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IBP 174
Coco glanced at the image stone and then looked at the Emperor. Like the others, the Emperor's expression had softened into a fluffy, dazed look, as if he too had felt the power of the divine beast.
‘Yes, now is the time!’
Coco asked the Emperor triumphantly.
“Now Your Majesty believes that I am a divine beast, right?”
“......Of course. Who in this room would not believe it, when the divine beast has performed a miracle?”
The Emperor suddenly changed his manner of speaking and began using honorifics!
Coco cheered inwardly before opening her mouth.
“Since you said you believe in Coco, there is something I want to say.”
Coco looked at Chloe, who had silently approached her side. Then, with a bright smile, she tightly gripped her sister's hand.
“The reason I was able to return alive is thanks to my imprinter here.”
“.......”
“I will continue to live as Lady Coco of the Ardos family, and as Chloe's younger sister.”
Seeing Coco declare this firmly to prevent the Emperor from becoming greedy over her, Chloe smiled brightly in return.
However, the Emperor could not simply smile at those words.
‘If that is the case, the influence of the Duke Ardos family will grow even stronger.’
The appearance of a divine beast and the ripple effect of having a divine beast's imprinter were immense.
But compared to the grace Coco would bestow upon the entire empire in the future, her affiliation was nothing.
Neighboring countries would not dare to underestimate this empire.
As if reading the Emperor's mind, Coco played her next card.
“Now that I've proven I'm a divine beast, it's time to deal with the murderer, right?”
“The murderer, you say.......”
“I believe I told you clearly. That I had died. Because of that person, who insulted the divine beasts by bringing a fake one!”
As Coco's tiny hand pointed toward Empress Hervezette, everyone's gaze snapped toward her.
She was still bound, barely managing to keep her trembling legs upright. Despite her panic, her cold gaze remained unchanged.
“I did not kill her.”
But as soon as she finished speaking, animals rushing in from all directions—including the windows and the banquet hall—gathered around Coco in an orderly fashion.
Thunder the black horse, The Father of the Emperor of Mouse, Agent Jack, Jjek-jjeki, Lord Turtle, and.......
[I too cam]
“E-even a tiger.......”
......and the spirit beast, Amius, surrounded Coco.
People looked on with puzzled expressions at the sudden appearance of the animals.
Coco spoke quietly.
“The Empress didn't just kill me. She killed other spirit beasts too.”
Coco glared at the Empress and spoke again.
“These animals here are not ordinary animals. Some of them are spirit beasts. These friends have come to witness the Empress being judged.”
A ten-year-old child divine beast surrounded by mystical animals.
The scene was enough to capture everyone's attention.
However, the Empress was still stubborn.
“T-there is no evidence at all, is there? No matter if it is the word of a divine beast, it is not right to drive me into a corner like this without a single piece of evidence.”
She screamed, flinging the useless water bottle to the floor.
“It is all n-nonsense, Your Majesty!”
But the Emperor's peaceful expression turned into one of disgust the moment he looked at the Empress.
“Evidence? How complacent. From the moment you presented a fake divine beast, you committed a grave crime. The rest of your sins will come to light once we search thoroughly. The divine beast has spoken, yet you are still in denial, Empress.”
“Your Majesty!”
“Put handcuff-type magic tools on the Empress as well. In case she manifests a supernatural ability.”
Not only was her body bound, but handcuff-type magic tools were instantly clamped onto her wrists. The Emperor spoke to the pale-faced Empress.
“Empress Hervezette. The details must be uncovered through interrogation, but.......”
The Emperor narrowed his brow with a headache-inducing expression and looked around. Grand Duke Rivera was staring at the image stone with an indifferent expression.
Thanks to the flashing image stone in his hand, the Empress's actions were being laid bare to all the citizens of the empire. Even as Emperor, he could not cover up the Empress's deeds.
‘Was this image stone perhaps a move orchestrated by the Duke Ardos family and the Grand Duke Rivera family?’
But what was the point of doubting it now?
The Emperor's expression twisted.
“As of this moment, the title of Empress is revoked, and the interrogation shall begin. Grand Duke Rivera, you shall take responsibility for sending that woman to the dungeon.”
“As you command.”
The dungeon.
A dark place where no light enters, filled with mold and moss—a place where a noblewoman could not stay for even a single second.
In other words, it was a place where death row prisoners were sent.
Sending the Empress there was no different from saying he intended to kill her.
Looking at Grand Duke Rivera, who approached her to take her to the dungeon, the Empress bit her trembling lips hard.
‘Do you think I'll just die quietly like this?’
But right then.
Prince Gaisa, who had been sitting beside the Empress like a ghost, whispered softly.
“M-mother. Mother, please, even now, ask the divine beast for m-mercy.......”
“.......”
“Although Mother's sins are n-never something that can be f-forgiven.......”
Prince Gaisa's words were reasonable on the surface.
Coco was a lovely young divine beast and had only just become one. If Empress Hervezette admitted all her wrongs and apologized, she might show a bit of mercy.
However, Empress Hervezette was not the type to beg others.
She simply felt disgusted by the idiot who was trembling weakly instead of saving his own mother.
‘As expected, the one I gave birth to was a defective product.’
Facing the mother who glared at him, Prince Gaisa's eyes wavered.
But if there was one thing to be grateful for regarding that defective product.
The moment he heard that absurd plea, she snapped back to her senses as if she had been splashed with cold water.
Right now, her entire body was bound, she could not use her supernatural ability, and she was in a position where she would soon die.
But.......
She stared blankly at her son, who was murmuring for her to apologize with tears in his eyes.
“Everything was ruined because of you. Suffer for a long, long time, you useless defective product.”
And.......
Seeing Prince Gaisa's frozen expression, she smirked.
“Didn't I tell you? That if I die, I will absolutely not die alone.”
“M-mother never s-said such a th-thing.......”
“Never, you say? Then, look now. Look at what I do......!”
Due to the handcuff-type magic tools on her wrists, the Empress's vision was gradually blurring. She summoned every ounce of her strength.
Then, she glared at Grand Duke Rivera, who had approached to escort her.
“Shall we go, Your Imperial Highness?”
Grand Duke Rivera's characteristic twisting tone had never sounded more disgusting than it did today.
She stepped her trembling feet onto the ground.
Then, glaring at him, she whispered softly.
“Let go of me, I can walk on my own.......”
“A criminal's words are not worth listening to.”
With a single gesture from Grand Duke Rivera, her body was instantly moved outside the door.
As she was forcibly dragged out, she glared at the happily smiling divine beast and the divine beast's imprinter.
‘Chloe Ardos. That disgusting thing who stole the great position of the divine beast's imprinter.’
She shot a glare at Chloe, who was faintly visible beyond the door.
She could not take the divine beast to the hell she resided in.
But wouldn't it be possible to curse the divine beast's imprinter and drag her into her hellfire together?
She chuckled, thinking of her supernatural ability, 'Curse,' which no one yet knew about.
Around the time the hall doors closed with a loud thud.
The Empress, who was staggering down the hallway under forced power, chuckled.
Then, she thought of the curse potion that would be in her pocket. The moment she imagined the smoke contained within that potion bottle.......
‘Got it!’
Then, a bottle containing dark smoke floated up into the air. Smoke was capable of passing through closed doors.
However, there was someone who noticed the Empress's inner thoughts: Grand Duke Rivera, who was escorting her.
“My, playing useless tricks, are we?”
“I simply cannot die alone.”
“Ah.......”
Grand Duke Rivera was quite quick-witted.
He noticed that the Empress's gaze had been lingering quite intensely on Chloe, the divine beast's imprinter.
For a moment, Grand Duke Rivera's eyes sharpened.
He raised his hand to snatch the bottle floating in the air.
But.......
“Do you think someone like you can stop a curse that has already been activated?”
Grand Duke Rivera stared intently at the black smoke flowing from the Empress's bosom and the direction the smoke was heading, then smirked as if he had realized something.
Grand Duke Rivera stepped directly in front of her and whispered sweetly.
“It seems the person touched by this black smoke falls under a curse.”
At that moment, Grand Duke Rivera spoke with a twisted smile.
“Then do it this way,”
This way......?
The panicked Empress widened her eyes.
Then, Grand Duke Rivera made a motion as if grabbing the smoke. Immediately, the smoke of the curse, which had been heading toward Chloe, shifted instantly toward Grand Duke Rivera.
‘Damn it, this wasn't in the plan......!’
Just as the Empress's face distorted coldly.
The blade-shaped black smoke drew a round parabola and.......
Pierced Grand Duke Rivera's heart with precision.
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