CHAPTER~05
The Witch’s Tomb (2)
…These people.
They’re trembling like leaves, but they still say everything they want.
Well, I guess being that strong is why they managed to survive in a psychopath’s palace.
Only one attendant and a few soldiers trailing behind him had seen the scene from the wedding night, so it made sense the others were curious.
‘Should I play along a bit?’
I lowered my head slightly, pretending to share a shy secret.
“It… it wasn’t that intense.”
Maybe because writers tend to immerse themselves in characters, acting wasn’t as hard as I expected.
“But His Majesty must adore you, Your Majesty.
You should have seen how brightly His Majesty’s eyes shone whenever he looked at the Empress.”
“Really?”
Instead of looking at me like a toy he planned to slowly take apart?
But the maids clapped their hands and giggled, completely misunderstanding the Emperor’s intentions.
“Of course.”
“If you spent your first night together, did His Majesty give you your middle name?”
“Middle name?”
“Ah, you might not know.
In the Amir Empire, after the wedding night, the husband gives the wife a middle name.
Like an affectionate nickname.”
Ah, right.
I remember putting that setting in.
Back when I wrote my debut novel, I probably wanted to use it as one of the ways the male lead expressed his love for the heroine.
Not that Kallio would ever qualify.
‘Kallio, who tries to poison his wife on their wedding night, giving her a cute couple’s nickname?
In what universe.’
Would that man ever love anyone?
Even in the original, it only said he looked at the heroine “differently from others.”
Was it interest?
Curiosity?
Even Kallio himself wouldn’t have known.
The heroine ran away from him and married the male lead.
‘If even the heroine got treated like that, then for everyone else…’
Clunk.
At that perfect timing, my dear husband returned.
He took longer to get ready than most fancy noblewomen, and I grumbled inwardly.
But the moment I saw him, my breath caught.
Kallio looked nothing like the languid man from the wedding night.
He wore a black robe that fell to his ankles, with a collar that rose up to just under his jaw.
For some reason, he looked ascetic—sharp, cold.
Not smiling as usual also helped that impression.
But the expressionless face lasted only a moment.
When his eyes met mine under the veil, he smiled again.
His eyes curved gently, annoyingly beautiful.
If I let my guard down, I might really get bewitched by that face.
“Shall we go?”
His voice snapped me back to my senses.
Before I could answer, something slipped under my veil.
A rough, large hand—Kallio’s.
I thought he was offering an escorting gesture as a husband.
But instead, Kallio lifted the veil slightly.
He leaned his face inside, the black cloth covering both our heads.
From outside, it probably looked like we were kissing under the veil.
Our lips were that close.
I heard maids gasp nearby.
He whispered, just loud enough for me to hear.
“Don’t try to run on the way.”
So that’s what this was about.
Of course he somehow sensed it again.
“I… won’t.”
“Good.”
He tilted his head and brushed his lips lightly against my earlobe.
The spot tingled with heat.
Just before pulling out from under the veil, he added:
“I’m not in a particularly good mood today.”
When he stepped back, the veil fell back into place.
The maids stood awkwardly, unsure what to do after witnessing such an embarrassing display in broad daylight.
Meanwhile, Kallio acted as if nothing had happened and offered me his hand.
“I wanted to look good for you.
Can you forgive me for being late, Empress?”
The maids quickly averted their eyes at the embarrassingly sweet line.
Truly, he was a man with a full variety of useless antics.
“How could I refuse?”
Until my escape plan succeeded, I had to play along.
Even though part of me desperately wanted to slap his hand away.
***
I expected a grand entourage since this was our first visit to the ancestral tomb after marriage.
But Kallio brought the bare minimum number of knights.
‘Well, who would dare try assassinating this man anyway.’
Besides being a conqueror, he was frighteningly skilled in combat.
I had written him myself as one of the strongest beings in the world.
Stories of him cutting down dozens of enemies alone were widely known.
If you valued your life, you wouldn’t attempt assassination.
Eventually, the white camels arrived at the tomb of the former Emperor and Empress.
The exterior was like a tall mountain.
Inside, a vast tunnel unfolded.
The arched ceilings and walls were lined entirely with white stone, and the area around the sarcophagi was decorated lavishly with gold.
It was so dazzling that calling it a tomb felt strange.
While everyone bowed solemnly, only Kallio and I kept our heads held high.
It was the custom here, but tension made my body stiff.
Only Kallio stepped boldly onto the stairs just below the sarcophagi.
“Father, Mother, I’m here.
Ah, this is someone you’re seeing for the first time.”
He called out to his dead parents in a surprisingly affectionate voice.
He sounded like he visited often.
‘Did Kallio even like his parents?’
In the original novel, I didn’t detail his family relationships.
Well, it’s not my problem.
What mattered more was finding what was hidden in the tomb.
Looking around subtly, I soon spotted a latch protruding from the side of the sarcophagus.
‘That must be what I’m looking for.’
I was trying to figure out how to get close without suspicion.
“This person’s name is Rivie.”
“…”
“Since she married me, she carries the imperial surname.
Rivie Mahgar.”
After a short pause, he continued.
“Come to think of it, I never mentioned her middle name.
Let me introduce her properly.”
If I could, I wanted him to hurry and get the middle name over with so I could have a moment alone to greet my in-laws and carry out my plan.
With so many people watching, now wasn’t the time.
Then Kallio suddenly turned toward me.
He smiled brighter than before.
Something felt wrong.
A horrible premonition surged just as people around us began sucking in their breath.
Whispers grew louder, echoing like thunder in the cavernous tomb.
“How could His Majesty give that name as the Empress’s middle name…?”
“Has His Majesty fallen that deeply for the Empress?”
Middle names were just affectionate nicknames between spouses… weren’t they?
Why were they reacting like this?
A panicked official dropped to the floor in a deep bow.
“To bestow the name of the First Emperor upon the newly crowned Empress—this is outrageous!”
I barely managed to cover my mouth before my jaw dropped.
What kind of crazy Emperor gives his wife the name of his legendary ancestor?!
Even the Emperor himself would cause a stir using that name.
Yet he slapped it onto his wife—a wife he married yesterday!
‘Has this man finally lost his mind?!’
Grinding my teeth, I glared at him.
“I heard the Grand Scribe’s health has been poor these days.”
Meanwhile Kallio spoke leisurely, examining his nails, completely calm.
Others were the ones losing their minds.
“Your Majesty!”
“For a scribe to spout such nonsense, his condition must be dire.
Perhaps he needs to recuperate?”
“That is not the issue—”
“A recovery place should be somewhere high up, don’t you think?
Like… above the skies.”
The atmosphere froze instantly.
My lips dried out with everyone else’s.
I was already reeling from the shock of having the First Emperor’s name attached to mine.
But now, Kallio’s glittering eyes made it clear that if left unchecked, someone would die today.
Ethically, the elderly scribe didn’t deserve to die here.
More importantly, if someone died, everyone—including me—would be forced back to the palace immediately.
That would ruin all my plans.
‘Who knows when I’d get another chance to come here?’
So I had to stop the old man from dying.
But how?
In the freezing tension, I remembered something Kallio said earlier.
‘My dear, shall we make a bet?’
Rip.
At the same moment, I tore off my veil.
Everyone—including Kallio—turned to look at me.
I had their attention.
Now I had to grab it with words.
“Hus… band.”
At the intimate address, Kallio blinked twice in surprise.
