empress of otherverse
I arrived in this world before I was legally allowed to drink in Korea. The only alcohol I’ve had so far was a few sips of wine while dining when I lived in the Aeal colony. This was, in fact, the very first time I actually really drank an alcoholic beverage, so I didn’t know the range of my tolerance and when to stop.
This was the biggest mistake I made today.
Lucretius took my cup away from me.
“You need to stop.”
I became furious. He took my drink! The day’s stress finally exploded in me. This man was the reason behind all my problems!
In Korea, they said alcohol was a gift from the devil. It made wines by using a sheep, a monkey, a lion, and a pig’s carcasses as fertilizers for the grapes. That was why when people drank, they became meek like a sheep, loud like a monkey, followed by becoming violent like a lion, and ended up acting dirty like a pig.
That was exactly how I behaved.
I was initially calm, but I started to raise my voice like a monkey. When he took my cup away due to my loudness, I became a lion.
I roared.
“My drink! Give me back my drink!”
“I said stop…!”
Lucretius was getting angry, but I was so furious I couldn’t think straight. I became an furious lion.
…I went after his hand that held my cup. I bit it as hard as I could.
“Gyaaaaaaa!”
He screamed, more so because he was shocked at my behavior rather than the pain. I bet he had never been bitten by a drunk woman before.
When Lucretius dropped the cup in shock, I grabbed it quickly and roared at him again.
“This is MY DRINK!!!”
“…”
The emperor stared at me as if I was an alien. His hand had a clear imprint of my teeth.
Why did I do that? I didn’t know… other than that I was drunk and lost my mind.
However, this wasn’t the end of my embarrassing night.
The pig phase.
I began to feel nauseous.
I gagged.
Lucretius became pale. He looked even more shocked at what was about to happen. I dropped the cup and fell on the floor in front of him. I grabbed his sleeve.
“W, wait…!”
The emperor screamed in genuine fear, but it was too late. I became a pig.
“Blarghhhhh!!!”
“…”
Lucretius looked resigned.
That was when I lost my consciousness.
The biggest problem was when I woke up the next morning, I was greeted by an enormous hangover and a clear memory of my drunken behavior the night before.
I was alone on the bed. It was a beautiful morning with the birds singing about, but I screamed silently.
‘Oh my god! What have I done!! What the hell!!!’
***
I made another ridiculous mistake in the morning. I felt so embarrassed I kicked the blanket. The problem was I was actually NOT alone. He was sleeping on the edge of the bed. It wasn’t the blanket I ended up kicking. It was the emperor.
He woke up and glared at me in irritation.
What I did last night was unforgivable. What I just did to him was icing on the cake.
Oh, I’m dead.
He ordered the servants to bring our breakfasts. He then grabbed me as I was trying to get underneath the blanket to hide. He threw me onto the soft rug.
When I looked closely, it was a different rug than the one I saw last night. The servants probably changed it after I puked all over it.
…I wanted to disappear.
Why was he sleeping on my bed though?
We were on the third floor of the wives’ wing. He ended up spending the night with me and asked the servant to bring our breakfasts so we could dine together.
A table was set up out on the terrace.
I could imagine that the castle was probably in an uproar. A new emperor was appointed along with his first wife yesterday quite suddenly and unexpectedly. Now, the cooks were probably busy preparing the emperor and his wife’s breakfast.
They were probably expecting us to have a lovey-dovey conversation as newlyweds. However, the truth was, it was a conversation between the former emperor’s murderer and his accomplice who happened to be his new wife.
Surprisingly, our conversation wasn’t as shady as one would have expected.
I took a deep breath. I had only known this man for two days, but I already knew that he was no ordinary man. It was very obvious. He killed his own father after all. I had to remember not to let him get to me.
I breathed slowly and opened my eyes. The absurdly handsome young man grinned at me.
I said to him, “Don’t kid around.”
“What do you mean?”
He picked up a baked grouse leg. He looked elegant even when he was chewing on a bird.
I did the same. Not as elegantly as the emperor, but I knew my manners were passable. He saw my effort and grinned at me.
“I see that Duke Aeal made a huge effort to prepare you.”
I didn’t reply. For the year I spent at the Aeal castle, I was trained meticulously. The etiquette they taught me seemed unrealistically strict, but at the time, I didn’t know why. Now I knew.
They had been preparing me for this life in the Cransia royal castle. In fact, the protocols they taught me weren’t even of Bonafit family, but those of the Cransia family. I admit in my current situation, I was finding those lessons helpful, but I still couldn’t help but hate that family.
“What a wise duke.”
“I agree. My father is indeed a very smart man.”
Ironically, we had the same sarcastic sense of humor. However, that was where our similarity ended. I took this chance to gain more information from him.
“You have explained to me the important role the first wife plays. Now, please explain to me why you have given me this role.”
He placed a clean bone on his plate and shrugged. “I already told you. It was an impulse decision.”
I shook my head. “You gave me this crucial rank on an impulse? I don’t believe you. Do I look like an idiot?”
He smiled quietly.
He cleaned his fingers using a white basin on the table as he replied, “Well, I’m not sure if you are an idiot, but… I know one thing for sure. You are a terrible drunk.”
His hand was still clearly marred with my teeth mark from last night. He intentionally waved his hand around to show it off!
“…”
I dropped the bird on my plate.
Dammit! I was so embarrassed I wanted to disappear!