Chapter 82
Chapter 82. Who Is the Devil?
Deron explained to Vinea while rubbing his throbbing head that had just hit the wall.
“After dismissing all the servants on His Majesty’s orders, I had cleared this entire floor as a precaution and had just returned to His Majesty.”
Who would have thought an intruder could breach the palace security and enter the Emperor’s office in that brief moment he was away? Deron swallowed a bitter sigh.
“I had been ordered to leave immediately if His Majesty didn’t make eye contact or respond properly when called. Just as I was about to retreat to the office, someone rushed out from inside, pushed me aside, and chased after His Majesty.”
He recalled the unfamiliar woman’s back. Small build, a maid’s uniform different from the usual imperial ones, and her desperate attempt to hide her face.
“Though the wig and makeup were confusing, it was clearly the Lady from the Castallo Duchy.”
Deron lowered his voice so the knights escorting Vinea couldn’t hear.
“I heard what the Lady said as she chased His Majesty. ‘I am your Empress,’ she said. If His Majesty had been in his right mind, he surely would have cut off her head… but he didn’t seem able to distinguish reality.”
“Which direction did His Majesty go?”
“Following His Majesty’s orders, we always keep strong sleeping medication in the same place in the bedroom. He’s taken it a few times when needed, and he’s always headed there in situations like this, so I think he would have this time too.”
Vinea’s brow furrowed.
She should have acted earlier when she anticipated Balak joining hands with Eurene. Of all times, for the drug’s effect to wear off and for her to lose her memory again after meeting Balak, leading to this disaster.
‘Eurene Castallo…!’
Vinea gritted her teeth.
She had read the information about Eurene that her uncle had passed on. She thought that knowing her shame, Eurene would spend the rest of her life holed up in the villa as if dead, but she had momentarily forgotten that a person so consumed by their own misfortune would be incapable of such judgment.
She should have anticipated and prepared for whatever terrible acts Eurene might commit when driven into a corner, but it was a misjudgment born from the arrogance of thinking she knew Eurene Castallo well.
Vinea reached the Emperor’s bedroom, not far away, and placed her hand on the slightly open door handle.
Though it was a path she had walked countless times between the Emperor’s office and bedroom, the air felt particularly heavy and stagnant. Why did she feel so uneasy?
After a moment’s hesitation, she opened the door, and the acrid scent of blood brushed her nose.
Deron, standing behind Vinea, drew in a sharp breath.
The Emperor lay motionless as if dead, and right beside him, a woman knelt with vacant eyes.
Vinea spoke to Eurene with coldly sunken eyes.
“Go and bring a doctor, Deron. Bring the knights who were dismissed as well.”
As Deron hastily withdrew, Vinea entered the room silently.
Eurene’s eyes, which had been fixed on Tatar, slowly turned towards Vinea. Deep hatred blossomed in her previously vacant green eyes.
“…It’s all because of you. If only you weren’t here, if only you hadn’t come here!”
Eurene’s scream echoed through the bedroom. The bloodshot green eyes streaming with tears were filled with venom.
Staggering to her feet, Eurene tightly grasped her dress with hands trembling with rage.
The ill-fitting maid’s uniform barely covered Eurene’s chest, visible through the unfastened top buttons.
“You devilish woman! Do you think I don’t know what you’ve done to Brother? Using aphrodisiacs to cloud his mind wasn’t enough, you had to use ridiculous lies to come between us—”
Eurene’s words were cut short.
Slap!
Vinea raised her hand and mercilessly struck Eurene’s tear-stained cheek. Eurene’s body staggered greatly as she clutched her cheek, which had instantly turned to the left.
It was anger more evident than a hundred words.
Vinea knelt on the floor and cradled Tatar’s head in her arms. She placed her right hand on his heart, but felt no heartbeat.
Lips that didn’t exhale even the faintest breath, a body grown cold. His closed eyelids wouldn’t open, and the blood from his torn forehead had congealed, matting his silver-gray hair.
It was death.
Even Eurene, her cheek stinging from the slap, seemed to have already read his death. She bowed her head with a fearful expression, unable to look at him.
But Vinea knew. Even when she closed her eyes and opened them again, she didn’t see the red carpet of that detestable wedding hall, which meant they were still in the seventy-seventh regression.
‘He is not dead.’
In all the previous regressions, Tatar had never died at Eurene’s hands, and the rule that had remained unchanged no matter how he died wouldn’t change now.
But who would believe this? Her and him, endlessly regressing. The only way to prove it was to die and turn back time, but at that moment, the doubts these people held would disappear like a midday dream.
Vinea’s fingertips trembled slightly as she quietly brushed back Tatar’s hair, matted with blood on his forehead.
Only you and I can understand all this truth, but to whom can I appeal?
I will have to fight with all my might until I regress again to prove that you are alive. Fiercely and sorrowfully. And lonely.
Vinea lowered her head and whispered into his ear, though he couldn’t hear anything.
“So I hope you understand. Whether this is the last regression or not—”
Vinea raised her head, her blue eyes turning to Eurene.
“—I must absolutely ruin the life of that woman who shares your blood.”
The medical staff Deron had belatedly called examined Tatar. The doctor’s expression gradually hardened. Finally, the doctor squeezed his eyes shut with a devastated expression and spoke.
“…I find no signs of life in His Majesty, Your Highness.”
At the doctor’s pronouncement, Eurene clutched her head and bowed. Sobs denying this reality flowed from her parted lips.
“Ah, aah…!”
It was utterly ridiculous. A perfectly healthy person couldn’t end up like that alone, and in a situation where anyone could see she had done something, why was she staggering with such a shocked expression?
Vinea stood up and turned around. She struck out at Deron, who stood dazed with disbelief.
“Pull yourself together, Deron Morkan. His Majesty is not dead.”
“Your Highness, but…”
Vinea’s frosty gaze turned to Deron.
Unfathomable anger, murderous intent, and hatred swirled in her blue eyes. The gaze was so identical to that of the master he had served that Deron belatedly came to his senses with a chill running down his spine.
“Bind the criminal Eurene Castallo immediately. Ensure that no one touches His Majesty’s body until he awakens.”
“…We will first move His Majesty to the Empress’s Palace.”
At Vinea’s command, the doctors placed Tatar on a stretcher. When they were about to cover Tatar’s head with a white cloth as they would normally do with a corpse, they caught themselves under Vinea’s stern gaze and hurriedly left after covering only his body.
The remaining knights surrounded Eurene. Her clouded green eyes, arms held by knights in silver armor, belatedly recognized the situation.
“L-Let go! Let go, I said let go!”
Deron spoke to the knights.
“Imprison the criminal Eurene Castallo in the underground dungeon. No one is to be allowed entry until the interrogation begins. She must be treated as a thoroughly guilty criminal.”
Eurene’s eyes widened. They were going to imprison her in an underground dungeon without a ray of sunlight? That couldn’t be. After all this, after everything she had done for whom!
Eurene screamed in a voice choked with rage.
“I carry His Majesty’s seed in my womb! Are you daring to lay hands on me, who might be carrying the only imperial heir? Let go of me this instant! I said let go!”
An icy silence descended on the room. The knights released Eurene’s arms.
“A child, you say.”
Vinea turned to look at Eurene.
Her disheveled appearance, the top with all its buttons undone. If one tried to force it, it could somehow fit the situation.
Deron spoke with a face full of dismay.
“Your Highness, if what she says is true…”
In the case of someone who has conceived a member of the imperial family, or even if there’s the slightest possibility of it, they must be protected above all laws as the highest priority.
Ignoring the long-standing rule due to the scarcity of heirs in the Tessibanian imperial family was tantamount to challenging the authority of the empire.
Eurene knew that the Empress from Veshnu wouldn’t dare ignore this rule.
Vinea raised her expressionless face. Her gaze towards Eurene was so dry it was hard to believe she was facing a woman who claimed to be carrying the child of her husband who had just been pronounced dead.
“The Emperor’s aide cleared the corridor for about 5 minutes, and the Lady chased His Majesty into this room for about 10 minutes. If that was enough time for him to take a woman, he must have been weaker than I thought… how strange.”
“…!”
It wasn’t at all the face or voice of someone expressing admiration. Rather, it was a gaze as if looking down on something trivial not worth dealing with.
Humiliated, Eurene bit her lip so hard it nearly bled. Vinea continued, unfazed.
“It seems the Lady’s skills were indescribably excellent. Or perhaps you have a secret for engaging with someone who has stopped breathing.”
It was certainly not a compliment pleasant to hear for a noble lady who wasn’t even engaged. Eurene’s gaze, flushed red, turned to the floor.
Vinea decided to cast doubt on the possibility that Eurene might be carrying Tatar’s child.
What’s done is done, and many people had witnessed this situation – the doctor, the knights, and even Deron – it was too late to cover it up. However, she at least hoped that the path would become hell for her while she was protected in the palace, above all laws.
“I didn’t kill His Majesty. His Majesty tried to…”
Eurene, lowering her head to avoid Vinea’s cold gaze, gnawed on her lower lip, then seemed to make a decision and raised her head again.
The pitch-black greed in her green eyes was clearly visible to everyone in the room.
“He tried to ravish me, so I defended myself with all my might…!”
