Chapter 2
6. Once Again, Piercing the Raw Flesh
Of course, that didn’t mean Enrico and I were living together.
I wanted to, but whenever I expressed my desire, Enrico would give me his characteristic shy smile and say, “Please wait a little longer.”
Being the stupid human that I was, I assumed that premarital cohabitation would be difficult for him, so I understood and waited.
‘Well… I suppose he spent the days with me and the nights with that woman.’
My lips twisted.
Letting out a short laugh, I twirled a strand of my hair and recalled that woman’s name.
‘It was Helene.’
I don’t know her surname, but with such vivid pink eyes and hair, she must be famous in high society. Those aren’t common colors.
‘I want to find her immediately and turn everything upside down, but I don’t have the strength or energy for that.’
At the very least, I need to be able to walk down the street without fainting before I can seek revenge.
I let out a low sigh and closed my diary.
‘I need to go out to wash away this suffocating feeling.’
Don’t misunderstand. Based on my current physical condition, “going out” means leaving the bedroom.
I was living each day as if walking on thin ice.
Just yesterday, I had suffered from another bout of fever for no apparent reason.
“Charlotte, I’d like to go to the imperial library. Would you take me?”
“Ah! If there’s a book you want, I can bring it to you…!”
“No, I’d like to browse and choose myself.”
“Well then… um, you’d better bundle up warmly. Please wait a moment! The library doesn’t have a fireplace, so it’s very cold.”
Charlotte, the daughter of Viscount Everitt, was like Mrs. Bertholdt—someone who had followed me from the House of Ahiloh. She was quick in her actions and didn’t say unnecessary things, so I had grown close to her lately.
As Charlotte fussed about, gathering scarves and fur gloves and other winter accessories, I asked her casually.
“Did I visit the library often?”
“Hmm… to be honest, no. Your Majesty didn’t really like books.”
“Then what did I usually do?”
“You were usually sick… and when you had energy, you went for walks. On days when you felt even better, you had meals with His Imperial Majesty!”
In short, I was a serious patient who did nothing.
‘You had it rough too, Leonarda.’
Born with everything, yet lacking only health—even after attaining the highest position in the human realm, you weren’t happy.
Since I’ve come to live in this body, I should change my surroundings to make life more comfortable for myself, and also take care of Leonarda’s revenge for her.
Up until this point, that was definitely all I was thinking.
“Oh dear, my eyes are getting so dim, I must be nearing the end… Why am I seeing things that aren’t there?”
True to the claim that she had never once set foot in the imperial library, the librarian outright denied reality when I appeared.
Perhaps he had been in the middle of oiling his magnificent white beard, which made him even more eager to dismiss my visit as an illusion.
“Go about your business. That’s a fine beard.”
I waved my hand to let the old librarian know I didn’t need him to follow me. A few seconds later, he jumped up as if a horn had sprouted from his rear.
Honestly, I was worried for his joints.
“Ahem, hem! It really is Her Majesty the Empress! Do you… by any chance have a book you’re looking for?”
“The Imperial Register of Persons.”
“I’ll bring it at once.”
The kindly-faced librarian was quite old for a human, so he wasn’t entirely oblivious. He seemed curious as to why I was asking for the Register, but he never voiced it aloud.
‘Enrico. Enrico…’
About a minute later, holding the desired book in my hands, I widened my eyes and confirmed the name.
About two hundred years ago, my fourth sister, who had lived among humans as a great mage, had told me about the Imperial Register of Persons.
The Imperial Register of Persons was a magical artifact commissioned by the Nix Empire from the Magic Tower, recording the complete genealogy from the first emperor onward.
I remembered my fourth sister saying that if even a drop of the first emperor’s blood ran in someone’s veins, a bloodline spell would record their existence in this book the moment they were born.
Of course, deaths were also recorded.
But there was one flaw: the “marriage partners” of the imperial bloodline had to be handwritten by the registrar.
I skimmed over the name ‘Leonarda’ and then searched for the name I wanted, rolling my eyes.
‘The current emperor’s name is Yert lu Nix… Could Enrico be among his brothers?’
First of all, there are no living brothers.
I thoroughly combed through even the deceased, and shortly after—
I tilted my head.
‘He’s not here? Is he not from this country?’
After checking up to the recorded entries, I carefully went back from the end to the beginning, searching for the name ‘Enrico’.
But my eyes weren’t mistaken.
‘Then there are two possibilities.’
First, he is not a citizen of the Nix Empire. Second, he is a citizen of the Nix Empire, but even the name he told me is false.
If it’s the latter, this wouldn’t just be a matter of hurt feelings—it would feel like something inside me is crumbling…
“You there. What is your name?”
“Hehe, this humble one’s name is Charles.”
“I see, Charles. Is there any book that records the names of foreign imperial family members?”
I asked calmly, for now.
There was no need to jump to conclusions and get hurt in advance.
He could very well be a member of another country’s imperial family.
“I’m sorry to say, but to my knowledge, no such book exists.”
If a librarian nearly seventy years old didn’t know of it, then it truly didn’t exist.
‘Should I summon someone from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ask?’
Then again, it would be strange to have a book listing the names of foreign imperial family members.
Having accepted that, I voiced my next request.
“Bring me a world map.”
“A world map… Ah! Is this because of the summit meeting between the two nations?”
“The summit meeting is… scheduled to take place, yes.”
I had no idea, but I skillfully pretended otherwise.
“I’ll bring it right away.”
But as soon as the old librarian scurried off to the back of the shelves, I let out a suppressed sigh and pressed my hand to my forehead. A headache was starting.
‘So a summit meeting is about to be held, and no one reported this to me?’
No matter how much of a demon I was, with a biology different from humans, a sovereign was still a sovereign. I had been the ruler of the seven layers of Hell.
I wasn’t ignorant of how major palace events worked.
‘Big events like this aren’t decided overnight. They start coordinating at least a year in advance, and from six months out, they pour all their efforts into preparing for the summit.’
I barely managed to stifle a groan.
What on earth were the people of the Empress’s palace thinking, not giving any hint to the amnesiac empress?
Even overprotectiveness has its limits.
‘No matter how much of a figurehead empress I am, I’m still the empress. The summit meeting is precisely the kind of event where a mistress has no place.’
After all, it’s where the emperor and empress of one nation meet the emperor and empress of another.
‘Surely… they’re not planning to exclude the empress and seat the Saintess instead.’
It’s not like we’re advertising, “Our country is this much of a mess.”
‘And what about the banquet preparations? That too is rightfully the duty of the empress, the hostess of this nation.’
At present, the Empress’s palace was not preparing any banquet, not even a tea party. It was merely relaxed and peaceful.
My neck stiffening, I frowned and thought hard.
‘This… this isn’t something to be happy about being idle, is it?’
The emperor would surely take the empress. He couldn’t do otherwise. The Duke of Ahiloh and the nobility wouldn’t stay quiet.
Then there was only one answer.
They intend to have all the meals prepared and then use the empress as a mere table decoration.
The original Leonarda might have allowed that… but not me.
This was an opportunity to elevate the empress’s prestige—why would I refuse it?
Besides, perhaps the emperor of the visiting nation might just be Enrico.
‘When I return, I’ll have to discipline the people of the Empress’s palace first. And then I’ll need to find out everything else they haven’t told me.’
Since there were no articles about the summit in the newspapers yet, I probably had about a month. Even if the Saintess already had a banquet concept in preparation, there would be enough time for me to put my own touch on it.
‘It’s getting chilly. Where’s that map?’
If a crowd of people came flooding into the library, the librarian probably wouldn’t like it.
My image wasn’t great to begin with, and I didn’t want to make it worse—which was why I had left Derek outside the door. That was my mistake.
I shivered, brought my hands together, and breathed onto them with a ‘hoo.’
‘If I stand by the window, maybe the sunlight will warm me a little. Or would the draft make it even colder?’
I’d never lived in such a weak body, and irritation suddenly welled up inside me.
Just how was I supposed to keep this body, destined to die, alive and functioning?
Blaming my useless body, I lightly rested my head against the windowpane.
How long had I been standing there?
My eyes grew wider and wider.
I couldn’t help it.
“Oh my, Your Majesty!”
Hair the color of soft, freshly bloomed pink petals fluttered in the breeze. A woman in an adorable dress adorned with fluffy fur laughed brightly, looking overjoyed.
Just then, the clouds parted and sunlight poured down fully upon her.
Because the library was located in the western corner, where sunlight didn’t reach well in order to protect the books, all that enveloped me was a gentle shadow.
But ‘Helene’ walked along a glittering path, as if she were the protagonist of this world.
With confidence, with incomparable radiance.
And beside her was—
“!”
Thump.
My heart sank heavily. My stomach churned, and at the same time, my entire body slipped out of my control and began to tremble violently.
Platinum-blonde hair that seemed to melt. An elegant, harmless appearance like a lost deer. Violet eyes—the ones I had loved without end—pierced into my vision like shards of broken glass.
Ah, once again piercing the raw flesh like a merciless blade tip—his name is—
Enrico. It was Enrico.
