Episode 4

He nodded and turned to leave the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I looked around the unfamiliar room, trying to piece together what had happened. As I was lost in my thoughts, I heard the door open again. I quickly laid back down and pretended to be unconscious. I felt someone sit down next to me.

"Are you going to keep pretending, or are you going to open your eyes?" a voice asked.

I sat up, annoyed. "How perceptive of you," I replied sarcastically.

"Do you even know who I am?" he asked.

"Some rich guy?" I guessed.

He laughed, then reached over and touched my injured ankle. I instinctively tried to pull away.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I protested.

"I'm just checking how bad your injuries are. Stay still, unless you want me to call a doctor," he said.

Calling a doctor would only draw attention to my presence here, and I didn't want that. I still had a bad reputation to live down. What a foolish girl I had been.

"How do I know you're not going to hurt me?" I asked.

He leaned in closer, his breath warm on my face. "If I wanted to hurt you, believe me, I would have done it already. You're in my room, after all, and you know I'm the emperor. But you deny it, so either you're very clever or very stupid..."

"Well, you're the stupid one," I retorted, moving closer to him and pointing my finger at his exposed chest. I couldn't help but notice that something seemed off about his body, but I needed a better look to confirm.

"So you like sneaking into strangers' rooms and touching them, huh? What a little troublemaker," he said before I could say anything. He turned and grabbed my injured foot, pulling off my shoe carefully. I screamed when he touched it, and at the same time, I hit him on the back.

"Are you an idiot? That hurts like hell!" I exclaimed.

"Stop complaining. Who told you to jump out of first-floor windows?" he scolded.

"I didn't know it was so high up," I replied.

As they continued to argue, I heard a throat clearing followed by a male voice.

"Sir, I brought what you asked for," the voice said.

The man glared at him. "Next time, knock," he ordered.

"Sorry, sir. I heard screams and got concerned about your safety. I didn't expect to walk in on this scene," he explained.

"Just go and guard the door. Make sure no one enters," the man said dismissively.

As I covered my face with my hands in embarrassment, the man looked at me over his shoulder.

"Now you're embarrassed, little girl?" he teased.

"Hey, I'm not a little girl," I protested.

"Of course..." he trailed off.

He bandaged my ankle and applied some medicine. When he finished, he stood up. I took the opportunity to sit on the edge of the bed, placing my feet on the floor.

"Did you hurt anything else?" he asked.

"No, nothing," I replied.

When I tried to stand up, the pain in my right side betrayed me, and I fell again, and the man approached me.

"Are you alright?-"

"Of course not, my ribs hurt-"

"Let me see-"

-No, you're crazy!-

From where he was standing, he bends down slightly to try to touch my right side, but at that moment we heard shouts from outside, it was the voice of the man who entered earlier and the prince's voice.

"I need to see my uncle, my parents want to engage me-"

"Prince, please, the emperor asked that no one enters-"

"It's urgent-"

"What the emperor does is too-"

"Move aside-"

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