Chapter 1. Toward the Second Death

“The body search procedure is complete, my lady.”

People generally cherish their own lives.
Because the moment they die, everything comes to an end.

No matter how desperately they clung to life, no matter how hard they studied—none of it matters in the end. Everything they painstakingly built collapses into nothing, vanishing without a trace.

That’s what I thought. I lived believing that. And then I died.

But what if… death wasn’t the end?

What would you do then?

‘…You’d end up exactly like me.’

You’d start to regard your own life as something insignificant. Utterly, utterly worthless.

“I will now fasten the palace entry seal. You must not remove it until His Imperial Majesty cuts it off himself.”

Every heir attending the noble investiture ceremony had to wear these shackles.

Without a word, the young lady extended her wrist toward the official holding the chains.

Clink—

As he fastened the shackles, the official involuntarily stole a glance at her face.

Among the nobles entering the palace today, she was exceptionally beautiful.

Flowing golden hair, deep green eyes, sharply upturned corners—features both striking and cold. Though she had just turned twenty, a girl on the cusp of adulthood, her face still held the lingering beauty of youth.

One might expect her to feel uneasy about having her wrists bound, but she merely watched as the shackles were locked around her wrists, her gaze indifferent.

The chains were designed with delicate, slender links that draped elegantly. At a glance, they could almost pass as decorative accessories.

‘Of course they would be.’

This wasn’t meant to restrict movement in the first place—it was, in essence, an “anti-cheating device.”

These shackles, made of true silver, served to prevent the wearer from being influenced by other ability users.

“You are aware of the precautions for the investiture ceremony, correct? Lady Axia of House Thracia, is that right?”

“Yes.”

The young lady nodded.

Axia Thracia.

That was her current name—the name of the heir to the Thracia County.

But six years ago, she had been someone else.
She had lived as Kang Jinhee, an ordinary citizen of South Korea.

Now, at the age of twenty, Axia was entering the Imperial Palace to receive her noble title, personally bestowed by the Emperor himself.

…Or rather, she was here to assassinate him.

‘Talk about having a death wish.’

“Remember this: If you remove the shackles or break the chains at will, you will not be granted a noble title.”

Those without extraordinary abilities couldn’t receive noble titles, even if they were born into aristocratic families.

Many nobles had been caught trying to cheat—pretending to spectate the investiture ceremony while secretly using their abilities to support their heirs.

But in Axia’s case… she didn’t need to cheat.

‘Because I have a perfectly legitimate ability.’

And she had practiced endlessly—practiced for this very moment, to kill the Emperor.

The official, unaware of the assassin’s blasphemous thoughts, maintained a solemn expression as he bowed.

“May His Imperial Majesty’s grace be with you.”

“…May His Imperial Majesty’s grace be with you.”

Axia repeated the customary response and stepped out of the inspection room.

The moment she entered the palace, an opulent yet eerily cold silver corridor stretched endlessly before her.

Every wall was adorned with polished true silver, forming intricate, repetitive patterns that looked almost unnatural.

‘A barrier to suppress abilities, huh? They really spared no expense.’

Axia clicked her tongue lightly and stepped toward a full-length mirror in the corridor, making one final check of her attire.

The reflection staring back at her was far too extravagant for an assassin.

A jet-black lace dress, meticulously designed to cover her from neck to ankle.

Anna had chosen it in advance for today.

‘It suits your golden hair and green eyes perfectly.’

“Are you nervous?”

A middle-aged man leaning against the mirror spoke as he limped toward her, pressing his weight onto an ivory cane.

The mastermind behind the Emperor’s assassination plot—the Count of Thracia.

“Well, I suppose.”

“…Try not to be.”

What an utterly useless remark.

Axia shot him a look of disdain through the mirror’s reflection.

Golden hair streaked with silver, a face etched with worry, and downturned amber eyes.

A finely aged nobleman, yet standing next to the young lady in the mirror, there was no resemblance. Their eye color, hair color—nothing matched.

‘Of course not. I’m only his adopted daughter.’

His real daughter, Anna maria Thracia, was dead.

Two months ago.

* * *

Imagine it.

An emperor who has ruled for a staggering ten thousand years.

Could a single person truly govern an empire for such an impossibly long time?

The one known as the Emperor of Ten Thousand Years—Awrath Aibalique.

He was the very figure Axia would soon face in the investiture ceremony. The living proof of a miracle that had become a catastrophe spanning millennia.

“Alright, please stand here with the others! Lady Thracia, you’ll be the last in line~!”

The court official, clad in an ostentatious gown, led Axia to the center of the audience hall. Without much explanation, they flitted off toward the edge of the chamber, leaving her among the other candidates.

As she stood among them, a chorus of murmuring voices reached her ears from the onlookers and vampire courtiers gathered around the periphery.

“My goodness, even Their Highnesses the Grand Dukes are here?”

“Well, His Majesty is personally presiding over the ceremony. It’s not often one gets to see his face.”

Axia’s gaze flicked to the side—and she saw them.

Near the throne, a cluster of eerily pale individuals stood in tight formation.

Vampires of the imperial bloodline, ranked among the highest Hundred Nobles, belonging to the three great clans of the empire.

Two figures among them exuded an unmistakable presence, standing out even within that formidable gathering.

Though their faces were obscured, there was little doubt—those were the clan lords. The Grand Dukes.

“How enviable… Their Highnesses get to meet His Majesty face-to-face like that.”

“This kind of investiture doesn’t happen often. Those who awakened their abilities just in time for this ceremony are truly lucky!”

‘Lucky, my ass.’

Hearing their fawning praise for the very man she was here to kill was starting to irritate her.

“His Majesty will be entering soon! Everyone, prepare yourselves!”

The man had lived for ten thousand years without aging or dying, yet still had the audacity to call himself human…

‘…I wonder if he bleeds like one when stabbed?’

Axia muttered under her breath. Let’s find out, shall we?

“Oh, I’m so nervous…! Seeing His Majesty in person—it’s a once-in-a-lifetime honor.”

“What if I faint…? I heard someone actually collapsed from shock at their investiture!”

‘Even the candidates themselves are losing their minds over this.’

The room was filled with nothing but worshippers.

In an environment like this, even Axia hadn’t expected to kill the Emperor easily or straightforwardly.

The man possessed countless well-documented abilities, but the most infamous among them—Iron Fortress—was the biggest obstacle.

It was, in essence, a simple power.

A transparent barrier, as impenetrable as a fortress, encased his skin. That was all.

But the problem was that the Emperor always had it activated. Moreover, he could extend the barrier to anyone he wished to protect.

No bullet, no blade, no explosion—not even poison—could penetrate it.

He became, quite literally, an iron fortress.

“His Imperial Majesty enters—! Show your respects!”

How did one assassinate an absolute being like that?

It was a question anyone would ask.

Axia let out a dry, hollow laugh in her mind and answered herself.

‘If I fail, I’ll just kill myself and reincarnate.’

Better that than being captured.

Dying meant everything would be reset.

Of course, she had a secret trump card prepared—but whether it would work was another matter entirely.

She wouldn’t know until she tried.

Regardless, even if she succeeded, she planned to take her own life afterward. A single moment of pain was preferable to torture.

“Rise.”

…He was here.

After six years of waiting, Axia finally had the chance to lay eyes on her target.

‘That face… I know it well.’

She had seen it in newspapers, on currency, in countless portraits—over and over again for six years.

And when she finally lifted her gaze—

Standing at the end of her sightline was a young man, impossibly beautiful and exuding an overwhelming presence.

A man so striking, he seemed like something out of a dream.

“……!”

Axia, caught in stunned silence, realized something in that moment.

The Emperor’s photographs and portraits had utterly failed to capture his true essence.

And it wasn’t just his appearance that they failed to convey.

Thump— Thump—!

Only upon seeing him in person did Axia realize the truth—one that sent her heart pounding, faster and faster.

Her pupils dilated, her breath hitched, and a cold sweat beaded down her spine.

Under a cascade of platinum hair, gleaming like moonlight shattering into white dust, a pair of deep sapphire-violet eyes flickered with an unsettling intensity.

A predator’s gaze.

Panic surged through her, and she instinctively jerked her head down, avoiding his eyes.

‘…No.’

Axia forced herself to repeat it in her mind.

She couldn’t meet his gaze.

If she did, he would know.

Because she was certain of it now.

That bastard—he was the one who had killed her in her past life.

* * *

Whenever Axia reflected on her first life’s death, she had always felt helpless resentment.

After all, the one who had killed Kang Jinhee didn’t exist in this world.

Or so she had thought.

But now… she knew.

Like a flame finally finding oxygen, her vengeance roared to life, wild and uncontrollable.

As the Emperor drew closer, her certainty hardened into something unshakable.

It’s him. It’s that bastard.

That night. That freezing, hunger-ridden, sleepless dawn—

She had been nothing more than a worn-out graduate student, curled up in the corner of a lab, clinging to the last scraps of energy to finish her research.

She had been so close.

On the verge of graduation. On the cusp of claiming her hard-earned degree.

And then—

That vile son of a bitch had plunged a knife into her chest.

Had stolen her thesis. Had stolen her life.

And left her to die like a wretched, forgotten lab rat.

‘The worlds are completely different… how is this even possible?’

Axia had no way of knowing the answer.

And yet—she knew.

The unmistakable energy she had felt from her murderer that night was now radiating from the Emperor standing on that platform.

It’s him. It has to be.

“Haa…”

Axia took a deep breath.

‘Calm down.’

Her heart was pounding so loudly that the court vampires, with their enhanced hearing, probably heard it as a deafening drum.

Thank the gods the Emperor had such a ridiculously handsome face.

At least it gave her an excuse for her racing heart—everyone would just assume she was smitten.

‘They probably think I’m nervous because I’m enchanted by his looks.’

…That thought alone made her stomach churn with irritation.

But no matter what was raging inside her, the investiture ceremony continued, one candidate stepping forward at a time.

“…Ronald of House Tbilijan, step forward.”

Axia’s gaze remained fixed ahead.

If I can kill him, then I don’t care if I die.

This life had always been meant for one purpose—to kill that bastard Emperor.

The only difference now was that her mission had gained a deeply personal, emotional edge.

‘If I’m really that curious, I can just stab him in the heart and ask afterward.’

Do you remember me?
Are you the one who killed me?

“Y-Your Imperial Majesty, it is an honor to be in your presence.”

“State your ability.”

The stammering young noble was almost done.

And after him—

It would be Axia’s turn.

“M-my ability is—”

The young noble’s voice abruptly cut off, and Axia sharpened her focus.

‘This is the moment.’

When nobles declared their awakened abilities, they were allowed to step into the Emperor’s soundproof barrier so that no one else could hear them.

A brief, intimate moment shared between ruler and vassal.

The exact moment Axia had been waiting for—for six years.

“…As a noble, your ability is recognized. Thus, I confer upon you the title of Viscount of Tbilijan.”

‘The barrier has lifted.’

Clink—

The Emperor’s ceremonial sword sliced through the true silver chain binding the young noble’s wrist.

With that, the ceremony was complete. The new viscount, now an official noble, stepped away.

Then, the final name was called.

“Lady Axia of House Thracia. Step forward.”

From atop the platform, the Emperor waited, his ceremonial longsword still in hand.

“…It is an honor to be in Your Majesty’s presence.”

Axia approached, lowering her head in a formal bow.

Above her, a voice like smooth, lethargic honey spilled down.

“State your ability.”

A sudden silence followed.

An unnatural quiet.

Axia felt it.

‘The barrier is up.’

For the next few moments, no one would be able to interfere.

“My ability is… to cross boundaries.”

“To cross boundaries, you say. In what way? Demonstrate.”

“With your permission.”

Axia kept her head bowed as she slowly—so naturally—reached out her left hand.

A slow, unthreatening movement.

Something that looked like nothing more than a simple demonstration.

And in the next instant—

Her fingertips touched the Emperor’s chest.

At that moment, Axia screamed inwardly.

‘It worked…!’

Her ability had bypassed the Emperor’s Iron Fortress.

Her hand had touched his actual body.

The Emperor stared down at her palm, now fully pressed against his chest, his expression one of fascinated surprise.

“Oh…?”

His focus was entirely on her left hand.

Which meant—

In a single, fluid motion, Axia’s right hand darted for the ceremonial dagger still sheathed at his waist.

And—

Shlkk!

“……?!”

With all her strength, she plunged the blade deep into his chest.

“Kyaaaaaah?!”

“My gods—His Majesty!!”

“An… an assassin! Seize the assassin!!”

The moment the soundproof barrier shattered, the hall erupted into chaos.

Screams, the acrid scent of blood, and the solid, jarring sensation of steel sinking into flesh all mixed into a dizzying storm around her.

‘I didn’t even hit bone— It went straight through! I did it…!’

But—

CRACK—!

“Ghk—!”

A crushing grip seized her wrist, pain exploding through her bones as she was flipped into the air.

Her entire world spun—

And then—

Their eyes met for the first time.

The Emperor…

He wasn’t in pain.

He wasn’t even angry.

He was smiling.

A raw, ecstatic grin stretched across his face as he gazed at her.

“Finally… I’ve found you.”

L/N: Sup guys! I found a new vampire novel and ig it had a good rating on Naver and the cover was kinda hot. I hope you guys will enjoy these two crackheads bickering lol they are so funny like they both cant kill each other ig this is enemies-to-lovers romance