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"Swordsmanship practice is good, but you should spend more time with books."
Charles looked at the Emperor with a confused expression.
Just then, something caught Charles's foot.
Flash-.
Charles looked down, and lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the room.
In that instant, he saw a man lying in a pool of blood, seemingly dead.
"Mild morning sickness, and after checking her complexion, it is confirmed that she is pregnant."
He was Lady Riel's personal physician.
"⋯⋯!"
Charles looked at the Emperor with a tense expression.
The Emperor's once-gentle gaze turned icy.
"Charles, why are you not answering my question?"
"Did you do this to the physician, Your Highness?"
"Answer my question first!"
The Emperor shouted sharply at Charles's question.
Then, he pulled out a blood-stained sword hidden under the blanket and approached Charles.
"You have always ignored me. Even when you said you would be a good Emperor, your eyes always mocked me."
The Emperor's eyes, filled with madness, were not those of a normal person.
Charles watched the Emperor's movements and gripped his sword tightly.
"Isn't it because you don't trust yourself that you doubt the praise of others?"
"Shut your mouth!"
The Emperor raised his sword and charged at Charles.
Charles slightly twisted his body to avoid the Emperor's attack.
"I learned from you, Your Highness. That the position of Emperor is not something to be enjoyed, but something to be proven."
"⋯⋯."
"An Emperor who fails to prove his abilities meets a miserable end. Just like you, Your Highness."
"I am the only Emperor of the Rubena Empire! I will kill anyone who tries to take my place."
The Emperor distorted his face grotesquely and shouted.
The image of the Third Prince, who once dreamed blue dreams, had completely disappeared.
Only a human being remained, consumed by black desires and twisted beyond recognition.
"Die!"
The Emperor once again raised his sword and rushed at him menacingly.
Thud!
Charles lowered his body and quickly twisted the Emperor's wrist, knocking him to the ground.
A struggle ensued between Charles, who was trying to take the sword, and the Emperor, who was trying to prevent it.
Eventually, Charles climbed on top of the Emperor and snatched the sword away.
"Pay the price for your sins. The price for ignoring the war in the North and throwing the country into chaos, surrounded by sycophants and mistresses!"
The Emperor, lying on the ground, said with tears in his eyes.
"Charles, I lied to you, actually."
"⋯⋯."
"I, I pretended to know things because I liked the way you, you looked at me with respect, when I have no presence at all."
The Emperor pretended to be consumed by sorrow, then grabbed a fallen vase and struck Charles on the head.
"Die!"
Crash!
It was the moment when thunder and lightning struck.
Charles was about to stab the Emperor in the chest with the sword, but he dropped the sword from his hand. It was an urgent situation, but he couldn't bring himself to kill the Emperor with his own hands.
He desperately grabbed the Emperor's arms, knocked him over, and pressed down on him with his body.
"Let go! Let me go!"
The Emperor struggled violently.
"Your Highness, please⋯⋯."
Blood and tears mixed together, running down Charles's cheeks.
Just then, the bedroom door burst open.
"Arrest the Emperor!"
Aden, with a surprised expression, entered the room and gave the order. The First Order of Knights knights who followed him quickly restrained the Emperor and dragged him out.
"I will kill you all!"
The Emperor shouted as he was dragged away.
Charles, his strength completely drained, collapsed to the floor.
"Charles, come to your senses. Call a healer. Quickly!"
Aden shouted urgently towards the door.
Charles, grasping at his fading consciousness, murmured softly.
"It's all over now."
✦ ✦ ✦
Drip. Drip.
The heavy rain had subsided.
Around that time, Riel was standing in the Imperial Palace's backyard with His Grace, Duke Havel, and the ministers.
Three carriages were waiting there.
In the distance, the Havel family knight and the Imperial Army were struggling to stop the rebel forces.
Thump, thump!
Inside the middle carriage, the Empress, gagged and bound, thrashed about.
Slap-.
His Grace, Duke Havel, slapped Riel across the cheek.
"History will remember me?"
"We had to be strong to avoid being caught in their schemes."
"⋯⋯."
"But because Your Grace showed signs of fear, Iana became emboldened, didn't she?"
Riel snapped fiercely.
As soon as she became Empress, she intended to eliminate His Grace, Duke Havel.
But right now, she needed His Grace, Duke Havel.
There was no one better than His Grace, Duke Havel, as a rallying point to confront the rebel forces.
She believed that His Grace, Duke Havel, who was usually brilliant in strategy, would be able to read her plan.
In the end, it was her misjudgment.
"The rebel forces have occupied the Imperial Palace."
A Havel family knight rushed over and said urgently.
The ministers, with shocked faces, asked simultaneously.
"W-What should we do now?"
His Grace, Duke Havel, opened his mouth with a heavy face.
"We have the Empress, so let's escape the Imperial Palace and gather our forces."
"⋯⋯."
"With the justification that we rescued the Empress whom the rebel forces were trying to kill."
One of the Havel family knight spoke up.
"The main gate is guarded by the magic legion, and they are at the back gate as well, but we can break through if we concentrate all our forces."
"Quickly, let's depart."
At His Grace, Duke Havel's words, the knights guided the ministers to the carriage at the front.
His Grace, Duke Havel, boarded the second carriage with the Empress.
"Lady, please come this way."
Guided by a knight, Riel boarded the carriage that was set up alone at the very end.
The Havel family knight surrounded the procession.
Clatter-.
As the procession moved, the carriage carrying Riel also sped away.
As they approached the back gate of the Imperial Palace, the carriage carrying Riel moved to the front.
The carriages carrying His Grace, Duke Havel, and the ministers distanced themselves.
Only then did Riel realize what the situation was.
'His Grace, Duke Havel, has abandoned me. He's having the carriage I'm in push forward first to open the gate.'
She could see the knights of the magic legion guarding the back gate ahead.
Bang, bang!
Riel tried to open the door of the moving carriage. But the carriage door wouldn't open, as if it had been locked from the outside.
Whoosh- Bang!
A Havel family archer at the front launched a smoke bomb towards the magic legion.
The moment the carriage carrying Riel was about to crash into the gate.
A blue shield rose from the gate.
Bang!
The horse, startled by the light, reared up, and the carriage carrying Riel fell sideways.
"Ugh!"
Riel fell inside the carriage, bumping into things.
The dagger she had been hiding slipped out from her sleeve.
It was the dagger she had used to slash the Empress's portrait.
Riel struggled to reach out and grab the dagger.
Thud-.
A magic legion knight who recognized her opened the carriage door and shouted.
"Riel Estina is here!"
Just as the magic legion knight was about to drag Riel out of the carriage.
Riel fiercely swung the dagger.
"Argh!"
A knight who was nearby fell over, bleeding from his face.
The surrounding area was filled with acrid smoke from the smoke bomb.
'Why is this happening?'
Riel was confused, whether it was because of the smoke or because she was injured from the carriage overturning.
Everything seemed to be moving slowly, and the voices sounded distant.
Then, someone walked slowly towards her through the smoke.
Strangely, although the figure was small, it seemed like a great presence.
It was Iana.
Iana approached and said in a low voice.
"Riel, where are you running away to?"
Riel staggered and swung the dagger at Iana.
Iana took a step back and easily dodged it.
The knights of the magic legion surrounded Riel with their swords drawn.
Riel asked, with a confident expression.
"What did I do wrong? I'm a victim. A victim who was unfairly reduced to slavery because of my father's sins."
"Even a victim like you can't do that. You can't use innocent people carelessly⋯⋯."
"What do you know? You, who grew up pampered with a useless, sickly body!"
As Riel pointed the dagger at Iana, Iana strode forward.
"Riel, if you were really wronged, you would have created a system when you were favored by the Emperor."
"⋯⋯."
"So that people like you wouldn't be sacrificed because of their family's mistakes. But you didn't. You were lost in the delusion of becoming Empress."
Flames ignited in the eyes of Iana and Riel as they looked at each other.
Suddenly, Riel lowered the dagger she was pointing at Iana. Then, she checked her disheveled hair and clothes.
The knights of the magic legion buzzed at Riel's strange behavior.
Riel, who had finished tidying herself up, slowly opened her mouth.
"Iana, even if I disappear, I will remain in your heart forever."
"⋯⋯."
"As the woman who stole your husband."
In the end, all her plans fell apart because of Iana.
Riel had lost, and Iana had won.
So Riel stimulated the sense of inferiority that would hurt Iana the most.
Women who had their husbands stolen lived with a sense of inferiority as women.
Iana, who had been watching quietly, chuckled. Then, she sent magical power into the dagger that Riel had been holding.
"Ugh!"
As the dagger heated up, Riel dropped the dagger from her hand.
Iana picked up the dropped dagger and said.
"Riel, you don't have the right to choose death."
"⋯⋯."
"You should die on the execution ground, like an immoral woman."
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