IDED | Chapter 117

Episode 117

“…Yes, I knew.”

Before Raffaello could finish his sentence, Azaid pressed on with his questioning.

“How did you know? You must have thought Levin was a man. There must have been a reason you recognized Serena at first glance.”

“That is…”

“Shall I take a guess?”

Azaid cut Raffaello off in an overbearing manner, leaning in close and murmuring coldly.

“You erased her memories with divine power, so you recognized the traces of it.”

“!!!”

Azaid had already guessed the answer and interrupted Raffaello before he could speak. Raffaello, realizing this, stammered with a trembling voice.

“Your Majesty, I…”

But Azaid did not let him continue.

“As the archbishop of Pherianus, you possess strong divine power, so erasing memories must have been easy for you. And there’s even a sacred artifact here that can erase memories, isn’t there?”

When he was young, he had visited the temple with his mother and seen the sacred relics. Among them, he had heard about a mirror that could erase memories.

That memory resurfaced at the perfect moment, allowing him to instantly grasp what Raffaello had done to Serena. Azaid, his face twisted with betrayal, lashed out.

“Why did you do it? Why did you erase Serena’s memories?”

“I had no choice.”

“Don’t tell me… my mother ordered you to?”

Azaid, overwhelmed by a sudden thought of his mother, asked bitterly. Raffaello shouted in response.

“No! Lady Mydia knew nothing of this! I acted alone, on my own accord. Please, do not misunderstand her. You know better than anyone that she would never do such a thing.”

Azaid let out a deep sigh at Raffaello’s desperate plea. Even amidst his fury, he felt relieved that his mother had not been involved.

If she had known and condoned it, he would not have been able to forgive even her.

But Raffaello had still done wrong, and that made Azaid’s heart ache. He had been betrayed by someone he had trusted.

“You knew everything. That day, Serena and I awakened together.”

“I…”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t know. I remember everything now.”

Crack—!

A pillar in the temple finally gave way under the strain of his burning rage.

As soon as the misaligned puzzle pieces clicked into place, distorted memories from the aftermath of his rampage began flooding back.

And within those memories, Raffaello had clearly witnessed Serena’s awakening.

‘He knew how important manifested memories are to an Awakener, yet he…’

Azaid could not believe that someone he trusted had done something so cruel to his friend.

For an Awakener, manifested memories were the very source of their power. Erasing them was akin to rendering them incapable of using magic at all.

Raffaello had known this and still erased Serena’s memories.

No matter how close they had been—no matter if Raphael was his godfather—this was unforgivable. Azaid, unable to contain his fury, shouted once more.

“Because of me! She lived her whole life unable to use magic. She didn’t even know the truth! She risked her life to stop my rampage, and yet you did this to her?”

“I did it all for you, Your Majesty…”

“Don’t say it was for me!”

Boom—!

As the second pillar collapsed, thick smoke filled the air. If any more pillars broke, the sanctuary itself might collapse.

“That wasn’t for me. I… have never once wanted to survive at the cost of trampling my friend, Raffaello.”

Azaid’s anguished cry rang through the temple. Raphael bit his lower lip so hard that it bled. He had nothing to say in his defense.

Because it was he who had erased Serena’s memories.

“Your Majesty… I was wrong. I was arrogant to think I was acting for your sake, and I committed a terrible mistake.”

Raffaello fell to his knees, but Azaid did not spare him a glance. With trembling hands, he covered his face, spilling out his bitter sorrow.

“You should have come to me and confessed the moment you realized it. If I had heard it from you first, I wouldn’t have felt this betrayed.”

“…”

“You were the person I trusted most, after my mother. And yet, how could you do this to me?”

Raffaello remained silent. Azaid’s rage was far greater than he had imagined.

And it was entirely because he had erased Serena’s memories in secret.

There had been plenty of chances afterward to reveal the truth, but Raffaello had kept silent. In the end, he had lost the Emperor’s trust.

Raffaello lowered his forehead to the floor and pleaded for forgiveness.

“I have committed an unforgivable sin, Your Majesty! With one foolish mistake, I have caused suffering to both you and Lady Serena!”

His forehead split open, blood trickling down, but he did not stop.

“I feared that news of Your Majesty’s awakening would reach the imperial family! So, even knowing the hardship Lady Serena would face, I turned a blind eye!”

“…”

“As a priest, as Your Majesty’s servant, I have committed an unpardonable sin!”

Raffaello began his confession, but Azaid coldly cut him off.

“Whatever your loyalty was, Raffaello, you betrayed my trust. What you did, without your master’s consent, cannot be undone.”

“Your Majesty…”

“If you had truly been acting for my sake, you would have trusted her. Not erased her memories blindly.”

What enraged Azaid the most was that Raphael had erased Serena’s memories not for his own gain but solely for Azaid’s sake.

At the time, the imperial princes and princesses were fiercely competing for the throne. If news of Azaid’s awakening had spread, the others would have immediately sought to eliminate him.

Fearing this, Raffaello had been desperate to conceal it.

But that had been his mistake—he had not understood Serena.

‘If it were Serena, she would have hidden it for me. Even without forcing her to forget.’

Azaid knew Serena well. She was neither foolish nor reckless enough to expose a friend’s secret.

If Raffaello had handled things more carefully, Serena could have been one of Azaid’s strongest allies, just like his other four friends.

If that had happened, he might have fallen in love with her even sooner.

But it was too late for “what ifs.”

Raffaello had chosen to act quickly rather than seek Serena’s understanding, and the result was disastrous.

‘That man brought Serena and told me I must keep our meeting a secret. He even threatened me—said if I spoke, he would tell my father that I tried to sell her out.’

Lydia had confessed, trembling, about what had happened with Raffaello. He had silenced her by exploiting her grudge against Serena.

Knowing Lydia was blinded by jealousy, he had successfully kept her quiet.

Since Serena couldn’t use magic anyway, it had been easy to keep the truth buried.

“That was never for me, Raffaello.”

“I am sorry, Your Majesty.”

“I don’t even want to hear another apology. You turned me into a cowardly, dishonorable emperor.”

Azaid clenched his teeth.

Atrocities committed under the guise of loyalty were ultimately his responsibility as their master. His heart felt like it was being torn apart.

From the beginning, he had not even deserved to love Serena, yet he had shamelessly longed for her.

What would happen when she learned the truth?

Serena was intelligent and perceptive. She would immediately realize that Raffaello had sacrificed her memories for Azaid’s sake.

Which meant Azaid had to seek her forgiveness before she found out.

He did not know where to begin, but he was certain she had to know.

And at the same time, he was terrified—terrified that once she learned everything, she would leave him.

If she did, he would no longer have the right to hold on to her.

All he could do was beg and pray that she would stay.

If she still chose to leave, then… Azaid felt he might wither away and die.

Grabbing Raffaello by the collar, Azaid spat out his despair.

“Why did you wound the one I love in my name? Why?!”

“I was wrong. I was truly wrong, Your Majesty.”

As Raffaello repeated the same words in his plea, Azaid shook him off and stood up. He hadn’t felt this empty and lost since his mother had passed away.

Just as Azaid was about to take a step to find Serena, he spotted Benjamin in the distance. Benjamin, seeing Raffaello lying on the ground, banging his forehead, rushed over in alarm.

“Master! What on earth is happening?”

Raffaello remained silent, continuing to slam his forehead against the floor, prompting Benjamin to try to stop him repeatedly.

“Please stop, sir. Why are you doing this all of a sudden? You’re going to seriously injure yourself.”

Azaid ignored them and turned to leave, but he abruptly stopped in his tracks at Benjamin’s next words.

“At this rate, you won’t even be able to meet Lady Serena. Please calm down first. I’ll tell her to come later.”

“Lady Serena? You mean you just came from meeting her?”

Raffaello paused his self-inflicted punishment and asked, his voice urgent. Benjamin responded.

“Yes. I told her to wait in the Marimond Room until the prayer session ended.”

“The Marimond Room? You mean the room where the relics are displayed?”

Raffaello’s eyes widened in shock as he asked again, and Benjamin, still clueless, answered.

“Yes. She seemed particularly interested in the Mirror that Erases Memories, so I was explaining it to her just now.”

As soon as the words “Mirror that Erases Memories” left Benjamin’s lips, Raffaello’s face turned deathly pale. At that moment, Azaid grabbed Benjamin’s shoulder tightly.

“You told Serena about that mirror?”

“Yes, I did…”

“How much did you tell her?”

“What? Well…”

“Don’t hesitate—answer me!”

Startled by Azaid’s commanding voice, Benjamin stammered in reply.

“She asked if it was possible to restore memories, and I told her… yes, it is.”