Chapter 145
Chapter 145
Translation: godsn
"The effects are taking a bit longer than expected."
He glanced at the teacup on the table.
Kensington couldn't believe it.
Cough— Even as blood trickled from the corner of her lips and the excruciating pain from her heart spread throughout her body, she still couldn't bring herself to accept it.
She had thought that showing her Iason's punishment earlier was merely the Emperor's warning.
That something even more wretched awaited her—she had never imagined...
"Your Majesty! I—I am your hand, your eyes! How—how could you do this to me—kghh...!"
Overwhelmed by the injustice of her loyalty being betrayed, Kensington reached out.
She had spent her entire life building an intelligence network that spanned the continent, staining her hands with countless blood. She had forsaken all glory under the shadows, willingly becoming the dirty cleaner.
All for Perdiccas II—her master.
Even if jealousy and ambition were misplaced in serving such a master, she believed that, as a subject, she must embrace them all the more.
She had trusted that the bond forged over the long years since his days as a prince still held a place in the Emperor's heart.
Just as she had deliberately turned away from the hand extended by Princess Valdina, she believed that the unbreakable bond between sovereign and subject still lingered within him.
She never thought she would be betrayed so utterly.
"That was your delusion. You are nothing more than a replaceable part—something to be discarded the moment your usefulness runs out. How much longer must I endure your arrogance in presuming yourself to be part of my body?"
The Emperor kicked away Kensington's hand.
"The Red Fox grew this powerful only because I allowed it. So it is mine—not yours!"
"N-No, Your—Majesty—!"
"Kensington, what did you do? You used it to threaten me, didn't you? Betraying me, waiting for the chance to switch sides!"
The Emperor's roar was closer to the snarl of a beast. His golden cane came crashing down brutally upon Kensington's body.
The sound of solid metal shattering bone echoed through the room.
But the Emperor was not satisfied. He had intended to crush her skull.
"Haa... haa..."
He panted heavily, his breath ragged. Frustrated by his trembling hands, he threw the cane aside.
"You've held your position for far too long. A generational change is necessary. It's time to discard the tainted water and pour in fresh."
He was a hunter. This throne, too, he had seized the same way.
The law of the wild—where you either devour or are devoured—was no exception in the Kazen Imperial Family.
During the struggle for the throne, Kensington's aid had been indispensable. But now, decades after his victory, an organization with two leaders only bred chaos.
Given the disgrace of having usurped his nephew's place, it had not been easy to eliminate the very vassals who had fought for his reign.
And so, for Perdiccas II, this situation was the perfect justification.
By pinning all the wrongdoings of the Valdina diplomatic mission on Kensington, he could wash his hands clean of it all.
"Yo—Your—Majesty—"
Kensington tried to move her stiffening tongue, but it was futile. The voice of the princess echoed in her fading mind.
"Even if you die by the Emperor's hand, will that loyalty still hold meaning?"
Her rigid body collapsed with a thud onto the floor.
"Count Kensington, in deep remorse for her role in this incident, has chosen to discipline herself. A regrettable affair indeed."
Perdiccas II looked down solemnly at her dying form, his eyes brimming with ruthlessness.
"I have decided to respect the final choice of my loyal vassal. Announce Count Kensington's death and honor her will."
"As you command, Your Majesty."
The head attendant bowed respectfully.
Tsk. As if his business here was concluded, the Emperor clicked his tongue once. Then, with a flourish of his robes, he stepped over Kensington's fallen body.
Left alone in the office, the elderly attendant offered a brief moment of silent prayer toward the fallen count.
"My apologies, Count. Please understand."
That evening, a cart laden with straw quietly departed the imperial palace.
The cart crossed the capital of the Kazen Empire, Persepolis, until it reached the banks of a deep river.
At the deserted riverside, the laborers pulled Countess Kensington's body from the haystack and placed it atop a wooden raft.
Crack—!
They set the raft ablaze.
It was a modest funeral the chamberlain had prepared for Kensington, risking exposure.
Under the light piercing through the darkness, Kensington's eyes remained wide open, frozen in shock. Her glaring pupils revealed the sheer injustice and resentment festering within, ghastly to behold even from a distance.
The raft drifted away, carried by the flowing river.
"Let's go."
The laborers, watching the receding flames, turned and disappeared.
How much time had passed?
Amid the silent ripples of the blackened waters, a noiseless boat emerged from the darkness, approaching the raft.
Splash.
A figure leaped into the water, lifted Kensington's corpse into the boat, and let the raft continue its journey downstream.
The crimson flames drifted away as if nothing had happened, swallowed once more by the tranquil current.
Splash—!
The masked figure poured a bucket of river water over Kensington's body.
Splash—!
As droplets slid incessantly down her drenched, pallid face, Kensington suddenly jolted upright.
"Ghk—!"
"If you're awake, drink this."
The figure cheerfully handed her a clean canteen.
Kensington raised her head. A freckled young man was looking down at her.
For a moment, she struggled with an eerie sense of familiarity—unfamiliar yet oddly recognizable—before her expression twisted in realization.
"Red Fox—!"
The thought of her comrades had driven her to madness.
'The Emperor wouldn't stop with just me.'
The Red Fox Group had sworn loyalty to Kensington alone as their Leader. Even the Emperor had failed to sway or extract them.
Given Perdiccas II's paranoid nature, he would sooner burn them all to ash than leave alive a faction that refused to bow to him.
Just then, as if to reassure her, the figure winked.
"We've already relocated. They're waiting for you, Countess."
"Leader..."
A familiar face appeared behind him—Umberto.
"Princess Valdina... No, Her Highness the Princess... sent this. Along with a note instructing us to evacuate the comrades if the Leader did not return from the Imperial Palace."
At first, Umberto hadn't believed it. But something nagged at him—Princess Valdina had never been wrong before.
"So, we sounded the white alert. Everyone scattered before the Imperial Knights stormed in. The Red Foxes are safe."
At Umberto's words, a single tear rolled down Kensington's cheek.
At the same time, a trickle of crimson blood seeped from her bitten lips.
Had it not been for the gastrolith the Princess had given her, she would have perished from the monkshood poison the Emperor had served.
Kensington had swallowed the gastrolith before her audience with the Emperor. Did that mean she had betrayed her lord first, by doubting him?
And yet, in the end, the Emperor had cast her aside—hadn't he betrayed her?
"Ha... Haha... HAHAHA!"
A hollow, grotesque laugh erupted from her.
It sounded almost like a scream dredged from the depths of her soul.
Tom and Umberto remained silent, waiting for her to regain her composure.
Finally, Kensington lifted her head. The tear stains, not yet dried, glistened under the moonlight, exuding a desolate aura.
"I must go to Valdina."
"Yes, I'll escort you. You won't regret it."
Tom curled the corner of his lips.
"But first, we must stop by Seongguk. The Red Fox Group's headquarters is there."
"Not here, in Persepolis?"
"I chose that place in case Kazen was attacked... or if I died. No one would think to look for us hiding in the shadows of an enemy nation—the darkest place is under the lamp."
So that even if Kensington died, the Red Fox Group could continue its operations.
Not even Perdiccas II knew the true scale or location of their headquarters.
The loyalty she had once sought to offer the Emperor—the shield that would have elevated the Empire to eternal greatness—had been this.
Clatter, clatter.
As they fled down the road they had tirelessly traversed, flames of wrath blazed fiercely in Kensington's eyes.
"Fine. I'll go to the Princess."
Her former master had burned away even her last lingering attachment. Now, nothing remained to hold Louisa back.