As the glaring eyes brightened, the maids bowed their heads restlessly.
The old man, who had been too weak to even get up from her sickbed just a moment ago, straightened her back. Just like the Empress before she got sick.
Ludkus sighed, unable to hide his complicated feelings. The Crown Princess just quietly lowered her eyes next to her husband. Dalian seemed to not like even this, as if she didn’t like it.
“How dare you sigh in front of this mother. You’re not in your right mind!”
“Your Majesty!”
The maids hurriedly tried to stop the Empress, but they were no match for the old woman’s strength and were pushed away, rolling on the floor.
“Ah...!”
The Crown Princess tightly closed her eyes at the flying vase.
Ludkus took it indifferently and placed it on the table.
Three years ago, Empress Dalian had a mental problem.
At first, it was minor, such as forgetting her schedule and going to the garden or searching for something she was holding.
The slight forgetfulness gradually worsened, and the Empress of the Huron Empire was now creating past and present, and even new memories.
“That damn thing ruined me like this. Can’t you bring me back right now!”
“Mother, Young Lady Sepia is now the Empress of the Beastkin Empire.”
“What kind of Empress is that! She made me like this. Trying to get revenge on me! How dare I, the Empress of a great empire... Cough!”
Dalian, who was shouting, suddenly coughed.
The maids began to help the Empress with a towel soaked in hot water as if they were used to it.
Ludkus, who had been watching her for a long time, took out a small crystal bottle from his bosom.
The small bottle was filled with sparkling water of various colors.
It was the holy water from the underground temple given by the Empress of the Beastkin Empire.
“Mother, if you drink this holy water, your health will recover.”
“Who knew that what she sent was poison!”
“Wait a minute...!”
The Empress kicked off the bed and rushed at the Crown Prince.
The flustered Ludkus hurriedly raised his hand holding the bottle into the air and pushed Dalian away.
‘What kind of strength...!’
However, the old woman who was rushing at him with all her might was difficult for even an adult man to handle.
“Mother. Come to your senses!”
The sight of the mother shouting at a distance where their noses could almost touch each other looked more like an animal.
The doubt he felt about his mother losing consciousness and himself not being able to properly hold on to even a single bit of power while watching her. He was now feeling desperate as he had to fight with the Empress, who was going crazy.
“Please stop!”
The Crown Prince pushed the Empress away with all his might.
“Aaah! You damn fool...!”
“Your Majesty!”
Dalian rolled on the carpet and crouched. The maids tried to support her skinny limbs, but they only got beaten by blind fists.
“That bastard is killing the Empress! He’s trying to kill me!”
She shouted.
The old man’s delusions became more serious as the years passed. No, even at this moment, Dalian was going crazy.
“Grab my mother’s limbs.”
The maids who had hesitated at the Crown Prince’s order began to press Dalian’s limbs down and pin her to the floor.
“Let go, let go of this!”
“Your Majesty, hold on!”
The maids kept clinging to the Empress, but they sent Ludkus signals that they couldn’t hold out much longer.
It was when the Crown Prince pulled the cork out of the crystal bottle with the Empress between his legs.
His bloodshot eyes aimed at the sparkling bottle.
“Whoa!”
“This is the problem! This rotten thing has bewitched my son!”
Dalian, who had shaken off the maids and gotten up, attacked the Crown Prince.
In an instant, the Crown Prince’s head hit the floor, and his vision reversed.
Dalian, who was on top of her son, snatched the bottle of holy water away, saying,
“That’s right!”
“Mother!!”
Dalian laughed brightly and threw the bottle away.
The beautiful crystal cracked, making a light, almost vain sound and seeping into the carpet.
“Ah...”
With a dejected groan, silence fell over the bedroom.
The Empress, who had already lost her mind, went crazy, satisfied with the work she had created.
With just a few drops of holy water splashing on her face.
“This mother has destroyed that damn woman. Don’t worry anymore, Crown Prince!”
The Crown Prince washed his face with the smile of the Empress, who had a mushroom-like appearance.
Everything was in vain.
This was the first time in his life that he felt so empty.
The Crown Prince, who looked up at the ceiling and let out a hollow laugh, got up from his seat.
“I did my best, Mother.”
“Where are you going, my son?”
The Empress asked with innocent blinks.
The Crown Prince answered by turning around with his wife.
No matter how much his mother searched for him, he never looked back.
However, his mind was different.
What could have caused his mother to become like that?
‘Perhaps.’
Could it be that this was not the result of the Emperor’s experiment, but a curse that Dalian had brought upon herself?
The Empress’s Palace of the Huron Empire.
Terrible screams echoed through the beautiful palace every day.
“Ahhhhh! It hurts, ah, it hurts-!”
The Empress rolled around on the hospital bed with a gaunt appearance.
It wasn’t just her broken mind that was tormenting Dalian.
The immense pain was felt in her contaminated body.
Her body, which had lost all its flesh and was nothing but skin, could only feel the pain of stepping on a blade, no matter how she crouched.
She screamed all the time, but when she came to her senses occasionally, she would shout for holy water.
“Holy water, holy water! Please!”
The only place that didn’t hurt was where the holy water had splashed.
Even though the splash was only a small part, she could clearly feel the difference, which made it even more painful.
When she came to her senses, she regretted and regretted the day she threw the holy water the Crown Prince had brought her.
But it was already too late.
That bottle was the only holy water that Empress Sepia had promised to give her.
The Crown Prince, who had come to visit her, had told her.
After saying that, Ludkus said his last goodbye.
That had already been three months.
“You dog, you knew this would happen! Like your mother, like your daughter! How dare you look down on me...!”
Ironically, the one who kept Dalian alive, even in pain, was the Duchess.
If she were to die, this noble position would go to the Duchess.
“Even in death, I cannot bear to see that. Even in death!”
Dalian glared at the pain of her flesh burning away.
She must never die.
Bloodlines are not so easily cut off, they say.
Although she may have been cut off from her child on the surface, her determination in her heart and the Crown Prince’s will were in line.
On the other hand, just like the Empress’s Palace, where screams never ceased, the Emperor’s Palace was equally noisy.
The court ladies repeatedly carried blood-soaked rags and dirty water jugs to the Emperor’s bedroom and replaced them with new ones.
The Emperor had suffered from a chronic illness that caused his legs to rot and had been unable to move for several months.
His concubine, the Duchess, was attending to the Emperor as he lay in his sickbed.
“Your Majesty, please open your eyes.”
She wiped the cold sweat on the Emperor's forehead with a wet towel.
She had to try to suppress the nausea that kept rising.
The whole place was filled with the stench of rotting flesh.
She wanted to get out of here right away.
The reason the Duchess couldn't do that was that the Emperor had taken away all the authority he had given her.
The Emperor knew all too well that she was a woman who would leave if he gave her everything.
"Stay by my side. Until the moment I close my eyes."
The Emperor whispered in agony, his breath rotting and smelling.
She closed her eyes tightly.
Please, let the Empress die as soon as possible.
Unless the Empress died, she would have to wander in hell forever.
Under the Emperor's power, which she had so desperately clung to.
The ruler of Huron was dying like this. Many watched the imperial court going around in disarray.
Lord Lauderton.
The old nobleman who had been involved in the Emperor's secret experiments in the past was no exception.
He was reading a letter in a corner of the palace.
The letter had come from far away. For example, from an empire ruled by the Beastmen.
The old man, who had taken in the last period with both eyes, muttered,
“It is time.”
The Emperor’s test subject was not only Roxanne.
The Emperor of Huron was conducting experiments on the people of the empire.
Among them were the families of ministers who expressed their opinions.
Lord Lauderton's granddaughter disappeared overnight.
To prevent his granddaughter from being used as a test subject, he had no choice but to obey the Emperor's orders.
While Lord Lauderton was shedding tears of blood, the one who brought his young granddaughter back was the Crown Prince from the Beastkin Empire.
'Take this.'
He handed over the secret records and ledgers of the experiments along with his granddaughter.
The records were so dirty, disgusting, and pitiful that they made his stomach churn. It was so bad that it seemed like divine punishment.
Lord Lauderton's hands trembled at the records that even the Emperor should be condemned.
The Crown Prince of the Beastkin Empire, who delivered this, made a strange request. He said that if anyone other than himself becomes the Beastkin Emperor, he would receive a letter.
He asked that the records be kept until then and left for his home country. The minister took care of the letter.
The Huron Empire is also a country protected by the gods.
Even the Emperor must not dare to challenge the authority of the gods.
This record would be passed down to the temple and would turn into a major incident that would shake the imperial power.
Perhaps even to the point where the empire itself would be in danger.
At the moment when Lauderton’s black eyes shone brightly, a clear voice called out to him from afar.
“Grandpa! Why are you here? I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”
“Oh, our cute Marie.”
The poor granddaughter who had been held as collateral for his life was now a proper young lady.
“P-please, how long have I been looking for you?”
“Yes, yes. Our baby bird. Let’s go.”
Lauderton smiled brightly and took his granddaughter’s hand.
[Omitted. A year later. The Emperor who had invaded the realm of the gods was dragged down by the Pope, and Crown Prince Ludkus ascended to the throne as the new Emperor.
The Crown Prince was responsible for his father’s guilt, and the new Emperor moved under the surveillance of the temple. Ten years later, Emperor Ludkus was given the ridiculous nickname of the Holy Emperor’s puppet, or the common Emperor.
This is Huron's record and evidence of the falling imperial power.]
- Excerpt from Scholar Barot, 'Looking at Huron, the Fading Empire'.
The old man, who had been too weak to even get up from her sickbed just a moment ago, straightened her back. Just like the Empress before she got sick.
Ludkus sighed, unable to hide his complicated feelings. The Crown Princess just quietly lowered her eyes next to her husband. Dalian seemed to not like even this, as if she didn’t like it.
“How dare you sigh in front of this mother. You’re not in your right mind!”
“Your Majesty!”
Dalian started throwing candles and vases on the side table as soon as she could, not knowing where her strength came from.
The maids hurriedly tried to stop the Empress, but they were no match for the old woman’s strength and were pushed away, rolling on the floor.
“Ah...!”
The Crown Princess tightly closed her eyes at the flying vase.
Ludkus took it indifferently and placed it on the table.
Three years ago, Empress Dalian had a mental problem.
At first, it was minor, such as forgetting her schedule and going to the garden or searching for something she was holding.
The slight forgetfulness gradually worsened, and the Empress of the Huron Empire was now creating past and present, and even new memories.
“That damn thing ruined me like this. Can’t you bring me back right now!”
“Mother, Young Lady Sepia is now the Empress of the Beastkin Empire.”
“What kind of Empress is that! She made me like this. Trying to get revenge on me! How dare I, the Empress of a great empire... Cough!”
Dalian, who was shouting, suddenly coughed.
The maids began to help the Empress with a towel soaked in hot water as if they were used to it.
Ludkus, who had been watching her for a long time, took out a small crystal bottle from his bosom.
The small bottle was filled with sparkling water of various colors.
It was the holy water from the underground temple given by the Empress of the Beastkin Empire.
“Mother, if you drink this holy water, your health will recover.”
“Who knew that what she sent was poison!”
“Wait a minute...!”
The Empress kicked off the bed and rushed at the Crown Prince.
The flustered Ludkus hurriedly raised his hand holding the bottle into the air and pushed Dalian away.
‘What kind of strength...!’
However, the old woman who was rushing at him with all her might was difficult for even an adult man to handle.
“Mother. Come to your senses!”
The sight of the mother shouting at a distance where their noses could almost touch each other looked more like an animal.
The doubt he felt about his mother losing consciousness and himself not being able to properly hold on to even a single bit of power while watching her. He was now feeling desperate as he had to fight with the Empress, who was going crazy.
“Please stop!”
The Crown Prince pushed the Empress away with all his might.
“Aaah! You damn fool...!”
“Your Majesty!”
Dalian rolled on the carpet and crouched. The maids tried to support her skinny limbs, but they only got beaten by blind fists.
“That bastard is killing the Empress! He’s trying to kill me!”
She shouted.
The old man’s delusions became more serious as the years passed. No, even at this moment, Dalian was going crazy.
“Grab my mother’s limbs.”
The maids who had hesitated at the Crown Prince’s order began to press Dalian’s limbs down and pin her to the floor.
“Let go, let go of this!”
“Your Majesty, hold on!”
The maids kept clinging to the Empress, but they sent Ludkus signals that they couldn’t hold out much longer.
It was when the Crown Prince pulled the cork out of the crystal bottle with the Empress between his legs.
His bloodshot eyes aimed at the sparkling bottle.
“Whoa!”
“This is the problem! This rotten thing has bewitched my son!”
Dalian, who had shaken off the maids and gotten up, attacked the Crown Prince.
In an instant, the Crown Prince’s head hit the floor, and his vision reversed.
Dalian, who was on top of her son, snatched the bottle of holy water away, saying,
“That’s right!”
“Mother!!”
Dalian laughed brightly and threw the bottle away.
The beautiful crystal cracked, making a light, almost vain sound and seeping into the carpet.
“Ah...”
With a dejected groan, silence fell over the bedroom.
The Empress, who had already lost her mind, went crazy, satisfied with the work she had created.
With just a few drops of holy water splashing on her face.
“This mother has destroyed that damn woman. Don’t worry anymore, Crown Prince!”
The Crown Prince washed his face with the smile of the Empress, who had a mushroom-like appearance.
Everything was in vain.
This was the first time in his life that he felt so empty.
The Crown Prince, who looked up at the ceiling and let out a hollow laugh, got up from his seat.
“I did my best, Mother.”
“Where are you going, my son?”
The Empress asked with innocent blinks.
The Crown Prince answered by turning around with his wife.
No matter how much his mother searched for him, he never looked back.
However, his mind was different.
What could have caused his mother to become like that?
‘Perhaps.’
Could it be that this was not the result of the Emperor’s experiment, but a curse that Dalian had brought upon herself?
***
The Empress’s Palace of the Huron Empire.
Terrible screams echoed through the beautiful palace every day.
“Ahhhhh! It hurts, ah, it hurts-!”
The Empress rolled around on the hospital bed with a gaunt appearance.
It wasn’t just her broken mind that was tormenting Dalian.
The immense pain was felt in her contaminated body.
Her body, which had lost all its flesh and was nothing but skin, could only feel the pain of stepping on a blade, no matter how she crouched.
She screamed all the time, but when she came to her senses occasionally, she would shout for holy water.
“Holy water, holy water! Please!”
The only place that didn’t hurt was where the holy water had splashed.
Even though the splash was only a small part, she could clearly feel the difference, which made it even more painful.
When she came to her senses, she regretted and regretted the day she threw the holy water the Crown Prince had brought her.
But it was already too late.
That bottle was the only holy water that Empress Sepia had promised to give her.
The Crown Prince, who had come to visit her, had told her.
After saying that, Ludkus said his last goodbye.
That had already been three months.
“You dog, you knew this would happen! Like your mother, like your daughter! How dare you look down on me...!”
Ironically, the one who kept Dalian alive, even in pain, was the Duchess.
If she were to die, this noble position would go to the Duchess.
“Even in death, I cannot bear to see that. Even in death!”
Dalian glared at the pain of her flesh burning away.
She must never die.
Bloodlines are not so easily cut off, they say.
Although she may have been cut off from her child on the surface, her determination in her heart and the Crown Prince’s will were in line.
On the other hand, just like the Empress’s Palace, where screams never ceased, the Emperor’s Palace was equally noisy.
The court ladies repeatedly carried blood-soaked rags and dirty water jugs to the Emperor’s bedroom and replaced them with new ones.
The Emperor had suffered from a chronic illness that caused his legs to rot and had been unable to move for several months.
His concubine, the Duchess, was attending to the Emperor as he lay in his sickbed.
“Your Majesty, please open your eyes.”
She wiped the cold sweat on the Emperor's forehead with a wet towel.
She had to try to suppress the nausea that kept rising.
The whole place was filled with the stench of rotting flesh.
She wanted to get out of here right away.
The reason the Duchess couldn't do that was that the Emperor had taken away all the authority he had given her.
The Emperor knew all too well that she was a woman who would leave if he gave her everything.
"Stay by my side. Until the moment I close my eyes."
The Emperor whispered in agony, his breath rotting and smelling.
She closed her eyes tightly.
Please, let the Empress die as soon as possible.
Unless the Empress died, she would have to wander in hell forever.
Under the Emperor's power, which she had so desperately clung to.
The ruler of Huron was dying like this. Many watched the imperial court going around in disarray.
Lord Lauderton.
The old nobleman who had been involved in the Emperor's secret experiments in the past was no exception.
He was reading a letter in a corner of the palace.
The letter had come from far away. For example, from an empire ruled by the Beastmen.
The old man, who had taken in the last period with both eyes, muttered,
“It is time.”
The Emperor’s test subject was not only Roxanne.
The Emperor of Huron was conducting experiments on the people of the empire.
Among them were the families of ministers who expressed their opinions.
Lord Lauderton's granddaughter disappeared overnight.
To prevent his granddaughter from being used as a test subject, he had no choice but to obey the Emperor's orders.
While Lord Lauderton was shedding tears of blood, the one who brought his young granddaughter back was the Crown Prince from the Beastkin Empire.
'Take this.'
He handed over the secret records and ledgers of the experiments along with his granddaughter.
The records were so dirty, disgusting, and pitiful that they made his stomach churn. It was so bad that it seemed like divine punishment.
Lord Lauderton's hands trembled at the records that even the Emperor should be condemned.
The Crown Prince of the Beastkin Empire, who delivered this, made a strange request. He said that if anyone other than himself becomes the Beastkin Emperor, he would receive a letter.
He asked that the records be kept until then and left for his home country. The minister took care of the letter.
The Huron Empire is also a country protected by the gods.
Even the Emperor must not dare to challenge the authority of the gods.
This record would be passed down to the temple and would turn into a major incident that would shake the imperial power.
Perhaps even to the point where the empire itself would be in danger.
At the moment when Lauderton’s black eyes shone brightly, a clear voice called out to him from afar.
“Grandpa! Why are you here? I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”
“Oh, our cute Marie.”
The poor granddaughter who had been held as collateral for his life was now a proper young lady.
“P-please, how long have I been looking for you?”
“Yes, yes. Our baby bird. Let’s go.”
Lauderton smiled brightly and took his granddaughter’s hand.
***
[Omitted. A year later. The Emperor who had invaded the realm of the gods was dragged down by the Pope, and Crown Prince Ludkus ascended to the throne as the new Emperor.
The Crown Prince was responsible for his father’s guilt, and the new Emperor moved under the surveillance of the temple. Ten years later, Emperor Ludkus was given the ridiculous nickname of the Holy Emperor’s puppet, or the common Emperor.
This is Huron's record and evidence of the falling imperial power.]
- Excerpt from Scholar Barot, 'Looking at Huron, the Fading Empire'.
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