Chapter 7

7. The Imperial Crown Stained with My Blood

A fleeting moment felt like an eternity.

Suddenly, he raised his head and looked this way.

Our eyes met for a mere fraction of a second, but the chilling coldness I felt froze me in place.

It was definitely the man I knew.

My fragile, lovable husband.

The weak man who shed tears even as he betrayed me.

‘But Enrique making that expression… No, more than that, Enrique is the Emperor?’

How could such a coincidence exist?

The numerous atrocities of the Emperor, which the real Leonarda had lamented in her diary, flashed through my mind.

Coming back late at night only to take her body and leave after their conjugal duties was basic, and not uttering a single word to the Empress during a three-hour banquet was mild.

The Emperor had gone to a coastal military city with the Saintess about three months ago. At that time, Leonarda had barely managed to find her way to the Imperial Palace, hoping to see the Emperor's face even once.

Even though he must have heard that the Empress was waiting in the drawing room, the Emperor only came to the drawing room four hours later, and he had cast a contemptuous look at her as she collapsed from exhaustion and passed by, she wrote.

Unlike demons, humans at least ‘usually’ help someone up when they fall.

And the Saintess was always by his side, it was written.

With her unique apologetic expression, her eyebrows slightly lowered.

I couldn't quite imagine it, but I recognized it as soon as I saw Helene.

Ah, that was the very expression she had when she looked at me as I was dying.

As if she was innocent, her eyes wide and slightly apologetic. That look that said, ‘Too bad for you,’ that turned my stomach inside out.

I stared intently at Helene, who was laughing merrily, and unconsciously gripped the window frame.

If I had magic, I could crush those lovers right now!

Tearing them apart wouldn't be enough. I wanted to throw their souls into a fiery pit and inflict hundreds of years of pain.

Crack.

My fingernails scraped against the window frame. My delicate fingertips heated up instantly. I felt the despair that Leonarda must have felt.

Unlike her, who was dying, his mistress sparkled with vitality.

No matter what, the smell of death was unavoidable, but Helene had the scent of life.

‘The position you gained with my death. Do you like wearing the Imperial Crown stained with my blood?’

I slid my gaze from Helene to Enrique and felt my whole body turn cold as if I had been hit with ice water.

The shock wasn't over.

‘So this is what it feels like for blood to run cold.’

His divine power was so strong that it felt oppressive even from this distance. It was so far beyond me in my current state that I couldn't even get close.

But I could see the source of that power.

It wasn't something he received from God. That… that power is.

‘It's mine! It's mine!’

Humans don't know it well, but the purest magic and divine power are only a paper's width apart.

If you absorb magic and make it your own, you can transform it into divine power. Of course, the opposite is also true.

All you have to do is assimilate the absorbed energy without being consumed by it…

“I won’t forgive you.”

Not only did you kill me, but you even stole my power that I had gathered?

My magic was my pride. It was what made me who I was, and it was more precious than my own life.

‘Absolutely, I won’t forgive you.’

My whole body trembled. My chest was hot. It felt like lava was raging, and my vision began to turn red.

“Hick! P, please save me! I have three grandchildren like rabbits to take care of at home in my old age!”

It was then.

The librarian, who had come with the map at a bad time, assessed the situation and jumped back, bowing his head.

I stared down the path for a long time after the two figures disappeared, then asked quietly.

“Is my personality known to be violent?”

“Yes? N, not at all.”

“Then why are you so afraid? Do you think I would punish you for seeing something I didn't like?”

I gave a bitter smile, adjusted the fox fur collar of my coat, and slowly moved my feet. Not showing that I was staggering was my only pride right now.

“It would be good if you could bring the map to my bedroom.”

“I will.”

Click.

As soon as I closed the door of the library and came out, I ignored Derek and walked quickly. I didn't know where I was going, I just walked.

‘Enrique, you only use the women who love you. If you love Helene, you should have done whatever it took to put her above the Empress. Do you even feel sorry for me, for Leonarda?’

You don't want to fight to put Helene in a noble position, but you want to love Helene?

Then what about me, who was sacrificed, what about Leonarda?

‘I understand now. Why I possessed this body.’

Even with my mind clouded by fever, I thought for a long time.

Whether the reason you killed me was because of your desire. Whether your desire for the throne was greater than your love for me.

Or whether you never loved me in the first place and I was deceived. What to ask first if we meet again. Whether to kill you without asking.

But now I was sure.

‘Either way, it's right that I take the position you wanted.’

And I will watch you grovel pathetically and beg me for affection, for mercy.

“……Ha.”

I was out of breath, I wondered how long I had been walking.

I was snorting and gave a hollow laugh, then realized that my cheeks were already wet.

It wasn't tears of sadness, but tears of anger.

“Your Majesty, did something happen inside?”

A knight with gray eyes approached me cautiously as I stopped with my head bowed. The way he took out a handkerchief from his chest was natural.

It seemed like this happened often.

“I want to walk alone for a while.”

“I can't do that. It's dangerous. What if you collapse….”

“That's an order. Don't follow me.”

I need some time alone, just for a moment. It felt like my chest was being torn apart, and I couldn't bear it.

I gritted my teeth and gave the order, and Derek hesitated, then clenched his fist and stood at attention. I left him behind and wandered aimlessly. Before I knew it, I was in a corridor with no one around.

Judging from the old tapestries and the dust-covered sculptures, it seemed to be a corner of the Imperial Palace that hadn't been used for a long time.

It wasn't used as a guest room, but it wasn't a place where servants or maids went either, so this corridor and these rooms were abandoned.

I stared blankly at the dust floating in the faint rays of sunlight and frowned.

The wall was rippling.

I blinked, and a tear fell. But even after that, the wall was still rippling.

‘Ah, could this be an entrance to a subspace?’

It would never be visible to the average person.

Nor to magicians or priests.

Because this ancient script engraved on the wall… is a language of a third world, neither magic nor divine power.

The language of the spirits was a mysterious script that was only visible to those who could read it.

‘It's the Spirit King's subspace. It seems that a certain Spirit King cherishes his contractor very much.’

The Spirit King's subspace.

It was a special safety barrier that only the Spirit King could create, which ignored the laws of physics, rejected the natural flow of time, and was a solid defense that could not be broken by any external force.

When the life of a beloved contractor was in danger, the Spirit King would intervene in the human realm with his power and create such a space.

‘Can I enter?’

I slowly scanned the ancient script written in a circle, then recited it in reverse from a certain point. Then the script shone brightly, and an entrance appeared.

Without hesitation, I stepped inside and wrinkled my nose at the familiar fishy smell that dominated the space.

It was the smell of blood.

* * *

Meanwhile, at that time.

Helene was trembling with a subtle sense of superiority.

Helene had planted a person in the Empress Palace from the very day Enrique married the Empress.

Since the Empress was dying anyway, there was nothing to worry about, but she had planted it just in case.

Helene, who was receiving reports on where the Empress was going, what she was eating, and how she was moving, received a note with unusual content today.

The Empress had gone to the Imperial Library.

Since this had never happened before, Helene hurriedly went to Enrique and deliberately planned their walk to pass by the library.

Whether there was something she didn't know about between the two of them, whether Enrique was giving the Empress any leeway, etc. There were many things Helene needed to figure out.

‘Thank goodness. He still doesn't care about her.’

Golden hair could be seen in the library window.

Enrique glanced at the library, but only for a moment. And it was with a chilling look, so Helene was immediately relieved.

The cold and cruel Emperor of the Nix Empire.

She was the only one in the world who could penetrate his defenses.

Having reaffirmed her position, Helene hummed a song and enjoyed her happiness.

“Oh, Your Majesty. About the welcome banquet for the upcoming summit. I've bought all the necessary items. I've checked everything carefully.”

“As I always say, make sure to ask the Empress Palace about the overall framework of the banquet first.”

“Tsk. She's just going to tell me to do whatever I want anyway. Do I really have to ask? I contacted her before, but Her Majesty the Empress didn't even reply.”