Chapter 40
“What…… does that mean?”
The princess's voice trembled as she asked again. Of course it would. Who could easily accept that their mother, whom they'd believed had passed away after a long illness, had actually tried to kill them?
“What does it mean, exactly!!”
“……Heaven God Cult.”
Her movements froze for a moment at the unfamiliar term from the emperor's lips.
“That's their name.”
In the hesitation sparked by the ominous ring of the unfamiliar name, the emperor continued.
“The one who killed Helena…… was a Heaven God Cult executive.”
If asked for the emperor's happiest moment, he wouldn't hesitate to choose the day his daughter Astraia was born.
“Wah…… wahh……”
“Even your frown is adorable! Haha! Who'd she take after to be this pretty already?!”
The most precious being in the world, born to the woman he truly loved. Of course, the emperor already had an empress he'd married first and even had children with, but that relationship was purely political—he felt nothing beyond duty for her.
His children with the empress were just as dear, but as the saying goes, among ten fingers, one always hurts the most. To the emperor, Astraia was that especially sore finger.
He wanted his daughter to escape the stifling, tedious palace and live freely. In this place rife with betrayal and intrigue, he hoped her beautiful wings wouldn't wither unused. That's why he didn't want Astraia to become emperor.
He'd even made a secret pact with the empress: he wouldn't let Astraia succeed him if she refrained from targeting Astraia and her mother. His love for his daughter was that genuine.
Thanks to the agreement that one of the empress's children would be the next emperor, the empress left the imperial consort alone, and he thought they could live peacefully.
Until one day, his wife began acting strangely.
It started small. The imperial consort's nerves seemed sharper than before. At first, he chalked it up to temporary postpartum depression. Emotional instability after childbirth was common, so he showered her with kind words, gifts of flowers, and more.
But her symptoms worsened. It manifested as extreme jealousy—especially toward the daughter she'd borne, eyeing her with bizarre envy.
She'd cradle the child lovingly one moment, then turn cold upon seeing her receive affection from her husband, lavishing attention far less often.
This sparked arguments with the emperor; she'd swear it off, but her condition only intensified. Like a split personality, her erratic behavior escalated toward an extreme end.
“……Ah. ……Then, only you……!”
“Helena? What's wrong?”
Slipping away from work for a moment to play with his daughter, the emperor entered her chambers, assuming Helena was tending her from the sounds inside. But what he saw was Helena wearing a grotesque smile—impossible to tell if joy or sorrow—strangling her own child.
“What the—! Helena, stop!!”
The emperor rushed in, prying her off Astraia. Thankfully, the child gasped raggedly but seemed unharmed.
“Wh-what have I…… done!!”
As if snapping back to sanity from the shock, she stared at her trembling hands, eyes shaking wildly in confusion—clearly remembering her actions.
“D-dear! Are you okay?!”
“I-I'm fine— urk! No!!”
As the emperor frantically checked her, Helena clutched her head, muttering as if conversing with someone.
“Who's…… who's talking to me!! Make me jealous of Astraia, kill my child…… urk!! Damn bitch! That man is mine!! Only his love for me— kughaaah!!”
“Helena!!”
Anyone could see she wasn't right; through her hazy eyes, she gazed at her beloved husband and precious daughter.
“Leon…… At this rate, I'll kill my own daughter…… Someone's…… manipulating my emotions…… Making me jealous of Ria, forcing my hand to kill her!!”
“Helena, what are you saying!!”
“Then…… rather than that—!”
Thud—!
A fruit knife on the table for ripe fruit. Helena snatched it, rolling swiftly—
Puke!
“No!!”
The emperor set Astraia down and lunged, but she'd already stabbed deep into her heart, blood gushing.
“We can…… find a way!! Just hold on, we can cure this illness—”
“No, Leon…… This isn't some curse……”
In her fading consciousness, the imperial consort revealed the nature of the force tormenting her.
“Not illness or curse…… Something more fundamental…… manipulating my inner self. To protect Ria…… this is the best way……”
“Don't speak! Please! You can live—!!”
“Take care…… of Ria……”
With that, Helena breathed her last. Before the emperor could regain his senses from such a hollow end, laughter echoed in his ears.
“Hee hee hee……”
“Wh…… who?”
A man leaped from Helena's shadow at his call. Small enough to pass for a middle schooler, with dark circles shrouding his eyes, he giggled endlessly.
“I'm Jelros! Heaven God Cult executive! Nice to meet ya!”
“You…… you did this?”
“Yup!!”
The emperor was dumbfounded by Jelros's sunny affirmation.
“I amplified her jealousy! Ah, finding jealousy was tough? Most people don't live without it…… Hing. Personally, her killing her kid would've been hilarious…… but this ain't bad!”
Emotions, jealousy, amplification. All of Helena's symptoms traced back to this man's power.
“Why…… do something like this?”
“Hmm…… I hate happy people the most……”
“What……?”
“I saw her super happy by chance~ I'm miserable, so seeing that face…… makes me wanna kill, right?”
“……”
A madman. Beyond communication, comprehension, reason.
A madman.
“For such a petty reason—!”
“Hey hey~ This your most precious thing?”
“?!”
Jelros had sidled up to the wailing Astraia, poking her cheek.
“Get your hands off—!”
“Gotta be super precious~ Then crushing it'd make your despair…… so delicious~!”
“!!!”
Insane. Utterly mad. But his power to manipulate human emotions—the force that ruined one life—couldn't be ignored.
If he admitted Ria was precious here, after Helena…… would Ria die too? He'd probably force the emperor's hand for fun.
A madman twisting emotions for pleasure might make him kill Ria. Terror gripped the emperor.
“……No.”
“Huh?”
“That's…… not precious. Just the filthy thing that killed its mother.”
Blood trickled. Nails dug into clenched fists; eyes burst veins in rage, tears of blood flowing.
The agony of a father denying his daughter, forced to revile her. Sorrow and resentment overflowed his narrow chest as blood.
“Hmm~ I see.”
Glancing at the emperor, Jelros vanished into shadow as he'd come.
“Gotta watch more. See if it's precious or not~”
As if on cue, people arrived at Astraia's cries, horrified by the scene. But the emperor couldn't even embrace her.
“……So?”
The emperor finished, but the princess's eyes blazed undimmed.
“You protected me from that monster, so I should suck it up and understand? That the gist?”
“……No.”
Undaunted by her sharp glare, the emperor pressed on calmly.
“I know you'll resent me. It was all my choice, so I must bear it.”
Smooth—
The emperor of the empire bowed his head. His unyielding neck bent weakly before the daughter he'd ignored her whole life.
“But…… I wanted to tell you.”
“……”
“I'm sorry……”
Thud—!
Before he finished, she shot up, slamming her chair back. Tears welled, lips trembling, but words failed her.
“Eat shit!”
With that, she stormed out. As I pondered chasing her, the emperor—staring at her empty seat—addressed me.
“Thank you. For saving Ria. For keeping her from those heretics' clutches.”
“N-no, sire.”
“I invited you here for a reason. This room…… is the only place I could face Ria.”
Come to think of it…… I'd sensed something off in this secret room. Now I got it.
For a space the emperor made, it felt oddly rustic and quaint, stuffed with childish trinkets: flower crowns, ring flowers, clumsy drawings.
No jewels—just worn papers and knickknacks everywhere.
“Don't tell me…… these are the princess's things?”
“Yes. Collected in utmost secrecy. Gifts she meant for me, records of her growth.”
The emperor pulled a thick book from a small shelf, opening it before me. It brimmed with crayon scribbles—indecipherable kid art.
“Astraia drew this: me and her mother. She showed artistic talent even then.”
This?
People, huh. I'd thought squid rice and seafood noodles.
Smiling faintly, he showed me more daughter-made treasures. His usually stern face beaming genuine joy felt unfamiliar.
“Why tell me now?”
“……I've sensed recent events were their doing.”
Though they'd surfaced recently, the emperor—who'd clashed with them before at the border—had investigated ties secretly for years.
Elusive bunch, scant yields, but they all received special powers from someone called “That One.”
Each a grotesque, malevolent force to doom the continent. Jelros's emotion manipulation—driving Helena to death—was likely from That One too.
“And you're the hero who felled their members. Conflict with the Heaven God Cult is inevitable. But I see hope in you.”
He knelt before me.
“Y-Your Majesty!?”
“Name any price. Please…… kill Jelros, who murdered Helena……”
Bowed not as emperor, but father—yielding to unknown terror, ignoring his beloved daughter for over a decade. Pitifully wretched.