Shut Your Mouth, Wesley
I was momentarily frightened by the Emperor’s sharp gaze, but I put more strength into my back and stood firmly in place.
“Do you even realize how insolent you’re being right now? Yes, I’ll acknowledge that you’re quite brave. But even so. To think that my son and Rochester’s ability user turned back time just to save you alone—I can’t believe it even as I witness it.”
As I realized that the Emperor indeed knew everything, his words continued.
“I am the Emperor who bears the name of the first Emperor. The Millennial Oracle? I know nothing of such things.”
To cross from Resotia to Dermeier, one had to pass through dizzyingly high cliffs so tall that even craning one’s neck back wouldn’t reveal their peak.
The Resotians had considered those cliffs sacred since ancient times, carving hundreds of temples, tombs, and the faces of gods into the cliff surface.
The first Emperor, Wesley Schneider, who saw them, received the Millennial Oracle right beneath those cliffs. However, this was considered nothing more than legend.
Hearing such nebulous words from the Emperor’s own mouth somehow made goosebumps rise all over my body. As I wondered why he was saying such things, the Emperor rose from his seat and walked toward us with heavy steps.
“If you had defied my command and not appeared here, I would have ended the lineage of Count Serhen’s family. Even if you are the woman who received the Empress’s oracle, anyone who receives my command must obey without exception.”
“……”
“Because I am the Emperor with the most expansive territory in Dermeier’s history.”
The Emperor didn’t stop walking toward the Duchess as he spoke. The emotion in his eyes when seen up close was, incredibly, inferiority.
The current Emperor was the hegemon of the continent with the largest territory in Dermeier’s history, but that was merely built upon the achievements Ricardo had accomplished.
The one who knew this better than anyone else was himself.
Seeing the Emperor’s severely twisted gaze, I stood even more firmly to prevent him from approaching the Duchess.
He looked at me and smirked. My body trembled involuntarily at the sight of the absolute power before my eyes.
“Paula.”
The Emperor’s voice, feigning gentleness, suddenly gave me goosebumps.
“I want to end this tiresome ill-fated connection too. The gods have always been on Schneider’s side, so why did things turn out this way?”
“……”
“I’ve thought about it carefully. Where things started to go wrong.”
Suddenly the Emperor’s eyes flashed brightly. Then his irises, which I had thought were of an indiscernible color, turned completely blue.
“You should have borne my child.”
The Emperor’s eyes, having spoken those unbelievable words as if they were nothing, had already become too hazy to discern their color again.
“Don’t say such horrifying things, Your Majesty.”
At the Duchess’s cold voice, the Emperor laughed bitterly.
In their childhood, the Emperor and the Duchess had been close friends for quite a long time, and the Duchess had been mentioned as a prominent candidate for Crown Princess—until she fell in love at first sight with Duke Rochester and proposed to him.
“Every time the child you bore looked at me with jet-black hair and jet-black eyes, I knew it would come to this.”
“……”
“That child would take everything from me, just like his father did.”
“Shut your mouth, Wesley.”
The Duchess spoke in a low voice with her jaw clenched tight. At this, the Emperor shook his shoulders and began laughing like someone who had lost their mind.
“Yes, that’s the Paula de Serhen I know.”
“……”
“You should have borne a golden-haired child. If Stuart had inherited your blood, that child would have been perfect. He wouldn’t have contracted such a terrible disease. Then I wouldn’t have had to harm your family with my own hands.”
“So the rumors that Dermeier’s Emperor is going mad were true.”
“Yes, I may already be mad. But you must also acknowledge the truth. If you had married me as planned, you wouldn’t have had to witness your son inevitably kill your husband.”
As the Emperor tried to approach closer, looking only at the Duchess, I brazenly extended my arm to block him. But the Duchess grabbed my arm to stop me, then took a large step forward toward the Emperor.
Her eyes, meeting the Emperor’s empty gaze, held no fear whatsoever.
“Wesley. Listen carefully to me. As you say, my son might kill Gerald. But even if that happens hundreds of times, my husband’s death will be glorious every single time without exception. So even if I’m given another chance and the same pain repeats hundreds of times, my decision will never change.”
“……”
“Even if I live for just one day, I will choose Gerald and bear only that man’s children. So stop doing such despicable things and revealing your true nature. Send my mother and brother out of the palace immediately.”
At the Duchess’s words, the Emperor shook his shoulders with small tremors of laughter, then stepped backward.
“No, your husband is just a foolish man who couldn’t protect your son and family. He should have known in advance that I would drag Count Serhen’s people to the imperial palace and prepared for it.”
At those words, the Duchess smiled faintly. What appeared in her eyes as she looked at the Emperor while shaking her head was contempt so obvious that anyone could recognize it.
“It’s because he’s a man who can’t even imagine such cowardly and foolish acts. That’s why I love Gerald, Wesley Reid Schneider.”
The Emperor, who had been glaring at the Duchess without saying anything for a moment, abruptly turned and returned to his seat.
“Of course, since my son’s wedding is in full swing, I won’t cut off the head of even a rebel leader right away.”
At the devastating words spoken in a cold tone, I shouted at the Emperor’s back.
“Do you think the Demahen Knights will just stand by and watch?”
Ignoring my words, the Emperor plopped down on the imperial throne with a loud noise.
“You don’t even know where he is. He’s in the palace, it’s true, but no matter how hard you search, you won’t find him. I’ll just kill him without anyone knowing. So listening to me is the priority.”
“……”
“If you leave with the Demahen Knights, I’ll send Count Serhen’s people away. But the Duchess will have to remain in the palace in their stead.”
“Your Majesty!”
At my scream-like cry, the Duchess gripped my arm tightly.
“Lienne, my family’s safety is the priority right now. You, who would do anything to save your family, wouldn’t fail to understand my heart.”
My heart constricted with fear, but I had no choice but to accept her will.
The two of us had discussed what would happen here while riding in the carriage together. The Duchess had predicted that the Emperor would want to detain her in the palace.
“It would be better not to do anything foolish.”
The Emperor looked suspiciously at us as we confirmed each other’s intentions through eye contact.
I met his gaze directly and answered.
“The Demahen Knights will all withdraw. But you won’t prevent us from leaving behind at least some family knights to guard Mother, will you?”
The Emperor, who seemed lost in thought for a moment, soon nodded.
When the Emperor raised his hand, the commander of the guard who had been standing closest approached him with quick steps. It was the knight who had come previously to take me and my family to the palace.
Afterward, the Duchess moved somewhere accompanied by only twelve knights from Rochester. I left the palace with Count Serhen and the Duchess’s mother as promised.
Only after arranging for all the members of Count Serhen’s household to stay at Duke Rochester’s residence for the time being could I sit alone in the carriage.
I stared blankly at where the Duchess had been sitting, then cast my gaze out the window. The broad roads and neat squares leading to the palace were already in the height of autumn. Even at midday now, the sun no longer heated one’s head.
The palace of Dermeier, which was hard to believe concealed such cruel stories, was dyed in even deeper colors as it welcomed the most beautiful season.
At the temple in the distance, Harriot’s wedding ceremony would be starting about now. The Duchess would probably be forced to attend that wedding, then immediately be confined in a place no one knew.
With only twelve knights, they couldn’t attempt anything within the palace, but at least using them to find out where the Duchess would be confined—that was the entirety of the plan she and I had devised.
The Demahen Knights who left the palace immediately surrounded its perimeter.
I remained in the carriage until the sight of them in their jet-black clothing became barely visible, hidden by darkness.
I was just thinking I should depart after seeing the Demahen Knights around the darkened palace sporadically light fires here and there.
“I’ve come to report something.”
The one who sought me out was one of the vice-commanders of the Demahen Knights.
“Please speak.”
“Please speak comfortably to me.”
He was one of the knights Ricardo kept closest to him. When I was with Ricardo, he always stood at a distance, so this was the first time I’d seen him up close.
He was as courteous to me as if I were Ricardo himself.
“I will, then. What is it you have to say?”
He handed me a document. Inside was a list of noble families who had attended Harriot’s wedding ceremony.
“Is this… everyone?”
“Yes. Some families turned their carriages around at the palace gates after seeing our knights, and many families didn’t attend the ceremony at all knowing what the Emperor had done to Count Serhen’s family.”