Chapter 16
Chapter 16: Difficult Resolve, Easy Decision
Eurene was stunned. Had she ever been insulted to her face like this in her life?
‘Relieved? That my face is far from my brother’s taste?’
Even those who whispered about her birth hadn’t spoken so bluntly.
‘For a woman sitting in the position of the Empire’s Empress, who should always maintain dignity, to belittle others with such a rude attitude!’
Watching the back of the one who had just spat out her words and turned away, Eurene tightly clenched her trembling hands, filled with humiliation. If there were evil people in the world, would they look like that woman?
A woman from an enemy country with no place to belong. Out of sympathy, Eurene had shown her courtesy and even thought about helping her return to her home country if she wished, working together with her brother.
But what use was it all if the other party acted like this before they could even build a proper relationship?
In just one day, this meeting had solidified Eurene’s judgment about Vinea. A devilish woman. As rumored, she was malicious and would surely hinder Tatar’s future.
Eurene nervously flicked her fingernails. By now, her mother must have realized that she had diverted the invitation sent in the family’s name to come here. She might not be able to leave the mansion for a while when she returned.
“No, if not now…”
Corresponding privately with a priest who had helped her before, she had obtained information that Sefitiana was secretly kept in the temple.
Sefitiana, what was it again?
A jewel created by God. A divine treasure that could cause a single miracle.
“If I just had that, I could be with Tatar. No matter what obstacle stands in our way…!”
Eurene turned with a face of firm resolve.
There was someone watching Eurene’s retreating figure as she hurriedly walked away – it was Vinea, mounted on the horse brought by the vice-commander. Her gaze lingered on Eurene’s back for a moment before falling away.
“What a remarkable obsession.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s nothing. Let’s depart.”
Vinea gripped the reins and shook them vigorously, and the horse charged forward.
A cool breeze brushed her cheeks.
While she had deliberately provoked Eurene to drive her away, it was still a remarkable obsession no matter when she saw it. What made her move so desperately? Memories of the past shared with Tatar? Or perhaps the future they once envisioned together?
“How pitiful.”
Especially when the object of her affection wasn’t even paying attention.
With that brief moment of sympathy, Vinea erased Eurene from her mind. There were far more important matters to attend to than worrying about such trivial things.
* * *
The Empress had left.
Upon receiving the news, Tatar put down the documents he had been processing and rose from his seat.
He picked up the longsword hanging on the wall. It wasn’t mere decoration, but a real blade that could easily sever a couple of necks.
“I suppose I should deal with the most troublesome task the Empress left me first.”
Despite the sudden move of the Emperor ignoring the scheduled itinerary, none of the numerous attendants following him dared to question his destination, as there had been an unceasing bloodbath in the Emperor’s palace recently.
Soon after, arriving in front of the room where his father, the former Emperor, resided, Tatar ordered:
“Open it.”
The knights guarding the door flinched and glanced around nervously.
Even for an Emperor, coming without notice like this was clearly disrespectful. This wasn’t just any noble’s room, but the bedchamber of the former Emperor who had led the empire for a long time.
The knights’ eyes fell on Tatar’s waist.
“We apologize, Your Majesty. Weapons are prohibited in this room.”
“Tch.”
Tatar clicked his tongue with an irritated expression.
Having heard what the Empress said before leaving, he couldn’t carelessly wield his sword, but following each procedure properly was bothersome, and he didn’t want to move back and forth several times for such trivial matters.
What should he do? As Tatar was tapping the back of his sword with his fingertips, just as he grasped the sword handle—
Bang!
“…Come in.”
The former Emperor appeared, opening the heavy door himself.
Maxiul de Tessibania. The one who had fought a fierce war with the Veshnu Empire for a lifetime, and had to lay down both his power and anger in an instant right after deciding on the armistice.
Despite his age, his physique was still impressive, his experience of roaming battlefields not easily fading.
Facing his father, Tatar briefly pondered how long it had been since he last met him at this point.
Perhaps because he had hardly encountered him in the recent five regressions, it felt as strange as meeting someone who had died long ago. It might have felt even more so because he had held his funeral over ten times.
Tatar’s gaze, following the former Emperor into the room, immediately fell on the wall.
‘Ah, right. I had forgotten about this for a moment.’
The reason why he hadn’t particularly sought out this place belatedly came to mind.
Tatar briefly looked at the frame placed on the shelf right next to him, then shifted his gaze to the frames hanging all around.
Portraits of a woman with dark brown hair tied up without a single strand out of place, and intelligent black eyes, filled the walls without any empty spaces. All were faces of the same woman.
Half were painted while the woman was alive, and the other half after her death.
With portraits imbued with the obsession and longing of someone yearning for a person they could never meet again gathered in one place, it almost created an illusion that dozens of pairs of eyes were actually watching over this room.
However, nowhere among them was a portrait of the son born between this beloved woman. It was natural that there was no room to look around when longing had deepened to the point of stagnation and rot.
“Mother would have been appalled if she saw this.”
“State your business first.”
The former Emperor, who had been looking into the eyes of the woman in the portrait as if in conversation with her, slightly furrowed his brow and turned his head back towards Tatar.
“Don’t tell me the Veshnu princess is plotting something?”
“For someone who didn’t even attend my wedding because the mere mention of Veshnu made your teeth chatter, you’re quick to make assumptions. And mind your words. She’s not the Veshnu princess, but the Empress of Tessibania.”
“…You.”
The former Emperor approached Tatar and stared at him with clouded eyes.
“You’ve changed. Is it because of the princess?”
“Not princess, but Empress. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“Do you think I would recognize someone from Veshnu as a member of Tessibania? Tatar, Veshnu are the ones who killed your mother!”
“Mother passed away because she was weak. It was Mother herself who couldn’t bear Uncle’s death and fell ill.”
The former Emperor’s short beard trembled with anger at these words devoid of warmth.
“Do you not know why your uncle met his death?!”
“He died from an arrow in the war with Veshnu. That too, happened because he was weak.”
Unable to contain his anger any longer, the former Emperor swung his hand.
Slap!
Tatar’s cheek instantly turned red.
The reason he didn’t avoid it, despite being perfectly capable of doing so, wasn’t because the other party was his father, but because he felt no regret about this situation.
It was just a slightly annoying sentiment. Killing one person stuck in the past wouldn’t end the regression, and even if he went through the trouble, he would see him breathing again after dying and regressing, so why bother?
He simply threw the sword he had brought at the former Emperor’s feet to finish the task Vinea had asked of him and leave.
“I’ll bring the painter who was in charge of Mother’s childhood portraits, so you can have whatever is painted as you wish. Also, I’ll send in Veshnu-born death row inmates every week. I’ll hand over the authority to dispose of them. In return, don’t attend the state council meetings for the time being.”
“It hasn’t even been two months since I stepped down from the throne! If it weren’t for the armistice, you wouldn’t even be sitting in that seat! Do you dare to sit on top of my head?”
“Haa.”
Tatar sighed and tilted his head back.
Come to think of it, he had occupied the throne for twice as long as the former Emperor, but the only one who would acknowledge that was currently not in the palace.
Lowering his gaze again, Tatar stared at the former Emperor with a coldly set face.
“It wasn’t I who handed over the throne to his child for fear of rebellion. You’re asserting unnecessary rights over a position you can’t take back anyway.”
“How dare you…! What on earth did that princess say to you!”
“Not princess, but Empress. Vent your remaining anger on the gifts I’ll send, and I’ll take my leave now.”
He nodded slightly and turned around.
The sound of something shattering echoed from behind, but he left the room without paying any attention. He ordered the attendants following him:
“Station four Dawn Knights here and guard the door. Report every move of the former Emperor until I give other orders.”
“Understood.”
All that remained was to finish the work that Vinea should have handled originally.
With the experience accumulated through repetitions, simple paperwork wouldn’t take too long. The rest was just to wait, pretending to be a normal person until Vinea returned.
But how long had it been since she left, and already a sense of helplessness was weighing him down.
“How tiresome…”
It felt like he had stepped into a faded painting. Yet he didn’t have the strong will to pursue the clues Sefitiana had thrown, like Vinea did.
His mind wasn’t sound enough to bear the despair felt when hope collapsed.
Look even now, the hallway that was fine just moments ago now showed a vision of thick black blood spread across it. After blinking a couple of times, it returned to its normal, empty state as if nothing had happened.
The nightmares that ruled the night had begun to invade the realm of day. It was a fragment of his crumbling psyche that he could only escape when he was with Vinea.
He mentally calculated the date of her return. Barring any major unforeseen events, it would take about 3 days to resolve this epidemic. Until then, Vinea would be away from the imperial palace.
There’s a clear difference between not seeing someone but knowing they’re within reachable distance, and not seeing someone because they’re too far away to reach.
He wanted to bring her back immediately, but he couldn’t deny that obtaining the title of ‘Lily of Blessing’ would help in pursuing the clues of Sefitiana.
Having lived as a tyrant emperor in one of the regressions, he knew well how much easier it became to wield power according to one’s reputation.
If he couldn’t bring Vinea back, how long could he hold onto his sanity?
As he tried to gauge how much he could restrain himself from the ‘unnecessary bloodshed’ Vinea had mentioned, he finally made a decision.
