Chapter 164 - North Korean rabbit

Chapter 164

Not a single ray of light seeped into the basement.

The pungent dust and smell of mold stabbed at her nasal passages.

A gag was stuffed in her mouth, and all her limbs were bound with iron chains.

The slightest movement caused the spikes on the manacles to pierce her flesh, inflicting wounds.

“…!”

The woman, who was once the mistress of the Empress's Palace but was now denied even the fact that she had been an Empress, howled like a beast.

Fragmented moans buzzed in the darkness.

*Creak—*

At that moment, the only person who could hear her screams and moans entered.

Still not permitted a single sliver of light to enter this place, yet Isabel could recognize him.

Because those eyes, glowing like rubies holding an ember even in the dark, were possessed by only two people in the world.

The man she loved and hated, and his son.

No matter how lightless it was, she could recognize this man.

‘Walter!’

Walter Istrid.

The Emperor of the Empire, the man she loved to the point of hatred.

Though she was denied ever having been Empress, he was her husband.

That was what she wanted to assert first, but her gagged mouth could not produce proper words.

‘Let me go, release me! And listen to me! Listen to my hatred and my feelings!’

“Ugh! Ugh-ah-ugh—!”

But the Emperor merely looked down with cool eyes at the woman writhing on the floor like a worm.

“I was foolish.”

‘Yes! You underestimated me too, my feelings! You shouldn’t have!’

The Emperor’s following words were far different from Isabel’s expectations.

“I thought that since it was a tool my wife’s hand was accustomed to, it could be used without major issue, but I failed to see the hidden thorn.”

“…!”

“That thorn caused my wife’s death and nearly harmed my son as well… Had it not been for my daughter-in-law, it truly would have come to that.”

The Emperor’s words were strange.

Isabel was accustomed to him not loving her, to him treating her as a mere figurehead placed on the Empress’s seat.

She could not have anticipated this much.

‘Don’t tell me… you didn’t even consider me human?’

This man was looking at her as if she were a poorly chosen tool.

A soft click of the tongue resonated.

“I knew you harbored presumptuous feelings for me.”

“…!”

Isabel raised her head in shock.

…He knew?

The Emperor selected sharp words and spat them out.

“I merely thought that if you had feelings for me, you would be that much easier to use. There was something I should have considered before that.”

“…Ugh! Ugh!!”

“The fact that a worm, driven by jealousy that knows its place, might dare to gnaw at my inner courtyard.”

The Emperor slowly bowed his head.

His eyes, in which only his hatred shone brightly red, were piercing.

“Do not expect an easy death.”

“…!”

“I will draw out your suffering as long and drawn-out as possible, so that you may curse the very fact you harbored those feelings.”

The Emperor’s merciless hand seized Isabel’s neck and squeezed.

A beast-like scream was choked off within the ferocious grip.

The Emperor controlled his hatred. He could not make the mistake of ending her breath all at once.

He had already committed countless irreversible mistakes.

Because of them, he lost his wife and had to distance himself from his son.

Revenge was pitiful and paltry compared to what he had lost.

Yet, apart from his son, the only positive thing left in his life was the base pleasure gained through revenge.

“…Ugh, ugh!”

“I will make you curse your own love and your own life over and over, and still it will not be enough. Unfortunately, we have plenty of time… Let us flounder together in hatred and curses.”

Isabel realized too late.

Her love, her resentment, and her hatred.

All the actions she had committed until now were returning as a monster in the form of the man before her.

* * *

The Magical Tower was surrounded by the Imperial Knights.

The few remaining mages were flustered and anxious, but it held little significance.

After all, this tower now was little more than an empty shell.

Long abandoned by its master.

In a secret underground space quite a distance from the Magical Tower.

At its center existed a glass tank glowing with a faint blue light.

The ‘thing’ floundering inside like an ornamental fish began to writhe.

Then, the liquid filling the tank began to emit an increasingly intense light.

That light was completely absorbed by the humanoid form writhing inside the tank.

As the man covered in glowing blue tattoos stretched out his hand, the glass tank made a *crack* sound and shattered.

The liquid that had filled it overflowed. The man stepped out, treading on the broken glass fragments and liquid.

With an arm covered in blue glowing tattoos, the man swept back his disheveled hair.

A hoarse voice flowed out, along with the liquid that had filled his throat.

“Ah, this is unexpected. For all the spare bodies from number one to four to be taken out.”

Tower Lord Gaspard let out a long sigh.

The reason he had so readily offered up his life at the imperial palace shrine was simple.

It was as if he had multiple lives.

He had prepared up to five spare bodies for contingencies.

The fifth and final one was lacking in completeness, but it was usable. That was fortunate, at least.

Given that the previous four had all been destroyed.

‘How on earth did they find out? That I prepared spare bodies? And even their locations….’

Curiosity was thicker than a sense of defeat or crisis.

The face of the woman he had first encountered, as if in jest, at the imperial palace came to mind.

Shock and fear.

And…….

‘That woman wasn’t meeting me for the first time. It seemed as if… she already knew.’

What he desired, even the existence and locations of the hidden spare bodies.

Naturally, these were all facts he had never disclosed.

“She acts as if she’s experienced it once before.”

Gaspard’s lips curved into a sharp arc.

He retrieved a flask from a magically created pocket dimension. Inside the glass vial, a single drop of red blood floated.

The blood of Crown Prince Arpad, obtained only after rolling on the floor and losing four spare bodies.

His own state, having been sucked dry of the sweet essence and then discarded, was quite a sight.

But now was not the time to be heated about solving mysteries or seeking revenge.

There was something to resolve before that.

Gaspard smiled crookedly as he looked toward the imperial palace.

“I must first retrieve my lovely experimental subject.”

* * *

Arpad looked up at me with moist eyes.

Comfort, comfort? How could one provide comfort?

The first thought that came to mind was human body heat.

Wouldn’t holding a warm, furry creature be quite a comfort?

I have fur (?) and am warm, so it should be fine, right?

So I pulled him into a tight embrace, pressing my upper body close against his.

So that my body heat would be fully transmitted to him.

As a bonus, my hair even slid down to cover Arpad’s body.

Does this clear both conditions?

Arpad smiled faintly but answered sullenly.

“It’s not enough.”

How should I interpret this complaint that the comfort is insufficient?

Insufficient body heat?

Or insufficient fluffy fur?

“Hmm……”

Actually, I knew. I knew very well.

That Arpad was up to tricks under the guise of seeking comfort.

But since it was true that he was hurt and weary, I decided to pretend not to know and let it pass.

I lowered my head and placed my lips over Arpad’s.

Our breaths intertwined, sweet and thick.

An affirmation of affection that had become all too familiar between him and me.

He was a little different from usual. The Arpad I knew was intense, overflowing with confidence, and always certain.

Hesitation was my part.

Now, Arpad showed hesitation and a passive attitude, while I actively parted his breath and pressed in.

My body felt like a candle. There was a wick beneath the soft, gentle flesh, and it felt as if someone had lit a flame.

A sensation of wanting to burn and melt just like that, to cover this man.

There is only one person who can light my flame.

Our deeply intermingled breath parted for a moment, drawing in cool air.

Finding that very regrettable, I put the sweet, hot emotion I had just drawn in fully into my mouth.

“Arpad.”

The one planted within me, burning me, melting me.

He, whose name I called, seemed somehow bewildered, afraid, and yet drawn to me.

It wasn’t just Arpad. I was too. Like fate.

I whispered softly.

“What’s wrong? It’s unlike you.”

“…I feel as though I’ve just become a thoroughly shameless human.”

“Haven’t you?”

“I can’t deny it.”

Arpad frowned slightly and asked.

“It’s you who is unlike yourself.”

“Being afraid and retreating is more like me?”

Arpad shook his head.

“No, being hasty. As if chased.”

He was indeed a sensitive man.

I softened Arpad’s sharply honed energy in an instant.

When I showered kisses on his brow, his sharp gaze melted away in an instant. And then dissolves.

Even in this moment, Arpad maintained a faint thread of reason.

“…I hope the means by which you pity and comfort me does not become our first night.”

“I notice your words have changed.”

“…What?”

“You said anything would do, didn’t you? Whether it’s pity or anger.”

“My heart remains the same. To be honest… I want to seize any opportunity… That’s why I’m holding back.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want you to regret it even a speck later.”

I chuckled softly.

“How could that be?”

I changed my position. I laid his head, which had been resting on my lap, onto the sofa and stood up.

And then I sat on Arpad’s lap.

The flame directed at me felt overwhelmingly vivid.

My throat went completely dry, and I had to moisten my lips with my tongue.

I collapsed onto him and whispered.

“More than your wounds or comfort… I simply want you.”

As soon as the words ended, rough hands seized my back.

A thrilling ecstasy, like a lightning strike, raced through my entire body.