Chapter 1
【The Tyrant’s Return】
“Ah, finally!”
Empress Olive’s face lit up with ecstasy.
She stared into the blazing flames, laughing heartily.
The sudden heat made it hard to breathe. Emperor Ludwig awoke, frowning deeply.
“What’s going on? What the hell happened?!”
The fire swelled rapidly. Every escape route was already engulfed in flames. There was no way out.
“Damn it!”
Ludwig grabbed Olive’s wrist and yanked her off the bed. He intended to flee to a slightly safer place.
But Empress Olive shook off his hand with all her strength.
“Do you have a death wish, Olive?!”
“Yes. I do. I wanted to die. That’s why I set the fire.”
“Damn it. A spiritist was nearby.”
The imperial palace, blessed by the god of creation, was built so strong that not even a crack would appear in the walls—let alone fire damage.
A blaze that could defy divine consecration must be the flame of the Spirit King.
The spiritist, Lissian Goldrot, had been the Empress’s ally.
“I should’ve dealt with Goldrot. I should’ve!”
Ludwig’s face twisted into a grimace. His perfect features contorted in fury.
He frantically searched the room for an exit, but the flames had grown too large to be stopped.
With no other choice, he looked toward the window. The attendants would’ve laid soft cushions below, according to emergency protocol.
He could survive a few broken bones, but fragile Olive might break her neck and die.
Determined, Ludwig decided to hold her in his arms and jump.
Grabbing her wrist again, he pulled her toward the window.
“Let go of me!”
Once more, Olive pulled her hand free. Ludwig clenched his teeth and tightened his grip.
“Just shut up and follow me!”
“If you want to live, live alone, Ludwig.”
Olive bit her lip and glared at him.
Ludwig’s gaze, which had been fixed on the window, slowly turned to her. Even in the urgent situation, his movements were oddly slow.
It was the first time Olive had ever said his name.
The unfamiliar sensation made one corner of Ludwig’s lips tremble upward.
“What… what did you just say?”
“If you want to live, live alone. I’m not taking a single step from here, Ludwig.”
Ha. Ludwig clenched his trembling hand over his heart.
“So this is what you wanted.”
Olive beamed and nodded. Tears streamed down her cheeks, at odds with her smile.
“Your Majesty! Are you safe?!”
Servants’ frantic voices echoed from outside.
But Ludwig didn’t hear them. To him, only Olive’s voice existed.
He took her hands.
Perhaps he had grabbed her too hard earlier—her pale wrists were bruised where his fingers had been.
It pained him, yet he also felt a twisted satisfaction that his marks were left on her body.
Suddenly, a memory surfaced—of interrogating prisoners in the dungeon, asking what women liked.
One trembling noblewoman had said something he found so trivial that he dismissed it.
But why was it coming to mind now?
“I love you, Olive.”
Ludwig tilted his head slightly, gazing into her peridot-like eyes.
Her face, which had been smiling through tears, suddenly twisted in rage.
Ah, so that method was right. That noblewoman had been right.
“Are you insane?! You say that now?!”
“I love you, Olive.”
“Shut up, Ludwig! If you loved me, you shouldn’t have done this! You shouldn’t have ruined me!”
Olive, who never got angry no matter what he did, suddenly stood up and screamed.
She clenched her fists and charged at him, pounding his chest with her tiny fists.
She didn’t just hit him. She grabbed his collar, shook him, and slapped him hard across the face.
Ludwig took it all without resistance. Thinking it might be the last time, he didn’t mind letting her do whatever she wanted.
Though Olive had been the one to strike first, she was also the first to collapse.
Watching her sink to the floor, Ludwig asked calmly:
“Then what should I have done for you?”
He truly wanted to know. If he loved her, what should he have done? How could he have kept her by his side?
“Hah!”
Olive let out a long sigh, then suddenly burst into laughter as if something was funny.
Coughing harshly from the smoke, she mustered her last strength and shouted:
“You should’ve treated me like a person, you bastard! You treated me like a beast and now you say you love me? You’re rotten to the core. Just die. Die already!”
She glared at him with murderous fury.
Ludwig calmly accepted her gaze and cupped her face.
She had no strength left to resist.
All she could do was passively accept his deep kiss.
Creeeeak—
That was when the chandelier above their heads let out an eerie metallic groan and tilted dangerously.
Ludwig glanced at the ceiling and gave a crooked smile.
“If there’s ever a next time for us—”
Then his eyes turned solemn as he looked at her again.
If. A word Ludwig rarely used.
“If that damned ‘if’… if there’s a next time.”
Was it the smoke? Olive’s limbs went limp, her eyes barely able to open.
Creak… clatter—an ominous sound rang above Ludwig’s head.
He embraced Olive tightly and murmured:
“Next time, I’ll do as you said. I’ll make sure it’s to your liking.”
I love you, Olive.
Crash!
The grotesquely creaking chandelier came crashing down onto Ludwig’s head.
He closed his eyes and embraced the end.
It was the death Olive had chosen to give him.
Not a bad way to die.
* * *
He had definitely died.
“…What is this.”
Was it an illusion after death?
Ludwig opened his eyes again. The burnt room was gone. In its place was an intact ceiling over a bed. No acrid smoke—only the scent of old furniture.
He immediately reached for his chest. The Olive he had held so tightly—was no longer there.
Olive!
Ludwig bolted upright in bed, eyes wide, scanning the room.
“Olive…!”
His lips clamped shut mid-call. His crimson eyes trembled.
The voice he just used… sounded like a boy just before puberty.
“This… isn’t this the Garnet Palace?”
The place he was in was none other than the palace he’d lived in as a child.
Ludwig climbed out of bed and approached a small mirror in the room.
With each step, the floor creaked beneath his feet. This wasn’t the residence of a prince—it was more like a forgotten, abandoned wing.
A cracked and dirty mirror came into view. His reflection was faint and distorted.
But it was clear enough for Ludwig to recognize the change.
“Damn it. What kind of sorcery is this?”
He stroked his face in the mirror.
What he saw was the 12-year-old version of himself.
The very age when he first met his Empress, Olive.
* * *
“Wake up, my lady! There’s a tea party at the palace today. We must hurry!”
At the maid’s shout, Olive’s eyes snapped open and she gasped for breath.
‘It felt like a horrible nightmare.’
She clenched her fists and thumped her chest. She couldn’t remember anything clearly.
“…My lady?”
Her lush green hair was drenched in cold sweat, clinging in curls. Her eyes, once full of spring’s light, now trembled with fear.
She looked pale. The maid placed a hand on Olive’s forehead.
“My heavens, you’re burning up! Wait here, I’ll call the physician!”
While the maid ran off, Olive clutched her aching head and groaned.
She couldn’t remember the dream—but the sensation of being engulfed in roaring flames was vivid.
The physician examined her and gave her bitter and sweet medicines to drink.
After a couple of hours, her fever broke.
“Olive, perhaps you shouldn’t attend the tea party today,” said the Marchioness of Chartres, holding her daughter’s small hand.
Olive smiled and shook her head.
“I really want to go today, Mother.”
“But Olive…”
“It’s not until later in the afternoon. I’ll be fine if I rest a little longer. Don’t worry.”
Despite being only 12, Olive comforted her mother with surprising maturity.
“You’re a brave one,” the Marchioness said, giving her a soft kiss on the forehead before leaving the room.
* * *
The morning fever had quickly passed, and Olive regained her strength.
But the tea party, attended by royalty and nobility, was dreadfully boring for a young girl.
‘Maybe I’ll sneak off and explore.’
While the adults chatted, Olive quietly slipped away from the party.
She soon came across a beautifully manicured garden.
‘A hedge maze!’
Lined with rose bushes and neatly trimmed hedges, it had only one entrance and one exit.
Like something from a fairy tale, Olive stepped into the garden, mesmerized.
‘I thought it would be simple…’
But the maze inside was far more complex than she’d expected.
After wandering aimlessly and getting lost, Olive sat down under a large tree to catch her breath.
‘If I hear people looking for me, I’ll just yell.’
Better to stay put than risk getting even more lost. That seemed the wiser option.
‘Ugh, I should’ve just stayed at the tea table.’
With a small sigh, her shoulders slumped.
She suddenly felt hungry, thirsty. Her head ached again as if her fever was returning. She wrapped both hands around her forehead.
Though the afternoon sun blazed overhead, the place where she sat felt cold and eerie.
