YED Chapter 135

Peon laughed when the small hand quickly grabbed the large hand that was braiding her hair.

“I was thinking about what to do with Beatrice.”

It was serious, and he would act on it the moment he decided. Kaela didn’t dismiss it lightly with “No way.” All the signals were dangerous, and a man who had cut up his own body and pulled out bones and organs wouldn’t hesitate to do the same to others.

“I was wondering how to make things less tiring for you, Kaela.”

He kissed the small, pale hand that had anxiously gripped his wrist.

“It was troublesome because there was a chance that either father-in-law or you could inherit the throne.”

“Surely not.”

“What would happen if an emperor killed his crown prince with his own hands? Would there be any better bastard?”

Kaela started to recall the emperor’s terrible list of illegitimate children but stopped. As if cursed, the emperor’s children either died young, had developmental issues, or resembled the emperor too much. Far too much.

If all the bastards were excluded, attention would turn to his recently successful half-sibling and their daughter, and then to Peon.

Why did the emperor deliberately put them in the position of regents? Because they make excellent replacements in emergencies. If the imperial family disappeared, people would naturally consider Duke Ostein as the next emperor. That’s how bloodlines work.

“Killing the emperor isn’t easy. Not because it’s difficult, but because it’s troublesome. I don’t care what happens to this country, but……”

Reflexively, Kaela gripped his hand tighter. Peon smiled slightly and kissed each of her white knuckles while gently loosening her grip.

“You, and father-in-law, are absolutely not expendable.”

Only then did the tension in her small hand release.

The emperor was the symbol, center, and ruler of the empire where Kaela lived. Laws and order revolved around that position.

Peon, who destroyed law and order, might survive, but Kaela, who had lived her entire life as a member of the imperial family, would not. He knew this well. Unlike Peon, Kaela was human.

“Did you want His Majesty to kill his son?”

It was quite a shocking idea.

“I’m considering it. Should I not?”

Kaela stared at him intently. The man who had just declared his intention to make someone commit filicide calmly finished braiding her hair and carefully tied a ribbon to keep it from getting messy in the wind.

When their eyes met, he smiled immediately. His purple eyes were filled with warmth rather than coldness.

“Is it too cruel?”

“No.”

The answer came out naturally before she knew it. It wasn’t cruel at all.

She wasn’t sure if she had developed a tolerance from experiencing so many cruel things, or if her humanity had worn away from enduring harsh experiences. But she could say it calmly. That was nothing.

“Right?”

“Is that all? Is that everything?”

Peon gently stroked the face of his wife, who had frozen and grabbed him while asking with wide eyes. It seemed like a touch meant to soothe her, telling her it was okay, to calm down.

“No. How could it be? That would be too easy. You……”

What should he say? Peon paused briefly, feeling unworthy to speak of the days Kaela had been through.

“……Father-in-law too……”

He felt unworthy to speak about Duke Ostein, an elder he respected. If only he had been more capable, more sensitive, or if he had desperately fled when he was young and avoided the taboo. He could only keep ruminating on the past.

“If you add what my mother and I went through.”

Peon bowed his head in shame.

“That would be too easy. But having the crown prince kill the emperor……”

“Death is too easy too.”

Kaela unconsciously clutched him again. Though he liked her clinging to him, Peon was also deeply concerned, so he pressed his forehead against hers and gently stroked the nape of her neck.

“Yes. I won’t give you what you want easily.”

Without needing to say more, Peon understood everything. He wouldn’t easily grant the death that Kaela had been yearning for. He would make them beg for death just the same.

“What should I do for you, Kaela? Do you want to ascend to the throne?”

When tears welled up in her blue eyes, Peon’s heart sank and he quickly kissed her eyes. It was an awkward gesture from someone who didn’t know how to comfort her.

“You don’t want to? If you don’t want to, we won’t. I wasn’t going to do it anyway because I thought it would be troublesome for you, but I should still ask your opinion. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. It’s okay. Don’t cry.”

Kaela was about to say ‘I’m not crying’ but closed her mouth. Because she was crying. Instead, she gave a different answer.

“That’s not why I’m crying.”

“I know.”

He didn’t ask why she was crying.

“Something like being emperor is troublesome.”

The first empress of the Crania Empire. The thought alone was dizzying. She wasn’t at a stage to think about such things. She needed to focus on eating well, sleeping well, and fully enjoying each day.

“I know. You just live doing whatever you want to do. Who needs the throne? How troublesome.”

When choosing the most effective revenge, he had to be careful because the targets were bound to Kaela by blood and law, making it easy for her to get entangled. Whatever else happened, Kaela needed to be free when all the retribution was over.

“Again? What other plans have you made? Tell me.”

Peon’s eyes widened slightly.

“You want to know?”

Kaela looked at him with eyes full of disbelief and worry.

“I need to know. You might try to kill everyone and set fire to the palace……”

Peon slightly averted his gaze. Kaela cried out in horror.

“No!”

“I just thought about it, just thought about it… I wasn’t planning to kill the emperor, just to make him watch the empire fall apart……”

“You were planning to set fire not to the palace but to the empire?”

“It’s easy. And that much is necessary……”

Considering the people who suffered, the years of suffering, the things that were done, shouldn’t everything the emperor built turn to ashes before his eyes? At his casual tone, Kaela shuddered and shouted.

“No!”

This was something that Peon, the noble knight from before the regression, would never have done.

His way of thinking had changed from someone who believed that innocent lives should never be sacrificed. Had he become sick of humanity itself? Had the empire itself become hateful? She understood. More than anyone, Kaela understood, but still, it couldn’t be allowed.

“Okay.”

Peon nodded.

“I won’t do it.”

Having received confirmation, Kaela accepted his falling kisses and carefully asked.

“……Is setting fires easy?”

“A dragon’s flame won’t extinguish until everything is burned. Father could come, or I could just casually set the flames……”

“No!”

“I said I understand.”

Peon nodded several times while smiling. He took one of the flowers he had given her and tucked it into her braided hair.

“You’re beautiful.”

Kaela was always beautiful. She was beautiful, and instead of quietly sinking into her own world, she kept asking questions and showing interest, which made her even more beautiful.

There was strength in her eyes, her face was full of life, her expressions varied, and she faced him without avoiding him. She was finally alive for once.

“But that…person.”

“Yes?”

“That person, I mean, oppa’s father.”

Kaela, who had been seriously fretting over finding the exact title, finally came up with a more accurate one, and Peon chuckled again. When someone laughed while she was speaking, Kaela couldn’t help but hesitate, wondering if it was mockery, a cautious look appearing in her eyes.

“When you say it like that, it really feels like we’re married.”

“We are really married. We did it twice.”

“Yes. Twice.”

He leaned toward Kaela and kissed her forehead. Since he kept kissing her face here and there, Kaela just stayed still. Since she decided to just receive, she really wouldn’t do anything. Her small hand fidgeted.

“It feels like a dream.”

Kaela thought Peon would just say ‘it’s good.’ She didn’t expect him to exhale like a sigh and say ‘it feels like a dream’ that would ultimately end painfully. Her heart sank and she quickly looked down at her muslin nightgown.

“Keep talking.”

Peon, resting his face on her shoulder, wrapped her hand in his. His scent, the feel of his cheek against her, the sensation of his soft, thick black hair touching her was newly ticklish.

‘Get a grip. He probably did this with Beatrice too, right?’

She tried desperately not to be swayed, but even the reason for trying not to be swayed seemed forced now. It didn’t seem like he had.

‘What do you mean it doesn’t seem like it. Idiot.’

Sometimes she hated Peon. There were too many things that made it impossible not to hate him. But she hated herself more for trying to defend even such a Peon. So she wanted to pull him down further and break him.

Only after treating him with the same indifference and inflicting irreversible wounds would Kaela be able to come to her senses. By then, their relationship would be broken beyond any lingering attachment.

Her feelings changed every day. One day she would just receive endlessly, thinking that when Peon’s heart eventually left, she would die kindly without resentment or regret. Though she hadn’t wanted to do anything, that much seemed doable.

But another day, when all sorts of old resentments would rise up inside her, she wanted to die right before his eyes before his heart could leave.

Now she knew how much it would hurt Peon. In fact, it was the only way Kaela could pay him back.

He was such a powerful man that emotional wounds were the only option. While it was the most powerful weapon, it was also an ambiguous one because she didn’t know how much impact it would have.

Just as Peon had thrown her around recklessly, she wanted to throw him around recklessly too. No, she didn’t want to do that. No, she wanted to hurt him.

“That…that person won’t be able to come to Crania, right?”

Get a grip. Kaela finally managed to complete the question she had wanted to ask, stumbling over her words.

“Since I’m not in Lusenford, he can come. If he comes here, he’ll use everything except magic.”

“Everything except magic?”

“Because flame isn’t magic. And the reason father hasn’t come down until now is partly because of the promise with the first emperor, but it’s because of me.”

Whenever Peon said things like this, he renewed his desire for revenge once more. Remembering his father who could only tremble in anxiety, unable to do anything for fear of harm coming to his young son and young wife, he vowed to pay it back in kind.

“There are some restrictions on coming down directly, but I can sort of resolve that.”

Peon looked at Kaela’s expression as she imagined the evil dragon Gusalante descending upon Craine.

“Why, should I tell him not to come?”

He shouldn’t do this, but teasing Kaela was too fun. What did she eat to become this cute?

“Ah, if he doesn’t come, couldn’t we resolve things, perhaps?”

Why the formal speech again? Peon’s brow twitched.

“A father-in-law should see his daughter-in-law.”

“I’ll go! I can go instead!”

“Right. We can go together.”

Peon muttered while making the tree shadows longer and darker.

“Want to take a nap?”

“Why would you nap when we’re at the sea?”

Rather, Kaela opened her eyes wide, wondering how he could waste time like that.

“You’re a patient, Kaela……”

“They said the hot southern climate is good for the body.”

She now chatters well enough to leave her husband speechless. But that’s as far as it goes.

She still had many questions to ask. Why did he regress, how did he regress, what would he do about the emperor and Beatrice from now on – she needed to ask but didn’t.

That must be as far as it goes. Peon was only that much to Kaela. No, life itself must be only that much to Kaela. She still lacked the motivation and will to ask the most important things.

But Peon couldn’t stop smiling like a madman. Kaela was curious. She spoke. That alone was enough to make him happy.

“Then I’ll sleep.”

Very shamelessly, he suddenly dropped his head onto Kaela’s rather soft legs today and lay down.

“Huh?”

“Going to sleep.”

Peon just said that and closed his eyes. Is he really sleeping? Kaela swallowed the words she had always wanted to ask.

Do you really sleep every night? Why do you look like you can’t sleep?

There was clearly exhaustion tangled in his purple eyes. Whenever she opened her eyes, Peon was also just lying there with his eyes open. Kaela’s lips trembled before closing. If Peon could sleep even now, that would be enough, and it wasn’t something for Kaela to get involved in.

There were many questions today too that she was curious about but didn’t think to ask.