As soon as she was gone, I sat in the reserved seat by the window where I was yesterday. As I sat on the chair, all the tension left my body and a relieved sigh poured out. The morning sun by the window brought drowsiness to my being.

‘Ha, I feel a bit better.’

I thought I would’ve gotten a little better after sleeping well last night, I didn’t realize I would get tired so fast. But come to think of it, it was also quite reasonable. Just two days of rest, there was no way my skinny body would have recovered that quickly. That made the job even better.

‘How long has it been since I was able to relax like this?’

In my previous life, I didn’t have enough time to sleep because of work, including weekends. In my present life, I was working as a slave with the exception of when I was young. It was already rare enough that I can enjoy moments of tranquility under the mellow sunshine

‘I just want time to stop like this.’

While I was mulling over my thoughts, two maids entered the bedroom.

“…I don’t know—Hmmm? Who are you?” The other maid stopped talking after seeing me, but afterwards she just casually answered her own question. “Oh, right. I was told there was a new Marie.”

When they saw me sitting in a room which they thought was currently unoccupied, they hesitated, but soon they understood the situation and began to clean the room.

At first, I was very nervous about the appearance of strangers, but I realized that I didn’t need to help them, so I decided to quietly wait. I glanced at the cleaning maids and soon decided to go to sleep.

Much like a cat basking in the sun, there were people like me who often enjoyed this sweet sensation of relaxing. My body was greedily taking in the soft gentle rays, accepting the comfort it offers and lulling me into a serene silence.

It was then that the maids decided to talk out loud about how they didn’t like me sleeping by the window.

“I guess someone is living the life. Getting served by maids even though they are low status, and they do nothing but sit and play.”

“You don’t know when their heads will fly, so you ought to give them a break.”

“True, the last Marie died from having her limbs cut off in just three days, right?”

“It’s because she was too cocky. Remember how she acted like a concubine?”

“The head maid also liked the fact that she’s gone. She was unaware of her status, she’s nothing but just one of the replaceable Marie’s that could drop dead anytime.”

Both maids uttered a scathing and sarcastic remark right after the other. It was as if they were secretly threatening me by implying, ‘If you mess with us, you won’t know what’s coming.’

I was curious, would the tyrant emperor even pay attention to the words of a bunch of insignificant maids?

‘That won’t happen.’ At that thought, I smirked and the maids flinched.

“Are you sneering at us right now?” her face turned ugly, clearly provoked.

“You are nothing but a slave, how dare you!” However, the moment they started to attack me, the door to the bedroom opened. It was the head maid, Elmeria.

“Marie, His Majesty will be here soon, so get ready.”

“Huh?” seeing the two maids slacking off of their duties, Elmeria began to scold them. “What the hell are you two doing? You haven’t even finished cleaning yet!”

The two maids were spotted by her in the same posture when they were trying to confront me. They scampered away quickly after they finished cleaning while the berating screams of the head maid could be heard from time to time.

In the meantime, the head maid who found me sitting quietly in the reserved seat left with a satisfied expression. Silence returned to the bedroom.

At the news that the emperor was coming, I calmly directed my sight to the outside of the window for a while. Sadly, this bedroom was located in the innermost area and as the emperor was quite sensitive about privacy, there was nothing worth looking at except the trees. The sunshine was so good though, so I decided to enjoy it properly while I was waiting.

‘They said the emperor was coming soon. But just a little bit more…’

Soon after, I started dozing off again.

Feeling weightless, as if I was floating, I fell asleep while thinking about the happiness that coursed through my veins as the sun has finally comfortably wrapped me in its tender embrace.

***

In the emperor’s office, where governmental affairs were taking place in the morning, was presently crowded with aides, escorts, and attendants who worked on various documents, confidential files, and all kinds of chores.

“This is the next document for payment.”

Raven, who stood by the emperor’s side, handed him documents to assess. At the same time, he carefully examined his master’s face. It was expressionless but he also wasn’t frowning. He could deduce that the lord liked the new doll. Besides, thanks to the emperor being able to get sleep, his speed of doing paperwork was incomparably quicker than last week.

However, Ridrian, who received the documents, was scanning the contents with his eyes, but all he could think about was the new doll.

‘That expression still lingers on my mind.’

Again, it was because of Raven’s request that he accept the doll. Still, he decided to give him this favor. It would only last a month or two anyway.

It’s just that, the dolls’ faces were always same to him, but he knew they were completely different inside.

‘Either they go crazy, or I go crazy. Thinking it would be the same this time, I tested the doll out of habit.’

But…

The doll didn’t even budge.

Ridrian soundlessly stamped a seal on the reviewed papers, then handed it over to another aide.