Chapter 50
Divine Territory
“What?”
“Your Majesty, what did you say?”
Neither of them could quite grasp the question. Riyan tugged on both ears, wondering if he had misheard.
“Change a person?”
“As in swapping bodies and such.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I—I beg your pardon?”
Dekan flinched in confusion and quickly shook his head.
“That’s something humans mustn’t meddle with, Your Majesty. I doubt any sorcery could make such a thing possible.”
“Is that so.”
That was all the reaction Lescal gave, but Riyan didn’t let the words pass by unnoticed.
“Your Majesty… You mean to say… that the Empress might not be suffering from amnesia but could actually have become an entirely different person?”
“That seems the most reasonable explanation.”
Lescal’s golden eyes moved slowly.
“She’s changed. Her speech, her gestures, her behavior—they’re all different.”
“Well… I can’t deny that…”
It was Riyan who first suggested that the Empress seemed like a different person altogether. He was also the one who had once said it would be better if she truly were someone else.
Even so, it was a thought his mind struggled to accept.
“Dekan says such a thing is impossible through sorcery… I mean, how could something like that even…”
“Think about it. The phoenix awakened after she changed. She can control my transformation.”
“Yes, but that’s proof she’s your fated one—not that she suddenly became a different person.”
“None of that happened before, though.”
“Well… perhaps she came to realize her bond with you later on, just like how Your Majesty realized your own connection belatedly…”
“Or maybe it’s because she became the real Empress that I was able to recognize her.”
“Hmm…”
“They say the demon blood and the fated one are born as a pair. There’s no mention that it takes time to recognize each other.”
“Well… I mean, it’s a ritual from seven hundred years ago. With so much time passed, maybe it’s gotten slower or weaker or something.”
“You think that makes more sense than her having changed bodies?”
“No, it’s just that… I… haah, I really don’t know.”
Riyan gave up after wracking his brain.
When it came to the Empress, nothing could be taken for granted. Everything defied common sense.
“If she really has become someone else, then she must be from Dellarta.”
“Huh? I beg your pardon?”
The sudden, unfamiliar name changed the atmosphere.
“She once mentioned the Temple of Dellarta. She said it was to cure her amnesia.”
“I remember. She said the information came from the young Duke of Piellion.”
“But there are temples across the Empire too. Even temples of the healing gods nearby. Dellarta’s god isn’t one of healing, is it?”
“No. It’s the god of water and prosperity.”
Dekan jumped in immediately.
“Then we should confirm it with the young Duke. See if he truly had any knowledge of Dellarta’s temple’s healing powers.”
“Right.”
“I’ll go check right away.”
Dekan left the room so quickly it was as if he vanished.
…Thud.
As soon as he was gone, Lescal leaned back against the couch he’d been sitting upright on. He rubbed his eyes as if tired, but Riyan thought he looked somehow different.
“Your Majesty. If my eyes aren’t mistaken… you seem to be thinking something rather pleasant. Am I correct?”
“Even to your eyes?”
“Yes. Very much so.”
A sigh—more smile than exhale—escaped Lescal’s lips.
“If she really did become someone else…”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“Then she doesn’t like the young Duke.”
“…Ah.”
“She’s not in love with another man.”
“That… makes you that happy?”
Lescal didn’t answer.
But his changed expression said enough—how deeply relieved he was by the idea that the Empress wasn’t in love with someone else.
But that wasn’t all.
Even if she had become a completely different person and was therefore truly his fated one, the problem remained.
It might even be worse—because his true fated one was rejecting him.
“She must have her reasons for insisting on going through with the trial.”
Lescal’s golden eyes, soft and dreamy just moments ago, regained their sharp glint.
“We need to find out what that is.”
“Of course.”
“As soon as Dekan confirms things with the young Duke, take action. Put a tail on House Piellion, and if possible, secure the sorcerer from Trinidad. And for the day of the trial, set a barrier around the temple.”
“A barrier, as in… a defensive one?”
“Including a magic circle.”
“Understood. Looks like the court mages will finally have some work to do. I was starting to think they were just freeloading.”
Riyan’s tone was light, but his words weren’t.
To set up a defensive perimeter and a magic circle around the temple meant they were preparing for something serious.
The trial might not go smoothly after all.
Dekan returned exactly three hours later.
The young Duke of Piellion had no knowledge whatsoever about Dellarta, the small kingdom.
Tap. Tap.
The tapping on the window woke her up.
Tap. Tap.
“…Who… Pipi?”
The light sleep shattered instantly. Lasilia was overjoyed as she flung the window open, seeing that Pipi, who had vanished without a word for days, had finally returned.
“Where were you all this time?”
“Pii.”
“You don’t have to explain. Are you done being mad now? Then come in. Let’s sleep together.”
“Pii!”
He said he couldn’t.
“Pii-pii! Piii!”
He told her to hurry up and say it—that she didn’t love someone else.
“…I can’t.”
Since Pipi and the Emperor could understand each other, she had no choice but to lie to even him.
“Pii! Piii!”
“Because… it’s true.”
“Pii? Piii… piiit!”
Whoosh!
Shocked, Pipi trembled—and let out a sharp cry. Red flames burst from his small body.
“Pipi!”
Lasilia instinctively reached out to him.
“Ah, hot!”
It was real fire. Her fingers got burned where they touched it.
“…Pii,”
Pipi flinched his wings, seemingly startled himself. The flames disappeared, and he pulled back with a small hop.
“It’s okay. It’s not too bad…”
“Piii!”
Liar.
Pipi threw out those words and soared off into the black night sky.
“…It’s true.”
Lasilia looked down at her reddened finger.
She knew cold water helped soothe a burn, but her body wouldn’t move.
“It’s cruel, isn’t it? I’m the one who hurt you, but I’d be healing the wound you gave me.”
She decided to leave the injury as it was. She felt she deserved at least this much pain.
“If I find the real one… all of this will seem like nothing.”
That was her excuse and her comfort for now.
As she turned to return to bed, Lasilia threw on a robe over her nightgown.
Sleep had already fled.
With the trial approaching, she had something to prepare.
She planned to write a letter to Duke Shurayden.
Come to think of it, she knew almost nothing about Eliahdan’s trial. Whether a dethroned Empress could ever return to the palace was uncertain.
In the worst-case scenario, she might never get a chance to say goodbye.
So she had to leave behind a request—to guarantee Yvette’s status.
‘If I’m dethroned, something could happen to the First Lady-in-Waiting.’
If she had noble status, she wouldn’t be treated like a mere servant.
‘She might not be able to keep working in the palace, but still…’
And she had to ask for Pipi’s care too. Even if he was a phoenix, he still looked far too small in her eyes.
‘Oh, and those birds too. They might come back. I should ask Sir Sigres not to be too harsh with them this time.’
The letter was going to be very long.
Pulling her robe tight, Lasilia opened the door from her bedroom to the adjoining study—
“….”
And froze.
The Emperor, who she hadn’t seen for days, was there.
He wasn’t asleep.
His gaze was clear and focused—as if he’d known she would come.
“…What brings you here, Your Majesty?”
The voice that left her lips didn’t even sound like her own.
“I figured you wouldn’t be sleeping.”
“…It’s far too late to be awake, even so. Please return to your chambers.”
“It wouldn’t be fair if I went to sleep alone. You’re not planning to sleep either.”
“….”
It wasn’t a matter of fairness, but it did somehow make sense.
She had grown too accustomed to the way he spoke.
“Then, to be fair, I’ll return to bed too.”
“…Not yet.”
Before she realized it, he had stepped in front of her.
Too fast for her to avoid.
“Why not?”
“You haven’t treated the burn.”
“…What?”
There was no way he could’ve known she had burned her finger.
No way—yet Lescal reached for her hand and found the exact spot.
“That must hurt.”
“How did you…”
“I just knew.”
“You just knew?”
“That half-grown bird knew—so I must have known too. Sometimes our senses connect. Probably when something happens to you. Like hurting your finger.”
“….”
Lasilia was speechless.
Whenever he did this, she felt like forgetting the fact that she was fake.
The demon who tore out his own heart to forge the phoenix to protect his fated one—and the bird who protected her. They were all connected. When the fated one was hurt, both the demon and the phoenix could feel it through that link.
It was only natural that the Emperor felt the pain caused by Pipi.
Nothing strange about it.
Except for the fact that she wasn’t real.
“You need to cool your hand.”
“It’s already cooled.”
She pulled her hand away, expecting the sting. As she did, her burned skin scraped against the imperial ring on Lescal’s finger.
It was a small wound, but painful enough.
It reminded her not to forget what she was doing.
“Please go back. It’s late.”
“It’s not that late.”
He grabbed her hand again as he spoke. She tried to pull it back, but he showed no intention of letting go.
“In Dellarta, the sun would just now be setting, wouldn’t it?”
“What are you—”
Thank goodness it was dark. That the night was this deep.
Otherwise, he would’ve seen the color drain from her face.
Lasilia fought to keep her panic hidden.
“Why would you suddenly bring up a distant land?”
“Thinking about you reminded me—you once said you wanted to visit it.”
Lescal lifted her hand and brushed his tongue against the burn.
“…Ah,”
The first sensation was cool.
Then it turned hot again.
A shiver ran down her spine.
She didn’t know if it was because of the touch—or the fear that he had found her out.
As she trembled, unable to pull away or speak, Lescal said:
“If you want to go… I’ll let you.”
