My stomach felt uncomfortable.

The first thing I felt as soon as I regained consciousness was a nauseating ache in my stomach.

‘What’s this…’

When did I faint?

Looking around, I realized I was in my bedroom in Ascan’s mansion.

Rubbing my throbbing head, I sat up in bed. As I pondered yesterday’s events, a scene flashed in my mind.

“Your lips are pretty.”

I remembered saying that while caressing Ascan’s lips with my thumb.

Suddenly, my hazy mind cleared up. What did I do last night?

However, that wasn’t the end of it.

Feeling uncomfortable, I stopped the carriage that was rushing due to nausea and threw up at the corner. The memory of the large, warm hand patting my back came to mind, making my face flush.

‘Wait, what’s all this?’

What kind of memory is this?

It didn’t end there. Ascan grabbed me as I was running around like a mad person, and, complaining about stomach pain, he made me take medicine.

“Open your mouth.”

I recalled Ascan holding medicine and looking at me with a determined gaze.

“Ugh!”

Unknowingly, I screamed, clutching my head.

This can’t be real.

Did something like this actually happen?

I lay back on the bed. I could only pray that all the memories that had surfaced in my mind now were just dreams when I woke up after a nap.

But sleep wouldn’t come. The conversations I had with Ascan last night kept floating in my mind.

“If you like me, why did you leave room for doubt?”

Who left room for doubt?

I just wanted to tease Ascan a little because his attitude at the dining table was too overwhelming. I had no intention of marrying Helcyon, who already had an empress.

“…You smiled. You smiled at the emperor.”

I needed to fix my habit of using informal language sometimes.

If I suddenly lowered my tone, it felt like my heart would stop.

“Why do you smile at anyone? Didn’t you like me?”

Helcyon was literally the emperor. Regardless of my thoughts, I couldn’t afford to have a stern expression in front of him; I had to put on a smiling face.

Despite telling Ascan that he deliberately responded coldly in front of Helcyon and that it was not because he liked me, he was astonished to say such things to me, making me feel dumbfounded.

I suddenly got up and angrily threw down the soft pillow.

‘You’re the one annoying me!’

Whenever the memory-impaired Ascan looked at me with an indifferent gaze, I sometimes had the impulse to scold him like this.

It was at that moment.

Creak, the door opened, and Jerin poked her head in.

Perhaps she heard the noisy sounds and realized I had woken up.

“Oh! The lady is awake?”

I stopped hitting the pillow awkwardly and nodded my head.

“How did I get in yesterday?”

“Oh, don’t talk nonsense. Where did you drink so much?”

Jerin, as if waiting for me to wake up, immediately brought a good tea for relieving a hangover.

While sipping the lukewarm tea that Jerin handed me, I asked again.

“Why? What happened?”
“Don’t you remember? Miss, you almost blew up the mansion with a magical engineering weapon.”

“Pfft.”

At the unexpected words, I spewed the tea I had been holding in my mouth.

“Oh my!”

Startled, Jerin hurriedly wiped the spilled tea on my nightgown and bedding with a tissue. But there was something more important now.

“What, what are you talking about?”

“Take a look outside the window. Last night, you, who was drunk, almost caused a disaster by pulling out a magical engineering weapon. Fortunately, Lord Ascan, no, Count Arteas, was there.”

I quickly got up from the bed and approached the window.

The mansion with its monotonous exterior had no garden, but the flowers and trees that were there had disappeared, leaving sooty traces.

In disbelief, I turned to Jerin and shouted.

“I did that?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“That’s impossible. Even if I were drunk, I’ve never pulled out a magical engineering weapon.”

Something definitely happened. But I couldn’t remember anything at all.

“Jerin, do you know why I summoned a magical engineering weapon?”

“I don’t know either. When I went out, the incident had already happened…”

So, the only one who knew the truth was Ascan.

I touched my forehead as if a headache was coming.

Oh, this is maddening.

“…This won’t do. I need to quit drinking.”

“How much did you drink to get so drunk?”

“I guess my condition wasn’t good. I was hungry, and I didn’t feel well…”

“Did something happen in the imperial palace?”

I nodded. There were things going on.

“I was proposed to by the Kalua Empire’s emperor. He said he wanted to welcome me as the empress.”

“W-What?”

This time, Jerin widened her eyes as if she couldn’t believe it.

I was startled and took a step back, but Jerin quickly approached and asked.

“The Kalua Empire already has an empress. How dare he covet you?”

“Well… that’s true, but when I heard the conditions, they weren’t bad. Of course, I have no intention of accepting.”

“Of course not. You shouldn’t choose someone who doesn’t genuinely cherish you.”

Feeling Jerin’s sincere concern, I chuckled.

Then, pressing my throbbing temple due to the hangover, I said to Jerin.