A red-carpeted audience hall.
The Emperor, sitting on a throne on the platform, looked down at the ministers.
The ministers lined up facing each other in this row, bowed their heads, and held their breath.
Demios asked with bloodshot eyes.
“The Grand Duchess?”
“...I haven’t found her yet.”
The large minister confessed.
After the Empress disappeared, the Emperor ordered all blonde and blue-eyed females to be captured, regardless of their species.
However, the Empress was human.
Nevertheless, capturing a similar beast was a warning from the Emperor to her.
A warning that if she didn’t show herself, she would suffer even worse.
The Emperor stood up.
The ministers closed their eyes tightly and prepared themselves mentally.
Immediately after the report was made, one of the ministers’ heads was inevitably cut off.
It didn’t matter what species they were or how high their titles were.
The Emperor’s slaughter was fair, regardless of their position.
“...Yes. She’s not showing up.”
The Emperor muttered to himself and stood up.
He was holding a longsword in one hand as if it were a given.
“Where is the poorhouse that the Grand Duchess had the most eyes on?”
“Are you talking about the Reveries poorhouse in the capital?”
One of the ministers asked.
Reveries was located in the very center of the capital and served as the heart of the other poorhouses.
Many of the ministers donated to the charity department and received a statement of the use of their donations in advance, so they knew where the investment money would be used in advance.
“There must be a blond, blue-eyed woman there too... No. They’re just insects anyway. If they show any signs of resistance, drive them all into the poorhouse and set it on fire.”
Don’t let a single one live.
The ministers knew what the Emperor meant.
The crime was refusing the imperial order.
It meant that they were all to be killed regardless of whether they resisted or not.
Demios stood up.
Now it was the ministers’ turn.
The blind sword was about to cut through the air.
Suddenly, the door to the audience room opened and the knight appeared.
The knight, who was out of breath, shouted at the Emperor.
“I found her!”
The tip of the sword pointing at the light moved slightly.
Demios, who had turned his back on the minister, turned his gaze to the knight.
“Where are she now?”
“Currently waiting in front of the eastern gate of the capital.”
He had not found her but had appeared on her own.
Demios threw the sword he was holding onto the wall.
“Prepare the horse.”
He quickly crossed the carpet.
The Emperor’s mantle fluttered. His movements looked like waves of blood.
However, soon the knight’s voice stopped his steps.
“Your Majesty, there is one more thing you must report. The Grand Duchess and Duke Leopold...”
Before the knight could finish his report, the Emperor turned around at the knight’s words that should not have come up.
“Now, what?”
The ministers held their breath.
Everyone knew that the Demios were showing hypersensitivity.
The knight, whose eyes were bloodshot and murderous, finished his report with a sense of mission.
“The Grand Duchess and Duke Leopold are moving together.”
The deposed Empress, who had not been able to find even a single hair in the empire, appeared with the Duke.
It was the moment when the identity of the person who had been hiding the Grand Duchess was revealed.
The Duke had not fallen due to injury.
The Emperor, who had only just realized this fact, went crazy.
“Ha, hahaha...!”
The laughter that echoed through the audience room was that of a madman.
Demios, who had been laughing with his shoulders thumping, returned to a blank expression.
“Good.”
The Emperor, who had thought he would go crazy, responded as if he was glad instead.
However, everyone present knew that this was only to bring about even more madness.
“Yes. I should go out to greet him.”
As the Emperor moved, the attendants raced to follow him.
Demios was determined to make the male who dared to take his place pay the price.
The Emperor, dressed in a different outfit, mounted his horse.
As he pulled the reins of the giant steed, the horse stood up and galloped across the imperial carriage road.
The knights escorting the Emperor hurriedly followed behind.
As the cavalry led by Demios crossed the capital, the beasts of burden on the streets hid themselves in the back alleys.
In front of the capital’s eastern gate.
The closed gate opened, and beyond it, the knights of Leopold were visible.
The leaders of the knights who had participated in the subjugation of the barbarians.
In front of them stood the Duke of Leopold and the deposed Empress.
“...Sepia.”
His red eyes glared at her as if they would devour her.
After Sepia left, he had not been able to sleep deeply even once.
Whenever he closed his eyes for a moment, he would inevitably have nightmares.
In his dreams, Sepia appeared and whispered affectionately with a smile he had never seen before.
"Demios, you are not worthy of being an Emperor.”
That smile was like the tyranny of a cruel goddess.
The image he had longed for in his dreams faded away. She was held in the arms of the male she should not have caught the most.
No matter how much he stretched out his hand, their appearances passed by Demios like a mirage.
He wanted to kill them.
Only the will to kill them and make them his own allowed Demios to breathe.
Just like right now.
“Sepia, come here. If it’s now, I’ll forgive you.”
What was before his eyes right now was not an illusion, but a real thing.
The sensation of blood rushing to his eyes made his eyes dizzy. The reason Demios didn’t immediately climb on top of Sepia and force her to obey was that he still loved her.
A normal heart. The emotions that normal people have.
Sepia was the only way to control his madness.
When he met her again, he became even more certain.
That female should be his.
Demios reached out to her as if in a dream.
However, his nightmare had already become a more intense reality.
The outstretched hand stopped in midair.
“...Smell.”
The sharp sense of smell of the god had been trying to find her scent floating in the air since a while ago.
However, his efforts to even touch her scent were covered by the scent of another male and ended in vain.
Sepia smelled like Roxanne.
A terrible scent that should never have been present. Could it be?
The red pupils shook as if they were going to burst.
“...Did you leave a trace?”
Biting, leaving a trace of possession on its female.
When a divine beast bites the neck of its mate, the other party is covered with the divine beast’s scent, completely obscuring its own body odor.
Along with the supreme sense that ordinary beasts, humans, cannot feel.
A sharp wind blew.
Sepia’s nape was revealed between her long blond hair fluttering in the wind.
There was a trace of a beast on her delicate neck.
A trace that should never have been left.
“We’ve mated.”
His gaze turned to Roxanne.
The beast’s eyes, having witnessed the target it must kill, became bloodshot.
He muttered to himself with the flames boiling in his head.
“Just kill me.”
Unlike the Emperor’s covenant that even shared fate, the divine beast’s biting ended when the other party it left a trace on died. It was fortunate.
There was now a compelling reason to cut off the beast’s breath.
The Emperor reached out and pulled out the knight’s sword.
The moment he took his first step, Roxanne grabbed the sword handle.
With an invisible leap, the two swords clashed in front of Roxanne.
It was only a distance of a cheek.
The blades clashed without making a sound, but they did not move away from each other even a little.
If the two divine beasts were to materialize, the capital would be destroyed. It was the moment when the knights on both sides, overwhelmed by the tense tension, reached for their swords.
“Stop. I beg you as the Grand Duchess.”
The Emperor, who pushed away Roxanne’s sword, sneered.
“What does a ghost Grand Duchess know how to do?”
The reason Demios had kicked Sepia out of her position as Empress was to cut off her limbs. So that she could do nothing without him.
It was the same now.
Without a Grand Duke, a Grand Duchess could do nothing.
But Sepia did not waver.
With an unexpected statement.
“No. There is someone who will inherit the title of Grand Duke.”
At Sepia’s gaze, Groer came forward and handed the document to the Emperor.
The document, which looked old, had the seal of the former Emperor.
“This is...”
“This is a document left behind by the late Emperor.”
Long ago, when the former Emperor created the title of Grand Duke, the owner of the position had been decided.
A declaration for Leopold’s successor.
A mere piece of worn-out paper contained the power to grant Roxanne the title of Grand Duke and designate him as Grand Duke.
The declaration was crumpled in Demios’s hands.
The current Emperor was Demios.
However, he could not ignore the former Emperor’s order.
The current Emperor was a half-king who did not have the seal of Drodien.
Urrrrrrr. Demios trembled with the sound of his teeth rubbing together.
Roxane declared in front of the Emperor, who was furious and angry.
“As of this moment, I hereby declare the territory of Leopold as Grand Duchy.”
A noble with a Grand Duke title was the owner of another kingdom within the empire and shared some of the Emperor’s authority within that land. This was also the reason why the Emperor had not created a Grand Duke title until now.
The Grand Duke's partner was also the same. As a noble of the Beastkin Empire and the Queen who ruled there, she could avoid the Emperor's orders.
It meant that the Emperor could no longer keep Sepia.
The owner of the title that was thought to be ownerless was Roxanne.
And the one who created this situation was Demios.
From the beginning to the end, the Emperor was played by the hands of the divine beast he hated the most.
Demios threw the sword he was holding onto the wall.
“Prepare the horse.”
He quickly crossed the carpet.
The Emperor’s mantle fluttered. His movements looked like waves of blood.
However, soon the knight’s voice stopped his steps.
“Your Majesty, there is one more thing you must report. The Grand Duchess and Duke Leopold...”
Before the knight could finish his report, the Emperor turned around at the knight’s words that should not have come up.
“Now, what?”
The ministers held their breath.
Everyone knew that the Demios were showing hypersensitivity.
The knight, whose eyes were bloodshot and murderous, finished his report with a sense of mission.
“The Grand Duchess and Duke Leopold are moving together.”
The deposed Empress, who had not been able to find even a single hair in the empire, appeared with the Duke.
It was the moment when the identity of the person who had been hiding the Grand Duchess was revealed.
The Duke had not fallen due to injury.
The Emperor, who had only just realized this fact, went crazy.
“Ha, hahaha...!”
The laughter that echoed through the audience room was that of a madman.
Demios, who had been laughing with his shoulders thumping, returned to a blank expression.
“Good.”
The Emperor, who had thought he would go crazy, responded as if he was glad instead.
However, everyone present knew that this was only to bring about even more madness.
“Yes. I should go out to greet him.”
As the Emperor moved, the attendants raced to follow him.
Demios was determined to make the male who dared to take his place pay the price.
The Emperor, dressed in a different outfit, mounted his horse.
As he pulled the reins of the giant steed, the horse stood up and galloped across the imperial carriage road.
The knights escorting the Emperor hurriedly followed behind.
As the cavalry led by Demios crossed the capital, the beasts of burden on the streets hid themselves in the back alleys.
In front of the capital’s eastern gate.
The closed gate opened, and beyond it, the knights of Leopold were visible.
The leaders of the knights who had participated in the subjugation of the barbarians.
In front of them stood the Duke of Leopold and the deposed Empress.
“...Sepia.”
His red eyes glared at her as if they would devour her.
After Sepia left, he had not been able to sleep deeply even once.
Whenever he closed his eyes for a moment, he would inevitably have nightmares.
In his dreams, Sepia appeared and whispered affectionately with a smile he had never seen before.
"Demios, you are not worthy of being an Emperor.”
That smile was like the tyranny of a cruel goddess.
The image he had longed for in his dreams faded away. She was held in the arms of the male she should not have caught the most.
No matter how much he stretched out his hand, their appearances passed by Demios like a mirage.
He wanted to kill them.
Only the will to kill them and make them his own allowed Demios to breathe.
Just like right now.
“Sepia, come here. If it’s now, I’ll forgive you.”
What was before his eyes right now was not an illusion, but a real thing.
The sensation of blood rushing to his eyes made his eyes dizzy. The reason Demios didn’t immediately climb on top of Sepia and force her to obey was that he still loved her.
A normal heart. The emotions that normal people have.
Sepia was the only way to control his madness.
When he met her again, he became even more certain.
That female should be his.
Demios reached out to her as if in a dream.
However, his nightmare had already become a more intense reality.
The outstretched hand stopped in midair.
“...Smell.”
The sharp sense of smell of the god had been trying to find her scent floating in the air since a while ago.
However, his efforts to even touch her scent were covered by the scent of another male and ended in vain.
Sepia smelled like Roxanne.
A terrible scent that should never have been present. Could it be?
The red pupils shook as if they were going to burst.
“...Did you leave a trace?”
Biting, leaving a trace of possession on its female.
When a divine beast bites the neck of its mate, the other party is covered with the divine beast’s scent, completely obscuring its own body odor.
Along with the supreme sense that ordinary beasts, humans, cannot feel.
A sharp wind blew.
Sepia’s nape was revealed between her long blond hair fluttering in the wind.
There was a trace of a beast on her delicate neck.
A trace that should never have been left.
“We’ve mated.”
His gaze turned to Roxanne.
The beast’s eyes, having witnessed the target it must kill, became bloodshot.
He muttered to himself with the flames boiling in his head.
“Just kill me.”
Unlike the Emperor’s covenant that even shared fate, the divine beast’s biting ended when the other party it left a trace on died. It was fortunate.
There was now a compelling reason to cut off the beast’s breath.
The Emperor reached out and pulled out the knight’s sword.
The moment he took his first step, Roxanne grabbed the sword handle.
With an invisible leap, the two swords clashed in front of Roxanne.
It was only a distance of a cheek.
The blades clashed without making a sound, but they did not move away from each other even a little.
If the two divine beasts were to materialize, the capital would be destroyed. It was the moment when the knights on both sides, overwhelmed by the tense tension, reached for their swords.
“Stop. I beg you as the Grand Duchess.”
The Emperor, who pushed away Roxanne’s sword, sneered.
“What does a ghost Grand Duchess know how to do?”
The reason Demios had kicked Sepia out of her position as Empress was to cut off her limbs. So that she could do nothing without him.
It was the same now.
Without a Grand Duke, a Grand Duchess could do nothing.
But Sepia did not waver.
With an unexpected statement.
“No. There is someone who will inherit the title of Grand Duke.”
At Sepia’s gaze, Groer came forward and handed the document to the Emperor.
The document, which looked old, had the seal of the former Emperor.
“This is...”
“This is a document left behind by the late Emperor.”
Long ago, when the former Emperor created the title of Grand Duke, the owner of the position had been decided.
A declaration for Leopold’s successor.
A mere piece of worn-out paper contained the power to grant Roxanne the title of Grand Duke and designate him as Grand Duke.
The declaration was crumpled in Demios’s hands.
The current Emperor was Demios.
However, he could not ignore the former Emperor’s order.
The current Emperor was a half-king who did not have the seal of Drodien.
Urrrrrrr. Demios trembled with the sound of his teeth rubbing together.
Roxane declared in front of the Emperor, who was furious and angry.
“As of this moment, I hereby declare the territory of Leopold as Grand Duchy.”
A noble with a Grand Duke title was the owner of another kingdom within the empire and shared some of the Emperor’s authority within that land. This was also the reason why the Emperor had not created a Grand Duke title until now.
The Grand Duke's partner was also the same. As a noble of the Beastkin Empire and the Queen who ruled there, she could avoid the Emperor's orders.
It meant that the Emperor could no longer keep Sepia.
The owner of the title that was thought to be ownerless was Roxanne.
And the one who created this situation was Demios.
From the beginning to the end, the Emperor was played by the hands of the divine beast he hated the most.
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