After lifting the curse from her body and regaining her magic, Ru spent the entire day touching monster parts, wrestling with people, and handling lengthy paperwork, not even having enough time to go after Carlos’s neck.

From head to toe, she felt unusually filled with exhaustion.

After Haeju Han, her always light legs that felt light became heavy. Hayden, who had come to pick her up, immediately transported her to the palace through magic upon seeing her condition and handed her over to the maids without a word.

“Oh, it seems like I’m alive…”

Lying in the bathtub filled with hot water, sleep came easily. The hands that had pressed firmly on the soles of her feet, which felt like they were on fire, had lost strength and now lay limp.

Her head felt heavy. How long had it been since she immersed herself so busily in work? She thought she had completely forgotten, but the habit of diligently doing paperwork seemed to linger in her body.

“Ugh, Yeonga?”

At the sound of a tapping on the bathtub, Ru suddenly regained consciousness.

“Get up now.”

A maid who was assisting her bath was already lifting her. Soft hands lightly tapped her face, wiping away the moisture from her body. While she absentmindedly stayed there, her hair had dried, and she was fully dressed.

“Please leave.”

“Oh… this has never happened.”

The maids had never done everything for her like this, but now, upon regaining her senses, she had even changed into comfortable clothes. The head maid smiled gently.

“You seem to have had a tiring day. Let’s go and have a meal.”

“Thank you.”

Ru nodded and walked out with much lighter steps than when she entered. Thanks to her consistent training even after being cursed, fatigue dissipated quickly.

‘But wait, is he still there, or rather, is he present?’

As memories kept resurfacing, she, an imperial empress, found herself consciously treating the unfamiliar man who had rolled into her life as a boy soldier and momentum.

I shouldn’t dare to belittle him even in my thoughts. Ru scolded herself but also considered the possibility that Hayden might still be waiting for her.

“Did you come?”

As expected, Hayden, who was sitting by the window reading documents and piled up books, closed the book when he saw her and looked at her.

“Let’s eat first.”

“You should have eaten first.”

It was a bit late.

“I went to pick you up, thinking you might not want to eat alone. What’s the point if I eat first?”

It seemed that he had done some work while waiting for Ru to arrive. The housekeeper quietly approached, took the piled-up documents and books beside Hayden, and walked away.

“Tell me what happened today. Was it fun?”

Ah, the grand title of being directly under the emperor probably meant that he wanted her to report while having a meal. Ru carefully chose her words and sat down. The food, already warmed, was placed in front of her.

“It wasn’t fun.”

Haha. Hayden chuckled briefly.
“Because there’s a shortage of manpower, if we move quickly, we should be able to sell most of the items within this week. People who want to buy are lining up.”

As Ru spoke, she recalled Cedric Launay, the new leader of the Alanca Upper, in her mind.

“There are many people who want to buy monster parts, saving money from buying other upper-level items. It’s to the extent that there are complaints from other upper levels.”

“Which other upper level?”

Hayden asked amusingly.

“Well…, the Eastern Upper.”

“So, where in the East?”

At this point, Ru gave up on skirting around the issue and honestly said.

“Alanca.”

“Ah.”

Hayden nodded, as if he understood.

“They are holding onto the port there. The headquarters is also firmly in control. There will be a lot of dissatisfaction.”

“Yes.”

“Who sent them?”

Casually asking, Ru looked at him and then squinted her eyes.

“Are you asking me this now?”

“Yeah.”

Confessing willingly, he smiled brightly. As if knowing that it would be easy to pass this off as a joke.

“The Monster Parts Warehouse is a Class 1 security target. Naturally, continuous reports about visitors are submitted to me. I know, but I’m curious about your personal impressions.”

He smiled again. While such a smile might have enhanced the atmosphere during a party, Hayden had no expression in official situations.

“Then, just ask me directly. I won’t refuse to tell you. You seem to be hesitating.”

“Cedric Launay?”

“Yes. Older people would probably curse at the young guy, saying he doesn’t know anything. He seems frustrated in his own way. He seemed enthusiastic.”

Ru said that much and bit into the soft salmon roe on top of the fluffy scrambled eggs.

“Anything else?”

“That’s it…”

“That’s all?”

“Yes.”

Was there anything else anyway? Since it was the first time seeing him today, should there be more specific impressions? Ru looked puzzled and glanced at Hayden. He smiled strangely and nodded.

“I see. He didn’t seem like a murderer, did he?”

“You can’t know if someone is a murderer just by looking at their face.”

Ru shook her head.

“How would a murderer walk around with ‘murderer’ written on their face?”