episode_0001

The grand Alhyun Hall.

Beautiful paintings depicting the story of the invited emperor are drawn on the ceiling.

The owner of this place seems to have received power from the gods for generations. The protagonist in the beautiful murals receives the emperor’s crown from the gods.

Marble works are displayed on the surrounding walls. And the walls are decorated with gold, silver, and various patterns.

But the most splendid thing here…

The throne.

A large chair adorned with gold, silver, and black metal. And sitting on it… she, who I once thought was a close friend.

Her eyes meet mine. The knights roughly pull my arms.

Yes… it’s like being dragged along like a dog.

-Thud!

Being dragged all the way to the emperor’s throne, I stumble.

“Kneel, sinner!”

The steward under the throne speaks with an imposing voice, but is it because I appointed him?

Rather than feeling offended by his words, I stand stiffly, but…

-Thwack!

“Argh!”

The knights kick my knees, forcing me to kneel.

Enduring the pain, I look around and feel the depths of despair.

The courtiers around her.

High-ranking officials like the ministers I appointed, imperial priests, and judges look at me.

The steward I appointed recites a long parchment.

“Deviang Lyon, the sinner! He executed the rebels as the son of a rebel, but insulted His Majesty the Emperor…”

It’s not surprising that they’re already lined up over there to execute me for trying to relinquish power.

In a world where parents and children kill each other for power, there’s no loyalty left for me.

The loyal subjects who promised to follow me are now all on the emperor’s side.

They avoid my gaze as if they have a conscience.

Well… what can I do? They’ve already turned their backs on me.

Although I didn’t become the most powerful figure in the empire through legal means, I worked harder than anyone to govern the country.

I managed the chaotic state affairs after the death of the former emperor.

I suppressed the nobles who rebelled against the current emperor, Theodore.

I united the empire once again.

I found and eradicated the cultists who sought to resurrect the demon king in the dark shadows.

I transformed the mud-covered empire into a sparkling marble.

So… I was now ready to annul the marriage with Theodore without any regrets.

A marriage where we didn’t love each other.

I only married her forcibly to survive.

So, when all the risks disappeared.

I tried to annul the marriage and let her go.

Because I thought that was the only way to repay her and the former emperor’s favor…

But she didn’t forgive me.

So, this chaos must have arisen.

In the end… is this the end of the empire?

If I disappear from this empire now… to take my place within the factions… the empire will fall into civil war again.

Before the civil war is resolved… Theodore… she will die.

In the end… it turned out like this.

Wearing the clothes of the empire’s highest authority, which doesn’t suit the situation, I did my best, but in the end…

The end is heading towards destruction…

It’s just… so fleeting.

When I feel the emptiness of life. I feel a burning gaze.

I turn my head to the burning gaze that seems to devour me.

A woman wearing a magnificent emperor’s crown.

A splendid emperor’s crown shining with golden and iridescent colors.

But contrasting with that, a beauty with long gray hair stares at me with sharp red eyes.

Harmonious gray eyebrows and long eyelashes.

A suitable chest and slender waist.

The noble grace and the splendid red and crimson colors of the emperor’s clothes that enhance her dignity.

Her cold gaze looking down at me.

Her eyes reflected disappointment.

Was I that detestable to her?

I thought we had become close.

But it seems it was all in my head.

Of course, she has every reason to hate me.

After all, my father killed her father and brothers, and I was forced to marry her.

Given her strong sense of pride.

She probably wanted to catch me off guard.

In the end, it was my mistake. Thinking I had become friends with her, the goddess of power.

All those smiles were just lies to put me at ease.

The softened attitude and tone compared to the beginning, all of it was just a ploy to deceive me.

We spent a long time working overtime in the office together, sharing the same room and bed.

That’s why… even though it started off badly, I thought we had become friends.

So that someday, when she found someone she loved, she could marry him. I tried to protect her innocence and return power to her.

But… in the end, she couldn’t forgive me…

Even though this empire may be on the brink of collapse. She still wanted to kill me, even if it meant sacrificing herself.

The deep anger in her crimson eyes.

Those eyes look down on me.

I meet her gaze.

Indeed… she is the goddess of power.

No, she’s the vengeful female lead.

When I start to feel the end of my life due to such thoughts.

“Therefore, according to the laws of the empire, I petition Your Majesty for the execution of the traitor.”

At the steward’s words, Theodora nods her head and speaks in a beautiful voice.

“Before the judgment is made, I have something to discuss with him alone. So please step back.”

Her words are met with resistance from her followers.

“Your Majesty! You don’t know what this treacherous traitor is capable of! Please execute him!”

“Yes, Your Majesty! Do you not know how much he has undermined the empire?”

Damn it… I ended up sitting there just because of their abilities?

I want to ask if even they were undermined, but… I’m tired now.

So I silently watch them.

Those who abandoned me…

They didn’t seem so foolish…

Or does Theodora want to turn everything into ashes?

The reason my army is stationed in Roman is… for my safety and to prevent any suspicious movements.

But if I am betrayed and killed, it’s hard to predict what an uncontrolled army will do.

Forget about my revenge… they will plunder and burn this glorious city of Roman.

That’s why I inwardly laugh at those foolish deputies.

“Enough!”

The knights stop at Theodora’s dignified but low voice.

She looks at her followers with an indifferent expression.

“Did I not give you an order?”

“Y-Your Majesty…”

Those foolish followers who want to score points with her somehow.

“Are you defying the imperial decree?”

Before the goddess of revenge and power, they shrink infinitely.

“T-Then we will withdraw.”

The followers and knights step back.

-Clang!

The giant doors close, leaving only me and her.

I remember what she said before we got married.

-Definitely… I will make you miserable… very miserable and throw your body to the wolves as food.

In the end… is this how it turned out?

The spilled water that cannot be recovered.

Since the moment I decided to kill Baloran, I was already prepared to die, and I have actually escaped death several times, so now I am not really afraid of death.

That’s why I ask Theodora out of curiosity.

“How did you manipulate them?”

They were originally officials I appointed.

If they betrayed me so easily, I think she must have offered them something.

“You told me. With authority, the whip, and reward. With those three things, you can control people.”

The absolute power that comes from the position of emperor, as well as the coercion and threats that bend people to submission?

*Sigh.*

I taught her, but in the end, it has come to this.

She must think that the politics I taught her with the hope that she would become a wise ruler in my absence, is actually a plan to kill me.

“And… you’re planning to annul our marriage soon, so you tried to come to my side.”

What?

Her words momentarily confuse me.

A petition for the annulment of our marriage to safely transfer the power I hold.

The fact that they know about the current situation between me, the Pope, and her…

“Teodora… did you leak it?”

The fact that I am preparing for the annulment of our marriage. Only she and I know about it.

She must have leaked it for revenge. That’s probably why.

This situation is not good.

If this information spreads, within my faction, I might end up dead at the hands of the empress.

The empire… will eventually fall into his hands.

It’s my fault for trusting Teodora.

With the situation like this, I resign myself to it.

Is it because I have given up?

Surprisingly, my heart feels at ease.

“Ha… congratulations… it turned out just as you said.”

But Teodora doesn’t respond to my words.

She gets up from the throne and approaches me.

She walks gracefully towards me on the red carpet, gently grasps my chin, and looks into my eyes.

With lively eyes, she scrutinizes every inch of my face.

What is she doing? Does she hope to see fear in me?

*Sigh.*

“Why? Are you hoping I’ll beg for my life?”

I won’t beg for my life. Even though… Teodora may have had an unhappy life because of me…

I have saved and enriched more people than that.

Even if I were to go back to the past, I would do the same. Therefore, there can be no regrets about that choice.

Of course, it wasn’t an easy feat.

Many soldiers died, and it was only possible through Teodora’s sacrifice and mine.

For three years, I have lived day and night to prevent the resurrection of the demon king and revive the empire.

But now, my body and mind are exhausted.

In the end, she will lead this empire to its destruction.

Still… I stopped the resurrection of the demon king… so let’s be satisfied with that.

Humanity will not perish.

As I prepare to face death calmly, she starts acting strangely.

“What… what are you doing?”

Teodora kneels on my legs.

She looks at me with sad eyes.

Is it like the appearance of a woman anxiously waiting for her lover to disappear somewhere?

That can’t be. She must hate me so much.

“Why… are you trying to leave me?”

“It was your power to begin with. I’m just returning it to you.”

Her words and expression don’t match the current situation at all, and I can’t understand them.

I expected her to be happy that she had finally succeeded in her revenge and would enjoy tormenting me…

I didn’t expect such a gloomy reaction.

“But… why are you trying to leave me?”

At her repeated words, I raise my head with a blank face.

“What…?”

“Was the reason you didn’t take my virginity… because you were planning to annul our marriage someday?”

That’s right. To retire peacefully in the future.

If she hadn’t entered into a marital relationship with me, she could have annulled our marriage at any time.

So, I calmly state the truth.

“Yes…”

She looks at me with fiery eyes, then clenches her lips.

And…

*Thud!*

“Ugh!”

She roughly pushes my shoulder, causing me to fall.

“I must be a fool… I thought you would eventually take me.”

Is my arm broken?

My arm joint hurts.

“I was such a fool.”

With a pure yet melancholic voice, I felt a sense of confusion…

“What…?”

“It’s okay, if you’re not intoxicated… then I can be the one who is.”

“Huh?”

As she spoke, her gaze changed.

From a melancholic voice to a sticky, obsessive tone…

“Did you think I would… let you go?”

From a sad gaze to a sticky, obsessive and greedy… and a heated gaze of desire…

“What… what?”

As I tried to understand the current situation.

-Rip!

She roughly tears my shirt.

-Plop!

Buttons rolling on the floor.

And as I look at Theodora, who is smiling mischievously at me, my head spins.

What is happening right now?

She glares at me with her unsettling red eyes.

Her red eyes narrow.

“After making me like this… do you think you can just leave me?”

Her strange atmosphere leaves me speechless.

“No!, I will never… never let you leave me.”

Theodora’s face, as she says those words, is filled with a dark smile.

A chilling smile that sends shivers down my arms.

“What… what are you doing?”

I stammer in response to her unexpected reaction.

“If that’s the case, why did you treat me well? Why did you risk your life to protect a mere replaceable scarecrow?”

“That’s… your place… ugh…”

Her hand, reaching into my torn shirt, makes me gasp involuntarily.

Her cold and smooth hand running over my chest.

“Oh… you…”

She looks at me with amusement and whispers in my ear.

“It’s hard to endure such words… inside… isn’t it? Ah…”

And she gently nibbles on my ear…

-Squelch…

A disgusting sound echoes as she bites my ear.

“Wha… what are you doing?”

My body reacts to the unfamiliar sensation.

“What are you doing…? Annulling the marriage… preventing it. And…”

Slowly, Theodora’s hand moves down to touch my belt.

“If you won’t intoxicate me… then I’ll have to intoxicate you.”

-Swallow.

I unconsciously swallow my saliva.

But it seems like it was too loud.

“Hehe…”

The sound of my swallowing seems amusing to Theodora, who smiles with her red eyes gleaming.

Her eyes, a mix of unfamiliar malice and mischief.

Her eyes gaze at my lower body with amusement.

“Are you excited? I thought you didn’t have any sexual desires since you only sleep at night.”

“W-what!, I… I have desires too!”

-Snick.

Theodora gives a mischievous smile.

Lost in her lovely smile, I stare at her blankly.

“Oh… if I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have bothered thinking about it.”

Get a hold of yourself! This is her scheme!

I try to regain my composure, but her curious words make me ask.

“What are you…?”

As I speak, she brings her index finger close to my lips…

“Curious?”

Uh… I shouldn’t be curious.

As I hesitate for a moment, she whispers in my ear again.

“Do you want to take the virginity of a twenty-three-year-old man who doesn’t know anything about women… the Empress’s maiden? Or do you prefer to make the Empress your own slave? Which one suits your taste better?”

“Ah… it’s not about taste…”

What kind of situation is this?

“I’m new at this… I don’t know if I’ll do well (?)… But I’ve read books and learned a bit from Mary, so…”

What…? What did you learn from my little sister?

In Theo’s eyes, who is looking down at me, the word lust is clearly visible.

-Gulp!

She looks at me and swallows loudly.

W-what is going on?

“T-that… I am… the enemy of your family… Ugh!”

Before I could finish speaking, something warm, moist, and slightly rough passes through my throat.

-Slurp…

And then she starts sucking on my neck.

A strange sensation.

The sensation is so unfamiliar that I unintentionally let out a moan.

“Ugh… S-stop!”

“N-no… Don’t! Don’t let go! Today, you will… be mine, I’ll eliminate any way for you to leave my side!”

Her strange expression of obsession is so unfamiliar.

It seems like… I have seriously misunderstood something.

It’s probably because in the original work, she was a crazy person seeking revenge and a manifestation of power.

W-what on earth is going on?!

Something seems seriously wrong in this incomprehensible situation.

Where did things go wrong?

How did this situation come about?

I recall the day we first met.