The Empress Regressed

The daze from her sudden regression lasted only a moment.

It didn’t take Vivian long to realize her situation.

“What is it? Get out of the way.”

“Huh…?”

The maids openly ignored her.

That’s right, she, who hadn’t been chosen by the Dragon, was still nothing.

Though her mood was twisted, Vivian didn’t lose her reason.

How could she waste such a given opportunity with foolish methods?

“Helix, Helix comes first.”

After that, Vivian waited for days and nights.

For Helix to awaken.

For him to awaken and choose her again, like before.

“Damn god, if you gave me a chance, help me just one more time… If I get through this, I won’t forget your favor.”

Vivian prayed earnestly to God.

She was so sincere that she went to the only Dragon God Temple in the Empire Capital to offer her prayers.

But no matter how long she waited…

The news of the Dragon’s appearance never came.

“Something’s wrong.”

Vivian didn’t dismiss this as a mere coincidence.

She remembered all the dates when Helix had awakened in the past.

But a considerable amount of time had already passed since then.

If history didn’t repeat itself as in the past…

Waiting idly any longer would be foolish.

“I have no choice but to find him myself.”

But Vivian was no longer the Emperor.

Now she was just a powerless bastard Empress.

She couldn’t command powerful legions or brilliant intelligence organizations like in the past.

“First, I need to regain power.”

She didn’t think it would be difficult at all.

Rather, her greater concern was how she should treat Helix in the future.

How could she win back his heart, a heart that had been so tormented by being with her that he had even taken his own life?

Vivian’s only worry was that.

“Controlling the Emperor would be the fastest way.”

Geas.

With just that, even the Emperor of the Empire would have no way to escape.

Although in her previous life, she hadn’t taken the risk because Helix was there…

Now, she had to make use of even this.

“Can I even handle it now?”

Vivian had memories of two past lives, but even so, she wasn’t ready to use Geas again.

Because her magic power, or whatever it was, was utterly insufficient.

But even so, Vivian had to do it.

If she could see Helix one more time, she was prepared to sell her soul to a demon.

“Still, I’ll need some practice.”

Just then, a good subject presented itself.

The maids of the Imperial Palace who ignored her and didn’t even treat her as an Empress.

To this extent, she wouldn’t feel any guilt using them as practice subjects for Geas.

A cruel smile formed on Vivian’s lips.

Separate from Helix…

She never forgot a grudge.

“Hey, you all.”

“What now? Don’t bother us.”

“Don’t be like that, come here. Everyone else got one, you’ll regret it if you don’t.”

Vivian lured the maids with trinkets as bait.

Then she thoroughly used them as experimental subjects for Geas.

To what extent they would obey orders.

And what method of approach would allow her to cast Geas on the Emperor, a superhuman…

After long experimentation, Vivian finally reached a conclusion.

“When he’s asleep, I need to cast a dream-weaving spell.”

To be more precise, first, she would use a dream-weaving spell during his sleep to shake the Emperor’s mind.

Then, taking advantage of his weakened mental state, she would forcibly bind him with Geas.

Of course, secretly entering the Emperor’s bedchamber was originally close to impossible.

That is, if Vivian hadn’t been the Emperor before her regression.

“Memorizing the secret passages is proving useful now.”

Even the Emperor of the mighty Empire wouldn’t imagine someone infiltrating through memories of a past life.

Thus, Vivian was able to infiltrate the Emperor’s bedchamber without much difficulty.

Despite the intruder, the Emperor showed no particular reaction.

He, originally a swordsman and a superhuman, was sensitive to killing intent, but…

Vivian had no intention of killing the Emperor, not even a hair’s breadth of it.

“I won’t kill him; he just needs to work hard for my wish.”

Vivian first cast a dream-weaving spell on the Emperor.

She infiltrated his mental world and first took control of his mind.

No matter how much of a superhuman he was, this space was under Vivian’s control.

From the moment he was summoned into this dream world, her plan was as good as successful.

“You want to seize the continent, don’t you? I’ll make that dream come true. In return, cooperate with me.”

“I understand…”

Too easily, the Emperor was reduced to Vivian’s puppet.

Now, all that remained was to use him to clear away the remaining obstacles.

“Arrest the traitors…!”

“What is this?! Your Majesty, let us meet Your Majesty!”

Vivian manipulated the Emperor, accusing everyone who could be a threat to her, including the First Prince, of treason.

And a storm of blood swept through the Empire.

While the puppet Emperor focused on the purge, Vivian used the Emperor’s authority to seize control of key power institutions one by one.

“Alright, the preparations are complete.”

The Empire’s secret intelligence agency, which Vivian had desired most.

Now it was time to use their power.

“You must find the Dragon’s egg. Focus your search especially around the Holy Dominion.”

“Understood, Your Highness.”

Though the Empire’s intelligence agency was excellent, finding a Dragon’s egg whose whereabouts were unknown in this vast land was impossible.

Vivian grew increasingly anxious.

“What if the Saint or the Elf finds it first?”

And her ominous premonition was not wrong.

Not long after, news arrived that the Saint of the Holy Dominion had found the Dragon.

“We apologize, Your Majesty.”

“Haa, it can’t be helped. Even that Saint searched for over half a year…”

Even the Saint, who had the ability to find the Dragon, only managed to find it after wasting so much time.

Finding the Dragon’s egg without any clues was close to impossible from the start.

However, there was a good reason why Vivian was being so magnanimous despite this.

“Because the Saint didn’t awaken the Dragon.”

The Saint didn’t know, but there was a knight who had witnessed the scene at the time.

By giving that person a large sum of money, she was able to ascertain the exact situation.

It was true that the Saint found the Dragon, but strictly speaking, she didn’t awaken it.

The Dragon had awakened of its own will, not by choosing someone.

One might ask why that was so important, but at least to Vivian, it was.

“He didn’t choose me, but he didn’t choose that other bitch either, did he?”

That’s right.

Come to think of it, the Saint had also committed a great wrong against Helix.

She was the Saint who had committed the grave sin of murdering her own husband because she didn’t want him taken from her.

There was no way she could be easily forgiven.

“Serves her right, that stupid bitch.”

Vivian sneered at the Saint.

However, it wasn’t a situation where she could simply feel relieved.

“The problem is the Elf…”

The Elf hadn’t committed any wrong against Helix.

Moreover, she harbored guilt for having caused his death, didn’t she?

What if the Elf tried to sway Helix using that?

The soft-hearted him would surely be swayed.

“That can’t happen. I absolutely must find him first.”

Sparks flew in Vivian’s eyes.

Originally, the woman Vivian hated most was the Saint, but…

Due to the Elf’s existence, she was pushed down the priority list.

She hadn’t known when she took him, but she realized it only after he was taken from her.

That this feeling was more fucked up than she had imagined.

*****

After that, Vivian infiltrated as many informants as possible into the Holy Dominion.

Everything was for the purpose of obtaining information about Helix.

Thanks to them, she was able to confirm a few things.

“Helix really has a strong dislike for that bitch.”

This was, of course, as she had expected.

The Dragon, as expected, could not forgive the Saint.

It was natural that it wouldn’t be easy to forgive the woman who killed him, but…

However, Vivian could no longer simply mock the Saint.

“Tsk, I’m not in a position to mock others, am I?”

Ultimately, in the sense that she had driven Helix to his death, she was no different.

Perhaps he would be even less willing to forgive her than the Saint.

How she was to approach him again in the future already felt utterly daunting.

“That bug hunt is still going strong.”

Termites, she called them, didn’t she?

Vivian actually didn’t have much interest in those bugs.

Rather, she found it satisfying that the bugs were attacking the Elf’s Daesurim.

However, the situation had now changed.

If Helix was focusing so much on fighting these bugs, it meant this was no ordinary crisis.

“He must be desperate for every single person.”

Therefore, she also needed to cooperate to some extent and lend him a hand.

Of course, she didn’t expect Helix to forgive her for this.

But wouldn’t it be better than doing nothing?

Having made up her mind, Vivian summoned the commander of the Imperial Army.

“You called, Your Highness?”

“Investigate these beings.”

“Since when have such monsters existed in the Empire?”

“For quite a long time. We just weren’t aware of them.”

Vivian formulated a plan to deal with the Termites.

She reorganized the Imperial Army’s structure to be suitable for fighting them and reintroduced standard-issue weapons.

Of course, this wouldn’t be very efficient in wars between nations, but it didn’t matter.

After all, there was no nation bold enough to launch a preemptive strike against the Empire, and she had no intention of waging wars of conquest now.

“I miss you, Helix.”

On one hand, she was also afraid of facing Helix again.

Imagining him glaring at her with eyes full of hatred, her chest felt tight.

But still…

She still wanted to see him.

“Is there no way to meet him?”

If she approached him openly, she would provoke the Saint’s wariness.

Then, unless she started a war, seeing him would become a distant prospect.

She needed to suppress her anxious heart and approach him more cautiously.

After long deliberation, Vivian finally thought of a useful method.

“I need to establish connections in the Holy Dominion.”

Disguising her identity as an Empress and befriending someone from the Holy Dominion to approach Helix.

That was Vivian’s plan.

However, befriending just anyone from the Holy Dominion wouldn’t be meaningful.

Wouldn’t she need to befriend someone directly related to him?

“Is there no one suitable?”

From then on, Vivian dedicated herself to searching for a suitable person.

There were several candidates, but one name particularly stood out.

“Garmiyu.”

A noble lady from one of the Empire’s five great noble families.

A woman who, like herself, was born with Half-Dragon blood.

She had hoped to become the Dragon’s Priestess, but was actually rejected by Helix.

“She doesn’t even know her place.”

Vivian absolutely did not believe that this woman, Garmiyu, desired to be the Dragon’s Priestess out of pure faith.

It was obvious she was full of disrespectful intentions.

Whether she was aware of it or not.

“Should I try with this woman first…?”

Garmiyu, who was a Half-Dragon and even a great noble of the Empire.

All the dangerous conditions were met to the extent that she could covet the Saint’s position.

Like it or not, she would inevitably continue to be connected to Helix.

“It’s unpleasant, but I’ll use her for now.”

If she made good use of the fact that Garmiyu was a Half-Dragon, things would be easier.

Because as a Half-Dragon herself, there would be things she could teach her.

Her plan was to slowly build goodwill and create an opportunity to naturally approach Helix.

“When will I be able to meet you again?”

The waiting ahead would be the most painful time.

But Vivian decided to endure it.

This was the least she could do to atone for Helix.

Truly, truly, little by little…

Vivian decided to change herself.

To approach her beloved again.