“You, you can’t do this to me!”
The calm demeanor Duke Roger had just moments ago was gone as he screamed, looking straight up at the emperor.
“Do you have any idea what I’ve done to dedicate my loyalty to you? I staked my entire life and lived only for you. I was even willing to become a foul shadow for your sake!”
Clink, clink.
With every shout, the cuffs binding his wrists rattled noisily.
Duke Roger cried out in a voice that sounded as if he were coughing up blood.
“So I must die by your hand! If I am to be ruined, it must be you! If I am to be humiliated, if my life is to be taken, it must all be by you!”
As his desperate words burst forth one by one, the murmurs among the nobles only grew louder.
‘Blind devotion.’
That was the only way to describe it.
It couldn’t simply be explained by obsession or love—it was blind fanaticism.
I couldn’t help but wonder what had turned him into this, but since understanding someone who had already lost their mind was no easy feat, I chose to drop the thought entirely.
Meanwhile, Duke Roger, oblivious to the nobles’ shocked reactions, shouted like a madman.
“My Sun, please take my life! Only you may tear my body apart and sever my neck!”
The blood vessels in his eyes had all burst, and his appearance was pitiful.
Amid the storm of chaos, the emperor alone remained utterly unshaken, looking at Roger with an unfeeling gaze.
“Hayden Roger.”
After staring at his desperate outburst for a long time, the emperor finally spoke. Her voice was low and devoid of inflection.
“My Sun!”
“I am no longer your Sun.”
Neither cold nor warm, her tone carried no temperature at all—a merciless decree.
Duke Roger, who had been raging all this time, froze in place. He didn’t so much as flinch, like a statue.
“……”
After meeting her gaze for a long moment, his expression slowly filled with utter despair, as if he had received a sentence more brutal than any execution.
He stood there, staring vacantly at the emperor as if he had forgotten how to breathe. Then, he slowly lowered his head.
“…That can’t be.”
“……”
“That can’t be! You are supposed to be my noble Sun. How could this be…?”
“You should have known this could happen before you defied my will. Before your blind devotion clouded your eyes.”
“No, no….”
“I warned you countless times not to threaten my people under the pretense of loyalty to me. Yet your loyalty excluded me. While it might have included the Emperor of the Levant Empire, it did not include me.”
“No, no! You must be my Sun….”
Mumbling like a madman, as though the emperor’s stern words didn’t even reach him, he suddenly snapped his head up.
Then, his bloodshot eyes locked directly onto me.
‘Oh, hell.’
My shoulders flinched involuntarily.
The man, now stripped of his title and reduced to Hayden Roger, was shedding tears mingled with blood from his burst capillaries. His gaze, brimming with hatred and resentment, burned as he stared at me.
The murderous aura surrounding him rippled as if he were ready to tear me apart at any moment.
‘He’s completely unhinged.’
Just as I was beginning to feel a subtle sense of unease, the next moment unfolded so abruptly that I had no time to react.
He suddenly leapt up and bolted toward where I was seated.
“If it weren’t for you! If only it weren’t for you!!!”
His voice, filled with malice, echoed throughout the audience chamber.
“Eloise!”
Ian instinctively pulled me into his arms while simultaneously drawing his sword and pointing it at Roger’s neck.
As the blade’s menacing gleam appeared, a few nobles gasped and tightly shut their eyes.
The ominous aura of the Swordmaster radiated openly and intensely.
“How dare you try to lay a hand on her?”
“Ian.”
“I won’t let this slide.”
Even to my eyes, the sword’s aura was visibly crackling, a testament to his murderous intent.
But Hayden Roger, having already lost everything, merely smirked derisively.
“Hah, the great Grand Duke Claud, utterly bewitched by a fake.”
“You’d better shut that mouth of yours.”
‘Why is this lunatic provoking him?!’
Seeing Ian’s expression, as if he were about to strike at any moment, I grabbed his sleeve tightly in fear.
“Grand Duke Claud, that’s enough.”
Fortunately, before Ian could swing his blade, the emperor reprimanded him in a calm voice.
Almost simultaneously, the imperial knights standing nearby seized Roger’s arms and restrained him.
“……”
“I’m fine, Ian.”
“There’s nothing to gain from making a scene here.”
Following the emperor’s lead, I also tried to dissuade him. Reluctantly, Ian sighed and lowered his sword.
In the very next moment, Hayden Roger let out a scream full of anger and began thrashing about.
“Oh, how touching, such a tearful love story!!!”
“……”
“If it weren’t for you, my loyalty could have been proven!!! If it weren’t for you ruining my plans!!! A mere outsider like you, how dare you, how dare you!!!”
“Hayden Roger!”
“Arghhhhh!!!”
He couldn’t contain his fury, and his deafening screams seemed to shake the entire audience chamber. Each outburst was accompanied by the violent clanging of chains, which tore through the air like a physical assault on everyone’s ears.
Some nobles couldn’t bear to watch and turned their heads away or shut their eyes tightly.
It was no surprise. Until this trial, many had doubted the allegations against that Duke Hayden Roger.
Although he had dropped all pretense in front of me, revealing his rude and venomous nature, most of the nobles had never witnessed this side of him.
Countess Olson was among them. She stared at Roger with a stunned expression before eventually closing her eyes and lowering her head.
‘Even to the end, he insists on disgracing himself in front of everyone.’
“Eloise, are you alright?”
Ian, who had been holding me close, asked in a worried tone.
I nodded.
“Yes, I’m fine. He didn’t even touch me.”
“That insolent—”
I quickly grabbed Ian’s arm as he tightened his grip around me and muttered coldly.
“Wait a moment, Ian.”
Honestly, he really was determined to tumble straight into ruin until the very end.
Expecting common sense from someone who had gone completely mad was foolish from the start.
Letting out a light sigh, I slipped out of Ian’s embrace, straightened my posture, and turned to face the emperor.
She, who had been lightly furrowing her brow, looked at me with a curious expression.
“What is it, Grand Duchess?”
“Your Majesty, if it does not trouble you, as a victim of this incident, I would like to say something to the criminal.”
“Eloise…!”
Ian called out to me, rare shock evident in his voice, and the audience chamber buzzed with murmurs of surprise.
I ignored the commotion and kept my gaze firmly on the emperor.
Narrowing her eyes slightly, the emperor let out a soft sigh.
“…Very well.”
“Thank you.”
With her calm permission granted, I stepped away from my place and approached Roger.
Before I could take a step, Ian worriedly grabbed my hand, but I patted the back of his hand with a reassuring look.
The audience chamber, which had been buzzing just moments ago, fell silent as if everyone was holding their breath.
I stopped just short of being close enough to touch Hayden Roger, standing tall with my back straight.
Up close, his face was stripped of all composure, leaving only raw madness.
He clenched his teeth and glared at me as if he was ready to tear me apart.
“…I told you to stop, didn’t I?”
“Shut up!”
Oh, my ears. His shout was loud enough to feel like it would burst my eardrums.
At this point, I had to wonder how he had managed to hide this volume all this time.
“You, someone like you, dare to interfere with my will! To block my path! A lowly outsider like you!”
His shouting had turned hoarse, sharp with rage.
‘He’s openly calling me an outsider now.’
His act had completely crumbled, and his resentful accusations no longer had even a shred of pretense. It wasn’t frightening—just pitiful.
Of course, I wasn’t so soft-hearted as to pity the man who had tried to kill me. Beyond that, I felt nothing.
“You’re reaping what you’ve sown. Your own greed has devoured you.”
“Shut your mouth!”
Clink. His chains rattled again.
It seemed any further conversation was futile.
Not that I had asked for permission to talk for the sake of having a conversation, anyway.
Looking at him with an indifferent gaze, I finally said the words I had wanted to tell him if I ever saw him again.
“Duke Roger—no, Hayden Roger now. It seems you’re under a delusion.”
I paused there and gave a slight smile.
Meeting his bloodshot, dark green eyes, clouded with rage and despair, I whispered just loud enough for him to hear.
“The outsider is you.”
• • •
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