Chapter 1. Kill the Empress
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Cassion, who was only pursing his lips, searching for what words to say, ran out of the place with a red face that seemed to burst.
“Cassion……”
Tamon, who stood up to catch him, looked at the back of Cassion, who had already ran away, and then sat back down.
Suddenly he was unsettled about what this was all about.
Then, from somewhere, he heard someone giggling.
Roselyn was laughing aloud with her mouth covered.
Tamon stared at her as she laughed, forgetting what he was going to say to her.
It wasn’t an oblique smile or a self-deprecating smile. It was a fun smile.
How could she smile like that?
At that moment, Tamon understood the meaning of the word ‘blindness.’
It was a smile that was even more gorgeous than the sunshine on the most dazzling day on the sea.
Does that woman know how precious that smile is?
“Is it funny to you?”
Forcing himself to keep his voice low, Tamon deliberately pretended to be angry.
It was fun how he kept stealing sideways glances at her like a young boy.
“Well, a little.”
It was nice and warm with the sun shining down on her.
The sea breeze, especially soft today, was gentle and reassuring.
Tamon’s brow wrinkled deliberately, hiding his wonder so that she could laugh freely.
“I can’t believe I make trouble and have fun.”
A small wrinkle appeared on her nose as she mumbled absent-mindedly with her chin propped up.
Tamon was suffocated by her appearance.
How can she hide such a pretty smile?
Is it because it’s so dazzling and precious that she doesn’t want to show it?
If that’s the case, well, he had to admit it.
A casual thought stuck in his head.
“Okay, this is the promise.”
Seeming to recognize that it was her turn to placate him, Roselyn held out another box.
It was the very gift she had promised to give Tamon.
Tamon didn’t waste any time talking and quickly grabbed the box.
“Don’t take it out.”
“I won’t but you’re the one who won’t give things away easily.”
“Well, it’s a different story for you. Because you already took a lot.”
“I have? What?”
Tamon smiled silently and tightly clenched the gift she gave him.
“Look. You took so much that you didn’t even know what you took.”
“That’s weird. I don’t think I have anything.”
“So you can’t take this.”
“…… No, I’m taking it.”
No matter how many times Roselyn said it, Tamon wouldn’t let go of the gift in his hand.
Roselyn glared at him, and Tamon just laughed.
Asrell, who had been standing there like air, smiled softly and filled the plates again.
It was a week before they left for Tanatos.
***
“Hyaa!”
Marquis Helio’s roar made the horse run faster. Already the horse’s eye sockets were bright red and white foam was rising in its mouth, but it could not rest.
“Sorry, try a little harder. There’s only a few days left until the given deadline.”
These were the words written on the emperor’s seal pigeon that flew over in a hurry.
[Merchant from Nyrux stationed in the Calif waters. Among them, collect the Dagger from the merchant who has red octopus seal.]
Of course, this was not simply the only thing that was written.
There was a list of items that would be given to him if he successfully carried out the order and a condition that he must arrive there around the 10th of next month.
It was all useless.
Except for one thing.
Tulasha’s powder.
It was a poisonous and medicinal herb that was important in curing the endemic disease of Arkins in the northwest, where the Marquis Helio was now stationed.
It was a very horrible disease that started from the toes and eventually hardened the heart.
He had already lost his wife to Arkins.
Even his lovely second child had contracted Arkins and his legs were hardened.
It wasn’t just his family that was affected by this endemic disease.
The Northwest region suffered more than a hundred deaths a year from Arkins.
About 100 people.
In a way, it was not a large number, but in the northwest, when the population was not large, it was not such a negligible number.
The only medicinal herb that could cure Arkins was “Tulasha”.
However, because it was purchased in large quantities from the water supply, and even from specific herbalists, the supply and demand was too tight.
Hyaa!
Helio gritted his teeth.
There was frost in his blue eyes.
Lumatia, the herbal company which was blocking the distribution of Tulasha.
It was not a big herbal company, but one day it grew big and started to trade with the Imperial Palace.
At some point, Lumatia was in charge of all the medicinal herbs offered to the Imperial Palace.
The first thing that Lumatia got their hands on was Tulasha.
However, the timing was very strange, as Helio was assigned to the Northwest on charges of inadequate continental defense and illegal property accumulation.
The known top master of Lumatia was a man named Berry Closset.
And the person behind him was………..Natasha Roanti.
That was her.
A serpentine woman who used all manner of expedients and evils to hinder the circulation of the Tulasha.
Especially in the polar regions like the northwest, it was increasingly difficult to obtain medicinal herbs.
The woman knew this very well and drove him to the northwest to seize the right to distribute the Tulasha. She was a clever woman.
The emperor was already in Natasha’s hands.
No, perhaps Helio himself was in the hands of that snake woman.
She was a woman with a great talent for blocking the eyes and ears of the emperor.
Helio gritted his teeth.
Emperor? Power? Actually, those things didn’t matter much to Helio.
The only thing he felt was a sincere sense of danger that the country would die out if things didn’t change.
Hyaaa!
The forced march that lasted for more than ten days finally resulted in a dropout.
The last horse that was running collapsed with foam in its mouth.
The driver of the horse was already on the verge of a stroke.
“Jackson! Are you okay?”
Helio stopped and hurriedly approached the fallen knight.
He had to move fast, so there were only five knights following him.
The knight, called Jackson, twisted his face and bowed his head.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
The knight apologized, banging his head on the ground as if he blamed himself for the fall.
Helio raised the knight up.
“I’m sorry, too. Don’t be sorry. It’s my fault making you run without rest. I think it’s time for you to rest now. Let’s just rest here for today!”
The knights who had followed Helio’s order were happily looking for a place to spend the night.
It was a relief at least that the temperature wasn’t too low due to being out of Tanatos.
A fire was made and everyone sat down side by side.
After satisfying their hunger with a decent meal and leaving knights to rest, Helio took out the letter he had in his pocket and read it.
[Today I am going to write to you about why I sent you this letter.]
The neat handwriting continues nicely.
This was the fifth letter.
It was also the letter that told him how Tulasha’s circulation had been closed.
It also told him where his confiscated property had gone and where each of his disciples who had tried to protect him had been scattered.
The owner of the letter, like a stranger, gave him the information he craved.
Who in the world was sending this letter?
Looking at the neat and sophisticated handwriting, it must be someone with advanced education.
Every word and every sentence that followed indicated that the sender was not someone who had been writing for a year or two.
[There are no peasants who think of a country like a parent, where there is no one to respect.
Just as it is easy for darkness to dwell in the hearts of children who have lost their parents, it must also dwell in the hearts of the people of this country who have lost the emperor they rely on.
And I think Marquis Helio knows this well.]
Who could it be…?
[I’m the same one who tried to make the best of a warm place sometime ago.]
Helio’s heart pulsed wildly.
He remembered seeing this delicate, graceful handwriting.
[Obviously, I am still alive, though my hands holding the sword have been cut off and the yellow lily it guarded are gone.]
Yellow lily.
And the protective sword.
Goosebumps broke out on Helio’s back.
Two swords that protect the noble yellow lily.
It was the seal of the oldest family in the land.
[Do you remember that day? The day the great former Marquis of Helio returned to earth, my father secretly put the family flower over his white, frightened face.]
Ah! Roselyn V Sunset!
The lost Empress!
[I will be coming to see you soon.]
Startled, Helio jumped up.
Could this be true?
The news was so startling that it caused suspicion and anxiety.
Is this another trick of the adulterous Natasha?
No matter how cunning her mind was, how could she have gone this far? Helio took a heavy step. No.
On the day of his father’s funeral, the Duke of Sunset put yellow lilies instead of white ones, known only to him, his brothers, and the former Empress who was present with them.
There was no way that Natasha would know that.
Helio’ eyes, shining with courage, stared at the sky. A wildfire broke out in his chest.
If this letter really came from ‘her’.
“I’m going to the capital as soon as my work is done.”
I have to meet this person.