Emperor Maxwell de Fonte August, the 27th ruler of the continent’s strongest empire, Helterd, was not an evil person.

But he wasn’t a good person either. He was far from someone who would stake his life for beliefs or a cause. His worldview was divided not into good and evil, but into strong and weak, rulers and the ruled.

And the position of ruler of this world was his. That was not a belief or hope, but an immutable truth.

During the twenty-five years Emperor Maxwell had lived, there had been fifteen assassination attempts against him. And all fifteen times, the assassin’s head was hung at the palace entrance the next morning. Of course, beside it was also the head of the person behind sending the assassin.

The fact that it was the Crown Prince who eliminated the assassins only became known after he ascended to the throne. The Crown Prince who had lost his parents was like a sailboat in a storm.

From his grandmother the Empress Dowager, who shared not a drop of blood with him, to his uncle who had now become second-in-command, and his aunt’s husband the Grand Duke Le Sang, the young Crown Prince was someone who needed to disappear to all of them.

For 17 years, Maxwell had to thoroughly hide his claws. While pretending to be a bookworm Crown Prince who got dizzy just from riding a horse and was afraid to appear in public.

‘Thank you for your hard work all this time.’

Those were the first words he uttered upon returning to the capital after ending the long three-year war. Directed at his uncle, the Regent Emperor Gustav, sitting on the imperial throne.

When Maxwell’s father, the Crown Prince, was brutally killed by a beast, Maxwell the Imperial Grandson was one year old.

Maxwell’s grandfather, the previous emperor who had appointed him Crown Prince, passed away the year Maxwell turned nine. Then his uncle Gustav became emperor as regent on behalf of the young Crown Prince.

However, he had to swear to the previous emperor’s dying wish that he would return the throne when Maxwell turned twenty.

As with all stories, Regent Emperor Gustav had not the slightest intention of yielding the throne to his nephew Maxwell.

The great war with the Southern Alliance was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the future emperor. Regent Emperor Gustav appointed the seventeen-year-old Maxwell as supreme commander of the army and sent him to his death.

He was a Crown Prince who had never experienced war, who had only read books in the library. Ordering him to fight against the Alliance, which boasted the most barbaric and powerful army, was telling him to go die.

Maxwell silently accepted the emperor’s order, ignoring the advice of the few remaining loyal subjects who told him to flee to another country. He went to the battlefield leading veteran commanders and knights who not only didn’t regard him as supreme commander, but ignored and defied him.

And on the exact day he turned twenty, the Crown Prince returned to the imperial palace. It was after the imperial army he led had achieved a great victory against the Southern Alliance, doubling the empire’s territory.

‘Ah, the Crown Prince is still too young and inexperienced to rule the empire. We will reconsider the succession to the throne in th-three years.’

Said the emperor, who had made his only son acting Crown Prince as soon as Maxwell left for the battlefield.

It was then, for the first time, that Crown Prince Maxwell burst into genuinely joyful laughter. With his ruby-like eyes deepening to blood red. Those present that day said their legs went weak and they could barely stand upright.

And exactly one hour later, the triumphantly returning Crown Prince ascended as the 27th Emperor of the Helterd Empire. Historians and imperial citizens hailed Emperor Maxwell as the greatest sage king in the 1,500 years since the empire’s founding.

However, he paid no attention to such sugar-coated words. His policies of abolishing unreasonable customs, reducing high taxes, punishing nobles’ abuse of power, and strengthening higher education systems had nothing to do with being a sage king.

It wasn’t because Emperor Maxwell particularly loved the imperial citizens or cared about their welfare. It was simply a means to make his empire, of which he was the supreme ruler, the strongest nation in all areas – economy, culture, military, and more.

Emperor Maxwell wouldn’t care if a village that was of no use to the empire was swept away by a storm. He would only regret that many young men who could participate in war had died or that farmland that contributed to the imperial economy had been ruined.

The goal of his life was not to create a livable empire where the peace and happiness of imperial citizens was guaranteed. It was solely to create a powerful empire that dominated the entire continent.

The emperor despised things that required emotional expenditure. For the emperor who lived strictly according to plans made with flawless reason, marriage was no different.

‘I will hold a selection competition as per imperial tradition to find an empress worthy of Your Majesty. Just trust your grandmother.’

‘Of course. Who else would I trust if not you, grandmother? Please find the best bride as you see fit.’

It was the Empress Dowager who had sent assassins after young Maxwell twice. Emperor Maxwell replied wearing the same gentle mask as her.

‘Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager will conduct this empress selection procedure unfairly for her own kingdom. Please allow me to be involved in this competition equally to the Empress Dowager. I am now truly the only person sharing your blood, Your Majesty.’

‘That could be the case. In this palace without even my uncle, you are my only blood relative, aunt. Of course I trust you. I’ll leave it to you.’

It was she who had not only attempted assassination with poison on the battlefield, but also schemed to have him taken hostage by a foreign country. Maxwell nodded with a smile.

The reason the emperor did not tighten the noose around the Empress Dowager’s faction and his aunt’s Le Sang ducal house faction was simple. Because he could use the two factions checking each other against each other according to the emperor’s needs. Of course, he would cut off both factions’ lifelines at the appropriate time.

The empress selection competition, in which prominent candidates including young ladies from the empire’s highest noble families and princesses from continental kingdoms participated. It was a tradition of the Helterd Empire and a procedure for a political marriage to make the empire’s power even more formidable.

Over 200 princesses and noble ladies flocked to win the position beside Emperor Maxwell of the continent’s strongest empire. When the second competition ended, ten candidates were selected and were waiting for the final two-month competition test.

In fact, the emperor had not even seen the faces of the candidates once. Two months later, as scheduled, Emperor Maxwell will hold a wedding ceremony with the woman who became the victor after fierce competition.

There was only one thing he wanted from his future empress. He neither expected nor wished for her to love him. Because emotions that cannot be returned can become poison. He would not interfere even if she took a lover.

However, the future empress had to have the ambition to become the partner of the ruler who would place the continent under his feet. She had to be able to lie and plot without hesitation to achieve her ambitions, and be able to use even her closest confidants for her purposes.

A poker face that could subdue the cunning women of the imperial family was essential. Only then could she become the victor in the invisible bloody imperial power struggle and become the partner I need.

He detested personalities that unnecessarily showed compassion to just anyone or couldn’t lie.

He could tolerate pretending to be kind for a purpose. However, a personality that was originally so good-natured that they were easily taken advantage of and suffered losses was the worst as his companion.

Like the girl-like personality who couldn’t even take the emperor’s outstretched hand and was standing with her head bowed now.

Emperor Maxwell thought as he looked at Arabel in the stable where the smell of horse dung was overwhelming. He didn’t even know such a shabby fief existed in the deep mountain countryside. A territory that was of no help to the empire’s prosperity.

‘She is the second young lady of the fallen Dalsaengkeure viscounty.’

‘It seems the whole family is now living as dependents in the fief of their relative, Baron Kander.’

‘It is known that she has no close connections in the capital.’

‘The young lady’s father is said to be a healer, but now he is struggling with gambling debts while making and selling herbs.’

‘Her mother is said to have run away 10 years ago, leaving behind her young daughters.’

This was the information the emperor had received about the woman who had just come of age.

Baron Kander, though a nobleman, was of a status far inferior even to upper-middle class merchants in the capital who were looked down upon in noble social circles.

Arabel was the daughter of a family that begged for food from this worthless man. If it weren’t for that damned curse that manifested 3 years ago, they would never have even crossed paths.

Maxwell deliberately stared more blatantly at Arabel’s face as she continued to avoid his gaze. Beads of sweat formed on Arabel’s forehead under the man’s piercing gaze.

“Hurry up and pay your respects properly to His Majesty the Emperor. What are you doing?”

“What…? His, His Majesty the Emperor?”

Startled by Baroness Kander’s scolding, Arabel lifted her head. Her wavering gaze turned toward the emperor. As if finally satisfied, his red eyes sparkled.

As soon as her eyes met the emperor’s, Arabel seemed to realize her mistake and bowed her head deeply. As the round eyes disappeared from view once again, Maxwell’s jaw muscles tensed.

“You helped His Majesty the Emperor? What do you mean?”

Baron Kander asked in a kind voice he had never used with Arabel before. The baron still couldn’t believe the emperor had come to his fief.

“What…? Oh, no. That’s…”

Arabel stammered, unable to answer. Afraid that saying something wrong might harm the emperor. Guessing her thoughts, the emperor answered instead.

“She took care of my injured horse all night.”

He instantly captured and imprisoned Arabel’s eyes as she looked at him in surprise like a baby deer. If she had done something worthy of such a great reward that the emperor would visit, it would be natural to boast about it excitedly.

The emperor inwardly clicked his tongue. Arabel couldn’t even answer properly for fear that my secret might be exposed. She didn’t seem to know what she had done well.

The emperor’s sharp thoughts were correct. Arabel was fidgeting restlessly, unable to take her eyes away from the red eyes that had captured her gaze. She was only nervous that the secret of the beast, no, now the emperor, might be revealed because of her.

She couldn’t understand why the emperor had come to find her and said he had “come to take responsibility as promised.” To her, treating the beast was neither something to be praised for, nor something to receive this much attention for.

‘That girl will not last even a day inside the imperial palace.’

The emperor looked at Arabel’s left cheek, which was swollen and bruised blue.

‘However, now that I know you hold the key to my curse…’

Maxwell’s beautifully large and clear red lips opened.

“I’ve come to take you as a candidate for the empress selection.”