Chapter 194
Chapter 194
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 193. Lion Queen (3)
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It was clearly a brightly lit passage in the arena just moments ago.
However, with Rozanna's appearance, every single lantern went out.
"Since you keep meddling in Leon's affairs...."
On top of that, her approach was so swift that even I hadn't sensed her presence.
It fully explained why she was called a witch.
"I thought it was someone else at first."
The First Imperial Consort, with her lustrous and abundant golden hair.
She approached me in a silk dress with a plunging neckline.
Accompanied by the clicking sound of her high heels.
"Even the subordinates who spotted you until now just thought you were a mere pillow husband."
She drew close enough that our shoes nearly touched.
Then, the curves of her ample bosom pressed against me.
"But unlike your appearance, you have quite the ambition, don't you?"
"Ambition...."
I stared straight down at Rozanna.
I was quite taken aback by the Consort's appearance, which looked far younger than expected.
I'd missed it from afar, but up close like this, it really hit home.
"Even the renowned First Imperial Consort makes mistakes sometimes."
Her skin was soft, retaining the vitality of her twenties.
It was hard to believe she was in her early forties; she radiated such fresh youth.
"You're saying I got it wrong?"
However, this could also be something obtained through some sorcery.
Especially her blue eyes.
They resembled Leia's, yet for some reason, they felt eerie.
As if a crystal ball forcing truth had been plucked out and embedded there.
Meeting those eyes, I answered honestly.
"Yes, I have no such ambition whatsoever."
I held her gaze steadily without flinching.
Rozanna fell silent for a moment, as if I were the first man to look down at her so boldly.
"I don't want to seize this empire, nor do I want to destroy it like someone else."
Rozanna smirked at my words.
Then, she raised her fan to cover the mole beneath her lips.
"That last part sounds like something aimed at me."
The First Imperial Consort smiled with her eyes upon hearing my provocation, as if intrigued.
"Fine, then what is your true purpose?"
The life faded from Rozanna's blue eyes as she asked.
Intent on pressing me without pause, even the distant light at the arena exit began to rot away.
Her shadow was devouring the final rays.
"My purpose...."
In that darkness, I thought only of answering the Consort's question.
"At first, I thought that as long as the empire was safe, I could live out my old age in peace."
Old age.
Rozanna furrowed her brow at the wholesome word.
"Old age...?"
Her expression resembled Leia's from the inauguration, when she'd been flustered by my refusal of her touch.
"Yes, but now it's different."
I answered with resolve.
Then, I stepped forward boldly until our chests nearly touched.
"I've found a greater reason to protect the empire's peace."
Her mole beneath her lips caught my eye.
Gazing at it, I replied flatly.
"I've come to have people I love."
At my honest answer, Rozanna's crystal-clear eyes flickered.
"My goal is to protect the people in this empire who love me."
Protect the people I love.
Within this empire.
"...."
Rozanna froze like a doll at my words.
Her utter stillness felt somehow chilling.
"Surprising."
The witch's eyes gleamed with a feral blue glint, as if she'd discovered a new spell.
"What's surprising?"
"Your purpose and conviction are exactly what Leonhardt told me in his youth."
Rozanna folded her fan with a flick of her wrist.
Then, she smiled wistfully, like in her late teens when she first met the Emperor.
"The empire's peace and the woman he loved. He always said he wanted to protect both."
The First Imperial Consort clasped her hands behind her back lightly.
This accentuated her sensual figure even more.
"I can see why Leia fell for you."
Rozanna's gaze pierced my face.
"Vale, you look just like Leonhardt."
In the past.
Both Lydia and Leia had said I resembled the Emperor.
"Even though Leonhardt is a wreck now, he was once so handsome and beautiful."
She closed her eyes gently, reminiscing about her husband from his youth.
"Like a noble beast."
However, the moment she opened them again.
"But now he's rotting away, feeble throughout."
Rozanna greeted me with a savage smile.
"Of course, he brought it all on himself."
She casually praised the Emperor she'd personally ruined.
Her demeanor was bizarre and spine-chilling.
"He broke the promise he made to me, the woman he once loved."
Rozanna placed a hand on her noble bosom.
Then, she smiled gracefully.
"Leonhardt promised to keep my homeland, Epina, as a puppet state in exchange for marrying me."
I knew.
From the secret letters I'd seen at Irina's villa and the various evidence uncovered since.
"But the moment he had me, he attacked Epina. My homeland, which had let its guard down through our marriage alliance."
Rozanna's eyes grew wistful for some reason.
Right now, she seemed unconcerned with masking her expression.
"In the end, even the whispers of love to me were all lies. He changed the instant he got me."
A lonely voice, like that of a tragic woman.
A subtle quiver, hard to tell if genuine, mixed in.
"Compared to me, this empire—Leonhardt's dream—is far too peaceful."
As if echoing her heart, the arena entrance I'd walked through was now completely shrouded in darkness.
Only her sparkling blue eyes were visible in the gloom.
"Peaceful to the point of maddening resentment...."
Was it because the light was gone?
Somehow, the air around us felt colder.
"The Emperor took everything from me. My homeland, my family, my true love that trusted him."
The passage floor felt strangely sticky beneath my feet.
As if I'd entered a swamp.
"So, I'll take his dream—this empire—from him too. Mikhail."
I'd faced countless villains before.
But the woman before me now, First Imperial Consort Rozanna.
"Have you heard the Emperor's side...?"
Her grudge, nurtured over years of plotting revenge, was immense beyond measure.
"There might be reasons he had no choice."
I asked, trying somehow to stop her.
Rozanna shook her head firmly.
"I'm a woman of reason over emotion, Mikhail."
She folded her fan.
Then dropped it indifferently to the floor and said.
"I begged him, half-mad, for answers, but all I got was 'I had no choice.'"
I had no choice.
The excuse criminals always overuse.
But without knowing the full story between them, I was powerless.
Sensing my thoughts, Rozanna demanded boldly.
"You understand, right? So stop interfering with my great undertaking."
The sticky shadow, like sinking into a swamp, climbed my legs.
Like a snake constricting its prey.
"You're a massive threat to me right now."
The shadow tightened around my chest as if to crush it.
It resembled the claws of a pride leader trampling a foe.
"Urgh...!!"
A bizarre power I'd never encountered before.
Clearly shadow manipulated by mana, yet utterly alien and grotesque.
"Painful, isn't it?"
Rozanna approached me, bound as I was.
She leaned her elbow on a shadow risen like a desk and bent at the waist.
"Don't worry, I don't plan to kill you right now."
Bending forward highlighted the lines of her sensual body.
From her beautifully arched hips to her full bosom curving downward.
Through the thin fabric of her dress, she flaunted a goddess-like noble figure.
"That charm currently bewitching my daughter. I'll acknowledge that much."
Rozanna tickled my chin softly.
As if taming a pet.
"So, I'll give you a choice."
Threatening people like this seemed second nature to the Consort; she toyed with my disheveled hair.
"Convince that child Leia and come into my fold together."
She brushed my stray forelock behind my ear.
Each time, the plump flesh of her bosom appeared right before my nose.
"Then, after Leonhardt dies, I'll guarantee the perfect old age you desire."
"After you've destroyed everything the Emperor built?"
Wealth and honor gained from the empire's fall.
The contradictory reward left me exasperated.
"What use is an old age won after the people and world I knew are all destroyed?"
As I retorted point by point, Rozanna's sly smile faded.
True to her cold Consort nature, she glared at me icily.
"I didn't give you the right to argue."
She shoved my face away and sat upon the throne of shadow.
"The only words you can say are yes or no. Nothing more."
She crossed her pale thighs.
Swinging one shoe idly, she awaited only my answer.
"So choose quickly. Before your body crushes."
Indeed.
The shadow constricting my body grew tighter by the moment.
Enough to have knocked out any ordinary person already.
"As expected, as ruthless as they say."
I stared at Rozanna expressionlessly.
"I can see why Leia had such a difficult childhood."
The First Imperial Princess fleeing her mother.
The Emperor pretending indifference for fairness, and the revenge-driven Consort—it had been grueling for her.
Thinking of her, the bright power within my chest stirred.
"For her sake, at least, I've made my decision."
A white light blazed brightly around me.
The shadows binding my body began to dissipate.
"I'll stop you thoroughly."
Rozanna's eyes were dyed in the bright light.
Yet she didn't blink once.
"That power...."
She stared blankly at the intense radiance she hadn't seen in ages.
The aura she'd forgotten, from decades ago before ceasing meetings with the Emperor.
"Rozanna Andalusia, I'll give you a choice."
I extended my palm.
Then, channeling the aura flame soothed by Leia and the other princesses, I said.
"Stop your revenge here. Or I'll banish you from this empire forever."
"...."
Rozanna was stunned that I dared present her with an ultimatum.
Then, with the queen's signature feral blankness, she countered.
"Guess talking is pointless now."
When emotions ran high, using informal speech instinctively—just like Leia.
"Negotiations failed."
The darkness retreating from my white aura writhed all at once.
As if alive.
――――――!!
Next, shadows sharp as blades.
With a casual wave of her hand, they flew at me en masse.
"...!!"
In retaliation, I drew Irina's treasured sword from my waist.
I infused aura into the blade.
"Hup...!!"
The shadow blades surged with insane speed.
Reaction alone couldn't block them all, so I read every trajectory.
Then, I began deflecting them one by one.
"Even your swordsmanship resembles his."
Rozanna watched alone, arms crossed, impassively.
Soon, she furrowed her brow.
"Annoyingly so."
I'd blocked every attack skillfully.
But the endless barrage of shadow blades persisted.
My breathing gradually grew ragged.
"How long can you hold out? Let's see."
Noticing, the First Imperial Consort rose.
Like an orchestra conductor, she elegantly extended her hand to control the blades.
――――――!!
"Your breath will shorten bit by bit."
Like a group hunting a fox, the pressure intensified.
As if to see the end, she raised both hands skyward.
As if aiming for the final blow.
"When you're exhausted and surrounded, that's when you're caught."
Countless swords, blades, spears, polearms hung in the air.
All aimed at my neck.
"Pleasure meeting you."
She slashed her raised hand down viciously.
"You, who resemble my nemesis."
Then, the shadow weapons rained down like a torrent.
In response, I raised my greatsword overhead.
The moment I focused my mind for a mana shield.
「Vale.」
――――――.
A white barrier enveloped me.
A beautiful mana shield blending my grand aura and Rozanna's sorcery.
Kwaaang―!!
The shadow blades embedding in the sturdy barrier melted away like snow.
Then, a beautiful hand entered the dark world....
「Hard to see, so I came looking. Trouble as expected.」
It tore through the curtain, revealing a person.
A beautiful, young woman identical to Rozanna.
"Leia...?"
Rozanna tilted her head at her daughter striding boldly through her spell.
「Mother. As always, when I'm out of sight, you're plotting something sinister.」
She wore a form-fitting white uniform.
She approached slowly to stand beside me, facing the Consort together.
"So that's how close you two are."
Rozanna stared intently at her daughter and me.
Then, realization dawned.
The white aura infused in her recent spell.
How they shared it now, standing close.
"To think she's already received that much power in her body."
A woman with strong mana could receive a strong man's power like a vessel.
Knowing the principle well, Rozanna furrowed her brows.
"Could it be you've already consummated before marriage...?"
Leia flinched briefly but quickly composed herself like a cool sovereign.
Then answered flatly.
「No. 'Not yet.'」
Not yet.
At that word, Rozanna and I both paused.
"Not even consummated yet, and already this strong...."
Leia had always been weaker in mana than her.
Yet now able to invade her spell.
At her daughter bearing a man's aura, Rozanna's thick brows twitched.
「This time you've gone too far, Mother.」
The mother and daughter approached each other, staring.
Close enough for their bosoms to touch.
"You've grown so much, Leia."