“They live in the rugged territory that the Empire cannot manage and manage it. They are all necessary talents.”
The Empire is like a giant puzzle.
If one piece is missing, the work is not complete.
“And Elon is doing well enough now. The same goes for Gurkus.”
Sepia encouraged the Viscount.
She made it clear that she did not accept the tribe because of that.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“I wish there were more talented people like Elon. I want you to let me know that we are looking for personnel and review the documents ourselves and submit them.”
“Leave it to me.”
His words sounded very trustworthy.
Sepia looked at the table to sort out the remaining documents.
She was working as if nothing had happened, but her mind was filled with other thoughts.
Roxanne’s wounds were engraved in her mind, so she thought, ‘Can they overlap to this extent?’
She had thought it was a misunderstanding.
It was a coincidence. It was just her own misunderstanding.
However, repeated coincidences become inevitable.
Roxanne was hiding something from her.
'Why do I keep seeing them overlapping?'
Demios and Roxanne.
The only connection between them was that they were both Beastkin.
Sepia looked at the desk across from her.
The empty seat was Roxanne's.
'It was good that I gave him a vacation.'
What if Roxanne was in front of her right now?
Would she have questioned him? If not...
Her mind was in chaos. She was afraid that the suspicions she thought were impossible would become a reality.
Before she knew it, the sun was setting.
Sepia looked at the empty desk and got up.
"I'm going to leave work now. Please post the notice within this week."
"Yes. I understand."
Elon, who was helping with the paperwork next to her, saw Sepia off.
She returned to the Empress's Palace.
When Sepia got out of the carriage, Etensel was standing in front of her.
His red hair sparkled in the deepening red light of the south.
"You didn't contact me, so I came to see you in person."
Etensel's slightly thin face showed impatience.
Betty, who saw this, was looking around wondering if the captain of the guard had arrived.
Sepia called out to her.
“Would you like to go in first? I want to take a walk.”
“Oh, yes. Have a good day!”
Betty, with a regretful expression, saw them off.
Sepia and Etensel headed into the garden.
The border between the flower garden and the forest.
Standing there, Sepia opened her mouth.
“Young Master Kruds. I know that your words were a lie.”
In fact, she had known from the beginning.
In front of Sepia, who was saying this, his large green eyes shook anxiously.
Etensel bit his lips tightly and drooped his shoulders sadly.
“I’m sorry. But lies aren’t everything.”
The sight of the immature male made her feel maternal love.
However, sometimes, a whip is necessary.
“I’ve met people like you.”
“...If they’re people like me, are you talking about people with the same disease?”
Sepia nodded to the surprised Etengsel.
She cited the events at the special orphanage and the story about the civet cat lady as evidence.
“That...”
Etensel murmured in disbelief.
Sepia rebuked him.
“It wasn’t my ability that changed, but your will.”
Depending on how strong that will was, the change in a beast depended on it.
Was the misunderstanding cleared up now?
If she really didn’t believe him, she planned to let Etensel meet them in person.
However, Etensel’s will was firm.
“Even so, my feelings for the Empress have not changed.”
“No, that’s longing.”
Those who have deficiencies know each other.
Etensel also saw Sepia’s empty parts and mistook them for love.
A twisted heart due to deficiency.
Sepia believed that, but she couldn’t define the feelings of the person involved.
“No. It was love from the beginning.”
The young male’s eyes were filled with emotion.
Sepia tried hard to avoid his gaze.
“You have the ability. If you have the will to overcome illness and succeed in change, you can do anything. In the future.”
It was a roundabout rejection.
Even if Etensel’s feelings for her were love, she could not accept them.
Etensel bit his lips at Sepia’s words.
Finally, he asked with a determined look,
“...Does Your Majesty love His Majesty?”
A strong wind blew from the forest to the garden.
The sunset in the sky was getting darker with the moving clouds.
When Sepia did not answer, Etensel changed the question.
“Then what about the Duke?”
“That is not a question I should answer either.”
Sepia drew a line.
However, Etensel could not understand why he was asking such a question.
Was it simply because his feelings had been rejected?
If not...
“Your Majesty, be careful of His Majesty.”
“What does that mean?”
Despite Sepia’s repeated questions, he did not reveal his reason.
Replacing her answer with something that revealed her hidden feelings.
“If you need me, please let me know. I’ll be waiting.”
The fox, tail down, disappeared beyond the forest.
It was a dizzying twilight.
Sepia’s footsteps, watching him disappear, passed the garden.
She was heading to the lake behind the Empress’s palace. She needed time to gather her thoughts alone.
The sky she looked up at absentmindedly had a dark color today.
The red sunset was yo-yoing, and the sky that spread out somewhere eerie was hard to see the end.
“Dizzy.”
Why did Etensel ask that?
And it was hard to understand what he meant by being careful of Demios.
Sepia, who was walking slowly while lost in thought, suddenly frowned.
“...What is that smell?”
Something like a subtle metallic smell.
A pungent smell wafted in with the gradually warming early summer weather.
At first, she thought she had smelled it wrong, but the smell became stronger as she got closer to the lake.
Beyond the grass, a lake was visible.
The water was red.
At first, she thought it was just the reflection of the sunset.
Until she found the corpse of an animal caught in her foot.
It was a deer with a broken neck.
'What the heck is this...'
There was a fairy tale about a person who was looking for a path while spilling snacks.
At the end of the path created by the life that had cooled down, there was a lake. Holding the beast that had killed the beasts so far.
Hair that sparkled like silver thread.
Some of the strands that should have shined were soaked in red.
"...Your Majesty?"
Finally, the red eyes turned to Sepia.
The beauty of the sharp nose and lips connecting the profile created a sense of dissonance with the surrounding scenery.
Demios, half naked, was washing the blood of the beast in the lake.
No way.
'...The culprit who killed the beasts is Demios?'
But why?
Why on earth would he kill innocent lives?
Demios opened his mouth as if answering the question in her mind.
“Hunting.”
“...Hunting?”
Demios laughed, pushing his wet hair to the side.
“Yeah. It’s like a hobby. It’s good for the Empress. The Empress would hate killing beastmen more than beasts.”
Sepia couldn’t close her mouth.
How many reports had there been of beast corpses being found?
Demios’s hobby didn’t seem to be hunting but rather one-sided slaughter.
Furthermore, it even sounded like he was saying that beastmen and beasts were no different to him.
“Yeah. I’ve done whatever the Empress wants.”
He muttered self-deprecatingly.
The red sunset and the sparkling red eyes.
The blood flowing through the lake.
Everything looked red.
Even the beast that was laughing lazily.
The husband she had been seeing for half a decade was so unfamiliar.
The disgust that was seething even more clearly was enough to make her sick.
Demios was a man of few words, and he didn’t laugh that much.
But why?
The reason why this one looks more like the real one is because...
'... That's not the Demios I know.'
The memories of the Huron Empire, even compared to after she became the Empress, were completely different, completely unfamiliar.
Sepia focused on Demios’s half-naked body.
The long neckline and the lean muscles that settled under his broad shoulders looked smooth.
Without any scars.
Ah, she was finally convinced.
That beast was a different being from her childhood lover, a cry of instinct and reason.
“...Who are you?”
At Sepia’s question, he walked out of the lake.
Red-tinged droplets were falling down his body.
Demios, who faced her, had a blank expression.
“The Empress’s husband and the ruler of this empire.”
Water dripped from his silver hair.
The sight of a stranger for the first time was so unfamiliar.
When he was studying abroad in Huron.
Demios wore long clothes as a habit.
It was a week before the boy left.
Sepia had first seen him naked at the lakeside.
A bite-like scar on his left waist.
But that wasn’t the only scar he had.
Scars from being stabbed and cut.
Sepia asked what they were, but the boy did not tell her until the end.
Now, the Emperor Demios stood before her eyes.
A completely different being from Sepia's young lover.
"You were different from the beginning. The 'Demios' in my memories and Your Majesty."
It was not that he lost his memories in the first place, but that he did not have them.
The Empire is like a giant puzzle.
If one piece is missing, the work is not complete.
“And Elon is doing well enough now. The same goes for Gurkus.”
Sepia encouraged the Viscount.
She made it clear that she did not accept the tribe because of that.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“I wish there were more talented people like Elon. I want you to let me know that we are looking for personnel and review the documents ourselves and submit them.”
“Leave it to me.”
His words sounded very trustworthy.
Sepia looked at the table to sort out the remaining documents.
She was working as if nothing had happened, but her mind was filled with other thoughts.
Roxanne’s wounds were engraved in her mind, so she thought, ‘Can they overlap to this extent?’
She had thought it was a misunderstanding.
It was a coincidence. It was just her own misunderstanding.
However, repeated coincidences become inevitable.
Roxanne was hiding something from her.
'Why do I keep seeing them overlapping?'
Demios and Roxanne.
The only connection between them was that they were both Beastkin.
Sepia looked at the desk across from her.
The empty seat was Roxanne's.
'It was good that I gave him a vacation.'
What if Roxanne was in front of her right now?
Would she have questioned him? If not...
Her mind was in chaos. She was afraid that the suspicions she thought were impossible would become a reality.
Before she knew it, the sun was setting.
Sepia looked at the empty desk and got up.
"I'm going to leave work now. Please post the notice within this week."
"Yes. I understand."
Elon, who was helping with the paperwork next to her, saw Sepia off.
She returned to the Empress's Palace.
When Sepia got out of the carriage, Etensel was standing in front of her.
His red hair sparkled in the deepening red light of the south.
"You didn't contact me, so I came to see you in person."
Etensel's slightly thin face showed impatience.
Betty, who saw this, was looking around wondering if the captain of the guard had arrived.
Sepia called out to her.
“Would you like to go in first? I want to take a walk.”
“Oh, yes. Have a good day!”
Betty, with a regretful expression, saw them off.
Sepia and Etensel headed into the garden.
The border between the flower garden and the forest.
Standing there, Sepia opened her mouth.
“Young Master Kruds. I know that your words were a lie.”
In fact, she had known from the beginning.
In front of Sepia, who was saying this, his large green eyes shook anxiously.
Etensel bit his lips tightly and drooped his shoulders sadly.
“I’m sorry. But lies aren’t everything.”
The sight of the immature male made her feel maternal love.
However, sometimes, a whip is necessary.
“I’ve met people like you.”
“...If they’re people like me, are you talking about people with the same disease?”
Sepia nodded to the surprised Etengsel.
She cited the events at the special orphanage and the story about the civet cat lady as evidence.
“That...”
Etensel murmured in disbelief.
Sepia rebuked him.
“It wasn’t my ability that changed, but your will.”
Depending on how strong that will was, the change in a beast depended on it.
Was the misunderstanding cleared up now?
If she really didn’t believe him, she planned to let Etensel meet them in person.
However, Etensel’s will was firm.
“Even so, my feelings for the Empress have not changed.”
“No, that’s longing.”
Those who have deficiencies know each other.
Etensel also saw Sepia’s empty parts and mistook them for love.
A twisted heart due to deficiency.
Sepia believed that, but she couldn’t define the feelings of the person involved.
“No. It was love from the beginning.”
The young male’s eyes were filled with emotion.
Sepia tried hard to avoid his gaze.
“You have the ability. If you have the will to overcome illness and succeed in change, you can do anything. In the future.”
It was a roundabout rejection.
Even if Etensel’s feelings for her were love, she could not accept them.
Etensel bit his lips at Sepia’s words.
Finally, he asked with a determined look,
“...Does Your Majesty love His Majesty?”
A strong wind blew from the forest to the garden.
The sunset in the sky was getting darker with the moving clouds.
When Sepia did not answer, Etensel changed the question.
“Then what about the Duke?”
“That is not a question I should answer either.”
Sepia drew a line.
However, Etensel could not understand why he was asking such a question.
Was it simply because his feelings had been rejected?
If not...
“Your Majesty, be careful of His Majesty.”
“What does that mean?”
Despite Sepia’s repeated questions, he did not reveal his reason.
Replacing her answer with something that revealed her hidden feelings.
“If you need me, please let me know. I’ll be waiting.”
The fox, tail down, disappeared beyond the forest.
It was a dizzying twilight.
Sepia’s footsteps, watching him disappear, passed the garden.
She was heading to the lake behind the Empress’s palace. She needed time to gather her thoughts alone.
The sky she looked up at absentmindedly had a dark color today.
The red sunset was yo-yoing, and the sky that spread out somewhere eerie was hard to see the end.
“Dizzy.”
Why did Etensel ask that?
And it was hard to understand what he meant by being careful of Demios.
Sepia, who was walking slowly while lost in thought, suddenly frowned.
“...What is that smell?”
Something like a subtle metallic smell.
A pungent smell wafted in with the gradually warming early summer weather.
At first, she thought she had smelled it wrong, but the smell became stronger as she got closer to the lake.
Beyond the grass, a lake was visible.
The water was red.
At first, she thought it was just the reflection of the sunset.
Until she found the corpse of an animal caught in her foot.
It was a deer with a broken neck.
'What the heck is this...'
There was a fairy tale about a person who was looking for a path while spilling snacks.
At the end of the path created by the life that had cooled down, there was a lake. Holding the beast that had killed the beasts so far.
Hair that sparkled like silver thread.
Some of the strands that should have shined were soaked in red.
"...Your Majesty?"
Finally, the red eyes turned to Sepia.
The beauty of the sharp nose and lips connecting the profile created a sense of dissonance with the surrounding scenery.
Demios, half naked, was washing the blood of the beast in the lake.
No way.
'...The culprit who killed the beasts is Demios?'
But why?
Why on earth would he kill innocent lives?
Demios opened his mouth as if answering the question in her mind.
“Hunting.”
“...Hunting?”
Demios laughed, pushing his wet hair to the side.
“Yeah. It’s like a hobby. It’s good for the Empress. The Empress would hate killing beastmen more than beasts.”
Sepia couldn’t close her mouth.
How many reports had there been of beast corpses being found?
Demios’s hobby didn’t seem to be hunting but rather one-sided slaughter.
Furthermore, it even sounded like he was saying that beastmen and beasts were no different to him.
“Yeah. I’ve done whatever the Empress wants.”
He muttered self-deprecatingly.
The red sunset and the sparkling red eyes.
The blood flowing through the lake.
Everything looked red.
Even the beast that was laughing lazily.
The husband she had been seeing for half a decade was so unfamiliar.
The disgust that was seething even more clearly was enough to make her sick.
Demios was a man of few words, and he didn’t laugh that much.
But why?
The reason why this one looks more like the real one is because...
'... That's not the Demios I know.'
The memories of the Huron Empire, even compared to after she became the Empress, were completely different, completely unfamiliar.
Sepia focused on Demios’s half-naked body.
The long neckline and the lean muscles that settled under his broad shoulders looked smooth.
Without any scars.
Ah, she was finally convinced.
That beast was a different being from her childhood lover, a cry of instinct and reason.
“...Who are you?”
At Sepia’s question, he walked out of the lake.
Red-tinged droplets were falling down his body.
Demios, who faced her, had a blank expression.
“The Empress’s husband and the ruler of this empire.”
Water dripped from his silver hair.
The sight of a stranger for the first time was so unfamiliar.
When he was studying abroad in Huron.
Demios wore long clothes as a habit.
It was a week before the boy left.
Sepia had first seen him naked at the lakeside.
A bite-like scar on his left waist.
But that wasn’t the only scar he had.
Scars from being stabbed and cut.
Sepia asked what they were, but the boy did not tell her until the end.
Now, the Emperor Demios stood before her eyes.
A completely different being from Sepia's young lover.
"You were different from the beginning. The 'Demios' in my memories and Your Majesty."
It was not that he lost his memories in the first place, but that he did not have them.
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