At that moment, Reniel looked again at the maid outfit she was wearing.

It was an impressive outfit with a pitch-black background and white apron.

Moreover, it was the same outfit as the maids of the imperial palace. Only the scarf around the neck was different.

“But weren’t maids originally allowed to wear whatever they wanted?”

“My mother changed the law.”

Originally, maids were selected only from noble families and could wear whatever they wanted. So their outfits were also the epitome of splendor.

“Why?”

“Probably so that maids wouldn’t catch the emperor’s eye.”

The empress, wary of another faction arising, changed it to the same outfit as maids.

Only white and black were allowed. Neither ladies-in-waiting nor maids could wear colorful outfits anymore.

In this palace, only those who had already received a title or the wives of invited guests could be splendid.

“Does His Majesty the Emperor really like women that much?”

“Hahaha!”

Thanasis laughed at Reniel’s frank question.

Until now, only his mother had spoken so openly about it.

However, in the empress’s case, she didn’t ask such polite yet rude questions.

‘Did that dog in heat sleep with another maid again?’

‘You should be changing women several times a day if you’re like your father! Your father is a dirty womanizer, but why is it so difficult for you to have even one!’

‘Shouldn’t you at least try to have an heir!’

‘Everyone else has at least one son by your age, why are you like this?’

‘Why are you really like this? Why? What’s the reason you dislike women so much?’

“That’s right. The emperor is a dog in heat. So be careful yourself.”

Reniel could understand why she was wearing a choker because of Thanasis’s words.

“This choker… Does it mean ‘don’t touch, this one already has an owner’?”

“That’s right.”

Thanasis’s words were not wrong.

Originally, people with chokers couldn’t serve others as they already had partners. That was imperial law.

While despising his father’s dirty nighttime habits, Thanasis thought it was a useful tool now that he could use the choker on Reniel.

However, he didn’t feel good knowing some maids who used this to run beyond the allowed distance and commit suicide.

“Your Highness frowns every time you speak about His Majesty the Emperor.”

“That’s… because I’m in pain right now. You’re just staring without treating me.”

Thanasis said so, hoping she would come closer.

Reniel approached without suspicion.

“And you’re right. I don’t like the emperor.”

Reniel smiled slightly as she looked into his eyes.

Seeing her open the first aid kit, Thanasis sat up on the bed, though his hair was still not completely dry.

Water dripped from his silver hair, forming small droplets.

“Why don’t you like him?”

She just wanted to check if it was the same as the original story. She also wanted to focus on the conversation rather than his body while treating him.

“My father is a filthy person. His obsession with women is pathological.”

“Ah…”

Thanasis liked seeing Reniel flustered.

Reniel, who had always seemed somewhat composed, looked at him in confusion, and he couldn’t help but smile.

He also noticed her slender, long hand hesitating in the air above the first aid kit.

“Do you know why I don’t have any maids or ladies-in-waiting in my palace? I used to have them before.”

“And then?”

“My father coveted the women in my palace. So those girls would beg me whenever they saw me. They didn’t want to end up like that. The emperor’s one-night women are discarded after they’ve served their purpose.”

“Oh my…”

“If they receive favor, they become bedchamber maids. If not, they’re just used for amusement and then thrown away.”

Reniel tensed a little when she saw Thanasis’s expression turn self-deprecating as he spoke.

“So avoid my father at all costs. Think of him as not human.”

Thanasis spoke with a truly contemptuous expression.

“So Your Highness dislikes that aspect of His Majesty the Emperor?”

“How could anyone like that? It’s filthy and horrible.”

One reason Thanasis disliked women almost obsessively was because of his father.

A father who committed all sorts of lewd acts while changing women frequently.

A mother who treated him like a monster but never gave him a shred of affection, and sisters who tried to kill him as if he had stolen the crown prince position, even though he never wanted it.

“Women make me uncomfortable.”

Reniel opened the first aid kit as Thanasis answered while looking at her hand.

She opened the kit and immediately checked its contents.

“Except for you, that is.”

“Why am I okay?”

“I got close to you first without knowing you were a woman. You’re different from other women.”

That didn’t seem wrong.

Moreover, this entire conversation seemed to confirm more clearly that he preferred men.

From Thanasis’s perspective, he wanted to say that he needed Reniel, but there was no way she would notice such a thing.

“And don’t trust my mother or those who call themselves my sisters.”

“Why is that? Earlier, Her Majesty the Empress seemed to want to create a fake identity for me.”

“My mother is just trying to use me. She needs me in the crown prince position to solidify her own power.”

Thanasis watched as Reniel tore a cotton ball and picked it up with tweezers.

He didn’t miss the sight of her pouring disinfectant on the cotton and then bringing it to him.

“My mother and sisters think I’m a monster.”

“Why?”

“Because I absorb magic stones and explode at random times.”

Reniel knew that this wasn’t something he had wanted to absorb, but a choice he had made to live up to his mother’s expectations.

Just in case he would add that, she pretended not to know and said:

“Was that a choice Your Highness wanted?”

“No.”

She slowly rubbed the disinfectant-soaked cotton on his wound.

Reniel realized that this alliance had become quite solid as she saw him willingly tell her everything.

Well, in a way, they had shared life and death experiences together.

“I absorbed the magic stones because my mother wanted me to. I thought she would love me then. Even if I die someday because of it, my mother would probably pin the blame on the empress? Then the princess who resembles my mother the most would become the crown princess.”

Thanasis couldn’t understand why he was telling Reniel all of this.

The only thing he was sure of was that with the choker around her neck, she could never betray him.

Perhaps that’s why words he couldn’t say to anyone else seemed to come out so easily.

In addition, despite her seemingly careless exterior, Reniel wasn’t that loose-lipped.

And the fact that she had risen to the position of head attendant in the Le Pelique ducal family proved his trust.

Felix Le Pelique, who was so wary and looked down on people, had acknowledged her.

While Thanasis hated him, he had no objections about his abilities.

The fact that he had allowed Reniel by his side was both an acknowledgment of her abilities and an assessment of her character.

He was seeing Reniel properly.

Perhaps Thanasis, who was too wary of people and had never opened up to anyone, desperately needed someone like Reniel to whom he could pour out his heart.

It was a palace where no one was curious about his thoughts or asked for his opinions.

The weight of expectations placed on him and the yoke imposed were considerable, but no one had ever asked what Thanasis wanted.

What he felt was, of course, ignored.

So when he saw Reniel carefully disinfecting even his open wounds, he kept relaxing.

But he laughed it off, thinking this too was another ability of a purification user.

“Is it okay to tell me such things?”

“You and I are in the same boat. You said you needed a job with retirement security, right?”

“That’s right.”

“If that’s what you want, it’s not difficult for me. In return, I’d like you to become completely my person.”

Thanasis said this while gazing intently at her.

He knew well that even if people weren’t interested in his opinions, they were very interested in his appearance.

He remembered the lustful gazes of people who looked at him with desire.

Such a Thanasis.

Was now in front of Reniel with only a towel around his waist.

“Aren’t I already?”

Reniel said this while carefully applying disinfectant to his body.

“Turn around. I need to disinfect your back too.”

“…Alright.”

However, Thanasis felt strange that Reniel seemed to regard him only as a patient even while looking at his body.

This woman was like that before too.

Even in the secret room, she was someone who showed him kindness but drew a line.

Remembering that incident, he felt unpleasant that she was now treating him so nonchalantly.

“Why did you suddenly want to live as a woman?”

“It wasn’t sudden, I’ve felt that way for a long time. I’m originally a woman, and living as a man wasn’t easy. And…”

“And?”

“I wanted to wear pretty clothes… try tying my hair like others do. And someday, I wanted to have a lover too.”

Reniel remembered other servants dating the maids.

Having someone to share her heart with like that seemed so enviable.

“That lover, how about making one now?”

Reniel looked at Thanasis, who was now pressing down on her shoulder, laying her on the bed.

He was close enough to kiss her at any moment if she agreed.