was impossible for her to understand what he was thinking.

Shiodor simply lowered her head and blinked.

“Ah, I almost forgot.”

Raud stared at her for a moment before taking out a key.

“Sit.”

“Ah, yes, yes. Your Majesty…”

Shiodor sat on the sofa with a confused expression.

Raud walked toward her and slowly lowered himself onto one knee.

“Y-Your Majesty.”

Shiodor became embarrassed and quickly stood up.

Even though she had lived like an ignorant girl in the attic, she was not stupid enough to think that the Emperor of an entire country should kneel before her.

“Stay still.”

Raud gently took her wrist and made her sit down again.

Then he carefully lifted her foot.

Shiodor’s face immediately became bright red.

If he were simply treating her like a war trophy, his touch should not have been this gentle.

It was almost as if he were touching something precious.

Every place his fingers touched felt warm.

It almost felt as if he was deliberately making her feel ticklish.

Unable to handle her embarrassment, Shiodor gently bit her lip.

“It’s done.”

Raud finally removed all the chains from her feet.

He stood up and brushed his hands together.

His eyes slowly moved toward Shiodor.

His gaze went past her red cheeks and stopped first at her tightly pressed lips.

“Your lips…”

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“…Yes?”

“Why are you biting them?”

His voice suddenly sounded sharp again, making her nervous.

“I… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do…”

“Don’t bite your lips.”

“…Ah, yes, Your Majesty.”

“I’m tired.”

Looking annoyed, Raud walked to the bed and lay down.

Shiodor stood up too, but she became even more nervous.

Should she lie beside him?

Should she turn off the lights?

Could she take off her outer clothes?

She knew nothing.

Nobody had ever taught her.

She regretted that she had never even read an ordinary romance book.

“…I’m sorry, Your Majesty. If you tell me what I should do…”

Her voice was shaking, but she somehow managed to speak.

She was afraid, but that was separate from being grateful.

She did not know what Raud wanted from her or why he had made her his concubine.

But no matter what his reason was, Raud had saved her life.

Even though he was the person who had killed her entire family, Shiodor did not hate him.

A family needed love and affection to truly be a family.

She could not call people her family when she saw them only once a year and they spent their time thinking about how to kill her.

So if there is something I have to do, I should do it…

To be honest, what the Emperor had done to her did not feel like plunder.

It felt more like salvation.

The attic of the Selene Kingdom had been a hell that was slowly killing her.

Shiodor tightly closed her eyes and continued speaking with difficulty.

“Then I will do my best…”

“Pfft. Your best?”

Raud openly raised one corner of his mouth and laughed at her.

“Do your best, you say? Isn’t there only one thing a concubine is supposed to do for the Emperor?”

“…As you know, I spent most of my life in the attic…”

She hesitated.

“So I don’t know much about things between men and women. So…”

“You want me to teach you?”

Raud relaxed his body on the bed and slowly looked at Shiodor.

“How bold of you.”

Shiodor could not answer.

She simply closed her mouth.

His red eyes seemed like vines crawling up from her feet and wrapping around her entire body.

The Emperor in front of her, the ruler of the continent, was certainly frightening.

But at the same time, her heart was strangely beating faster.

Perhaps she finally had some use.

She was no longer just the useless Attic Princess.

That thought made her heart beat with a small sense of excitement.

“However…”

One word from Raud immediately changed that excitement into fear.

“You don’t have to do anything.”

“…What? Nothing?”

“That’s right.”

Raud spoke coldly, looking completely bored.

“I don’t want anything from you.”

Shiodor’s heart sank.

She had finally thought that she could be useful for something.

But even after coming all the way to this distant place, was there really nothing she could do?

Tears that she had been holding back began to fall from her eyes.

“But… then why did you…?”

She quickly wiped away her tears while trying not to cry.

She had never counted how many years she had spent holding back her tears.

After her mother died, she had endured every insult and every cruel joke from others.

She had even been willing to accept being treated like the Emperor’s plaything.

Perhaps because she had foolishly hoped that, at least here, she could finally have a purpose.

But the tears continued to run down her thin cheeks.

Even while watching Shiodor cry, Raud showed no sign of pity.

“You do have one job.”

His red eyes shone like those of a wild animal.

“As my war trophy…”

His voice was cold and emotionless.

“Stay alive.”

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Shiodor felt as if she could hear the sound of all her hopes breaking into pieces.

She slowly sat down on the sofa.

Raud’s deep red eyes were still looking at her.

Even though they were such a bright and burning color, how could they be so cold?

“You understand after hearing that much, don’t you?”

“…Yes.”

Before she had even finished answering, all the lights in the room went out.

“Your Majesty.”

Trying to hide her crying, Shiodor barely managed to answer.

Her blue eyes, still filled with tears, looked toward Raud, who was lying under the blankets.

His figure could be seen faintly in the darkness.

He had not touched her at all.

He had already closed his eyes and was trying to sleep.

Shiodor watched him for a long time.

Then she slowly lay her tired body down on the sofa.

Even though the chains that had bound her ankles were gone, her body somehow felt heavier than before.

Even here… I am completely alone.

Feeling a terrible loneliness, Shiodor desperately tried to fall asleep.

But sleep would not come.