The man grumbled to himself a bit before getting out of his chair and walking to a cab not too far from his desk.


    The subus made sure to keep an eye on the man in case he did anything suspicious.


    But, all he did was pull out a few scrolls and toss them to me, only uttering a few more sentences before sitting down and returning to his work.


    "You can find themon information elsewhere. The dirt is right there, but it is sealed by my sponsor, an influential being in this kingdom who wants to reform it. If you find her, be sure to tell her the keyword: Kilt of Dreams,"


    He didn''t say anything else after that, and his attitude and seriousness made me smile a bit.


    "I like you. How about we get a beer sometime," I suggested, but the man just waved me off as he continued to read the paper in front of him.


    So, we left just like that, even needing to dodge a few des which came at us as soon as we exited the man''s office.


    But, as soon as we left, we were soon greeted by a strange encounter as tons of citizens were lined up along the streets, waving at a carriage of two frost rabbit women who gently waved back.


    "They smell good," The subus beside me muttered, and as my eyes shifted onto them, one of them locked eyes with me.


    Her smile slightly wavered, but she soon looked at another person, and her smile persisted back onto her face as if it was fighting for a spot.


    "How so?" I asked, and the subus just shrugged gently, and by putting all the signs together, I knew they were dangerous.


    She only says something like that when somebody isthered in miasma, meaning one thing… they are dangerous, and we should be wary of them… obviously.


    We decided to get some lunch right after the little parade, and I could tell the subus was feeling down now.


    Normally, she was all cheery with bright smiles and such, but now, she was just expressionless without much energy.


    "Do you not know how to frown?" I asked, my hand shifting over her hand in order tofort her.


    "What do you mean?" She asked as she stirred the cream into her coffee, a little smile appearing on her face, but it was t, still without emotion.


    "*sigh*... If you''re sad or disappointed about something, you can tell me," I muttered, and the subi''s eyes drifted over to me from her coffee.


    "You know. I can''t cry or even frown to this day," The subus admitted, a surprising turn of events for somebody as prideful as her.


    Admitting a weakness like that, which might not be useful in battle but useful in the mind games, could be devastating… though, of course, it seems she''s only told this to me, signaling her overwhelming trust for me.


    "It''s okay to be a sociopath. In fact, Arpious and Loath are practically psychopaths… and maybe you asionally, but that''s fine. I don''t care," I said, and the subus creased her lips as she looked down at her coffee again.


    "I uhhh… I… I''m not a sociopath. Maybe a psychopath, but not a sociopath. I just can''t cry anymore because it''s been beaten out of me since I was a child… Being raised to be the empress of such a terrible empire really takes a toll on you… The training isn''t easy, and showing weakness was a guaranteed way to get you beaten or verbally abused," The subus muttered with a weary smile, stirring her coffee once more.


    My mouth just hung there, surprised,pletely in shock, or you could say bbergasted. I was entirely shaken to the core that the subus had experienced such a thing.


    "I know you never wanted me to learn your name, but can you please tell me? I won''t tell anyone… I swear," I muttered, and the subus looked back up at me with a dead and t smile.


    "It''s-"


    "No, not the fake one. Your real one," I said, seeing straight through her as whenever she does a hard blink, I knew she was lying.


    "Salvaloth Zelgerik… the third. My mother was the previous empress, but I''ve never known my father. The emperor was somebody entirely different,"


    "Zelgerik? You mean the one who rose to be a demon lord?" I asked as I knew I had heard thatst name from somewhere before.


    "Yeah. That was the father of the emperor of my time… Anyway, the emperor had hundreds of concubines, and my mother trained, beat, and tortured me until I was the sole victor. Standing on a pile of corpses feels nice, but seeing how selfish your mother can be after all your hard work is… it really sucks," The subus muttered.


    As I held onto her hand, I wondered why she was telling me all of this. Well, I could tell she was trying to make me pity her, but she always does that, and all of this didn''t seem like a lie.


    So, I decided to give it to her straight.


    "Why are you telling me this? Do you want to cuddle again or something?" I chuckled a bit, but the subus didn''t smile and kept her expressionless face locked onto me.


    "I''m jealous. For the first time in my life, I''m jealous. Everything has been an act. You could say it was me trying to get your attention, but not really jealousy… I''ve never felt so terrible in my life," The subus said, and she slowly stood up, leaving the cafe.


    I quickly chased after her once I had paid the bill and walked beside her as we made our way toward the hotel.


    "What are you jealous of? Is there something you want to tell me?" I asked, caressing her shoulder as I pulled her in close.


    "Why not marry me? Why are you marrying just Loath? Why are you marrying just Arpious? What about me? Am I just a sex toy to you?" The subus asked with a creepily dead smile that almost seemed to re at me.


    "Huh?"