No, what did I just see?

I was so flustered that I just stared at the back of his head as he walked away.

The drunk man grabbed my dress again and shook it.

“Ladyyyyy!”

“This bastard is really.”

Bam!

Eventually, I couldn’t stand it and kicked him roughly. But because he weighed quite a bit, he didn’t fall off with a single kick.

“…… This?”

That was the problem. The man who was hit was outraged, not even thinking about the rudeness he had committed.

As the kneeling man stood up, his eyes suddenly went up. I didn’t know because he was staggering earlier, but looking at him up close, he was quite tall.

“You dare kick me?”

As he was not in his right mind, he pointed and rushed at me. Startled, I stiffened, but fortunately there was a hand to stop his tyranny.

“Van?”

Turning my head, wondering if Evandel had returned, I caught sight of a young man with curly hair I had never seen before.

“Pretty drunk1! Okay?”

Smiling, he grabbed the drunkard’s arms and pushed him hard against the wall. The man made a sound, ‘Ugh’ and squirmed like a bug that is trapped.

The man’s drunken state made it difficult to deal with an adult man, and so the only counterattack he showed was waving his arms. Eventually, he was pushed back in a contest of strength and lost consciousness after hitting his head hard against a stone wall.

It was only then that I was relieved when the person who threatened me became quiet.

Having some time to breathe, I looked again at the young man’s face, which I had not seen before.

“Lady! Are you okay?”

He looked at me with a worried face. His orange-blond hair and light brown eyes made him stand out in a number of ways.

“A relief, um, you didn’t suffer.”

“…….”

It was evident from the beginning that he was a foreigner due to his strangely slurred speech and strong accent. For now, I thank him for saving me.

“Thank you.”

There was nothing more to say after that. I was in a foul mood, so I was about to leave, but the man suddenly grabbed me.

“Wait! Lady. What’s your name?”

His sparkling eyes exuded a fondness for the opposite sex.

Ah, it really is not good to be pretty.

For a foreigner who had never heard of Attila’s rumors, it seemed that he was very attracted to me.

“What’s the point of knowing my name?”

I left arrogantly since after all, I’m still a member of the imperial family. However, the man did not back down despite my extremely arrogant attitude.

“Friend, be my friend please!”

“No.”

“…….”

The young man looked somewhat shocked as if he did not expect to be flatly rejected.

However, after a moment, he also introduced himself with a puppy-like face.

“I came here to Qishan. I am Pao.”

He seemed to be roughly saying that he was from Qishan. It was a country that came out of my conversation with Dexter earlier, so I was as interested as shit, but that was it.

I didn’t want to waste time on a foreigner who couldn’t communicate well.

“Yes, okay, have fun.”

“Uhh…….”

As I was about to pass by, I caught sight of him being very depressed. It reminds me of my retriever that I raised in the past.

Still, he’s the one who helped. Did I go too far?

At the very least, I added words to dash his painful belief in hope2.

“I’m a married woman.”

“…… married?”

“I’m married.”

“Marriage!”

Only then did he open his eyes wide as if he understood, and his face became serious.

I was about to move again because I thought he would have given up now. But, for some reason, his expression brightened and he exclaimed with a smile.

“Please let Pao be your second husband!”

“…….”

I thought he was a grateful guy for saving me from a crazy gut, but was he also a crazy guy?

Turning my back on him without answering, I thought it was wise to avoid him. When I turned around, there was a guy standing behind me who could possibly be worse.

“Has the number of people increased in the meantime?”

“…… What?”

“I had not been aware that Her Highness’ astounding comprehension had no bounds.”

What are you talking about, you bastard?

I don’t know when he came, but I didn’t really like the way he talked nonsense with a cold face.

Most of all, I couldn’t forgive him for leaving me alone when I had been assaulted by a drunkard a moment ago.

“Stop the useless chatter and get the divorce papers ready tomorrow. Just looking at your face makes me want to hit you.”

With that, I left him without hesitation. The fact that I did not grab him by the collar as soon as I saw him was enough patience for me.

It was impossible to go home with that Evandel bastard with my mood today. I was going to spend the night in the Imperial Palace.

The next morning, as soon as daylight came, I headed to the audience room.

***

“I was disappointed that you didn’t even show your face yesterday, Tilla3. What brings you here?”

I looked at the Emperor expressionlessly, who was lying without remorse.

What a shame. I suppose besides Dexter, no one would ask me how I feel even as a perfunctory greeting.

Just seeing that hypocritical face was infuriating, but unfortunately today I was in a position to request something. I tried to calm my disgust and smiled.

“I have come to visit you to ask you to give me an Imperial Order, Your Majesty.”

“Imperial Order?”

I was a little nervous because I didn’t know how he would react. Hiding my trembling hands under the hem of my dress, I calmly got down to business.

“I want to get a divorce.”

“…….”

“I ask you to put pressure on the Marquis.”

If a consensual divorce is out of the question, then only coercion remains. The only person I could rely on at the moment was the damnable Emperor.

“Haha, my dear Tilla.”

After a brief silence, he looked at me with a slight smile.

“Do you know what I4 have been working on lately?”

I frowned at the irrelevant answer he gave me. He smiled and replied with a benevolent expression when I didn’t answer.

“We want to expand trade with Qishan. But the evil dragon that inhabits Mount Mirka is a problem.”

If it’s a dragon that lives on Mount Mirka, it’s Medilox.

The conditions for becoming an evil dragon are simple. If it gets in the way of the goal of humans, it is unconditionally an evil dragon. From what I heard, Medilox seemed to dislike the merchants coming and going to its abode.

“How many troops do you think are needed if we replace the Swordmaster’s abilities with them?”

“…….”

“It’s at least one battalion. Those who have a lot of combat experience can be seen as comparable to a regiment.”

I vaguely understood what he was trying to say. As I became convinced that it wasn’t turning in the direction I wanted, it became increasingly difficult to keep my composure.

“Slayers, after all. In a sense, they can be regarded as a division5. In the first place, the number of official Slayers across the continent can be counted on one hand.”

“…….”

“Now that Medilox is causing trouble, are you telling me to throw out Marquis Listane, who is equivalent to a division?”

I didn’t expect him to be willing to listen, but to think that he would reveal his calculated intentions to this extent.

I felt nauseous, but I was so desperate that I even acted and gathered my tears to plead.

“Your Majesty, my married life is very unhappy. You must have known that the world has turned its back on me recently?”

“It’s the marriage you wanted so much. Even the Marquis is not asking for it, so why are you doing this now?”

“The Listane family have been loyal to the Imperial family for generations. He wouldn’t turn his back on Tribon even if he divorced me.”

Even with my desperate plea, he did not blink an eye.

“Connections must be kept just in case. You never know. If a child is born between the two of you, I will pass on the throne to him.”

“…….”

No way, was it because of this?

Was the reason for his reluctance to divorce because he had already discussed succession with the Emperor?

But he was not very enthusiastic about sleeping together. Didn’t he even insult me by saying that even a thousand years of lust will cool down?

“Tilla, you are the only princess of the Great Empire. You are fortunate enough to get the marriage you wanted despite your inevitable political marriage, but isn’t it time to dedicate yourself to the Empire?”

“…….”

“Relationships between couples can sometimes be good and bad. It’s going to be different for you and Lord Listane.”

I even forced myself into tears, but nothing changed. The light slowly faded from my eyes as I looked at the determined attitude of the Emperor.

‘Your Majesty, please keep Nikolai away from me!’

‘Your brother can play some jokes, why are you exaggerating so much?’

It was the same then. Coincidentally, one of the fragments in Attila’s pile of long memories overlaps with Han So-yi’s childhood.

Terrible human. Not once do you help.

“…… Now that I know His Majesty’s will, I will step aside. I wish you good health.”

Hurry up and kick the bucket6, old man. In the most painful way that exists.

I smiled on the outside, holding a dark curse7 in my heart.

I was not okay, but I pretended to be okay, bowed, and left the audience room. The corners of my mouth, which had been curved upward, fell immediately as soon as I turned my back on the Emperor.

Ah, I shouldn’t have at least shown my tears. I knew he wasn’t human when my plea didn’t work. How embarrassing.

I certainly didn’t have any expectations, but why do I feel like a beggar? My chest continued to tingle, fueling my anger.

“Did you cry, sister?”

Then a familiar voice rang out. A large hand covered my cheek, wiping away the tears I hadn’t been able to wipe away.

“Because His Majesty did not accede to your request?”

1

Will be explained later on but I think he means the drunkard should not hurt the pretty woman.

2

Dashing someone’s hope means “destroying someone’s hopes”.

3

Atilla’s pet name.

4

He used “짐” which is a first-person singular pronoun for an Emperor. It is how an Emperor refers to himself.

5

Army division

6

Die

7

The act of wanting and wishing that a misfortune will happen to someone.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like