“Episode 46”
“That kid filed a lawsuit using his mother’s business as an excuse. We need to find out who Iris Caverner’s guardian is now.”
“The temple people will take the lead.”
“Yeah. To proceed with the aristocratic dispute, we’ll need to add their tiresome doctrine as well.”
“Do you really think your brother would stoop to such measures? What if it fails, what then?”
“Believe me, he’s capable of such things. We grew up like that, pointing fingers at each other…”
Yuliana murmured bitterly, then, to shake off her worries, she gently pressed her lips against her husband’s firm lips.
With her lips tantalizingly close, Yuliana continued speaking. They were so close that their breaths mingled.
“What’s your plan? Are you preparing to outsmart the emperor?”
“My plan is…”
Evan paused as if finding it difficult to confess. Yuliana firmly wrapped her arms around his neck.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. We have plenty of time.”
“…Doing something like this leaves no time.”
Evan struggled to control his voice, which was starting to crack. He raised his head in even greater confusion at her actions.
“You said you wouldn’t forgive me. But, is it okay for me to do this with you?”
“Mm.”
After a moment of hesitation, Yuliana rolled her eyes.
In contrast, Evan’s mood sank. He bit his lip. His wife, who had been tired, was now sitting on his lap.
With a wry smile at her own actions, Yuliana said, “I said I was tired.”
“So, let’s rest today. I’m not gentle enough.”
Evan spoke coldly.
It was a moment when he felt a slight rebellion against his authoritative wife, who demanded no forgiveness or questions.
‘Just for today, I’ll endure it. I don’t want to do what you want.’
Watching him muster up the weak determination, Yuliana clicked her tongue and looked at him teasingly. Then, with a sigh, she said, “Give me strength.”
She smiled like an angel. Then, gently stroking her husband’s ear, she asked, “I don’t ask for much from you. I’m not so greedy. Just share everything with me and be a little busier together. And then, you can rely on me afterwards.”
“What?”
Evan muttered a curse under his breath, as if unable to bear himself. Hearing that sound, Yuliana chuckled.
As if seeking revenge, he suddenly hugged her tightly. It was not a bad revenge for Yuliana.
* * *
The next day, Yuliana lay in bed, basking in the rising sun.
Although she had slept briefly and tossed and turned in her husband’s arms last night, she wasn’t tired. Feeling like she had become a succubus who had sucked his strength away, Yuliana found it amusing.
After a brief laugh, Yuliana rummaged through the drawer next to the bed. Only a handful of Erenora’s flowers remained in her hand, most of which had been burned away last winter.
However, without a moment’s hesitation, Yuliana burned the flowers, more precious than gold. Soon, her bedroom was filled with fragrance.
As the petals that had started to wither disappeared one by one from her palm, she gathered the fragrance on her lips and swallowed her breath. Then, after tossing her unkempt red hair over her shoulder, she kissed Evan’s cheek, who was sleeping.
As she did, Evan Hilchen’s eyelids, who had been deeply asleep, fluttered slightly. Confirming the dawn light that was slowly shining, he grabbed his wife’s wrist and pulled her into his arms. Yuliana grabbed the petals that remained in her hand and pretended to be helpless, burying her face in his chest.
Listening to Evan’s heart beating rhythmically, Yuliana hesitantly raised her head. At the same time, she grabbed her red hair, which had swelled like a red cloud.
“Are you awake?”
“Yeah.”
With a face that looked neat, such words didn’t suit him at all. But to Yuliana, he looked adorable. Pushing aside Evan’s lips, who was pouting, she said, “Get up. My crazy brother is about to do something, and I need to know what plan you’ve come up with.”
Appearing hesitant to Yuliana’s question, Evan finally let go of her lips.
“Lucian Bue Ariacne has been monitoring me as if I were challenging his throne, but he hasn’t attacked abruptly like this. Although he’s clumsily leaked my weaknesses to you… Yuliana, just tell me one thing. What’s the identity of the woman manipulating your brother and Lucian?”
Yuliana coldly refused Evan’s question.
“No. Did you forget what I said? You have only one thing to do. Share everything with me.”
Finishing her words, Yuliana got up from her seat icily.
Watching her get dressed after the heated night, Evan dropped his head on the pillow as she left.
With a furrowed brow, he muttered in a suppressed voice, “This is unfair.”
“Did you think I’d make a fair deal with you?”
Yuliana replied with her expression, ‘How dare you?’ and pinched her complaining husband’s cheek sharply.
“Speak quickly. I need to hear what’s on your dark mind.”
“…There’s only one way to make that woman go berserk.”
“What?”
Yuliana asked, wondering about the ‘one thing’ he mentioned, thinking about that remarkable interdimensional traveler he referred to as ‘the saint.’
But no matter how much she thought, she couldn’t figure it out. Eventually, she turned to him for help.
“Tell me. Maybe I lack imagination.”
“Where did that woman come from?”
Feeling triumphant this time, Evan smiled with satisfaction and asked.
Seeing her husband bite into the apple she handed him, Yuliana shrugged her shoulders.
“We don’t know where that woman came from. Someone even put up defensive magic to prevent her from coming out of our lake.”
“Yeah. She came from our lake.”
“…So?”
“I believe that lake is a gateway to the demon realm.”
Crunch—
Evan bit into the apple he received.
“……?”
Yuliana chuckled at his words without hiding her surprise.
‘Is Evan too shocked?’
She wondered if she should retract her threats of unforgiveness and calling him a villain.
But, the demon realm.
The empire’s biggest headache was the barbarians, followed by the demons and monsters seeping through the cracks in the demon realm.
In ancient times, before the empire claimed the land, when the ancestors roamed as ‘barbarians,’ the gateway to the demon realm they discovered in the Mana Storm was a very interesting world.
The gateway to the demon realm was always shrouded in unstable mana storms, the abyss of the Nojegae. Humans couldn’t cross over to the demon realm with their bodies.
However, the ancestors who opened their eyes to the use of mana and magic at the time were obsessed with entering that gateway to create new magic.
Some magicians went through the gateway to the demon realm, and a few returned to their homeland. They had clearly changed. But by becoming like that, they ceased to be human.
Yuliana spoke, recalling her memories.
“…Are you talking about the beginning of when the demons started appearing? Even though I didn’t attend the academy, I know why the demons and monsters appeared. It was because of the ancient wizards, right? The few magicians who crossed over to the demon realm and came back became demons, and they bred and created monsters and new demons. They’re swarming in our northern border.”
Yuliana frowned, thinking about Ariacne’s capital, Arriacna, and the ridiculous claim that there was a ‘gateway to the demon realm’ in the Emerald Lake, a cherished legacy of the aristocrats.
Yuliana grumbled.
“Husband, if I appear in a divine trial and my wife appears in a noble stripping trial, it would be ridiculous.”
“Don’t you remember that I combed through the north for a year? I told you to go there and eliminate the barbarians and never come back. Is this, by any chance, trying to touch my guilt?”
Yuliana grumbled. She was beginning to regain her senses and started chewing the apple diligently.
