Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Translation: godsn
Prologue.
A night of drizzling rain.
The Emperor stepped into the prison thick with damp humidity.
Medeia, who had been gazing at the black sky through the narrow, handspan-wide window, turned around.
Her gaunt body, like bare branches, was visible beneath her tattered dress.
Her pallid complexion, sunken eyes—she looked like a corpse barely clinging to life.
The Emperor frowned. After all, she had been his companion for half his life.
To think the woman who had remained composed even during perilous expeditions had been reduced to such a wretched state.
"Iason."
Her hollow voice echoed. The knight behind the Emperor bristled.
"How dare a criminal address His Majesty by name—!"
"Let it be. Am I so lacking in mercy that I cannot grant her this much before death?"
Medeia turned her dazed eyes as if she hadn't heard their exchange.
"I gave you everything I had."
She looked at the Emperor.
"Princess Valdina, please call me Iason."
The affectionate greeting still lingered vividly in her mind.
He had been the man Medeia loved all her life.
She had thought she would give everything to have him—and she had.
She stole the nation's treasures and offered them to him.
She sacrificed her youth to behead the Evil Dragon.
She gave her homeland's soldiers to place him on the throne.
Yet all she received in return was bitter betrayal.
Her brother died, and her homeland fell.
Her husband married another woman.
"You abandoned me and took the Saintess as your Empress."
She had heard the news of her husband's remarriage while cradling the swell of her second child.
"It was all because of the Oracle. That's why I made your son Rian the Crown Prince in compensation."
And then Rian died.
Just half a year after she had sent him alone to the Imperial Palace, hoping at least her child would be recognized as legitimate.
"That was when I knew. That Lea and I would be next."
They say hunting dogs are boiled alive once the hunt is over.
She realized that truth far too late.
"Another Oracle came, did it not? A revelation that you and your daughter would bring ruin to this nation!"
The Emperor instead reproached her.
"Medeia. Out of past affection, I showed you mercy—letting you die peacefully instead of burning you at the stake as the Oracle decreed. Yet all you have left is resentment."
The shamelessness of a man who drove her to death and expected gratitude no longer surprised her.
"Whether it was the Oracle or any other reason, it doesn't matter."
Medeia spat out the words.
"Your Majesty always stood one step behind, watching. When I stole the national treasures, when I beheaded the Evil Dragon to overthrow the Late Emperor, when our child died—never once was it your fault."
The man who had once smiled warmly, his laughter bright, was gone.
Only a vile man remained—one blinded by ambition, who had betrayed her and cast her into the mud.
"End it quickly. I have no desire to see this wretched farce any longer."
She raised her chin defiantly. The knight uncorked the vial at his waist.
'Lea will survive. That's truly a relief.'
Three days prior, Medeia had secretly arranged for her young daughter to escape, entrusting her to a cousin she had been particularly close with, evading the Emperor's eyes.
She had sold all her remaining wealth, converting it into jewels for her. At least until Lea came of age, she would be provided for.
Though Medeia herself had been captured here after exhausting all her funds and connections to secure the escape route, she had no regrets.
"...What happened to the children is regrettable. But at least you won't be lonely, since you have them. How fortunate."
The children?
Medeia's face froze over in an instant.
It was like a mother's instinct sensing danger to her child.
"Lea... Lea couldn't possibly—"
Then, a cascade of pink hair fluttered behind the knights. Medeia turned to stone.
"I'm sorry, Medeia."
"Virna, why are you here...?!"
Her cousin, who should have been crossing the border by now—why was she here?
Medeia's body began to tremble in shock.
"I couldn't betray His Majesty. I'm sorry, Medeia. But this isn't right. It shouldn't be this way."
Virna leaned delicately against the Emperor's shoulder. Her pale hand slid slowly down his arm.
Thud.
As Medeia staggered and collapsed, Virna held out a small bundle.
It was the pouch she had fastened to her chest while prying Lea away—the pouch embroidered with tiny flowers, now soaked dark crimson with blood.
"Aaaaah!"
Unable to even grasp the bloodied pouch, her fingers trembling uncontrollably, Medeia let out a piercing scream.
"Lea, my little Lea!"
How terrified she must have been. How she must have resented her mother.
"The children will understand Our will."
The Emperor's expression was so cold and ruthless, he bore no resemblance to a father who had lost his child.
"Iason, you monster worse than a beast!"
Her eyes burning with hatred glared at the Emperor.
"Even beasts! Even beasts don't harm their own young!"
The clanking of armor soon obscured her vision.
"How dare you utter such treason before His Majesty—! Silence the criminal's mouth! Your Majesty, please proceed."
The Emperor smiled gently at the wife who had endured hardships and adversities with him throughout their lives, offering his final farewell.
"Medeia, go in peace. We shall deeply remember your contributions."
Turning away, he didn't forget to leave one last affectionate word for Virna.
"The air grows cold, so do not linger too long, Lady Claudio."
"How kind of Your Majesty to show such concern. This maiden is simply overwhelmed with gratitude."
As Iason departed, Virna's sweet smile vanished. A cold sneer settled on her face as she looked down at Medeia.
"How does it feel, Medeia, to have given everything only for this?"
"What?"
"Ahaha! Acting all high and mighty as a princess—look at you now. Valdina has fallen, your brother was torn to shreds by Magic Beasts. All because of one stupid wretch like you!"
Medeia couldn't comprehend it.
Virna was her cousin—her own family. Why was she saying such things? Why did she look so pleased?
Why did she betray me? Why did she hand over my child?
"No, no, I shouldn't blame you. It's thanks to you that we could come this far."
Why would she...?
"Valdina's loyalists and your brother weren't easy to deal with. If not for your stupidity, we would have failed."
"We...?"
Medeia, gasping for breath, slowly turned her head.
At last, her eyes darkened with realization.
"...It was your family who incited me to steal the Sage's Eye for Iason, wasn't it? It started from that moment?"
"Wrong. Much, much earlier than that. You never even suspected, poor Dea."
Virna, thoroughly delighted, burst into shrill laughter.
"Your entire life, everything about you, was in the palm of my family's hand."
"......"
"Thanks to you, my father will become King of Valdina, and I shall be this Empire's Imperial Consort."
How desperately she wanted to scream at that pale face—that you were nothing but a puppet from the very beginning.
"......"
Her past flashed before her eyes like a panorama.
And she understood.
The rebellion. The ruin. The deaths.
Her uncle's family had been behind every tragedy that befell Medeia.
"Iason knew too. He has been with us for a long time."
"......"
"You were just a chess piece in our game. Do you understand now?"
Her emerald eyes sank into darkness.
A silent, agonized moan escaped between her tightly clenched lips.
"...Iason."
Instead of vomiting blood over the betrayal of the one she loved, Medeia held onto his name.
So she would never forget.
All the lies he had spoken, and all the sacrifices she had made.
A single drop of blood-red tears trailed down Medeia's cheek.
A shiver ran down the knights' spines as they stiffened.
But Virna couldn't hide her glee at the sight of her cousin writhing in agony.
"Don't grieve too much. Soon, you'll be reunited with your beloved family. Isn't that a joyous thought?"
"Virna, you too."
Her parched lips slowly curled upwards. Crimson pupils locked onto Virna.
"I will not forget. You, your family—all of Claudio. I will never forget any of you."
The venom beneath her blood-streaked gaze made Virna flinch and step back at last.
"W-what...?"
But then her anger flared.
What was there to fear from a useless puppet now?
"What are you doing? Pour it down her throat already!"
She snapped at the knights impatiently.
A knight gripping a black vial roughly seized Medeia's jaw.
"Hold her! Don't let her move!"
The knights pinned down her thrashing limbs with brute force, then poured the poison from the vial down her throat without restraint.
The poison splattered everywhere. Black droplets mixed with red blood, streaming grotesquely down her pale skin.
Until the moment her eyes closed, Medeia repeated her vow.
The sin of my foolishness—for failing to recognize beasts—I shall repay with death.
But your original sin—
Even if it takes countless lifetimes, I will return to demand retribution.
Even if I am reborn as the lowliest creature, even if I must wait through eternity.
Neither those who follow fate, nor those beloved by gods, shall escape me.
Until your blood illuminates my path in bright crimson—
I shall never stop.