Chapter 7.
After the commotion had passed, a heavy silence fell over the Empress’s palace.
Empress Elysia slowly lifted her teacup as she sat on the sofa in the drawing room.
Her movements were impossibly elegant—so much so that one could never imagine that just moments ago, she had been screaming like a madwoman and throwing dishes at a maid.
“Tch.”
Her graceful brow furrowed.
She had spotted a cut on her fingertip while holding the cup. A faint red mark—most likely from when she had hurled something earlier.
Annoyance flared up.
“Haa…”
No matter how hard she tried to calm herself, it always ended the same way. Whenever she was forced to face the Emperor, who intentionally avoided her, uncontrollable fury would rise within her.
There had been a time—so far back she could hardly remember it—when even her heart had fluttered at the sight of the Emperor. A fleeting period when she’d believed those cold eyes would eventually turn gentle for her.
“Back then, I was so sure he’d soon look my way. Foolishly.”
But her hopes were shattered quickly.
Back when the Emperor had still been the Crown Prince, he took in the last queen of a small kingdom that had surrendered without a fight. That queen became the former Empress.
Despite being a queen of a fallen kingdom, she captivated the Empire with her extraordinary beauty.
The backlash had been immense when the former Empress entered the capital as a state guest. But during the welcome banquet, even the powerful noble families that opposed her fell silent upon seeing her.
“Ridiculous.”
Her pitiful beauty, soft voice, and graceful bearing rendered anyone incapable of looking down on her.
In the end, the Emperor made her Empress. Typically, an Empress was chosen from a powerful noble family that could support the Emperor’s rule. But the Emperor hadn’t cared.
Yes, he had loved her madly—no, he still loved her, even now.
“Maybe I was a fool to step into that place after witnessing such madness up close.”
A bitter smile tugged at Elysia’s lips.
Suddenly, she recalled a moment from the past.
It was when she had taken young Kaiden, who loved reading books in the library, on a trip to the Marquisate of Kaion.
It had been during a time when the Emperor’s cold indifference had built up wounds within her—festering, unresolved.
She had once hoped that bearing a prince, letting time pass, becoming more beautiful… any of those things might make him look her way. But that hope had died. All that remained was venom.
Eventually, the goal of being a beloved Empress disappeared from Elysia’s life. All that mattered was placing her only son on the throne.
And from that moment, the first prince Licht, the child of the former Empress, became a thorn in her side.
She had the powerful House of Kaion backing her.
With its help, she gathered numerous nobles aligned with them and began building a support base for her son, Second Prince Kaiden.
She didn’t reveal her ambition outright—thinking more preparation was necessary. The plan was to proceed methodically, slowly, and precisely.
But anxiety continued to fester.
Licht had awakened as a high-ranking mage at a young age, and his swordsmanship had quickly reached the level of seasoned knights from the battlefield.
Elysia was the first to sense the shifting attention of the court toward him.
The Emperor, who adored Licht the same way he once had the former Empress, only made her unease grow worse.
That’s when he appeared—the head of the cult, Deus.
“How about it? I think I can make that burning desire of yours come true.”
“Wouldn’t you like to see the Emperor of the Luden Empire kneel before you and beg for his life?”
“You could return the suffering you’ve endured all these years, and make it even worse.”
Elysia couldn’t resist Deus’s temptation—to vent the fury pent up in her chest. Even knowing what kind of offering he would demand, she hadn’t turned away.
If discovered, the punishment would be death—and the destruction of her entire house.
“If you make my son Kaiden Emperor…”
“Easily done. Is that all?”
“And… destroy the bloodline of the woman Ergo—the Emperor—loved so desperately.”
“That, too, will come to pass. As long as you offer a suitable sacrifice.”
Starting from that contract, the Empress handpicked isolated villages barely marked on the map and handed them over to him. Countless lives vanished like smoke, as if they never existed.
The sacrificial villages were discreetly selected by the Empress herself. Once chosen, the routes to and from those areas were quietly cut off.
So when an attack happened, news of it only spread after everything had already ended. Even that method had become more difficult ever since Licht began touring the empire.
As survivors began to emerge from the vanished villages, the existence of the cult became harder to keep under wraps.
In the end, the root of the problem was Licht.
Though she had taken the risk and supported the plan, he had disappeared without finishing the job.
Her heart pounded violently in her chest, making her ears throb.
“Bring me some cold tea.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
If she didn’t drink something ice-cold, her seething anger would never subside. Noticing the storm brewing in the Empress’s face, a nearby maid quickly exited the drawing room.
Before long, Lady Berensa, the Empress’s closest aide, entered the room.
She had served Elysia since her days at the House of Kaion, even before she entered the palace with dreams of becoming Empress.
“Your Majesty, apologies for the delay in reporting.”
Normally, she would never have left the Empress’s side, but today she had clearly returned from outside. Elysia spoke wearily.
“Any word?”
“I’m afraid… he remains missing.”
The Empress bit her lip quietly. Her anxiety grew by the minute.
“No news at all?!”
“That is…”
Berensa couldn’t meet her gaze and let her words trail off. It was as good as saying there was nothing.
The maid carrying the cold tea quietly opened the door—but froze when she sensed the tension in the air.
Then, regaining composure, she placed the tea before the Empress and Berensa and quickly stepped back.
“…Do they truly want to see me go insane?”
The Empress pressed her pale forehead and muttered.
Berensa gestured to the maid, who left with the other servants in the room.
After a brief silence, Berensa spoke quietly.
“The one we’d been in contact with has also gone silent. It’s been nearly two years now.”
Elysia bit her lip again. No matter which direction she turned, nothing was going her way. The Emperor still refused to speak to her.
“How long does he expect me to sit here and wait like a fool?”
Since Licht had fallen under a curse, she had continued working behind the scenes to install Kaiden as Crown Prince.
The nobles aligned with the House of Kaion had long been in the palm of her hand. It was more than enough to pressure the Emperor, who had no real faction of his own thanks to his obsession with love.
But Licht had slowly begun to gather his own noble supporters. And more concerning was Lucas Enderche, who had taken up a position at Licht’s side. More accurately, his family was the issue.
The Enderche family was a prestigious lineage of warrior-scholars who had always maintained neutrality, neither siding with the Emperor nor the noble factions.
But when Lucas Enderche was appointed as the captain of Licht’s Glacies Knight Order, that changed.
Now a formidable magic swordsman, Licht was traveling the empire, defeating cultists, and gaining support from commoners.
In Luden, the Emperor’s power wasn’t supported just by noble families—he also needed the trust of the people.
Luden was a country blessed by the god Merdemia, and the commoners were all followers of that god.
And since no one could ascend the imperial throne without the approval of Merdemia’s temple, the faith of the commoners—which influenced the temple—was essential.
That’s why Elysia had to act before Licht’s popularity grew any further.
“I told them to kill him—not put him to sleep. Now everything’s so vague.”
While Licht was unconscious, she had hoped to sway the Emperor somehow, but his constant evasion and delay tactics were driving her mad.
She downed the cold tea in one gulp and reclined on the sofa, eyes closed.
“If I can’t expect the Emperor to change…”
A moment later, her eyes opened—gleaming sharply, like the edge of a blade.
She waved a finger in the air.
Berensa quickly approached and knelt beside her.
“…Then maybe I should be the one to end his hope.”
If His Majesty was truly hoping for that precious son of his to ever wake up.
