Episode 109. The Last of Greed
“This is probably my last chance to acquire Bercheria.”
Gerard looked at Leone nervously.
“What do you know?”
Lyone walked over to Gerard and ran a hand down his shoulder as he sat on the chair.
“Your Majesty, Emperor. Why are you doing this all of a sudden? Do you think there’s something I don’t know?”
Gerard’s brow furrowed.
He instinctively thought of the underground treasure vault.
No one but Gerard could enter it, so the only ones who knew of its existence were the guard knights who guarded it. He had beheaded the guard knight who had once revealed the treasure vault, and he was certain the secret had never leaked even among them.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“I know that Your Majesty covets Bercheria.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry. I take that for granted.”
Lyone's hand, running from Gerard's shoulder to his back, was incredibly blatant.
"Your Majesty is the master of this empire. So you should embrace every woman you can, shouldn't you?"
Gerard furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief.
"That's different from before."
When Lyone first began her stay in the imperial palace, she had been madly obsessed with Gerard. She was constantly on edge, worried he might take another woman as a concubine. She even went so far as to check the faces of the maids assigned to Gerard, selecting only the ugliest ones.
If Lyone hadn't taught Gerard how to kill his brothers and helped him become Emperor, Lyone would have been expelled from the palace long ago.
"Hohoho. Jealousy is something to be expected when you're immature, isn't it?"
Lyone's red lips twitched into a smile.
"Do you remember what I said when I installed Your Majesty the Emperor in that position?"
That's what Lyone had told Gerard.
He had to use everything available, and if there was any possibility of interference, he had to nip it in the bud.
"Right now, Bercheria is a woman who possesses both. She can be a hindrance, but if you use her, she can also be the greatest strength."
"So what do you want me to do?"
Lyone's hand, digging into Gerard's back, flinched, shaking slightly.
She resisted the urge to scratch the Emperor's skin, who, despite their long relationship, was still foolish and still angered her.
"Why don't you just throw away what you need and take what you need?"
When Gerard didn't understand, Lyone repeated.
"Abandon Princess Kelita, and you will have Bercheria."
He still didn't understand, and could only blink, his eyes now wrinkled with the passage of time.
Bercheria looked at Lacrahan, who was lying on the bed.
"This is what you're going to do..."
A laugh escaped her lips.
Ultimately, the Supreme Being didn't want Laurent or Bercheria.
Lacrahan. He wanted to take him down and get what he wanted, using the ancient laws of Periat.
"I'll give you one last chance."
This time, she couldn't help but praise the Supreme Being's sharpness.
Gerard smiled before her, as if offering her a grand opportunity.
Bercheria looked at Lyone, standing behind Gerard.
The woman who sold her blood out of greed, wondering how far she would have to ruin their lives before she could end this agonizing feud. It was becoming difficult to discern whether Lyone, who had sold Groovy and Bercheria in the first place, was more at fault, or Lawrence, who had bought her and imprisoned her in the tower.
"Bercheria."
Bercheria exhaled slowly, facing Gerard's urging.
She had been left with no choice from the start.
Lacrahan would either marry Kelita or pay the price for tarnishing her honor with his death.
That was what the Supreme Being wanted.
"What do you ask of me?"
Whatever Gerard wanted, Bercheria would either save Lacrahan or kill him.
Right here, right now, she had to do one of two things.
Gerard smiled so brightly that his teeth were showing.
"It's not difficult. Really."
That smile had never been so chilling as it was today.
"Bercheria. You just have to stay where I want you to. That's all."
"Where do you want?"
"Yes. In the name of the Emperor, I promise your safety. I, more than anyone, desire the protective energy of the Weather Goddess to remain in my empire."
Whatever it was, it was clear that this situation had to be prevented from escalating.
"Ha."
She had flaunted her absolute power.
This was all her fault.
Bercheria fixed her gaze on Gerard.
But the absolute power had overlooked one thing.
Bercheria wasn't so weak that she could easily be defeated by Gerard, no matter what situation arose.
His threats, which would have been disconcerting in the past, now seemed rather comical.
If she had wanted to, she could have wiped out every human before her eyes.
Even now, the power overflowing within her was all too clear.
But the reason she didn't do so was that, despite all these obstacles, what she needed was love. She couldn't spill someone else's blood for her happiness.
"So, Lacrahan doesn't have to marry Kelita?"
Gerard's reply came back without a moment's hesitation.
"Of course, Bercheria. Today will be completely forgotten. I promise."
At that moment, Kelita, who had been pretending to sleep on the bed, suddenly jerked awake and shouted,
"Your Majesty! What are you talking about!"
Kelita's voice boomed, and Gerard sighed in annoyance.
"You said you would just let this go? You saw Grand Duke Lacrahan and me in bed!"
Kelita tried to run towards Gerard and Bercheria, but the royal guards blocked her.
Kelita shook them off, but was unable to overcome them with force, still unable to escape the bed.
"An unmarried man and woman in bed, why would you just let it go? Why? We agreed not to do this! You promised to give Lakrahan to me!"
"Dylan. She is being noisy."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Dylan nodded, and the guardsmen on both sides, as if they had been waiting, grabbed Kelita and began to drag her outside as if they had made a promise.
“What! What are you doing! Are you guys crazy?”
Kelita, unable to grasp the situation, stared blankly at Gerard, Lyone, Bercheria, and Lacrahan in confusion.
“Why, why are you doing this! You said you’d marry me to Lacrahan! All I wanted was that man! That man would do!”
“Didn’t you hear me telling you to be quiet?”
When Gerard grew angry, Dylan quickly covered Kelita’s mouth.
Gerard glanced at Kelita and muttered,
“Everyone wants just one thing. So how can we all share it, right?”
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Kelita’s wide-open eyes were bloodshot.
“Now, let’s get out.”
She began to be dragged away like a paper doll by Dylan, who was twice her size.
Her face was held in a rough grip, and she shook her head wildly, almost appearing to be consumed by madness.
Bercheria stood upright, watching Kelita.
She witnessed how human greed destroys themself.
When Kelita realized Lacrahan's heart wasn't hers, she had to turn away. She
had to accept that a human heart isn't something you can simply acquire with time.
Bercheria, too, had waited many lifetimes to be with Lacrahan.
Even if love was something that could be compromised, she never intended to lose him to anyone.
Ultimately, Kelita's ending was bound to be tragic.
"What was it like to lose Lacrahan's consciousness and lie down beside him for a while? Were you happy?"
At Bercheria's words, Kelita stretched out her arms and waved them wildly in the air.
"Ugh!"
"I hope you find your true happiness from now on, Princess Kelita."
That moment, as she bid Kelita her final farewell as she was dragged away.
Her hand, brushing past, clutched Bercheria's clothes tightly.
"Ugh!"
Her eyes, bloodshot and tearful, perhaps from anger or resentment, glared at Bercheria as if she were going to kill her.
Bercheria raised her head and looked at Dylan, who was covering Kelita's mouth.
"Where are you taking Kelita?"
It seemed like a question to Dylan, but it was actually directed at Gerard.
“Outside the castle.”
Gerard blurted out the words absentmindedly, and Kelita’s body froze.
Gerard stared at her with an indifferent gaze.
“Better banishment than imprisonment in the dungeons, right?”
He lifted his shoulder as if nothing was wrong, then let it go, and Dylan dragged Kelita outside again.
“Ugh!”
But Kelita didn’t let go of Bercheria’s dress.
She held on with all her might, as if it were a rope.
Tendons bulged in Kelita’s arms, and it felt as if her dress would rip at any moment, but Bercheria didn’t waver a single step.
After waiting for a moment, Bercheria finally raised her arm and pulled Kelita’s hand away from her.
It wasn’t difficult.
Kelita couldn’t defeat Bercheria with force to begin with.
As her hand fell from Bercheria's dress, Dylan mercilessly dragged Kelita out of the room.
"Phew. I think it's done now."
Gerard smirked, locking eyes with Bercheria as if reaffirming a promise, and then walked out with his knights.
"I'll send someone tomorrow. Wait quietly, my Bercheria."
He briefly turned his head to the bed to check on Lacrahan lying there, but that was all.
Having already won, Lacrahan's presence no longer bothered him. As Gerard and the knights disappeared, Lyone walked in last.
It was the first time she'd seen her since the blonde was discovered.
"Bercheria."
"..."
"It may be hard to believe, but I want to tell you that this is the best we can do...It may be hard to believe, but this is the safest way."
Lyone shamelessly raised her chin and walked out.
Bercheria stared at Lyone's back, her fake brown hair flowing, before speaking.
"Lyone."
Then, as if she had been waiting, Lyone turned around.
Unexpectedly, her expression was calmer than it had been just moments before.
Bercheria's eyes widened for a moment.
Looking at Bercheria, Lyone asked,
"Do you resent me?"
Bercheria's eyes, shaken by the unexpected turn of events, quickly closed behind deeply drawn eyelids.
"No,"
She answered calmly.
Then she added,
"I know you hate Emperor Gerard terribly."
Her golden eyes, once again revealed, were fixed calmly on Ltone.
"You've spent your entire life here with the Emperor you hate most. So every moment must have been hell."
Ltone's shoulders shook.
"That's enough for me."
This time, Bercheria turned away from Lyone first.
"So, I hope you'll put aside such clumsy imitations of parents from now on."
“This is probably my last chance to acquire Bercheria.”
Gerard looked at Leone nervously.
“What do you know?”
Lyone walked over to Gerard and ran a hand down his shoulder as he sat on the chair.
“Your Majesty, Emperor. Why are you doing this all of a sudden? Do you think there’s something I don’t know?”
Gerard’s brow furrowed.
He instinctively thought of the underground treasure vault.
No one but Gerard could enter it, so the only ones who knew of its existence were the guard knights who guarded it. He had beheaded the guard knight who had once revealed the treasure vault, and he was certain the secret had never leaked even among them.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“I know that Your Majesty covets Bercheria.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry. I take that for granted.”
Lyone's hand, running from Gerard's shoulder to his back, was incredibly blatant.
"Your Majesty is the master of this empire. So you should embrace every woman you can, shouldn't you?"
Gerard furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief.
"That's different from before."
When Lyone first began her stay in the imperial palace, she had been madly obsessed with Gerard. She was constantly on edge, worried he might take another woman as a concubine. She even went so far as to check the faces of the maids assigned to Gerard, selecting only the ugliest ones.
If Lyone hadn't taught Gerard how to kill his brothers and helped him become Emperor, Lyone would have been expelled from the palace long ago.
"Hohoho. Jealousy is something to be expected when you're immature, isn't it?"
Lyone's red lips twitched into a smile.
"Do you remember what I said when I installed Your Majesty the Emperor in that position?"
That's what Lyone had told Gerard.
He had to use everything available, and if there was any possibility of interference, he had to nip it in the bud.
"Right now, Bercheria is a woman who possesses both. She can be a hindrance, but if you use her, she can also be the greatest strength."
"So what do you want me to do?"
Lyone's hand, digging into Gerard's back, flinched, shaking slightly.
She resisted the urge to scratch the Emperor's skin, who, despite their long relationship, was still foolish and still angered her.
"Why don't you just throw away what you need and take what you need?"
When Gerard didn't understand, Lyone repeated.
"Abandon Princess Kelita, and you will have Bercheria."
He still didn't understand, and could only blink, his eyes now wrinkled with the passage of time.
***
Bercheria looked at Lacrahan, who was lying on the bed.
"This is what you're going to do..."
A laugh escaped her lips.
Ultimately, the Supreme Being didn't want Laurent or Bercheria.
Lacrahan. He wanted to take him down and get what he wanted, using the ancient laws of Periat.
"I'll give you one last chance."
This time, she couldn't help but praise the Supreme Being's sharpness.
Gerard smiled before her, as if offering her a grand opportunity.
Bercheria looked at Lyone, standing behind Gerard.
The woman who sold her blood out of greed, wondering how far she would have to ruin their lives before she could end this agonizing feud. It was becoming difficult to discern whether Lyone, who had sold Groovy and Bercheria in the first place, was more at fault, or Lawrence, who had bought her and imprisoned her in the tower.
"Bercheria."
Bercheria exhaled slowly, facing Gerard's urging.
She had been left with no choice from the start.
Lacrahan would either marry Kelita or pay the price for tarnishing her honor with his death.
That was what the Supreme Being wanted.
"What do you ask of me?"
Whatever Gerard wanted, Bercheria would either save Lacrahan or kill him.
Right here, right now, she had to do one of two things.
Gerard smiled so brightly that his teeth were showing.
"It's not difficult. Really."
That smile had never been so chilling as it was today.
"Bercheria. You just have to stay where I want you to. That's all."
"Where do you want?"
"Yes. In the name of the Emperor, I promise your safety. I, more than anyone, desire the protective energy of the Weather Goddess to remain in my empire."
Whatever it was, it was clear that this situation had to be prevented from escalating.
"Ha."
She had flaunted her absolute power.
This was all her fault.
Bercheria fixed her gaze on Gerard.
But the absolute power had overlooked one thing.
Bercheria wasn't so weak that she could easily be defeated by Gerard, no matter what situation arose.
His threats, which would have been disconcerting in the past, now seemed rather comical.
If she had wanted to, she could have wiped out every human before her eyes.
Even now, the power overflowing within her was all too clear.
But the reason she didn't do so was that, despite all these obstacles, what she needed was love. She couldn't spill someone else's blood for her happiness.
"So, Lacrahan doesn't have to marry Kelita?"
Gerard's reply came back without a moment's hesitation.
"Of course, Bercheria. Today will be completely forgotten. I promise."
At that moment, Kelita, who had been pretending to sleep on the bed, suddenly jerked awake and shouted,
"Your Majesty! What are you talking about!"
***
Kelita's voice boomed, and Gerard sighed in annoyance.
"You said you would just let this go? You saw Grand Duke Lacrahan and me in bed!"
Kelita tried to run towards Gerard and Bercheria, but the royal guards blocked her.
Kelita shook them off, but was unable to overcome them with force, still unable to escape the bed.
"An unmarried man and woman in bed, why would you just let it go? Why? We agreed not to do this! You promised to give Lakrahan to me!"
Gerard turned his head slightly and looked at Dylan, who was standing at the front of the royal guards.
"Dylan. She is being noisy."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Dylan nodded, and the guardsmen on both sides, as if they had been waiting, grabbed Kelita and began to drag her outside as if they had made a promise.
“What! What are you doing! Are you guys crazy?”
Kelita, unable to grasp the situation, stared blankly at Gerard, Lyone, Bercheria, and Lacrahan in confusion.
“Why, why are you doing this! You said you’d marry me to Lacrahan! All I wanted was that man! That man would do!”
“Didn’t you hear me telling you to be quiet?”
When Gerard grew angry, Dylan quickly covered Kelita’s mouth.
Gerard glanced at Kelita and muttered,
“Everyone wants just one thing. So how can we all share it, right?”
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Kelita’s wide-open eyes were bloodshot.
“Now, let’s get out.”
She began to be dragged away like a paper doll by Dylan, who was twice her size.
Her face was held in a rough grip, and she shook her head wildly, almost appearing to be consumed by madness.
Bercheria stood upright, watching Kelita.
She witnessed how human greed destroys themself.
When Kelita realized Lacrahan's heart wasn't hers, she had to turn away. She
had to accept that a human heart isn't something you can simply acquire with time.
Bercheria, too, had waited many lifetimes to be with Lacrahan.
Even if love was something that could be compromised, she never intended to lose him to anyone.
Ultimately, Kelita's ending was bound to be tragic.
"What was it like to lose Lacrahan's consciousness and lie down beside him for a while? Were you happy?"
At Bercheria's words, Kelita stretched out her arms and waved them wildly in the air.
"Ugh!"
"I hope you find your true happiness from now on, Princess Kelita."
That moment, as she bid Kelita her final farewell as she was dragged away.
Her hand, brushing past, clutched Bercheria's clothes tightly.
"Ugh!"
Her eyes, bloodshot and tearful, perhaps from anger or resentment, glared at Bercheria as if she were going to kill her.
Bercheria raised her head and looked at Dylan, who was covering Kelita's mouth.
"Where are you taking Kelita?"
It seemed like a question to Dylan, but it was actually directed at Gerard.
“Outside the castle.”
Gerard blurted out the words absentmindedly, and Kelita’s body froze.
Gerard stared at her with an indifferent gaze.
“Better banishment than imprisonment in the dungeons, right?”
He lifted his shoulder as if nothing was wrong, then let it go, and Dylan dragged Kelita outside again.
“Ugh!”
But Kelita didn’t let go of Bercheria’s dress.
She held on with all her might, as if it were a rope.
Tendons bulged in Kelita’s arms, and it felt as if her dress would rip at any moment, but Bercheria didn’t waver a single step.
After waiting for a moment, Bercheria finally raised her arm and pulled Kelita’s hand away from her.
It wasn’t difficult.
Kelita couldn’t defeat Bercheria with force to begin with.
As her hand fell from Bercheria's dress, Dylan mercilessly dragged Kelita out of the room.
"Phew. I think it's done now."
Gerard smirked, locking eyes with Bercheria as if reaffirming a promise, and then walked out with his knights.
"I'll send someone tomorrow. Wait quietly, my Bercheria."
He briefly turned his head to the bed to check on Lacrahan lying there, but that was all.
Having already won, Lacrahan's presence no longer bothered him. As Gerard and the knights disappeared, Lyone walked in last.
It was the first time she'd seen her since the blonde was discovered.
"Bercheria."
"..."
"It may be hard to believe, but I want to tell you that this is the best we can do...It may be hard to believe, but this is the safest way."
Lyone shamelessly raised her chin and walked out.
Bercheria stared at Lyone's back, her fake brown hair flowing, before speaking.
"Lyone."
Then, as if she had been waiting, Lyone turned around.
Unexpectedly, her expression was calmer than it had been just moments before.
Bercheria's eyes widened for a moment.
Looking at Bercheria, Lyone asked,
"Do you resent me?"
Bercheria's eyes, shaken by the unexpected turn of events, quickly closed behind deeply drawn eyelids.
"No,"
She answered calmly.
Then she added,
"I know you hate Emperor Gerard terribly."
Her golden eyes, once again revealed, were fixed calmly on Ltone.
"You've spent your entire life here with the Emperor you hate most. So every moment must have been hell."
Ltone's shoulders shook.
"That's enough for me."
This time, Bercheria turned away from Lyone first.
"So, I hope you'll put aside such clumsy imitations of parents from now on."
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