Sorry, the Patricidal Tyrant Seems Beastly - Chapter 49
Charlotte threw off the blanket and leaned back against the cushion, tilting her neck.
Her dark red hair flowed in curly waves.
Her eyes felt heavy with heat.
Her throat was dry and scratchy.
‘I’m thirsty.’
As Charlotte traced from her neck to her collarbone with her fingertips, someone grasped her wrist.
“Were you here?”
“I just got back from the training grounds.”
His gaze fell on Charlotte’s neck.
“……Why?”
“I thought you were choking yourself again.”
His concern was justified.
Her complexion was pale and colorless, with blue veins distinctly visible under her skin.
She had been in this state for a while, so his worry was understandable.
“Now you see how I’ve looked recently.”
Benjamin remained silent at Charlotte’s words.
Somehow, it was difficult to read his thoughts. It seemed like he was holding something back, obscuring it from view.
It was while she was observing Benjamin.
Benjamin looked down at Charlotte and shook his head.
“Get dressed and come out. That child has something to say about the Tutor family.”
Benjamin left, sending in the head maid.
“I’ll wait outside then.”
Her head felt foggy from just waking up. Charlotte rubbed her forehead and tousled her messy hair. What did I do before falling asleep yesterday…
It seemed like she had some conversation, but the memory was hazy.
“Yesterday, Your Majesty requested a sleeping draught.”
“Ah, no wonder I felt like I slept deeply for the first time in a while.”
She had fallen asleep without even realizing it.
Afterwards, Charlotte finished getting ready and walked outside.
“His Majesty has also arrived.”
The maids knocked twice on the door before opening it.
“We, we greet the Empress!”
“Your complexion looks better than yesterday.”
“……I apologize for that day.”
Henrietta told her about that night.
“Th-that darkness saw me. It, it opened its mouth and spewed out demons, and stretched out its neck from under my feet, begging to be pulled out. It, it devoured people with that mouth… There, there it was. Father was standing on top of it.”
This was the reason she felt followed.
“It was human but not human.”
“Did your father see you there?”
“……Yes. He saw me.”
“Just as you saw him, he must have seen you too.”
The head of the family must have known.
This child couldn’t have been skilled at hiding her presence, and the fact that she was left alone here now was likely the head’s intention.
‘He deliberately let her live and sent her away.’
Charlotte pressed her fingertips against her eyelids.
“……Was there anything else said when you left?”
“Well, my ears were ringing so I only caught bits and pieces.”
The child exhaled as if sighing.
“Ah, he said to wait for that day. I’m not sure about what came after that.”
It seemed this child also didn’t remember much after that point.
Charlotte exchanged glances with Benjamin, and a quiet order was given from beside her.
“Prepare to leave.”
He checked the child’s ankle and said,
“Your guardian will be here soon.”
“Ah…!”
“Fortunately, I hear you’re alright since you avoided that place. There will need to be a brief investigation into your situation, but once that’s done, you’ll be able to meet soon. We’ll move you to an imperial residence, so you can leave right after that.”
Now there’s no one left at the Tutor mansion. All traces of people have been erased from the deserted mansion.
“If you need anything after this, tell the maid outside.”
The door to the separate room closed and the two quietly came out.
Charlotte gestured towards the closed door and whispered.
“You deliberately sent that child, didn’t you?”
“……I used that child in place of a messenger.”
The two didn’t speak at length.
“Has the covenant been broken?”
“If it had, the prohibition would be broken, and it wouldn’t be this quiet.”
“Then is it going to break soon?”
“That’s also something to look into.”
Perhaps they had both already guessed. There just wasn’t clear evidence to confirm this speculation.
“You may have to kill him soon.”
He trailed off.
It wasn’t right to congratulate someone who might have to kill their own father.
[This is the timeline separator]Benjamin passed through the dim darkroom. The smell of disinfectant was strong.
“Is the investigation finished?”
Last night, the investigation of the servant declared dead continued.
“The corpse was poisoned. The body is rotting from the inside due to the poison, which resembles the venom emitted by demons.”
“Are the blood test results back?”
“The venom was also dissolved in the corpse’s blood. The blood is black, and the rotten venom had pooled and coagulated inside the body.”
The intelligence officers reported their findings.
Traces of demonic venom remained in the body. This venom is usually found in the bodies of mercenaries who die fighting demons, most concentrated in the blood.
“They were chased.”
“If they were chased, those creatures wouldn’t have let them escape.”
“They weren’t let go. This was deliberately released by those creatures.”
The intelligence officer lifted the cloth covering the corpse. The flesh on the ankle was torn and the bone shattered.
“The ankle is mangled and torn, impossible to walk on in this state. Based on the blood coagulation, the deceased was already dead at that time.”
They escaped as if being chased, but the deceased was already dead by then.
“They delayed that death, sending out the already dead.”
The intelligence officer finished his report.
“The origin of demons and involvement with death, that is the realm of black magic banished in ancient times.”
“So it’s been confirmed.”
“This violates the covenant.”
The prohibition of the ancient covenant was still in effect, but as the covenant was gradually forgotten, those creatures slipped through the cracks.
They violated the prohibition of the covenant.
The dead stepped into forbidden territory, defiling the realm of the living.
“This was deliberately releasing the deceased.”
“How brazen.”
“The other missing persons…”
“Do you remember what the head of the Tutor family was like?”
He was a vain creature.
“If he had killed them all, he would have scattered the corpses around the mansion, begging us to witness his slaughter.”
“I’ll dispatch an internal investigation team.”
It wasn’t in his nature to vanish so suddenly like this.
“……Do you remember when the previous emperor passed away?”
When the previous emperor died and he ascended to the throne, that death was already suspicious from the start.
The previous emperor, driven mad with insanity, turned black in complexion and his flesh rotted as he drew his last breath.
Days of corpses withered as if drained of life force, and deaths that didn’t add up continued one after another.
“It must have been very similar to now.”
“Then those creatures…”
“There’s no need to understand them. They were also the ones who led to this state.”
There was no opportunity to examine the previous emperor’s corpse, so that death was also buried.
“Follow their trail.”
They had confirmed their intentions, and past speculations had taken shape.
“The strategist has arrived.”
The darkroom door opened and Rosquella entered. He wrinkled his nose at the strong scent of medicinal herbs permeating the room.
“Is it over?”
“Those creatures have violated the forbidden territory.”
A few foolish ones disturbed the balance and order.
Benjamin covered the corpse with a cloth and commanded.
“Find the wicked ones and kill them.”
[This is the timeline separator]“I wanted to pretend not to know a little longer.”
Charlotte muttered, tracing her lips.
“But now it’s reached a point where I can no longer feign ignorance.”
It was time to look back. Where and how that death went wrong.
Life confined to the mansion was extremely disconnected from the outside world.
Even more so after marriage.
‘My death was also due to external factors.’
How far did these connections reach? And where does it end? Was there an end?
“Your Majesty. Are you listening?”
Lost in thought, Charlotte gently rolled her shoulders.
She stroked her collarbone and loosened the seams of her robe. She pushed back the dark hood and unwrapped the fur scarf.
“There was no need for you to come in person.”
“It’s better to see with my own eyes.”
The internal search of the mansion continued. The once servant-filled mansion was now desolate.
It felt like standing alone again in a place everyone had left. Catarina observed Charlotte with concern.
“Don’t mind me.”
“……Your Majesty.”
“I severed ties with the family when I cut off relations, so what lingering attachment would make me show sympathy towards them?”
Charlotte narrowed her eyes languidly.
Her reddish-brown eyes scanned the surroundings. The Tutor family mansion was closed down.
The servants had disappeared, and all traces of them were gone.
It was an unpleasant connection, so there were no good feelings.
This mansion felt both familiar and strange.
“Is there anything in particular that stands out to you?”
“Though I lived with them for a long time, I don’t know them well.”
The brooms the servants used to sweep the floors, the laundry they took to wash,
And papers and quill pens left scattered on the floor.
“It’s as if those traces have been erased.”
Catarina turned her head.
“As if no one was ever here to begin with.”
It was as Charlotte was muttering this.
A fur muffler was wrapped around her neck.
“Don’t wander alone.”
Benjamin tied a knot in the muffler.
“Will you stay outside?”
“The search team’s investigation isn’t finished yet, so I’m hesitant to walk around carelessly.”
“It’s fine to look around this much.”
Charlotte followed him into the mansion. Each step felt heavy.
The floor creaked. Its balance was distorted, with some areas sunken in.
“Is there anything you want to take out?”
“Not anymore.”
“No lingering attachments either.”
“I’ll just go up to the third floor.”
Charlotte slowly retraced her memories.
She climbed the stairs slowly.
This was the room her mother only left after death.
“This is where my mother passed away.”
“……Everything has been covered.”
All the furniture was covered with cloths.
She bumped her hip against a side table.
This caused the table to open and the cloth to slip off.
Other cloths also fell away here and there, revealing the scene inside.
“Ah…!”
Benjamin covered Charlotte’s eyes.
“What a vicious inclination.”
It was the corpse of a dead bird.
A pure white bird lay on an equally white sheet.
“It’s still breathing.”
She had thought it was a corpse, but it wasn’t.
It was instinctive. She felt that creature’s breath.
Death was strangling its breath, which was gradually stopping.
Red blood stained the sheet, and feathers floated in the air.
“It’s dying. It’s still breathing, but the vitality of life has been cut off.”
Charlotte lowered his arm. She took slow steps forward.
“It’s being forcibly held by black magic. Black magic deals with death, and if you’ve been involved with death, the end is already determined. It will soon be consumed by death.”
Soon, an intelligence officer burst through the door.
“I sense residual black magic, Your Majesty!”
Glass shattered with a crackling sound, and fragments rained down all at once.
“My father still hasn’t let go of me.”
The white bird aimed its beak, its eyes narrowing.
“Borrowing wicked power”
Its feathers slowly began to rot, giving off a fishy blood scent.
It wrapped around Charlotte’s wrist with its torn tongue and drove its beak in.
The beak was already rotting, emitting a strong venom that burned her skin.
“Either to kill me,”
Her skin was torn away.
“Or to tear my flesh apart and implant his existence.”
The bird’s eyes tore.
I knew you would come.
I waited for you.
It seemed to say.
“Unfortunately.”
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
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