Chapter 1 - Part 1
***
Late at night.
Lelia was bullied by Oscar, and barely fell asleep a while ago.
Oscar washed her body clean and laid her on a tidied bed.
Her sleeping visage was as innocent as a child’s.
Oscar patted Lelia’s hair as she was deep in slumber.
He raised his body.
They weren’t going to go back to Superion until this morning.
This was because he planned to do it with Lelia a few more times.
He didn’t feel guilty, even though he was like a beast.
He only thought about how to develop Lelia’s stamina.
Oscar reached out and created a small crack, angled such that Lelia was out of sight.
Through the crack, a man dressed in black bowed his head. The crack disappeared soon after Oscar took the documents from him.
Oscar sat on the sofa and began to flip through the documents leisurely.
The contents were about the Hraesvelg Empire. The doll he made was faithfully performing its role.
Nevertheless, he quietly dealt with what he had to, without Lelia’s knowledge.
Oscar turned his head to look out of the window.
‘Shall we start now?’
Lelia seemed to forget about everything, but Oscar didn’t.
He intended to slowly bring down those who had made Lelia unhappy when she was younger.
Oscar tapped the handle of his sofa with his fingertips.
To be honest, he just wanted to kill them…
Oscar knew. Every time he kills those bastards as he pleases, he knows that Lelia will fear him.
So, after much deliberation, he decided to get rid of them in a manner that wouldn’t alarm Lelia.
He thought that instead of killing them all at once, it would be better to make them suffer for the rest of their lives.
First of all, the Emperor and Empress of Auraria were about to divorce.
The cause will be the slush funds that the empress has siphoned off, as well as the lover she was hiding.
In this case, Julianna will naturally be demoted from her princess status to the daughter of a criminal. The young prince born between the emperor and the empress would also disappear, turning into a scarecrow.
He didn’t know how Ruth’s father, who wanted his son to marry Princess Julianna as soon as possible, would react.
In addition, the two princes won’t even dream of becoming the next emperor due to the empress’ schemes as well as their accumulated karma.
There is not much time left for Emperor Perseus to remain as emperor.
Oscar intended to give the position to a child born between him and Lelia.
Of course, if the child and Lelia were willing.
Anyway, the child that will be born someday, will become one of a lofty status, with the right to inherit both the Hraesvelg Empire and the Aurarian Empire.
Oscar delivered all the documents he had approved through the crack and stood up.
He climbed into bed and laid next to fast-asleep Lelia, hugging her waist.
Her warm scent filled his lungs.
Oscar closed his eyes, feeling the warm body wrapped in his embrace.
***
Just like Oscar, who made a plan for revenge alone, the rest of his friends had their own plans.
Of course, they did not communicate their thoughts with each other.
Now, they were even more wary and probed each other more fiercely than before.
It was clear that this fight, hidden from Lelia’s eyes, would end only when she fell in love with everyone.
At the news of the princes’ and princess’s arrival in Auraria’s Imperial City, Griffith merely gave it a cursory glance.
They would meet their downfall one day, it was just a matter of sooner or later.
Rather than thinking about those things, his time was spent perfecting his plans.
Unlike the others, Griffith did not think deeply about how he would take revenge.
To be honest, Romeo’s revenge was not satisfactory.
By the time Lelia was intoxicated on the perfect happiness and had long forgotten about them, Griffith was just going to go and kill them.
He turned around and took out a strong drink, opened the lid, and drank it straight from the bottle.
He was still holding up well, but his stomach was on the verge of rotting to the core.
Whenever Lelia called Oscar ‘honey’, he was annoyed.
In fact, some of Griffith’s plans were something that could never be actualized.
Creating a situation where Lelia had no choice but to accept him. A plan to scare and force her to accept him.
Of course, he had no intention of implementing such a trashy plan yet.
The safest plan was to endure for a few more years, at the very least. Griffith drank the remaining alcohol to soothe himself.
***
Late night…
Kalix suddenly woke up from his sleep.
He had an unpleasant dream. This is all because he saw Oscar feeding Lelia food in the dining hall this morning.
In his dream, Kalix was being tortured.
He was a hostage who was forced to watch the two of them all the time while seated with his hands and feet tied up.
Lelia and Oscar fed each other very affectionately, but they didn’t even give him a glance.
It felt like an abandoned concubine.
“Damn it…”
Suddenly, he felt dirty.
He jumped up and headed for the closet. He randomly picked out black clothes and covered himself with a mask.
Then, he took out a sheet from the scrolls he received from Romeo, and tore a sheet.
He arrived at the Imperial Palace of Auraria.
Recently, he often visited this place.
It was to relieve his anger.
It was also for revenge against the people who bullied Lelia.
Romeo checked Cedric who was asleep and grabbed him by the collar.
Whenever Kalix felt unpleasant, he visited Cedric or Damien and punched them.
They woke up from their sleep, but it didn’t matter much.
After he had vented enough of his anger, he used the medicine he received from Griffith.
It was simple to sprinkle a few drops of healing medicine, and feed them medicine for them to forget their memories.
Kalix tore the scroll again with a more refreshed face and returned to the Superion territory.
As Uncle Carius was working hard, Lelia would soon accept Kalix as her second husband.
“Oh, I feel refreshed.”
Kalix took off his black clothes and lay down on the bed again.
***
On the surface, very peaceful days passed by.
Sometimes Lelia felt empty while thinking about the system’s absence, but she quickly regained her energy.
“Wow, it’s pretty.”
Lelia smiled at the cherry blossoms blooming outside of the window. And after, she sat at the desk and held a fountain pen.
It was a fountain pen imbued with magic that she received from Romeo and shared with her friends when she was younger.
Lelia wrote sincerely on a blank sheet of paper.
‘Guys, are you up? You’re not sleeping in like a baby, are you? Cherry blossoms bloomed very beautifully here. It reminds me of seeing cherry blossoms together when we were young. It was a lot of fun then.
Kalix said he was curious about the taste of cherry blossoms, so we all put a handful of them in his mouth. (It really looked like a fool)
I’m doing very well in Superion Castle. I’ve been well, other than occasionally missing you guys. You all still have the rabbit dolls, right?’
Lelia put down her fountain pen and turned her gaze towards the window again.
She looked at the petals of the cherry blossoms dancing in the spring breeze and soon got up.
Becky came just in time, and helped her to change.
Then she headed back to her desk, where a reply was already waiting for her.
It was a reply from Romeo.
‘To Lelia,
I’m glad you’re doing well. I’m not getting along very well. Lelia, I’m sick and tired of not seeing you.. It would be nice if we could be stuck together every day.
You mean the incident where Kalix filled his stomach with cherry blossoms? Of course I remember. He was such a fool… Even if I think about it again, it’s pathetic.
Anyway, I can’t wait to be back by your side. Ah! I’ll bring gifts when I return, so you can look forward to it.
P.S. – When are you getting divorced with Oscar?’
Lelia, who was reading the reply, burst into laughter.
Just then, the blank paper started to be filled with letters. It was a message someone was writing in real time.
‘Stop being childish and go eat, okay?’
It was Griffith’s handwriting. Just by looking at the handwriting, she could feel how annoyed he was.
Whenever Romeo and Lelia played childish pranks, Griffith responded like that. So, Lelia and Romeo used to tease Griffith constantly.
Of course, the person who was teased was not affected at all.
Honestly, it was more fun to tease Kalix than Griffith.
Or Oscar.
Lelia placed the letter in her drawer, and left the room.
On the way down the stairs to go to the dining hall, a welcoming voice was heard from the lower level.
“Wow, Lelia. How long has it been?”
“Romeo.”
Lelia laughed and headed towards Romeo. She tapped his outstretched hands and exchanged eyes filled with playfulness.
Ever since he had arrived here, Romeo has never left the Superion territory, even for a moment.
Pretending to exchange letters from afar like they did when they were younger, was a fun prank between the two recently.
Lelia was delighted, saying she remembered her childhood memories, and Romeo was the same.
The two used to tease the others every day through the letters.
Griffith and Oscar didn’t really like the duo’s pranks.
Of course, the same was true of Kalix. He was the most frequent victim of their teasing, so he always reacted angrily.
He didn’t seem to know that because his reaction was funny, they continued to make fun of him.
***