Ilarid did not return to the Empress’s Palace.

Cledius, upon receiving the report from his attendant, showed signs of displeasure. Ilarid, who had always stayed in the Empress’s Palace like a built-in closet, had disappeared somewhere without a word.

Of course, it was the Empress’s freedom to move around facilities within the empire. Especially for spaces directly under imperial control, she could come and go without time restrictions.

For example, the hospital.

“Where is the Empress?”

“She is said to be at the Imperial Hospital.”

Cledius’s fingertips trembled slightly. Lebel is there. Does she intend to witness his death in person?

‘This should be interesting.’

His jaw clenched tightly, aching. He dismissed all his attendants and left the Imperial Palace. It was the time when darkness was just fleeing from the edge of dawn.

The fact that she hadn’t returned yet meant she had been with him all this time.

Although he tried to dismiss it thinking, ‘He’s going to die anyway,’ a strange pain gnawed at his solar plexus. This unpleasant sensation was clearly jealousy.

Throughout his journey to the hospital, Cledius inwardly hoped Lebel would be dead.

What expression would Ilarid have while looking at Lebel’s lifeless body?

Would she mourn and shed tears in front of Lebel’s death? Or would she hold his corpse, bury her face in it, and kiss the lips of the deceased?

The more he thought about it, the more strange emotions boiled inside his chest. Even if that man died, it didn’t seem like these unpleasant feelings would disappear.

When Cledius flung open the hospital room door, disappointment that Lebel was not yet dead and anger rose simultaneously.

Lebel had just been leaning on Ilarid’s shoulder. The two, who had been close, half-embracing each other, separated upon seeing Cledius.

Ilarid stood up from her chair and tried to gauge Cledius’s intentions. Judging by his stiff expression, he had probably come looking for her after hearing the report that she hadn’t returned to the Empress’s Palace.

He wouldn’t be the type to care enough to check on Lebel’s condition. Or did he hope for his death? She approached Cledius, maintaining a polite posture.

“Your Imperial Majesty, to come here at this hour.”

“…I came to receive a report.”

A report had already been submitted. Hadn’t Cledius himself announced a statement that he would severely punish Rozen’s rebels?

Ilarid, sensing an unusual atmosphere, blocked the Emperor’s path.

“Your Majesty, Commander Lebel’s condition is not good right now. It might be better to receive the report later…”

“Empress, please leave.”

“I will listen together.”

“Did you not hear me say leave, Empress!”

The shout rang sharply through the hospital room. At Cledius’s cry, attendants and nurses hurriedly opened the door, but sensing the suddenly frozen atmosphere, they carefully closed it again.

Despite the angry outburst, Ilarid showed no signs of being startled. With a faint sigh, a cold mask settled over her face. Cledius’s shouting was not even an object of fear for Ilarid.

“Your Imperial Highness.”

Lebel, who had been sitting on the bed, rose. He bent slightly at the waist and whispered to Ilarid.

“I will see you soon.”

She still hadn’t given an answer to what Lebel had said earlier. His words asking to be used freely. While those words were welcome, the thought that she shouldn’t do so kept tormenting Ilarid’s mind.

How could she? She couldn’t push him back into danger when he had come to her.

As if reading Ilarid’s thoughts, Lebel deliberately brushed past her hand as he stepped in front of her.

“Insolent bastard…”

Cledius, who had witnessed this scene in its entirety, muttered quietly. Does this guy have a separate life entrusted to him?

Lebel knelt on one knee before Cledius without hesitation. At this disciplined posture befitting a loyal subject, Cledius let out a scornful laugh.

“I behold the supreme sun of the Astrid Empire. I am ashamed that I cannot properly greet you due to my poor physical condition.”

Lebel continued speaking calmly. Ilarid, unable to hide the worry in her eyes, hesitated several times before stepping out of the hospital room. Of course, she didn’t give even a fleeting glance to Cledius.

“I report to Your Imperial Majesty. Those involved in this Rozen rebellion have been arrested and transported to the capital. Among them, Duke Le Rozen, who is considered the leader, has been captured alive, and the merchant guild officials who supported them have also…”

“Lebel. Did you not hear my order?”

“You commanded to behead the ringleaders.”

The calm tone was enough to turn Cledius’s stomach. Cledius lifted his foot and pushed Lebel’s shoulder, knocking him over.

“Get up.”

Lebel showed no resistance. He neither glared at the Emperor nor sprang to his feet. He simply knelt again silently and continued his report.

“I’ll ask again. Did you behead the ringleaders?”

“…It was impossible.”

“Why?”

“All those arrested claimed to be the ringleader. According to them, this rebellion was led jointly by all the people of Rozen.”

“…So.”

“Since the people of Rozen are now no different from Your Majesty’s subjects, I couldn’t arbitrarily behead…”

“Then you should have killed them all!”

Another kick followed. This time, it was a blow aimed at the solar plexus rather than the shoulder. With a gasp, Lebel collapsed onto the hospital floor.

Cledius approached the fallen Lebel and ordered, paying no heed.

“There’s nothing better for an insolent dog with poor hearing. Get up.”

Although his fever had subsided, he had not fully recovered. As Lebel staggered to his feet, trying to regain his posture, Cledius mercilessly grabbed his hair.

“Even if it meant turning Rozen into a sea of blood, you should have killed them all. Did you take my order lightly? Where did you sell off your title as the Beast of the North? Is your pitiful goodwill more important than the Emperor’s command?”

Pathetic bastard. Acting as if he could read the Emperor’s mind, this worthless bug. While pretending to swear loyalty subtly, he ended up coveting the Emperor’s possession.

Ilarid, how could you possibly associate with such a lowly creature?

“Do you know why I’m still keeping you alive? It’s because you’re just a skilled body. But you sure know how to use that body. How dare you, a mere nothing, touch what belongs to me?”

Cledius’s anger was directed at something entirely different. He seemed to have already forgotten the fact that Lebel had carried out the order in Rozen differently.

Ilarid crying, Lebel embracing the crying Ilarid. The image of the two filled Cledius’s vision.

Cledius’s hand, still gripping Lebel’s hair, trembled with anger.

Cledius violently jerked Lebel’s neck backward. A low groan that he couldn’t fully suppress escaped Lebel’s lips, but the eyes beneath his furrowed brow stared straight at the Emperor.

Cledius, swallowing the curses that threatened to burst out, issued a threat to Lebel.

“I will send you to Tamyl. Before Tamyl, you will quickly realize what your crime is.”

Is that so. Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty. Lebel smiled behind his closed lips. It was rather what he had hoped for. To personally deliver the person he needed to kill right before his eyes. He was simply grateful.

Despite the insults and verbal abuse, Lebel remained unfazed. A calmness without wavering. That composure fueled Cledius’s anger. Raw, unrefined anger blazed in Cledius’s red eyes.

“Such an insolent bastard… Why, does the one who dared to embrace another’s possession have more to say? Anything more you add here will only become a pathetic excuse.”

“Her Imperial Highness is not an object.”

Gray-blue eyes shone vividly before Cledius. It wasn’t simple jealousy. Lebel was genuinely angered by the treatment of Ilarid as an object.

My thing, my possession. Cledius always referred to Ilarid in such terms.

Lebel knew such treatment well from his multiple experiences. As a child in the slave market, and after the tragedy that struck the Melpiram mansion, he was treated as an object during his life as a mercenary.

The price tagged on each head. Raising the price because they were useful, and being discarded when the body was damaged because they were no longer usable was commonplace.

People are not objects. It was a phrase Limless had repeatedly emphasized after tearing up Lebel’s slave document.

‘You are not an object. If there are those who treat you carelessly and look down on you, fight back proudly.’

‘But if the innate social status is different, there’s nothing that can be done…’

‘There’s one thing people forget. The fact that people are dignified and noble from the moment they are born. That should take precedence over social status, but this country is still far from that.’

The person who first reached out to Lebel. Those who awakened the existence of a ‘home’ to return to. He was able to live on because there were people who continuously impressed upon him that he was a precious person.

That you are not an object. That you are a person like us.

But Cledius believed Ilarid to be his possession. He claims ownership over a person. A fool who only knows how to use and display people according to his own desires.

If there was a reason for keeping Ilarid by his side, it would be love rather than political reasons.

But Lebel denied Cledius’s ‘love’. If he truly loved Ilarid, he should have embraced and filled her with warmth. What had Cledius done all this time?

How childish can you be, using the excuse of being clumsy in love? A faint smile had already etched itself on Lebel’s lips.

He could never win Ilarid’s heart.

Cledius slammed Lebel’s head, which he had been gripping all this time, to the floor. Lebel barely managed to raise his arms to lift his fallen body.

“A lowly mercenary dares to try to meddle between this country’s Emperor and Empress?”

Cledius didn’t give Lebel a chance to stand up. Each time Lebel tried to rise again, he pushed and kicked him repeatedly. Even treating an animal would probably be kinder than this.

How many kicks had been exchanged? The sound of the hospital room door being flung open was heard. Cledius glared towards the door with a frown.

“Stop this at once, Your Imperial Majesty!”

A resolute voice without a hint of wavering. At the sharp, icy voice like a blade made of ice, Lebel struggled to move his body, staggering.

Grabbing the nearby bed post to stand up, he looked precarious without support. A vivid red stain was visible around Lebel’s lips, as if they had been split.

Ilarid approached with quick steps and blocked Cledius’s path.

“Your Imperial… Highness.”

“Commander Lebel, do not step forward.”

She raised her arm to stop Lebel without turning back. Watching this scene, Cledius let out a scornful laugh.

“I am in the process of taming an ill-mannered stray, Empress.”

“If you tame a dog like this, it will break its leash and run away.”

“He is a mercenary contracted with me, the Emperor, so how I handle him is my freedom. It is not for the Empress to be concerned about, so step aside immediately…”

“…No. You cannot treat him carelessly, Your Majesty.”

Ilarid interrupted Cledius’s words and looked at him straight on. The clear denial brought an ominous feeling. Cledius felt his body involuntarily shudder.

The event he had continuously pushed aside with ‘surely not’ was now crashing down. Conjectures he had tried to push to the back of his mind. It was the result of underestimating the sea that had always been calm. The low waves that had always been quiet suddenly receded, bringing back a massive wave.

Ilarid smiled faintly upon seeing Cledius’s bewildered gaze. And then she issued a declaration of war towards him.

“Lebel is my ‘shadow’.”