How to Safely Divorce An Obsessive Emperor

It was around midnight when reinforcements arrived from the imperial palace. Of course, the reinforcements included Lescal, whose atmosphere was so bloody that he didn’t even dare to speak to him.

“Here, although it is faint, a trace remains.”

As it happened, Decan also returned to the Duke’s residence around that time. On his return, he heard briefly about the incident from Silver Shield, but the Duke’s mood was more than expected. Even if he had to build a bonfire blindfolded on thin ice, it wouldn’t be like this.

It was all the fault of Lescal, who was holding Lasilia’s hand tightly with a scary, stiff expression on his face.

“I’ve never seen it before, but wow, it looks like some kind of magic circle.”

Decan was so thirsty that he committed the rude act of clearing his throat in front of the emperor. Even though he cleared his throat, his throat continued to feel dry and itchy.

“I think it might be the summoning circle among them.”

“So, with the summoning circle, you summoned these things through the human body?”

Serben asked, casually touching the half-cut monster with the tip of his sword.

“Quit. And then it becomes me.”

Ryan calmly raised her blue, hard left hand. Serven was disgusted and took a step back. Then, by chance, she made eye contact with Lescal and stiffened like a frog encountering a snake. Decan gave Serven a brief look of understanding and answered.

“I guess so.”

Lescal walked towards the monster. While still holding Lasilia’s hand tightly with one hand, he touched the monster wrapped in her cloak with the other.

“Ah, Your Majesty! You can’t do that! There might still be a curse on it!”

Ryan quickly grabbed Lescal’s hand. But after she made eye contact with Lescal, he hesitated for reasons unknown to him and let go.

“Lesser demons… No, since you said it can’t speak, I guess I’ll have to say it’s a monster. It would be something like that.”

These were Lescal’s words.

Since it was the first time she had said this since arriving at the Duke’s residence, everyone felt a little unfamiliar. It was a voice as if something was pressing hard on it.

“OMG… Then what should I say… Were you summoned from the demon world?”

Decan asked, and Lescal did not add any unnecessary words.

“Call the wizard. Tell me to restore as much of the traces of Jin that remain on my body as possible.”

“I follow orders, but if it is Jin who summons a being from the demon world, there is a high possibility that the wizards in the guild will know nothing.”

“I guess so.”

“Then…”

“I don’t know, so let me know. From now on. Unless you keep going through the same thing.”

“Ah.”

Decan, who realized it too late, nodded. Normally, he wouldn’t have been this obtuse, but he seemed too nervous now.

“I will convey your command.”

Ryan hesitated before interjecting.

“I am offended, Your Majesty, but how about you put that aside? I guess it’s a curse.”

“The divine power worked?”

Lescal cut off Ryan’s words.

“…yes. It was said to be the power of a curse.”

“Surprisingly.”

Pot!

The unexpected thing happened next. Red nails suddenly grew on Lescal’s hands. A nail like a hard blood-red jewel pierced the monster’s body.

“Ah… what?”

Slurp.

The dismembered monster turned into black smoke and dispersed, just like when it was touched by the curse.

“It’s disappearing. It’s not about dying.”

“…ah?”

“I guess it’s because I was summoned. If you don’t destroy it, it will continue to exist.”

“Ah… Oh, so I guess I can’t kill him with a sword and the curse worked. A curse doesn’t just take away life; it puts a blemish on one’s existence.”

“Maybe.”

The knights’ faces darkened.

“The priority is to find a way to deal with it… No, why does that demon guy keep bringing in new things? Yesterday I knew about stealing human consciousness, but now what? Summoning monsters? Things that there is no way to even kill.”

Ryan frowned and continued her complaints. Then she looked at Lescal’s face and shut her mouth.

Lescal’s expression was not at a level that could be glossed over by the word dark. As Lescal wriggled his golden eyes, it felt as if the air was being tightened.

“Okay, then we’ll go out and check the return route again.”

With these words, Ryan pulled on the hem of Serven’s clothes.

Decan quickly finished her greeting.

“Please take a break, even if only for a moment.”

The Shadow Knights left the duke’s study without making a sound, leaving Lasilia and Lescal behind.

 * * *

“Sit first.”

Lasilia offered her a seat. Lescal just looked at himself with his stony face.

It was strange, but not strange. Because it was like that from the moment she came back to the Duke’s residence.

“It’s going to hurt.”

“…what?”

“Hands.”

Lasilia sat down on the sofa first, morphing with her eyes and pointing to her remaining hand.

“…”

Lescal slowly looked at his hands.

“Please let go of this hand first. That way I can touch you.”

“…”

“Come on.”

“…ha.”

Lescal exhaled. He looked like he had been holding his breath for a long time. In the end, Lescal let go and sat down next to the sofa as Lasilia told her to.

While he rested his forehead against the crook of her neck, Lasilia wrapped both of her hands around her transformed hand. Unlike usual, the mutation did not disappear easily.

She said as Lasilia felt the tips of her scales prick the flesh of her palms.

“If you don’t come back, I will hurt as well, Your Majesty.”

“…ha.”

One more sigh followed, and only then did the transformation slowly begin to unravel. This meant that Lescal, who had mutated himself, wanted to remain mutated, and that Lasilia also noticed that.

“Shouldn’t it be like this? You were in danger.”

Lescal stroked Lasilia’s cheek with his free hand. Lasilia smiled as if she could barely see it, and she placed her cheek in the palm of Lescal’s hand. Lescal shook his shoulder.

“Hmm… But then I won’t be able to touch Your Majesty as much as I want.”

His golden eyes, which had been cold and hard as if he was standing at the end of the world, suddenly shook.

“Suddenly saying that… It’s so good, but it’s also strange. There’s no way you would say something like that.”

Her conscience pricked her a little when she denied it.

“I plan to do it often from now on… Do you not like it?”

“No way… No, but,”

The golden eyes narrowed.

“…There must be a reason.”

He must have felt that Lasilia was being especially affectionate to her today, to the point where it made no sense.

“Because Your Majesty is angry. Isn’t that right?”

“…that’s right.”

That was the reason why Lescal had not spoken until now. He needed to speak, but the words didn’t come out.

As soon as she left, she realized that danger awaits Lasilia. The immature bird, which should have alerted her, had let out some sparks and was now sleeping stretched out. Maybe she knew. She felt the danger of being away from Lasilia. The reason why her heart becomes so anxious that it starts pounding every time. But Lasilia returned to the palace by herself, and he made the foolish choice to endure his anxiety, entranced by her three kisses.

He was angry, but he couldn’t tell who his anger was directed at.

Why didn’t Lasilia want to have him by her side? Even if he wasn’t as good as her, he could do half as much, or even half as much, if she had that kind of will, she wouldn’t have been in danger like she was today.

Even now, Lasilia provoked him. The person who was said to be surrounded by monsters was worried about his hands and smiled.

Even if it was only for one thing, she wanted Lasilia to worry about this situation where her demons and monsters appeared. If she did that, she wouldn’t have told me to go back to her first.

“It’s okay that you don’t want me.”

The voice coming out of her mouth sounded like someone else’s. It was a thorny voice that he never wanted Lasilia to hear.

“Because that can wait. But I can’t allow you to put yourself in danger just because you don’t want me. I can’t understand it and I have no intention of accepting it.”

Lescal cut him off and gritted his teeth.

“…But you will say the same thing again. I won’t be able to go against your will. That… It’s hard to bear.”

“No, Your Majesty.”

Lasilia quickly grabbed Lescal’s face.

“I didn’t ask you to stay around because I don’t want you, Your Majesty.”

Lescal asked with a frown lining his eyes.

“Then? If not, what other reason is there?”

“It’s just like I said. Your Majesty cannot stay here all the time without any preparation.”

“Why can’t I stay? Where you are is where I will be.”

“It’s not just the two of us, right?”

Lasilia smoothed the corners of her frowning eyes with her thumb. Now, little by little, Lasilia has become accustomed to her gentle gestures. She could never use her time as a prophet as an excuse. She wasn’t used to it, but she could get used to it. If her opponent is Lescal. What if the person you love is so loving that even the reason you get angry?

“And on the surface, I am waiting for my father to die. I thought it would be difficult to hide how happy I was to be with Your Majesty in a place like that.”

Lescal raised his eyebrows.

“Happy?”

“Yes. There’s no way I wouldn’t look happy if I were to stay like this with Your Majesty.”

Lescal groaned as if he was hurt somewhere.

“That… Who cares who sees it?”

“Because I want to be a good empress. Maybe I wasn’t a very good prophet. In the end, we couldn’t save King Verhoyet. That’s why a good empress is greedy.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to pay attention to those below you. And you are a good enough empress. I can tell by the way my knights follow you.”

It’s a very pleasant story to hear, but three Shadow Knights is a very small number, Your Majesty.”

Lasilia smiled brightly and this time placed her hand on Lescal’s neck. Her hand, which had been slowly demutating, suddenly returned to its normal appearance.

“But I fully understand Your Majesty’s concerns. If there is no urgent government business awaiting you, I will ask you to stay by my side for a while.”

Lescal finally let out a soft, satisfied sigh.

“Gladly. Anything you wish.”

Lasilia slightly lifted her body and asked Lescal’s ear softly.

“With your Majesty’s hearing, can you tell whether there are people nearby or not?”

“Yes.”

“How much do you have now? I mean, how close?”

“Two outside the door. Four beyond that. There are more when you leave the building.”

“You might hear a sound outside the door.”

“What are you talking about? …If you’re worried about hearing anything, just tell them to move away.”

“No. It would be even more embarrassing, so your Majesty just need to hold back your noise.”

“What are you talking about… ah.”

It was only when Lasillia’s lips touched his own that Lescal realized what those words meant.

 

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Translator Note: