Sage 3

After falling into the world of <The Book of Irkus>, I desperately searched for the protagonist, Irkus. He was the only person I could recognize from the novel.

Of course, I was aware of the existence of Ra… something, the villain, but I thought it would be easier to find the protagonist than the villain. He’s supposed to be a stunningly beautiful boy. He should stand out.

But I couldn’t find him.

I couldn’t find a stunningly beautiful boy named ‘Irkus’ no matter how hard I looked. Beautiful boys were a rare species, both on Earth and in this world.

At the time, even though I had fallen into the novel, I thought I had entered the timeline of <The Book of Irkus>, and I couldn’t have imagined that I had fallen far earlier than that. To put it in terms of modern-day South Korea, I thought I was coming to the 21st century, but I ended up in the 17th century.

I could barely remember the protagonist’s setting, so there was no way I could accurately remember the year in the story.

I still remember that the Cuban Missile Crisis, which I memorized for the World History exam, happened in 1962, but I couldn’t recall the typical first sentence of a fantasy novel, like the year of the Imperial Calendar. How many people in the world seriously read that number?

The language barrier, the ominous treatment of black hair and black eyes, and the protagonist of the fantasy novel I barely read the first volume of won’t appear for about four centuries.

Is this for real? I don’t know who transmigrated me here, but they’re a really unprincipled bastard. They would definitely get a failing grade if they were made to solve ethics and ideology questions.

I ended up wasting several years as the Empress Yekarina’s pet human without finding the protagonist.

It was a rewarding life for a slave. There wasn’t much difference between a high school senior and a slave. Except for the fact that I was doing chores instead of studying, it was the same in that I had to go out early in the morning and come back late at night, working until I was exhausted.

They said that high school seniors from another world could go on a rampage… That’s all in the past.

‘Yoo-an, I like you because you’re a rare beauty.’

‘Your Highness likes anyone who is beautiful.’

‘The fact that you’re so cheeky is totally my type. It would have been better if I had met you before Darwin. Who knows, I might have made you emperor.’

Empress Yekarina was… how should I put this, a witch with a tendency to fall in love easily and be easily swayed by appearances. If she hadn’t been a witch, she would have been scammed somewhere and died much earlier.

It’s not something you should say to an empress of an empire, but she was a fool. When I heard that the reason she was giving her all to the blond, handsome emperor was just because he was handsome and his personality was cheeky enough to suit her taste, I almost passed out.

If it suits your taste, you can give them everything? My first impression of Yekarina was ‘she’s a hopeless fan, even for someone with such severe fangirling tendencies.’

Moreover, it was very rare for a powerful witch like Yekarina to personally interfere in human society to help a human on her own. This is because, perhaps due to the adjustment of the world’s power balance, there are too many restrictions placed on witches compared to mages.

It wasn’t like she had made some great contract or deal with the emperor, but Yekarina was a witch who sacrificed everything for the sake of ‘love.’ To put it nicely, she was a romanticist of the century, and to put it badly, she was a romantic lunatic of the century.

In <The Book of Irkus>, witches are portrayed as being far stronger than mages. This is because mages can only use magic after formally learning it and receiving training from a teacher, but witches know how to use magic instinctively from the moment they are born.

In addition, witches matured faster and aged slower than ordinary humans. They were human, but at the same time, they were not human. However, they were not elves, dwarves, dragons, or spirits. For a very long time, witches have existed as beings that are both human and not human at the same time.

Therefore, in order to adjust the power balance of the world, the number of witches was quite small. This was true even though people did not intentionally hunt or ostracize witches.

Just as sharks in the ocean cannot live in fresh water, witches were highly likely to get sick if they mixed with ordinary humans.

The author made it so that powerful beings like witches could not easily interfere in this world. Otherwise, there would be no reason for witches to be stronger than mages, but less efficient.

They are strong because they do not belong anywhere, they are capable of both blessings and curses, but they get sick and die when they live among people who are not witches.

As you can tell from the name ‘witch’, unless you are a biological female, you cannot become a witch, even if you are a descendant. To explain it from the perspective of a modern-day South Korean, witches were like endangered white Asiatic black bears.

The lunatic emperor captured such a witch with his beauty alone and took over the Robain Empire. Indeed, it pays to be handsome.

‘When Darwin was younger, his gaze was so cheeky… He just yelled at me, “Hey! You witch!” and I fell in love with him.’

‘You have really bad taste.’

‘Respect it. That’s what love is. Everyone else says you’re crazy, but as long as you like it, that’s all that matters. Still, I’m a lucky witch. I found someone to love with all my life, didn’t I?’

The witch Yekarina said that the emperor’s handsome face was really her type. She especially liked his ripe, honey-like bright blond hair.

She approached him because of his looks, and even his personality was just as crazy as Yekarina’s type. The witch, who had terrible taste and longed for love, fell head over heels for the lunatic emperor.

Yekarina changed the emperor of the empire, violating the rules of the world as much as the person she was in love with wanted. Those who study history would definitely curse Yekarina a little.

And the lunatic emperor did not miss the opportunity that came his way. He did not let go of the witch who had fallen in love with him and made her his empress. Then he used her for everything.

Build this with magic, fill the national treasury, kill that person, can you join the war… and so on.

Witches are strong and beautiful, but they are not gods. Excessive use of power beyond one’s limits always leads to side effects.

In my opinion, the emperor did not love Yekarina as a lover. He cherished her as a middle manager of a small business would cherish the assistant he keeps by his side and makes work for him, but that was it. Yekarina knew that too.

Eventually, the emperor gave me to Yekarina, who was tired and depressed from this damn love.

You have black hair and black eyes, Yekarina! It’s ominous, but forget your troubles by looking at something rare and black. This was the emperor’s message. Get over it quickly and help me run the country with your magic! What a bastard. I should have beheaded him myself.

Why do decent people often fall for such bastards? The reason why people are attracted to bad boys is a mystery that has not been solved for centuries, even in modern-day South Korea.

Well, it was a happy ending in the end. Because Yekarina was really happy to receive me as a gift from the emperor. Of course, I’m quite cute.

‘How about you become a mage before I die? I’ll be your teacher.’

‘Does this world allow slaves to become mages? Wow, no prejudice.’

‘Oh, right, you were a slave.’

‘Don’t keep forgetting, Your Highness. How can an empress be a slave’s teacher? In this crazy hierarchical society…’

‘You’re so confident that I sometimes forget you’re a slave. But what does it matter? I’m the empress in this crazy hierarchical society.’

Yekarina was a bit loose in the head, but she was fundamentally a good person.

Strictly speaking, she was like a benefactor to me. If it weren’t for Yekarina, my already hard-mode life in another world would have turned into crazy mode.

Although I was called a pet human, I was basically a slave who couldn’t even communicate, but Yekarina willingly showed me kindness.

The reason for her kindness was absurd. It was because I had… a cute appearance that was well-received even in this fantasy novel world. Indeed, she was an empress who helped a lunatic emperor just because of his looks.

From my perspective as a transmigrator, it was great. It’s a prejudiced statement, but people are weak to visual things, so if you’re somewhat handsome and pretty, your life will be automatically extended even if you fall into a strange world alone, like me.

Yekarina taught me everything from the common language of the continent to ancient languages, and took on the role of my teacher so that I could become a mage.

The formulas for magic had a similar feel to college entrance exam math. It was so much fun. College entrance exam studying? Piece of cake. Using your head is 200 times easier than using your body.

So, witches are all born as science-types, and mages are those who become science-types through studying. When I thought about it that way, the awkwardness about magic disappeared in an instant. Studying really does solve everything.

The only person I could truly rely on during my long time in this world was Yekarina.

Because my status at the time was no different from that of a slave, everyone except Yekarina pushed me around. I didn’t expect to experience the military in a fantasy novel when I couldn’t even go to the military in modern-day South Korea.

But good people always die young. This is a formula that works in almost every world.

Witches basically live longer than humans, but they are not immortal. Moreover, due to the demanding emperor, Yekarina’s body was already exhausted after years of abusing her magical abilities in the imperial palace, where people were swarming. She had gray hair even though she was a witch. There were wrinkles on that pretty face, too. I should have beheaded that emperor myself.

Eventually, Yekarina fell ill and died not long after I came in as a pet human. It’s a pity when I think about it. How could she love such a lunatic emperor and ruin her life as a witch?

‘I’ll give you one last blessing before I die.’

‘No thanks.’

‘Don’t push it away, just take it when it’s given. You’re the smartest and most potentially talented child I’ve ever seen.’

‘I know I’m a gifted student.’

‘How obnoxious.’

‘Don’t worry about blessings, just take care of yourself. You’re going to die soon, Your Highness. You know that.’

I liked Yekarina, who had shown me kindness. Not in a romantic way, but as a person.

If it weren’t for Yekarina, I would have died before I even learned the common language of the continent. My situation was similar to that of a hamster suddenly thrown into a lion’s den. It wouldn’t have been surprising if I had died at any moment. But Yekarina pulled me out of the lion’s den and raised me with great care.

To me, Yekarina was more than just a benefactor. So, I wanted to do whatever I could for Yekarina, whatever she wanted.

I even seriously considered killing the lunatic emperor who didn’t even bother to come to her deathbed in place of Yekarina. I am originally from the nation of revolt and impeachment, South Korea. If Yekarina had just said, “Please kill that ungrateful bastard…” I would have specifically prepared for a revolution, no matter how many years it took.

‘I know. I’m going to die soon.’

‘…….’

‘So, you must not die, Yoo-an.’

But the last words Yekarina left me were not, “Kill that bastard and bury him with me,” but, “You must not die.”