“Empress, what are you thinking about?”

My husband, Martin, asked me as I was lost in silent contemplation.

I answered while sitting still on my horse’s saddle.

“I was just thinking about the old days.”

“The old days?”

“When we first met, Your Majesty gave me a task, remember?”

“Ah…”

He nodded as if remembering.

“The Mirror Forest.”

“Yes, at that time… after defeating all the monsters, just as I was about to exit the rift… I met a certain child.”

“A child? In the rift?”

Martin expressed a puzzled look.

I nodded and finally shared a story I had kept to myself until now.

“I didn’t tell Your Majesty about it. I was afraid you might scold me for not immediately attacking a potentially monstrous being and instead engaging in conversation.”

“Ah… So you conversed with that child?”

“Yes. Though I’m not sure if it can be called a conversation since the child just said what they wanted to say and disappeared.”

He smiled as if finding it interesting.

“What did you talk about?”

“The child… called me mother. And told me that although difficult times might come, I would still live a life without regrets.”

“As if they had seen the future?”

“It felt like that. They spoke as if they already knew everything about how I would turn out. Then—”

I tried to recall the child’s last words, sifting through my hazy memories.

“I think they said they were sorry to me. It’s such an old memory, I can’t remember clearly.”

“Hmm…”

“I wonder if I saw an illusion that day? If not, it might have been just a simple monster. However, for some reason, I couldn’t easily erase it from my memory.”

Every time I recalled the child, an indescribable emotion would wash over me.

If I had to put it into words, could I call it affection?

It was quite strange to feel such a subtle emotion towards a child I had just met.

After listening to my story, Martin pondered for a moment before sharing his thoughts.

“Perhaps it was a messenger sent by the gods.”

“Do you think so?”

“Yes, it might have been a divine messenger watching over and protecting the Empress, briefly revealing itself. It might still be watching over you even now.”

I nodded at Martin’s words.

“I hope that’s the case. We truly need divine protection this time.”

After our first child was born and Martin ascended to the throne, we continued to close rifts.

It was already overwhelming just to fulfill the role of leading a nation, but we had no choice.

We were still the strongest awakened ones in the empire, and our power was necessary to close the rifts.

Due to bearing these two roles, there were times when we felt as if our bodies and souls might shatter, but we managed to persevere.

We protected the throne and succeeded in closing most of the empire’s rifts.

Now, only the last rift remained.

We were currently on our way to that final rift.

“But are you really going to participate in this battle personally?”

As I was lost in reflection before the closure of the last rift, Martin suddenly asked this.

Although I had already answered his question multiple times, he still seemed anxious.

I gave him the same answer as before.

“Yes, I want to personally participate in the closure of the last rift. Even if I’m not alone.”

As I said, I was currently pregnant with our second child.

After checking with my abilities, it was said to be a boy this time.

Martin insisted that I should rest since I was pregnant, but I didn’t listen to him.

While I might have considered it for other rifts, this was the ‘last’ rift.

“I have lived my entire life closing rifts.”

“…”

“Wandering inside rifts, getting hurt, killing, destroying magic stones… I have lived considering it my lifelong mission.”

I turned my gaze, which had been focused ahead, towards Martin.

To my emperor, who was still looking at me with worried eyes, I offered a faint smile.

“That’s why I must participate in this operation. Isn’t it the moment when my lifelong mission finally comes to an end? I want to clearly engrave in my memory the temperature, humidity, smell… everything of that moment when we close the last rift.”

After closing this rift, there might never again be a need for me to wield a sword.

I, who had lived as a knight, might no longer be a knight.

At the moment I lay down my sword, ‘Knight Yulia’ would rest eternally, and ‘Empress Yulia’ would continue a new life.

This rift closure held such great meaning for me.

I wanted to be there at that moment when my life entered a new chapter.

Even if I was pregnant.

“The Empress’s stubbornness is truly unbreakable.”

“I’m sorry. But I promise I won’t overexert myself. I’ll be satisfied just to be present at that moment.”

I answered while caressing my old sword that had always been with me.

Martin sighed deeply as if resigned, and at that moment, our procession came to a halt.

One of the soldiers who had been scouting ahead approached us and reported.

“Your Majesty, we have arrived. We are in front of the final rift.”

Stretching my neck to look ahead, I could indeed see the rift.

A massive rift that seemed to radiate heat even from a distance.

It was our final battlefield.

Martin, who had been looking at the rift with eyes full of various emotions like mine, quietly ordered.

“Prepare.”

Afterwards, the elites we had brought moved swiftly to prepare for entering the rift.

An elite unit formed by selecting awakened ones who had greatly contributed to closing rifts so far.

Thanks to them, we had been able to close rifts more quickly until now.

Hoping for their great contributions this time as well, we entered the rift together with them.

Whoosh—

As soon as we entered, we heard the sound of flames rising.

It wasn’t Martin using his ability.

The official name of this rift was ‘Cradle of Crimson Flame’

It was a place filled with hot flames in all directions.

“It seems this will be a tricky conquest.”

My voice was naturally tinged with tension.

Even for me, a regressor, this rift was unfamiliar.

Before my first regression, when this rift was conquered, I wasn’t part of that conquest team.

The ones who had conquered this rift were five other members of the Silver Knight Order, including Martin, while I was conquering a different rift at the time.

Therefore, all I knew about this Cradle of Crimson Flame was what I had heard from others.

−”It was a rift full of flames in all directions. The monsters also used flame abilities.”

I remembered hearing something like that from a member who had conquered the Cradle of Crimson Flame at the time.

Anyway, knowing that it was a rift where we needed to be cautious of flames, I informed Martin of this fact, and Martin distributed items to all unit members.

It was an armor item that protected the body from flame attacks.

Even though they were wearing it, beads of sweat were forming on the unit members’ foreheads as if they were struggling to withstand the heat.

“Empress, do you know where the Queen is?”

At Martin’s question, I shook my head with regret.

“No, I don’t know much about this rift either. Only that we need to be careful of the flames.”

Since it was my first time in this rift, I naturally didn’t know the Queen’s location either.

Martin nodded as if understanding and then ordered the unit members.

“For now, we move to find the Queen!”

“Yes!”

After that, we began to traverse the wasteland filled with flames in all directions.

Although we didn’t know the Queen’s location, we thought we could find it quickly because we had detection items.

However, it didn’t take long for us to realize that this was just our wishful thinking.

“The detection item isn’t working.”

The member at the front holding the item reported.

When I checked the item myself after hearing the member’s words, it was indeed true.

The needle of the item, which should have been pointing in the direction of the Queen, was spinning around like a broken compass.

“What in the world…”

Martin muttered while rubbing his chin, seemingly perplexed.

I was equally at a loss.

If the only tool to locate the Queen was in this state, we might never be able to find the Queen.

Why did it suddenly break down?

Feeling puzzled, I looked around.

Our surroundings were still filled with red flames.

As I saw them, something suddenly occurred to me.

“Oh no… It’s dangerous.”

“What’s wrong?”

As it was an urgent situation if my guess was correct, I drew my sword while answering Martin.

“Flames have no fixed form. They can gather or disperse. So these flames surrounding us right now might be—”

Before I could finish my sentence, the flames surrounding us suddenly swelled and bloomed.

Convinced that my guess was correct, I continued speaking to Martin.

“All these flames surrounding us were the Queen itself.”