Atha couldn't sleep until late.
As soon as she lay down on her bed, various thoughts attacked her, and most of her thoughts were focused on this world.
Although she believed from the beginning that she was inside a novel, these people—
'No, can they really be called humans?'
If they feel emotions and speak pre-determined dialogues regardless of their free will, how are they different from puppets or robots?
Perhaps I am the only person in this world who can be called human.
And while she was feeling lonely again—
“Did you enjoy dating the Crown Prince?”
It was the ruler's voice.
Atha sat up, and he asked her with a frowning face again: “I asked you, was dating fun?”
Did he show up now precisely because she was feeling lonely?
Or is it because he is the only entity that knows that she came from another world?
She felt unjustified joy and a smile spread across her lips.
"Why are you laughing?"
The ruler narrowed his eyes suspiciously, and Atha said in a deliberately joking tone: “Nothing, it's just funny.
Your insistence on asking me if it's fun for me to date another man makes you sound exactly like a husband investigating his cheating wife, don't you think?”
“What?!
A wife?!
An investigation?!”
He let out a short laugh in astonishment, then rubbed his hair with his hand and acted like a stern guardian: “Where did you learn those words?
They’re so vulgar.”
Atha placed two pillows on top of each other and leaned her back on them to sit clearly: “How did you know about dating?”
He immediately shrugged his shoulders proudly: “I have my own ways of knowing everything.”
Then Atha's eyes sparkled with interest: "Oh—do you really know everything?
Who does what and where?
Do you know all the people in the world?"
The ruler paused for a moment: “Huh?
No… not quite everything...”
He pretended to be busy with something else for a moment, then returned to looking at Atha and asked: “But it seems that you told the Crown Prince everything yesterday?
Where did you start and where did you reach?
And how detailed were your words?
I thought you mentioned to him that time would return with your death.
Didn’t you tell him everything already?”
When his voice gradually rose, Atha raised her right index finger and placed it on her lips: “Shh—lower your voice.
He will hear us from outside.”
The ruler let out a sarcastic snort: “I told you that I am a ruler!
I have already taken measures to ensure that no sound leaks out.
It seems that you are trying to change the subject, and that is suspicious.
You told him everything, right?
Did you talk about your meeting with me?
No, did you tell him that you came from another world or about the ‘Time Trap’?”
Atha realized that the ruler who acted as if he knew everything, did not in fact know all the details—so she sternly denied: “I did not say that.
And my telling him that time would return with my death was only to ask him to protect me.”
Then the ruler said with amazing impudence: “Will I fail to protect you?”
Hearing those words—rage flared up inside her.
What is this talk that comes too late?
“Didn't you say you wouldn't protect me?”
Atha's voice was filled with an offensive spirit, making the ruler feel flustered at her unsuspecting tone.
“…Huh?”
“I begged you.
I asked you to protect me a little.
What did you say then?
You said ‘I can’t,’ didn’t you?
So what happened to you now to say that you would protect me and so on?”
The ruler swallowed hard.
He unwrapped his crossed hands and legs.
“No, I meant I couldn’t hide you.
But I thought I would protect you in secret...”
"Didn't you say that I have a more important role than just not dying?
You didn't have the slightest intention of protecting me, yet you lied in such a warm and beautiful manner.
Did you leave your conscience in the temple?"
The ruler bowed slightly under the weight of her attack, turning his gaze away, avoiding her eyes.
But he continued to argue with the remaining words he had: "No, I also have tasks at the temple.
I said it because I can't stay attached to you all the time, but I basically have the intention of protecting you."
When he lowered his voice and started muttering, Atha sighed lightly and changed the subject: “But why did you come?”
Once he changed the topic, he looked at her as if he hadn't been frustrated a moment ago: "Nothing, I'm suddenly curious about something.
If you were to marry the Crown Prince—well, how many children would you have?"
A look of astonishment appeared on Atha’s face: “What?
Suddenly like this?
Did you come in the middle of the night to ask about this?”
The ruler shrugged his shoulders as if the question was flawless: “You are my biggest concern right now, and it’s natural, huh?
When I think about your future, I get curious about many things.
So, how many children will you have?”
“……”
Atha was silent as she looked at the ruler, who was asking a question that even the mother-in-law might not ask, and who was rushing her to answer.
I realized a little while ago that this ruler has a personality that cannot bear to conceal his curiosity.
As she continued to stare at him blankly without saying a word, he took a deep breath of distress.
Then he exhaled with features that suggested great patience, and asked in a gentle tone: “Aren’t you going to answer me?”
She waited a little before asking him affectionately: “Are you that curious?”
When she saw him nodding enthusiastically and his eyes shining, Atha suddenly had the idea to snatch something from him.
“If I told you, what would you give me in return?”
Her words seemed unexpected to him.
The ruler stammered with a dazed expression: “What-what can I give you?”
Atha shrugged her shoulders: “I haven't thought about it yet, but there's definitely something you have.
Like, um… something that shines golden, what do you think?”
The governor clicked his tongue in amazement: “Are you thugs?”
Atha opened her eyes wide: “Me?”
“Yes, you.
Who else?
I’m asking you so that I can knit socks in advance for the number of children I have in the future.
Can’t you just answer that?
What?
‘What will you give me’?”
Then Atha winked one eye and shook her head in categorical refusal: “Marriage is still very far away, isn’t it?
If you have nothing to give me, then please leave now.
And stop watching me without my knowledge.”
“You really are...!”
The ruler rose from his place angrily and pointed his finger at Atha: “You have been like this since ancient times!
A mean and heartless child!
And yet I came because I was thinking of you, and I wanted to prepare the children’s socks in advance!”
The sight of him complaining alone was strange.
No, bringing stockings for unborn babies, and no one knows when they will be born?
What kind of great socks does he intend to bring?
'Are we in a relationship that allows this at all?'
Shouldn't he first ask if I have any intention of having children?
'Is it possible that this is also related to the time trap?'
When Atha sensed intuitively that something was uncomfortable and her atmosphere became serious, the ruler asked her with a serious face as well: “Wh-what?
Why did you suddenly become serious?”
Atha stared at him intently, and he examined her with some concern and confusion: “Is it because I said you were mean?”
No, “watching her reaction” was more accurate than worry or confusion.
“Why do you care about a word like that?
It's not like being mean is anything new.
And even if you are mean, huh?
It doesn't mean I hate you.”
Once she heard his words, Atha did not waste the opportunity and asked, “How mean can I be?”
“Huh?”
"No, just hearing the idea that I was mean made me suddenly anxious.
What if the ruler decided to erase me and rewind time, and then teach me again after I was in a state where I knew nothing?"
This was a very important part for Atha.
The Governor draws a line by telling her that she has a mission more important than not dying.
Even though he said late that he would protect her, she cannot read what is inside him, so how can she trust him?
The character of the ruler does not appear often in romance and fantasy novels.
But entities that possess enormous power always tend to act as they please, and their moods fluctuate as they desire.
Although this world is just a book, the fear of death is still real, and paradoxically—
She has no solution, she is just afraid.
Then, he, who did not have the slightest intention of harming her, opened his mouth in astonishment: “How did you think of that?
Hey, don’t worry.
Even if I turn back time, you who know nothing will be just as mean as this.
I’m not taking you back to your early childhood, I’m only taking you back six months, so do you think your personality will go somewhere else?
Your dreams are rosy, girl.”