The Tyrant's Terminally-Ill Childhood Friend (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 9
Peter wanted to kill Lowell—or rather, Anette. Yet at the same time, he desired her. It was ironic that the reason he wanted to kill her was the same as the reason he desired her, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Because she was the perfect ‘Lowell.’
All verification was complete.
As soon as Peter left, Lowell rose from her heavy body and called for her maids. Naturally, she couldn’t stay much longer wearing a slip with one shoulder fallen off. Slipping her arms into the indoor dress her maids helped her into, Lowell sank into thought.
‘Right now, what Peter wants most is for me to live as Lowell.’
A life spent sitting quietly in the assigned palace chamber, breathing like a doll. That must be what Peter desired above all.
That way, nobles would no longer dare present him with counterfeit Lowells like her, and Peter would continue living without Lowell, just as he always had. In that sense, his claim that he could live without Lowell wasn’t mere bravado—he truly had lived nearly ten years without her.
Just as she had grown accustomed to Opertha during that time, Peter too must have grown used to a life without Lowell. Even if his body had been corroded by madness from her absence, his mind would have adapted.
And now, someone who looked exactly like ‘Lowell’ had appeared—how could she not be a nuisance?
Even knowing she wasn’t Lowell, he’d keep seeing her as Lowell, so he’d surely try to push her away as much as possible. He’d want to keep her as distant as he could. Thus, what Lowell needed to do now was terribly simple.
‘I’ll do the opposite.’
She had to catch Peter’s eye.
But calling for Peter so noisily as she had today wouldn’t work anymore. She’d already provoked him twice as Lowell, and today she’d confirmed that going any further would be truly dangerous.
Still, that didn’t mean she had no options.
‘If I can’t move myself, I’ll move those around me.’
She beckoned one of the busy maids who were adjusting her clothes.
“Prepare pen and paper for me.”
She needed to write a letter.
[This is the timeline separator]Inside the Martinek residence. A man seated at a dark mahogany desk removed his glasses and set them down.
In the silence so profound that even the faint clink of the glasses’ frames sounded loud, the man spoke.
“Anette seems to be planning something, Ruben.”
He wore leather gloves, and clutched in those black gauntlets was a small sheet of paper.
Though the letter was encrypted in Opertha’s cipher—unreadable to ordinary people—at least to Ruben, the servant, the sender’s name clearly written as ‘Anette’ stood out plainly.
“She says she needs certain information. I was considering visiting her myself if I heard nothing back, but it seems she isn’t injured.”
Relieved, the man smiled gently.
Moonlight poured over the silver-haired man seated in the dimly lit room, decorated in dark tones with scarce illumination. His frame was neither overly broad nor thin, but straight-lined and firm.
He was René Martinek, head of Opertha and Ruben’s master.
“Since it seems urgent, handle it quickly. Compile the information Anette requested and bring it to me within two hours.”
“The information… whose information do you mean?”
“Several people. Go examine it yourself and prepare it.”
“Yes, my lord.”
René tossed the letter aside, and Ruben bowed respectfully to pick it up. Though the scene might have appeared servile, both men carried themselves as if it were only natural. After Ruben closed the door behind him, René leaned his chin sideways, lost in thought. Tap, tap. His fingers, rhythmically tapping the desk, suddenly stopped.
“…I warned her so clearly.”
The gentlemanly smile had vanished from René’s face. His golden eyes, unsmiling, oddly resembled those of a snake—narrowed vertically.
“She ought to know this is the only place she can return to.”
Where could someone tainted by Opertha possibly go? Everywhere she walked would be nothing but mud.
He wanted to bring her back immediately, but he’d promised to help Anette—so help her he would.
René’s fingertips traced the initials of Anette written on the envelope. A faint smile touched his lips.
“I’ll cheer you on in killing the Emperor, Anette.”
So that you may return to my side as soon as possible.
[This is the timeline separator]The next day, in the Imperial Palace library.
“The Emperor won’t kill Anette Martinek, Simoren.”
The brown-haired youth standing beside Simoren answered indifferently as he gathered documents. His name was Noah Ernst—one of the current Emperor’s close aides and Simoren’s former classmate from private academy. Perhaps because of that, Simoren often sought Noah out whenever he needed a place to discuss matters, and today was no different.
“Anette Martinek is the most suitable puppet for His Majesty, both personally and politically. Unless someone appears who can replace her, she’ll keep her head.”
“A replacement for a replacement—how absurd.”
“But it’s the truth, isn’t it? Where else could you find another bulwark like Martinek? However bold the nobles may be, they’d never dare provoke Opertha.”
The reason the current Emperor, Peter, clashed with the nobles was, ironically, because he had no consort.
More precisely, because the absence of a consort was driving him mad.
A von der Leyen who never took a consort was destined to go insane.
And those mad emperors of the past had always, in one way or another, caused great turmoil.
“Kurtne II started a war, didn’t he? Emperor Herberthus squandered the treasury and brought in his maternal relatives, inciting chaos. And there was that emperor obsessed with superstition, too.”
With each statement Noah made, he placed a coin atop the growing stack of documents.
Simoren watched silently, then picked up a gold coin and asked,
“Do others believe His Majesty will walk the same path?”
“It’s less about belief and more that all evidence points squarely in that direction. That His Majesty has held on this long without a consort is seen as nothing short of miraculous.”
This applied equally to the madness and the nobles’ coercion.
Madness wasn’t merely a disease eating away at the Emperor. It stemmed from the dragon’s power flowing through the von der Leyen imperial bloodline; thus, as madness consumed the Emperor, his magical power grew exponentially stronger. Of course, the drawback was that his lifespan eroded just as rapidly.
Indeed, Kurtne II—who had instigated an unprecedented continental war—was said to wield magic powerful enough to annihilate an entire village in an instant, so naturally, everyone feared that strength.
Especially when it belonged to the current Emperor, Peter—renowned as a tyrant despite retaining his sanity and possessing uniquely formidable magical power.
What would happen if the man who had purged his own father and his father’s retainers to seize the throne truly lost his mind? The nobles desperately did not want to witness the answer to that question with their own eyes.
“That’s why everyone wants to put a leash around His Majesty’s neck.”
If they could conveniently leash him and use him, all the better—and if they could discard him after moderate use, even better still. If he was going to go mad anyway, wouldn’t it be far more convenient for him to lose himself to women? That was precisely what the nobles desired.
Indeed, many were already scheming toward that end.
Noah lightly swept up the gold coin resting on the documents and gave a knowing smirk.
“I hope Anette Martinek stays in the palace a long while, Simoren. As long as Opertha stands firm, the other nobles will know to keep quiet, won’t they?”
“I agree with that much, but I think Anette Martinek will leave the palace soon.”
“Why?”
Simoren watched his friend lightly toss and catch the gold coin, then turned his gaze away.
“You know as well as I do what the Emperor’s goal is.”
“Ah, right.”
Clack.
The hand holding the coin froze midair. Noah’s eyes followed Simoren’s.
“That’s true. Once His Majesty achieves his goal…”
The replacement would be discarded.
[This is the timeline separator]The fate of a replacement was generally similar: discarded or broken.
Thus, Noah thought, Anette Martinek should at least hope to be discarded intact.
Even as the entire palace buzzed with interest in the newly arrived bride, his attention stopped there. After all, a mere replacement held no importance to him.
‘Even if she breaks, it’ll be by her own choice—she’d have no right to complain.’
Besides, Noah had far too many other matters demanding his attention; concerning himself with Anette was neither necessary nor justified.
…Or so he’d thought, at least until yesterday.
“You must be Noah Ernst.”
At least, that was what he’d believed—until a woman with black eyes and black hair suddenly appeared before him.
For a fleeting moment, countless thoughts raced through Noah’s mind. Should he acknowledge her? Or pretend not to know her? Though his thoughts were many, time was short. Noah seized the first reply that came to hand.
“…I’m sorry, but this isn’t a place just anyone can enter. If you’re looking for the servants’ passage, it’s over there—”
“I’m Anette Martinek. You know that well enough.”
Damn it. Noah cursed inwardly, but his outward words remained courteous.
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Anette. Forgive me, but I’m rather occupied—may I ask what brings you here?”
“I know the meeting just ended, and that you have a tea time reserved for the next two hours, which you guard fiercely no matter what.”
Blast it all—every word was correct. Noah was now at the point of needing to wipe his sweaty palms on his clothes.
If she knew this much about him, this encounter couldn’t possibly be mere coincidence.
‘Why on earth?’
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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