Dew created by the dawn hung over the grass.

Water droplets scattered low as footsteps treaded softly. Far beyond the horizon, a fiery color rose as if the east was breaking.

Ilarid slowly walked towards the Empress’s palace. Though she appeared lonely walking alone without her maids, each step was filled with strength.

The sensation of Lebel’s whispered vow still lingered on the back of her hand. The faint warmth that touched her bare forehead melted her cold hands. As if trying to preserve that warmth, Ilarid quickened her pace with her hands clasped.

He was a mercenary contracted with the Emperor and possessed quite outstanding skills. Moreover, the number of members had increased with the recent recruitment of new members. The forces surrounding Lebel were not to be taken lightly, making it difficult to find fault and eliminate him carelessly.

And given Cledius’s personality, he would never openly harm Lebel.

‘He is arrogant. He will never admit his misjudgment.’

It was Cledius himself who brought Lebel into the imperial palace. If he showed any movement to eliminate Lebel, it would be like publicly admitting that his own judgment was wrong.

If Lebel becomes the ‘shadow’, Cledius will try to grasp every move of Ilarid and the ‘shadow’. When he focuses all his attention on the Empress’s palace, gaps are bound to appear naturally.

But at the same time, he must keep a close eye on the Emperor’s palace. What wouldn’t a person consumed by jealousy do? The crumbling expression on Cledius’s face was still vivid.

Ridiculously, Cledius still loves Ilarid.

It was questionable whether one could call it ‘love’ given his behavior so far, but at least it was certain that some feelings remained.

Then it should be gladly utilized. Strength unconsciously entered Ilarid’s hand.

One tries to grasp weaknesses to exploit, while the other tries to prevent being used like a tool. Ilarid let out a deflated laugh.

After hearing in the infirmary that she should use herself as a tool, Ilarid, pushed by her conscience, stammered her words.

‘To use me…’

‘I understand what Your Majesty the Empress is concerned about.’

Lebel cut off her hesitation in an instant. He raised his head towards Ilarid, still kneeling.

‘A tool has no will, but help comes with heart.’

In those devout eyes, an unwavering belief shone firmly. That clear and strong gaze drew a gentle curve as it looked at Ilarid.

‘My feelings of having fallen for Your Majesty the Empress… remain unchanged even now.’

Since when? From the moment he entered the imperial palace, or much earlier? Could it have been from when they met at the slave market? What exactly did he see to be able to say without hesitation that he had fallen for her?

‘I wonder if he heard?’

Ilarid recalled the words she had whispered when Lebel was fighting a high fever. I too have fallen for you. But how could he have been in any state to hear that? She shook her head gently as she headed towards the Empress’s palace.

When she arrived at the Empress’s palace, dawn was slowly breaking. Though it should still be quiet inside the Empress’s palace, strangely, there was busy movement visible from within.

“What’s going on?”

As soon as Ilarid entered, she examined the faces of the maids. Judging by their undisguisable troubled expressions, there was only one person who would visit at this hour.

“Your Majesty the Empress. His Majesty the Emperor… said he would wait in the bedroom.”

She had thought he would gather his wits and barge in sometime in the afternoon, but it seems he wasn’t a patient man after all. Ilarid quietly clicked her tongue so the maids wouldn’t hear. Then she looked at the maids and used a commanding tone for the first time in a very long while.

“Go tell His Majesty the Emperor that there is no custom of receiving guests in the bedroom at the Empress’s palace. At this hour, it is time for morning transcription at the Empress’s palace.”

The maids grasped the gravity of the situation. This was not the usual calm and gentle Ilarid. They bowed to the Empress and, led by Lynette, headed towards the bedroom of the Empress’s palace.

Meanwhile, Ilarid headed to her office. The thirsty dig their own wells. The one with much to say would come on his own feet, so there was no need to go through the trouble of greeting him.

Ilarid sat at her office desk and opened the bottom drawer. She reached her hand under the papers where she had transcribed . Stacks of letters of support were hidden under the transcription papers.

Many who had come forward to support the Empress after hearing about the ‘May Day’. Promises of cooperation disguised as greetings. She felt the weight of those promises as she gathered the letters separately and stored them in another drawer with a lock.

Then she took out the papers she had transcribed so far. Even as single sheets, the volume was considerable when taken out now. Ilarid stacked the transcribed papers neatly on the desk.

She picked up one sheet and scanned through the contents she had written. The past times she had endured while writing each sentence vividly came to mind. The contents engraved while enduring all sorts of insults were not only unhelpful but unusable, yet they were quite useful as a smoke screen.

As she quietly read the stack of papers on the desk, the office door opened with a loud noise.

“Good morning, Your Majesty the Emperor.”

Cledius approached Ilarid’s desk with a hardened face. Despite making a bombshell declaration in front of him at dawn, her face was remarkably composed.

“How dare you order the Emperor around, it seems our Empress has lost her fear.”

“Except for unavoidable circumstances, we cannot receive guests in the bedroom.”

“Am I a guest?”

Cledius’s expression distorted visibly. The distance implied by the word ‘guest’ – neither a partner, husband, nor spouse – was considerable.

As soon as he left the infirmary, he barged into the Empress’s bedroom on his own. Pushing aside the startled maids as he entered, he imagined embracing Ilarid.

Would the Ilarid that man embraced and the Ilarid he would possess look different?

Cledius erased Lebel from the image of the two people that appeared in his imagination. And he inserted his own image. What if it were Cledius embracing Ilarid?

But even the Ilarid he conjured in his imagination pushed Cledius away.

The Ilarid before him now only held a cold sneer. She had only an icy aura that wouldn’t even flinch, let alone shed tears, if stabbed.

“Your Majesty the Emperor is an esteemed guest visiting the Empress’s palace.”

The businesslike tone addressing a perfect stranger came out in clipped phrases. Cledius seemed dumbfounded as he let out a bitter laugh and touched his forehead.

“Empress, do you think I will leave that man… alone?”

“Just as I showed boundless generosity to the Empress Consort who was formerly a ‘shadow’, I believe without doubt that Your Majesty the Emperor will do the same.”

Ilarid countered Cledius’s words with a bright smile. Not once had she treated Selina carelessly after she became Cledius’s ‘shadow’.

“I have always fulfilled my duties in the position of Empress. Did I imprison the Empress Consort or call her separately to beat her? Rather, I highly valued her desire to please Your Majesty the Emperor.”

From her mouth flowed a mixture of beautifully packaged lies and truths.

Originally, the ‘shadow’ was perceived as an invisible existence in the imperial palace. Therefore, they had to act as if unseen even when visible, as if non-existent even when present. Jealousy and scheming towards the ‘shadow’ was also forbidden.

As much caution and care was needed in all actions, but Selina was a serious exception. Cledius raised Selina above the surface excessively, and she became arrogant, trusting in the Emperor’s backing and affection.

“Living with law and etiquette on your lips, you bring in a ‘shadow’ while having a husband?”

“I got tired of having it on my lips all the time. I think it’s time to spit it out now.”

Cledius, who always subdued and toyed with others with his eloquent tongue, was speechless as if his mouth had become paralyzed. Ilarid hid a dagger within her graceful smile as she watched Cledius’s disgraceful state.

It was the moment when the only courtesy completely left his hands.

“Your Majesty must have enjoyed it too. In the room next to the Empress’s office, even on the day of our union… you kept a ‘shadow’ by your side day and night.”

Ilarid lifted the stack of papers she was holding. written in beautiful handwriting writhed on the paper.

These damn rules. Just written on paper, not a single one valid in the imperial family.

“As Your Majesty knows, there is no law that says an Empress cannot have a ‘shadow’.”

She threw the papers she was holding over Cledius’s head.

The white papers fluttered down with light, gentle sounds.

The spectacle of papers settling quietly like falling feathers after a bird has flown was beautiful. Cledius stared blankly at Ilarid, at a loss for words.

Through the gaps between the papers, fragmented glimpses of Ilarid could be seen. She was smiling kindly, but at the end of it, an undisguisable mockery hung beautifully.

“So now I too… intend to play.”

**

There exists a secret space within the imperial palace.

Befitting the majesty and accumulated history of the imperial nation, the vast imperial palace. Inside, one could easily get lost with a single misstep. Those who had not been in the palace long often lost their way, to the extent that they needed to be accompanied by a guide for several months.

Being able to navigate the imperial palace without getting lost meant that one had spent a long time there.

Cledius dismissed his attendants, saying he wanted to be alone for a while. The corridor of the Emperor’s palace became quiet, leaving only Cledius behind. He headed unhesitatingly towards the Emperor’s private study.

As soon as he arrived at the study, he touched a few books from the bookshelf that filled the wall. Soon, with a dull sound, both sides of the bookshelf opened.

Inside was a long passage. It was a space filled with such thick darkness that one would hesitate to even set foot if there were no light, but Cledius headed in without hesitation.

The place he eventually arrived at was a space connected to the imperial family’s secret greenhouse.

A secret room that had been passed down since the imperial palace was built. Originally it was the Emperor’s shelter in case of emergencies, but the Empress Dowager turned it into a laboratory for developing poisons. Cledius, who inherited this space of intrigue, diligently utilized it.

The small drawer cabinet attached to the wall was full of various medicinal herbs and unnamed flowers for making poisons. Most of the flowers cultivated in the Emperor’s secret greenhouse came here to be turned into poison.

‘What exactly was the problem?’

Cledius rechecked the poison formula placed on the desk. There was nothing wrong. Lebel’s symptoms clearly matched those that would appear as the injected poison spread.

A normal person would not have survived half a day, but Lebel endured those symptoms. Didn’t he even lower his fever and stand up perfectly fine without even coughing up blood?

‘If he has immunity or… the ability to slow down the spread of poison.’

But he was no sorcerer of Pegeia, and it was impossible for a northern youngster to have such abilities. That poison had no antidote and couldn’t even be detected.

It was a poison made directly by none other than the Empress Dowager. Although it had changed to be absorbed directly through the skin rather than ingested, thanks to Cledius’s modifications, its effects remained the same. Only the Empress Dowager and her son Cledius knew the results of the poisoning.

It was a poison that had killed most of their political opponents. Even the Empress Dowager herself fell victim to the poison she had created.

Cledius could be even more certain about the poison as he watched his mother dying on her sickbed.

Did mother realize that her son had made her drink the poison?

Of course not. The paper with the poison formula under Cledius’s hand crumpled slightly. Mother probably didn’t know until the moment of her death.

Given the Empress Dowager’s personality, she would not have forgiven even her own child if they harmed her.