Chapter 4. It’s Just a Simple Mistake

“…I see. And when you opened your eyes again, you were a fourteen-year-old orphan in this world?”
The Emperor stroked his chin with a regretful expression before rising from his seat.

“It’s impressive that you could recognize and remember me just from the atmosphere… What a pity. If you had met me without resentment after possessing the body of a gifted one, I would have granted you a high position. But instead, you appeared as an assassin, and only then did I realize who you were.”

“Why did you kill me?”

“…Hm.”

“Why did you—why!”

The Emperor’s indigo eyes, which had been calmly watching Axia, narrowed slightly as if he were smiling.

“It was just a simple mistake. I hadn’t intended to kill you, but at the time, I was too startled.”

“…What?”

“There was something I was looking for there.”

The Emperor explained nonchalantly, letting out a sigh of regret.

“And then I was cast out. When I killed you, your world banished me.”

“A… mistake, you say.”

“Yes. It was unfortunate that I killed you. Because of that, I lost my travel coordinates when I was exiled. If I want to cross over to your world, Idea, again, I need the coordinates.”

The Emperor, who had so casually defined Kang Jinhee’s death as a mere mistake, continued speaking without a care.

“At the moment of my exile, I clearly confirmed that your soul was entangled with me and got dragged along. But when I arrived in our world, Eidos, you had disappeared without a trace. So I’ve been searching for that soul.”

Not only had he killed her, but now he was saying he had intended to use her soul… as a free entry pass back to her world?

“And now that you’ve finally appeared, you’ve become a vampire, tainting the travel coordinates… What a shame. Still, all is not lost. Help me, and I’ll send you back to Idea.”

“What kind of bullshit are you spewing like you’re doing me a favor?”
Axia forced the words out through clenched teeth.

“The ‘Kang Jinhee’ from that world is already dead. You killed her! What the hell do you expect me to do if I go back now?”

The Emperor tilted his head.

“Hm? …So you still don’t know?”

‘What else don’t I know now?’

A surge of anger boiled up inside her.

“…The only reason I’m standing here is to find out why you killed me. So give me a proper explanation for your motive!”

“If you’re willing to actively cooperate with me, I’ll tell you everything.”

Cooperate?

‘So, in the end, he just wants to use me again.’

The fury burning in her mind instantly turned ice cold.

Axia glared at the handsome young man who stood across the table, looking down at her with a smile.

Then, without any expression, she muttered,

“…Forget it. I’m done. I’ll just chalk it up to having the bad luck of running into a lunatic.”

The only thought that filled her mind was how utterly exhausted she was—she just wanted to abandon everything.

Fine, to hell with it. Reset.

If she died and came back again, possessing some new body, at least that bastard wouldn’t be in front of her anymore.

Axia strode forward, straight toward the Emperor, and grabbed the dagger that had been left abandoned on the table—still stained with his blood.

“This life is over for me. I feel bad for my client and for Anna, but… let’s just call this assassination a failure.”

The moment Axia swung the dagger toward her own throat—

“Where do you think you’re going?”

CLANG—!

At some point, the Emperor had drawn his ceremonial longsword and closed the distance between them.

Crash—!

The table between them toppled over with a loud clatter, but the Emperor didn’t even glance at it. He remained focused on blocking the dagger, his gaze never leaving Axia’s neck.

“I can’t just let you die. After all, I went through great trouble to find and bring you here.”

Of course, the Emperor was an exceptionally skilled swordsman.

Even with nothing but a ceremonial longsword—its blade more decorative than sharp—he effortlessly intercepted Axia’s dagger, pressing it down with precision.

Axia, outmatched in both strength and technique, let out a low growl.

“Move.”

“Even if I do, suicide won’t be so easy for you anymore, vampire. You’re not human anymore.”

“……!”

“You’re underestimating Grand Duke Arcas, whom you so boldly took a bite out of.”

The Emperor, still staring down at her, slowly shook his head.

“You drank an absurd amount of True Blood from the Lord of the Pyro Clan, and now you think slitting your throat with a mere dagger will let you die so easily? Arcas is the strongest of all the vampire clans. Even if he were thrown under the sun, it would take at least a full day for him to perish.”

“……!”

“And yet, after stealing the blood of such a being, you expect to kill yourself by slitting your throat? The moment the blade cuts through, your wound will heal instantly.”

His piercing indigo eyes gleamed between the crossed blades, his lips curving slightly in amusement.

“Or… did you somehow forget that you became a vampire? You should’ve taken a good look in the mirror after putting on that wedding dress. Those beautiful green eyes of yours? They’re bright red now.”

“The one who forgot something… is you.”

Skreee—!

Axia forcibly twisted the dagger blocked by the longsword, redirecting its tip straight at the Emperor.

“Didn’t that mutt warn you earlier? And yet, here you are, carelessly getting close to me wielding a blade.”

“……!”

“I haven’t given up on the great feat of assassinating the Emperor just yet.”

“Oh dear. And what do you plan to do after killing me? …my mutt will rip you to shreds.”

Axia scoffed, retorting with a smirk.

“I’ll just kill myself afterward.”

“My, my. Someone who’s lost all attachment to life after uncovering the secret of reincarnation… How utterly difficult you are to handle.”

The Emperor let go of his longsword with a sigh and swiftly leaped back toward the window.

“But it’s not like I don’t have a solution… Do you see that?”

He pointed out the open window.

In the middle of the moonlit garden, encircled by a ring of imperial guards—lay a man, sprawled face down.

“I took the liberty of investigating your assassination motives and the mastermind behind it while you were asleep. And, well… It was too easy.”

The man’s golden-blond hair, now disheveled, hadn’t moved for a while, as if he had been down for some time.

More than anything else…

Axia recognized the ivory-colored cane lying beside him.

‘Count Thracia!’

“The one who ordered the assassination turned out to be the assassin’s own adoptive father. How sloppy. Were you both just not planning to hide it at all?”

The Emperor sneered as he gestured toward Count Thracia.

“How do you feel about this, would-be regicide? Since you’re planning to die anyway, how about I let you perish alongside your mastermind of an adoptive father?”

“You call that a threat? Do whatever the hell you want.”

Axia let out a dry laugh.

“Count Thracia threw his life away the moment he sent me here—”

“I’ll have all the citizens of your estate executed for treason as well. After all, they’re all just rebels anyway.”

“……!”

Axia was struck speechless by the Emperor’s calm declaration of mass slaughter.

“Just make your decision—I’ll kill them all alongside you. The entire territory is already surrounded, and a movement ban has been enforced.”

“…What?”

“As of yesterday, the total population of Count Thracia’s territory was 150,000 and… 4,872 people. That should be plenty of company for you on your way to the afterlife. You won’t be lonely, will you? If there’s no room for negotiation, then I’ll simply have to deal with them according to the law.”

The Emperor responded nonchalantly.

“I will personally exhume the corpse of Anna Maria Thracia, your foster sister and the one who directly ordered your assassination. Then, I’ll have her head severed and put on display in the grand plaza at the front of the Imperial Palace. She’s only been dead for, what, two months? Her body should still be quite fresh.”

‘How dare he… Anna…!’

A surge of fury turned her vision blood-red, but the sheer weight of her horror and disgust crushed it down just as quickly.

“After that, I’ll stack the bodies of all 150,000 people and burn them one by one. It should take… about a month for them all to turn to ashes.”

“You insane… bastard…! They are your own citizens!”

Axia screamed.

“You’re going to kill 150,000 innocent people just like that?!”

“Innocent? And why would that be? Their crime is simply being citizens of Thracia’s domain.”

The Emperor, standing by the window, tilted his head slightly, his platinum hair gleaming silver under the moonlight.

“A domain and its people belong to the noble who rules over them. Naturally, the noble’s crimes are shared with their subjects. Or did you go through all this without even considering the consequences?”

The Emperor chuckled, his eyes curving as he smiled beneath the moonlight.

For a moment, in the eerie glow of the night, his ethereal beauty seemed utterly inhuman, and Axia felt a deep chill crawl up her spine.

“To stop a single suicide, you’re resorting to mass slaughter… No rational ruler would ever commit to something so wasteful—”

“I am a ruler of blood and iron. If I were too weak-willed to make such sacrifices to obtain what I desire, I wouldn’t have lasted one year on this throne, let alone ten thousand.”

The Emperor chuckled as he stepped closer to Axia.

“Shall I add one more thing?”

As if whispering a secret, he brought his lips to her ear.

“Since you were dragged into this world with me, you will now only ever be reborn here.”

Axia’s grip on the dagger faltered slightly as she froze in place. The Emperor, as if caressing her hesitation, ran his fingers along the blade and whispered like the devil himself.

“Now that I have captured your soul, I can find you again the moment you’re born—no matter how many times. And each time, you’ll be a helpless infant with no means to resist.”

Then, kneeling on one knee, the Emperor pressed a kiss to the blade of her dagger and smirked.

“So go on—do as you please, my lady.”

Axia stared down at him, utterly dumbfounded.

This man… was a demon.
She had fallen into the grasp of a monster.

She should have killed herself before she had the chance to hear those words.

“…What do you want from me?”

“I need a proxy to fulfill my task. A role that only someone with a very special connection can take on.”

With little effort, the Emperor plucked the dagger from Axia’s grasp.

Slice—!

With just a flick of his hand, the thick shackles around her wrists were cut apart—so easily it was almost laughable.

“As a noble, I recognize your ability. From this moment forth, I grant you the title of Viscountess of Thracia.”

“…What?”

An… investiture?
‘He’s knighting me… in this situation?’

Before her stunned mind could fully process the absurdity of the moment, the Emperor continued speaking as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

“Furthermore, by Imperial Decree, I appoint Viscountess Axia Thracia as the acting head of Count Mikhail Thracia’s estate, as he is currently recuperating in the capital.”

“……!”

“You are now both my sinner and proxy, Viscountess. Complete the Twelve Labors, and then…”

Crunch—!

“…Gah?!”

Her pristine white wedding dress was suddenly soaked in red—

“I will release the curse I’ve placed on your heart once the tasks are complete.”

Axia stared blankly at the dagger embedded in her chest, watching as it slowly slid back out.

That insane bastard…
He had stabbed her in the heart. Again.

It hurt less than when she was stabbed back in her past life as Kang Jinhee in grad school—
But the sheer shock was no different.

Axia stood frozen, speechless, staring at the Emperor in utter disbelief.

“How troublesome… I didn’t intend to expend this much energy while already injured.”

The Emperor turned away as if nothing had happened, casually flicking the blood off the dagger.

“I’ll send someone to explain the details of the curse and the Twelve Labors to you. …For now, leave. I need to rest.”

“This is… absolute bullshit…!”

The Emperor dismissed her without a second thought, speaking as if her outrage was nothing more than a passing breeze.

“Corinth, escort the Viscountess.”

BANG—!

As if he had been waiting for that order, the Emperor’s mutt kicked open the golden doors and stormed in.

Still in complete shock, Axia could only let herself be dragged out of the Emperor’s chambers.