Teron knew that since Reus learned the hidden truth about his parents’ death, he hadn’t been living life by his own will.

The sole purpose of exacting revenge on the Emperor. Having survived desperately for that one reason himself, he couldn’t help but know, even without trying to.

So he also knew that Reus, who acted as if nothing mattered as long as Roel was there, would soon ruin himself once again due to guilt towards his father.

“Kill the Emperor. Then I’ll tell you where Roel is.”

However, apart from genuinely worrying about Reus, these words weren’t purely meant to help him. This was entirely due to his own selfish desires.

He couldn’t tell if his selfish behavior was due to the frustration of not being able to finish the work he had devoted his entire life to, or because of an obsession with his father, who was both perpetrator and victim.

What was clear was that using Roel like this to hand the blade of revenge to Reus could never be said to be for the sake of both of them.

“You being like this, Roel doesn’t know anything. And even if you find Roel in this state, she’ll only feel guilty by your side. You actually knew that too.”

“……”

“So if you want to find Roel again… If you don’t want to go back to how things were before, you can’t be like this.”

He thought it was quite funny that he was saying this now, after telling Roel with his own mouth that he should respect whatever choice Reus made.

But even if this moment were to come again, the thought that he would try to use anything to finish this revenge remained unchanged.

“Unless your situation changes, there’s no way Roel will come back to you. So kill the Emperor.”

Reus couldn’t be certain that Roel would meet him even if he finished his revenge.

Would she even meet him if he went to find her, after keeping her by his side knowing she was suffering, and using her guilt for his own benefit? Wouldn’t she cry, asking why he appeared before her?

Wouldn’t she get angry, curse at him, and tell him to never show up in front of her again?

Although all sorts of negative scenarios came to mind, just like in the distant past, Reus never had a choice to begin with.

In the end, Reus could only nod silently this time as well.

The fact that the Emperor had found out that Reus had regained his family’s power was an absolutely non-negligible risk factor.

However, Teron thought that to completely eliminate the Emperor, there was no other way but to incite rebellion. So he sought to borrow the power of the Imperial Princess, Iris.

Teron could pride himself on knowing almost everything about the Emperor, so it wasn’t particularly difficult to drive a wedge between Iris and the Emperor.

It was enough to simply tell her why her mother, Abinoa, had to endure harassment from the Empress, and why she eventually had to flee from the Imperial Palace as if escaping. That was sufficient to draw in the Imperial Princess.

That too was all because the Emperor found it amusing to watch a sane Empress gradually go mad with fear.

But rebellion was something that required not only risking one’s position as Imperial Princess but also willingly putting one’s life on the line. Yet Iris accepted Teron’s proposal too easily.

“Iris will help with the rebellion. So, we’ll proceed as planned…”

“No. Rebellion is not an option.”

But for some reason, Reus opposed the rebellion.

Originally, rebellion was a plan devised to bring down the Emperor while simultaneously destroying oneself. Now, with a body close to immortality, he couldn’t die, and he had reasons why he shouldn’t die.

So even if the rebellion would be easier with the Imperial Princess’s help, he couldn’t step into an unpredictable realm.

‘Maybe Roel might come back… The Grand Ducal house shouldn’t be ruined.’

This wasn’t to say he was giving up on revenge. Reus was just being extremely cautious about this matter.

This wasn’t just simple revenge, it was closer to making a safe and perfect place for Roel to return to.

To do that, he needed to find a way to cleanly deal with the Emperor and the shadows all at once.

As Reus shut himself in the library and news about him almost ceased, the Emperor began to feel bored again.

‘Nothing was as interesting as the behavior he showed for a few months after the Grand Duchess disappeared…’

Now that Reus didn’t react no matter what rumors were spread, the Emperor found himself in quite a dilemma.

It was on one such boring day.

Late at night, the Imperial bedchamber suddenly burst open without warning. And the pale-faced Captain of the Imperial Guard, Ian, crawled into the chamber, looking back frantically. The person who appeared next was, as the Emperor expected, Reus.

He had thought that maybe there would be a day when he would come to visit him like this, and it seemed that day was today.

Finally, bang-! The door closed, and only three people remained in the chamber. Just looking at Reus’s long sword smeared with blood, it was easy to imagine what had happened between the two.

If it were an ordinary person, they would have feared that the same thing might happen to them, but the Emperor didn’t even blink.

After all, he was certain that the Imperial Knights would be coming here now, from the moment Reus forcibly opened the door.

The security throughout the Imperial Palace was always strictly managed by the central magical control device.

Especially, the area controlling where the Emperor was located was even managed by additionally deploying knights for shift work.

‘Of course, even without that, I have enough magical artifacts to protect my body.’

Those would be enough to buy time until the knights arrived. The Emperor, having finished assessing the situation, spoke in his usual nonchalant tone.

“It’s been a while. It seems the Grand Duchess didn’t come with you today.”

“……”

“I heard you were frantically searching the empire, I thought you had already found the Grand Duchess.”

The Emperor twisted his face grotesquely to hold back the laughter that was escaping.

“You haven’t found her yet… Is it wise to act so rashly? Though I’ve long favored you, I have no intention of letting today’s incident slide.”

The Emperor expected Reus to react to his smirking appearance. But Reus answered very calmly.

“Roel is safely in a place where your filthy hands can’t possibly reach. So there’s no need for such worries.”

“……”

“Why don’t you worry about your own life right now?”

The Emperor’s face stiffened slightly, not out of fear. It was simply because Reus’s appearance was completely different from what he had expected.

He thought he would be causing a commotion, having lost his reason, but far from it, he was extremely calm. He even acted as if he knew where Roel was.

‘No… No. If he really found the Grand Duchess, he wouldn’t have been unresponsive until now.’

Reus’s words now were just to provoke him. The Emperor barely regained his composure.

“You weren’t such a fool to do this just because of one Grand Duchess… Ah, if not that, do you want to avenge your father now? Well, Reus. Ricassen wouldn’t want that…”

At the mention of his father’s name, Reus unconsciously twitched his eyebrows.

“Shut… that mouth.”

“If it’s because of that incident, don’t you think it’s too late to get angry now? No, there’s no reason to be angry. Shouldn’t you rather be grateful to me? Wasn’t it because I carefully preserved Ricassen’s heart that you were able to find the power of the Grand Ducal house?”

Reus wanted to raise the sword in his hand and cut out that cunning tongue right away. However, he hadn’t come today to kill the Emperor.

He barely suppressed his anger, as he couldn’t ruin everything by falling for such ridiculous provocation.

“Seeing you talk nonsense, it seems you haven’t grasped the situation yet.”

“I don’t know what you’re relying on to be so confident, but you can’t touch me. You know that well, don’t you? Instead of that, why don’t you try to flatter me like before? Then I might feel like forgiving you.”

Reus understood the Emperor’s arrogance. He could see several of the crude magical artifacts in this room with his own eyes.

Of course, he also knew that what the Emperor was holding in his hand right now was something that could save his life at least once.

But that was only possible assuming the Imperial Knights would come.

“Don’t you find it strange that you seem to think I just came in here without any precautions? Why is there still no movement from the knights who should have arrived by now?”

Those words sounded exactly like he had tampered with the magical control device responsible for the security of the entire palace.

‘But that place should be absolutely inaccessible to Reus?’

The central control room was a place that could only be accessed with the Emperor’s permission, and was very strictly managed even within the Imperial Palace. Then does that mean he had an accomplice?

But to control the management room, at least a direct descendant of the Imperial family could use their authority to buy a very short time. However, no one came to mind who would betray him right away.

‘Someone from the Imperial family…?’

The Empress didn’t particularly like Reus. It was the Emperor himself who had taken her side when she cursed behind his back, saying how dare he be so brazen even in front of her when he wasn’t even part of the Imperial family.

‘So the Empress would never help Reus.’

For similar reasons, the same went for the Crown Prince. Apart from them, who would dare to betray him? As he was carefully recalling faces, Reus spoke.

“You brought this upon yourself. Thanks to you telling me to save the Imperial Princess at her birthday banquet, the Imperial Princess readily agreed to help.”

Iris. The child he had personally brought to the Imperial Palace.

‘Have you ever seen such an ungrateful thing…’

No matter if he saved her when she was in danger, how dare she abandon me and choose Reus?

The Emperor’s face completely stiffened at the news that another toy he had brought in to play with for a while, like her mother Abinoa, had betrayed him.

He should have dealt with her as soon as he started finding her a bit annoying recently.

“I have no intention of associating with anyone born of your disgusting bloodline, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t worry unnecessarily.”

“You, insolent…”

“Instead, I promise to put your daughter on your throne. For that to happen, shouldn’t you step down from the throne first?”