***

***

“Look over there. The Emperor has finally arrived.”

Ronasso whispered while poking Tamon’s side while he was casually drinking the cocktail.

Tamon turned slowly and stared at Gillotti Tanatos as he entered the banquet hall with a terrifying expression on his face.

“……The emperor who brings a sword to the banquet hall.”

Theoransha sneered at him in a low voice, clicking her tongue.

The appearance of the emperor, praised for being beautiful, no longer shined.

The darkly pitted eye shadows and hollow cheeks were like a ghost harboring a bitter resentment.

As if reading the unusual momentum, people took a couple of steps back without realizing it as the emperor passed by.

The music in the banquet hall, which had been resonating softly, suddenly stopped.

Clank. Clank.

The only sound in the silent banquet hall was the sword of Gillotti Tanatos scraping the floor.

The faces of the nobles filling the banquet hall turned pale.

It was a banquet in the middle of the day when the sun had not yet set, but it was filled with uncomfortable silence and chills like a blizzard night.

Bewilderment and fear were on the faces of the ladies, who covered their elaborately decorated faces with fans.

Murmuring voices gradually inflated. An ominous energy roamed the banquet hall.

Some of the people, who were quick to grasp the situation, were already secretly moving toward the doorway.

In a corner, Asha was also watching Gillotti walking with a sword in the banquet hall.

From Gillotti’s back, Asha recalled her last days here.

“Count Cain is in prison…… !”

A few days before the news, Katren died.

Before her death, she was the Minister of the palace, and the day before that, Charlotte fell ill.

In just one month, Roselyn’s surroundings were filled with the aura of death.

Why did it suddenly change like that?

The emperor had been able to wield the power of death, and hated her before…

Asha has been engrossed in the thought since arriving in the capital.

And it wasn’t until she found out about Natasha’s relationship with Roxon that she realized why.

That’s because around that time, Natasha Roanti was making preparations to drive out Roselyn.

Hans, who had always been on Roselyn’s side, was kicked out by Natasha, who instigated the emperor’s wrath.

Natasha took Roxon’s hand and encouraged Gillotti to use his power of death.

“Sorry to keep you waiting for so long.”

Gillotti Tanatos leaned his back against the tall throne.

Asha lifted her head and looked at him again.

Gillotti’s eyes were hollowed out and cast a dark shadow, and the corners of his mouth were twisted upwards.

His eyes were full of death as he looked around with a haggard face.

Asha smirked under her veil.

What a ridiculous situation this is.

Anger and hatred that ate away the empire and even killed the empress and vassals blazed in Gillotti’s eyes.

Foolish Gillotti. Stupid Gillotti.

Her cold voice rang out like a dance from within her.

It wasn’t just her revenge.

The wrath of this poor thousand-year-old kingdom, which was about to become a defeated soldier, and the tainted power, was to avenge his selfish desires.

That was why Asha was able to look at Gillotti in front of the storm with unshaken eyes.

Letting Natasha Roanti escape was only a very small device for this play. It was like walking around pretending to be a ghost so that Gillotti’s mind would collapse.Gillotti and Natasha had to be broken down more thoroughly and completely.

Asha’s heart froze cold whenever she remembered her mother, whose heart had been pierced, her brother, who had been unjustly beheaded, and the tomb of her grandfather that had been dug up.

There was no guilt for this cruel heart.

Isn’t revenge like that?

Even the person who vowed revenge must become a monster…

“Asha.”

Suddenly, she felt a large hand covering her cold fist.

Only then did Asha realize that she was clenching her fists, her nails dug in her skin.

“Your hands are cold.”

Tamon stretched Asha’s hand out gently, stroking the palm of her hand, where her fingernail marks remained.

He gently rubbed the palm of her hand with his blunt thumb, and without hesitation he pressed his lips to her palm.

All eyes were on Gillotti, so no one saw them, but nonetheless, it was a very bold move.

Tamon did not take his eyes off her, kissing her palm over and over again, as if nothing bothered him.

He had always had unwavering eyes.

Even then, this man was always looking at her with those eyes. Just before Gillotti killed her, it was those eyes of Tamon Krasis who was pursuing her.

As if rebuking her for going in to die instead of running away. As if resenting her for not following his warnings.

So, the precarious appearance of him seemed to be caught in her heart…

He was looking at her intensely.

At that time, she could not read at all what those eyes meant.

Asha smiled quietly under the veil.

Tamon’s red eyes seemed to add heat to her.

Her heart, which had been frozen in the cold, was beating hotly.

Yeah, what about becoming a monster?

After all, everyone lives with a monster in the corner of their mind. How you tame that monster will only change your life.

Her monster will probably be fine.

Because she has a companion who will always suffer with her.

Asha turned her gaze back to Gillotti.

Coincidentally, Gillotti was also looking towards Asha.

No, on second thought, his gaze was directed over her shoulder.

What was he looking at? Just before Asha looked behind her, Gillotti turned his head with a twisted smile. A muffled voice echoed through the banquet hall.

“This hunt is not about flowers, it’s about finding someone as beautiful as a flower.”

“…Your Majesty.”

John, who had followed the emperor late, hesitated and approached him, but he froze in front of his deadly eyes.

John quickly lowered his head and closed his mouth.

His face was bloodless, as if he had already guessed what was going to happen.

“My beautiful mistress is gone. My child in her belly is gone, and I, her husband and emperor, cannot concentrate at all because of her.”

At the suggestion of replacing the search for the national flower with a long history and tradition with the search for the mistress, there was a lot of confusion in the hall.

The same was true of the envoys from other countries who did not leave and attended the banquet hall.

How could the emperor, with his private heart, gather the distinguished guests and say to seek out his own mistress!

However, none of them had the courage and hindsight to dare to question Gillotti.

Rather, Theo and Tamon only watched with interest as this was Tanatos’s last festival.

“How… .”

“So insulting…”

“Really! It does not make sense… !”

They couldn’t say it out loud, but voices mixed with dissatisfaction erupted from everywhere.

Gillotti said with a sly smile, as if he didn’t care about that.

“In the name of Tanatos, anyone who can find her, I’ll grant you anything you want.”

Gillotti’s gaze reached the bald envoy.

“I’ll return the last princess of a country that has no royal descendants because of dwarfism…”

Gillotti’s gaze then turned to the other skinny envoy standing next to the other one.

“I’ll reduce the offerings of your country by half due to poor harvest.”“Ha, Your Majesty!”

“Ah! Or I’ll listen to you who come dozens of times a day and ask for more troops.”

The faces of the local nobles who had gathered were distorted.

Gillotti laughed grimly and jumped up.

“I’ll give you anything. Only for those who find Natasha Roanti first.”

“Um, what do you mean find it first?”

The envoy, whose country had their princess held hostage in Tanatos, asked impatiently.

Gillotti replied with a smile like a ghost.

“Exactly. This is a hunting game! You’re competing with me! Everyone, find and bring Natasha Roanti! She’s as beautiful as a flower who will stand out wherever she is!”

Gillotti, who spoke ferociously, looked at the band that had stopped playing music.

The frozen band was startled and hurriedly started playing again.

Light music that did not fit the atmosphere forced the air to lift.

“The time limit is three hours! If you lose to me, you won’t get anything from this festival!”

Hahaha!

Gillotti ran out barefoot first, laughing like a maniac.

Some nobles ran after him as if possessed by the madness.

The noisy ladies also pushed the backs of the servants they had brought with them. The hunt for the flower began.

***

‘I have to run away.’

Natasha was crouching and trembling in the bushes.

Although it was July, Natasha, whose body had not yet recovered, felt a harsher cold than in the middle of winter.

Nevertheless, she was in a situation where she could not dare to say that she was cold.

She had to run away.

She had to leave this imperial palace as soon as possible and in a hurry.

With her tight eyes closed, she recalled the secret passage ‘that woman’ had given her a moment ago. (‘That woman’ = Asha in disguise)

“There is a secret passage under the west tower. Find the blind woman among the sculptures on the brick and press it, the wall will open. If you go there, you’ll probably survive.”

The west tower was the furthest building from the detached palace where Natasha was now imprisoned.

But there was no way for her to get out of this palace unless she used the secret passage.

So she had to get there somehow.

She managed to catch her breath, and Natasha ran through the bushes, covering her head with the head cloth worn by the maids.

Earlier.

“Why, why are you helping me? What is it?”

Natasha asked sharply at the man and woman standing with the door wide open.

At Natasha’s distrustful voice, the man took the mask off first.

“You are……!”

Natasha’s eyes widened at the man’s true identity.

It was Tamon Krasis. Amor’s foreign minister.

“Why are you…..”

Knowing his identity made Natasha even more confused. But it wasn’t Tamon who answered, but the woman in her black veil.

“Do you think we’re helping you now?”

***

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