***

Perhaps thanks to the swift administration of the court officials, the national flower event was moved forward with great ease.

Although it was pulled, it was only a few days, and those who were anxious about whether or not to leave Tanatos sat down again when they heard the news that the event had been pulled.

July flowers were blooming on the street before they knew it.

Unaware of the cold and chilling energy inside the imperial palace for a festival, the people on the streets were both sad and happy that the last week of July was approaching.

Asha took out the most elaborate dress she had prepared and put it on.

It was a high-necked dress that she enjoyed wearing when she was Roselyn V Sunset.

“Hey… Am I the only one feeling weird right now?”

Anna, who was helping her dress up, looked at Asha’s reflection in the mirror, and smiled with a complicated heart.

“What?”

“It’s just like back then…”

Even in the Imperial Palace, the two were always together.

Whenever there was a big or small event, it was always Anna who helped with the final dressing.

Anna felt strange at this moment, as if it were back then.

Seeing Roselyn wearing her favorite outfit, Anna had an illusion that she was in the past.

Asha smiled and held Anna’s hand.

Then she looked at her and whispered.

“Look again, Anna. Am I really the same as when we were in the Imperial Palace?”

Anna slowly blinked her eyes and looked at Asha.

It was true that Roselyn, Asha today, was as beautiful as then and now.

White and beautiful skin, bright purple eyes, and red and delicate lips were the same as before.

But it was different.

The eyes that did not harbor anxiety, the relaxed smile, and the flexibility contained within have changed.

In the past, Roselyn looked as soft as if she could break when she fell, but Asha now looked strong and she wouldn’t break no matter what.

Anna smiled and shook her head.

“No. It’s different from back then.”

“Yes. It’s different from back then, Anna.”

The two kissed each other’s foreheads as they did when they were young.

They held hands and prayed to each other.

“We will surely be happier than we were then.”

****

The Tanatos flag flew high in the sky.

As if to illuminate its majesty, the brilliant sun was shining over the sky without a single cloud.

One by one, among the people gathering in the banquet hall, there were Asha and Tamon, and Theoransha of Amor and Helia of Amos.

Hana, Mana, and Arsene were among the people who followed them, but no one stopped them.

The imperial family urged their own nobles to fill the vacant positions as many as the number of state guests who had left.Somehow, they tried not to make their festival look shabby, but people were already talking constantly that it was going to be the worst festival in history.

“This is the first time the July festival has been so empty.”

Anna looked around the empty banquet hall to the point that it felt desolated, and muttered in despair.

It was hard to tell whether this was a festival on the continent that people had been waiting for a year or a general banquet held in the imperial family from time to time.

Asha nodded her head as if in agreement, and looked around the palace with new eyes.

Everything went wrong, but only the sky was bright as if blessing them.

As a result, both guards and escorts were lax.

“That’s why the qualities of a monarch are important. I learned a lot again this time.”

Theo smirked and looked around the ruined imperial palace.

Only the courtiers and servants who moved as if their tails were on fire were pitiful.

Asha looked around her for a moment, then secretly dragged Tamon to the patronage.

Last night, it was to proceed with what she had previously agreed with Hartz.

Theo and Helia, who glanced at them, changed seats as if to hide their empty space.

Theo, who had received a cocktail from a passing servant, pumped her glass against Helia’s glass and whispered.

“For the end of this festival.”

****

Gillotti, who suffered from nightmares throughout the July festival, was also not in a bad mood today.

It was because the main character in the nightmare that had tormented him the whole time, for some reason, did not appear in his dream today.

The dead Empress, who wandered the streets as a ghost, was silenced under strict security every day.

‘After all, there is no such thing as a ghost.’

Gillotti smirked and looked at his reflection, fully adorned from head to toe.

In the meantime, he had lost a lot of weight due to the suffering, but it also made him look sharp, so it wasn’t too bad.

It was much better to look scary than to look good.

Gillotti glanced at the beautiful garden outside the window and thought of Natasha.

For the July festival, Natasha decorated the entire castle with splendor.

She liked to decorate it so that the whole country on the continent could celebrate the birth of their child, taking great care so that the portrait of Gillotti could be seen wherever he went.

“He (Roxon) was chasing me one-sidedly. How can I deceive Your Majesty? I have nothing but Your Majesty.”

Natasha sobbed and grabbed Gillotti’s pants.

With her trembling hands, she whispered love to him constantly.

“Please trust me”, she fell to the floor and sobbed. “Please don’t doubt my love.”

Gillotti’s heart, looking at Natasha like that, was also not comfortable.

He actually wanted to trust Natasha. For Gillotti, Natasha was more than just a lover.

Natasha, the woman who had both the face of a lover and the arms of a mother.

She spread her arms around him and hugged him all the time, and she showed absolute support. Gillotti always missed his mother’s love. He needed the absolute love of someone who would embrace him on behalf of his father, something he had never had before.

Natasha gave it all to Gillotti.

That’s why Gillotti couldn’t forgive Natasha even more, and that’s why he wanted to forgive her more.

Gillotti, who had been frowning in agony, rubbed his throbbing brow.He was also the one who killed his father, the previous Emperor, and the Empress, the Ice Doll. If there was only one kind of warmth in Gillotti’s heart, it was Natasha. That’s why he felt so messed up every time because of her.

Gillotti dressed up and headed to Natasha’s room. He imprisoned her and never visited her. For fear that seeing her face would weaken his heart, he deliberately did not go looking for her further.

If she truly reflected on herself and repented of her sins, he could forgive her for once. As Natasha said, everything could be the fault of Roxon, who dared her to peek at her.

‘I plucked out his tongue, so I can’t even listen to excuses.’

He didn’t want to hear the words coming out of that dirty mouth, so he cut off Roxon’s tongue.

It might be better not to hear anything…

“Your Majesty.”

Just before he reached Natasha’s locked room, a soldier hurriedly ran to him and knelt down on his knees.

“What’s going on?”

“The Prophet in the West Tower has asked to see Your Majesty. He urged me to hurry up, so I have to report this to Your Majesty in such a hurry.”

Gillotti’s eyebrows twitched uncomfortably.

Prophet Hartz’s movements were unusual, so he locked him up, but only heard that he was enjoying himself comfortably in the tower.

Gillotti had postponed his treatment until after the festival and had forgotten about him, but Hartz found Gillotti first.

Gillotti quietly rubbed his chin and turned away.

Come to think of it, if the national flowers had bloomed, the Prophet could have known. He might be able to tell who would bring the flower.

“Bring him. I’m busy, so hurry up.”

Gillotti leaned back on his chair in the audience chamber and waited for Hartz.

After waiting for a while, Hartz entered the room.

“Long time no see, Your Majesty.”

Gillotti’s face was wrinkled at Hartz’s calm and relaxed greeting.

“… one who sees the future, can you see the outcome of today’s festival, right?”

Gillotti waved his hand as if he was annoyed by Hartz’s greeting, and immediately brought up the topic.

“Tell me where the flowers are blooming. Depending on the answer, the west tower’s imprisonment may be shortened or prolonged.”

At Gillotti’s words, Hartz suddenly burst into laughter.

“Because you are a person who has the power of death, a person who decides the lives of others so easily. But that’s not what’s important now, Your Majesty.”

“……What?”

“Why do you think I asked to see you? Why don’t you ask me first?”

Gillotti wrinkled his face at the insidious voice as if 100 snakes were crawling. Come to think of it, this was the first time the Prophet had asked to see him first.

It was then that Gillotti wondered about the suspicious man’s call.

“The biggest event of the July festival will be held today, right? I know the secret that will make the event more exciting.”

“Secret……?”

“It is a secret that a person whose tongue is cut off cannot speak, and a person who is bound can’t escape, and is groaning.”

Hearing Hartz’s words, Gillotti was startled and glared at him.

The secret of those whose tongues were cut off and those whose feet were bound…

It was because there were characters that immediately came to mind without saying anything.

“Are you curious about what the secret is?”

Unknowingly, Gillotti’s body leaned forward at the secretive voice.

Hartz looked at Gillotti’s slowly distorted face, and opened his mouth as if singing.

***

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