Chapter 362

I froze, my mind going blank.

The empress had stepped away from me.

Her expression was as cold as before.

No one would have guessed what had just happened.

They were all staring at us in bewilderment.

The empress nodded towards the door.

“Close the doors. No one leaves.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The guards rushed to obey her command.

They were eager to prove their loyalty, unlike the traitorous guards from earlier.

*Thud*

The only entrance to the hall was slammed shut.

There was no way to escape, except by jumping out of a window.

But it was a long drop, and anyone who tried would most likely die or be seriously injured.

The crowd tensed up.

It was understandable.

The atmosphere was so volatile that anyone could be the next victim.

*Thud, thud, thud.*

The empress started to move again.

The first victim had been killed, and I had been spared.

Everyone was staring at her in confusion.

But I had a feeling I knew what she was doing.

The instigators who had been subtly inciting the crowd.

I realized that her movements were related to the direction from which their voices had come.

Then the next victim would be…

*Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!*

“Aaaaaargh!”

“Gasp?!”

“Y-Your Majesty?!”

…Another death.

And no one dared to stop the enraged empress.

*Thud! Thud! Thud!*

“Aaaaaargh!”

Another death.

*Thud*

“G-Gah…”

And another.

As the number of victims increased, the instigators, who had been hiding among the crowd, seemed to realize that they had been exposed.

They jumped out, as if in a desperate attempt to escape.

“Ugh, how vicious! You cruel emperor!”

“The heavens will never forgive you!”

“Die for Emperor Max!”

Servants, knights, lords, even a lord’s wife who had attended as her husband’s companion…

People they had never expected to be involved emerged from the crowd and charged at the empress.

“Ah, finally.”

The empress’s eyes gleamed with madness.

It was the same look she had had when she had been a tyrant in the past.

*Whoosh!*

She threw the dagger.

*Thud!*

It pierced a servant’s skull.

*Thud!*

The servant collapsed, dead before they could even scream.

She grabbed a fork.

*Whoosh!*

*Thud!*

The fork pierced the neck of a lord’s wife who had been about to cast a spell.

“H-Hngh…”

She gurgled, blood pouring from her mouth, and collapsed.

“Finally.”

*Clang!*

She smashed a wine bottle and grabbed a shard of glass.

The sharp edge gleamed like a blade.

“Die!”

A lord charged at her, unarmed.

But it was a trick.

As he got closer, he opened his mouth and spat something out.

*Ptoo!*

A hidden weapon!

A needle-like projectile shot towards the empress.

It must have been coated with a deadly poison.

But,

*Flick*

She flicked it away with her finger, as if it were a piece of trash.

And then,

*Thud!*

She plunged the broken bottle into his heart.

“Finally.”

He collapsed, dead.

A knight charged at her from behind, his sword glowing with aura.

But she was already holding a silver candlestick.

*Slash!*

The sword seemed to cut through her.

But it had only cut through the air.

“Ugh?!”

She slammed the candlestick into his skull.

*Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!*

“Finally. Finally. Finally. Finally. Finally.”

Blood splattered.

And splattered again.

Brain matter splattered as well.

The knight’s head was crushed beyond recognition.

But she kept hitting him.

Her actions were no longer human.

She was a monster in human form.

Everyone held their breath.

They were terrified.

Because they had never seen this side of her before.

The monstrous empress’s true nature.

After a while,

She finally stopped.

Her hands were covered in blood.

“Finally, I’ve exterminated all the cockroaches.”

“…”

No one responded.

I also remained silent.

Honestly, I was too shocked and confused to speak.

‘…This is the worst possible situation.’

The empress’s true nature, which should have been kept hidden at all costs, had been completely exposed.

Those unknown assailants had pushed her over the edge.

She had been unable to control her rage.

It felt like all my efforts had been in vain.

But there was one thing that kept me going.

Her confession.

The empress’s confession.

It hadn’t been a lie or an act.

It had been sincere.

I had heard it in her voice, in the way her voice had trembled.

‘I can’t believe she felt that way about me…’

Honestly, I was shocked.

I had thought that the monstrous empress was incapable of such emotions.

And…

Now I had no choice but to rely on those feelings.

I hoped that her feelings for me would be enough to control her and keep her from going on a rampage.

*Thud*

She slammed the blood-soaked candlestick down on the table and sat down on her chair.

Blood dripped from the candlestick, creating a gruesome scene.

“Now, let’s recap. There were multiple people who tried to kill me. And they all said the same thing. That Max Celtrine was the mastermind.”

The western lords’ eyes darted around nervously at the mention of my name.

They must have sensed an opportunity.

Several of them spoke up cautiously.

“T-Those traitors all said the same thing.”

“We can’t fully trust their words, but we can’t ignore them either.”

“A thorough investigation is necessary.”

They couldn’t accuse me directly after one of their own had been killed by the empress, but they were trying to implicate me.

They knew that it would give the empress a justification to act against me.

And they wanted to take advantage of the situation and gain favor with the empress.

But they didn’t know.

What the empress had whispered to me.

How much their words were angering her.

‘They’re digging their own graves.’

I could see their deaths coming.

The empress wouldn’t show them any mercy now that her true nature had been revealed.

But I didn’t want that.

It was fine for her to punish the traitors, whether she killed them brutally or cleanly.

It was a justifiable action.

But it would be crossing the line if she started killing innocent people just because they annoyed her.

And,

Killing would only fuel her rage.

It would make her unstoppable.

And then I would have no choice but to intervene.

‘Should I step in?’

I braced myself.

I was ready to stop her if she showed any signs of going too far.

I stared at her, my body tense.

She reached for something.

Towards the blood-soaked candlestick.

‘Please, stop!’

Did my silent plea reach her?

Her hand stopped.

*Tap, tap.*

Her fingers tapped on the table.

I could tell what she was feeling just from that sound.

She was struggling to hold back.

Her urge to kill.

“A happy life, a happy life, a happy life, a happy life…”

She muttered to herself, her head bowed, like a madwoman.

Those words…

My expression faltered.

It was our promise.

The promise that we would both be happy if she became a wise ruler.

She was reminding herself of that promise and holding back.

I felt a pang of sympathy for her.

It was the first time I had ever felt this way about the empress.

But,

I was the only one who knew the meaning of those words.

“Y-Your Majesty…?”

The crowd stared at her in confusion.

She raised her head.

And then she said, “Do you know?”

“Huh?”

“How to destroy an empire.”

“W-What are you talking about…?”

“You just have to drive a wedge between the emperor and their most trusted subject. An empire in turmoil is the perfect prey. It’s a good method, isn’t it? And the way they executed it was quite clever. They planted their agents everywhere to sow seeds of doubt and suspicion.”

“Y-Your Majesty…”

“But do you really think I’m going to fall for their tricks and act according to their plan? Do you really think I’m that stupid?”

“B-But we need to investigate…”

“O-Of course we do. We have to investigate. But not Max. If I interrogate my most trusted subject based on the words of those traitors, who would ever be loyal to me?”

“W-Well…”

“Ah, of course, one of you unfortunately revealed your true intentions, but I don’t think everyone in your faction is involved. It was a plot to sow discord, after all. But,”

She touched her cheek with her bloodstained hand.

“If you keep acting suspiciously, I’m going to have to interrogate you thoroughly. What do you think? It’s only natural for me to react that way, isn’t it?”

“Gasp!”

“Gulp!”

The western lords’ mouths snapped shut.

She had silenced them with her words, not with violence.

She had declared that she would punish anyone who dared to doubt Max.

It was a decisive move, coming from a newly crowned emperor.

Those who didn’t know her would have been impressed by her skills, but I knew.

How miraculous it was.

The monstrous empress had managed to suppress her urge to kill.

It was unbelievable.

‘That empress…’

My heart wavered again.

I knew.

That she had held back because of the promise we had made.

“Marquis Safia.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I’m entrusting you with the investigation.”

The crowd was surprised. They hadn’t expected her to entrust the investigation to Marquis Safia.

He was my rival, after all.

But I knew that this was another clever move on her part.

Marquis Safia might be my rival, but he was currently being ostracized by the western lords.

He was in a neutral position, even though he wasn’t neutral.

‘Marquis Safia isn’t stupid.’

He knew what this meant.

The empress was sending a clear message to the western lords and Marquis Safia.

She was giving them a chance.

A chance to redeem themselves and gain her favor.

“I will do my best to fulfill your command, Your Majesty.”

As expected, the clever Marquis Safia immediately accepted her offer.

His trembling body betrayed his excitement.

And,

‘He won’t let this opportunity slip away.’

It had been a disastrous incident, but it had been resolved relatively well.

It wasn’t because of me.

It was because of the empress.

But it was also because of me.

Because the empress…

‘…Is infatuated with me.’

I muttered to myself, a strange feeling washing over me.

It still felt unreal.

“Then let’s end this here. Let us pray for the souls of the innocent who were lost today.”

The empress stood up and walked towards the door.

The guards rushed to open the doors.

She left the hall.

Her gaze met mine before she left.

Her eyes were saying,

I kept my promise…