As expected, Lelia was glad that she didn’t take the medicine out of the inventory beforehand.

In front of the main hall, the Emperor’s knights lightly searched Lelia and Kalix’s body.

Cedric, Damien and Ruth stared at Lelia and went somewhere together.

Lelia sighed inwardly.

In any case, Ruth must have been liked by those two princes. For now, it’s like they were on one side.

“Come this way, please.”

As they followed the servant through the big door, she saw fancy furniture all over the place. The large space, which looked like a vast drawing room, was decorated with colorful carpets, and the sofa and the table were arranged harmoniously.

As she turned to look around, she saw the edge of the couch just inside a large open arch.

That area seems to be a little more private than this space.

“.....”

Lelia clenched her hands that were trembling with tension.

Kalix, on the other hand, looked relaxed.

The servant led the two of them to an audience room just inside the arch doorway.

The emperor was sitting on the sofa reading a document, when he heard them enter he raised his head.

“You’re here.”

“.....”

Lelia gulped down her fear.

It was her second reunion with the emperor since she fled the Imperial palace as a child.

The first reunion was the night when she went to the cabin to find her last ingredient.

The feeling of the drunken emperor grabbing her ankle was still vivid. Lelia found it difficult to calm her pounding heart as the memory of the fear she felt at that night returned.

“.....”

Emperor Perseus, in a good condition, did not look much different from her childhood.

After such a long time, he still looked young. It did look like he had lost some weight.

Emperor Perseus’ forehead wrinkled.

‘Sir Raymond.. who I’ve only heard of...’

‘Yes, he looks quite similar to the painting that my secretaries once reported is in fashion.’

‘But in reality, it looks more like someone else than the painting.’

‘Elizabeth..’

Why did he think of his dead wife the first time he set eyes on this young man?

His eyes and hair color were completely different, but he was overwhelmed with strange emotions.

Doubts arose over whether his late wife had hidden a son from him.

All kinds of doubts quickly dominated his mind.

The atmosphere and expression around this man felt similar.

Suddenly, he remembered the woman he saw on that drunken night at the cabin who looked like Elizabeth. After they sealed off the capital, they tried to find a woman with green eyes, but the woman who looked like his wife disappeared without a trace.

So he concluded that he must have been really drunk and misunderstood.

But what if..

“Your Majesty?”

The silence lasted too long.

Kalix, who couldn’t stand waiting any longer, called out to the emperor in curiosity.

Still, the emperor looked blank.

Kalix turned his head toward Lelia and asked with his eyes.

‘You’ve been caught being a woman, haven’t you?’

Lelia couldn’t understand because he said it with his eyes. She awkwardly smiled back, the corners of her mouth shivered.

Lelia was also feeling uncomfortable with Emperor Perseus’ persistent gaze.

When Emperor Perseus came to his senses, he said.

“Sir Kalix.. You’re here with him.”

“I came with my friend because he felt weak.”

“Okay.. Thank you, but could you wait over there?”

Kalix looked at Lelia, and went to wait outside the arch. Fortunately, it was an open archway, so it wasn’t just the two of them in an enclosed space. Lelia relaxed at the idea of Kalix being nearby. She sat in the seat that the emperor indicated.

“.....”

The emperor sat down and looked at her with a strange look.

Lelia wasn’t sure what he was thinking.

Then, Emperor Perseus sprang up and walked to the window like a disturbed man.

[Now is my chance..]

Lelia opened the inventory window and pulled out the item.

A drug that lets her be mistaken for a man.

She had a hunch that he might know.

[He might suspect something’s wrong with me because I look so much like my mother. He might suspect that I’m a woman.]

In order to open the lid when she had an opportunity, Lelia hid the bottle of medicine inside her sleeve.

Emperor Perseus, who had been hanging around the window for a long time, turned his head and looked at her.

It seems that the reason why he originally called Lord Raymond had finally come to mind.

“I heard that Princess Julianna likes you.”

“I hate to say it myself.. but I have a very complicated relationship with women. I appreciate her interest, but...”

“Complicated relationships with women?”

Emperor Perseus asked, frowning. Well, it would be ridiculous to say that when he called him as a candidate for his son-in-law.

But Emperor Perseus brought up another point.

“You look very much like someone I know.. You’re from the aristocracy of the Roseberry Empire?

“Yes, I’ve been hearing that from everyone. They say I look like a painting?”

Lelia smiled and pretended to be innocent.

Emperor Perseus tilted his head to the other side with his arms folded.

“You’re not hiding anything from me?”

“Excuse me?”

Emperor Perseus said, after a moment’s hesitation.

“I hope that someone flawless will be Princess Julianna’s partner. But you’re...”

“.....”

[What? Who wants to be her partner?]

Lelia waited for the emperor’s words with a look of dismay.

“I’m asking. Are you sure you’re a man?”

“....!”

“In my eyes.. you look like a woman who came in hiding her gender.”