Chapter 161 - North Korean rabbit

Episode 161

The Empress skillfully concealed her bewilderment.

And then, as if finding it absurd, she began to protest.

"I was aware that the Grand Duchess held much ill will toward me, but I did not know she would go so far as to frame me."

The Empress raised her head stiffly and straightened her back.

However, no rebuttal to this came from the Grand Duchess's mouth.

The Emperor's roar came first.

"Silence!"

"...?"

The Empress was perplexed.

Until now, the Emperor had not interfered at all in the confrontation between her and the Grand Duchess.

For officially, it was clear that the Empress was the superior.

The Empress faltered at the Emperor's thunderous voice and turned her head.

The moment she met the Emperor's cold eyes, the Empress realized.

'He already knew about the Grand Duchess's accusation?'

She belatedly realized that the Emperor, who had come to the temple, had been wearing a hardened expression the entire time.

And he had shown her a killing intent that was not just cold but colder than ice.

'Could it be he was certain even before entering the temple?'

Along with the realization, a question arose in the Empress's mind.

It didn't matter who had persuaded the Emperor or what conspiracy he had with the Grand Duchess.

'If he knew I killed Roxelline... why is the Emperor keeping me alive?'

She knew the man she loved well.

The reason he had placed her on the throne of Empress, the reason he hadn't killed her, was because he had never even imagined the possibility that she was involved in the cause of the former Empress's death.

If even the faintest suspicion or possibility had crossed his mind, the Emperor would never have let her live.

If he had learned yesterday, he would have killed her yesterday; if he had learned this morning, she would not have been alive by morning.

But judging by the Emperor's reaction now, it was clear he had heard the Grand Duchess's accusation beforehand.

And yet he had kept her alive?

This, on the contrary, was unbelievable.

No, come to think of it, the Emperor had broken the principles he had upheld for over twenty years not just once or twice recently.

All actions unbecoming of Emperor Walter Istrid had begun since the Crown Princess became involved.

Everything had started to go awry from then on.

The Empress stared blankly at the Emperor, then looked at Arpad and Hilia standing beside him.

She muttered dazedly.

"It was you......"

The Empress soon averted her gaze from Hilia.

The person who wholly occupied her vision was the Emperor.

The man she loved, her husband in name only, who had never accepted her as his wife for even a moment.

Eyes filled with resentment and hatred, yet still holding lingering fragments of an indelible affection, glared at the Emperor.

She had been preparing for this moment for quite a long time.

She had agonized countless times over what to do when the time came and had already reached a conclusion.

A long time ago.

Therefore, her preparations were also already complete.

The corners of the Empress's mouth curled up sharply. An expression that even felt like madness.

She momentarily forgot her attachment to life, the position of Empress she had so obsessively clung to, and even her desire to sever Roxelline's bloodline within the Imperial Family.

Because she judged that the moment the Emperor learned the truth, there was no going back to before, though she didn't know how.

She knew the simplest and most fatal method of revenge.

'I'll show him the sight of dying without even being able to vent his anger on his enemy.'

She knew well that he would be most aggrieved and enraged by that.

"...!"

The Empress attempted an abrupt action that no one could have predicted.

She twisted the gem of the ring she always wore, intending to swallow the small pill contained within.

'Poison?!'

Though her thoughts were swift, her hand could not keep up.

Hilia reached out to stop the Empress's suicide, but only grasped empty air.

"No...!"

However, a situation where Hilia would be left in dismay did not occur.

Nor did a situation where the Emperor and Grand Duchess, faced with their enemy, would be left aggrieved.

"Aaah!!!"

Because there was someone here whose speed of thought and body did not differ greatly.

Arpad grabbed the Empress's wrist and mercilessly twisted it.

The poison that failed to enter the Empress's mouth rolled clatteringly across the floor.

Arpad covered his stepmother's mouth with a handkerchief to prevent any further self-harm.

"Mmmp—!!"

Isabel twisted her entire body and screamed.

The Emperor was also standing beside her before anyone knew it.

His son had been faster and subdued Isabel first, so he did not need to intervene directly.

Had it not been for Arpad, the Emperor would have personally prevented Isabel's suicide.

He glared at Isabel with eyes thickly coated with hatred and resentment.

The Grand Duchess was not much different.

Arpad was busy subduing Isabel, and the other two were in a state where their attention was wholly stolen by hatred for the enemy before them.

Especially the Grand Duchess, who could barely stand on her own, leaning on her grandniece Isepin for support.

Because of this, the only person who could properly explain the situation to those around was Hilia.

"...This act itself is tantamount to a confession of guilt."

It was not an incorrect statement.

Evangeline shook her head side to side, trying to deny it.

"Guilty?! My mother is the Empress! His Majesty the Emperor's...!"

At these words, the killing intent the Emperor had been suppressing to some extent burst forth without restraint.

"Empress?! Who said she is the Empress!!!"

"...!"

It was a killing intent difficult for ordinary people to endure.

It was the first time the Emperor, who had almost never shown signs of madness, had so blatantly displayed a killing intent that would cause ordinary people suffering.

Evangeline gasped in shock and pain.

"Ugh!"

Had it not been for the protection from the Archbishop's divine power, she might have fainted.

Evangeline felt the child in her womb squirm.

A pain as if hundreds of sharp needles were piercing her insides raced through her blood vessels.

She hugged her stomach and bent over.

"Gasp! Aaah!"

But no one paid any attention to her health or the state of her child.

She should have been the protagonist of today, so what on earth was this situation?

Meanwhile, Hilia's calm yet clear voice cut through the air.

"As Her Highness the Grand Duchess is emotionally overwhelmed and finds it difficult to further explain the evidence of the criminal's crimes, I shall do so in her stead."

Isabel, with her mouth covered and pinned to the floor, rolled her bloodshot eyes to glare at Hilia.

Hilia smiled gently and commanded her lady-in-waiting Ani.

"Bring the evidence."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Ani brought a box and opened it before everyone's eyes.

Inside was a brilliantly shining red gemstone.

Someone who realized what it was exclaimed in shock.

"Dragon heart!"

Hilia nodded, smiling at the person who had spoken as if in praise.

"Yes, correct. A dragon heart. One counted among the treasures bestowed upon the Imperial Family by Artanus. This is precisely that dragon heart that was embedded in the Empress's coronation tiara."

Shock and murmuring spread in all directions.

"That's right. I've seen it before. At a tea party, the Empr... she showed us the coronation tiara!"

Those quick to judge the situation tried to call Isabel the Empress but awkwardly glossed over it.

Because they judged that Isabel was already no different from being deposed.

"Wait, why is the dragon heart from the coronation tiara in Her Highness the Crown Princess's hands?"

"Was it given when the management rights of the Inner Palace were taken from Her Highness?"

"No. As far as I know, only the Platinum Key changed hands then. The coronation tiara remained in the Empress's Palace!"

Then there was only one conclusion.

It meant the Empress had leaked the dragon heart.

How on earth? Why? To whom?

Questions surged from all sides.

As if answering them, Hilia snapped her fingers with a crisp sound.

"Allow me to introduce. The accomplice and witness of the criminal Isabel."

Immediately following, her summons jingled through the temple.

"Tower Lord, Gaspard."

The doors opened, and a suspicious man entered, his entire body concealed in a gray robe.

Seeing this, the faces of Isabel, Evangeline, and Archbishop Bio contorted.

"...!"

Gaspard was smiling brazenly from beneath his hood.

His gaze met Hilia's meaningfully.

* * *

My persuasion of Gaspard happened quite some time ago.

It goes back to before Arpad's and my disappearance, a little more than three months prior.

I had met Gaspard in the secret space of the newly established Penny Terrace main store.

'That's when I got the dragon heart.'

Though 'bought it' would be a more accurate expression than 'got it.'

At that time, Gaspard showed me the dragon heart and asked me.

"Does this make you inclined to trade? The dragon heart that should be embedded in the Empress's coronation tiara. It must be an item you desire."

"...How is this in your hands? Did the Empress give it to you?"

"Trade secret."

Gaspard smiled creepily and, looking not at me but beside me, asked.

"You already know what I want."

The person sitting beside me under that gaze, with a dreadful expression, was none other than Arpad.

Arpad was wholly suppressing his killing intent and enduring the situation because of me.

Gaspard smiled a mad smile, staring intently and terrifyingly at Arpad, and asked.

"Wasn't it you who said it first? 'If you want a husband, get the wife's permission,' or something like that?"

"......"

I had naturally anticipated that Gaspard might take it seriously and propose a trade.

But one thing was unexpected.

"Really... are you really going to sell me off?"

Arpad's reaction, full of resentment and hurt, was unexpected!