“……Ahem, ugh, my stomach.”
I forced my staggering steps under control and opened the door to my quarters.
The trouble had been drinking two whole bottles of that strong whiskey Maximilien had brought out, without any food or water.
‘This is why you should drink with your own money. I ended up chugging it like beer…’
Thinking back on the way I had jumped out of my skin and frantically made excuses over one terrifying drunken joke from that terrifying Crown Prince, a hollow laugh slipped out even through my drunken haze.
As I approached my quarters, the guards all saluted at once and opened the door for me, and as soon as it opened, my personal attendant hurried over and took my outerwear.
“Welcome back, Your Highness. You seem terribly drunk.”
“Yeah, yeah, thank you for working so late. His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince gave me a lot of good liquor… Ahh, I think I’ll need something really strong for a hangover tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Is there any particular dish you would like for breakfast?”
“Mm…… Please make me one spicy bowl of ramyeon. With one egg cracked in.”
“Pardon? May I ask what ra, ramyeon is……?”
The attendant blinked in confusion at a word he had never heard in his life.
Only then did it occur to my alcohol-soaked, half-asleep brain that it had been a long time since I’d been transmigrated into the world of a romance fantasy novel.
This happens sometimes when I’m drunk.
“Ah, sorry. How should I put it? It’s a dish from my homeland…”
Pressing hard on my throbbing temples, I began explaining the information about ramyeon in my head as specifically as I could.
“So, I guess you could call it noodles boiled in meat broth with spicy red pepper powder? The noodles are slightly wavy, and make them moderately thick, then just crack one egg into it and bring it to me.”
“Ah, you mean a spicy, hot meat noodle dish. I will tell the head chef to prepare it. Please rest comfortably.”
After hearing the attendant’s answer, I gave a vague nod, then collapsed onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
#
The next morning.
It was the weekend, four days before the social season began in earnest.
Clutching my throbbing head, I opened my eyes late. After getting out of bed, yawning, washing my face, and rustling around for a bit, I opened the lid of the breakfast the attendants had brought in and let out an exclamation.
“Ooh……”
Thinly sliced green onions floated atop a steaming, deep-red meat broth, and one egg had been beaten in and mixed with the noodles.
“Wow, I didn’t even ask, but how did they know my taste and add green onions? Let’s see—khaa……!”
Without even using a spoon, I lifted the bowl itself and drank the broth first.
Naturally, it did not have the texture of the firm, fried noodles I used to eat in my original world, nor the MSG flavor of instant soup powder.
But ramyeon was still ramyeon, and the skill of the imperial head chef of the Great Empire did not disappoint me in the slightest.
The deep flavor of the heavy broth, as though high-quality meat and bones had been simmered for a long time, and the spiciness of the chili that numbed my mouth were more than enough to satisfy my expectations for a hangover ramyeon.
“Haa, now I feel like I can live again.”
Wiping the beads of sweat from my forehead with a towel, I scraped the bottom of the bowl clean without leaving a single drop of broth.
After finishing my meal, I took a refreshing hot shower and loosened up with some light stretching.
“Good. I’m feeling stiff, so maybe I’ll go for a light cardio run.”
Feeling much lighter, I changed into light clothes and stepped out of my quarters to go running by the riverside.
But just as I was about to pass through the entrance, a guard who normally would have merely bowed and stepped aside politely blocked my way.
“I apologize, Your Highness. Today, going outside is being strictly controlled.”
“Pardon? You let me go out without issue yesterday, didn’t you?”
When I asked in confusion, the guard gestured awkwardly toward the outside of the imperial palace and added,
“Well, until yesterday morning it was fine, but from the evening onward, the great nobles attending the social gatherings have been arriving in the capital one after another. Moreover, from tomorrow, the preliminary events and parties will begin in earnest, so inspections throughout the capital have been strengthened to more than three times their usual level, and the security level inside the imperial palace has also been raised to its highest.”
“Ah……”
“Furthermore, when Your Highness goes out, as a rule, Sir Amber White, who serves as your observer, must accompany you. Ordinarily, this has been overlooked at the discretion of the Intelligence Bureau, but in an emergency situation like now, with nobles flocking in, we too must follow the rules. Something unfortunate could happen.”
“I understand. It is a shame, though.”
“Shall I contact Sir White immediately and request that she accompany you outside?”
“No, that’s all right. I’d feel bad calling in someone who’s off duty on the weekend just to bother them. I’ll rest quietly in my room today. Keep up the good work.”
I accepted it cleanly and turned back.
“If I can’t run, I might as well use this chance to study quietly.”
I decided to look at the book on the Imperial Old Tongue—that is, Mongolian—that I had borrowed from the library.
In my previous life, I had considered myself something of a language person.
I was confident in English, having even served as an interpreter soldier and provided interpretation support at a large-scale summit. I had also learned a certain amount of Japanese, the basic requirement of any otaku, as well as Latin, which I studied after taking an interest in it, German, which had been my second foreign language, and even Arabic, which I studied to get into Seoul National University—though I only knew the very basics of that one. In short, I had covered the foundations of various languages.
But the Imperial Old Tongue was truly difficult beyond imagination.
“No, how do you pronounce this… Ugh, this is too hard, isn’t it? At least the word order is the same as Korean…”
There was a reason almost no one learned it these days.
The more I studied, the more bizarre grammatical systems kept popping out, driving me insane.
“Ah, my head hurts.”
With a quill held crookedly in my mouth, I grabbed at my hair with both hands and began studying.
It was good that I had greeted the Emperor in the Old Tongue and farmed affection points, but for that affection farming to succeed all the way through, more effort was necessary.
Eventually, I wanted to learn it to the point where I could hold a conversation in the Old Tongue.
Knock, knock.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
“Come in.”
When I answered casually, the door opened, and Chloe came trotting in, wearing a bright lemon-colored everyday dress.
“Ian, are you busy?”
“Ah, Your Highness! What brings you here?”
I hurriedly put down the pen I had been holding in my mouth and sprang to my feet, greeting her gladly.
Seeing Chloe’s spring-breeze-like smile made my head, which had felt like it was about to burst, feel clear again.
“Next week, the social season begins in earnest, doesn’t it? As an imperial princess about to make her debutante, I’ll have to run around nonstop to all sorts of banquets, tea parties, and gatherings with noble ladies…… So it seems it’ll be difficult to read books together at the detached palace for a while.”
“I suppose so. You must be very busy as well, Your Highness.”
“So, before the social season starts in earnest and I get busy, I thought I’d stop by so we could read together and have tea, even if only for a little while. I’m not interrupting you, am I?”
Chloe asked apologetically, looking at the books scattered messily across my desk.
I shook my head vehemently.
“Interrupting? Absolutely not! I was just wrestling with an Old Tongue book and felt as if my brain was about to explode. You have come at the perfect time to save me, Your Highness.”
“No way, Ian! You were even studying the Old Tongue?”
“I want to study enough to hold a simple conversation by the end of this year. I’ll bring out some warm tea. Please sit comfortably on this soft sofa.”
“Hoho, thank you.”
Happily humming to myself, I turned toward the cupboard to prepare the tea set and tea leaves.
It was at that moment.
“Ian, I’m here!”
“……!!”
Both I and Chloe, who had been about to sit on the sofa, startled and whipped our heads toward the door at the same time.
When the door opened, Imperial Princess Victoria was there, with a new wooden sword resting on her shoulder.
“Ian, have you been well? Since I’ll be busy for a while and probably won’t be able to see you often, I brought you a little gift—”
Victoria, who had strode confidently into my room while calling out, soon discovered Chloe sitting demurely on the sofa in the middle of the sitting room and abruptly stopped in her tracks.
“Gasp.”
Victoria inhaled sharply.
And at the same time, the smile vanished completely from Chloe’s lips, though she had been smiling gently at me just moments ago.
Thak.
Chloe set the book she had been holding onto the table with a sharp sound, then slowly rose to her feet and turned her head toward Victoria, who stood at the entrance.
Her clear and affectionate violet eyes filled with killing intent in an instant.
“…Why are you here?”
With a gaze mixed with vicious contempt and hatred, Chloe spoke coldly to Victoria.