“It’s dazzling.”

The old emperor opened his mouth, staring at the woman sitting in the bedroom.

The woman possessed an exceptionally beautiful appearance.

She had soft silver hair that seemed as if it would wrap around one’s hand if touched, and clear green eyes. Her white, fair skin seemed to radiate light, and her lips were as red as if she had just bitten into a pomegranate.

Even the emperor, who had seen women to the point of boredom, was mesmerized by her beauty, his mind becoming hazy.

After a moment of admiration, the emperor, having lost patience, moistened his dry lips with his tongue and reached for her dress.

“I heard you’re twenty-one this year. Indeed, the age when a woman is at her most beautiful.”

As his hand fumbled to hastily remove his own clothes while his Adam’s apple bobbed, Celiya felt like everything she had eaten yesterday was about to come up.

To bring a twenty-one-year-old into the bedroom at seventy.

Seeing the emperor who needed to embrace a young woman to fall asleep even if it killed him, Celiya smiled faintly.

It seems that even with age, lust doesn’t necessarily diminish. Seeing his lower half standing erect towards the ceiling, Celiya’s lips curled into a sneer.

Blinded by money and power, her family had sent twenty-one-year-old Celiya to the bedroom of the emperor who craved female beauty.

They weren’t even real family, not sharing a drop of blood.

‘They took me in when I was wandering the streets purely to sell me at a high price.’

Celiya laughed silently.

Beasts wearing the mask of family. They would probably never know.

That pretending to know nothing even when she knew, acting obedient, was all for this day.

“The rumors don’t even come close to the real thing. I thought only your face was beautiful, but your body too…”

The emperor tore off the thin dress Celiya was wearing and licked his lips.

“I wonder what else you’re hiding under this chemise, I’m truly looking forward to it.”

The emperor grinned, baring his teeth as he looked at Celiya wearing only a white chemise. His dark, wrinkled hand traced her cheek, slender neck, and collarbone in turn.

Celiya smiled sweetly. Enchanted by that smile, the emperor tried to kiss her. But Celiya turned her head, rejecting the kiss.

“…Do you dare defy me?”

Celiya shook her head and narrowed her eyes.

“How could someone as lowly as I defy Your Majesty?”

The emperor’s mind reeled at her soft and gentle voice. Even the voice of a siren that lured and devoured sailors with its song would be nothing but unpleasant noise compared to this beautiful woman’s voice.

“You know your place well. Then, let’s see you satisfy me.”

At the emperor’s arrogant and haughty words, Celiya nodded slightly.

Celiya smiled softly and pushed the emperor down onto the bed. Then she lowered her face over the emperor’s upper body and placed a hand on his body.

Seeing Celiya looking down at him from above, with her small hand clinging to his bare skin, the emperor let out a hot sigh.

Celiya reached for her hair ornament. As she loosened the flower-shaped hair ornament, her silky silver hair flowed down, tickling the emperor’s wrinkled forehead.

At the same time, the scent of hyacinth flowers wafted through the room, completely enveloping it.

The emperor’s eyes, which had been gleaming with desire, lost focus and became dazed as if they had never been that way.

Celiya looked down at the emperor like that and pulled up one corner of her mouth.

“Your Majesty, I have been waiting for the day to meet you.”

There was a small click. It was a sound that came from the hair ornament Celiya held in her hand, but the emperor, enthralled by Celiya, did not hear it.

Celiya opened her hand holding the hair ornament. What she held in her hand was no longer a hair ornament.

Although it was barely smaller than a palm, it was clearly a sword that emitted a sharp light.

The well-honed blade was sharp enough to take at least one life, with a pointed tip.

Without any hesitation, Celiya brought the blade in her hand to the emperor’s neck.

The dazed-faced emperor had a sword held to his neck, yet far from resisting, he just gaped stupidly.

A deep disgust settled on Celiya’s face.

“Even as you go, you should feel pain.”

Celiya muttered softly as she swiftly withdrew the hyacinth scent that had permeated the room. As the scent disappeared, focus returned to the emperor’s vacant eyes.

“Gu… Guards!”

The emperor belatedly called for the guards, but Celiya’s hand moved faster than the guards could burst into the room.

Thuck!

With a sound of flesh being torn, red blood gushed from the emperor’s neck. The bright red blood soaked Celiya’s entire body.

The emperor trembled as if wronged, watching Celiya slice his throat with a face devoid of any trace of a smile.

“Kuh, kuheuk!”

The emperor coughed up red blood and died with his eyes rolled back. After confirming the emperor’s death, Celiya blankly looked up at the golden ceiling.

She had finally killed that disgusting emperor with her own hands. How many years had she spent hiding her true self, lying flat on the ground?

The past days, worse than death, briefly flashed through her mind.

‘Wouldn’t it be better to be in His Majesty the Emperor’s embrace than to be the wife of a man from just any family?’

The words uttered by the Viscountess, Hariel Brillion, echoed in her ears.

To be embraced by an enemy she’d rather tear apart than spare – did she even know what she was saying?

“Heh.”

A scoff escaped Celiya’s lips.

Hariel always tried to wring out even Celiya’s soul, which was like a thorn in her side, to exchange for money. I don’t know how much she received from the dead emperor, but by now that woman’s mouth must be stretched to her ears.

Not knowing that she would kill the emperor, she’s probably harboring vain hopes of receiving the viscount’s love like in the old days.

Hariel had hair with a deep indigo tint, while Celiya had silver hair.

Only she didn’t know that when the viscount went to bars, he only chose silver-haired women.

Was it just the viscount? Even his two sons who inherited his dirty blood looked at Celiya with eyes full of lust.

They were truly disgusting family members, even if not related by blood.

In fact, one of the viscount’s sons had once picked the lock and invaded her room while Celiya was sleeping.

If Celiya had no abilities, it wouldn’t have been strange if something had happened to her then.

Ever since that incident, Celiya developed insomnia. The times she fell into a deep sleep could be counted on one hand.

Celiya had never once forgotten her true identity and purpose. She couldn’t bear to be violated by those worse than beasts.

And… Gabriel.

That woman, the youngest daughter of the viscountess, was the biggest problem. Hariel selling her off to the old emperor was surely due to Gabriel’s influence.

But there was one thing they absolutely didn’t know – that Celiya had been counting the days until she could kill the emperor.

Celiya burst into laughter in front of the emperor’s corpse.

Amid her clear laughter, the sound of angry footsteps mixed in. Soon there was a bang as the door opened, but Celiya didn’t even glance at it.

Only Celiya’s refreshing laughter filled the blood-stained room.

“…How dare you.”

It was a voice as cold as frost. The voice, chilling enough to cut flesh, carried clear killing intent.

At that voice, Celiya stopped laughing and slowly turned her head.

It was a man clad entirely in black from head to toe. With even his hair and uniform black, he looked as if darkness itself had taken human form.

“…”

Following the chiseled jawline and sharp nose bridge upwards, blood-red eyes came into view.

Vivid red eyes.

She had seen countless people, but never a man with such excellent features.

But he would be no different from other men. Even priests who claimed to have maintained their chastity all their lives couldn’t keep their wits about them when faced with her smile.

Celiya smiled serenely at the man.

“…”

Despite the eye smile that was said to enchant even the dead, the man only looked down at her with a chilling expression. No. If anything, the killing intent directed at her seemed to intensify.

The man standing in the doorway approached Celiya, exuding a menacing aura.

With a face that looked like he would tear her apart at any moment, he snatched the blood-stained dagger from Celiya’s hand and threw it to the floor. A clanging sound echoed through the room.

The man grabbed Celiya’s collar with his blood-stained hand. The woman before him was in a state of undress, wearing only a chemise, but the man seemed to not notice such things at all.

“Why did you kill the emperor?”

The man asking this radiated clear anger. Instead of answering, Celiya let out a snicker.

Abelon had destroyed her kingdom first, so they had to pay a fitting price.

Every time she closed her eyes, she vividly recalled the anguished cries of her people and the blood-stained faces of her family.

‘What a fool to be so angry over the death of such an insignificant emperor.’

But if the man before her was truly angered by the emperor’s death, wouldn’t he have tried to tend to the emperor’s body first?

Celiya felt that the man was being hypocritical.

Celiya narrowed her eyes slightly as if gauging the man before her.

Feeling her gaze examining him rather than showing any remorse, the man furrowed his brows sharply.

Just as the man, unable to contain himself any longer, opened his mouth, Celiya’s lips parted.

“Cough!”

Celiya coughed up blood-tinged sputum. Seeing the red blood thickly coating her mouth, the man’s expression hardened.

The very person who had coughed up blood showed no change in expression. She even seemed accustomed to it, as if it wasn’t her first time coughing up blood.

Feeling the man’s grip on her collar loosen somewhat, Celiya spoke in a calm voice.

“The emperor tried to force himself on me.”

“…”

“I only killed him to protect my body.”

Dietrich did not believe a speck of what Celiya said.

The fact that she had thoroughly hidden the blade and entered the bedchamber meant that she had intended to assassinate the emperor from the start.

Celiya smiled gently at Dietrich, who wore a chilling expression. Her eyelids drooped and her body tilted to one side.

“Damn it.”

As her frail body swayed, Dietrich cursed and caught Celiya in his arms. She was as light as a feather. The knights who had rushed in belatedly discovered the emperor’s corpse and were shocked.

Dietrich glared murderously at the woman who had lost consciousness in his arms. The knights, following their superior’s gaze, almost lost their senses for a moment.

In the captain’s arms was the woman known as the angel of Brillion. Even covered in blood, her beauty that did not fade was truly chilling.

Dietrich, the emperor’s closest confidant and captain of the Imperial Knights, gave orders to the knights standing stupidly:

“Announce it throughout Abelon. His Majesty has passed away.”