<strong>Chapter 21</strong>


    <em>‘How much sleep did I have?’</em>A tingling sensation in my legs woke me up.


    <em>‘My legs…’</em>


    I didn’t think it was too heavy, but the feeling in my legs was dull because I had been in one position for a long time. After a while, I couldn’t bear the numbness anymore, so I decided to carefully put a cushion under the emperor’s head. Fearful that he might wake up, I calmed my fluttering heart and quickly seeded in supporting his head with the cushion.


    I got up, stumbled the moment I took a step, and fell back onto the carpet. This was because tingling feeling soon intensified quickly climbed all the way to my head. I screamed despite no sounding out as I struggled.


    <em>‘Ah! Help me!’</em>


    As I endured the pain that was amplified for a few moments, the numbness in my legs was relieved as blood finally began flowing through in an inherent manner. When I looked at the clock, almost an hour had already drifted by since the emperorid his head on myp. I walked around the room and to rx the nerves on my legs.


    <em>‘Next time, I’ll try to somehow support his head with a cushion from the very beginning.’</em>


    It was then when the drilling pain disappeared.


    “…ugh…”


    At first, I thought I heard wrong. However, the only noise in the bedroom where there was only silence went straight into my ears.


    <em>‘Did the emperor make that sound just now?’</em>


    Looking towards the sofa, the emperor, who had been asleep with a pretty face in the world, was drenched in cold sweat.


    <em>‘Is he sick?’</em>


    Startled, I hurriedly scrutinized him intently. However, until now, I couldn’t figure out why the person who had been sleeping well initially was suddenly in this state.


    <em>‘What should I do, should I bring in the head maid?’</em>


    The emperor recoiled while I was confused and worried about whether I had to call people.


    “… liana! No!”


    It was as if he had a sudden seizure, screaming and throwing his arms into the air. Suddenly, his face turned blue. With that desperate appearance, I soon noticed the reason for his unseemly behavior.


    <em>‘He was having a nightmare right now?’</em>


    I couldn’t wake him up because I was supposed to be a doll. However, his face was so distraught that I didn’t feelfortable to leave it alone.


    <em>‘What do I do? Should I wake him up?’</em>


    I couldn’t do this or that, I panicked.


    “Please, no!”


    But the moment I saw him crying sadly with tears forming around his eyes, my mind went nk. His pain, the one that was mentioned in the book, I could feel it emanating from him in waves.


    He was the male protagonist, so I knew he was just someone originally from the book. I knew he had a traumatic experience, but I didn’t take it seriously because in my mind, it was just a setting. But now, seeing this man with a pale face and struggling in pain, if I could still think of him as a character, then he was a character that was ying in reality.


    This was real life.


    Suddenly, his agony became all too palpable. The pain of losing a precious person—it was all due to his negligence, and because of that, he goes crazier by the day due to all that mental torture. At that moment, I felt sorry for him. He was suffering alone, so I held his outstretched hand in the air unintentionally.


    <em>‘His hands are cold.’</em>


    It was frigid, very much unlike the emperor I know who always maintained a high body temperature. I sped my hand, hoping that the warmth of my hand would be passed on to him.


    <em>‘It’s okay. I’m here. Your doll is here.’</em>


    I hoped he felt the presence of the doll even when he was sleeping, to help him calm down. Then I stroked his head with my left hand; slowly and carefully, to make sure he notices.


    “Liliana…”


    How long has it been?


    I don’t know whether if it was because he noticed my touch, but his painful struggles slowly subsided. Little by little, the emperor’s face, which had been unbearably distorted, rxed.


    <em>‘Was it effective?’</em>


    In that state, the emperor slowly opened his eyes.


    “…who?”


    He was barely awake, his longshes shivering slightly. My heart pounded when I saw those red rimmed eyes.


    I took a big risk to try and calm him down, but now he dares to wake up and then attack me with such tantalizing beauty?! The nerve of him!


    <em>‘Hmmm, should I make him go to bed again?’</em>


    As if he had no knowledge of his sins against me, he hugged me as soon as his golden orbs regained their rity and focus.


    “Ah! Liliana!”


    <em>‘Ahh!’</em>


    When an oversized man came at me, it was hard for me to bear the weight. I just fell back without any resistance. Fortunately, the emperor supported the back of my head, so I was able to avoid injuries from urring.


    <em>‘Umm… what’s up with this?’</em>


    I was so surprised and stunned at the same time, but the emperor just hugged me tightly. At one point, both of us were lying on the floor. When I fell, the emperor seemed to have fallen off the sofa with me.


    “Liliana, Liliana.”


    His whole body was lying over me, trembling. The emperor, who always had a threatening aura, grabbed me without hesitation and shook. Somehow, my heart felt faint.


    In the book, simply calling it a ‘nightmare’ was insufficient to describe hisplicated expressions and thoughts. This one simple word, in real life, was not really that simple at all.


    <em>‘His nightmares are pretty serious.’</em>


    I patted his back slowly to reassure him. Then there was only silence left in the bedroom. Fortunately, his trembling soon abated. But even after it stopped, for a while, the emperor still did not rise.


    I nced at him with a thoughtful expression.