Author Note: Whoops, ended up double posting the chapter. Sorry for those who were inconvenienced~

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“So, what kind of game are we talking about?”

“Well, it’s a game to lure out the whoever is wasting these spies that he planted just for the sake of getting rid of you.”

“...Spies?”

What do spies have to do with this?

“Oh...well, remember the servants who tried to kill you?”

“Of course I remember those guys. What type of palace do you run, if even the servants you just hired don’t go through a background check? Hiring undercover assassins!”

Chris simply smiled under my question, “We haven’t actually hired anyone for a few months, y’know? These guys were here way before I even got you to the capital!”

“Huh?”

“Well, me, being the emperor and having both of my parents...well, mysteriously die in a freak accident is proof enough of how turmoil the capital is in, no?”

“Ahh...I-I’m sorry...”

“Oh, if it’s about my parents, then you don’t have to bother. It’s not like I remember them, to be frankly honest.”

Chris shrugged his shoulders...although, the sorrow in his eyes was not masked fast enough, so I couldn’t have helped but lay glimpse to it.

Although...well, I really want to ease his sorrow...but, well, we aren’t that close to begin with so be it.

It is not the time for me touch the sorrow that’s within his heart.

“S-so, what you’re saying is...the one behind all of this is risking his own inside agents...in order to get rid of me?”

“Bingo!” [A/N: who would have thought that bingo existed in this world...]

“Then I don’t want to be a part of it at all.”

Chris looked as if he was taken aback, “E-eh...?”

Did he just steal my ‘eh’?!

How dare he!

But anyhow, “Look, Chris, I’m tired...alright? And to be completely honest, I don’t like playing with people’s lives. Sure, they sent people after me, but look...aren’t I safe?”

Hmm...I wonder why he looks even more taken aback?

“You...don’t like to toy with people’s lives...?”

Hmm, hmm...why the hell is his expression quickly turning to a one that’s painstakingly holding back laughter!?

Soon enough, he swallowed the laughter deep into his body, and coughed once, “I-I can hardly believe that...”

“Sigh. I just don’t want it to have anything to do with me, okay?”

Since, after all, I bet it’s all a trap set up by you for the sake of ‘sweeping’ me off my ‘feet’.

I bet the whole farce with the assassination attempts are all your fault!

Hehe, nothing beats resolving a plot twist before it’s revealed. And because I already know about said plot twist, I refuse to follow along up to the point where it is revealed!

Sure, it’s irresponsible of me to think like this...but look, I’m tired, alright?

“I-I see...hmm, and here I thought I was going to set up a prize if you were to win the game...Siiii~iiiigh!”

That over dramatized sigh...without a doubt, my suspicions must be true! This whole ‘playing with my kidnapped victim’s wife’ farce is being planned by him!

“...I’m not a kid, so those kind of temptations won’t work on me.”

I quickly turned back and began to climb to my bed, planning to go straight to bed.

“Huh...even though Colonel Luke recommended me buying the fully immersive crystal gear...”

And with that simple sentence, my neck turned 180 degrees so fast that a snapping sound vibrated throughout the room.

“WAIT A SECOND!!! You don’t exactly mean that super expensive, full body crystal chamber than lets you enter the game itself...are you?!”

“Indeed. Sigh. Truly, what a waste of resources! Rather than using it to create weapons that protects the empire from monsters, they use it to create useless things such as games...”

What...did this fucker...just say?

“Your arse is a waste! This whole palace is a waste! This freaking ‘crystal empire’ is a waste! Don’t you dare say that about my games ever again!!”

“Well,” Chris got up, “Since you don’t want to enjoy this rare opportunity that I’m offering...I’ll be smashing that toy of yours that I bought, and have it’s pieces made into useful objects such as swords and spears!”

This bastard!

Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!! I got to calm down!! He’s obviously trying to provoke me!!!!

Take a breath in, and then breath out.

“*Hii Hii Fuuu...Hii Hii Fuuu*”

“You’re already pregnant with our child, Kai?”

“........! Bastard!!”

I’m a man dammit!

“Oh, and by the way, I’ll be taking that crystal gear I gifted you last week.”

“Huh? Why?!”

Chris smiled gently, “Because you’re not planning to play any kind of game with me, so I’m pissed off...and thus, I’ll be taking back everything I’ve given you!”

“You...isn’t that called being a spoiled child?!”

Chris’s smile only turned gentler, “I’m the emperor. If I wasn’t spoiled, then who is?”

Arrgghhh that sarcastic smile....!!

“...Fine, I’ll play into your hand! But, only with a condition!!”

“Huehuehue~ Even a goddess will listen to your prays if you play your cards right! Oh, in this case, if you pressed the right combination for dealing the perfect combo, effectively stunning her to the point where she can only give up and listen!”  

“...You’ve just cornered me, you ruthless brat!”

“So, tell me about the game.”

Chris crossed his arms, “Well, I actually don’t really have anything in mind. Let’s just say that it’s a creativity-like game. Your goal is to find the person behind everything...how exactly you go about it, is all up to you, really~”

“Oh...okay. Oh, and what type of game did you get me alongside the Dream Crystal?”

By the way, the crystal chambers is also known by another name, which is a dream crystal.

It’s actually called that because of the fact that it only operates when the player sleeps within the crystal’s chambers...so yeah, a dream crystal!

“To be honest, I don’t know much about it myself...However, I do know the game’s title. If I remember correctly, it was called ‘The Winter.’”

“...............”

He actually got me The Winter!

The Winter is a role-playing game, pretty much comparable with reality. Be it with swords or magic! Although the game’s weapons aren’t crystal but are made of metal, their power is far stronger than crystal swords. It’s story is also quite compelling. It’s about how the dragons launched an attack at the very beginning of winter. You play the role of a villager, who’s village and family have been killed of by the kingdom in one-summer, and how you pursue your revenge against the kingdom...only, at nearing the end, the villager who wished to destroy the kingdom ends up being the one who saved it! Truly, a compelling story!!

“Alright, Chris! Where are the assassins that we captured throughout the week?”

Chris quickly rose an eyebrow, “If you’re planning on interrogating them...I advise you to give up.”

“Hehe, Chris, don’t you know that as soon as you said those words, you rose my success flag? Now, even if I truly wanted to interrogate them, I’ll succeed! So, please lead the way!”

“Umm, Kai, I just said this earlier...we’ve already tried everything. We even chopped off their limbs and re-grew them. We even offered them a peaceful life and immense fortune. Yet, they accepted none!”

“Just hurry up and lead the way. Chopping someone’s limbs off? Of course they won’t tell you anything! Heck, all that pain could’ve just numbed their senses!!”

“Alright. Since you’re so confident, of course I’ll believe in you, My goddess!”

“...Aren’t you supposed to be denying the mere possibility of me succeeding until the very end?”

“Huh~ But isn’t trust the most important thing in a relationship?”

I quickly got up from the bed and began my preparations, while of course giving a side glance to Chris, “Then why don’t you tell me about your gender?”

“Hmm...but isn’t it obvious simply by looking at me?”

“It isn’t! That’s why I asked you!!”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Huehuehue, since you’re this stubborn...you’ll truly have to find out in bed! Who knows,, you might be lucky and I turn out to be a woman~”

“...Hurry up and lead the way, will you?”

Like hell I’ll share a bed with someone like you!

I’m not one to take chances, you hear!!

Soon enough, we decedent quite a few stairways before we finally reached a gloomy wooden door.

And by the way, ironically enough, no one even tried to escort the emperor down here...to the dungeons!

Is he being bullied? If so, serves him right!

“We’re here~”

And with that a light push, the wooden door creaked open.

From within, all that you could see was a poorly lightened room.

This room had many doors on both sides of the walls, presumably taking me to a specific cell.

“So, the guys that tried to get to you are all held in chambers ten to thirty five~”

“Alright...”

I quickly strode off to the left, straight to the wooden door that held a small plank labeled as “10” and pushed on it.

Surprisingly enough, the door opened.

“It’s not...locked?”

Chris laughed from behind me, “Haha~ Well, if anyone was able to escape from within the insides of the chambers, then this little wooden door wouldn’t really hold them back at all~”

“Is that so...”

I quickly entered the room, which was even more poorly lighten than the previous room--or should I call the previous place a hallway? Passageway? Well, whatever that place was.

At least in the previous room, you could make out what was written on the doors...but in this room, you can hardly see beyond your extended arm!

I heard a clapping sound from behind me, and the room was instantly well lightened.

I quickly turned around to face Chris, who was just smiling.

“I see that you can use magic as well...”

And I returned my vision back to the inwards of the room.

Within, a solitary chair could be seen.

Of course, the chair was occupied by a middle aged man with disarrayed hair.

His skin complexion looked a bit pale, and his eyes were bloodshot. However, his expression was strangely calm.

The middle aged man’s hands and legs were tightly bound to the chair’s own limbs via circular crystals.

“Oh, if it isn’t the princess.”

Ugh, the middle aged man sound quite mad...

“If it isn’t the cook who tried to poison me...”

The middle aged man broke a furious expression, “And look at you! Aren’t you all fine and dandy? Isn’t that all that matters?! Why the hell are you making me go through all of this?”

I quickly took a step backward...but then took a big gulp of my own saliva.

This is a man who tried to kill me. He’s nothing but an animal.

“I-if you talked earlier...then none of this or that would have happened...”

“Hmph.”

I quickly took out a simple looking bottle, and began to empty it’s contents on the palm of my hands.

Chris simply stood off to the side in the shadows, not uttering a single word...heck, even his breath can’t be heard! If I didn’t enter the room with him, I would probably doubt that he was even in here. The middle aged man...probably didn’t notice him at all.

“What are you planning on doing, princess? Are you here to wash my hair?”

“Hehe, mock me while you still can...You see, I heard that you didn’t break even after having your limbs get torn out, right?”

“Hmph, that’s right. My lord isn’t someone I would betray in this lifetime or the next one! So what if I lose a limb or two? Pain is only something temporary after all!”

“I see, I see,” I quickly nodded to him, “Pain is something temporary...I couldn’t have agreed more!”

“So, what are you planning?”

“Hehe, so you are interested in what I’m planning to do to you! Well, to be honest, what I have in mind is pretty mediocre. It isn’t something as horrible as cutting off your arm or leg...in fact, I bet you had this sort of pain pretty much everyday before you got into this hellhole!”

As I said that, I started walking to the middle aged man.

As soon As I reached up to the middle aged man, I extended my hands to his face.

“Hehe, so you are planning on washing my hair!” The middle aged man sarcastically laughed.

After that, he tried to take a bite of my hands...but unfortunately, the crystals on his limbs tightened and he was forced to come to a stop.

My hand quickly reached his eyes...and I gently began to rub them.

“Hehehe, this is my secret weapon...Shampoo!”

Even if you got used to getting your limbs torn apart, there’s no way you could get over having shampoo remotely touching your eyes!

“Arrgh....AHHHH!!”

The middle aged man began to slowly shout--scream in misery.

After about three minutes, he finally calmed down.

“You...you monster!”

My body began to shiver a bit, but I quickly calmed myself down as well.

“Hehehehe~ There’s no way any person could get used to the pain of having shampoo in their eyes! Believe me, shampooing this long hair of mine gets me to have some of ‘em in my eyes every single day...and it still hurts up until now and probably into the future as well!”

“H-Hmph, this isn’t enough to get me talking!”

Oh, I already guessed that...

And thus, I brought a little something with me!

“Do you recognize this, my dear friend?”

The middle aged man took a look at the object at my hand, and he simply sneered. “Isn’t that a chair’s leg? What possibly can you do with that?”

I quickly lowered my self down, and took off the middle aged man’s shoes.

“Oh, you’ll understand the hard way in a bit...”

And with that, I lightly hit the middle aged man’s toe with the chair’s leg.

“A-AHHHH!!!”

“Yes, hitting your toe on the edge of a furniture is the worst. It hurts so much! Doesn’t it? Sure, it might not hurt as much as cutting off one’s limbs...but, you know, there’s this sort of pain that is simply indescribable. It’s not absolute pain, but it’s that tingling feeling that’s for sure gets to you from hitting your toe on the edge of something or shampoo into your eyes!”

When the middle aged man finally calmed down again, he looked at me with fear in his gaze.

“Y-you...”

Before he could finish, I took out another instrument.

“This, is my master piece!”

What I held in my hands...was a hot cup of coffee!

I lightly took a sip out of it, and it instantly burned off my tongue.

“Isn’t it just horrible? Drinking coffee that’s too hot! Sure, having it hot is super great...but too hot, y’know...”

And with that, I proceeded to making him chug it down.

He coughed a few times as he chugged it down, I could already feel the pain he’s feeling from his expression alone!

“T-this...i-isn’t...e-e-enough...!!”

“I-is that so...well, you forced my hand!”

I then took out the last thing that I had ready.

It was a medical pill.

It isn’t poison, nor did it actually cure anything.

“This, my dear middle aged friend, is a sleep inducing pill!”

As I said that, I immediately forced it down his throat.

“Bgouughh!!!”

After a few minutes went by, the middle aged man passed out.

It took about three hours before he woke up again.

“Did you have a great dream?”

The old man looked at me a bit confused, of course he would.

The pill I got him to swallow wasn’t any ordinary pill...it was one hell of an expensive sleeping pill! I had these ordered for me when I didn’t really want to kill myself. What did they do aside from making one sleep? Well, they say that it’s made from some herb-monster that make you able to experience happy dreams...and isn’t it the worst? Waking up from a pretty happy, satisfying dream...only to realize that you returned to reality?!

Of course, I can be happy with momentary happiness...but I’ll still get depressed when I wake up.

The middle aged man quickly sobered up, and looked extremely depressed. “Will you leave if I tell you what I know?” The middle aged man said dejectedly.

In the end, normal life is the one that hurts the most!