Chapter 192
Chapter 192
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: The Empress's Fantasy of Rest
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The Empress watched as Max gripped her breast tightly.
The man's eyes blazed hotly with his arrogant declaration that he would steal her throne.
She found herself trapped in that gaze, unable to shake it off easily.
Max's eyes clung to hers like sticky tar.
The sensation of his hand on her breast.
His fingers stimulating her senses, his hot breath against her skin.
All of it was utterly foreign to her.
How many people had ever approached the Empress, who lorded over everyone, as just another "person"?
Not a single one.
Even her family—the Emperor who was her father and the brother who was her kin—had never shared a truly human relationship with her.
They hadn't been able to.
-It is a lonely seat, that of the Emperor. If you wish to rule the Empire one day, do not cling to human affections.
That had been the late Emperor's lesson.
For her, this human approach was the very first.
The Empress bit her lip as her eyes met Max's piercing stare.
It was embarrassing.
She had never experienced a gaze so blatantly burning before.
And in that moment.
"Hnng!"
Max's lips covered hers.
A sudden kiss.
In response to this man's act of clutching her breast and ravaging her lips, the Empress reached out to resist.
But her slender hands, stripped of the imperial power, could not overcome the man's brute strength.
As she flailed, trying to fend off his touch.
"Haaah!?"
Her eyes widened at the sensation of his hot tongue prying her lips open and invading.
What the hell is this situation?
A kiss.
The natural physical intimacy between lovers before they consummate their bond, confirming their love as their bodies entwine.
Yet the man trying to usurp her throne was now engaging in physical intimacy with her.
'What should I do?'
She knew better than anyone how an Emperor should rule the Empire.
She possessed encyclopedic knowledge on how to execute rebels who raised arms against her.
How to govern the peasants, how to pressure the nobles, how to bolster national power with magic, and so on.
She knew better than anyone how to rule the Empire and dominate its subjects.
But for the Empress, who was experiencing human relationships for the first time, this situation was incomprehensible even to her brilliant mind.
A rebel. A usurper.
A man leading ignorant peasants to steal her seat.
If this man had simply tried to behead her, she wouldn't have been this flustered.
If he had seized the throne and sat upon it, she might have even resigned herself to it.
But she couldn't understand this man's actions—climbing up to her level, stripping her clothes, and now toying with her breasts.
'Unnecessary actions.'
If he meant to topple her, to depose her, the quickest way was to hurl her down those 12 Steps below.
But this man.
"Mmph! Hnngh!"
He ravaged her lips and defiled her breasts.
As if that was the best way to bring her down.
"St-stop... Cease this!"
The Empress forcibly shoved away Max's suffocating body.
But the usurper showed no mercy.
"Have you ever stopped at the pleas of others begging you to?"
"......"
Max stared at her and asked.
Had there ever been such a time?
-Your Majesty! Forgive us just once!
-I did not do it! This humble subject is innocent!
She had shown no mercy to the nobles who cried out their innocence.
Because she had seen it in their eyes.
Their guilt.
An Emperor does not doubt her decisions.
Even if she later realizes a choice was wrong, she does not regret it.
An Emperor must always charge forward for the Empire—there is no time to look back and rue the past.
"Is there any reason for me to heed the words of someone who is no longer Empress?"
Max stared at her and asked.
The Empress met his gaze.
Eyes burning fiercely.
Eyes harboring not a shred of doubt or regret, mirroring her own from moments ago.
It infuriated her.
The powerlessness of this situation, where she could wield no strength in this illusion.
Her own position, rendered speechless by this man's sophistry.
"You are committing an act you will regret."
"Regret? Me?"
"Yes. This is all an illusion, after all. Once I escape this fantasy, you who dared insult me shall..."
Slap!
"Kyaa!"
Her cheek burned, her face whipping to the side.
Max's palm had struck her cheek.
A stinging pain radiated from it.
"You're talking nonsense. This is an illusion? You want to flee the reality you've created?"
"...What?"
"They say an Emperor's eyes can pierce truth. Look at me with those eyes. Look at them. See if there's a single fake among them."
"You dare command..."
Max cut her off, grabbing her head and forcing her to face the grand hall.
The masses glaring at the Empress with faces full of rage.
Her golden eyes, which pierced truth, could find no falsehood or illusion in their forms.
"H-how...?"
The traces of illusion that should have been obvious in a fantasy were nowhere to be seen.
She had clearly gone to an illusion mage and asked to be shown an illusion.
Just for a brief respite...
But why...?
Gritting her teeth, the Empress looked back at Max with eyes full of disbelief.
"Now do you understand? Your predicament?"
"N-no. That can't..."
"Don't worry. I won't kill you. I'm just making a place where you can rest easy."
"What?"
"If you lose the throne and step down from this seat, you can finally have that rest you've always wanted."
Rest that I wanted?
"It means you won't be crushed under those burdensome duties anymore."
The Empress gazed at him, mesmerized, as if reading her expression.
"It must have been painful. The resentment-laced words of so many weighing on you. A monarch's seat is a lonely one."
Max said as he stroked her face.
"Not everyone will cheer an Emperor's choices. Choosing one thing means losing another. Bearing the full fallout on the Empire—that's the monarch's burden."
A warm power spread from his hand, gently caressing the cheek he had just slapped raw.
It felt like her confused heart was melting under that warmth.
"So accept me. Accept me as the one who will shoulder your duties in your place. And yield the throne. Then..."
Max's face drew close to her ear.
"You can have that eternal rest you've longed for."
His voice echoed in her ear like the whisper of a devil.
She knew she shouldn't listen.
Yet the Empress looked at Max's face and body meeting hers.
His solid build and handsome features drew her gaze.
For the first time, the Empress took the time to closely examine a man's body.
She had seen countless men's bodies in her life as Empress, but never this close.
Of course not.
Until now, they had always been mere "subjects" beneath her.
But this man, Max, standing now on equal ground—this was the first man to stand level with her.
That was why she began to see him not as a "subject" or "imperial citizen," but as a single "man."
And once she realized that, her perception of this man shifted subtly.
They say that even the same scene leaves a lingering afterimage once perceived differently, not easily fading.
And when Max, now subtly altered in her eyes, began suckling her breast.
"Hnngh!"
The Empress let out a moan she couldn't hold back.
"Starting to admit it now, are we? Your Majesty."
"...D-don't."
She tried to push Max away forcibly, but the moment her hand touched his firm chest.
"Haa, haa."
Her instincts as a woman began to awaken bit by bit.
Of course, separately from that.
"Showing it to the masses, right? How the soon-to-be-deposed Empress feels."
The usurper Max sneered at her.
Each word he spat stabbed her heart like a dagger.
That tightening, pounding sensation.
Thump, thump.
The Empress seemed to misunderstand it in a slightly different way.
The magic circle activated, and the Empress's fantasy began.
[Analyzing the Empress's desires.]
The magic circle analyzed her desires.
It rapidly computed in an instant what desires and illusions to show her.
[Empress's Desire – Rest]
[Recommended rests for the Emperor who wants to relax: 2 options.]
[Rest beginning at a resort.]
[Recommended position: Hold her and thrust from behind so she can overlook Perden Lake – Sex while admiring the panoramic view of Perden Lake will trigger a dopamine explosion, an unforgettable sensation.]
[Sex around a lake where no one comes is also recommended. Watching passing couples secretly while doing it in the bushes offers thrilling excitement.]
Perden Lake.
It was a tourist spot called the most beautiful lake in the Empire.
The lake sparkled in rainbow hues, and the ecstatic cries of birds there were said to enchant the ears of all who visited.
Legend had it that a saint once felt divine grace there.
Not bad.
She hadn't even seen the second proposal yet, but I was already set on this one.
'Sex on the villa balcony would offer the thrill of outdoor exposure too.'
Better than a plain massage at a resort—something more stimulating.
I was about to choose it when.
[Rest forcibly obtained due to the Empire's downfall.]
The second option appeared.
[Empire collapsed by peasant rebellion. The lone, isolated Emperor there gets ravaged by enraged peasants and the usurper. Rest obtained through loss of power.]
[It will provide pleasures on a whole different level from a mere tourist spot.]
[The Emperor's authority defiled before the rebel peasants. When she realizes it's all for naught, she will abandon her attachment to her title and reach true rest.]
Hold on.
The Empire's downfall?
Usurper?
Was this a joke?
Recommending this seriously?
The magic circle?
I stared at the magic circle in shock.
My face must have screamed, "Is this for real?"
'This won't do.'
No matter how much I prioritize the customer's pleasure and spare no means to achieve it, this crossed the line.
Showing the Emperor a fantasy of her Empire's destruction?
How could that even work?
Absolutely not.
'Going with option 1.'
I selected option 1.
Or tried to.
[Selecting the method the Empress prefers more.]
"What?"
The magic circle insisted on choosing the fantasy itself.
This had never happened before.
'The Empress prefers this...?'
No way.
The Empress I'd seen was more satisfied with her position than anyone.
She suited the throne better than anyone.
I tried to dissuade the magic circle, but.
[Starting the fantasy.]
It started on its own.
"Stop. This won't do. You've crossed the line."
I tried to manipulate the magic circle to halt the fantasy, but.
[Impossible.]
[Once started, the magic circle cannot be altered.]
This magic circle had chosen the fantasy on its own and proceeded.
The forced termination code was gone.
The magic circle had evolved itself.
I was shocked once at the fact that this was possible.
'And I can't control it...'
Shocked twice at how intricately woven it was, beyond my immediate ability to fix.
This was the first time the magic circle had gone rogue.
What do I do?
If I had time, I could unravel the forcibly activated fantasy.
But I looked around.
At the peasants filling the space around me.
At the Empress seated on the throne, staring at them in shock.
[Proceed with the fantasy.]
[Otherwise, it will proceed forcibly.]
It had progressed too far to turn back.
'Damn it, you cursed magic circle.'
My head spun.
Dizziness nearly made me black out.
The magic circle had committed treason on its own.
I had become its accomplice.
With things this far gone, there was no choice.
'Satisfy the Empress.'
Somehow satisfy her...
And erase the rebel title.
That was my mission now.
-Satisfy the Empress to avoid becoming morning dew on the execution ground.
A quest window seemed to pop up before my eyes.
I had raised a tiger cub.
Damn it.
No longer the fantasy manager but an actor within it, I schooled my expression and stepped forward.
"You look flustered."