Ian spilled some water from the bottle on the nightstand onto his white handkerchief and gently wiped the blood from my chest and hands.
My mind raced as I realized what was going on. Surely, this man hates Lethenia, but why do I get the feeling that he doesn’t?
As I stared at his unmoved face and his delicate touch, I felt a strange sensation.
It felt foreign, like I didn’t recognize him. I unconsciously looked into his eyes for a moment, feeling unfamiliar.
Slowly, uncomfortable feelings began to creep through my body. I shouldn’t be near this man. I quickly shook off his touch and grabbed the damp handkerchief. Then I got out of bed and moved away from him.
“I’ll do it.”
Ian tried to say something, but I turned away, not wanting to face him anymore. I felt like I shouldn’t be here any longer.
I walked up to the door with a quick step. I felt his gaze coming behind my back, but I didn’t look back. I opened the bedroom door, making sure my robe hid the blood from the wound.
Without making eye contact with the attendants waiting at the door, I hurried out of the emperor’s palace. Even though I had seen the secret chamber with my own eyes, I still felt uneasy.
It was not until I returned to the Empress’ Palace that I saw the white cloth in my hand. His handkerchief, like his white linen dress, was stained with red.
Life went on as if nothing had happened, despite the extraordinary event of being stabbed by the male protagonist. Ian didn’t inquire about the incident or confront me about it, but I couldn’t help but be concerned.
The existence of the chamber, the mysterious necklace, the magical artifact called the Healing Stone…… but it was him that disturbed me the most.
He looked a little bit like a human being with feelings, not a doll or a statue. It was definitely not the image of the male lead that I had in mind.
For a while, I couldn’t stop thinking about that night. I felt the need to divert my attention elsewhere, to something else.
Today, I instructed Stella to bring me records that could provide information about everything related to economics, society, history, politics, and everything about Asha. If I wanted to survive in this place, it was advantageous to know as much as possible.
Although I had a good grasp of the events in this world, it was limited to what was presented from the perspective of the main characters. Occasionally, there were small incidents that I didn’t know about, which caught me off guard.
Even though I was a reader who knew the ending, I couldn’t know the detailed aspects that were not covered in the original work, so I felt the need to study.
Stella placed an enormous amount of books on the desk in the office, enough to cover her upper body. With a somewhat proud expression, she said,
“It seems that Her Majesty the Empress is truly thoughtful. It’s only natural for you as the Empress to have affection for Asha. I was worried because it seemed like you had no interest in the well-being of the imperial family and the country, but I underestimated you.”
Stella’s words pricked my conscience. In her view, I must have been a person who had no interest in the well-being of the imperial family and the country.
This was undeniably true, but I could only reply nonchalantly.
“Well, I’m a bit of a thoughtful person.”
“I’m practically the information network for the Asha imperial family, and I’ve brought back a lot of information that most people would never know, so I’m sure it will help you a lot in your future work. When you read it, you’ll be glad that you have me as your maid.”
Stella said, looking lovingly at the materials she had brought with her. I opened the top of the pile of books.
True to her words, admiration flowed through me as I read each one.
The materials she had brought were clearly detailed and organized, and any difficult words or sentences were annotated to explain their meaning.
She also provided accurate facts about the history of the Asha, which has been distorted.
There was also a lot of sensitive information about Xenos, which is taboo in the country, but I felt like it was presented in a very neutral perspective
I spent the rest of the day in my office studying the worldview. I was getting a bit of a headache trying to retain even the most trivial information in my head.
Stella pointed out an interesting fact in the material.
“From the perspective of the Xenosians, this situation is unjust. Before the two countries were divided, the ancient nation was called ‘Xenos’ rather than ‘Asha’.”
Currently, Asha had colonized the nation of Xenos, but originally, Asha and Xenos were one ancient nation that worshiped magic. Xenos began when a water wizard cleared a barren land and founded a nation with the support of the people.
In this novel where magic exists, there were several wizards with ordinary magic.
Some were born with magic and trained to become full-fledged wizards. Although it was not common, even ordinary people without magical powers could obtain them by making use of a dark contract.
Of course, they paid the price for defying nature with their lives, but the water magic of these Xenos imperials was special. Stella’s explanation followed.
“The stepbrother of the 17th Emperor of Ancient Xenos instigated a rebellion, which became a direct catalyst. He was unable to inherit magical powers as he resembled his birth mother, who was a commoner, and it also meant that he could not become an heir.”
“You mean he could be a direct descendant of a mage and still not inherit magic?”
“That’s what’s suspicious, because even half-bloods are bound to have some magic, even if it’s faint, and sometimes it manifests after adulthood, but his age was already over forty, so that was unlikely.”
Then it could be one of two things. Either he’s terribly unlucky, or he’s not the biological son of Emperor Xenos. As if reading my thoughts, Stella calmly continued with her next explanation.
“Because of this, people began to suspect that his birth mother, who had been monopolizing the former emperor’s favor, had committed infidelity. In a way, his rebellion was an inevitable choice.”
The Emperor couldn’t bring himself to kill his younger brother, with whom he had grown up and shared affection, regardless of the presence or absence of magical powers.
He decided to use his powerful imperial power to keep the secret of his birth buried, risking the backlash of the nobility. But that didn’t stop him from worrying that his brother’s presence would cause imperial disruption.
The Emperor granted him a small but most fertile territory far from the capital of Xenos, and the nation of Asha was founded in its place.
Subsequently, the two nations referred to each other as brother nations and concluded a peace treaty, and for a long time, the history continued with Asha as a vassal state of Xenos.
“But Asha has always had a hunger for vast territory, and unofficial records suggest that the royal family also had a strong sense of entitlement, not being pure descendants of the great ancient Xenos mages.”
Asha, who was keeping Xenos in check as they became richer by the day, began to form secret agreements for war by rallying the weaker countries.
The only way they could defeat Xenos was by eliminating the Xenos Emperor, who possessed the power of water magic.
“The exact details of the process are not known, but Asha succeeded in assassinating the Emperor of Xenos, and the tragedy of war began.”
“I can’t believe that such a rich country collapsed in an instant. Is water magic that great?”
“Of course, there was a civil war between the powerful factions, but the most direct cause was the sudden death of Emperor Xenos. Without his magic, the land of Xenos experienced a severe drought, and the people, unable to farm, began to suffer famine.”
So Ian’s father, the emperor of Asha at the time, started a war as if he had waited, and forced unification was achieved without resistance.
It makes sense that books and artifacts related to magic were taboo in Asha after that. Outwardly, they were framed as extravagant and cursed, but in reality, they were meant to denigrate the roots of Xenos as a magical nation.
‘Healing Stone…….’
The healing stone Ian brought from the secret room that night came to mind. It must have been an ancient magical relic.
Using the Healing Stone on the daughter of Duke Bladel, whom he despised so much, was truly a dangerous and foolish act. Moreover, he even showed her the secret chamber that didn’t need to be revealed.
Was it because he was confident that Lethenia, who loved him, would keep the secret? Regardless, one thing was certain. There was something inside that veiled chamber that Ian wanted to keep hidden.
I had a hunch that there was more to it than just a healing stone.
There was still no news from the knight who had been sent to find the young boy named Klaus.
It shouldn’t have taken this long, but the knight hadn’t even posted a report on how things were going. I was getting irritated.
‘After all this, he still hasn’t found him?’
I had a suspicion that the knight wasn’t doing his job correctly.
“Why haven’t we received any news about the investigation?”
The knight looked embarrassed and began to make excuses.
“As instructed by Her Majesty the Empress, we thoroughly investigated all the villages near the border that were in contact with Xenos in the past, but we found no boy named Klaus. We also couldn’t find a boy with black hair and orange eyes. We expanded the search area in case he wandered elsewhere.”
Advance chapters are now available on ko-fi. Check it out!
Thank you so muuch tls 🥺 I’ll be crying in a corner for a while as I wait for the update ಥ‿ಥ