To Sepia, Demios was still her benefactor.
However, there was no love between them.
She had guessed before becoming Empress that there would be no emotional exchange.
So she tried to properly carry out her duties as Empress as Demios wanted. But why.
In the end, Sepia had to confess the truth with her own mouth.
“We are no longer lovers. We are not in love.”
Still, she did not want to say the words that would end her memories.
Sepia forced a smile.
Her hands and feet were frozen cold. Even though the room was so warm.
Despite Sepia mentioning words that would end her past memories, he did not say anything.
That made her hate him even more.
“...Please go back now. And please refrain from making sudden visits.”
Right. What was the point of asking about his inexplicable actions at this point?
As Demios had warned Sepia earlier, Sepia only hoped that he would fulfill his duties as emperor.
“Why the Duke?”
“Is that such an important question?”
Despite her astonished question, he continued to give her a look that urged her to answer.
At this point, the issue was no longer proving whether Roxanne was the real mistress or not.
In fact, the ridiculous thought that Demios did not hate the Duke but rather secretly admired and obsessed with him crossed her mind.
“You mentioned the Duke’s past before, right?”
“Yes.”
Demios nodded.
As if it was only natural to avoid a Duke with such an unfortunate past.
“I do not believe in records that cannot be proven.”
"There is evidence. The Duke’s nanny...”
“I know that too. But has anyone seen the Duke slaughter an animal? Or any witnesses who saw him draw a strange picture? All I know is that the picture and the body were found in the Duke’s room. Perhaps the Duke’s nanny made it look that way.”
The Emperor remained silent.
After hearing about Roxanne’s past from her maid, Sepia was able to hear more related stories from those who worked in the palace at the time.
The residents of the territory pointed out the enemy Prince as a demon, but no one had directly witnessed the boy’s actions.
“Why is Your Majesty so obsessed with the Duke?”
“...I’m obsessed with the Duke?”
He growled as if he had heard something he shouldn’t have heard.
Demios, his eyes flashing fiercely, denied it.
“I’m worried about the Empress.”
“Why? Even if I really did take the Duke as my mistress, wouldn’t it be okay if I just fulfilled my responsibilities as the Empress? Just like Your Majesty says.”
However, there was no love between them.
She had guessed before becoming Empress that there would be no emotional exchange.
So she tried to properly carry out her duties as Empress as Demios wanted. But why.
In the end, Sepia had to confess the truth with her own mouth.
“We are no longer lovers. We are not in love.”
Still, she did not want to say the words that would end her memories.
Sepia forced a smile.
Her hands and feet were frozen cold. Even though the room was so warm.
Despite Sepia mentioning words that would end her past memories, he did not say anything.
That made her hate him even more.
“...Please go back now. And please refrain from making sudden visits.”
Right. What was the point of asking about his inexplicable actions at this point?
As Demios had warned Sepia earlier, Sepia only hoped that he would fulfill his duties as emperor.
“Why the Duke?”
“Is that such an important question?”
Despite her astonished question, he continued to give her a look that urged her to answer.
At this point, the issue was no longer proving whether Roxanne was the real mistress or not.
In fact, the ridiculous thought that Demios did not hate the Duke but rather secretly admired and obsessed with him crossed her mind.
“You mentioned the Duke’s past before, right?”
“Yes.”
Demios nodded.
As if it was only natural to avoid a Duke with such an unfortunate past.
“I do not believe in records that cannot be proven.”
"There is evidence. The Duke’s nanny...”
“I know that too. But has anyone seen the Duke slaughter an animal? Or any witnesses who saw him draw a strange picture? All I know is that the picture and the body were found in the Duke’s room. Perhaps the Duke’s nanny made it look that way.”
The Emperor remained silent.
After hearing about Roxanne’s past from her maid, Sepia was able to hear more related stories from those who worked in the palace at the time.
The residents of the territory pointed out the enemy Prince as a demon, but no one had directly witnessed the boy’s actions.
“Why is Your Majesty so obsessed with the Duke?”
“...I’m obsessed with the Duke?”
He growled as if he had heard something he shouldn’t have heard.
Demios, his eyes flashing fiercely, denied it.
“I’m worried about the Empress.”
“Why? Even if I really did take the Duke as my mistress, wouldn’t it be okay if I just fulfilled my responsibilities as the Empress? Just like Your Majesty says.”
It wasn’t a provocation, it was sincere.
However, this statement broke Demios’ patience.
“...Haha.”
Demios smiled.
His cold and dangerous face was as beautiful as the surface of the moon.
“But it’s you and I who are bound as a couple. Sepia.”
“What...”
It was the first time he had called her name since becoming Empress.
Sepia, sensing something was wrong, instinctively tried to step back. However, Demios’s hands were faster than hers, cupping her chin and cheek.
The red eyes that met her closely were so dark that they were covered in black.
“The Empress forgets that I am your husband too often.”
Demios acted sad as if he was very sorry about that fact.
However, his gaze seemed too dangerous to be fooled by her poor acting.
She tried to turn her head, but her face was caught, and wouldn’t move at all.
Goosebumps ran down her spine.
He stroked Sepia’s cheek with his index finger as if he found it amusing that Sepia was nervous.
“Huh? Isn’t that right? Why aren’t you answering? My Empress is so arrogant.”
A light hum spread ominously.
Demios was the one holding down her chin, preventing her from speaking properly.
Demios, with eyes that seemed to be incomprehensible, approached Sepia as if to press for an answer.
Sepia took the same number of steps as he did.
However, it was impossible to run away for too long in the limited space.
“Ugh...!”
The sofa caught behind her knees.
Sepia sat down as if she was about to fall over and looked up at him.
The high-ranking position was a new threat to her.
Demios looked at Sepia, who was lying under him and licked his lips like a beast that had cornered its prey.
“I’ll say it again. The government is the government. My wife is you, the Empress.”
He relaxed the hand that was holding her chin and slowly stroked Sepia’s cheek.
His leisurely hands as if tasting it, soon caressed her long blond hair, then grabbed a handful and gently stroked it repeatedly.
Although his attitude had become much softer, he kindly grabbed Sepia’s chin and held it in place when her head dropped.
It was a warning not to look away.
Your husband is me.
Sepia barely managed to exhale as she tried to brand that fact with her eyes.
“...There are couples in the world who are worse than others.”
His beautiful face suddenly distorted in front of Sepia as she spoke.
At first glance, Demios seemed to have hurt eyes, but Sepia thought that there was nothing she could do.
‘You were the one who showed me reality, Demios.’
She had never denied the fact that she and Demios were a couple.
But if they were a normal couple with love and trust, they wouldn’t have been having this conversation.
“When Your Majesty said he would take a government, I said yes. At that time, I thought that my personal relationship with Your Majesty was completely cut off.”
“...A personal relationship?”
“Yes. The one Your Majesty lost... when Your Majesty was studying abroad.”
Demios couldn’t remember most of the time when he and Sepia were lovers.
However, there was a reason why he lost his memories.
‘The death of the former Emperor.’
However, this statement broke Demios’ patience.
“...Haha.”
Demios smiled.
His cold and dangerous face was as beautiful as the surface of the moon.
“But it’s you and I who are bound as a couple. Sepia.”
“What...”
It was the first time he had called her name since becoming Empress.
Sepia, sensing something was wrong, instinctively tried to step back. However, Demios’s hands were faster than hers, cupping her chin and cheek.
The red eyes that met her closely were so dark that they were covered in black.
“The Empress forgets that I am your husband too often.”
Demios acted sad as if he was very sorry about that fact.
However, his gaze seemed too dangerous to be fooled by her poor acting.
She tried to turn her head, but her face was caught, and wouldn’t move at all.
Goosebumps ran down her spine.
He stroked Sepia’s cheek with his index finger as if he found it amusing that Sepia was nervous.
“Huh? Isn’t that right? Why aren’t you answering? My Empress is so arrogant.”
A light hum spread ominously.
Demios was the one holding down her chin, preventing her from speaking properly.
Demios, with eyes that seemed to be incomprehensible, approached Sepia as if to press for an answer.
Sepia took the same number of steps as he did.
However, it was impossible to run away for too long in the limited space.
“Ugh...!”
The sofa caught behind her knees.
Sepia sat down as if she was about to fall over and looked up at him.
The high-ranking position was a new threat to her.
Demios looked at Sepia, who was lying under him and licked his lips like a beast that had cornered its prey.
“I’ll say it again. The government is the government. My wife is you, the Empress.”
He relaxed the hand that was holding her chin and slowly stroked Sepia’s cheek.
His leisurely hands as if tasting it, soon caressed her long blond hair, then grabbed a handful and gently stroked it repeatedly.
Although his attitude had become much softer, he kindly grabbed Sepia’s chin and held it in place when her head dropped.
It was a warning not to look away.
Your husband is me.
Sepia barely managed to exhale as she tried to brand that fact with her eyes.
“...There are couples in the world who are worse than others.”
His beautiful face suddenly distorted in front of Sepia as she spoke.
At first glance, Demios seemed to have hurt eyes, but Sepia thought that there was nothing she could do.
‘You were the one who showed me reality, Demios.’
She had never denied the fact that she and Demios were a couple.
But if they were a normal couple with love and trust, they wouldn’t have been having this conversation.
“When Your Majesty said he would take a government, I said yes. At that time, I thought that my personal relationship with Your Majesty was completely cut off.”
“...A personal relationship?”
“Yes. The one Your Majesty lost... when Your Majesty was studying abroad.”
Demios couldn’t remember most of the time when he and Sepia were lovers.
However, there was a reason why he lost his memories.
‘The death of the former Emperor.’
The death of the former Emperor Gilutiae occurred two years after Demios returned to his home country.
The father and son collapsed while drinking tea, coughing up blood.
There was poison in the teapot.
The royal doctors immediately treated the fallen royal family members, but Gilutiae died in less than two days.
Demios was the only one who survived the poisoning.
The culprit was one of the crown prince’s servants, and the servant belonged to a faction that opposed the rule of the beastman empire by only wolves of divine blood.
The imperial family wiped out all the attendants who had killed the emperor and the remaining opposition forces.
Compared to the emperor's death, Demios regained consciousness after being sick for nearly a month.
Everyone was relieved that the Crown Prince had not suffered any side effects from the poison, thanks to the help of heaven.
The problem was later revealed.
Demios had no memory of his time in Huron.
Even when he received a letter from his former lover.
Sepia only found out that Demios had lost his memory after coming to the Beastkin Empire.
She was very sad that he had lost the precious memories that had been with her.
However, she was also relieved.
'He didn't throw it away on purpose.'
She was able to console herself that he had not intentionally avoided looking for her.
Demios's loss of memory gave her an excuse that Sepia had not been wrong in waiting.
After becoming the Empress, Sepia told Demios about the events in Huron one by one.
Most of it seemed that he didn't remember, but he still didn't refuse to listen.
When Demios rarely said that he remembered that scene, Sepia felt as if she had the world.
However, the effort to restore his memory was only temporary.
The time they spent together decreased due to their busy work, and even when they finally got together, it became natural for them to discuss the country’s major and minor affairs first instead of memories of the past.
At some point, Sepia found herself not instilling the past in him.
Memories could be rebuilt.
Even if it wasn’t love as a couple. However, the distance between them, once they were no longer Emperor and Empress, only grew wider. She felt bitter about this change but thought it was inevitable.
Still, she consoled herself by saying that they were bound by the bond of a couple.
It was he who broke that comfort.
Sepia was speaking with her eyes.
“...Yes. That’s right.”
Demios nodded as if he agreed.
However, the cold atmosphere and the pressure did not change. Rather, it became more so.
“Still, you have to speak properly, Sepia. You were the one who rejected me first.”
Sepia froze in a cold smile.
Because she knew exactly what he was talking about.
'The first night as an Empress.'
Sepia and Demios's wedding was a celebration of the Bestkind Empire.
That night, Sepia prepared to meet her husband as a wife.
Compared to the thin dress that was easy to take off, her hair, which was covered with many heavy ornaments, had to be let down by her husband.
Sepia waited for Demios in the Empress’s bedroom.
Soon, the Emperor, wearing only a robe, came in.
A wife must not look back until her husband has let down all of her hair.
One, two.
As each ornament fell and the weight on her head decreased, Sepia bit the flesh inside her mouth.
This was because she felt an extreme sense of rejection towards Demios, who was touching her hair.
“Why are you doing this?”
The rejection, which was so unfamiliar that she surprised herself, reached its peak when Demios had let down all of Sepia’s hair.
Just before her dress was taken off, Sepia stood up and reflexively stepped back.
The father and son collapsed while drinking tea, coughing up blood.
There was poison in the teapot.
The royal doctors immediately treated the fallen royal family members, but Gilutiae died in less than two days.
Demios was the only one who survived the poisoning.
The culprit was one of the crown prince’s servants, and the servant belonged to a faction that opposed the rule of the beastman empire by only wolves of divine blood.
The imperial family wiped out all the attendants who had killed the emperor and the remaining opposition forces.
Compared to the emperor's death, Demios regained consciousness after being sick for nearly a month.
Everyone was relieved that the Crown Prince had not suffered any side effects from the poison, thanks to the help of heaven.
The problem was later revealed.
Demios had no memory of his time in Huron.
Even when he received a letter from his former lover.
Sepia only found out that Demios had lost his memory after coming to the Beastkin Empire.
She was very sad that he had lost the precious memories that had been with her.
However, she was also relieved.
'He didn't throw it away on purpose.'
She was able to console herself that he had not intentionally avoided looking for her.
Demios's loss of memory gave her an excuse that Sepia had not been wrong in waiting.
After becoming the Empress, Sepia told Demios about the events in Huron one by one.
Most of it seemed that he didn't remember, but he still didn't refuse to listen.
When Demios rarely said that he remembered that scene, Sepia felt as if she had the world.
However, the effort to restore his memory was only temporary.
The time they spent together decreased due to their busy work, and even when they finally got together, it became natural for them to discuss the country’s major and minor affairs first instead of memories of the past.
At some point, Sepia found herself not instilling the past in him.
Memories could be rebuilt.
Even if it wasn’t love as a couple. However, the distance between them, once they were no longer Emperor and Empress, only grew wider. She felt bitter about this change but thought it was inevitable.
Still, she consoled herself by saying that they were bound by the bond of a couple.
It was he who broke that comfort.
Sepia was speaking with her eyes.
“...Yes. That’s right.”
Demios nodded as if he agreed.
However, the cold atmosphere and the pressure did not change. Rather, it became more so.
“Still, you have to speak properly, Sepia. You were the one who rejected me first.”
Sepia froze in a cold smile.
Because she knew exactly what he was talking about.
'The first night as an Empress.'
Sepia and Demios's wedding was a celebration of the Bestkind Empire.
That night, Sepia prepared to meet her husband as a wife.
Compared to the thin dress that was easy to take off, her hair, which was covered with many heavy ornaments, had to be let down by her husband.
Sepia waited for Demios in the Empress’s bedroom.
Soon, the Emperor, wearing only a robe, came in.
A wife must not look back until her husband has let down all of her hair.
One, two.
As each ornament fell and the weight on her head decreased, Sepia bit the flesh inside her mouth.
This was because she felt an extreme sense of rejection towards Demios, who was touching her hair.
“Why are you doing this?”
The rejection, which was so unfamiliar that she surprised herself, reached its peak when Demios had let down all of Sepia’s hair.
Just before her dress was taken off, Sepia stood up and reflexively stepped back.
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