The playful smile cast under the shadow was as refreshing as the sunlight of the ocean.
“It’s the first time we’ve brushed past.”
With a boyishly refreshing voice.
‘...Informal speech.’
If he had been polite as a Duke, now she felt like she was facing the rawness of a male.
Sepia turned her head away, pretending not to notice his gaze.
“You did it before, didn’t you?”
Roxanne hesitated to answer.
“Young Lady!”
Sepia turned her head toward the sound.
In the distance, Lucy was coming down the cliff steps.
“What’s going on?”
“Your guest has arrived.”
“My guest?”
No way.
Sepia’s eyes turned to Roxanne.
“I see that Madame Remody has arrived.”
He had become a Duke again.
“...I should go in.”
Madame Remody was staying in the Ghost Palace to buy time; even if she had gone out on her own, she was not out of danger, so she was always worried about her.
Sepia got up from her seat.
When she returned to the castle, Madame Remody was standing in the lobby.
“Madame Remody. I’m glad you came back safely.”
Sepia hugged her.
Seeing the face of the person who had been worried all along, she felt relieved. However, the expression on the lady’s face was filled with anxiety.
“What happened?”
After a moment of silence, Remody said.
“His Majesty has become a madman.”
The deposed Empress disappeared.
As if to prove that she was the Star of Ishtar, an ominous atmosphere hung over the palace from that day on.
But the clear reason was the Emperor who had become mad.
Starting with the death of the imperial servant, people were dying in the imperial city every day.
Nobles, court ladies, men and women, everyone.
The Emperor was obsessed with finding the deposed Empress.
It had already been ten days since all the meetings held by the Emperor were halted, and the capital gates were closed.
'The Emperor had become mad.'
Rumors of his past as Crown Prince were also surfacing.
The beasts living in the imperial city held their breath.
The ominous atmosphere was now spreading from the imperial city to the entire capital.
Not long ago, the imperial city had been bustling with the coronation of the new Empress.
However, now there was also the question of whether the coronation could be properly held.
After the death of the attendant, the Emperor did not visit Titie even for a single day.
There were only three days left until the coronation.
She bit her fingernails in the bedroom of the Repetto Palace. She had moved her belongings, but since she was not the official Empress, she could not reside in the Empress’s palace yet.
That made her dream even bigger.
The day she would become the real Empress.
But the deposed Empress was ruining everything.
‘What the hell?’
She witnessed the death of the attendant right before her eyes. Deaths in the back alleys were a daily occurrence, but this was the first time she had seen a beast being hacked to pieces.
That was not an ordinary death; it was murder.
Killing animals could be considered a hobby.
That was hunting. But it was not the same beast.
The death of the attendant could not be forgotten.
That night, Titie had to stay up all night.
Up until this point, she could understand.
She wondered how angry Demios must have been.
But she could not stand being obsessed with that human woman.
‘Why are you still paying attention to the deposed Empress?!’
Morning sickness added to the situation, making her extremely sensitive nerves scream.
She had deliberately prepared a dress that would show her swollen belly and make her look pretty, but the dress she had liked so much now looked like rags.
“Ahhhhhh!”
The bedroom was a mess again.
Several maids had already been carried out on stretchers due to the seizures that had started after the Empress disappeared.
“Huk... Huk...”
After causing a lot of chaos, Titie was panting in exhaustion.
A maid who didn’t know this came inside and shrugged her shoulders.
“Your Majesty, I brought you dates soaked in honey as you ordered.”
Although she was about to be crowned, strictly speaking, she was not yet an Empress.
However, Titie was ordering the maids of the Repetto Palace to call her Empress.
The maid was secretly relieved when she saw the state of the bedroom.
The room was a mess, but the chaos was already over, and eating sweets made her less nervous.
But the appetite that was changing every day now made even sweet smells disgusting.
Titie frowned at the sudden sweet smell.
“...Ugh, can’t you get that out of here right now?!”
Titie covered her mouth with her hand and started throwing anything she could get her hands on at the maid.
The candlestick that flew hit the maid’s face.
“Ugh...!”
The maid, who was hit by the solid silver candlestick, fell over and hit her head on the porcelain.
“...To think that you brought something like this to eat.”
It was disgusting that she had been eating so well until yesterday.
Even though she thought it was ridiculous, it was the maid’s fault for bringing this, not her own.
Looking at the maid lying on the carpet, Titie became irritated again.
“Where did you get hurt from? Can’t you get up right now?!”
Titie started kicking the maid’s stomach with his shoe.
The maid, who had her whole body stretched out, didn’t even groan or react at all.
Something was wrong.
It was the moment when she kicked the maid with all her might out of inexplicable impatience.
“Get up!”
Crunch.
At that moment, as if something had burst, blood soaked the carpet.
The blood that had started from the maid’s head quickly formed a puddle and gushed out.
It was too much to dismiss as just a minor wound.
No way.
Titie stopped her footwork.
She carefully turned over the stretched body.
Her pale face couldn’t even close her eyes.
Titie put her hand on the maid’s nose.
The maid wasn’t breathing.
“...Is she really dead?”
She died because she was hit with a candle. Titie had seen people get beaten to death in back alleys, but she'd never killed a person like her with her own hands.
Her hands and feet trembled as she looked at the stretched corpse.
‘What should I do now?’
Killing a maid before she became Empress.
The level of crime was different between a member of the royal family killing a person and the government killing a person.
Titie bit her fingernails in anxiety.
It was at that moment.
The whisper of the black snake came to mind.
'A lizard that cuts off its own tail and runs away.'
Yes.
Right now, she needed a tail to protect her head.
Titie immediately closed the bedroom door and went out into the hallway.
“You there. I have something to do for you. Come here.”
The maid, who knew her master’s mood, hurriedly stood in front of her.
Late at night.
The eldest son of the Count of Louvre visited the Palais de la Repetto.
Gelard followed Titie, very excited.
“The Emperor is looking for me?”
“Yes, brother. You came secretly, right?”
“Of course.”
He nodded confidently. He was dressed too much to visit his sister’s residence in the middle of the night.
And he was carrying a sword.
“I think His Majesty has a secret favor to ask of you.”
“I have a good sister.”
Gelard smiled happily.
He stroked the handle of the sword the Emperor had given him, saying that this was a perfect opportunity to prove its usefulness.
Titie guided him to his bedroom.
“His Majesty is in here. You go in first.”
“Yes.”
Gelard tidied up his clothes for a moment and went inside.
However, the bedroom where the Emperor was was completely dark.
“Your Majesty? I heard you were looking for me.”
The moment he took a few steps inside, something tripped on his foot.
“...What is this?”
However, his eyes, unaccustomed to the darkness, had difficulty discerning objects.
It was when Gelard frowned.
Suddenly, the light came on.
What tripped his foot was the body of a dead maid.
Soon, the door opened.
“Oh...?”
“T, what is this?”
Gelard hesitated and stepped back in confusion.
Titie began to scream as if she had witnessed a terrible sight.
“Gyaaaah! Please save me!”
“What, what is it?! What are you...!”
The lights came on simultaneously with the screams that echoed through the hallway.
The knights who had gathered then realized the situation.
“What is happening?”
“My brother... is trying to kill me...”
“Young Lady!”
Titie stumbled and fell to the floor, shedding tears.
The knights quickly supported her.
The remaining knights surrounded Gelard.
“What?! When did I ever do that...! Let go of me!”
“It’s the first time we’ve brushed past.”
With a boyishly refreshing voice.
‘...Informal speech.’
If he had been polite as a Duke, now she felt like she was facing the rawness of a male.
Sepia turned her head away, pretending not to notice his gaze.
“You did it before, didn’t you?”
“Do you remember?”
“...just now.”
At this particular timing.
A low laugh was heard above her head.
“Then you must have remembered that too.”
That was when she said she wouldn’t treat it as a kiss.
Her face turned red at those words.
Sepia asked, avoiding eye contact.
“Am I really your fiancée here?”
“Yes. In reality, it’s more than that.”
What could he possibly mean?
“Please stand up, fiancée.”
With those words, Roxanne got up and reached out to Sepia.
Memories from her childhood came back to her as she saw him standing with his back to the sky.
‘It was you in the end.’
Although their appearances were different, what she loved was ultimately one being.
The confused mind calmed down.
Sepia grabbed his hand and got up.
They walked along the white sand for a while and then settled down in front of the sea.
Sepia crouched down on the sand and wrote.
The writing was erased by the low tide and engraved again, repeating.
It was like a dream.
Now she could feel this kind of leisure.
But she knew that she couldn’t stay like this forever.
Sepia looked at him and asked,
“What are you going to do next?”
“I have to find the remaining relics.”
He was looking at the flowing waves and Sepia together.
As if he wanted to imprint this moment in his eyes forever.
‘Then should I go back to the palace?’
It had already been a week since she had come to Leopold.
He might have been caught by now.
The relics of the Red King.
That was why Roxanne had to wander the palace.
“You said you found one. What was it?”
“That was...”
“...just now.”
At this particular timing.
A low laugh was heard above her head.
“Then you must have remembered that too.”
That was when she said she wouldn’t treat it as a kiss.
Her face turned red at those words.
Sepia asked, avoiding eye contact.
“Am I really your fiancée here?”
“Yes. In reality, it’s more than that.”
What could he possibly mean?
“Please stand up, fiancée.”
With those words, Roxanne got up and reached out to Sepia.
Memories from her childhood came back to her as she saw him standing with his back to the sky.
‘It was you in the end.’
Although their appearances were different, what she loved was ultimately one being.
The confused mind calmed down.
Sepia grabbed his hand and got up.
They walked along the white sand for a while and then settled down in front of the sea.
Sepia crouched down on the sand and wrote.
The writing was erased by the low tide and engraved again, repeating.
It was like a dream.
Now she could feel this kind of leisure.
But she knew that she couldn’t stay like this forever.
Sepia looked at him and asked,
“What are you going to do next?”
“I have to find the remaining relics.”
He was looking at the flowing waves and Sepia together.
As if he wanted to imprint this moment in his eyes forever.
‘Then should I go back to the palace?’
It had already been a week since she had come to Leopold.
He might have been caught by now.
The relics of the Red King.
That was why Roxanne had to wander the palace.
“You said you found one. What was it?”
“That was...”
Roxanne hesitated to answer.
“Young Lady!”
Sepia turned her head toward the sound.
In the distance, Lucy was coming down the cliff steps.
“What’s going on?”
“Your guest has arrived.”
“My guest?”
No way.
Sepia’s eyes turned to Roxanne.
“I see that Madame Remody has arrived.”
He had become a Duke again.
“...I should go in.”
Madame Remody was staying in the Ghost Palace to buy time; even if she had gone out on her own, she was not out of danger, so she was always worried about her.
Sepia got up from her seat.
When she returned to the castle, Madame Remody was standing in the lobby.
“Madame Remody. I’m glad you came back safely.”
Sepia hugged her.
Seeing the face of the person who had been worried all along, she felt relieved. However, the expression on the lady’s face was filled with anxiety.
“What happened?”
After a moment of silence, Remody said.
“His Majesty has become a madman.”
***
The deposed Empress disappeared.
As if to prove that she was the Star of Ishtar, an ominous atmosphere hung over the palace from that day on.
But the clear reason was the Emperor who had become mad.
Starting with the death of the imperial servant, people were dying in the imperial city every day.
Nobles, court ladies, men and women, everyone.
The Emperor was obsessed with finding the deposed Empress.
It had already been ten days since all the meetings held by the Emperor were halted, and the capital gates were closed.
'The Emperor had become mad.'
Rumors of his past as Crown Prince were also surfacing.
The beasts living in the imperial city held their breath.
The ominous atmosphere was now spreading from the imperial city to the entire capital.
Not long ago, the imperial city had been bustling with the coronation of the new Empress.
However, now there was also the question of whether the coronation could be properly held.
After the death of the attendant, the Emperor did not visit Titie even for a single day.
There were only three days left until the coronation.
She bit her fingernails in the bedroom of the Repetto Palace. She had moved her belongings, but since she was not the official Empress, she could not reside in the Empress’s palace yet.
That made her dream even bigger.
The day she would become the real Empress.
But the deposed Empress was ruining everything.
‘What the hell?’
She witnessed the death of the attendant right before her eyes. Deaths in the back alleys were a daily occurrence, but this was the first time she had seen a beast being hacked to pieces.
That was not an ordinary death; it was murder.
Killing animals could be considered a hobby.
That was hunting. But it was not the same beast.
The death of the attendant could not be forgotten.
That night, Titie had to stay up all night.
Up until this point, she could understand.
She wondered how angry Demios must have been.
But she could not stand being obsessed with that human woman.
‘Why are you still paying attention to the deposed Empress?!’
Morning sickness added to the situation, making her extremely sensitive nerves scream.
She had deliberately prepared a dress that would show her swollen belly and make her look pretty, but the dress she had liked so much now looked like rags.
“Ahhhhhh!”
The bedroom was a mess again.
Several maids had already been carried out on stretchers due to the seizures that had started after the Empress disappeared.
“Huk... Huk...”
After causing a lot of chaos, Titie was panting in exhaustion.
A maid who didn’t know this came inside and shrugged her shoulders.
“Your Majesty, I brought you dates soaked in honey as you ordered.”
Although she was about to be crowned, strictly speaking, she was not yet an Empress.
However, Titie was ordering the maids of the Repetto Palace to call her Empress.
The maid was secretly relieved when she saw the state of the bedroom.
The room was a mess, but the chaos was already over, and eating sweets made her less nervous.
But the appetite that was changing every day now made even sweet smells disgusting.
Titie frowned at the sudden sweet smell.
“...Ugh, can’t you get that out of here right now?!”
Titie covered her mouth with her hand and started throwing anything she could get her hands on at the maid.
The candlestick that flew hit the maid’s face.
“Ugh...!”
The maid, who was hit by the solid silver candlestick, fell over and hit her head on the porcelain.
“...To think that you brought something like this to eat.”
It was disgusting that she had been eating so well until yesterday.
Even though she thought it was ridiculous, it was the maid’s fault for bringing this, not her own.
Looking at the maid lying on the carpet, Titie became irritated again.
“Where did you get hurt from? Can’t you get up right now?!”
Titie started kicking the maid’s stomach with his shoe.
The maid, who had her whole body stretched out, didn’t even groan or react at all.
Something was wrong.
It was the moment when she kicked the maid with all her might out of inexplicable impatience.
“Get up!”
Crunch.
At that moment, as if something had burst, blood soaked the carpet.
The blood that had started from the maid’s head quickly formed a puddle and gushed out.
It was too much to dismiss as just a minor wound.
No way.
Titie stopped her footwork.
She carefully turned over the stretched body.
Her pale face couldn’t even close her eyes.
Titie put her hand on the maid’s nose.
The maid wasn’t breathing.
“...Is she really dead?”
She died because she was hit with a candle. Titie had seen people get beaten to death in back alleys, but she'd never killed a person like her with her own hands.
Her hands and feet trembled as she looked at the stretched corpse.
‘What should I do now?’
Killing a maid before she became Empress.
The level of crime was different between a member of the royal family killing a person and the government killing a person.
Titie bit her fingernails in anxiety.
It was at that moment.
The whisper of the black snake came to mind.
'A lizard that cuts off its own tail and runs away.'
Yes.
Right now, she needed a tail to protect her head.
Titie immediately closed the bedroom door and went out into the hallway.
“You there. I have something to do for you. Come here.”
The maid, who knew her master’s mood, hurriedly stood in front of her.
***
Late at night.
The eldest son of the Count of Louvre visited the Palais de la Repetto.
Gelard followed Titie, very excited.
“The Emperor is looking for me?”
“Yes, brother. You came secretly, right?”
“Of course.”
He nodded confidently. He was dressed too much to visit his sister’s residence in the middle of the night.
And he was carrying a sword.
“I think His Majesty has a secret favor to ask of you.”
“I have a good sister.”
Gelard smiled happily.
He stroked the handle of the sword the Emperor had given him, saying that this was a perfect opportunity to prove its usefulness.
Titie guided him to his bedroom.
“His Majesty is in here. You go in first.”
“Yes.”
Gelard tidied up his clothes for a moment and went inside.
However, the bedroom where the Emperor was was completely dark.
“Your Majesty? I heard you were looking for me.”
The moment he took a few steps inside, something tripped on his foot.
“...What is this?”
However, his eyes, unaccustomed to the darkness, had difficulty discerning objects.
It was when Gelard frowned.
Suddenly, the light came on.
What tripped his foot was the body of a dead maid.
Soon, the door opened.
“Oh...?”
“T, what is this?”
Gelard hesitated and stepped back in confusion.
Titie began to scream as if she had witnessed a terrible sight.
“Gyaaaah! Please save me!”
“What, what is it?! What are you...!”
The lights came on simultaneously with the screams that echoed through the hallway.
The knights who had gathered then realized the situation.
“What is happening?”
“My brother... is trying to kill me...”
“Young Lady!”
Titie stumbled and fell to the floor, shedding tears.
The knights quickly supported her.
The remaining knights surrounded Gelard.
“What?! When did I ever do that...! Let go of me!”
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