Chapter 11 Part 13

Emil felt a faint pity for her, but at the same time, he found her foolishness frustrating.

 

That dragon cherished her enough to fly to the other side of the world and spend several months there just to win her favour.

 

And she had no intention of using that?

 

Truly?

 

When he desperately tried to persuade her, Radiel looked at him with pity.

 

“A dragon does not even see humans as equal beings that can make a deal with him. But you want him to serve a human as king? That is impossible.”

 

Even at those words, Emil did not give up.

 

Then that day came.

 

Kirthalros.

 

The day that cursed dragon returned to the lair.

 

Emil had never seen Radiel so terrified.

 

Seeing her expression, he also became frightened and hid as she told him to.

 

The dragon knew there was a little rat hiding in his lair, but pretended not to know.

 

And he secretly watched Radiel spend time with Emil.

 

He noticed at once that Radiel liked Emil.

 

Enraged, he locked up the pleading Radiel and tortured Emil.

 

In that terrible pain, Emil quickly abandoned his sympathy for Radiel.

 

He resented everything in the world, and came to hate the dragon Kirthalros and Radiel, especially the king and his superior who had sent him to this place.

 

Kirthalros tortured him to find out where Emil was from and the village he had lived in, but even through the cruel pain, Emil endured that one thing.

 

In the end, he reached death, but there was not even the slightest thought of Radiel in his mind.

 

Because, unlike Kirthalros’s misunderstanding, they had not been lovers.

 

Emil did not love Radiel at all.

 

‘What is this?’

 

Emilio was dumbfounded.

 

As far as he could guess, there was only one reason Kirthalros had cast magic and shown him a scene like this.

 

To take revenge on Rahil.

 

He must have thought that Emil had also died while loving Radiel, and that if he made him remember his previous life, Emilio would approach Anais.

 

It was absurd.

 

It was absurd, and yet tears welled up in his eyes.

 

Did I truly not love Radiel?

 

That foolish, pitiful woman. That woman who thought everything was her fault and withered away day by day.

 

Had I not pitied her?

 

In order to vent his anger on Radiel, Kirthalros threw Emil’s corpse, which had died after being tortured, to her.

 

Radiel could not even scream.

 

On her knees, she moved toward the corpse and embraced him.

 

She was a woman whose world had already collapsed once.

 

To her, Emil must have been the only light.

 

Seeing the woman faint without even being able to burst into tears, Emilio sighed.

 

‘Radiel.’

 

I wish I could have helped you.

 

Because my strength was lacking, I could not save you.

 

‘I resented you, but that was not my true heart. It was because I was in so much pain….’

 

The current him could dare to stand against a dragon, so he might have been able to save Radiel.

 

In his reality, Kirthalros was dead, and his corpse was being miserably butchered.

 

‘But Radiel….’

 

The face of the freckled woman overlapped with Anais’s unhappy face as she had cried by the window.

 

The young lady he had seen in the corridor of the ballroom several years ago had looked far brighter than her.

 

If I had fallen for you back then instead, would I have been able to prevent a future like this?

 

But being drawn to Angelica had been something he could not help.

 

And besides, Rahil also loved Anais now.

 

Even so, Emilio desperately wanted to see Radiel.

 

Even though she now had a different name and different memories, and was no longer her.

 

“…Anais!!”

 

Soaked in sweat, Emilio woke from sleep while calling the empress’s name.

 

***

Anais, who had read a little irritation from Rahil’s expression, took hold of his arm.

 

As soon as Anais’s fingertips touched his arm, the irritation was seen melting away.

 

‘Is it because he had only been in a one-sided love all this time, and now things finally seemed to be going well? Look at him going all soft.’

 

It was a desirable situation, though. Although he was hopeless at romance and had quite a lot of missteps, perhaps because he continued to express his affection with that desirable face, Her Majesty the Empress’s expression was also softening.

 

Standing by Rahil’s side, Sion had realized it the moment he met her as a potential empress.

 

That person does not like His Majesty even the tiniest bit.

 

He had even felt admiration, thinking that His Majesty had really managed to find the kind of young lady he had boasted he would find.

 

That admiration later turned into pity once he became certain that His Majesty clearly liked that young lady, but anyway.

 

‘It’s a good thing.’

 

Lady Anais Ruol was so capable that one could believe she had been born to become empress.

 

Even though she had not received separate empress training, she did not violate etiquette, and she was so skilled at the empress’s duties that after only a few weeks, he already felt like handing work over to her.

 

After she became empress, everything had been peaceful, except for the accidents caused by His Majesty or the Tower Master.

 

At last, the imperial palace had a mistress, things flowed peacefully, and even the empire seemed to have found its proper place again.

 

‘Now… if only an heir is born between the two of them, there will be nothing more to wish for.’

 

With a proud feeling, Sion looked at the emperor and empress standing side by side.

 

The emperor was blessing the Maiden of Abundance and the Knight of Autumn before the many nobles and citizens.

 

It was a reenactment of the legend in which the goddess chose the Maiden of Abundance, and she, after going through several trials, received the emperor’s recognition.

 

The emperor gave her the offering to be presented to the god this year, and before the empress, the Knight of Autumn knelt down.

 

Because the deeds committed by Karel and the emperor were far too famous, people’s gazes were fixed on the two of them.

 

The emperor had a face that said, if he could, he wanted to kick Karel, who was kneeling before the empress, all the way to the end of the continent.

 

‘The jealousy of a man in one-sided love is truly desperate.’

 

Even so, Sion, who sided with the emperor since he was still his close aide, swallowed the pity in his eyes.

 

If the emperor, who had turned around for no reason, happened to catch that look, Sion would be harassed for a month.