“I knew it.”
“…”
“That everything is futile.”
A bitter smile appeared on Zion’s face. A sense of emptiness was evident in his low voice.
“When I saw you lying there so cold, it felt like all the senses in my body had died.”
Zion reached out and touched Arundel’s cheek. The warmth of Arundel’s body was felt in Zion’s hand.
“Even this warm sensation, hunger, and sleepiness, I who couldn’t feel any of it, was just a moving corpse.”
Zion’s words came to Arundel’s heart with a tingling sensation.
“That’s when I knew. I can’t ask anything of you.”
“…Zion.”
“Just stay by my side. I won’t ask for anything.”
Zion’s eyes were trembling. He was pleading.
It’s absurd. That cruel and cold-hearted Zion is pleading.
Even as he spoke, his gaze never left Arundel for a moment.
The pitiful and anxious look that bound Arundel.
Arundel felt a contradictory emotion of joy and sadness at that look.
She reached out and gently touched his eyelids. His eyelids were hot.
“Thank you for being honest.”
At Arundel’s tender words, Zion buried his face in Arundel’s left shoulder as if he had collapsed.
“I missed you so much I thought I would die.”
He murmured with his face buried in Arundel’s shoulder. Arundel stroked Zion’s back.
“I won’t leave now.”
Zion lifted his head. He scanned the face of the person who had spoken, as if to confirm it was Arundel.
Zion’s eyes were relaxed.
‘Zion…?’
He cupped Arundel’s face with both hands. His face gradually approached. As his face got closer, Arundel unknowingly closed her eyes.
She couldn’t see it, but she knew that his hot breath would soon cover her lips.
Just as Zion’s lips were about to touch Arundel,
Suddenly-!
“The Empress has woken up…!!”
Cain opened the door and came in.
Startled by the sudden appearance of someone, Arundel pulled away from Zion’s hand and stuck close to the bed.
Anyone could see that Arundel looked startled. Cain asked, puzzled by Arundel’s behavior.
“Why are you…? Like someone who’s been caught doing something wrong…”
“Haha… Nothing…”
Arundel mumbled as if to make an excuse.
“The Emperor…Heek!”
Cain, who was speaking, gasped.
Because he had seen Zion’s fierce eyes. Zion ignored Cain and said,
“Seeing as you came in without even knocking, it must be very urgent, Cain?”
At first, Zion’s tone might sound affectionate, but to Cain’s ears, it sounded like ‘If it’s not urgent, I’ll kill you.’
“I… just…heard that the Empress had woken up…”
“Really urgent, then.”
Zion squinted his eyes and smiled faintly, but the eyes that peeked out between the eyelids flashed coldly.
Cain, who noticed Zion’s gaze, soon added a word as if he was wronged.
“Besides that, you need to decide quickly what to do with the Hellen family…!”
At Cain’s words, Arundel remembered someone he had forgotten.
“What happened to Bianca…?”
Arundel asked with anxious emotion. There was worry in her eyes.
She had been asleep for a whole week.
Fortunately, according to Cain’s words, it seemed that the punishment for the Hellen family itself had not been decided, but Bianca could not be sure. She had even run away with her.
Cain hesitated when he saw Arundel’s pale complexion.
“She hasn’t been punished yet…”
“Death penalty.”
Zion cut off Cain’s words and answered. His firm tone left no room for compromise.
Arundel’s eyes trembled.
“…Death penalty?”
But Zion looked firm.
“It’s only natural that the whole family is exterminated for daring to try to assassinate the Empress.”
“But thanks to Bianca, we were able to prove Duke Hellen’s guilt.”
Arundel said, choking up.
“We could have found out enough without her.”
There seemed to be no room for negotiation with Zion. His tone was utterly cold.
“But extermination is absolutely not allowed. It’s not right for a whole family to be massacred because of one Duke Hellen.
“The family members are innocent. It’s something Duke Hellen did on his own.”
“Even if you plead so pitifully, it’s no use. They have to pay for their sins.”
Zion’s attitude was firm. There was not a single gap. But, she couldn’t give up.
Bianca, who had given up everything to help her, couldn’t just be sent to the gallows.
“If Bianca has to pay for the sins because of Duke Hellen, then so should I. Since my father committed a terrible crime as well, it’s only right that I should pay for it too.”
Against Zion, who seemed to have no room for compromise, Arundel pushed quite hard.
Arundel’s expression, with her mouth firmly shut, was filled with a determined will.
“Ha…”
Zion sighed.
“Why…why do you go so far for others?”
“I think it’s too cruel for Bianca to be executed just because she’s family.”
“It’s the law.”
“Zion…please.”
Arundel made her last plea to Zion. Zion frowned as if he didn’t like the situation.
Zion seemed to be contemplating. And then, brushing his hair roughly, he spoke to Cain.
“Cain, convey the decision on the punishment of the Hellen family.”
“Yes.”
At an important moment, Cain swallowed once and answered.
“Duke Hellen is sentenced to death.”
“What about his family…?”
“Confiscate all their mansions, lands, and properties.”
Cain hesitated with a surprised face.
“Is that…enough…?”
Zion didn’t answer Cain’s question. But Arundel knew.
His silence meant affirmation.
Arundel, who had been crying, smiled brightly as if she was in full bloom. And then, she jumped and hugged Zion.
“Zion! Thank you!!”
But Zion’s body was stiff. When he didn’t react, Arundel tried to pull away and distance herself.
But Arundel couldn’t get away.
Zion hugged Arundel even tighter. And he whispered in Arundel’s ear.
“If you’re thankful, shouldn’t you give me a reward?”
Arundel’s ear was burning hot. His breath touching her ear was as hot as a torch.
The situation from earlier, which seemed like she was bewit…bewitched… anyway, that situation came to mind and she was even more flustered.
“Wha… what…!”
Arundel stammered in embarrassment. But the smile on Zion’s lips deepened.
‘Again… again…!! That teasing expression!’
That sadistic expression that seemed to enjoy her being flustered!
But what was more frustrating was that she couldn’t stand up to him when she saw him like this.
“Ehem.”
Cain, who had been forgotten, made his presence known.
Arundel, unable to bear the embarrassment, hit Zion’s chest, and Zion frowned and glared at Cain.
“Were you still there.”
“…I really want to leave too.”
Cain muttered.
But this was also possible because the Empress was in front.
When the Empress was present, Cain, who was quick to notice, knew that Emperor Zion became much softer than usual.
He took the opportunity and tried to push him once.
But Zion’s gaze was sharp at this important moment.
“Then get out quickly.”
“Just this!”
“What else is left?”
Zion spoke with an annoyed expression. But Cain, who was used to Zion’s attitude, didn’t back down and asked.
“What about Count Montreal?”
When the name Count Montreal came out of Cain’s mouth, Arundel’s body stiffened.
There was still a conversation to be had with him.
“Zion, I want to talk about Count Montreal.”
“…”
“Just the two of us.”
Arundel looked at Cain and spoke. At Zion’s gesture to leave, Cain raised both hands and spoke.
“Yes, yes. You two talk. The nuisance will disappear.”
When Cain left and only the two of them were left, Arundel glanced at Zion.
He knew for sure.
That she had the mark of a demon on her.
On a day when the rain was pouring down, and she was trapped again in the Empress’s Palace.
[I don’t care whether you were a witch or a demon…]
[I just wanted you to tell me…]
That’s what Zion had said.
He had known about her mark all along, but pretended not to know.
She couldn’t exactly figure out Zion’s intentions, but thinking about it now, it seemed like he had been considerate of her.
Out of consideration, he had even imprisoned the innocent Count Montreal for pushing him about the mark.
Of course, she was grateful that he had done so for her.
But wrong is wrong.
If you torment people for personal and trivial reasons, you’re no different from a tyrant.
“Did you know…?”
“Do you want to talk about the mark?”
Zion opened his mouth with an indifferent expression, as if he had expected it.
“Count Montreal came to me and pushed you, and I confirmed it with my own eyes when you were sleeping in the Empress’s Palace. Is there anything else you’re curious about?”
Arundel was increasingly confused.
“Why didn’t you ask about the mark…?”
“Because you didn’t seem to want to talk about it.”
Zion spoke calmly.
“Aren’t you curious now? Why the mark appeared.”
“It’s a matter of course. I’m always curious about you.”
“What if I don’t want to talk about it?”
Arundel asked Zion as if testing him.
But contrary to Arundel’s worry, Zion chuckled. His expression was full of mockery.
“Do you think I would force it out of you?”
Arundel almost nodded for a moment, but forced herself to hold back.
“You need to remember more about me.”
“…”
“I told you, I can’t ask anything of you.”
He was now admitting to being the weaker party in their relationship.
Arundel smiled at his changed attitude.
“Thank you.”
But it didn’t stop there, and a determined voice continued.
“But there’s one more thing I want to say.”
Arundel, who seemed to have more to say, looked straight at Zion.
She wondered if it was right to say this now, but it seemed right to do it when the saying “strike while the iron is hot” came up.
“I know you put Count Montreal in jail for me.”
“…..”
“Thank you. But, it must have been too cruel a punishment for him. He should obviously be released.”
Despite Arundel’s serious attitude, Zion laughed.
“Irina, do you think there are people in the world who don’t sin?”
“What…”
“Count Montreal is said to be neutral, not involved in politics, and there’s no one cleaner than him.”
“…”
“Is that really so?”
Zion’s eyes shone sharply for a moment.
“He’s the owner of the largest brothel in the Croyden Empire. He doesn’t hesitate to do anything to buy women, drugs, smuggling, usury.”
At the shocking identity of the Count, Arundel was momentarily speechless.
“What you see in front of you is not everything, Irina.”
Zion spoke to Arundel as if warning a child who knew nothing. But Arundel raised her eyebrows as if she didn’t like what he said.
“I don’t understand.”
Zion knew about his identity. Then why didn’t he arrest him sooner?
Arundel asked Zion.
“Then why didn’t you punish him sooner?”
“As I said, there’s no one in the world who doesn’t sin. But you can’t arrest everyone, can you?”
Zion spoke with a languid smile.
“I’m the same. I have no right to punish anyone. I just move according to my interests.”
Zion was still smiling, but there was a desperate look in his eyes.
“That’s how I’ve lived, and that’s the only way I could live.”
