“I want to be alone with you.”

“But you’re not feeling well.”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m sick, but it feels like it’ll get better if we just stay like this.”

Due to Lakrahan, who kept burying himself in her, Bercheria couldn’t move.

Clearly, his head seemed to be boiling, but he said he was okay. She couldn’t figure out what to do.

“Will it really get better if we just stay like this?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, got it.”

Bercheria comforted the clinging Lakrahan and embraced him. She discreetly touched his forehead, but it didn’t seem to worsen.

“If you fall asleep, I’ll look for something to eat. Something suitable here.”

“There’s probably something to eat if we look around.”

“Yeah.”

“For now, let’s rest like this for a bit.”

“Yeah.”

Feeling the caress of her hand on his head, Lakrahan closed his eyes.

Star icon

Thunk

At the sound of the wolves again, Groovy shook his head.

“Now, there’s nothing we can do.”

Then he took out a tightly rolled towel from his chest.

It was an item that Leonne had given him this morning.

Inside were clothes imbued with Bercheria’s scent.

“Hmm.”

Carefully unfolding it, shabby clothes popped out.

“Oh.”

Groovy’s pupils shook.

Why on earth was Bercheria wearing such clothes?

His face suddenly became hot, so he covered himself with the towel.

Groovy bowed his head deeply for a moment.

He asked himself again.

Do you want to go back to the underground prison?

No.

Absolutely not.

Even if there’s a chance of death, I won’t go back.

Groovy raised his head with a calm expression.

And while chewing his lips, he spread out the towel.

Creak.

Not long after, fierce wolves began to gather around him.

Star icon

Empress Laurence of Ferriat came out to the terrace at night and quietly admired the unfolding scenery.

After the war, the Ferriat imperial family had been busy repairing damaged buildings for a while.

Thanks to these movements, most places were restored to their former state, but there were still some places left neglected.

The bridge just below the terrace, the empress’s room, was one of them.

Even after ten years, this place was still under construction.

It was unknown whether it was intentional or impossible, but this was the only place that was always under construction, so not many people came and went.

Iron wires were tightly hung on both sides of the bridge, blocking access.

Creak!

A large eagle in the sky let out a cry, drawing a large circle.

“Hmm.”

Laurence sighed deeply.

Whenever she came out at night and stared blankly at the landscapes visible from her room, her mood always sank.
Today, especially with both the Emperor and the government heading north, it felt as if the palace had emptied. While everyone else is living their lives for themselves, Laurence wonders if she has spent too much time sacrificing for others. Is a life like this, not having properly made even one person she loves throughout her entire life, truly right? In the past, just becoming the Empress made her happy, but now she thinks about how it might have been better if she were not the Empress. Or perhaps, what if she were the Empress of another country, not Ferriat? Would she have been happy? Ferriat may not have a long history, but there were still somewhat rigid aspects in its laws and customs. For example, while the Emperor could have the government by his side, no one other than the Emperor was allowed by the Empress. The budget allocated to the Empress was a mere fraction of the Emperor’s, a so-called negligible amount. This was discrimination. The problem was that the government official, Leonne, might be living a more luxurious life than her, the Empress, or perhaps even as extravagantly as the Emperor. The palace servants were trying harder to impress Leonne than Empress Laurence, which might have been natural. Despite knowing all this, Laurence always endured. Except for the day when Emperor Gerard got married, he never spent a night in her room, and she endured. As the Empress, she had no chance to bear offspring. Even as she aged day by day, lamenting this fact, she endured.