The red light-like eyes came forward, pushing through the bushes.
Sunken cheeks. A thin head tilted to the side.
Isn’t the staggering walk quite strange?
Eventually, Demios, who had been looking back and forth between the entrance of the underground temple and Roxanne, asked with bloodshot eyes.
“Why are you coming out of there? The underground temple is a place where only the Emperor and Empress can enter. It is not a place where unqualified people dare to come and go.”
Demios’s breathing became ragged.
His biggest trigger was the absolute title of Emperor.
The beast that dared to challenge his authority or covet even a little of the Emperor’s privileges caused Demios to have a seizure like this.
It didn’t matter what the beast’s intentions were.
The unstable position where the seal of Drodian was lost.
To protect the throne without one leg, he had to be on his toes all the time.
That was the tantrum and weakness of the unqualified.
Roxanne saw through Demios’s inner thoughts as he struggled to protect what he had taken.
“That’s not something that should come out of the mouth of an Emperor who watched the imperial palace fall into this state.”
“Shut up.”
With a low groan, Demios’ mouth was torn long.
The corners of his mouth where his wolf fangs had grown were bizarre.
His anxious mind was creating irregular cracks in his transformation into a beast and a being.
Sepia noticed Demios’ anxiety.
“You can’t become a being properly.”
Judging from his mind, it wouldn’t have been strange if he had transformed into a divine beast right away.
However, the fact that he was maintaining such an imperfect form could only be explained by his inability to control his own body.
The struggles of a wounded beast were more ferocious than ever.
Demios, who was panting alone, checked the baby in Sepia’s arms.
“...What’s that?”
The young wolf, unable to even cry, was covered in a soft cloth.
“It’s your and Titie’s baby.”
A chimera that was almost a sacrifice.
She couldn’t leave this young life in the collapsing temple.
After hearing Sepia’s answer, Demios’s brow furrowed fiercely as he confirmed the baby’s face.
“That pitiful thing is my child. I can’t believe it. Take it away right now.”
Sepia wrapped the baby’s ear.
He had expected that kind of reaction, but seeing it with her own eyes made her mouth taste even worse.
It was when she was holding the baby.
Demios’s eyes rolled back as if something had caught his attention in Sepia’s words earlier.
“...And you? It seems that even you have gone crazy while you were around that guy, but I am the Emperor.”
Demios repeated the same words several times as if he were hammering a nail into it.
It seemed like it was not a warning to the other person, but rather a confirmation that he was alive.
“So Sepia, throw that away and become the Empress again and give birth to my child.”
His expression finally relaxed and he muttered as if he was dreaming.
The baby that will be born between you and me will be very lovely.
A strong excitement seeped into the words that seemed to draw the future.
Sepia shut her mouth at the strange and twisted obsession.
'I thought it was strange from the beginning.'
Demios's desire that did not go away no matter how many times he was rejected was abnormal.
But now she know.
From the beginning, Demios's identity was on the throne of the Emperor.
If the throne of the Emperor disappeared from him, Demios himself would disappear.
Sepia glimpsed her past self in Demios.
The days when she had sharpened and whipped herself to become the most perfect Empress. When the ego is swallowed up by the throne, the meaning of existence is lost.
She felt sorry for Demios who had been consumed by the throne.
It was even more so because he and she clearly had something in common.
'But I cannot walk the same path as you.'
Sepia grabbed Roxanne's hand as if to brace herself.
'I understand now.'
A desperate wish to the seal of Drodian.
A way to use it.
The seal takes effect when the star of Ishtar that determines the Emperor takes away the qualification from the current Emperor.
Sepia took out the Drodian's seal.
The jewels embedded in the eyes of the male and female glowed.
At that moment, the words of the wish on the seal soon became a spell.
"Demios, I will banish you from the throne."
A voice flowed along a small ray of light.
At that moment, Demios’s movements suddenly stopped.
“...What are you saying now?”
All he heard was a single word denying himself.
No.
He could have just cut off the head of the person who dared say such a thing.
However, he couldn’t move from his spot. His whole body lost its strength, and he couldn't claim himself as Emperor.
“...It’s me. That’s... my place, but why.”
Did he feel like he had lost everything because of Sepia’s single word?
The feeling of sand leaking through his fingers.
He felt like he was going crazy from the anxiety that could not be filled no matter how much he tried.
Sepia was also sensing this change in Demios.
The most beautiful male in the empire.
Even though he had a bizarre appearance, his noble appearance seemed infinitely shabby.
‘That was Demios’ true form.’
The true essence hidden behind the flesh of the throne and noble bloodline was neither beautiful nor noble.
Demios, who had been struggling and trembling, trembled.
Even at this moment, the only place he could ask for help was Sepia.
“Sephia, look at this name. Your name engraved on me!”
He staggered and rolled around on the wet floor.
A puddle of rain trailed past.
He held out his hand to Sepia without even feeling the dirt.
“Please, thinking of the years we lived together as a couple...”
Just before he finished speaking, Demios vomited dark red blood.
The blade pierced his heart.
Sepia and Roxanne’s eyes widened as they watched.
Demios’s body tilted.
Behind him was a woman laughing creepily.
‘...Titie.’
Pale skin, as if she had already died.
Her dress was stained and torn, giving off an unknown pungent smell in the rain.
Titie laughed as she pulled out the dagger stuck in Demios’ chest.
“That can’t be happening, Your Majesty. I am your wife now.”
Demios, who had fallen to the floor, glared at her.
After all, Titie was the only one who called him Your Majesty when he had been stripped of his throne.
Titie knelt down and hugged Demios’ head.
“If I cannot become the Empress of this world... If even hell must be miserable and lonely.”
The words flowed as if they were singing.
Titie raised her head with an affectionate kiss.
“I will take you with me.”
“Stop!”
The blades in both hands pointed high into the air.
Before Sepia’s voice could reach her, the curved fall stabbed Titie’s flat stomach.
Titie collapsed on top of Demios, spitting out red blood.
It was raining.
The rain would wash away the two deaths and guide them to the distant afterlife.
Sepia, who had been blankly watching them, looked away.
When their eyes met, Roxanne shook her head. It meant that Titie had already lost her life. Ah, a death entangled in revenge and greed.
How could it be so futile?
“...Roxanne.”
Sepia quietly mumbled his name.
Roxanne answered by embracing her.
His hot body temperature wrapped around her wet shoulders.
But the warmth was not one, but two. Sepia looked down at the baby she was holding.
'A life that neither of the parents wanted.'
Perhaps the child who had been thrown out into the world with the most pitiful fate was breathing evenly without knowing anything.
Everything was over.
Sepia looked over the purple dawn.
The new sun was pushing away the dark clouds.
The broken and burning remains.
The imperial palace was bustling with activity to recover the palace that had collapsed due to the beast's attack.
The knights succeeded in pushing back the beast at Roxanne's order.
However, the numerical disadvantage was clear.
The knights who were wrestling with the beast suddenly witnessed the monster crumbling into stone.
The death of the warlock nullified the magic.
Those who had already been beasted could not be saved.
However, efforts could be made to recover the remains, care for the bereaved families, and rebuild the imperial palace and capital.
"Then let's start with the most damaged area."
"Understood."
Sepia reviewed the documents and passed them on to the officials.
After the beast-like transformation stopped, Sepia first focused on assessing the extent of the damage and rescuing the injured.
It had been two weeks since the rescue team had been divided and started moving quickly under her command.
The collapsed imperial palace was slowly regaining its function.
It was a dark night.
Sepia and Roxanne headed to the Emperor’s audience room.
There was a mirror on display that connected the sea and the land.
The mirror, a type of sacred object that had been passed down through the empire since ancient times, reflected her and Roxanne.
Sepia was holding the baby of Titie and Demios.
“It was called a chimera, wasn’t it?”
This baby was not born, but rather created.
After pondering the baby’s fate, Sepia decided to hand it over to the High Priest.
The inside of the large mirror rippled.
Soon, with a cool and refreshing sensation, seawater splashed outside the mirror, revealing the High Priest’s figure.
The High Priest’s first words as he looked at the baby in Sepia’s arms were these.
[What a unique creature.]
A created being that should not have been born.
However, there was no malice in the High Priest’s tone.
“What will happen to this baby?”
[The sea is made up of thousands of layers of nets. After filtering out all the unnecessary things, when he opens his eyes, he will be recognized as the child of the goddess.]
Purification of the sea.
In an unknown amount of time, this baby will be reborn as a new life.
Sepia passed the baby through the mirror.
‘Please cut off the karma of the parents.’
With a sincere wish.
The High Priest smiled as he accepted the baby.
He disappeared into the mirror with the rippling waves.
With the same blue eyes as Sepia’s.
She thought there would be many things to ask the High Priest when she met him.
However, when she actually faced him, she realized that such questions were unnecessary.
In the end, it was Sepia, herself, who changed all fates.
The throne was empty.
Sepia looked up at Roxanne.
Her companion, the male. And the lovely divine beast that would grant her wish.
“The wish is not over yet. So, become my Emperor.”
The star of Ishtar brings revival to the empire.
Her greatest destiny was Roxanne.
After he lowered his head, their lips met.
Their entangled breaths and soft touch. A heat beyond that.
After being slowly pushed back, Sepia was already sitting on the throne.
Roxanne, who had Sepia sitting there, knelt down on one knee in front of her.
“I will become the Emperor who rules the empire, but my own Empress. My god is only you, Sepia.”
The wolf sacrifices his life to one companion for the rest of his life.
At the end of this noble oath, the most noble love awaited him.
“So, an order.”
“Then kiss me. More passionately.”
Roxanne kissed her instep as if he had been waiting.
His lips followed the instep, her ankle, her calf, and the places covered by her dress.
A male who covets, but is allowed to covet.
Instead of leaving all power to his female, it was Roxanne’s job to take her.
Sunken cheeks. A thin head tilted to the side.
Isn’t the staggering walk quite strange?
Eventually, Demios, who had been looking back and forth between the entrance of the underground temple and Roxanne, asked with bloodshot eyes.
“Why are you coming out of there? The underground temple is a place where only the Emperor and Empress can enter. It is not a place where unqualified people dare to come and go.”
Demios’s breathing became ragged.
His biggest trigger was the absolute title of Emperor.
The beast that dared to challenge his authority or covet even a little of the Emperor’s privileges caused Demios to have a seizure like this.
It didn’t matter what the beast’s intentions were.
The unstable position where the seal of Drodian was lost.
To protect the throne without one leg, he had to be on his toes all the time.
That was the tantrum and weakness of the unqualified.
Roxanne saw through Demios’s inner thoughts as he struggled to protect what he had taken.
“That’s not something that should come out of the mouth of an Emperor who watched the imperial palace fall into this state.”
“Shut up.”
With a low groan, Demios’ mouth was torn long.
The corners of his mouth where his wolf fangs had grown were bizarre.
His anxious mind was creating irregular cracks in his transformation into a beast and a being.
Sepia noticed Demios’ anxiety.
“You can’t become a being properly.”
Judging from his mind, it wouldn’t have been strange if he had transformed into a divine beast right away.
However, the fact that he was maintaining such an imperfect form could only be explained by his inability to control his own body.
The struggles of a wounded beast were more ferocious than ever.
Demios, who was panting alone, checked the baby in Sepia’s arms.
“...What’s that?”
The young wolf, unable to even cry, was covered in a soft cloth.
“It’s your and Titie’s baby.”
A chimera that was almost a sacrifice.
She couldn’t leave this young life in the collapsing temple.
After hearing Sepia’s answer, Demios’s brow furrowed fiercely as he confirmed the baby’s face.
“That pitiful thing is my child. I can’t believe it. Take it away right now.”
Sepia wrapped the baby’s ear.
He had expected that kind of reaction, but seeing it with her own eyes made her mouth taste even worse.
It was when she was holding the baby.
Demios’s eyes rolled back as if something had caught his attention in Sepia’s words earlier.
“...And you? It seems that even you have gone crazy while you were around that guy, but I am the Emperor.”
Demios repeated the same words several times as if he were hammering a nail into it.
It seemed like it was not a warning to the other person, but rather a confirmation that he was alive.
“So Sepia, throw that away and become the Empress again and give birth to my child.”
His expression finally relaxed and he muttered as if he was dreaming.
The baby that will be born between you and me will be very lovely.
A strong excitement seeped into the words that seemed to draw the future.
Sepia shut her mouth at the strange and twisted obsession.
'I thought it was strange from the beginning.'
Demios's desire that did not go away no matter how many times he was rejected was abnormal.
But now she know.
From the beginning, Demios's identity was on the throne of the Emperor.
If the throne of the Emperor disappeared from him, Demios himself would disappear.
Sepia glimpsed her past self in Demios.
The days when she had sharpened and whipped herself to become the most perfect Empress. When the ego is swallowed up by the throne, the meaning of existence is lost.
She felt sorry for Demios who had been consumed by the throne.
It was even more so because he and she clearly had something in common.
'But I cannot walk the same path as you.'
Sepia grabbed Roxanne's hand as if to brace herself.
'I understand now.'
A desperate wish to the seal of Drodian.
A way to use it.
The seal takes effect when the star of Ishtar that determines the Emperor takes away the qualification from the current Emperor.
Sepia took out the Drodian's seal.
The jewels embedded in the eyes of the male and female glowed.
At that moment, the words of the wish on the seal soon became a spell.
"Demios, I will banish you from the throne."
A voice flowed along a small ray of light.
At that moment, Demios’s movements suddenly stopped.
“...What are you saying now?”
All he heard was a single word denying himself.
No.
He could have just cut off the head of the person who dared say such a thing.
However, he couldn’t move from his spot. His whole body lost its strength, and he couldn't claim himself as Emperor.
“...It’s me. That’s... my place, but why.”
Did he feel like he had lost everything because of Sepia’s single word?
The feeling of sand leaking through his fingers.
He felt like he was going crazy from the anxiety that could not be filled no matter how much he tried.
Sepia was also sensing this change in Demios.
The most beautiful male in the empire.
Even though he had a bizarre appearance, his noble appearance seemed infinitely shabby.
‘That was Demios’ true form.’
The true essence hidden behind the flesh of the throne and noble bloodline was neither beautiful nor noble.
Demios, who had been struggling and trembling, trembled.
Even at this moment, the only place he could ask for help was Sepia.
“Sephia, look at this name. Your name engraved on me!”
He staggered and rolled around on the wet floor.
A puddle of rain trailed past.
He held out his hand to Sepia without even feeling the dirt.
“Please, thinking of the years we lived together as a couple...”
Just before he finished speaking, Demios vomited dark red blood.
The blade pierced his heart.
Sepia and Roxanne’s eyes widened as they watched.
Demios’s body tilted.
Behind him was a woman laughing creepily.
‘...Titie.’
Pale skin, as if she had already died.
Her dress was stained and torn, giving off an unknown pungent smell in the rain.
Titie laughed as she pulled out the dagger stuck in Demios’ chest.
“That can’t be happening, Your Majesty. I am your wife now.”
Demios, who had fallen to the floor, glared at her.
After all, Titie was the only one who called him Your Majesty when he had been stripped of his throne.
Titie knelt down and hugged Demios’ head.
“If I cannot become the Empress of this world... If even hell must be miserable and lonely.”
The words flowed as if they were singing.
Titie raised her head with an affectionate kiss.
“I will take you with me.”
“Stop!”
The blades in both hands pointed high into the air.
Before Sepia’s voice could reach her, the curved fall stabbed Titie’s flat stomach.
Titie collapsed on top of Demios, spitting out red blood.
It was raining.
The rain would wash away the two deaths and guide them to the distant afterlife.
Sepia, who had been blankly watching them, looked away.
When their eyes met, Roxanne shook her head. It meant that Titie had already lost her life. Ah, a death entangled in revenge and greed.
How could it be so futile?
“...Roxanne.”
Sepia quietly mumbled his name.
Roxanne answered by embracing her.
His hot body temperature wrapped around her wet shoulders.
But the warmth was not one, but two. Sepia looked down at the baby she was holding.
'A life that neither of the parents wanted.'
Perhaps the child who had been thrown out into the world with the most pitiful fate was breathing evenly without knowing anything.
Everything was over.
Sepia looked over the purple dawn.
The new sun was pushing away the dark clouds.
***
The broken and burning remains.
The imperial palace was bustling with activity to recover the palace that had collapsed due to the beast's attack.
The knights succeeded in pushing back the beast at Roxanne's order.
However, the numerical disadvantage was clear.
The knights who were wrestling with the beast suddenly witnessed the monster crumbling into stone.
The death of the warlock nullified the magic.
Those who had already been beasted could not be saved.
However, efforts could be made to recover the remains, care for the bereaved families, and rebuild the imperial palace and capital.
"Then let's start with the most damaged area."
"Understood."
Sepia reviewed the documents and passed them on to the officials.
After the beast-like transformation stopped, Sepia first focused on assessing the extent of the damage and rescuing the injured.
It had been two weeks since the rescue team had been divided and started moving quickly under her command.
The collapsed imperial palace was slowly regaining its function.
It was a dark night.
Sepia and Roxanne headed to the Emperor’s audience room.
There was a mirror on display that connected the sea and the land.
The mirror, a type of sacred object that had been passed down through the empire since ancient times, reflected her and Roxanne.
Sepia was holding the baby of Titie and Demios.
“It was called a chimera, wasn’t it?”
This baby was not born, but rather created.
After pondering the baby’s fate, Sepia decided to hand it over to the High Priest.
The inside of the large mirror rippled.
Soon, with a cool and refreshing sensation, seawater splashed outside the mirror, revealing the High Priest’s figure.
The High Priest’s first words as he looked at the baby in Sepia’s arms were these.
[What a unique creature.]
A created being that should not have been born.
However, there was no malice in the High Priest’s tone.
“What will happen to this baby?”
[The sea is made up of thousands of layers of nets. After filtering out all the unnecessary things, when he opens his eyes, he will be recognized as the child of the goddess.]
Purification of the sea.
In an unknown amount of time, this baby will be reborn as a new life.
Sepia passed the baby through the mirror.
‘Please cut off the karma of the parents.’
With a sincere wish.
The High Priest smiled as he accepted the baby.
He disappeared into the mirror with the rippling waves.
With the same blue eyes as Sepia’s.
She thought there would be many things to ask the High Priest when she met him.
However, when she actually faced him, she realized that such questions were unnecessary.
In the end, it was Sepia, herself, who changed all fates.
The throne was empty.
Sepia looked up at Roxanne.
Her companion, the male. And the lovely divine beast that would grant her wish.
“The wish is not over yet. So, become my Emperor.”
The star of Ishtar brings revival to the empire.
Her greatest destiny was Roxanne.
After he lowered his head, their lips met.
Their entangled breaths and soft touch. A heat beyond that.
After being slowly pushed back, Sepia was already sitting on the throne.
Roxanne, who had Sepia sitting there, knelt down on one knee in front of her.
“I will become the Emperor who rules the empire, but my own Empress. My god is only you, Sepia.”
The wolf sacrifices his life to one companion for the rest of his life.
At the end of this noble oath, the most noble love awaited him.
“So, an order.”
“Then kiss me. More passionately.”
Roxanne kissed her instep as if he had been waiting.
His lips followed the instep, her ankle, her calf, and the places covered by her dress.
A male who covets, but is allowed to covet.
Instead of leaving all power to his female, it was Roxanne’s job to take her.
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