Patricia bit her lower lip until it turned pale.

‘Let’s go back, Tane. But how? Patricia, get a grip.’

She had to save Patrick, who had fallen unconscious after being poisoned by Empress Pamila’s scheme. She had to rescue him from Pamila’s hands.

‘But I’m trapped here, unable to move.’

Above all, she had been captured and brought to the enemy emperor’s bedroom.

‘Why? ……to the bedroom!’

He should have kept her in the military camp tent, not brought her all the way to the castle. If it was the military camp tent, she could have found a way to connect with Eden and the other captured prisoners in the Red Forest camp. No, she could have at least heard news about Tane.

‘How on earth am I supposed to escape from here?’

The emperor unfolded the chains he had wrapped around his wrist with a clatter. He approached the bed with the chains and pulled Patricia’s shoulders and waist, who was sitting upright, to lay her down on the bed.

“What are you doing now?”

“Restraining a prisoner who might run away.”

Patricia, wearing nothing but a man’s shirt, was flustered. She pulled down the hem of the shirt that had risen above her thighs as much as she could with her bound hands.

The emperor watched this scene leisurely and smiled slyly.

“Excuse me for a moment, Princess.”

He took Patricia’s right hand and fastened handcuffs to her wrist. When he tried to grab her slender ankle next, she tensed her toes. The emperor hesitated for a moment, but soon grabbed her ankle and fastened shackles.

He put the key in his pants pocket and tied the chains to the bedpost.

“It will be uncomfortable, but stay here for three days. We’ll decide again based on the negotiation proposal from Tane.”

‘Why tie me to the emperor’s bed of all places? Rather…’

“Please send me to the military camp tent, where the Tane prisoners are.”

“Why? To make escape plans? If you don’t like my bedroom, there’s an underground cell.”

The emperor leaned down his large upper body to look down at Patricia as he spoke. The middle of his black silk robe opened, slipping towards his left shoulder.

‘Gasp! Why is his body like that? It seems like too blatantly seductive a body. It’s not appropriate for the current situation.’

Patricia hated herself for having her gaze stolen by the muscles that were distracting to the eyes and blatantly exposed, inappropriate for the urgent situation.

Frowning at the distracting bulging, bumpy textured muscles, she fixed her gaze on the wound on his neck.

“Please move me to the underground cell instead.”

The red wound where a knife had cut across below his neck was drying up.

Her gaze had been on the firm muscles twitching under the wound and the prominent collarbone, but when she bit her lip and looked up, she was startled.

Deep green eyes under thick eyelashes were staring down at her intensely.

Underground cell. A room befitting the leader of an enemy country, but he couldn’t imprison the princess there.

The emperor leaned down until his face was close enough for their noses to touch.

“You have a habit of biting your lips.”

He tilted his head and blatantly looked at her lips. When she released her teeth from her bitten lip, her plump lips parted slightly.

“Hoo……”

He straightened up, tilted his head back and let out a deep sigh.

“Poisoned rats and snakes crawl between the walls there. Just… stay here.”

In my bedroom.

The emperor’s face reddened as he looked down at Patricia, whose cheeks had turned pink as she quickly turned her head away.

“Answer.”

“As you wish.”

The princess was wearing his shirt. It was big and loose, clearly showing what was underneath. Her slender, straight neck, collarbone, and the skin below were exceptionally white.

Well, ……her posture. Really.

Golden hair disheveled on the white bed sheets. He felt the urge to run his hands through it, feel its soft texture, and smell its scent. Startled, the emperor abruptly straightened up.

He spread out the blanket that had been pushed to the foot of the bed and covered her.

He felt thirsty.

He went to the tea table. About to pour water from the kettle, he instead drank the liquor left in the pewter cup.

The emperor sat down on the sofa, leaning back.

She looks exactly like Patrick. It’s unsettling.

The emperor sniffed his own shoulder. He realized that what was unsettling him was her scent.

It was the body scent he had smelled on the cliff of Tamiel Valley, a scent that instinctively made him hold his breath to inhale, stimulating all his senses.

But, ah. I’ve smelled this scent before……Yes, sometimes… Haa.

So does that mean she came to the academy too, not just wearing armor instead of Patrick?

The emperor swallowed a bitter smile.

Since when, and why, did she start pretending to be Patrick in armor?

He tried to recall the days he had spent with Patrick.

Had she come to the Poeny tavern instead of Patrick too? At the tavern, they always sat shoulder to shoulder, laughing and drinking with no space between them. She probably didn’t go there. He shook his head.

He recalled the day freshman Patrick first came to the 3rd year humanities lecture.

It was a discussion class, so while freely expressing opinions, Patrick persistently criticized a senior’s logic.

How dare a freshman, ah, it’s the Crown Prince.

At the students’ murmurs, Harchen turned around. He was a beautiful boy with impressive golden hair falling to his shoulders. There was a sharp light in his blue eyes.

It was the moment when prejudices about the son of Kazan the War-Mad Emperor were instantly shattered.

Patricia Calian Evas, Patrick’s twin.

Was her usual attire as a princess the dress she wore at the graduation celebration banquet? She had been crying.

Harchen witnessed and experienced a fantastic scene. He had drunk a lot of Tane liquor but wasn’t drunk.

Calip shook awake Harchen, who had fallen asleep on a wisteria chair at the end of the long corridor, at dawn.

Harchen touched his cheek as he got up. He thought it was a dream, an illusion. But there was the cat mask. The sensation of the hand that had slapped his cheek and the touch of lips were vivid.

He had Calip get the list of attendees for the masked ball. He checked the families of the ladies on the list, but there was no lady with golden hair.

Then he saw that Patrick’s name, which he hadn’t seen at the party, was on the attendee list. It was listed with partner Risha Patterson and escort knight Eden Patterson.

Patterson was a viscount family dedicated to the administrative work of the Tane Empire. When he inquired through Calip, he found that the Pattersons only had two sons and no daughters.

It was confusing. It was unclear how to verify the truth through Patrick by saying he had secretly obtained the list. Moreover, he didn’t have time as he had to return to Karsik earlier than planned due to his father’s critical illness.

The woman who dropped the cat mask and disappeared, the unfamiliar atmosphere that sometimes emanated from Patrick. Some days he had sensitively pushed away even light touches… Oh!

Now the questions were answered.

The existence of the twin princess was a hidden shadow, and she had even come to academy classes instead of Patrick.

“So you two played me for a fool.”

And now she wore armor instead of Patrick and started a war. But why?

The more he thought about it, the more questions piled up. He sank deeper into a labyrinth, into a swamp of suspicion.

Sleep overtook him from the effects of the liquor. His eyes closed drowsily. Deep darkness seeped into his body. Bluish moonlight touched the window.

Summer insects receiving the moonlight leapt across the dark night. It was a suspicious night.

Feeling thirsty, the emperor got up in his sleep to find water to drink and went to his bed. He habitually took off his shower robe and threw it aside.

*

Dawn, with mist spreading over Lake Pana.

He woke to a sweet scent and warm, soft touch.

Gasp!

The emperor opened his eyes and looked down at the princess nestled in his arms. The princess’s right wrist and ankle were tied, and he was pressed right up against her.

In this big bed, why stick so close like this?

His right arm was numb. The princess’s golden hair was wrapped around his right arm, and her slightly bent upper body had entered his embrace with her cheek touching his bare chest.

Wh-what is this!

The emperor had taken off his robe in his sleep and was only wearing pajama pants as usual.

He thought in his head that he should lay her down straight and get up from the bed, but the warm body temperature transmitted felt quite nice. His body wouldn’t move.

He looked down at the princess wearing his shirt.

The maids had used the fragrance he favored in the bath. Her voluminous hair smelled of the same bath oil as him.

He inhaled deeper and longer. There was a faint, deeply ingrained, sensual body scent.

Her breath touched his bare upper body. Every time she exhaled, his chest burned hot.

What, this. What is this feeling?

The emperor left his right arm as it was and propped himself up with his left hand on the bed. He raised his upper body to get close to her face.

Huff huff.

He inhaled her exhaled breath through his nose. It was sweet.

This delicate and pointed chin, neckline, small round shoulders, small plump lips. As he stared at the slightly parted lips, he unknowingly drew closer and closer, almost touching her lips.

Haa! Cr-crazy!

He pulled out his right arm and abruptly sat up. The bed shook, but the princess slept on undisturbed.

Unbelievable.

The bedroom was dim with heavy double curtains drawn.

He moved to stand at the head of the bed. Out of the corner of his eye, he looked down at the princess sleeping defenseless with her golden hair disheveled in all directions.

Part of the thin cotton sheet was tucked between her legs, with the rest draped over her legs.

His gaze traced the curve of her waist as she lay on her side. The hem of the shirt had ridden up, revealing slender but firm white thighs.

Except for her bound wrists and ankles, she didn’t look like a prisoner, sleeping so peacefully disheveled.

He frowned and clenched his fist tightly. Blood rushed quickly along his pulsing veins to one place.

He averted his gaze, closed the bedroom door, and came out to pull the call bell in the reception room.

The emperor entered the dressing room from the reception room side and received attendance. The servant disinfected the wound on his neck, thinly applied herbs, and wrapped it with muslin.

“Your Majesty, I’m worried the wound will fester in the summer. If you don’t wear the uniform jacket so it doesn’t touch the wound…”

“Shut up.”

The emperor put on black uniform with gold trim over his battle dress and pauldrons protecting his shoulders and chest, then grasped Ahme in his hand.

He gestured to the servants towards the reception room while he went through the corridor into the bedroom. He stopped in his tracks as he crossed the bedroom holding Ahme at chest level, unable to approach her sleeping disheveled.

Gulp.

He swallowed down inexplicable anxiety.

Princess, you brought this upon yourself. Now that you’re caught, what should I do with you?

Recalling the hazy times when he couldn’t discern the truth, the emperor looked down towards the bed from a distance. He glared at the princess’s pink-tinged cheeks and plump lips before abruptly turning and striding across the bedroom.

Twins.

He predicted the possibility of a rear guard coming instead of a negotiation proposal.

War-mad Emperor Kazan and Patrick might be staying near the Tane border leading soldiers. But no matter how much of a shadow princess she was, wasn’t it too reckless to use her as bait? She could die.

The more he thought, the more questions arose.

Is the princess just a shadowless shadow after all, a bloodline Emperor Kazan can discard? Is that possible?

Come, Patrick. If you come as the leader of the rear guard for war, I’ll gladly oblige. If you don’t come, if no negotiation proposal comes?

Then I’ll go to Tane myself. I’ll listen to your excuses for sending your younger sister to war in your place after preaching about the evils of war.

And I’ll make your twin sister my slave.