Chapter 59

Side Story II
Kainri’s New Day

Urgent footsteps echoed through the halls of the Imperial Palace. At first, they were quick, but soon they turned into a near sprint.

For a noble who valued decorum, running was unthinkable under any circumstance, even if it meant taking shorter steps. Yet, he was running breathlessly, as though there was no time to waste.

“My lord! You can’t do this! You must first request an audience…!”

The process for an imperial audience was notoriously strict.

Unless you were of the direct Imperial Family, you needed to submit a request, then have the chief chamberlain present the paperwork to the Emperor, who would approve it with his seal. Only then would you receive a date and time for your audience.

“Lead me to his chambers—at once!”

Having rushed to the palace upon hearing the news, Kainri had no thought for such tedious procedures.

It was absurd. When the Emperor sought the company of a woman, he could bypass time and place to see her. Yet, those with urgent matters of state were leashed by these bureaucratic chains.

Moreover, his reason for seeking the Emperor was not even a matter of state.

“My lord, you of all people should know better than to do this.”

Ignoring all attempts to stop him, Kainri finally reached the Emperor’s private chambers, but it was too late—the very situation he had feared was already unfolding within.

“……!!”

He could hear screams from inside. Sounds of someone being struck, cries of pain, followed by the gasping breaths of someone being choked and the panting laughter of a man reaching his twisted climax.

As he stood there, the frantic words of the count’s maid who had run to him replayed vividly in his mind.

“Your Excellency, please… please help! His Majesty took our lady! What are we to do?”

Hearing that she had been taken away with no means of escape, Kainri had rushed here to try to stop it somehow.

But now, he felt suffocated by the screams and chaos coming from within, instinctively covering his mouth. What was he to do? Should he barge in and beg the Emperor for mercy? Or… or…!

As his mind reeled without answers, a thin, dry voice spoke up from behind him.

“My lord, please return for today.”

The Emperor’s chamberlain, trembling as he clasped his hands, pleaded for him to leave. Staying would accomplish nothing, as the chamberlain had witnessed such scenes too many times to count.

Yet, Kainri could not walk away, because he knew who was trapped inside.

‘Louisa.’

She was the only daughter of Count Kloze, who had just come of age this year.

The countess had hanged herself last month, unable to bear the disgrace, and since her death, Count Kloze had been a broken man. Now, even his only child, Louisa…

It was, in every sense, the annihilation of their family. That an entire household could collapse in such a short time was beyond belief.

“Who is that woman again?”

With just a gesture and a single phrase from the Emperor.

At the founding festival, the Emperor had taken a liking to Countess Kloze and summoned her to his chambers. Naturally, she refused, but the imperial knights stormed into her residence that same day and dragged her away.

The next day, she was carried back, battered and bruised, on a stretcher.

Had she completely lost her mind, it might have been easier. Everyone would have closed their mouths, closed their eyes, and turned a blind ear to protect her honor.

Yet, she retained her senses, confronting the horrors she’d endured. Unable to withstand the shame, she ultimately hanged herself.

The one who truly lost his mind was her husband, the count, who had dearly loved his wife and daughter.

He neither ignored the shame nor accepted his fate. Instead, he repeatedly drifted in and out of sanity until he was eventually found dead by the lake, abandoning everything and leaving only his young daughter behind.

If only it had ended there. But where does a fire ever burn only one place? As if intent on leaving nothing but ashes, the Emperor’s madness again bared its teeth at the now defenseless girl left behind.

“Didn’t that woman have a daughter?”

He had tasted the mother, so what about the daughter? Young flesh is said to be even more delightful.

Regretful he hadn’t known sooner, the Emperor seized Louisa, the sole survivor, and took her away. Kainri had ridden frantically to stop it.

“My lord, please, I beg you. This is not something you can go against.”

Kainri clenched his fists, suppressing the bile rising in his throat. He gritted his teeth as the chamberlain pleaded, warning that his interference could bring him trouble, too.

He felt choked. His throat tightened, struggling to contain his rage, uncertain of how to quell the fury building within him.

The most horrifying thing of all was his own powerlessness—unable to protect even someone like Luina with his own strength.

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