Yesterday, no, she didn’t even have to mention yesterday.

How peaceful had her mind been, just an hour back? If a person who had seen her an hour back, caught sight of her right now, he would have doubted that they were the same people. Appearance-wise, sure, both looked the same, just that this form of her’s looked quite miserable.

She’d never felt happy being alive after her family fell apart, shattered like pieces of glass. However, her low level of satisfaction, and her survival instincts, still remained top-class, unaffected by these circumstances.

In these brief moments, Abigail had called out the names of all the gods she could remember, even though she didn’t believe in them, till she got tired of doing so. ‘Please save my life. I promise to be a much better person than I am, as of now.’ She kept pleading, even though she knew she didn’t deserve it, not after her countless complaints and desire to not live before.

Yet, when Abigail thought about it, this situation has not risen because of her not living life properly.

It seemed that Abigail actually wanted to live, to her own surprise. She spent three months serving alone under the Princess. An example of her amazing survival instincts; she, who hadn’t even bowed her head down before, had to kneel in front of a man, whose identity was a mystery, a blank expression on her face.

She felt like she would have to fall flat on her face and beg for forgiveness, even if it wasn’t her fault at all. But unfortunately, Abigail couldn’t even move an inch at the moment, she just sat there, frozen.

The immense pressure emanating, that appeared to tear down every human in front of him, gradually disappeared. Before she knew it, he sat before her, cross-legged. An indifferent stare was thrown casually at her.

To be frank, Abigail guessed that his head was simply facing her direction. The look in his eyes signified that he was lost in some completely different thoughts.

Abigail blinked her eyes nervously, sweat trailing down her back. It might be comfortable for the man to think while staring at her direction, but this was definitely not a pleasant experience for her. She couldn’t settle down with his gaze burning, piercing into her. Not to mention, the main issue here was something else.

It would be unreasonable to ask her to relax, because she couldn’t even shift her neck a bit, with this goddamned knife pointed at it. She definitely couldn’t pretend to be alright, when her head could be chopped off any moment, had she moved from her place.

If it weren’t for this glinting knife in the first place, the man would have seen her lying flat on the floor. In her mind, she had already bashed her head multiple times on the concrete floor.

“… You.”

An involuntary shudder ran past Abigail’s spine as his eyes glared at her. She was scared out of her wits. She tried to reply, but reflexively, no sound came out of her mouth. The cold edge of the knife was kissing her neck.

She couldn’t help but think that if her throat shook, she would lose her life, then and there. But the man, surprisingly, didn’t reprimand her for not answering. With slitted eyes, he glanced at her, again. His voice echoed as he murmured in a low voice;

“Your hair, it’s auburn.”

Her heart would have jumped in joy if it had been Her Majesty, whom she had met in a dream, had said this. But since it was this man… her survival instincts were triggered again.

Her eyelashes trembled, and she sent a look at the man. She ceased the urge to slap the man but still did it mentally. Abigail didn’t want to be reminded of it.

“Even your eyes…”

“……”

“Ha, same color as the Emperor.”

Abigail looked at him in shock. He had actually casually pronounced the Emperor’s title without using the honorifics. This was something that wouldn’t be tolerated by a well-educated aristocratic woman,  as well as a lady-in-waiting. She silently berated him in her mind, eyes growing wide.

“There’s no way I would let a useful person die just like that. Right?”

The man, who was muttering strange words, chucked deeply.

Ah, so handsome…

Abigail, who had forgotten that her life was at stake, looked at the man’s face as if she had been possessed for a moment. When she broke out of her trance, her eyes fixed into a glare as if she were wary of him.

Was this man crazy? Why was he laughing like that?

A man who laughed for no reason, as if he had eaten something wrong, suddenly pulled the knife away. When the knife that was threatening her life every few seconds disappeared, Abigail was instinctively relieved.