The bedroom, with its light blocked by thick curtains on one side of the imperial palace, was silent. The scent of burning incense permeated the air, but the air was nothing but chilly.
Calix lay on the bed as if still in a deep sleep.
His chest rose and fell regularly, but his eyelids did not move even the slightest. His lips had also lost their color and turned pale, and a faint red stain had spread across his neck.
The doctors placed their hands on their wrists and looked into his eyes, but he only shook his head.
"It appears highly likely to be poisoning, but... we do not know what kind of drug it is."
"Residual toxins remain in the body, but the detoxification method is..."
Neither side was certain of the words the court doctors exchanged in hushed tones. Anxiety spread across the ministers' faces.
Just then, the door opened, and Fabiana entered. She was dressed in black, curtain-like attire, with a worried expression on her face.
"Your Majesty..."
She walked over to the bedside, carefully picked up a handkerchief, and wiped Calix's damp forehead.
However, perhaps because the movement looked excessively leisurely, the gazes of the ministers standing behind her grew cold instead.
“Isn’t it strange?”
A small whisper escaped and soon connected with another voice.
"To think the symptoms are exactly the same as when His Majesty the late Emperor passed away..."
"Could it be that the same person from back then has intervened?"
As whispers mingled, the air in the room grew increasingly heavy.
Although no one dared to voice dangerous speculations out loud, the tension between the Emperor and Fabiana, and the unresolved suspicions surrounding the death of the previous generation, were resurfacing.
Even after that, the ministers continued to visit every day. Everyone personally checked on the Emperor lying on his bed, listened to the doctors' words, and calculated their moves behind a look of sorrow.
In the midst of that, Fabiana maintained the same attitude as always. Holding a handkerchief neatly, she stroked Calix's forehead with a worried expression.
Endless whispers spread out. Anxiety and suspicion grew like a snowball. Then one day, Fabiana suddenly spoke in a calm voice.
"I put it on hold for a while due to Your Majesty's circumstances... but do you remember the matter of the Rubis family? If His Majesty places special trust in any of them, I am referring to Odelia of Talamand."
The ministers' eyes gleamed sharply. Fabiana observed their reaction and raised the corners of her mouth.
"People of the Grimford have submitted additional testimony. They claim that her original reason for volunteering for the army was not merely out of service. It was for revenge, to restore the name of the Rubis family. They say that the child grew up, returned as a woman, and seized control of the Talamand forces."
"It can't be..."
"Surely not. The seeds of rebellion were sown back then."
Fabiana shook her head slowly. However, the movement carried an energy closer to fanning the flames than restraint.
"I do not want to believe it, either. However, how could the timing and circumstances overlap like this? To think that His Majesty has even collapsed like this..."
Her gentle words immediately bound the ministers' fear to one person's name.
Odelia.
***
The rumor that bloomed in the imperial palace swept through the streets of the capital in an instant. From the hands picking out flour at the market to the sound of glasses clinking in the tavern, Odelia's name was mixed in without fail.
"Lord Talamand is a traitor? That makes no sense."
"If it weren't for her, our home would have been trampled by monsters long ago. I saw it with my own two eyes. The sight of her personally leading the way."
There was a farmer with bright eyes waving his hand, and next to him, a merchant whispering amongst himself.
"Still, didn't Lady Fabiana investigate it herself? They say hundreds of soldiers were gathered without permission... If that isn't treason, then what is?"
"That's right. It's the blood of the Rubis family. Where else would that blood go? It was bound to burst out like this someday."
A single name split into two meanings. To some, it was a hero, and to others, it was a spark.
The women kneeling in prayer before the stone steps of the cathedral lit candles for Odelia. However, right next to them, a man who had lost his child gritted his teeth and spat out.
"She was wearing a mask. Protecting Talamand was all a scheme to build her own power base."
Rumors scattered like the wind, and wherever they scattered, public sentiment was split in half. Faith and suspicion clashed.
The inside and outside of the imperial palace were increasingly filled with two opposing voices.
Odelia is the hero who saved the empire. Odelia was someone who would one day betray.
Those voices sliced through the air like blades, shaking the balance of the entire empire.
***
Odelia leaned her back against the unbearably cold stone wall and listened intently. She could faintly hear the conversation between the guards as they came and went.
"People had gathered in front of the city gate again today. Some bastards light candles for the hero, while others throw stones at the traitor and hurl insults—that’s just how it is."
"It's exactly 50/50. Half say we must protect it, while the other half call him a traitor; public sentiment is completely divided. I guess it's because his moves are attracting so much attention... a lot of people are on the move."
"But you know... I'm not really sure. I saw her last time when she was in prison, but does she really look like the kind of person who would do something like that?"
"You never know. But if it is true... if she deliberately joined the army out of a grudge over family matters to take revenge, wouldn't that be quite something in its own way? No matter how much it is about family revenge, I wouldn't jump into the battlefield. That would be going to my death."
The guards glanced around cautiously, then looked over the iron bars. Even in the darkness, Odelia could be seen with her eyes open.
A guard hesitated for a moment and then spoke.
"My Lord. Is that rumor really true? Is it true that you joined the army harboring a desire for revenge for your family?"
Odelia did not answer for a while. Silence continued, as if only cold air filled the prison.
She soon slowly raised her head and looked at the guards.
"No."
It was a resolute voice. Her gaze spread through the bars.
"I didn't enlist for revenge... Back then, it was to survive. Because that was the only way."
Her gaze wavered into the empty air. Beneath her weary eyelids, long-buried memories slowly surfaced.
Back then, her heart was already falling apart.
In the fields where the dry wind had blown, only black, withered stems remained. The herd of pigs had already succumbed to the disease and were rotting away as corpses, and even a few chickens were left. The eyes of the people, exhausted by hunger, grew increasingly fierce.
"It's all that kid's fault! The disease is spreading, and the animals are dying—it's all because of that guy!"
"If you offer it as a sacrifice, the god will be angry!"
Since this has been happening since the year the child who drifted into the butcher's village was taken in, that child must be killed.
When did such stories start circulating?
A story of unknown origin spread easily, using the immediate misfortune as an excuse.
Odelia's adoptive parents were unjustly beaten. Hunger and rage left no room for rationality to intervene. Bloody hands soon turned toward Odelia, dragging her away to offer her as a sacrifice.
Eyes that take it for granted to throw away a child's life in an instant, claiming it is the price to save the village
"Leave me alone! Please!"
Odelia's feet were dragged by the rough hands of the people. Soon, her knees hit the frozen ground, and blood seeped out.
The moment her knee hit the frozen ground, a sharp ache ran through her bones. Cold, rough hands raised and clutched her arms, suffocating her. Odelia's whole body froze with fear.
She didn't want to die like this.
Her heart was pounding loudly, as if piercing her ears. With every breath she took, the stench of blood and the smell of rotting animals burrowed into her nose.
A sharp stone flashed before her eyes. They were about to strike her head.
I didn't do anything wrong. I just wanted to live. Why me? Why does it have to be me?
Her fingertips trembled. Not even a scream came from her throat. Only tears flowed down her frozen cheeks.
At that moment
A deafening roar that shook the ground spread from afar.
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