GDTEA Chapter 138

One Who Should Not Exist

Ren could not say a word.

It was not because the secret he had so desperately wanted to know and had been curious about was surprising and shocking.

He did not want to interrupt her words — as she removed even the silver ring, shedding everything as though she no longer wished to hide anything.

“Grandmother Vireta saved me, and though my life was spared, I am someone who should not exist in this world.”

With his keen eyes, he could see Sharti’s face clearly even in the pitch-black darkness.

The woman he had fallen for at first sight was smiling brightly, like a girl, as if a burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

“On that day five years ago, I was someone who should have vanished without a trace from this world, together with the royal palace burning in flames. Me.”

The corners of her eyes, moist once again, were pitifully red.

Yet she did not blink.

There was a will in her that said she did not want to shed a single tear until she had confessed every secret she had been hiding.

“And… my name, my name — it’s not ‘Sha.'”

“……”

The voice that had been scattering listlessly in the wind grew thick.

The voice barely holding back sobs that threatened to burst free was thin and pitiful.

“I am not Arisviyan.”

Enunciating each syllable clearly, Sharti curled her trembling fists.

The wind blew.

As a fierce gust passed, her hair scattered in the wind.

In that moment, without realizing it, Ren reached out and wrapped his arms around her slender shoulders.

He wasn’t sure what made him anxious, but with that final confession, it felt as though she might be carried away by the wind just like that.

“……Sharti……”

As he exhaled, a single name reached his ears.

“My name is, ‘Sharti.'”

Desperately clutching his clothes, Sharti kept repeating that one name.

Asking him to know.

Asking him not to forget.

Asking him to remember.

And… asking him to call it.

“Sharti—”

Just a single name.

“Sharti. Sharti.”

Calling that name, Ren felt his eyes sting.

Pitying and feeling sorry for her, having lived her life hiding that one name within her heart, he kept murmuring that name over and over.

“Your name, it’s truly beautiful. Sharti.”

Sharti finally burst into tears again.

Held in his arms, she sobbed loudly, her body heaving.

And from the moment he saw Sharti’s tears, the anger that had been quietly smoldering scorched the inside of Ren’s chest black.

‘Gwendhill.’

‘Arisviyan.’

He carved the names of those responsible for all of this firmly into his mind.

And Ren, too, made a resolution.

If he ever gained the power, if he grew strong enough, he would take revenge on them in some way.

‘I will make them shed tears of blood equal to every tear Sha — no, Sharti — has shed until now.’

Toward the enemy who had made his beloved suffer so much, Ren harbored deep hatred and hostility.

‘But Gwendhill — I heard he was already accused of treason and died.’

Good riddance.

Setting aside the fantasy of visiting his grave just to spit on it, for now Ren simply held Sharti tight.

As though he wished to take from her every last negative thing — revenge, enmity, anger, hatred, sorrow, all of it……

****

Arisviyan, who had always chased after glamour, stepped down from the carriage wearing a calm and modest dress.

The imperial palace of the Great Empire of Neweiton, so grand it naturally drew a sense of awe, was of a scale and appearance incomparable to that of Krianet.

And at last having set foot in the imperial palace of the Great Empire of Neweiton, Arisviyan smoothly curved the corners of her lips upward.

“You must be Lady Eris, recommended by Madam Charlotte? Please follow me.”

“Yes.”

Arisviyan, who had entered the palace through the recommendation of Madam Charlotte — a socialite and the Empress’s companion — followed the head lady-in-waiting who had come to meet her.

Catching a brief glance, the head lady-in-waiting wore a satisfied smile, which made the effort she had put in beforehand worthwhile.

‘For this visit, I was told to wear shoes with almost no heel and make as little noise as possible with my footsteps.’

She had reduced her accessories to a minimum, and had braided her hair into a half-updo to look fresh, like young noble ladies who had just come of age.

When creating her false identity, she had also falsified her age, but to appear younger just in case, this much effort was necessary.

“Now, you may go inside.”

“Thank you for the guidance.”

Intending to appear as a courteous young lady, Arisviyan deliberately left words of thanks even for a mere head maid before entering the glass greenhouse.

The glass greenhouse was filled with well-tended flowers, yet the floral fragrance that drifted through was not at all overpowering.

Walking further inside, Arisviyan finally found the purpose for which she had entered the palace, and greeted with an elegant motion.

“I am Eris Biyan, Your Majesty the Empress.”

“Ah, so you are Lady Eris.”

The middle-aged blonde woman seated before the tea table set up in the glass greenhouse was the Empress of the Great Empire of Neweiton.

Receiving the Empress’s permission, Arisviyan sat down across from her and smiled with her eyes.

Perhaps her first impression seemed kind, for the Empress personally poured the tea.

“I’ve heard much about you from Madam Charlotte. I’m told you know many interesting stories?”

“The Madam was fond of them, but they are hardly fit to be spoken of before Your Majesty the Empress.”

Arisviyan covered her cheeks as if shy.

“However, I do know many stories that Your Majesty the Empress may never have heard before.”

“Oh? For example?”

The Empress’s heart opened to ‘Eris’ in an instant — bold yet pure, with noble etiquette more perfect than young ladies who had just come of age.

For Arisviyan, who had lived her whole life surrounded by interest and goodwill, winning someone’s heart was a simple matter.

‘I heard she spent her entire life without getting involved in political struggles or power dynamics, living like a flower in a greenhouse — it seems that was true.’

The fact that such a woman was the Empress of the Great Empire of Neweiton almost made her want to sneer.

She did not dislike it or find it unpleasant.

After all, once she was wed to Darhan Bridend, she would already be a presence wielding greater influence within the Empire than even the Empress.

“My, Eris’s stories are so entertaining that the tea has cooled before I knew it. I shall have fresh tea brought.”

The Empress, who had not touched her tea at all and had been completely absorbed in the fascinating stories Arisviyan told, summoned the head lady-in-waiting.

The head lady-in-waiting, seeing the Empress in good spirits for the first time in a long while, cast a fleeting glance of gratitude toward Arisviyan.

After the head lady-in-waiting quickly brought fresh tea and stepped back, the Empress sipped her tea and lightly moistened her lips.

“……”

Arisviyan stared expressionlessly at the yellow tea with its refreshing fragrance, then smiled toward the Empress.

“Your Majesty the Empress, if it would not be an imposition, might I take my medicine for a moment? It is time for me to take it.”

“There is no need to ask permission for such things.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty the Empress.”

At Arisviyan’s call, a trusted aide brought over an elegant case as though she had been waiting.

A palm-sized case contained several finger-length vials wrapped with gold-trimmed borders.

Making a show of it, Arisviyan selected the middle vial, opened the lid, and poured it directly into the yellow tea.

“Is it all right to take medicine with tea?”

The Empress asked with concern, and Arisviyan laughed softly.

“I was surprised as well, but they say this medicine is fine to mix into anything. It is colorless and odorless, so it is pleasant to drink, too.”

“Oh my……”

Before the astonished Empress, Arisviyan made a show of finishing all the tea.

“What a remarkable medicine. I have sought colorless and odorless medicines for my young Prince through various means, but I have never seen one like this.”

“It is because it is a medicine improved through a secret formula passed down through generations in my family, Your Majesty the Empress.”

At the word secret formula, the Empress showed interest.

“May I ask what ails you that you take such a precious medicine instead of an ordinary one?”

“It is embarrassing, but I take it for severe headaches caused by insomnia.”

Arisviyan answered shyly, as though embarrassed.

“I believe my family is sending it to me because they know I am struggling emotionally, as the engagement was arranged without any regard for my own wishes.”

“Dear me. And your fiancé would be……”

“Marquis Gederus Knocharff.”

Arisviyan made no effort to hide her bitter expression, saying that her own wishes had not been considered at all in the engagement with Gederus Knocharff.

At this, the Empress looked at Arisviyan with a sympathetic gaze.

“Being young and still lacking in many ways, I was lonely in many respects for not meeting the Marquis’s favor…… But I am simply grateful that Your Majesty the Empress has invited me like this and listened to my stories.”

Arisviyan forced a brave face and weakly turned up the corners of her mouth.

The Empress reached out and took Arisviyan’s hand.

Regarding Marquis Knocharff, the Empress too had heard things.

Because of rumors about Marquis Knocharff — who had been working hard to forge ties with the noble faction and these days was said to practically live on Bladi Street — the Empress had been reluctant at first to invite Arisviyan.

However, since she was a young lady recommended by Madam Charlotte, who had been her companion for many long years, she had simply thought to meet her briefly.

Faced with the image of a young lady struggling because of a forcibly arranged engagement, the Empress could not help but soften.

“And, Your Majesty the Empress — while I know one should never come empty-handed to a meeting with Your Majesty, Marquis Knocharff is already managing my finances, so I was unable to prepare a gift for today’s occasion……”

“Your heart is more than enough. Above all, the stories you have told me today are the greatest gift.”

“But……”

As Arisviyan lowered her eyelids, the Empress smiled softly.

“Then let us do this. Give me the medicine you just drank, Lady Eris.”

“Pardon?”

“Truth be told, I have been suffering from severe insomnia myself lately. Being a medicine made by the secret formula passed down in your family, is it not a rare and precious gift?”

“Your Majesty the Empress……”

Arisviyan welled up with tears again, feigning deep emotion.

Comforted by the Empress, Arisviyan handed over all the medicines as a gift to her and left the palace with a light step.

“How did it go, Your Highness?”

The trusted aide who had been waiting in the carriage — formerly a noble of Krianet — cast an expectant gaze.

The moment the carriage set off, Arisviyan, who had been putting on the ring that had been missing from her hand, curved the corners of her eyes like a crescent moon.

“She did receive them, but she won’t use them right away.”

“Then what is to be done? Having the Empress feed the medicine to the Emperor is what Marquis Bridend desires.”

“Madam Charlotte will continue to bring me to the Empress — what is there to worry about?”

“Ah, that is true — the heir to a noble house who suddenly collapsed was Madam Charlotte’s son.”

In order to save the heir whose mind had been destroyed by a poison of unknown origin, Madam Charlotte would desperately cooperate.

‘There is no antidote, I was told.’

Arisviyan thought of the medicines she had gifted to the Empress.

Every one of them was a colorless, odorless poison that Darhan had been secretly concealing.

“But is it not truly remarkable? A poison that cannot be detected by magic, shows no reaction to poison tests, and has no antidote — truly the most powerful poison in the world.”

“Indeed. Truly remarkable.”

Thanks to having switched in a personal water bottle she had prepared in advance, Arisviyan had not drunk the poison.

“But why, when gifting the medicine to the Empress, did you not mention that children must not take it? Marquis Bridend told you to warn her in advance so the Prince would not drink it by any chance.”

Only the Emperor and Empress needed to consume the poison.

The Prince, who would inherit the next throne, needed to be healthy for now, as he was to become a puppet of the noble faction.

At the aide’s concern, Arisviyan smiled with a soft curl of her eyes.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if I were to bear two children — one who becomes a marquis, and one who becomes an emperor?”

“……!”

“If the one who is to inherit the throne disappears, then the next most powerful noble house will be the one to choose the master of the throne.”

Arisviyan’s red eyes revealed a sticky, blood-like greed.

“As expected of Your Highness!”

The aide, greatly impressed, offered genuine flattery.

Then, swelling with anticipation, she looked back on the past.

“It was a gamble, but on that day five years ago, finding the illegitimate child and offering her to Neweiton was truly an excellent choice.”

She smirked, saying it was fortunate that the foolish Neweiton imperial troops had burned everything without properly confirming the Princess’s face.

“Though it is a bit unsettling that no body was found…… Could she have survived? No, every last fragment of bone must have burned away.”

Arisviyan, who had been applying red to her lips, slightly turned her head.

“If she survived the fire, then so be it.”

“Pardon?”

“If she appears, kill her. Find her and kill her — that is all there is to it.”

Arisviyan wore a cold smile toward the filthy illegitimate child she could not even remember.

“Is it not a life that should have died and been gone in the first place?”

If she dared to still be alive, then she would cut off that life thoroughly and completely, so she would never wish to be alive again.

Arisviyan hummed a cheerful tune to herself.