Prologue
Prologue
I used to be an ordinary man living in the 21st century. Then one day I woke up reincarnated in a world I'd never seen before.
My name is Roman Lucas.
Until I turned eighteen, I had no memory of my previous life.
At eighteen, a war broke out, and I was summoned to the Imperial Palace.
The state called, I answered, and on the day I was to be knighted—
"Do you swear fealty to the Empire?"
I looked at the imperial princess standing before me and felt my blood run cold.
I had never seen her face before. The princess was barely fifteen. Yet her face was unsettlingly familiar.
As if I'd seen it dozens—no, hundreds—of times.
That was the moment my memories from before this life came flooding back.
The world I'd been reincarnated into after dying in 21st-century Korea was the setting of a romance fantasy novel I used to devour.
And the princess knighting me was the very woman destined to become the empire's most infamous villainess—the one who'd left countless readers gaping in horror.
The architect of the empire's collapse into three warring states. The tyrant who'd later unleash five Blood Purges and slaughter every last person of talent in the realm. A monster among monsters.
I stared at the imperial princess who would soon become the worst villainess in history and opened my mouth with a heavy heart.
"I do."
There was no way I could say "I don't."
I'm rather attached to my neck staying attached.
"Henceforth, you are a sword of the Empire. But before that, you will be a shield to the imperial princess. You will give your all—not for the Empire, but for me. Should I die, you will follow shortly after."
Throw myself into protecting her if I wanted to stay in one piece.
That was Diana through and through.
The smile she wore as she said it was breathtakingly beautiful.
I looked at that smile and made a promise to myself.
Before that smile could be worn away by the palace's power struggles, I would flee. Flee from the Imperial Palace, flee from all the deadly intrigues of a romance fantasy novel.
I swear that was the plan.
"So this is where you chose to run from Us. A restaurant this shabby... is it not?"
"Your Majesty..."
"A Knight Restaurant, though—how fitting for you. The food you made when you served in Our knight order still lingers on Our tongue."
Click. Click.
The sound of the Empress's footsteps drew closer.
Her aura pressed down on me until I could barely breathe.
She stopped so near that the scent of her perfume stung my nose. Then she spoke again.
"But We can never permit the first knight We ever acknowledged to rot away in a place like this."
I ran because of you. You absolute menace.
"Come back. To where you belong. The kimchi stew you made for Us—We remember it as if We tasted it yesterday."
I don't want to die.