What scheme is it this time? Ilarid’s expression hardened at the news of an unexpected visitor arriving.

“It would be better to send Captain Lebel out first.”

“But if you leave now, you’ll run into them right away. What should we do… His Majesty the Emperor will be arriving soon…”

The maid paced nervously with a frightened look on her face. Ilarid glanced at Lebel. If they used his ability, perhaps they could sneak out like they did at the banquet hall last time.

Lebel still looked relaxed, as if lost in thought. Ilarid brought up a few excuses she had prepared in case of emergency.

“I should leave.”

But he was looking towards the window, not the door.

The windows of the reception room faced the back of the Empress’s Palace. If they jumped from the balcony, it would be possible to escape immediately. There was a drop, but not enough to be fatal.

“Lebel, can’t you escape with that ability of yours?”

“I can’t use it carelessly. I’m not a sorcerer after all. A perceptive opponent would notice right away.”

The opponent happened to be Cledius. At the banquet hall, he had been drunk and the Empress was clinging to him, so he didn’t have time to focus on Lebel.

But now there were fewer people gathered, and above all, they had to move close by. The risk was too great.

“Hurry. His Majesty the Emperor will arrive soon.”

“Madam Chamberlain. Her Majesty the Empress was resting here with you.”

Was he telling her to create the situation herself? Lynette immediately understood Lebel’s words and nodded.

“Your Majesty.”

There was an inexplicable sadness in his voice as he called out to Ilarid. Even in the midst of the urgent rush, he slowly opened his mouth to leave words of encouragement.

“Endure with all your might. Your Majesty… is a strong person.”

“What are you seeing in this situation to…”

She had never shown strength in front of him. On the day of Selina’s enthronement ceremony, she had collapsed unable to overcome a headache, and even at the victory banquet she hadn’t been much help. Rather, hadn’t she only received his help?

He must have only seen her weak and worst sides, was this just words to comfort her?

Lebel stepped closer to Ilarid. A delicate body that seemed about to fall into his arms. But Ilarid had a strength that would not yield to anyone.

“You stood up for me at the banquet hall.”

“It’s like a habit. I don’t like seeing others being insulted like that…”

“That action is the very image of what the strongest person can show.”

Eyes containing different shades of blue pierced into each other. Lebel emphasized once more with force.

“The words and actions Your Majesty the Empress has shown require more courage than facing multiple enemies on a battlefield.”

Sometimes kindness becomes the strongest shield to block violence.

At the root of the courage to embrace those trapped in the cycle of violence, to protest and step forward, was kindness.

“So… never give up.”

With those final words, Lebel ran to the window and flung open the glass pane. A cool breeze rushed in.

“Wait!”

Before she could stop him, Lebel disappeared over the balcony without hesitation. The maid quickly ran over to arrange the curtains and close the window again. A stifling silence filled the reception room.

“Your Majesty the Empress. His Majesty the Emperor has arrived.”

When Cledius entered the reception room, it was peaceful and quiet as if nothing had happened.

Lynette was nonchalantly embroidering across a small table, while Ilarid was reading a newspaper while drinking tea. The two stood up to greet the Emperor.

“Did I interrupt your rest time?”

“Not at all.”

Ilarid glanced at Cledius’s face.

‘Did he notice?’

But as always, he just looked down at her with a fishy smile. He didn’t see. But she couldn’t relax yet.

Whenever Cledius visited the Empress’s Palace, he always brought bad news. He probably didn’t come just to irritate Ilarid.

“I have something to talk about with the Empress.”

Lynette left the room, unable to shake off the worry in her eyes. As the sound of the door closing was heard, Cledius slowly approached Ilarid.

“I understand the unification is not far off.”

“I’m afraid it will be difficult this time as well. The court physician should have sent a medical opinion, have you not seen it yet?”

Their misaligned gazes never met again.

Last time, the chamberlain of the Imperial Palace had come to relay Cledius’s words. Ilarid had managed to set a date with trembling hands, but Letitia, the Empress’s physician, had strongly objected and sent a written opinion to Cledius.

Where does this stubbornness to forcibly carry out the unification come from, despite all that?

Cledius’s world always revolved around himself. He was a man filled only with the desire to take what he wanted, regardless of Ilarid’s physical condition.

He lifted Ilarid’s chin with his fingertips. Their misaligned gazes finally met.

“Do you know that there’s only one life left?”

“Of course.”

Coward. Ilarid’s eyes grew cold as she answered. Threatening with the life of Lynette, the only person left by her side, had become almost a habit now.

And not just Lynette. If he could, he would take all of Ilarid’s people in the Empress’s Palace hostage and threaten them. She could even feel his vicious determination to not leave a single person Ilarid could rely on.

‘Never give up.’

Ilarid recalled Lebel’s words. Was he referring to Cledius? Perhaps Lebel saw more beyond those blue eyes.

She had risen from despair and vowed not to crumble. Ilarid’s eyes shone blue once again.

Before her was only a pathetic creature who threatened by twisting others’ lives. There was no need to be afraid.

‘You have to face a coward with cowardly methods. Only then will he realize his own wretchedness.’

Ilarid chose to respond in kind.

She shook off Cledius’s hand and unwrapped the thin scarf around her neck. Soon the diagonal scar that had been hidden was revealed before his eyes.

“The moment you take the lives of my people, I will die too.”

She was sincere, just like that day. Cledius’s face gradually hardened as he saw the scar on Ilarid’s neck.

“Even if Your Majesty takes away my remaining weapons and ties my hands and feet, I will use every means to end this life.”

Ilarid knew what Cledius feared most.

‘My death, I suppose.’

Struggling and finally breaking in his arms. For that, he needed Ilarid ‘with breath still in her’. How could a dead person resist, think, and rebel?

“If I’m left alone in this world, I have no reason or attachment to live.”

Ilarid moved closer to Cledius. He looked at her with trembling eyes, not even having withdrawn his pushed-away arm.

Soon her scarf was placed in Cledius’s hand that had been floating in the air. The beautiful green fabric fluttered, leaving faint wrinkles.

“So I hope you make a wise decision.”

Those words that Cledius always muttered like a habit. Wise judgment and right choice.

The method of throwing it right back gave quite a thrilling tremor. Reason and emotion were probably having a full-scale war in Cledius’s mind, swords pointed at each other.

‘You can never kill me.’

Ilarid confirmed it clearly in this moment. Leaving Cledius still with a hardened face, she moved out of the room.

Cledius stared at the spot where Ilarid had been standing for a long time. As if retracing the traces of her departure, Cledius, who had been looking dazed for a moment, opened his mouth and muttered softly.

“Die, you say, Ilarid?”

Rough breaths were embedded between the words that burst from his mouth at intervals.

The irregular breathing gathered into one and created laughter.

“Puh… Hahaha!”

Cledius laughed, covering his eyes with his hand and shaking his whole body. It was closer to screaming out the emotions inside than laughing.

A soft sensation was felt on his eyelids. The thin scarf Ilarid had been wearing was crumpled mercilessly on his palm.

“That can’t be. You said you live for my death. Didn’t you swear that?”

Cledius gently caressed the scarf in his hand. He could feel the soft texture fully.

The thing that had been closest to Ilarid’s skin. Cledius gripped the scarf tightly, as if grabbing her wrist.

“From the moment I first saw you, I wanted to make you mine.”

He still remembered the silver hair fluttering in the wind. That mysterious appearance mixed with the green foliage of the trees.

The sound of his fiercely beating heart traced between the creases of the crumpled scarf.

It was Cledius who could not live without Ilarid’s existence. How much blood had he shed to obtain her completely?

He slowly raised his hand and kissed Ilarid’s scarf. Ilarid’s scent was still vividly present, not yet faded.

The scent of crushed rose petals. He wanted to take that raw fragrance into his lungs, even deeper inside. He breathed in and out deeply, as if he couldn’t let go of even one bit.

“Ilarid. You can never escape from here.”

But the breath exhaled by the one left alone did not become like anyone else’s. It just lingered in the air and dispersed futilely.

When Cledius left the reception room of the Empress’s Palace, there were still maids standing outside. He ordered in a low voice to the bowing maids.

“Tell the chamberlain as well. Since the Empress is not feeling well, I will postpone the unification. However… prepare the Empress’s bath water warm.”

So you knew everything. Sweat broke out on the spines of the maids who heard the Emperor’s words.

Ilarid always tried to keep her body cold. She deliberately bathed in cold water and strictly disciplined her body.

As if she never wanted to have a child again.

Letitia nagged that it would make her body even weaker, but she didn’t care. She rather welcomed it as another excuse to forcibly postpone the unification.

But with the Emperor’s order given, they could no longer prepare cold water.

“Yes, Your Majesty…”

Leaving behind the maids answering in trembling voices, he left the Empress’s Palace.

Cledius still held the scarf in his hand.

The sunlight falling on the Empress’s Palace created a slanted shadow. Lebel was quietly hiding his body in the shadow, watching those leaving the Empress’s Palace.

Did the suddenly arrived Emperor do something harsh to Ilarid? He was a man who openly embraced his mistress in front of the Empress.

If he thought about how he might have insulted Ilarid with that snake-like tongue, he wanted to cut off the Emperor’s neck right away.

Soon the door of the Empress’s Palace opened. But it wasn’t who Lebel hoped for.

‘Cledius.’

The name of his enemy and the one he must cut down. Lebel silently chewed on it inside. Not noticing Lebel hidden in the shadows, Cledius began walking towards the bright light.

He was truly a man like the sun. One who never leaves the light. A man whose only darkness since birth was probably just a summer parasol.

‘That’s…’

Between his steps, the green scarf in Cledius’s hand could be seen. Lebel could recognize it at once, having seen it just minutes ago.