1. The return of the tyrant
“Ah, finally!”
Empress Olive’s face was filled with joy.
The Empress looked at the beautiful burning flame and began to laugh, haha.
I couldn’t breathe in the suddenly warm air. Emperor Ludwig woke up with his brow furrowed.
“What is going on? How on earth!”
The flames quickly expanded. All escape routes were engulfed in flames and were blocked. There was no escape route.
“Damn it!”
Emperor Ludwig grabbed Empress Olive by the wrist and dragged her off the bed. He was thinking of evacuating to a safer place.
However, Empress Olive did her best to shake off Emperor Ludwig’s hand.
“Do you want to die, Olive?”
“yes. I want to die. I set the fire because I wanted to die.”
“Damn, there was a shaman around.”
The imperial palace, where the blessings of the main god resided, was strong without even small cracks in the walls. There was no need to mention the fire.
The flames that broke through the god’s fortifications were probably the flames of the Spirit King.
The Shaman, Lisian Goldrot, was the empress’ assistant.
“I had to kill this shaman!”
Emperor Ludwig crumpled his face. His perfect features were distorted in a grim way.
He walked around the room looking for a way out, but the fire was so huge that it was out of control.
He had no choice but to look at the window. The servants probably laid out a soft mat on the floor in accordance with the emergency protocol.
He himself would have been fine if his arms and legs were broken, but Olive, whose physical strength was weak, could have died by having her neck broken.
Ludwig, determined to jump down while holding her, grabbed Olive’s wrist again and led her to the window.
“Let me go!”
Olive slapped his wrist again. Ludwig gritted his teeth and squeezed Olive’s wrist tightly again
.
“Stop talking nonsense and follow me!”
“If you want to live, just live, Ludwig.”
Olive chewed her lip and glared at Ludwig.
At that moment, Ludwig’s gaze, which had been looking towards the window, slowly turned to Olive. Even in an urgent situation, the gesture was very slow.
It was the first time Olive called his name. The feeling was unfamiliar, so one side of Ludwig’s lip trembled and went up.
“What now….”
“If you want to live, you have to live alone. I won’t take a single step from here, Ludwig.”
Hah. Ludwig squeezed his heart with a slightly trembling hand.
“Is this what you wanted?”
Olive smiled brightly and nodded. Tears that doesn’t match her expression flow from her eyes.
“Your Majesty, are you safe?”
The sound of servants making a fuss outside the room could be heard inside.
But Ludwig didn’t listen to the voice. Ludwig’s hearing only contained the sound of Olive.
He took Olive’s hands.
Did I squeeze her wrist too hard earlier? There was a blue bruise on her white wrist, just like Ludwig’s handprint.
Although it was sad to see it, I was also happy that traces of me remained on her body.
Suddenly, a memory came to mind of stopping prisoners in a dungeon and asking them what women liked.
Among them, there was one noble lady who trembled and said something that i thought was so trivial that she just ignored it.
But why did it come to my mind now?
“I love you, Olive.”
Ludwig lowered his head and looked into her peridot-like eyes.
Olive’s face, which had been shedding tears while smiling while showing off her white teeth, was instantly distorted.
Ah, this method was correct. What the noble lady said was right.
“Are you crazy? Is that what you’re saying now?”
“I love you, Olive.”
“Shut up, Ludwig! If you loved me, you shouldn’t have done this to me, you shouldn’t have destroyed me!”
Olive, who never got angry no matter what he did, jumped up and screamed.
Olive clenched her fists and rushed at Ludwig. And then she started hitting Ludwig hard in the chest with her small fist.
It wasn’t just hitting. Olive grabbed him by the collar and shook him, then raised her hand and slapped him hard on the cheek.
Ludwig accepted all of Olive’s actions as is. Thinking that it was his last time, he didn’t feel bad about giving his body to her.
Olive was the one who swung her fist, but it was Olive who fell first.
Ludwig looked at Olive, who was sitting down, and asked plainly.
“Then what should I have done to you?”
Ludwig was really curious. If i loved you, what should I do? What did I have to do to get you in my hands?
“Hah!”
Olive let out a deep breath and started laughing, holding her stomach at what was so funny.
Coughing loudly from the acrid smoke, Olive summoned the last of her strength and shouted loudly.
“You should have treated me like a human being, you son of a bitch! You treat me like a four-legged animal and then love me? You did it wrong in the first place. die!”
Olive gritted her teeth and glared at Ludwig as if she was going to kill him.
Ludwig calmly accepted that look and held Olive’s face.
Olive had no strength to escape from his grasp.
He just helplessly accepted Ludwig’s deep kiss.
Creak~
It was then that the chandelier hanging above his head tilted to one side, making an eerie metallic sound.
Ludwig glanced at the ceiling and smiled.
“If we had a next time.”
And then he looked at Olive again with serious eyes.
if. It was one of the words that Ludwig did not usually use.
“That fucking what if. If there is a next time.”
Did I suffocate from the smoke? Olive’s limbs, unable to open her eyes properly, fell limply to the floor.
Cracking – An unsettling metal sound echoes above Ludwig’s head.
Ludwig hugged Olive tightly and muttered in a low voice.
“Then i will be sure to do as you said. And make sure that you will love me.”
I love you, Olive.
Tu-tu-duk, bang!
The chandelier, which was creaking unpleasantly, fell on Ludwig’s head.
Ludwig closed his eyes and accepted the end.
This is the death that Olive gave to him.
It wasn’t a bad death.
***
I was definitely dead.
“…What is this?”
Is this a fantasy I see after I die?
Ludwig closed his eyes and opened them. What I saw in front of me was not a burned down room, but a healthy bed ceiling. Instead of the acrid smoke, there is a smell of old furniture.
Ludwig immediately checked his arms. I couldn’t feel olive I was holding.
‘Olive!’
Ludwig opened his eyes and jumped out of bed. And quickly looked around.
“Oli….”
His lips, which had been shouting out Olive’s name, were tightly shut again. Ludwig’s red eyes shook quickly.
My voice was now like that of a prepubescent boy.
“Isn’t this the Garnet Palace?”
The place where I am now was also the palace where I lived when I was young.
Ludwig got up from the bed and headed towards the small mirror in the room.
The floor creaked every time Ludwig walked. This place was closer to an abandoned palace than a palace where the prince lived.
I saw a dirty mirror in front of me with cracks here and there.
Ludwig’s face reflected in it is also blurred, broken and cracked here and there.
However, it was clear enough for Ludwig to recognize his change.
“Damn it, what kind of harmony is this?”
Ludwig smoothed his face in front of the mirror.
Now, when I look in the mirror, I see myself as I was when I was 12 years old.
Just like when he first met his empress, Olive.
***
“Wake up, miss! There is tea time at the imperial palace today. You have to hurry!”
Olive woke up to her maid’s cry and took a deep breath.
‘I think I had a huge nightmare.’
Olive clenched her fist. She didn’t remember anything.
“…Miss?”
Her lovely green hair was drenched in cold sweat. The eyes, which contained a fresh green light, shook left and right in fear.
Her expression was unusual. The maid placed her hand on Olive’s forehead.
“Oh my god, You are like a ball of fire! Miss, please wait a moment, I’ll call the doctor.”
While the maid went to call the doctor, Olive moaned, clutching her pounding head.
The nightmare was blurry, but the feeling of being engulfed in a huge fire was vivid.
Olive, who received treatment from a doctor, swallowed bitter and sweet medicines.
After a couple of hours, Olive’s fever went down.
“Olive, won’t it be difficult to attend tea time today?”
The Marchioness of Chartres looked worried and squeezed her daughter’s small hand. Olive grinned and shook her head.
“I really want to go to tea time today, Mom.”
“But, Olive….”
“Anyway, it’s afternoon tea time, so there’s plenty of time. Don’t worry, if i lie down a little longer, i will get better.”
Even at the young age of 12, Olive consoled her mother in a mature manner.
“This girl is so brave.”
With a bitter smile, the Marchioness of Chartres lightly kissed her daughter’s forehead and left her room.
***
The fever that rose in the morning went down quickly and Olive regained her condition.
However, tea time with the royal family and various nobles was a very boring time for young Olive.
‘Shall i go out and walk secretly?’
While the adults were engrossed in conversation, Olive sneaked out of the tea time area.
Suddenly, a nice, well-maintained garden nearby caught my eye.
‘It’s a maze garden!’
The garden, with rose trees and neat garden trees lined up in a straight line, was a maze garden with only one exit and one entrance.
Olive entered the beautiful garden like an illustration from a fairy tale, as if fascinated.
‘I thought it was just a maze garden.’
The inside was a lot more complicated than I thought.
Without thinking, Olive, who had lost her way, sat down under a large tree to catch her breath.
‘If I hear adults looking for me, I think I’ll be quick to scream.’
Rather than wandering around, it was wiser to sit still and wait for an adult.
‘Ah, if I had known it would be like this, I would have just quietly sat at the tea table.’
Olive lifted her small shoulders and sighed heavily.
She suddenly felt hungry and her throat burned. Her head throbbed, as if the fever that had subsided in the morning was rising again, and she covered her forehead with both hands.
The afternoon sun is clearly shining hotly on the ground in the sky. Being alone here gave me a strangely cold feeling and gave me the creeps.
~~~
A new novel, I hope it will be good and that you will like my translation ❤️ I will try to translate it quickly since the manhwa has been released
• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •By Esraa• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •
If you want to support the translation and the translator, you can buy a coffee~
