“Episode 36”
Looking at Yuliana’s troubled eyes due to the side effects, Yun kneeled down. Then she purely admired Yuliana’s beauty.
“You are truly beautiful. I love beautiful things.”
“This, this madness…”
“Oh, don’t speak such words to the goddess of this world?”
“Shut up…”
“Tsk, tsk.”
Yun scattered the remaining leaves from her hand in front of Yuliana. The scattered pieces of leaves pricked her cheeks.
“Ugh…”
Yuliana’s upper body completely collapsed. She took a relieved breath. The pain, which had subsided for a moment, suddenly rushed back.
Looking at her, Yun spoke compassionately, in a tone as if teaching a naive child.
“Do you understand causality?”
“…”
Looking at the tears that had gathered in Yuliana’s bronze-colored eyes, Yun gently explained.
“You messed up all causality. Do you know how bewildered I was? Clearly, in this dog-like situation, where I should be the protagonist and living, you’re alive, and the men who should be clinging to me each have their lovers. It was truly baffling. But, such a world was given causality to that heroine!”
Yun made a sound effect, “Boom!” with her mouth. Joy was mixed in her black, round pupils.
In a windowless studio apartment, as Yuliana, who knew the pale face of the woman lying there, shivered more than ever.
Oh.
You find all of this amusing.
Looking at Yun’s lips, which trembled and shivered, wiping the lips of Yuliana, who was crying in pain, with a gentle touch, made Yuliana, who was drenched in saliva and tears, unexpectedly beautiful, not like a pitiful supporting character.
“I can create causality as events happen in the original work. For example, I can make Empress Mama, who should have died, survive, and Lady Yuliana Auburn, who should have already died, can soon be killed… Well, that’s the intention. You are all in the palm of my hand. So don’t act so serious. It’s funny.”
“Mad…”
“Tsk, tsk. You’re really a rude noblewoman.”
Yun wrinkled her nose. It was a strange expression, neither a smile nor a growl.
“In other words, I am the ‘causality.’ So, don’t act so smug, pretty extra.”
Yuliana sobbed.
As her mind went blank and her head drooped, Yun made a “Tsk, tsk” sound from above her head.
***
How much time had passed? Yuliana woke up with a tingling sensation, as if electricity were flowing through her body.
She forced herself to open her eyes, trying to gauge the time. The view was blurry as if in a haze.
Even in the blurry vision, the golden sun was setting. But unconsciously crying during her unconsciousness made her cheeks damp.
Someone was leaning against her thigh. The touching flesh was soft and warm.
Yuliana whimpered. Then tears, which were hanging on her eyelashes, rolled down.
“Hey. Can you get up? It’s heavy.”
“!”
As soon as she heard Yun’s mocking voice, Yuliana felt goosebumps. So she hurriedly got up and started running like crazy.
Yun, who was leisurely chasing after her, paused.
It was because she heard the footsteps of someone else before she noticed the newly awakened Yuliana.
Yuliana, who was in a state of confusion, couldn’t stop running. She ran until she was out of breath, and she was grabbed by the person who entered the main road.
“Ah!”
“Yuliana!”
Evan gripped his wife’s shoulders.
She was trembling uncontrollably. As soon as she realized that it was her husband, she buried herself in his arms. A sense of relief covered her heart like water covering dry land. It felt like tears were about to come out.
“What’s wrong?”
Evan, holding his wife, looked at the stranger, who was an intruder in their home lake a few days ago but now was treated as a guest at the palace.
The woman was wearing a simple dress without any decoration, unlike the way nobles or honored guests at the palace dressed.
She was looking at them with round, large black eyes.
Realizing that Evan wanted an answer, the woman answered.
“I heard that Lady Yuliana is frail, and it seems true.”
“Yuliana, did you faint?”
As soon as he heard the guest’s words, Evan asked his wife.
Yuliana, who was terrified, felt the urge to tell her husband everything, the urge to be protected.
But…
The woman with round, black eyes, shimmering like black pebbles, had been staring at her all along. She referred to herself as the ‘goddess’ and causality of this place, threatening silently.
Yuliana tried to calm her mind. It was easier to lie than she thought once she took a breath.
“Yes. I felt a bit dizzy and needed to rest. The saint helped me.”
“It doesn’t seem like that was the case.”
Evan gently pulled Yuliana closer, as if probing her trembling.
Feeling his scrutinizing gaze, Yuliana smiled awkwardly.
“Really. Isn’t that right, Saint?”
Yuliana, calmly speaking, glanced at the woman behind Evan.
Yun, who had memories of her past life and was looking at the woman who ruined her story, smiled slyly. Ironically, her expression seemed to praise Yuliana herself.
“That’s right. Lady Yuliana suddenly complained of a headache and lay down on my lap for a while.”
“Oh. I don’t remember that. Could it be that you touched my head without permission, Saint?”
“But there’s nothing I can do. I am a saint, after all. When I see someone in pain, I want to help.”
Yun said shamelessly. Then, she glanced at the beautiful Yuliana Auburn, who had softened her thorns for a moment.
“It’s nice to see the Duke as well. We’ll meet again soon. Thanks to the mysterious lake connected to the dimensional gate, we met, didn’t we? Should I call it destiny?”
“It’s just a coincidence.”
Evan said coldly. It was right after realizing that Yun was the cause of his wife’s hidden anxiety.
Yun chuckled inwardly. Then, with a smile, she threw a cryptic remark.
“We met Her Majesty today, didn’t we? You know I have the ability of prophecy. Seeds of war that will shake the empire will sprout soon. To sow the seeds, I’ll need my power.”
With a mysterious remark, Yun left without a farewell. Her behavior was still out of sync with the norms of the empire or the world.
Evan watched her disappear. Then he lowered his head towards his wife.
Once again, Yuliana, who seemed more anxious than ever, was watching the traces of the mysterious guest disappear. Longer than before. Then Yuliana, realizing her husband’s gaze, turned her head towards him.
Evan scrutinized her expression. Yuliana felt the urge to tell him everything once again.
But she couldn’t do it comfortably. Evan’s standpoint was different from Yuliana and Yun. He accepted this place as reality, but Evan was different. He judged his life as a ‘story,’ unable to explain it with words like ‘causality’ or ‘destiny.’
It would be too long to explain everything. Moreover, Yuliana was afraid of a hypothesis that suddenly came to her mind.
‘What happens to someone who realizes they are a character in a story?’
Since Yuliana was born in the story, she naturally melted into the story and perceived this place as reality. However, Yun was different.
She treated this place as a plaything from the moment she traveled dimensions, intending to destroy everything within her reach. It was a cruel tactic like that of a cruel child, but she seemed to feel no remorse.
And Evan was different from them. To him, this place was simply reality, and Yun and Yuliana Auburn were strange. Yuliana shuddered at the thought that some of Evan’s sense of reality might collapse.
Once again, Evan held his wife, who was lost in thought.
“Damn it, that woman said something weird, right? I should deal with her right away.”
Seeing his blue eyes suddenly turn fierce, Yuliana raised the corners of her mouth and smiled.
She liked him when he was harsh, especially when it concerned matters related to her. It was cute.
In an attempt to calm him down, Yuliana whispered to him.
“She seems to consider her appearance in our lake as fate. So she said she wants to see me. And she also mentioned wanting to be connected with you, didn’t she?”
With the last words, Yuliana gritted her teeth internally.
Evan didn’t seem to like that woman at all. She simply wanted to proceed with the events as in the original story because it seemed ‘fun’ to her. She didn’t think about living here as reality, in a new world.
‘She’s really strange.’
Still, Yuliana shuddered with fear.
The mental state of someone who had once lived in the same world seemed too bizarre to be true. Surely, she must have been strange even before traveling dimensions.
To properly assess the enemy, she needed to understand her psychological state.
Evan suddenly hugged her waist.
Yuliana was taken aback. Although she had kept her distance, fearing she might cry or lose consciousness, she found herself getting closer to him in an instant.
Although there were rocks placed around here and there, Yuliana perked up as he leaned on her a bit.
Evan waited for his wife, who was lost in thought.
Unable to speak, his wife merely nodded hesitantly. He pressed his lips against her smooth cheek.
“It’s okay. I’ll wait. My love.”
He was usually able to handle at least two things with his eyes closed.
So, he could either indulge in being the obedient individual waiting for her response or persistently sniff out the scent of secrets to protect his master.
A dog could be a watchdog or a submissive pet. Evan wanted to be such a dog for his master.
After their respective thoughts, the two of them left the palace garden before the sun completely set.
* * *
And at the time when the two of them left the palace garden, Lucian was walking towards the lonely empress, who was said to be inside the stables with a dead horse.
When the empress came from the northern region to the capital, she discarded all customs of the province to symbolize being reborn. Upon her arrival, she left everything behind, including items received at her engagement ceremony, and cried once in her small, lonely tent, and twice when parting with Kendall.
But she didn’t cry three times.
Lucian was somewhat surprised to hear the report. He thought she would cry three times.
When an empress comes from the provinces, she performs a minor ceremony, setting up a tent at the border of her homeland and pledging inside to become the emperor’s companion and a person of the palace, without raising her own power, but solely following the monarch. Previous empresses often shed tears at this, as it was lonely to become a person of the palace without attaching her homeland and family.
But Erena didn’t. She pledged to become the emperor’s companion and a person of the palace inside the small, lonely tent, without looking back on what she had left behind.
Lucian always admired her for that, and he liked her boldness in writing her own name instead of inserting her family’s name.
Then, she finally realized reality. The reality of succession to the throne meant being stuck in the same pit as those who sacrificed numerous children for the experiment. Lucian wanted to save her from such a reality. If he could save her, he could do exactly what she had sworn to do in the small tent.
But then he felt a sudden surge of magic within him. The magic of his ancestors was awakening. Even now, at this moment…
Walking towards the stables, he hesitated. As a result, the attendants and the guards following behind him stopped along with the emperor’s steps. Lucian looked up at the sky with complicated thoughts. The clouds were dimming.
He briefly told the attendants,
“I’ll go alone.”
“Your Majesty, it’s too dangerous to go to the empress’s palace.”
“Did I forget that I am a wizard? What’s so difficult about going to the empress’s palace?”
Eventually, yielding to the emperor’s stubbornness, the attendants and the guards stepped back.
So, Lucian found himself alone for the first time in a long while. He crossed the bridge to the empress’s palace, passed through the garden, and arrived at the stable built for Kendall’s sake.
When the stableman found it, the horse was already dead. Unable to convey it directly to the empress, he merely reported that it was ‘strange.’
Unlike the empress, who received the report that the horse was ‘dead,’ Lucian, who had expected her to cry three times, felt a sinking feeling in his heart as he stepped into the stable.
It wasn’t completely dark yet, but it was too dark inside the stable to see properly.
It seemed like all sources of light had intentionally been removed. As Lucian gestured in the darkness, a flickering light appeared in the air.
In the darkest middle of the stable, the empress sat collapsed. Following her gaze, he saw the dead horse with its four legs sprawled out. The smell of death was already hanging in the air.
The light he had conjured followed him as he moved. The light illuminated the empress’s small back.
Seeing her looking smaller and thinner than usual, Lucian didn’t know what to do.
After a moment of silence, he spoke.
“Empress.”
The empress, who had not sensed the emperor’s presence until then, trembled at the sound of his voice.
She hurriedly wiped her face. But the sadness that filled her small, reddened face couldn’t be hidden. Erena looked up at her husband as if seeing him for the first time.
‘I didn’t expect you to come.’
