Charlotte hurriedly stood up. As she was about to leave, she opened the door, hesitated for a moment, then took a step back and raised her hand.

“Um, Your Majesty. Sir Merem is outside.”

“Tell him to come in. We need to have a brief talk.”

Understanding the meaning of asserting authority, Lady Bertolt and Derek quietly stood up.

“Is it okay? Sinyang followed you to your room.”

“It’s fine. So, come in. We need to talk for a moment.”

Merem hesitated at the door.

Perhaps he thinks there’s no place for him among the four of us – me, Lady Bertolt, Charlotte, and Derek.

“You can come to me anytime. You don’t need permission, and you don’t need to be discreet.”
“That… because I saved you?”

There was no need to be curious about how he knew.

The Spirit King must have told him.

I nodded silently in response.

“So, I’ll do anything for you.”

“Then, make me do that.”

“That?”

When I tilted my head, Merem’s face turned bright red.

Realizing what he was talking about a little late, I immediately started teasing Merem.

“Oh, is it a goodnight kiss? Seriously. I just woke up from a nap, you know?”

“…That would save you more, Eldheim.”

“Well… that’s true.”

Having admitted it readily, I reached out my hand towards Merem who was still there.

“I’ve been waiting to give you a kiss. Be grateful. Come here.”

Merem approached me with hesitant steps. Then, he clenched his fist and bowed his upper body.

Even though it was just a goodnight kiss that anyone would do, why was he so nervous?

Puck.

It lightly touched and with the sensation of it leaving, the power of the sun surged into me.

His energy, melting the frozen ground in an instant, felt like the heat of summer.

Even if I felt cold, being with Merem made my whole body relax and unwind.

“Has the Emperor treated you so harshly until now?”

After a while, Merem, sitting on the mattress, asked me.

As it was the truth, I answered more slowly than I would have when lying.

“That’s right.”

“Wait a few more years. When I grow up… no one will be able to treat you like that anymore.”

The boy’s voice trembled.

It was a pleasant thing to hear, but for me, returning to my original state was my top priority before that.

‘If only there’s someone worth loving….’

Forcing someone to find it might not be possible.

But believing that it was possible was my only hope.

Thud.

In the dark prayer room, the short whip struck the broad back.

Made of horsehide, it was hard and tough, wreaking havoc on human flesh with just one strike.

However, the man had already endured dozens of my own lashes without uttering a single groan.

Thud!

Striking once again along his jawline, beads of cold sweat streamed down his face.

The smell of blood was nauseating.

Enrique didn’t usually torment to this extent.

But today was an exception.

Because he heard her name.

Astaroth.

The one he had killed with his own hands, the great one.

The Empress wouldn’t know anything about ‘Astaroth Knights,’ for sure.

There must be an intention behind that name.

‘He claimed to have received a revelation.’

I couldn’t quite recall what that annoying face looked like.

But one thing was clear.

The voice that said ‘Astaroth Knights’ was as irritating as it gets.
‘Perhaps it was that being who gave her the revelation.’

In the Dassin religion, some gods believed in were not treated as demons in Nyx.

‘But… I killed her with my own hands. I took her breath. In response to the words telling me to absorb her power so that she could never resurrect, I did just that.’

By taking the horned being’s corpse, he managed to surpass influential imperial candidates, including the First Prince, and became the Crown Prince.

Later, he ascended to the throne with the power of the temple, including Helene.

‘Then I thought I could forget the betrayal I committed.’

Wasn’t becoming the Emperor what he had desired so much?

Wearing the imperial crown and holding the scepter would make everything be forgotten. It would become okay.

Even what Helene whispered to him was along those lines.

‘It hasn’t become okay at all.’

At some point, Enrique began to punish himself.

When the affectionate words he had received from her came to mind, he would tear his skin and flay himself.

When the image of him trying to embrace the whole world for her sake came to mind, he would take up the whip.

He had to forget. He had to forget everything…….

Anyway, her magic had already transformed into divine power within him.

When Helene told him to absorb the magic, he obediently agreed because he thought it was a way to remember her forever.

‘No, precisely… I considered her as living together inside me.’