Chapter 199
Realizing she was venting, Jaha drew a thick line through the personality section. She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and wrote a more objective assessment instead:
Personality: A f*****g bastard. Pervert. Deviant with abnormal s****l desires. Authoritarian. Dogmatic. Oppressive. Arrogant. That said, not a complete psychopath who treats human lives like flies – while he did kill Cedric, based on Jaha’s current memories, the Emperor has no other recorded killings. At least he wasn’t some insane tyrant who beheads people as casually as brushing dust off his clothes.
What the Emperor did to Jaha would probably be considered perfectly normal by this world’s standards. Slaves aren’t human after all. Mistreating objects isn’t exactly something to be criticized for.
Though as the victim she absolutely refuses to accept this, when considering the limitations of this class-based society, it’s hard to argue the Emperor was particularly evil. In fact, given how he tolerated Jaha’s unsubmissive attitude in various ways, one might even consider him relatively merciful… for an absolute monarch.
At the time, Jaha thought she was suppressing her personality and acting obediently, but looking back now with her modern socialized perspective, that wasn’t the case at all. Keeping her mouth shut and not vomiting out insults doesn’t actually count as obedience. In truth, it was silent protest. A battle of wills.
The fact that a mere slave like her could act this way toward the celestial Emperor and still remain unharmed in body and limb was, though she loathed to admit it, proof of his magnanimous nature.
There exists a term called ‘Drapetomania.’ Coined by American physician Samuel A. Cartwright in his 1851 paper <Report on the Diseases and Physical Peculiarities of the Negro Race>, it referred to a mental disorder supposedly unique to Black people—a condition whose symptoms manifested as “inferior Black individuals refusing slavery and fleeing in pursuit of freedom when not under the supervision of their white masters.”
In short, if a Black person wouldn’t obediently remain a slave, they were deemed mentally ill.
Unbelievable as it may seem, this wasn’t the tale of some distant world—it happened on 19th-century Earth, in America, a nation that called itself the “land of the free.” And even those enslaved Black men gained suffrage in the 19th century, while women had to wait until the 20th.
Given that, there was no need to elaborate on the status of an enslaved woman in a society with morals lagging behind 19th-century Earth. Here, at least, the Emperor was the sane one—Jaha was the incomprehensible lunatic.
On 21st-century Earth, Jaha would be the sane one, and the Emperor an unforgivable criminal. But that standard couldn’t be applied to him—because he wasn’t from the 21st century.
If someone from the 25th century suddenly appeared and judged her by their moral standards, declaring her a criminal, even Jaha would find it unreasonable.
Just as it’s natural for 21st-century humanity to fall short of the highly advanced morality of the 25th century, holding the Emperor to 21st-century standards was equally absurd.
Only a rare few can transcend the Zeitgeist and foresee the future. Most are inevitably bound by the era they inhabit. And this wasn’t a flaw unique to the Emperor.
t/n: zeit·geist /ˈzītˌɡīst/ – the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.
‘I’m no different.’
Even if she were to live in this world from now on, Jaha’s values and way of thinking would forever belong to 21st-century Earth.
No matter how loudly everyone in this world proclaimed the Emperor innocent—by Yoo Jaha’s standards, he was guilty.
With an expression frozen in cold resolve, she continued writing.
Notes:
※Mage
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- Heals wounds instantly—restores injuries to their original state in the blink of an eye.
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- Summons objects from subspace ·The reincarnation of Abrixa, the First Emperor. a once-in-a-millennium mage. His magical power is near-infinite—”The oceans surrounding the continent would dry up faster than this bastard’s mana depletes.” (Possibly exaggerated, as recorded in imperial chronicles.)
※Unmarried (as of the time I was enslaved)
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- No empress, concubines, or children
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- Never saw any siblings, parents, or other relatives within the palace (they may reside outside)
※His feelings toward me
Jaha paused her writing at this point.
What exactly were the Emperor’s true feelings toward her?
After some deliberation, she wrote down: “A tool.” After all, by this world’s common perception, slaves were their owner’s private property – in other words, objects.
But once she actually wrote it down, the word alone felt somehow inadequate. Drawing upon her returned memories, she added supplementary explanations next to it.
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- A tool (one he’s quite obsessed with…) or a pet?
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- In his own twisted way, he seemed fond of me. He made efforts to be kind and cater to my whims (e.g., various gifts—though always with a condescending attitude reinforcing his superiority).
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- Possessive. Prone to ownership rage (likely why he killed Cedric).
Jaha’s memories still held too many gaps.
The details of Cedric’s death were no exception. All she recalled was Cedric’s corpse on the floor and the Emperor snarling at her to say she loved him.
‘Wait—is “snarling” even the right word here?’
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