What Became of the Tyrant After the Pregnant Empress Left - Chapter 157

“……And then you deceived me as if nothing had happened. You deliberately avoided my questions when I asked.”

Ysaris pressed her hand to her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

Back when she was staying at Lena’s cabin, she had indeed asked Kazhan about it. Her last memory in Pyrein was preparing for an engagement with Bariteon, so how had the two of them ended up married?

His answer had come with a tone of complaint, tinged with disappointment.

From that, Ysaris had made her own assumptions.

Kazhan must have known that her relationship with Bariteon was fake. So, after amicably achieving their respective goals and breaking off the engagement, she must have met Kazhan. Since they had known each other since the academy, they must have reunited and married.

Bariteon probably went on to inherit the Kelloden family and married Selena for real. He wouldn’t have broken off the engagement with me unless he was ready for that.

……All of her assumptions were wrong.

In reality, Kazhan had killed Bariteon and taken her by force.

Even though he knew their engagement was fake.

“How could you……”

“Give me time to explain, Ysaa. You can blame me afterward, and it won’t be too late.”

Kazhan interrupted Ysaris’s slowly rising anger. Still rational, she clenched her lips and glared at him coldly, as if telling him to go ahead and speak.

Under her piercing gaze, Kazhan ran a hand through his hair. Unsure of where to begin, he glanced up at the ceiling before slowly opening his mouth.

“After graduating from the academy, I became your knight. And we fell in love. At the time, the low-ranking title I was using as a disguise made it impossible for me to dream of marrying you, a princess. So, I left Pyrein to make that dream come true. I promised to return as emperor and make you my empress.”

Kazhan skipped the minor details and stuck to the broad strokes.

He explained how he had staged a rebellion in Uzephia to become emperor, fought several wars out of necessity, and tried to keep tabs on Ysaris during that time. However, he had been misled by false reports from informants who didn’t want his attention divided. All of this was condensed into just a few sentences.

“……By the time I finally returned to Pyrein after all those twists and turns, you were already engaged to Bariteon Kelloden. You even acted as if you had forgotten me. From my perspective, it felt like betrayal.”

“You’re saying I acted like I forgot you, even though I had promised you a future?”

“Yes. Whether you believe it or not, this is the absolute truth. At the time, I thought your engagement was real, and I swore on my name as emperor.”

Kazhan didn’t mention the oath. Ultimately, Ysaris’s inability to recognize him wasn’t due to the oath, and revealing that she had wagered her memories would only raise more questions in her current state.

So, in the end, why Ysaris hadn’t recognized him remained a mystery, lost to her incomplete memories. He had tried to investigate, but digging into the past yielded no results, no matter how many times he attempted.

“……But that doesn’t justify killing Bariteon. He was my childhood friend, and our engagement was a contractual arrangement for each other’s sake.”

Ysaris voiced her doubts but also presented a fair argument. If she had done something wrong, he should blame her. If there was a misunderstanding, they should have talked it out. She couldn’t understand why Bariteon, an innocent party, had to be sacrificed.

“Ysaa, you don’t understand, but……”

Kazhan couldn’t use the side effects of his abilities as an excuse. It would have been better to blame it on nightmares or his natural temperament, but directly revealing the flaws of Tennilath was forbidden.

That didn’t mean Kazhan had nothing to say. There were things Ysaris didn’t know, things only he was aware of.

“Bariteon Kelloden was in love with you. Even right before I left Pyrein.”

Kazhan recalled Bariteon’s face, which had always rubbed him the wrong way since their first meeting. He could never forget those eyes, pretending to smile politely while looking down on him.