Chapter 72
Chapter 72. Misaligned Freedom
“—Aaaagh!”
The maid’s piercing scream filled the underground prison.
The Emperor Emeritus took off his blood-stained gloves and threw them away, then pushed open the iron bars and walked out.
“Tsk…”
Nothing was discovered even after brutal torture. Who had mixed poison into the tea at the separate palace, who had instigated it, not even any evidence that this was the Empress’s own scheme.
When he heard that Tatar had immediately gone to see the Empress, he felt anxious, wondering if there were still feelings left. However, the imperial palace was strangely quiet.
As no investigation was launched into this matter, rumors that the Emperor was distancing himself from the Empress grew even more.
“As expected, I knew it was just a momentary game.”
Just playing around. There was nothing good about keeping that unlucky Veshnu person by his side.
As he came out to find Agasha after washing the blood from his body, an unwelcome guest stood before him.
“What’s the matter, Tatar?”
At the Emperor Emeritus’s cold question, skipping even a greeting, Tatar let out a deflating laugh. It was by no means a friendly response, causing the Emperor Emeritus’s expression to wrinkle fiercely, but he had to be cautious as long as he hadn’t fully recovered his power.
He found it extremely unpleasant that the son he had taught under him was now sitting at the very top above his head.
“I’ve come with a gift. Since I prepared it personally, it’s only right for a son to deliver it directly.”
The knight standing behind him handed Tatar a large bag. Tatar immediately threw the bag at the Emperor Emeritus’s feet with a cold face.
With a dull sound, red bloodstains spread on the floor, and from the mouth of the bag that hadn’t been tied in the first place, three heads of someone rolled out.
The Emperor Emeritus clenched his fists as he met the eyes of the subordinates who had died without even closing their eyes.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“Why act surprised now? Aren’t these the people you were using behind the scenes? Should I tell you who they were working with?”
Crack.
The Emperor Emeritus’s teeth ground together.
There were too many ears listening due to the sudden visit. If rumors spread through the servants’ mouths that he had joined hands with Gartan Aktavil, he would not only lose some of the forces he had gathered under the pretext of antipathy towards Veshnu, but would also naturally be pointed at by the people.
“I know nothing of this.”
“Of course you don’t.”
Tatar took a step forward. His shadow, now grown larger than his father’s, covered the Emperor Emeritus.
“Keep pretending not to know, and stay in that position. I have no intention of letting you go easily. So watch slowly with your own eyes as your limbs are cut off.”
As if he had finished his business, Tatar immediately stepped back, and the Emperor Emeritus shouted at him, exhaling his blocked breath.
“It’s all that woman’s doing. Are you so dull that you can’t even notice that!”
Tatar swallowed the mockery about to burst out and raised his hand towards the Emperor Emeritus.
“Shh.”
Unlike his lips curved in a gentle arc, his cold eyes warned. Your neck remains unharmed only until you wag that tongue.
Tatar turned around. He and the countless knights following him moved together.
How could he not know? That all of this was a stage set by Vinea. He knew better than anyone that everyone was dancing excitedly on her palm.
“So I have no choice but to willingly dance to her tune.”
When this play ends, only one audience member will applaud him. And then they will live together in the play forever.
At that moment, his clouded gaze turned to one side.
Agasha, who had been standing quietly at the bottom of the separate palace stairs, met his eyes and bowed her head with a startled face.
He turned away with an indifferent face, showing no reaction even after seeing Agasha.
While her hair color, eyes, and features did remind him of his birth mother, if someone asked if she was exactly the same, he could definitely answer no.
Was she over thirty? The sight of a woman called ‘Agasha’ standing beside the aging Emperor Emeritus was an uncomfortable scene even to imagine.
Her posture, lowered as if she had committed a great sin, didn’t seem to be much of a threat either.
Could this woman be related to this incident? But he couldn’t ask because the one who orchestrated all this had forgotten everything.
She who willingly gifted him an even worse hell, to him who thought there was nothing more to fear or be horrified by in this repeating timeline.
Yes. It was time to go meet his Empress who had now completely forgotten him.
He arrived in front of Vinea’s bedroom in the Empress’s Palace. Somehow it was noisy inside. He opened the door without knocking, his face hardened.
“—Your Majesty.”
The smile disappeared instantly from Vinea’s face, which had been brightly smiling until just before. It was such an intense smile that it seemed like it might have been a dream for a moment.
Tatar approached Vinea.
“What were you doing?”
“As you can see, I was embroidering. Together with my maid, Lineue.”
Tatar turned his head to look at Lineue. She, who had been frozen stiff holding a white embroidery frame, hurriedly bowed her head.
“I-I greet the glory of the empire.”
“Has the Empress’s memory returned?”
Lineue shook her head with a troubled face. Vinea slightly frowned her straight eyebrows as if to show her displeasure.
“Your Majesty, has something important happened? Even if you are the Emperor, I would appreciate it if you refrained from such rude visits. The same goes for interrogating others about my memory.”
It was an obvious distance. Vinea put down the circular embroidery frame with a hardened face.
It was one of the hobbies she hadn’t touched since regressing. What was drawn on the embroidery frame was not the lion symbolizing Tessibania, but the sword and eagle pattern of Veshnu.
It was unfamiliar to see her guarding herself, wrapping one arm. Tatar felt something heavy falling in his chest, not a good feeling at all.
“…I’m sorry for barging in.”
“Do you have anything else to say?”
“No.”
Vinea lightly bowed her head and sat down with Lineue as before. It was a clear dismissal.
Tatar closed his mouth, which felt rough as if he had swallowed sand, and turned around.
Behind his back as he left the room, he heard the heavy sound of the door closing, thud. As if it would never open again.
He spoke to Deron, who was at the door.
“Find out what the Empress liked before marriage. Tastes, food preferences, everything without exception. Also, call trading companies importing Veshnu goods to the Empress’s Palace.”
“Understood.”
It was a strangely lingering smile. Enough to keep floating up over the face that immediately turned indifferent towards him.
He wanted to see it just once more. Perhaps it was a smile he might never see again except for now when she had lost her memories.
Even he couldn’t understand himself. What was so special about that smile? Wasn’t it the smile she often put on in front of others to get through the regression smoothly?
He loosened the blue string he had been tightening around his neck. Somehow his chest and throat felt stuffy. As if a black stone had been lodged in his heart.
* * *
In the carriage, Eurene took a deep breath. She clenched her fists tightly to hide her nervousness, but as if mocking her, her palms became damp.
Balak, sitting across from her, handed her a handkerchief.
“…Thank you.”
“We’ll arrive at the imperial palace soon. I’ve disguised your identity as a jewel appraiser belonging to the trading company, so be careful not to let your wig come off.”
Eurene touched the unfamiliar hair ends. There were wigs of various colors, but for some reason, she was drawn to the blonde wig.
The dark green dress covering up to her neck, the blonde wig braided into one and draped over her left shoulder, even the freckles drawn on her cheeks.
Since she didn’t often frequent social circles, no one in the imperial palace should be able to recognize her like this.
Eurene hardened her expression as she glimpsed the imperial palace outside the window.
“Did you bring the item?”
At Balak’s words, Eurene nodded and took out a small bottle from her bosom. Red liquid sloshed inside the bottle. It didn’t look like an ordinary medicine at first glance. Eurene handed it to Balak with a slightly fearful look.
“Are you really going to use that… on the Empress?”
“You mean the ‘potion that kills people’?”
“You, what if someone hears…!”
Eurene hurriedly lowered her voice.
“That potion has left my hands now. Remember, it’s no longer my responsibility.”
Those gently drooping eyes and beautiful green irises couldn’t be more vicious. Where on earth did the rumor of her being like a lily come from?
He smiled lightly and tucked the bottle into his chest.
“Of course. Ah, it seems we’ve arrived. I need to get off for the trading company check, so please wait a moment.”
“Wait, what I asked for—”
Before Eurene could finish speaking, Balak got out of the carriage.
It hadn’t been 5 minutes since she anxiously started biting her nails when the carriage door opened again and Balak held out a beautiful iridescent bottle to her.
It was a bottle where the inside couldn’t be seen at all, so the color of the liquid inside was not visible.
“This is…”
“The potion you requested.”
Eurene received the bottle Balak handed over and hugged it preciously to her chest. Balak looked down at her with cold eyes and whispered secretively.
“Remember. The effect of enchantment lasts only one night.”
Balak glanced at Eurene’s stomach.
A noble lady who had to leave the mansion as if chased out due to one night’s mistake. The position she wants to climb to. And an enchantment potion that would make any man fall for her.
It’s easy to predict what evil plans she might concoct with that small brain of hers.
Well, even if things go according to plan, who knows.
‘That obsessive gaze towards Lady Vinea, that desire mixed with madness… He’s not someone who can be detached just by a woman carrying a child.’
Unfortunately, things won’t go according to her plan.
Balak turned around after closing the carriage door again. Trading companies invited by the Emperor for the Empress were lined up in a long queue.
At the end of that road stood the Tessibania imperial palace, rising highest in the empire. Right there was where his love was.
“Lady Vinea, please wait just a little longer. I will surely set you free.”
