Chapter 1. Kill the Empress
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“This jewel belongs to Amelia. Don’t even think about it.”
Amelia was a distant relative who had been close to Ronasso since childhood. She was like a sister to him.
After looking around for a special gift for Amelia’s coming up wedding, Ronasso bought this green jewel.
“Tamon, this is what you need to see.”
Ronasso pulled out a note that lay underneath the jewelry box.
‘Why do you want me to look at the paper, not the jewel?’
Tamon glanced over at Ronasso suspiciously and unfolded paper.
“Look at the last page.”
Slowly, Tamon’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the writing on the page.
“Where did you get this?”
“Rodelg.”
“Rodelg. Aha..….”
A little past the capital of Amor, there was a very small and ordinary city.
The city, which was not particularly beautiful and not developed in terms of agriculture and fishing, had quite a lot of visitors, but it was all for the monthly market.
The market held in the daytime was called Mork, and the market held at night was called Rodelk.
Rodelk was the place where auctions were held.
Sometimes there were illegal transactions, and disturbances, but Rodelg was still an interesting place.
For this reason, even the royal family tolerated their transactions to some extent.
The taxes paid there were also substantial.
The interesting thing about the Rodelg auction was that no one knew what the item of the day would be until just before the auction was held.
Furthermore, even the Marwich family, who ran the auction house, was known to be untouchable at the auction.
This was because they shared their interest in the auction house fairly with other families.
Sometimes the items were eye-poppingly rare, and sometimes they were inevitably unidentifiable.
But not once was there an auction that was not interesting.
It was also interesting to note that any time an item was bought or sold at an auction, no matter when or who it was, there would always be some incident.
Well, this auction was. ….
[O Life. Engrave* before the sixth moon rises and the twelfth night passes. And let her know that the Iron Child is crossing the sea. If the child cannot be saved before it reaches land, her treasure will fall back to her death.]
It looked like that very interesting and riveting incident was about to happen from Ronasso and Tamon.
*TL: I want to explain the word ‘engrave’ a little bit. In order to help Tamon to get over his power overload (the heart disease that caused death in his family for generations) which turns him into a monster, the process ‘engraving’ aka having s*x, needed to occur. And the deal between Roselyn and Tamon was that if Roselyn ‘engrave’ with him, he will give her five wishes. Few earlier chapters when Tamon asked her to be ‘his partner’, he meant to ask her to be his ‘mark’, to ‘engrave’ him. And this note, which seemed like a direct message to Tamon and Roselyn to tell them to ‘engrave’ in that certain time, and to tell Roselyn about the child crossing the sea. The child is Arsene who had Roselyn’s treasure, was abducted and was now on the ship crossing the sea. I’ll use the term ‘engrave’ now instead of ‘s*x’ since I explained it.
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Tamon rubbed his clean shaven chin as he looked at the paper that Ronasso had given him.
He narrowed his eyes, as if thinking, and then asked in his characteristic low tone,
“Did you ever tell anyone you’re looking for something like this?”
“No! Of course not! Amelia said she didn’t want a present, and I was secretly preparing one for her!”
Even if someone knew that Ronasso would go to the Rodelk, they couldn’t possibly know whether or not Ronasso would get this exact jewel.
No one knew if this jewel would be there or not.
But the written message….
Life, Engrave, Death…….
There was no exact name, but this certainly included Tamon, Roselyn, and Gillotti. It was about hidden relationships and their abilities.
Plus the language of the message.
It wasn’t any other language, it was the language of Hirusha.
How could so many coincidences come together?
No, it wasn’t a coincidence.
Tamon opened his narrowed eyes and stared at the elegant handwriting on the small piece of paper.
Somebody knew his secret.
***
Pong.
Water droplets fell from between her white fingers over the calm surface of the water.
Roselyn, who entered the bath alone, refusing the twins’ help, watched the droplets falling through her fingers endlessly.
She had always been used to being taken care of, but now she was going to have to work harder to do it herself.
It was a different life now, and she wanted to embrace it. Because she had risen from the depths of despair, she could not live the same life as before.
…Phew.
Roselyn exhaled hotly and submerged herself in the warm water. Through the open glass window, she could see the moon floating high in the sky.
A gentle breeze blew, and the heat brushed her cheeks.
The water was lukewarm, but strangely enough, her whole body was hot.
“……. It’s only an engrave.” (*see my explain for ‘engrave’ above)
There was no other reason.
A deal between her and him.
It was the only act.
But why is it so……
“…”
Roselyn gripped her slightly trembling fingers.
Unlike her hot body, her fingers were cold. It was a sign that she was nervous.
Nervous?
Why on earth?
She deliberately chose to breathe.
She didn’t want to be nervous because of the man, nor did she want to give off the impression that she was nervous.
But, why does her body feel so hot?
Roselyn splashed water over and over on her stiff muscles to relax her body.
There was an abundance of various fragrances the twins had prepared for her, but she purposely didn’t use any of them.
She scrubbed her body with the water soap that was provided.
‘Try to atone for my mistakes, try to atone for my past.’ She said this with all sincerity.
Wiping herself off, she tied the waist of her thin nightgown tightly.
She straightened her shoulders and back, as if she was going out in public for the first time as Empress.
Deal.
Yes, it was just a deal.
A contract, that was all.
She whispered to herself incessantly and walked down the hallway to her bedroom with her legs straining.
Was it her imagination?
The sensation in her broken leg felt slightly different.
It felt like the limp was decreasing and the strength in her legs increased.
‘I’m more aware of many things now.’
Roselyn gave a slight shake of her head and slowly opened the bedroom door. Fortunately or unfortunately, Tamon was not in the bedroom yet.
‘What should I do?’
She signed a contract and she had to carry out the transaction, but there was no involved party.
She stood there for a while and then slowly sat down on the bed. She stretched out her back and waited for Tamon to come with her eyes raised.
Then she thought of the days when she had to sleep with the Emperor.
She sat neatly like this even then, waiting for Gillotti.
She sat in the easy chair provided next to the large matrimonial bed and waited for the emperor who was promised to come.
Then, very late in the night, a drunken Gillotti arrived.
Gillotti, completely drunk, approached as he frowned at Roselyn, who sat stiffly waiting for him.
“The invoice. How do you expect me to hold you when you’re so white?”
He would lie on the bed, fussing. It was Roselyn’s luck if he fell asleep like that.
Sometimes he couldn’t stand the frustration and jumped up, then he would take off Roselyn’s pajamas roughly.
Ignoring Roselyn’s words that do it slowly, he forced her to lie face down, showing her back. It was unknown whether it was violent or relevant.
“Don’t look back, Empress, do you know how frightening that look can be to a man? You have unlucky eyes. Purple is the color of the dead. You are a dead person. Your emotions, your joy, aren’t they?”
These were the insulting words that he spat into her ear while grabbing her hair and thrusting violently. Roselyn clutched the comforter without any response and endured the moment through clenched teeth.
‘Yes. I endured it.’
She had to endure it.
The many obligations that rested on her shoulders.
The worries and cares of those she loved.
The grief and suffering of the people she had to take care of.
She had too much on her plate and she had to live with it.
It had to be done, she thought.
It had to be done.
Ring ring.
A breeze blew in through the open window.
As she closed my eyes and felt it, she suddenly felt that her shoulders were not so heavy.
That’s right.
The Roselyn of the past died.
After admitting it, she felt significantly relieved.
Her expression finally relaxed. Very slightly, the corners of her mouth went up, but she didn’t notice.
It was just then.
“······I’m so honored that I don’t know what to do.”
Tamon spoke as he quietly walked in.
Roselyn turned to look at him, showing no sign of surprise.
He stared at her with his arms crossed under the archway that connected the rooms.
Roselyn was used to moments like this.
It was Gillotti, who used to stare at her as she sat on the bed waiting to do her duty.
Gillotti’s voice was nightmarishly haunting.
At that moment, looking at her quietly, Tamon smiled and spoke slowly.
“You must.”
His red eyes did not leave hers for a moment.
“Very pretty, precious, waiting for a very long time…”
With unshaken eyes and an unshaken voice.
“You’re sitting there like a gift.”
He said a completely different word than nightmare.