Princess Lilibet’s residence in the separate palace.

“What nonsense is that?”

The empress dowager’s eyes flashed fiercely at her niece, who stood with clenched fists.

“I’m giving up. I’ll voluntarily withdraw from the empress candidate selection.”

Princess Lilibet shook her head and shouted, her beautiful face distorted horribly.

As soon as the emperor left for a boat trip with Arabel, two of the six candidates voluntarily withdrew. Now there are only four candidates left in the empress selection competition, with only two rounds remaining.

If Arabel wins even once here, she will be the final winner, having won three out of five competitions.

Also, even if there are different winners in the two competitions, Arabel, who has won twice so far, will seize the empress position.

However, if one candidate wins the remaining two competitions, it will be a tie with Arabel who is in the lead, and the two will have a final competition.

But the competition itself was becoming meaningless.

The emperor’s favor towards Arabel, which he didn’t even try to hide, or rather, showed off openly. There have been many emperors who favored empress candidates in the past, but never one who showed his heart so blatantly.

The emperor’s actions were as if warning, ‘Let’s see if you stay until the end like this,’ making the families of the candidates very uncomfortable.

The reason for participating in the competition was, of course, to produce an empress for the family, but even if they couldn’t become empress, it was also a good opportunity to become the closest confidant of the future empress.

Moreover, the ten women who made it to the final competition were awarded enormous consolation prizes, honor, and titles, putting them in a very advantageous position when marrying.

But now the situation was turning out differently.

If they continued to occupy the candidate position without reading the room, it seemed the entire family would incur the emperor’s displeasure. The candidates, who had always received the best treatment and attention throughout their lives, couldn’t accept this reality.

If Arabel had been a laughingstock candidate with terrible skills, they would compete until the end no matter how much the emperor loved her exclusively, but she had won two out of three competitions held so far.

The haughty candidates couldn’t stand feeling like they were standing as bridesmaids next to the protagonist who had the highest chance of winning and was receiving all the emperor’s affection.

Aided by the decision of parents worried about their family’s well-being, four candidates withdrew one after another, unable to bear the shame.

Everyone was talking about how the princess of Shatel would officially announce her withdrawal tomorrow. If that happens, there will be only three candidates left.

Lilibet’s tone, which had been docile to the empress dowager, came out rough, revealing her true personality.

Honestly, thinking that she came all this way because of the empress dowager only to receive such treatment made her feel furious. She completely forgot the fact that she had come to the Helterd Empire after slandering her older sister, who was originally the empress candidate representing Sevils.

“I don’t want to become empress while enduring such humiliation. Even before the competition is over, His Majesty has already taken Arabel out overnight twice. Even if I become empress, His Majesty will keep that wench by his side, and I’ll just be an empty shell!”

The empress dowager approached close to Lilibet’s face and firmly grasped her chin, which was trembling with anger.

“You foolish thing, tsk.”

The empress dowager clicked her tongue and let out a chilling voice.

“Whether the emperor takes one mistress or a hundred, you must become empress. That’s the only way for our Sevils to survive.”

“I’m receiving proposals from kings and crown princes of powerful continental kingdoms, though not as much as the Helterd Empire. I’d rather choose one of them!”

Lilibet knew better than anyone that many kings and heirs were coveting her beauty, even though she was being treated poorly here.

The empress dowager’s eyes sank coldly as her lips moved with a sneer.

“Oh my, our pretty niece is making a huge misunderstanding. If you don’t become the empress of Helterd… you must become the queen of the barbaric Ikutunu kingdom in the southern continent.”

Lilibet’s blue pupils dilated in terror at the empress dowager’s words.

The Ikutunu kingdom, emerging as a new power in the southern continent and threatening Sevils. They were known as the most cruel and primitive race, rumored to even eat the flesh of enemy countries.

“Do you know why the barbarians who invaded up to the border in the last war left Sevils alone? Because your father, the king, agreed to their demand to give you as queen. When you were chosen as an empress candidate for the Helterd Empire, the Ikutunu king couldn’t oppose because he was wary of Maxwell. If you fail to become empress and return to Sevils, you’re set to go to Ikutunu the very next day. It seems your father didn’t tell you this.”

Lilibet’s lips turned blue and trembled. If she doesn’t become the empress of Helterd, she will become the third queen of the Ikutunu king. It was said that the previous two queens were killed by his hand for not bearing princes.

“As you know, women can’t succeed to the throne in Sevils. That’s why your father, who isn’t the son of the official queen, ascended to the throne over me. Even if you return to your home country, you’ll become the wife of a barbarian king, lower than the status of a princess. And you won’t know when you’ll die.”

The empress dowager spoke quietly to Lilibet, who was blinking her hazy eyes.

“So you must become the empress of Helterd. No matter what sacrifice it takes.”

You must become empress for Sevils to survive, for you to live, and… for my son Eric to live.

The empress dowager inwardly uttered, watching Lilibet bite her lower lip.

The king of Sevils, who had no son, promised to choose Eric as his successor if he helped Lilibet become empress. It was a hundred times better deal than playing in Maxwell’s hands and meeting a final end.

The empress dowager whispered secretly into Lilibet’s ear as she swallowed her tears.

“Do you know why cherry wood isn’t used for construction? It’s because it burns helplessly in a fire.”

Lake Innis.

“Did you forget my promise to teach you swimming when we return to the imperial palace?”

Emperor Maxwell spoke, spreading his arms towards Arabel, who was slightly tilting her head at him on the boat.

Just moments ago, the emperor, unable to control himself due to the lovers’ conversation on the boat, jumped into the lake without even properly undressing.

He was about to burst, with his blood boiling from the soft body crumbling in his arms, letting out breathy sighs and sensual moans that robbed him of his reason.

Arabel, who had only shyly received kisses until now, returned the kisses she had learned to the emperor, grasping the back of his head between her fingers.

The emperor hastily detached Arabel’s body and ran into the lake, not showing himself above the surface for quite some time.

Although the hot spring water was warm enough to melt the cold late autumn weather, it could cool the emperor’s body to some extent.

The emperor smiling at her while taking off his uniform layer by layer in the water reflected in her round eyes… looked like a beautiful merman from myths that captivates people at first sight and steals their souls.

The emperor’s body, freely crossing the lake water and diving below then resurfacing, looked dreamlike as it received the white moonlight.

As the emperor emerged from the water and swept his wet bangs up with his palm, thick droplets flowed down along his smooth jawline and the muscles of his straight neck.

Arabel’s cheeks turned red as the red marks she had left on the emperor’s neck and upper chest, which he had complained about the previous marks disappearing, glistened under the moonlight.

As Arabel shook her head again, holding onto the railing and looking at the emperor with his arms wide open, his large hands stretched out to grab her waist and gently pulled her into the water.

For a moment, her round eyes squeezed shut, and her thin arms desperately wrapped around the emperor’s neck, clinging to him. The emperor’s Adam’s apple bobbed with a pleased laugh.

“Do you trust me?”

The emperor’s low voice was heard in her ear as his thumb gently stroked her closed eyelids.

Arabel slowly opened her eyes to look at the emperor’s face and nodded.

The emperor pulled up the corners of his mouth mischievously and loosened her arms that were clinging to his neck. Although one arm was still holding her waist, Arabel’s eyes shook in sudden fear.

The depth of the lake under Arabel’s feet, suspended by the emperor’s hand, seemed unfathomable. His red lips kissed her flushed cheeks tenderly, taking away her fear.

Like a woman seduced by a merman, Arabel couldn’t take her eyes off the ruby-like red eyes that sparkled with white moonlight when, slowly, the emperor’s arm holding her waist loosened.

Arabel, startled, splashed her arms and legs, but soon realized something was strange and stopped moving.

Her body, which should have sunk into the water, was comfortably floating on the surface without doing anything. Her round eyes grew even rounder as she looked at the emperor.

The emperor’s eyes curved into a crescent as he said,

“Lake Innis naturally makes your body float even if you don’t know how to swim. Come closer to me as if you’re walking.”

He gestured to Arabel, moving slightly backward.

At first hesitant, Arabel moved her legs in the water as if walking, as the emperor said, and smoothly approached him.

The emperor’s eyes sparkled with pride as if Arabel had done something quite remarkable. His skin, reflecting the moonlight, was dazzlingly clear and translucent, rekindling the heat in the emperor’s body that he had tried to cool.

“The dress will be cumbersome for learning to swim.”

The emperor whispered softly in Arabel’s ear as if talking to himself.

The emperor’s long fingers untied the velvet ribbon knot below Arabel’s chest and slowly lowered both sleeves below her shoulders.

The touch felt in the water was another stimulus. Every time the emperor’s wet hands touched her wet skin, heat and cold spread together to every corner of her body.

As his large hands sensually caressed her delicate body, Arabel’s wet breaths flowed into the emperor’s lips that were penetrating between her lips.

The dress, then the stays and petticoat were removed one by one by the emperor’s hands, floating on the water like large flower petals.

As Arabel, wearing only a white chemise slip, curled up in the water, embarrassed, the emperor, who was behind her untying the stays, gave her a back hug and kissed the thin nape of her neck.

As the emperor’s two hands, which were holding her shoulders and back, slowly descended into the lake… Arabel’s body trembled like a pure white carp caught in a net.

Once again, the wet sounds filled with the heat created by the two lovers spread into the air along with the steam.

“Arabel…”

A large hand cupped her sleeping face as a low voice woke her.

After playing in the water with the emperor until late, they returned to shore and changed into clothes he had prepared in advance, then ate a late-night snack before falling asleep in his arms.

When Arabel opened her eyes at the chillingly cool temperature of his hand, the emperor, who had fallen asleep with her in the tent, was already sitting up and looking down at her.

As her eyes, starting to wake from sleep, grew wider, Arabel sat up and called him in a trembling voice.

“Y-Your Majesty…”

His face, which always had a healthy complexion, had turned as white as paper, with cold sweat pouring down. His red eyes, which used to shine like jewels under the tent light, were now clouded and unstable.

The veins on his neck and forearms were bulging thickly and prominently, and his jaw was so contracted from clenching his molars that it looked stiff.

His pale, dry lips with a bluish tint struggled to produce a voice.

“You must listen carefully to what I’m about to say. As soon as you leave the tent, ride the black horse and follow the coniferous forest. The black horse knows the way to reach the imperial palace by land without crossing the lake.”

“Your Majesty, what’s wrong? You look very unwell…”

Arabel asked, placing her hand on the emperor’s.

She could tell by intuition without asking. She had heard that the curse begins on the night when the white moon is obscured by the black moon. There were still three days left before the full white moon would disappear.

Arabel spoke in a firm voice, trying to calm her pounding heart.

“I will stay here. I will stay with Your Majesty.”

The emperor shook his head and roughly grabbed Arabel’s wrist.

Although Arabel’s shoulders stiffened from the sudden pain, the emperor didn’t seem to notice and led her out of the tent with furrowed brows.

“Please let me stay with Your Majesty. Please allow me to be by your side.”

Arabel pleaded with the emperor, who was walking while gripping her wrist, trying not to cry by straining her eyes.

The emperor brought Arabel to the waiting black horse and lifted her onto the saddle in one motion. Covering his eyes with one hand, he barely managed to produce a severely cracked voice.

“Promise me you won’t look back.”

“Your Majesty…”

“Promise me!”

The emperor’s cry, close to a scream, echoed around the lakeshore.

“It’s not an order… it’s a request…”

As the emperor turned his head away from Arabel and asked her in a barely audible voice, Arabel’s head dropped.

“I promise…”

“Then, I’ll see you at the imperial palace in two days.”

As soon as the emperor finished bidding farewell to Arabel, he slapped the black horse’s rump with his palm, and the horse began to run without hesitation as if it had been waiting.

The emperor hurriedly headed towards the tent in case Arabel might look back, but soon he collapsed on the ground, convulsing from the pain of his entire body’s nerves being torn apart.

“Urgh…”

The emperor, curled up tightly with his head buried in his folded arms, let out a groan of pain through his clenched teeth. He must have bitten the inside of his mouth hard, as there was a tangy taste of blood.

It certainly wasn’t supposed to be tonight… Under the night sky where the white moon had disappeared, the emperor’s body was thrown into flames, as dark red blisters formed and burst repeatedly on his skin.

The emperor’s body twisted in unbearable pain. Without realizing it, he began to slam his aching head against the ground.

Thud thud thud.

The pain of his head being crushed against the stone roots couldn’t take away the agony dominating his mind or the ringing in his ears.

Thud thud thud.

He couldn’t stop even as he felt the sticky liquid flowing over his forehead.

Thud thud thud.

……

……Clop……

Thud thud thud.

Clop, clop.

The sound of hooves that had disappeared began to be heard again, growing closer and closer.

The emperor’s head, which had been slamming against the ground, was suddenly cradled by small hands. A tiny body unhesitatingly embraced the emperor’s body, which was convulsing uncontrollably on the ground.

“I’m sorry for not keeping my promise.”

Through the tinnitus destroying his mind, the voice of the woman he loved came through clearly.