“A murderer… I intend to uncover that gradually.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, things like the injustices the woman experienced?”

Carlos gave a brief answer and closed his mouth.

No matter how one looked at it, their lord was truly an inscrutable person. The aides remained silent for a moment, each gathering their thoughts.

The storm this incident would bring would be no small matter.

Still, everyone kept their mouths shut.

It seemed Carlos didn’t want to say anything more.

And no one could comment on the emperor’s love.

Carlos leaned back deeply into the sofa.

Since he was going to attribute today’s actions to love anyway, there was no need to correct his subordinates’ misunderstandings.

As a strange tension flowed through the room, the loyal subordinates withdrew to give the emperor some rest.

And as evening passed, finally someone knocked on the door.

“I apologize for the late hour, Your Majesty. The King has requested a conversation.”

It seemed the stage for dialogue was finally set.

‘Well. He must have been quite shocked.’

Since Carlos himself had not exactly followed proper etiquette, he decided to be understanding as he headed towards the room where he was told preparations were complete.

His long legs took light steps.

* * *

The emperor was unmoved by all the king’s persuasions and pleas. He even went so far as to threaten, ‘It seems Your Majesty wishes to make an enemy of the Lume Empire.’

The Kingdom of Sheim could never, ever defeat the Lume Empire.

Ridiculously enough, Sheim ended up having to hand over the felon who had killed the crown prince to the Lume Empire.

News of this spread to neighboring countries in an instant. The Kingdom of Sheim had to face great shame.

Regardless.

“It’s taking an excruciatingly long time.”

It took three days by ship from Sheim to the Lume Empire. After disembarking, it took two more days from the port to the capital. So they should have arrived at the imperial palace in five days.

Of course, assuming everyone was healthy.

But currently, on the fifth day, they had still not arrived at the capital of Lume.

The ship had somehow managed to sail, but the process of moving by land after arriving at the Lume port was painfully slow.

So Carlos, who had been too busy to pay attention to Mercedes during the journey, finally had to find the court physician to inquire about her condition.

Far away from Mercedes and the rest of the party, that is.

“That… person’s body is seriously weakened. It’s not surprising for a noble who was confined in an underground prison. Her condition was poor throughout the journey on the ship, so moving by land seems even more difficult.”

Unable to decide on how to address the criminal the emperor had rescued, the court physician awkwardly continued.

“I ordered the preparation of the most comfortable and sturdy carriage. Is there still a problem?”

“Yes. It seems we’ll have to wait a bit until her health recovers. As she’s a noblewoman who has only grown up in a greenhouse, even the small vibrations of the carriage could be a great shock to her, I’m afraid.”

“Hmm.”

The interior of the carriage prepared by the imperial family to transport Mercedes was almost like moving a bed.

Throughout the journey, lying in that soft place, Mercedes was seriously ill.

Isn’t it a comfortable place?

What could be so difficult?

For Carlos, who had slept on horseback during wars, it was hard to understand how the shaking of a carriage could affect one’s health.

‘It’s not like she’s under some curse.’

Carlos smiled bitterly.

Listening to the court physician’s continued report, it seemed Mercedes had been burning with fever since the moment they left Sheim. Her throat was so swollen she couldn’t even swallow food.

Moreover, the medicine…

‘She’s refusing it herself.’

“So she hasn’t eaten anything at all until now?”

“We used incense to induce sleep and then poured soup or medicine into her mouth. That was the best we could do.”

“…Haa. Is she sleeping now?”

“She’s probably awake. Her nerves are so sensitive that even the incense doesn’t work well. In my estimation, she hasn’t slept properly since leaving Sheim. I heard from the guards that they’ve seen her sitting still with her eyes open even at night.”

“…Anything else?”

The more he heard, the more astounded he became.

Not putting anything in her mouth and sitting blankly with open eyes. Doesn’t it sound like someone who wants to die? No, it sounded like someone who was already dead.

‘Well. She did want to die.’

He finally remembered the voice that had pleaded to be killed in the courtroom.

This case was a bit of an excessive action even for Carlos.

He had rudely threatened Sheim, so he needed to placate them somewhat. And being stuck in Sheim had delayed many matters that caught up with him on the return journey, keeping him busy dealing with them.

So he needed to head to the capital even more quickly.

“…There’s no choice. I’ll go talk to her myself. You rest.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

He had planned to have a formal conversation after arriving at the capital and dressing properly.

But with their land journey crawling along and his hands tied, he had no choice but to step in.

He erased his bitter smile and furrowed brow, putting on a gentle smile. It was the perfect face of a ruler.

He couldn’t show a bad impression, after all.

After speaking with the court physician somewhere Mercedes couldn’t hear, he unhesitatingly moved towards Mercedes’ carriage.

Knock knock.

He knocked on the door twice, but there was no response from inside. Carlos didn’t wait and just opened the door. The emperor could do that.

“…”

Even though the door opened, Mercedes didn’t turn to look at him, sitting blankly with her back leaned against something.

‘Just like a corpse.’

Carlos entered the carriage and sat down on the edge.

“I heard you’re not eating or taking medicine.”

“…”

“If I order you as emperor, will you regain your health?”

“…Ah. Emperor… Your Majesty.”

Mercedes only moved her eyes when she heard the word ’emperor’.

With hair so light it looked almost blonde and green eyes, she was beautiful even though she clearly lacked vitality.

She exuded a strange charm that was dreamy yet precariously fragile, as if she might die at any moment.

Carlos, who had been quietly observing her appearance, smiled a bit more kindly.

“So. Do you want to die?”

“…Die. Yes. I want to die… There’s no reason to live.”

So she really did want to die. Carlos didn’t know everything about Mercedes’ life.

She was the crown prince’s murderer. Just getting her out of the iron cage and bringing her here had kept him busy. So there wasn’t enough time to dig up stories that a high noble from another country wanted to hide.

But he could guess to some extent why she had killed the crown prince.

She could have died alone. She could have ended her life by suicide. But she made it into a big incident. That was clearly… revenge for something.

Even after entering the palace, and before that, Mercedes had always lived in seclusion, never showing her face in social circles.

So there was only one person around her who could have made her harbor such resentment, besides the crown prince.

“Then let me ask one thing.”

“…”

“Aren’t you curious about your father’s well-being?”

“…Pardon?”

“I mean Count Cromwell. Aren’t you curious how well he’s doing?”

“Pardon?”

For a moment, a faint light filled Mercedes’ ghostly eyes.

“…Doing well… you say. Col… ock…”

She stammered.

“Surely… the family must have been… exterminated.”

“Is that what you think?”

When Carlos asked back, Mercedes’ eyes wavered.

Carlos knew well.

To live life, one needs a purpose.

Even something trivial. People tend to live life just because they want to eat a single apple slice right now.

The reason Mercedes wanted to die was probably because she thought her revenge was over.

Then shouldn’t we give her a reason to live, a purpose?

It was revenge.

Carlos was someone who could help with revenge, and someone who could give Mercedes accurate information and take care of her.

“…Is Count Cromwell… alive?”

As she spoke faster, Mercedes’ voice cracked and made a terrible metallic sound.

Nevertheless, that question sounded very clear to Carlos.

“You need to drink some water. Bring some warm water.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

One of his many aides moved quickly to bring warm water.

Humbly, the emperor himself handed over the water contained in a canteen, but Mercedes shook her head.

“Count Cromwell… Cough, is he… alive… Cough?”

Her eyes, waiting for an answer, were even bloodshot.

After living like a corpse, suddenly overflowing with human vitality. Isn’t it the most intense thing that flows only from humans, negative emotions?

Carlos inwardly suppressed the smile that was rising from unnecessary satisfaction and put on a serious face.

“Yes. He’s alive.”

He answered in a light tone.

Carlos knew well.

Handling people was not a difficult task.

Winning hearts was the same.

He just needed to give Mercedes what she needed. Then she would naturally cling to life.

“There are two pieces of information I know for certain. Count Cromwell is not dead. The Cromwell family was not exterminated.”

“How… How is that possible.”

“Why. Didn’t you think that with the crown prince dead, the succession struggle would intensify in the Kingdom of Sheim, where there were already many candidates? Didn’t you consider that Count Cromwell might have shrewdly attached himself to someone strong to survive? The possibility that he might have deliberately been at the forefront in condemning you and showing signs of repentance?”

“…Ah.”

“I’ll need to look into it more closely, but… There are even rumors circulating that the crown prince, who was your husband, had an illegitimate child and that Count Cromwell is keeping that child.”

“An illegitimate… child…?”

It shouldn’t have been surprising for Mercedes. The crown prince had been promiscuous, so it was possible for an illegitimate child to exist.

But even so, her eyes grew clearer and gradually filled with something.

That was emotion. Anger, or perhaps sorrow, that Carlos could not even guess at.

Carlos quietly observed her.

“He didn’t… die. I was… the only one dying.”

Mercedes mumbled. She seemed to be thinking. Carlos waited for a moment.

After mumbling for a while, Mercedes looked directly at Carlos with blank eyes.

Finally.

Translation complete. 100% of original text translated.