Several days passed since Yuri did not return.
Riona had been taking care of Aron all day while cursing Yuri.
“Fortunately, he doesn’t resemble that woman. These eyes, nose, mouth…”
To Riona’s eyes, none of that wicked Yuri’s features could be found in Aron’s face.
“Except for the toes, everything is Klaus.”
She said while looking at the baby’s little toe, which was born slightly curved.
That might resemble Yuri.
“These eyes don’t look like Callian’s, but they seem a bit like Her Majesty the Empress. Since she’s Callian’s aunt, it makes sense.”
Riona, who had momentarily frowned while looking at the toes, spoke brightly again while looking at the sleeping baby’s eyes.
“The nose is a bit blunt, so he’s less handsome than Callian, but it reminds me of the late Duke. I mean Callian’s father. And the mouth…”
Riona said, carefully pointing at the mouth without touching it.
“It seems to resemble me a little… It’s so cute when it moves.”
This child, who had taken on the Klaus surname, had to resemble the Klaus family.
To Riona’s eyes, that’s undoubtedly how it appeared.
“But this mole… I’m not sure who it resembles.”
Riona suddenly said, looking at the mole on the bridge of the child’s nose.
None of the Klaus relatives had such a conspicuously large mole.
“Well, any flaws must be that woman’s fault.”
Callian’s eyes, which had been looking out the dark window, suddenly became complicated.
He remembered the official he met at the government office. No, it couldn’t be. Even as he thought that, unnecessary thoughts arose.
“For a moment…”
Even as he resolved not to think deeply about it, it seemed like it would linger in his memory for a long time.
If it was going to stay in his mind for a long time anyway, wouldn’t it be good to confirm the source of that thought?
Callian said, adjusting his collar.
“I’ll be going out for a while.”
Riona, who had been examining Aron’s features with praise, admiration, and curses for Yuri, nodded at her son’s words.
“Alright, go get some fresh air, Callian. It must be suffocating.”
Riona looked around the shabby interior of the house and habitually complained again.
“I wonder when Her Majesty the Empress will move us to a more livable place…”
**
‘How remarkable, for paper to turn to ashes.’
Esika raised her finger and swept it across the windowsill.
It was as if she could hear Sella’s voice chattering in her ear.
Born as the daughter of the Heavenly Demon Cult Leader, she had grown strong, as becoming powerful was the way to survive and enjoy wealth and glory in the ruthless demonic sect.
Yet, she couldn’t protect any of the truly important things.
Esika grabbed the door frame with a crunch.
And she infused her inner energy into it.
A force incomparable to the fire of samadhi began to seep between the wood, and the forest of ruins began to blaze with fire.
This moment resembled the time when she was engulfed in the Ten-Mile Demon Fire, but now her eyes, which had been filled only with despair then, were brimming with strong vitality like new sprouts bursting through the soil.
It was time to set the first fire.
The revenge for the things she couldn’t protect begins.
“Your Majesty, a fire has broken out in the eastern ruins of the palace.”
This news immediately reached the Emperor’s ears.
The Emperor, who was handling state affairs in his office, frowned with a surprised expression.
“A fire in the eastern ruins?”
“Yes, although it’s not an inhabited area, everyone is working hard to extinguish it by carrying water.”
“I should go and see. Inform the Crown Prince as well.”
“I will obey your command.”
The Emperor remembered the day when the palace burned.
The terrible attack 20 years ago, when countless royal blood was spilled and the palace burned and collapsed.
Therefore, a fire was never a matter to be taken lightly.
If someone deliberately set fire to the palace, it would be nothing short of treason.
Many knights followed behind the Emperor.
They walked for quite some time and arrived at the burning eastern ruins.
The dilapidated buildings were on fire, and though they were being extinguished with the few water buckets available, as if there was nothing left to burn, the Emperor’s brows remained furrowed.
He coughed, and small specks of blood mixed in with his cough.
“Your Majesty.”
Within seconds, Crown Prince Resban appeared.
The cape on his shoulders fluttered with each step, and the light armor he wore, having heard the news during training, somewhat eased the Emperor’s mind.
To him, Resban was the most reliable son in the world.
“Report to His Majesty on what has happened.”
At Resban’s cold voice, the servant bowed and said.
“We don’t know. It’s a place where people don’t come and go, so why…”
Just then, with a loud crackling sound of something burning, everyone’s gaze shifted there.
Something on the ground flickered as if there were flammable materials, and a few seconds later, a large pillar crumbled with a crack.
Dust flew up, and the Emperor quickly covered his mouth with his sleeve.
And as the dust cleared a little, what was revealed was…
“…It’s a corpse.”
A servant standing nearby cried out in a surprised voice.
The Emperor’s eyebrows twitched, and there was no change in Resban’s expression.
The servants who rushed over one by one reported new discoveries.
“There’s a corpse. Here, another hand is visible.”
“Someone buried corpses here!”
At the servant’s words, the Emperor’s wrinkles deepened.
Everyone in the palace was flocking here.
Among them were priests, doctors, and nobles like Count Riheim.
The news would soon reach the Empress as well.
Resban turned his head to look towards the palace.
Where would Esika be watching from?
Wherever it was, it must be quite an entertaining spectacle.
“There’s another corpse.”
“It’s the corpse of a young woman… it seems it hasn’t been buried for long.”
The Emperor’s eyes flickered with a serious light at the servants’ reports.
“This woman is wearing a maid’s uniform.”
“Another woman!”
“Your Majesty…”
Seeing the Emperor’s face getting worse, the head servant looked at the Emperor and said carefully.
“How about leaving the future situation management to His Highness the Crown Prince? For now, it would be better if you went inside…”
“No, I must watch this matter to the end.”
The head servant flinched at the Emperor’s words.
Because his health was not good and he was in a terminal condition, he had entrusted all physically demanding tasks to Resban or trusted nobles, and minor matters to himself.
But at this moment, he was showing his will to handle it personally.
The head servant wouldn’t know. That for someone, there’s a trauma they can never turn away from, and that the Emperor had recalled something upon seeing the corpses in the burning ruins.
A cold shadow fell across Resban’s golden eyes.
Suddenly, it felt as if Esika’s joyful singing voice was whispering in his ear.
**
“It’s truly horrific, I’ve never seen anything so terrible.”
“There are eleven corpses.”
“Some are quite decomposed, but most seem to be young women.”
The eastern ruins were a place where no one easily came.
Among the royal family of Turessian 20 years ago, there were those who cooperated with the enemies.
So did they receive any rewards when the palace fell?
No, traitors are not welcomed by either side. Can’t a person who betrayed once betray twice?
They were buried right here in these eastern ruins and ignored by the Emperor.
But these corpses that came out in succession were not the traitors buried at that time.
This was because the majority were less decomposed.
Some were just bones, but half of them still emitted a stench of decay that assaulted the nose.
“Your Majesty…”
The head servant looked at the Emperor with a worried expression.
The Emperor’s lips had lost their blood and turned a bluish color.
Resban just stood and observed. Thinking fleetingly that he hoped Esika was watching this place.
“I need to take a closer look.”
“But…”
“Many die in the palace. But most are taken by their families for burial.”
The Emperor staggered towards the corpses.
The charred earth sank deeply under his feet as he stepped.
He stood where the corpses were laid out and looked at them.
Though no part of the bodies seemed to be severed or damaged, they were all dead.
And there was also the face of a woman who seemed to have died relatively recently, maintaining quite an intact human appearance.
The woman had beautiful blonde hair and looked young. Her face had a bluish tinge, and her fingertips were the same.
She was wearing a dress. The bracelet on her wrist was one he had seen on another corpse.
And that thing rolling at her feet…
“Shoes that show the little toe, I see.”
The Emperor’s dry lips moved.
Shoes that showed the little toe were exclusive to courtesans.
And by imperial decree, courtesans were not allowed to enter the palace.
“And…”
The Emperor’s brows furrowed as if he had guessed something.
His gaze slowly moved downward and stopped abruptly at the belly, which was swollen as if with child.
The Male lead Always Seduces Her with His Beauty (Matriarchy)
Xin Jiao Zhou is the leader of the world’s premier sect. She has just experienced betrayal from all sides, was poisoned in an assassination attempt, and faced death squad attacks while the poison was taking effect. After finally clearing out the scum from her sect, she was drugged again while trying to detoxify.
After waking up from a night of unconsciousness, she gained a “beautiful and kind-hearted” husband.
Xin Jiao Zhou: “???”
He fell ill.
She came to see him, bringing breakfast.
As she put down the breakfast and was about to leave, his hand slipped while holding the spoon. “Clank!”
She turned around upon hearing the noise.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows drooping: “My hand… has no strength.”
“Shall I… feed you?” she asked tentatively.
He opened his mouth cheerfully: “Ah—”
Thinking she was drowning, he jumped in without hesitation to save her, but nearly drowned himself. In the end, it was she who swam over to rescue him, giving him air underwater.
After emerging from the water, his ear tips turned red. He lightly brushed his cheek, tucking his sideburns behind his ear, revealing delicate, pink-tinged ear tips. He lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at her.
Xin Jiao Zhou: He’s truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and adorable.
A certain someone when disciplining subordinates behind the scenes: “If they don’t obey, just kill them.”
What’s that? She might already have someone she cares about in her heart? A certain someone: Find out who it is, kill them, and then there won’t be anyone.
What? She met a man by the riverside? What? That man even hurt her? A certain someone: Whichever hand hurt her, chop off his entire arm.
Love at first sight without realizing it, gradually falling in love, slowly getting closer…
Family and national grudges, schemes and desires, good and evil, crime and punishment, she and he face the future together, seeking justice with passion!
A naturally dark female lead who could accidentally destroy the world but is actually an honest person VS a weak, pitiful, and helpless but skilled fighter, beautiful white-cut black male lead
My heart is not of stone, how steadfast is your love? — Tao Yuanming “Imitating the Ancients (No. 3)”
— Reading Guide —
Cold female lead & dramatic black lotus with hidden yandere traits male lead
