“Am I... I have nothing to do?”

Andrea asked the chief attendant suddenly while looking into the mirror and having his hair brushed.

“If you mean something to do....”

The chief attendant made an ambiguous expression.

“I am the emperor. I’m asking whether there is no state affairs or anything I should be doing.”

The attendants’ expressions visible beyond the mirror stiffened. They looked as if they were shocked, and as if they were embarrassed. In any case, their eyes said they had heard a rather strange question.

“Are you perhaps bored?”

The chief attendant asked cautiously. It did not sound sarcastic, just sincerely asked.

At the faces that even held some concern, Andrea quietly swallowed a sigh.

It had already been almost a week since he entered the imperial palace.

For the first two or three days, he thought they were being considerate, letting him rest because he had been in an accident and had even lost his memory before barely surviving. But even now, Andrea still had nothing in particular to do.

Just keeping a small monastery on the frontier running made the abbot look very busy. If even a monastery was like that, then shouldn’t the emperor of this huge empire truly be so busy he had no time to breathe?

Andrea thought that, since he knew nothing, he would end up learning all sorts of things and living busily from now on. But no matter how long he waited, no one expected Andrea to handle state affairs. Even Duke Fernan, who came every day for private audiences, never asked Andrea for anything.

Thanks to that, Andrea was spending the whole day getting up when he naturally woke, washing, dressing himself up, eating, and loafing around. When he found the banquets with the nobles burdensome, the chief attendant even took it upon himself to remove them from the schedule. In the end, Andrea stayed shut in the bedroom, dressing himself in pretty clothes, eating, drinking, and sleeping in repetition. A luxurious prison life was terribly boring.

“Then shall I order a simple party for this evening?”

As if interpreting Andrea’s silence, the chief attendant asked as though soothing a child.

“...A party?”

At the small question, thinking of the lavish banquets he had seen in books, the chief attendant gave a thin smile with eyes that looked as if he were seeing a cute puppy.

“If you give the order now, it may not be very large, but we can hold a simple party. Your majesty must be bored and stifled as well, so why not attend the banquet and enjoy a pleasant time for once?”

The chief attendant suggested in a gentle tone.

A party....

Andrea thought back to the party scenes he had seen in books. When he imagined being able to see for himself the sight of delicious food and fragrant alcohol overflowing, and men and women dressed beautifully laughing, talking, and dancing, it was a little tempting.

“Can I... do that?”

Andrea asked cautiously, unable to resist the temptation of seeing in person what he had only seen in books. Even knowing that it was not the sort of state business an emperor should be doing, his curiosity came first.

“Everything will be carried out according to your majesty’s will.”

The chief attendant answered lightly, as if solving a trivial matter, then called over the attendant beside him and gave a brief order in a whisper.

So a party in the imperial palace can be held this quickly. Andrea vaguely thought that. Of course, that was a naive thought of Andrea’s alone, who had no idea how the world worked.

As evening approached, the attendants began moving in a strangely busy way.

Even though he had washed in the morning, they led Andrea into a hot bath and washed him thoroughly from head to toe. They massaged his whole body with fragrant oil and carefully cleaned and groomed even the tips of his fingers and toes.

After he put on his shirt and underclothes and returned to the bedroom, new clothes were ready for him to change into. The clothes he always wore already seemed splendid and expensive enough, but this time they were garments that seemed to have been given even more effort.

The attendants dressing Andrea, as always, were expressionless, but they somehow seemed excited. Seeing the attendants so uplifted, Andrea himself was becoming strangely uplifted too.

“What am I supposed to do at a party?”

“Just enjoy yourself. No one will blame your majesty for any words or actions. Those of lower status than your majesty can never speak to your majesty first, that is the rule. So if you see someone you wish to talk to, you may simply greet them, or extend your hand.”

“Mm.”

Andrea gave a small nod.

Perhaps because he was attending a party, even after getting dressed and having his hair combed, the styling was not finished. The attendants brought out one expensive-looking box after another and began trying the frighteningly expensive-looking jewels inside on Andrea in turn.

Each time a jewel was attached to his clothes or hair, Andrea swallowed dryly, thinking about what he should do if he lost or damaged it by mistake. But now that this body belonged to the “emperor,” he could not show refusal or discomfort.

In the end, the attendants adorned Andrea’s long blond hair with a string of jewels linked together with emeralds and diamonds. Andrea looked at himself in the mirror and made a stunned expression.

“You do not like it?”

An attendant asked after seeing Andrea’s expression.

“It’s too... putting ornaments on the head, doesn’t it make me look like a woman?”

When he finally could not hold back and voiced his complaint, the attendants made expressions as if barely suppressing laughter.

“Where is there male or female in beauty?”

The chief attendant said, gazing at Andrea’s appearance with satisfied eyes.

“Was it always like this?”

When Andrea asked with a serious expression, the chief attendant nodded as if it were only natural.

“Perhaps there is someone you would like to be escorted by?”

“Escorted?”

“Yes, your majesty. To bring your majesty into a party like this is an honor. It is also the best way to show your majesty’s favor.”

“Then let’s have Duke Fernan do it.”

Andrea chose Duke Fernan without hesitation. Suspicious as he might be, he was, in any case, his secret jailer, was he not? There was no harm in getting along with him. The more Andrea showed that he relied on him, the more Duke Fernan would lower his guard toward Andrea.

Not long after Duke Fernan was summoned, he was guided into the bedroom.

“Your majesty.”

Duke Fernan gave a light bow and lifted his head.

His blue eyes swept over the dressed-up Andrea with a persistent gaze. Andrea let the duke inspect him, somehow feeling as if he were having a finished product checked.

After carefully examining Andrea’s appearance for a moment, Duke Fernan smiled in satisfaction.

“You are still beautiful, your majesty.”

Duke Fernan praised him and extended his arm. Andrea lightly placed his hand on his arm.

Escorted by the duke, Andrea entered the grand ballroom for the first time.

“His majesty the emperor and Duke Fernan enter!”

As the large, ornate doors swung wide open, the attendant standing inside the door announced their arrival in a loud voice.

Andrea’s eyes were briefly dazzled by the splendid scene of the banquet hall. He had thought he had already seen everything lavish at the last evening feast, but even though it had been prepared in a hurry, the party was truly far beyond anything Andrea could imagine.

Andrea barely held back his dizziness and put strength into the hand resting on Duke Fernan’s arm. Even though he must have felt it, Duke Fernan smiled leisurely and naturally led Andrea to the throne at the far end of the grand ballroom.

When he sat in the chair with the duke’s support, the nobles attending the party all bowed at once.

“Begin the party.”

When Duke Fernan said it as he had whispered, beautiful music began to flow as if they had been waiting only for this moment.

Aside from the hymns sung by the monks, this was the first time he had ever heard anything that could properly be called music. Was this what the heavenly melody he had read about in books was like? Andrea watched the performers gathered in one corner, playing strange-looking instruments, and those who danced gracefully to the music they created.

Andrea, completely absorbed in the music and sights he was experiencing for the first time in his life, somehow found himself holding a glass of wine handed to him by an attendant and sipping it little by little. The wine, which made admiration rise naturally every time he held it in his mouth, was so sweet it could not even be compared to the bland stuff he had drunk at the monastery.

“Your majesty.”

Duke Fernan, who had stood beside Andrea instead of enjoying the party, bent his upper body and whispered softly by his ear. Andrea, who had been almost out of his mind, only then recognized Duke Fernan’s presence.

“Hm?”

When Andrea sent him a puzzled look, Duke Fernan gestured with his eyes toward a man and woman dancing nearby.