Chapter 01

Tets Square, located at the very heart of the capital of the Lesgererham Empire.

At the center of the square stood the capital’s pride—a fountain adorned with a statue of Freya, the goddess of love

and magic. The square was usually filled with the cheerful laughter and excited shouts of the people, but today was different.

The people gathered around the fountain spat at the woman inside the makeshift prison and hurled insults at her. A

courtier who had been glaring at the woman between the iron bars with contempt soon opened a holy scripture.

“The criminal who murdered the Empress! Her Imperial Highness, Eleonor Swan von Lesgererham, shall be

executed by hanging, and her corpse shall be thrown into the Jafr Forest to become food for the wolves!”

“Kill her! Kill Eleonor Frihosen!”

“Kill her! Kill her!”

The people’s voices grew louder and louder as time passed.

Eleonor raised her empty, hollow eyes. She had grown accustomed to the countless looks of contempt and hatred

directed at her, but she could not help the bitterness that welled up inside her.

Just then, the knights roughly dragged her out.

“Get up!”

The clothes she wore were so worn that they looked as though they would tear apart at the slightest force. When the

knights who had appeared behind her lifted her like a sack of garbage, part of the fabric finally tore with a sharp sound.

Her shoulder was left completely exposed, and only then did a faint glimmer return to Eleonor’s eyes. But the

knights had no regard for how she felt. They simply threw her into a dirty, foul-smelling wagon like an unwanted piece of baggage.

The rattling carriage stopped before long, and once again, she was dragged away by both arms. Since she was barely

wearing any shoes, her feet, dragged along the ground, had long since become covered in blood.

Finally, the knights stopped.

Only then did Eleonor have enough strength to look around.

She had arrived at a place very familiar to her.

The Imperial Palace.

The place where a man she loathed with every fiber of her being resided.

Eleonor’s eyes caught sight of the Emperor’s back, clad in a red cloak.

“…….”

Ten years had passed since the day she first met Joshua.

Thinking that perhaps all those years had merely been leading to this day, Eleonor gave a hollow smile.

At that moment, the knights threw her onto the ground.

Pain so severe that it felt as though she might die swept through her, and she involuntarily squeezed her eyes shut with a small groan.

When she managed to open them again, a cold, beautiful face came into view.

At some point, Joshua had approached her. He tilted his head and stared at Eleonor with unfamiliar eyes.

Looking at his twisted lips, Eleonor forced the corners of her mouth upward as much as she could.

She absolutely refused to let him pity her.

But with the slave brand burned into one cheek, the scarred flesh moving up and down whenever she smiled made her face look even more grotesque.

She clearly heard the surrounding knights gasp.

There were also voices insulting her.

Having already given up on everything, Eleonor could do nothing but glare at the man before her.

The cold, merciless eyes of Joshua, now the exalted Emperor, came close to her face.

Eleonor twisted her lips into a smile.

His gaze turned icy.

“You can still smile at a time like this.”

“…….”

Was she supposed to cry in this situation?

Unfortunately, her tears had already dried up long ago. Not even the slightest drop would come.

She had never loved Joshua when they were engaged at the age of ten at her father’s recommendation.

But since they were both illegitimate children, she had at least believed that they could spend their lives together as partners who respected and supported one another. Her father must have arranged the political marriage with the same thought in mind.

Not long before Joshua and Eleonor were supposed to marry, it was revealed that Joshua was the son of the Emperor and the former Empress, a princess of a fallen kingdom. A struggle for the throne broke out, and the Grand Duchy of Frihosen, which had always maintained neutrality, supported Joshua.

There had been only one reason why Eleonor’s father, the Grand Duke of Frihosen, supported Joshua.

His daughter’s happiness.

Joshua wanted the throne, and Eleonor believed he deserved it.

The fact that Joshua was the Emperor’s illegitimate son had never been a problem for her.

Because Eleonor wanted to see the empire Joshua would create.

Joshua had wanted to build a world where everyone was equal.

A world where people were not discriminated against because they were weak, poor, or women—a world where everyone could pursue their own dreams and ambitions.

Eleonor had wanted to see that world Joshua had once described with a smile.

But how was he treating her now?

The man who had once held her in his arms with tears in his eyes, thanking her and promising to treat her well for the rest of her life, had disappeared long ago.

Eleonor smiled bitterly.

I never realized what kind of man he was.

I was a fool to trust a beast.

Her past self had been terribly foolish.

And all she could do now was feel sorry for her father, who had died because of such a foolish daughter.

No human being could behave like this.

She wanted to shout at him if she could.

How dare a bastard like you, who threw away his conscience long ago, sit upon the Emperor’s throne?

Eleonor touched her cheek.

Her fingertips felt the uneven surface of the scar.

The day she had been branded as a sex slave.

Unable to bear the humiliation, Eleonor had decided to take her own life. With every ounce of strength she had left, she had bitten down on her tongue.

A guard discovered her unconscious, blood spilling from her mouth, several hours later. A skilled court physician had quickly reattached the partially severed tongue.

But perhaps because the nerves had been damaged, even swallowing saliva now caused pain throughout her mouth.

Seeing that she remained silent, Emperor Joshua’s green eyes glimmered coldly.

“I still don’t understand.”

“…….”

“How could you kill the woman I love and wear such a composed expression?”

“……Hrk. I…… have…… something…… to say……”

A sound like metal scraping against metal escaped her throat.

Her throat hurt terribly, and Eleonor grimaced as she forced herself to speak. She exerted so much strength that the blue veins in her neck stood out.

Joshua, watching her, frowned in irritation.

“Seriously. You’re such a tiresome woman.”

The Emperor loosely lowered the sword he held in one hand and stared into empty space.

His gaze was quite fierce.

Because his expression barely changed, Eleonor had no way of knowing what he was thinking.

Her blue eyes shone coldly.

“……Why should…… I be the only one……?”

Eleonor struggled to spit out the sarcastic words.

Joshua gave a mocking laugh and shook his head.

“Haah. I feel sorry for Helena for ever trusting a woman like you.”

He looked down at Eleonor with cold eyes.

“Why did you kill Helena? And don’t tell me it was because you loved me. You don’t love someone like me.”

“…….”

When the Emperor referred to himself as someone like me, the knights surrounding him—including his guards and royal guards—lowered their heads in embarrassment and distress.

But Joshua paid no attention to their reactions.

He merely cast a crooked gaze at Eleonor.

“Why? Have you decided not to make excuses anymore?”

“…….”

“Do you really want to die like this?”

Despite the Emperor’s threat, Eleonor neither denied nor confirmed his words.

Because, in truth, he was right.

Eleonor genuinely wanted to die.

That desire had already taken root in her heart when her parents were beheaded before her eyes.

Why had she poisoned Helena’s carriage?

Why had she attempted to assassinate her?

What could she possibly say to someone who had already decided who the culprit was and begun his investigation?

There was no point in making unnecessary excuses.

Joshua had never asked Eleonor anything all this time.

So why was he asking these questions now?

Even when she had screamed that she had done nothing to Helena, even when Helena’s parents had knelt before him and begged him to spare Eleonor’s life, even when Eleonor had confessed to a crime she had never committed in order to save her parents—

He had never once asked why she had poisoned Helena.

Now that things had reached this point, Eleonor thought she understood his intentions.

Joshua had simply been waiting for an opportunity to kill her.

He had never needed a reason for why Helena was killed.

He merely intended to use this opportunity to get rid of Eleonor.

The fact that she had once believed someone like him was the person with whom she would walk through the rest of her life felt so absurd that she almost laughed.

A bitter smile appeared at the corner of Eleonor’s mouth.

At that moment, a violent pain surged through her chest, and she frowned.

When Helena died, Joshua had ordered the guards to torture Eleonor.

At first, the guards had hesitated.

But before long, they began torturing her without a second thought, even laughing as they watched her writhe in agony.

She could have endured that alone.

But at some point, people who claimed to be physicians began injecting something strange into her body.

Ever since then, the pain in her chest had never stopped.

Now she had truly reached her limit.

Her upper body, which she had stubbornly kept upright while kneeling, finally collapsed.

Her powerless body sprawled across the ground.

The worn prison uniform reeked from the pus seeping out of her wounds.