TCIWTFY - Chapter 1

Prologue

A rainy night.

The Emperor stepped into a prison filled with dampness.

Medea, who had been looking up at the black sky through a window a little longer than a span, turned around.

A body as bony as a tree branch was visible outside the shabby dress. A haggard complexion, sunken eye glow. She looked like a corpse barely breathing.

The Emperor frowned. Still, she was the woman he had spent half his life with. He can't believe that a woman who was steadfast even during a difficult expedition ended up in such a miserable situation.

"Jason."

An empty sound spread. The knight behind the Emperor became angry.

"How dare a sinner infringe on His Majesty's name!"

"Leave her alone. Before she dies, I wonder if I will have that much generosity with her."

Medea looked away vaguely as if she couldn't hear their conversation.

"I did everything for you."

Medea looked at the Emperor.

"Princess of Valdina, please call me Jason."

The friendly greeting was still nice to her eyes. He was the person whom she loved all her life.

She thought she wanted to have him even if she had to sacrifice everything, and that was actually the case. She stole the country's treasures and offered them to him. She sacrificed her youth for him. She sacrificed her country's soldiers and gave him the throne.

However, the result was a painful betrayal.

Medea's brother died and her country was destroyed. Her husband married another woman.

"Your Majesty abandoned me and took the Saintess as your Empress."

Medea held her swollen belly with her second child and heard the news of her husband's marriage.

"I heard it was all because of the oracle. So, didn't you make your son Lian the Crown Prince instead?"

And Lian died.

Six months have passed since the child was brought into the imperial palace alone to receive recognition of legitimacy.

"I knew then. The next one will be me and Leah."

It is said that after the hunt is over, the hunting dogs are boiled. She realized the truth too late.

"Didn't the oracle come out again? The revelation that your wife and daughter are bringing about the destruction of this country!"

The Emperor rebuked me again.

"Medea. Instead of burning you at the stake according to the oracle, I gave you the favor of allowing you to die in peace out of respect for your past. But you're still full of resentment."

The shamelessness of the man who drove her to death and asked her to be grateful was no longer surprising.

"Whether it's an oracle or any other reason, it doesn't matter."

Medea spat out arsenic.

"Your Majesty has always been one step behind. Even when I stole a national treasure, beheaded the dragon, and brought down the Emperor, and even when our child died, it was never your fault."

The friendly man with the faint smile is no longer there. All that remains is the vile man who, blinded by ambition, betrayed her and drove her into the mud.

"Finish her quickly. I don't want to see any more of this filth."

He lifted his chin firmly. The knight opened the cap of the black bottle attached to his belt.

'Leah will survive. I'm so glad.'

Three days ago, Medea asked my cousin, with whom she had a close relationship to help her young daughter escape from the Emperor's eyes.

Medea sold all her possessions and exchanged them for jewels. There will be no problem, at least until Leah comes of age.

She was caught here because she had exhausted all her funds and power to prepare a place of refuge, but she had no regrets. 

"... I feel sorry for the children. But they won't be lonely because they have you. Thank goodness."

Children?

Medea's face instantly became as frozen as ice.

It was like a mother's instinct to feel the safety of her child.

"Leah. No way, Leah!"

At that time, pink hair flowed behind the knights. Medea froze.

"I'm sorry, Medea."

"Birna, why are you here..."

Why is her cousin, who should be crossing the border by now, here?

Medea's body began to tremble in shock.

"I couldn't betray Your Majesty. I'm sorry, Medea. But this doesn't work. It's not right.'

Birna leaned delicately on the Emperor's shoulder. Her white hand gently swept down the Emperor's arm.

Birna handed out a small package to Medea, who stumbled and sat down.

It was the pouch that was attached to Leah's arms when she was separated from Medea. The flower-patterned pouch was soaked with blood and turned dark red.

"Aaaah!"

Medea cried out, her fingers shaking, unable to even hold the blood-soaked bag.

Leah, my little Leah!

How scary was it? How much did she resent her mother?

"The kids will understand too."

The Emperor's expression was cruel, and he did not look like a father who had lost his child.

"Jason, you evil bastard!"

Eyes full of evil glared at the Emperor.

"Even beasts! You said you wouldn't harm my children!"

The clanking armor soon obscured her vision.

"What a foolish thing to do to Your Majesty! Shut up the mouths of sinners! Your Majesty, please go."

The Emperor smiled softly and said his final goodbyes to his wife, who had shared hardships and adversity throughout her life.

"Goodbye, Medea. I will deeply remember your contribution."

He didn't forget to turn around and leave a heartfelt word to Birna.

"It's getting cold, Lady Claudio, so don't stay too long."

"The girl is just thrilled that Her Majesty cares so kindly."

When Jason disappeared. Birna's sweet smile disappeared. She looked down at Medea with a cold sneer on her face.

"What is the reward for giving your all, Medea?"

"What?"

"Ahaha! You act so proudly because you're a Princess but look at you. Valdina was destroyed, and your brother was torn to pieces by demonic beasts. Because of a stupid girl like you!"

Medea couldn't understand.

My cousin Birna is my family. Why do you say such things? Why are you so happy?

Why did you betray me? Why did you hand over my child?

"No, I shouldn't blame you. I was able to come this far thanks to you."

Why is she?

"Both Valdina's loyalists and your brother did not take it easy. If it weren't for you idiot, we would have failed."

"We..?"

Medea, who was out of breath, slowly turned her head.

Eventually, her eyes darkened as she realized everything.

"... It was your family who encouraged me to steal the Wise Man's Eye for Jason. Has it been since then?"

"Wrong. It was much, much longer ago than that. You have no idea, poor Dea."

Birna was so excited that she giggled.

"Your whole life, your entire life has been in the hands of our family."

"..."

"Thanks to you, my father will become the King of Valdina, and I will become the Empress of this empire."

How much she wanted to scream in this face. She was just a puppet from the beginning.

"..."

The past passed by like a flash of light.

And then Medea realized.

Rebellion, fall, death.

Her uncle's family was everywhere in the tragedy that happened to her.

"Jason knows too. He has been with us for a long time."

"..."

"You were just our chess piece. Do you understand now?"

The green eyes sank deeply.

A sorrowful moan flowed silently between Medea's bitten lips.

"Jason."

Instead of spitting out blood at the betrayal of her lover, Mede took his name.

In order not to forget. All the lies he told and all the sacrifices she made.

A single dark red tear flowed down her cheek.

The knights straightened their backs in an eerie mood. However, Birna could not hide her happy face when she saw her cousin in pain.

"Don't be too sad. Because soon you will be able to see your family whom you miss so much. Aren't you happy?"

"Birna, you too."

The dry lips gently lifted. Red pupils looked directly at Birna.

"I won't forget. You and your family too. I will never forget everything about Claudio."

Arsenic hanging under the eyes that shed bloody tears. Only then did Birna shake her back and retreat.

"W-what......." 

Then, soon enough, she got bored. Now she has something more to fear than a useless puppet.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and  pour it in her mouth."

She fired at the knight.

The knight holding the black bottle viciously grabbed my chin.

"Catch her! Don't let her move!"

The knights firmly held on to the struggling limbs. And he poured out as much poison as he could from the vial.

Poison was splashed around. Black medicine drops and red blood drops mixed together and flowed down unsightly onto the white skin.

Even the moment Medea closed her eyes, she repeated it.

She will pay for her foolishness in not recognizing the golden beasts with death.

But their original sin.

No matter how many lives pass, she will definitely come back and ask. Even if she is born as a tiny creature, even if she has to wait for eons.

Neither those who follow fate nor those who are loved by God will be able to avoid her.

Until their blood brightens the path she takes, she won't stop.

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