“You didn’t show it to me on purpose.”
“...It was something the Empress didn’t need to know.”
Demios turned away from her accusing gaze.
He tried to persuade Sepia with a slightly softened voice.
“Withdraw your application right now. Even if the charity becomes an imperial department, it won’t be allocated a proper budget.”
Even if the department was created in Ishtar’s name, the designation of the business budget was still under the Emperor’s authority, so it couldn’t avoid his influence.
The reason Sepia wanted to make the charity an official department was because of the empire’s recognition and budget allocation.
To completely separate the new department from Demios, one more method was needed.
“As Empress, I will agree to the new department’s budgetary independence.”
That was the recognition of two members of the imperial family.
This was also a law written in the special law code, and if the number of imperial family members other than the Emperor was less than one, three additional nobles of the Marquis level or higher had to be persuaded and their guarantees obtained. This was to prevent the Emperor from ignoring Ishtar’s opinion and acting unilaterally.
The third document was a budget independence approval letter, but it was still one page short.
“Don’t waste your time. Even if you approve, do you think the families of the Marquis level or higher would side with the Empress? I can’t stand to see the Empress ruin the empire any longer.”
Sepia silently watched Demios, who threatened to disband the charity organization.
“As expected, you only think of nobles.”
Princess Ludien was abroad, so she was completely excluded from his thoughts.
However, there was one more person.
A noble and imperial family member that the Emperor had forgotten.
“Can I enter now?”
The Emperor’s gaze was fixed on the other side of the door at the sudden male voice.
It was the second entrance connected to the empress’s bedroom.
The door opened with Sepia’s permission.
The one who came out of the most intimate place was a noble black wolf.
Demios, who confirmed Roxanne, trembled.
“...Why did the Duke come out of the Empress’s bedroom?”
“He wasn’t in my bedroom, but was waiting in the connected passageway.”
“Why are the Duke and the Empress together at this hour of the night!”
Sepia sighed at Demios’s rage.
The Emperor’s eyes turned red at the reaction that he had expected.
Sepia, who had offered Roxanne a seat, told Demios the truth.
“We were discussing a new business department. His Majesty made a sudden visit and I asked him to step aside for a moment.”
“So why the Duke and...!”
“The Duke will be the Vice-Chairman of the Charity Department.”
If a new department were to be established in the Imperial Business, more personnel would have to be recruited than they are now.
And someone who could take charge of the department alongside Sepia was also needed.
Demios seemed shocked by her words and remained silent for a long time. Roxanne handed the Emperor a document.
“A letter of support for budget independence.”
Claude Leopold Drodian.
With a signature bearing the royal family’s last name.
Demios, looking down at Roxanne’s name, ended up crumpling the document.
His blazing red eyes were filled with hostility toward Roxanne and resentment toward Sepia.
“The Empress is trying to betray me now. Do you understand?”
“I didn’t betray you, I was on a different path from the beginning.”
She wanted to walk the same path as Demios.
However, just as she couldn’t change places, it was ultimately impossible to change his beliefs.
He couldn’t control his anger and shook his body.
As if he was going to return to the main body at any moment.
“Why the Duke of all people? Why...!”
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I just agree with Your Majesty. There’s no other reason.”
The issue of the new business division and Roxanne’s confession were separate issues.
Roxanne had been with her in various ways, not only by donating but also by presenting her opinions to charities.
He thought that if he was like this, they could go down the same path.
That’s all he thought.
Now Demios's anger turned to pleading.
He tried to reclaim the hilt of the sword by chastising Sepia.
"Does it have to be like this? The Empress is ruining the country right now."
It was the look of hurt that they had met in the underground temple.
The reason Sepia had not told Demios about being strangled was because of her guilt toward him.
But this was a personal matter, so it could be covered up, but if it was an act that suffocated the people of the empire, it was different.
At Sepia’s silence, Demios quickly continued speaking as if he thought his words were understood.
“I gave the Empress time. Time to accept me. But the Empress is finally trying to betray my heart. You're obsessed with memories of the past and are pushing me away.”
Demios, who had been talking about how long he had been looking after her, was now muttering accusations directed at himself.
“...It’s all because the Empress ignores me. No, everyone ignores me, the Emperor. It’s all because I didn’t inherit the Drodian seal.”
The Drodian seal.
It was a pair of seals that symbolized the Emperor and contained the power of the divine beast.
It was said that the owner of the seal could use absolute words only once, as it was passed down to the Emperor for generations.
The divine beast's words were so powerful that a single word from its master could bring revival to the empire or ruin the country.
However, this seal, which was like a symbol of the Emperor, was known to have been lost by the previous Emperor.
However, rumors spread among the nobles that the previous Emperor had hidden the seal.
This became Demios's sore spot.
Of all the Emperors, he was the only one who ascended the throne without the seal of Drodien.
On the day of Demios' coronation, the noble who had been drunk and mentioned the lost seal was found dead the next day without a word.
Since that incident, even the nobles who liked rumors did not mention the seal of Drodien lightly.
Sepia cut off the Emperor's endless self-deprecation.
"That's why you ignore me..."
"I didn't say that Your Majesty didn't keep away because there was no seal. Moreover, I know that it was lost."
Demios raised his head at her words.
He wiped away his tears as if he were crazy.
"Ha, do you believe that? There has never been an Emperor who lost his seal. The previous Emperor must have stolen it from me. That is the only flaw I have as an Emperor.”
Demios thought that Sepia was pushing him away because of his own blemishes.
But that was not the case.
“Even without the seal, Your Majesty is the Emperor of the empire.”
“...Then? Why on earth does the Empress reject me?”
Demios looked at Sepia, who shook her head, and hope-filled his eyes.
However, hope soon turned to despair.
“Because you have a different perspective than me. That’s all.”
Even though he brought in the government and strangled Sepia, there was only one regret.
That Demios treated the people of the empire as inferior beasts.
Every time Sepia encountered the poor, she reminded herself that they were also the people of the empire who thought and spoke.
Their laughter and tears were just as valuable as the nobles and the royal family.
Demios did not go crazy or criticize Sepia’s answer. He just looked at Sepia as if he were an empty being.
“...I thought only the Empress understood me. That wasn’t the case.”
That childlike appearance brought about a strange sense of guilt.
However, she couldn’t change her decision.
It was when Sepia looked into Roxanne’s eyes and gathered her strength.
“Still, my heart won’t change. Even though you hurt me, the Empress is mine.”
It was an extreme possessiveness.
Every time she faced Demios, she instinctively rejected him.
Especially when he claimed Sepia as hers.
“I have never hurt Your Majesty. And... Even though I am the Empress, I am not Your Majesty’s.”
Furthermore, she had never given Demios love.
However, this confession only served to provoke him.
“No. You always give it to me. And with the beast that I hate the most.”
Demios, who was shivering, suddenly grabbed his head.
He crouched down and let out a painful sound.
“My head... hurts.”
“Your Majesty, are you okay?”
When Sepia, worried about the sudden change, tried to approach Demios.
“Please step back.”
Roxanne raised Sepia and made her stay away from the Emperor.
Even as Sepia looked at Roxanne with unfamiliar eyes, Demios’s distress only grew.
“...Call Titie, bring Titie.”
Demios stood up and staggered to find his mistress.
Seeing this, Sepia called the servant standing in front of the door and ordered him to bring Titie. It seemed that the mistress had been waiting near the Empress’s palace in advance, and soon after, the mistress appeared.
“Your Majesty! I’m here.”
“Ugh...”
Titie pushed past the Empress who was standing in front of the door and came in to support Demios.
Blood flowed down the back of Sepia’s hand, possibly from a scratch on the decoration of her dress.
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