Chapter 1. Kill the Empress
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Sponsored by RoxyPeony 💖 (¾)
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Tamon replied with a slight nod.
“No.”
“Then why are you smoking?”
“Well, I just…”
“You just smoke cigars? A strong one?”
“Well, when I hold it in my mouth, it makes my mind simple.”
Tamon smiled at the white smoke as it fluttered and disappeared.
He hoped that the words he heard last night would disappear from his mind like that.
“Don’t love me.”
Why not? Why can’t I ? Why? Why? Why in the world?
He was in a bad mood.
How could she hold him with such a face when she was saying such things?
Last night, she was different from usual. She was much more aggressive and exciting.
He felt as if he could clear his desires alone for the next hundred days with only the memories hidden inside him.
Tsk, tsk.
He rubbed his cigar roughly and put it out.
In the end, this didn’t do much to drown out the complexity in his head either.
He turned to his target again.
“The secret reminded me of something…….” (Tamon)
“What is it?” (Ronasso)
Ronasso’s expressions were clear and Tamon could see his expression change.
The good news was that he (Ronasso) was very expressive, but he had the unfortunate disadvantage of not being able to hide his expressions most of the time.
“You and Her Majesty did it at the Academy, didn’t you?” (Tamon)
“…!”
“So that time, in the prayer room. ………….” (Tamon)
“Hey….. How do you know about that?” (Ronasso)
“The altar on the second floor of the prayer room was good for hiding and taking a nap. No one goes in there.” (Tamon)
“Ha-ha-ha-ha.”
Ronaso’s eyes widened in surprise as he shuddered remembering the scene.
His soft brown hair trembled helplessly.
Tamon laughed nastily and put his finger in front of his lips again, just like before.
“It’s a secret.”
Shhhh.
Ronasso’s mouth stiffened as if the shock didn’t go away.
He looked afraid of how far Tamon knew.
“You, you don’t have to go that far, I’ll ……I don’t go around revealing your secrets!”
Ronasso squeezed both fists in frustration.
It was a position that looked very cute to some people, but when Ronasso did it, it suddenly looked like he was trying to intimidate Tamon.
But that didn’t mean that Tamon Krasis was a great man to be threatened.
“Bad guy. If you knew, you should have said so or pretended that you didn’t know! Come on, you brute!”
In his rage, Ronasso sat down on the floor and swept his hair roughly.
“I pledge allegiance to Her Majesty and will protect her until the day of this life, but at least…. My faith belongs to you.”
His voice was grumpy.
He was too serious.
Tamon stared at Ronasso, smirked, and Ronasso’s ruffled hair, which was even worse.
“I know, I know.”
“…”
“It must be hard, trying to find out the secret, or keeping the secret.”
“Thank you for understanding it now…”
Embarrassed and piqued, Ronasso quickly rose from his seat.
He was an incredibly good man with resilience.
“Nevertheless, you should tell Her Majesty about it sometime. It’s too big a secret to keep, so it will come out someday.”
“Well, I suppose you’re right. I’ll discuss it first.”
Discuss?
Ronasso tilted his head.
He had never seen that arrogant, haughty fellow Tamon engage in the human communication of ‘discuss’ with anyone.
A king? A friend? A loyal chamberlain? Who in the world would he discuss with?
“With whom?”
‘It’s not me. Then with whom?’
For some reason, Ronasso felt unfair.
It was not him, the dirty, sad, frustrated friend who had been so patient with him, who was he going to talk to?
“Who? My beautiful and noble slave is the one I should discuss this with. It’s about her anyway.” (Tamon)
Ronasso’s mouth gaped open.
This lunatic.
He’s been thinking about it for a while now, but it was obvious that Tamon was spinning his wheels right now.
He didn’t even know what kind of dangerous woman he was holding, and he’s got such an upside down look in his eyes.
To top it all off, Tamon was different than usual when he mentioned her.
The expression on his face was ……….
“When did this happen?” (Ronasso)
“What?” (Tamon)
Since when did you fall in love with that woman!” (Ronasso)
“I hope it’s not true.” (Ronasso)
“You’ve lost your mind.” (Ronasso)
“What does it matter? If she hadn’t been abandoned, if she was happy there, the fact that I had stolen her would never have happened.” (Tamon)
It was a desire that Tamon had buried so deep that he could not even realize it himself.
It was all Gillotti Tanatos that made him dig it up and let it out.
‘Thank goodness for that.’
Tamon thought with a cold smile.
He was grateful that Gillotti let her go foolishly, so that he (Tamon) could hold her hand proudly. The problem was that the interest (Roselyn) kept trying to let go of his (Tamon’s) hand.
“Oh, by the way, earlier.”
Tamon suddenly looked out the window.
Then he remembered.
“You told me we’re in the middle of a festival, didn’t you?”
………… Had she ever been outside the mansion?
***
“Wow! Why does this dress look so good on you?”
“Wow, how come you don’t have a single blemish on your skin? How come your eyelashes are so long?”
“Let’s also try on this hat! The jewels all seem to look good on you no matter what you wear.”
“But still, this blue dress looks the best on you.”
Roselyn was distracted by the twins’ fuss.
Suddenly, the twins have brought all kinds of dressing goods, so Roselyn had to try them out.
It wasn’t Tanatos’ outfit, nor Amor’s, but a dress from the far west.
The thin, fluffy fabric resembled Amor’s clothes at first glance, but it was a completely different design.
First, Amor dresses connected using strings.
But there was a lot more sewing involved in this outfit than what she could see.
It had a deep neckline and short sleeves. The strings were tightened below the chest, and the skirt was slid at the legs.
(*I think it’s the dress she wore on the cover picture)
If she wore a small, cute hat and a netting to lightly cover her head and forehead, the outfit would be completed.
It would be fashionable if she wore lace gloves, but the outfit was so hastily prepared that they didn’t even get the gloves.
Instead, the twins gave her a silk bracelet, and jewelry.
They looked very nice for having prepared so quickly.
At that point, Roselyn couldn’t help but wonder.
Unless the twins suddenly took her to play with costumes, this was obviously outdoor clothes.
“Where do you want me to go?”
“Ah! Haven’t you heard anything yet? There’s a festival going on in the capital right now! It lasts about five days, and today is the first day.”
“It’s so beautiful! Especially on the last night, when the lanterns are filled with flowers and flown into the sky, it’s really spectacular.”
The flower offering festival was something she remembered hearing about.
It was a festival to send light and flowers to the six gods that support the continent and pray for their health in the coming year.
Flowers would be placed on wind lanterns and flown over the sea.
They prayed that the gods of the sea and wind will bring these wind lanterns to the world of the gods, which was invisible to the human eyes.
Not everyone could fly a wind lantern.
Only about 100 pre-selected nobles and lucky commoners were able to fly the lanterns directly into the sky. The rest had to place their wishes on the flying lanterns, but even that was considered a spiritual experience.
“Anyway, it’s a festival day that comes only once a year.”
A festival …..
Roselyn was curious what festivals in other countries looked like.
We’re they majestic and pious like in Tanatos? Or would it be as vibrant and crowded as she had read about?
Because of the nature of Amor, she thought it would be closer to the latter.
“Are you reluctant to go outside?”
Tasha asked cautiously, as if she had read Roselyn’s thoughtful expression differently.
Roselyn looked up and shook her head with a smile.
“No, I’m a little curious. What does it look like out there?”
Since she came back to life anyway, she wanted to see as much as she could of what she couldn’t see back then.
Then when she dies again, she won’t regret it.
“If you’re ready, can we go?”
“Yes!”
Roselyn gladly took the hand that the twins offered her and left the room.
****
It was still afternoon, the sun has not set.
Tamon sent Ronasso out and quickly prepared to go out.
Tamon was quite famous in the kingdom, so some disguise was necessary.
He matched the costume he had given to Roselyn and imitated an exotic nobleman visiting from another country.
After all, there were crowds of people at the festival, and some of them were dressed in strange outfits to attract attention, so it would be easier to blend in.
After finishing his preparations, he went to the rear gate instead of the main gate.
There were many men spying at the main gate, so he was going to take the carriage and leave from the back gate.
The most troublesome thing was the eyes of the king.
Now, he had obediently maintained a degree of “watch”, but if they sensed anything strange, there was no telling how it would suddenly change.
He still didn’t know how Roselyn’s plan would play out, so he couldn’t carelessly alarm the king.
From what Asrell had told him, it was more likely that Roselyn was trying to secure her own allies through activities such as looking for accounts and sending out letters.
‘I wish she asked me for help, but of course she wouldn’t want to do that.’
It was only a mere request to save the Iron Child in exchange for a contract. (* he lost his arm but he thought it was a mere request lol)
‘What will she use the other four requests for?’
(* the contract they signed was if Roselyn agreed to be his partner to do the engraving, Roselyn could have 5 requests)
Tamon was very curious to know what she would demand of him.
It would be nice if it was a demand that was extremely private and intimate request.
‘I don’t think so.’
I laughed out loud at the silly thought.
Before he could board the carriage that was waiting at the back gate, an unexpected person called out to him.
“…..Brother.”
As if he had been waiting for Tamon to come out, Cassion stood there.