Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The Corpse in the Next Room
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What was that sound? Both it and the smell now assaulting her nostrils were deeply ominous. The scent that had been teasing her nose for a while was the fresh, metallic tang of blood from Daphne's childhood memories.
The moment Asherad stepped into the room, the glowstone flared to life.
“Aaaah!”
Daphne let out a truly wretched scream, struggling desperately to escape the arms of the man who held her. But Asherad had no intention of letting her go.
“It seems it took a while to die.”
Gazing at Fabian, bound to the chair with eyes bulging wide in death, Asherad smiled wickedly.
“Aaak, aaaak!”
For him to become Daphne's entire world, her world needed to be empty of everything else.
Daphne stared at Fabian's corpse. It was unmistakably him. She thrashed her whole body, trying to reach him, but Asherad wouldn't release her.
“Let go, let me go! Aaak! Let me go!”
She screamed like a madwoman. Fabian's body, drained of blood, was not just pale but ashen blue.
“No, no way!”
“He was alive not long ago.”
She wanted to at least tend to Fabian's body, but Asherad kept his grip on her. She pounded at his body roughly.
“Why, why! Why on earth!”
Daphne cried out in anguish. Asherad watched her impassively.
“I kept him alive as long as I could, Daphne. He bled out slowly and died.”
“Uh, heuk!”
Daphne looked at the monster holding her. In her wide-open eyes, she saw Asherad—no, the monster. The monster grinned. Tears fell from her eyes.
“Yeah, that's right. While you and I were rolling around together.”
“…….”
“This bastard was in the next room, dying. Not sure if he heard the noises we were making.”
Daphne tried to struggle again but was caught once more. All she could do was scream with the freedom of her voice.
Wretched screams, screams of agony—she kicked her legs.
“No, I hate it now!”
“…….”
“Stop it, please stop! Just kill me!”
Daphne shouted. Asherad observed her like it was amusing. Fabian, bound to the chair, bleeding out and dying.
Fabian had committed no sin.
He had only tried to save her, a woman in distress, out of love for someone fated to be born unlucky and live unluckily.
Her misfortune had devoured Fabian!
“Daphne.”
“Get away! Get lost!”
Poor Fabian! In that moment, Daphne screamed without hesitation at the man who had utterly ruined her life.
“Your Highness, I hate you! I hate you!”
Daphne screamed at Asherad. He looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“Do you have the right to hate me, Daphne?”
It was the same gentle tone as always. That made Daphne want to go even madder.
* * *
The place Daphne returned to was once again the musty maids' quarters. The lonely site of her wretched misfortune, where no one dared visit.
“Daphne.”
At Sara's voice, Daphne opened her eyes. She pushed herself up on the creaking bed. Sara handed her water. Daphne gulped it down. Her chapped, rough lips tasted metallic blood as she drank.
“Are you okay, Daphne?”
Hearing Sara's concerned words, Daphne didn't know what to say.
She now carried the weight of another's death. She would bear guilt for life. And she had lost a friend. Someone who pitied her and showed her love.
She had lost everything.
Because of her cursed life, her worthless existence, she had dragged an innocent person into it and gotten them killed.
Daphne knew Fabian would never leave her heart.
“Fabian. Fabian is dead.”
“…….”
“Someone died because of me.”
Without realizing it, Daphne confessed to Sara. Sara listened quietly.
“Someone died because of me.”
Daphne had no one she could trust. No one except Sara, who occasionally showed her kindness like this.
“This isn't the first time, is it?”
Sara's gentle voice was smooth like a snake's scales. As Daphne nodded, a deflating sound came.
Daphne thought it was a sigh.
“It's okay, Daphne.”
“…….”
“It's not your fault. Poor Daphne.”
Sara hugged her and stroked her hair. As she patted her back, Daphne lifted her head weakly.
What should she do now? What would become of her? Daphne panted for a long while. She couldn't see even an inch ahead.
After crying for a long time, Daphne realized she had not only Asherad but other troubles. The Emperor. The Emperor was after her.
Suppressing the urge to bite her tongue and die right then, she said,
“How is His Majesty? He didn't say anything?”
If the Emperor knew she had tried to run away, he wouldn't let her off. Hadn't he even seen her as a mother figure?
She had been caught by Asherad. And slept with him. The Emperor might know she had slept with Asherad.
Seeing her paling face, Sara spoke calmly.
“Daphne.”
“…….”
“His Imperial Majesty fell from his horse during the festival ritual rehearsal. He still hasn't woken.”
Daphne's eyes widened. The Emperor had collapsed?
“The Empress and Crown Prince are attending to state affairs.”
Her world, which she thought was always steadfast, was shifting for some reason. Asherad, who had always been quiet, was finally making his move.
* * *
The Emperor, who had fallen from his horse, regained consciousness but still frequently lost it. The young Empress mourned him and took charge of his care.
She personally checked every medicine he took or applied, every utensil, every morsel of food. Those who knew the arrogant Calista thought the Empress had finally matured.
Others said she was working so hard because she would surely be ousted once the Crown Prince ascended. It was obvious.
The reason the Emperor had married the young Calista was to check the Crown Prince.
By age, it would have been natural for Calista to marry Asherad, yet the Crown Prince of a nation was left unmarried without reliable in-laws or a wife, while the Emperor remarried.
In any case, to those visiting the Emperor's bedside, Calista looked pitiful. The Empress, who always glared sharply to crush people, was gone, replaced by a woman fretting over losing her husband—a sight that garnered sympathy.
“It's so sad for Her Imperial Majesty.”
“It's been less than a year since she came here…….”
The nobles clicked their tongues at Calista and left. Calista wiped the sweat from the recumbent Emperor with a clean cloth.
The scene looked quite devoted, but once people were gone, Calista clenched the cloth and burst into laughter.
“Ha, haha! Hahaha!”
She threw the cloth onto the sleeping Emperor's face.
“What a ridiculous old man. Disgusting. Won't even die.”
Calista looked down at the Emperor's face. His fallen face was dark red. He barely drew breath. What she had realized in this country was that Asherad had been right about everything.
She had no allies of her own, no power to escape her fate. Her homeland Thalassa had abandoned her. There was no way back.
Calista had cursed her fate and wept bitterly, but humans grow, don't they? She took Asherad's hand.
“Darling, die quickly.”
Calista smiled beautifully, like a poisonous flower.
“Your Majesty. Crown Prince Highness has arrived.”
Calista rose from her seat. She checked her hair in the mirror on the side table.
Stray strands annoyed her; she quickly tucked them away. Her eyes sparkled with excitement she hadn't shown even for her husband. She inspected her face and took a deep breath.
It was too thrilled a face for a mother seeing her 'son.'
“Let him in.”
The door opened, and Asherad entered. Calista felt her breath catch. Dressed in red and gold splendor for the festival procession, Asherad looked like the Sun God incarnate. He was that beautiful, that alluring.
“How is Father?”
“Who knows.”
At her coquettish tone, Asherad smiled even more deeply.
Calista had learned that not everything went as she wanted. That things didn't roll along in ideal forms.
She had also learned that the thrill of seizing something through effort was immense.
It was a very dangerous path for her, but...
She coveted the ecstatic man before her. What must she do to claim this man?
Asherad was truly a captivating man.