“U-um?”

This time, my eyes truly widened in surprise.

I unconsciously sniffed but couldn’t smell anything.

Cail opened the hand he had clenched earlier and carefully touched the corner of my eye.

“Here.”

I stared up at him blankly for a moment.

“Right here, the scent of tears is coming from your eyes.”

“….”

“Starting from here, all the way to here. The lingering scent remains.”

His fingertips gently caressed the corner of my eye and slid down my cheek.

“….”

How did he know?

‘From now on, let’s live as strangers.’

After saying that to Yuphe and turning away, I secretly shed a few tears, just a little bit.

But it was really just a tiny amount, like the size of a pinky nail, and I had definitely checked that my face was fine before returning home.

My eyes weren’t swollen, nor was the area around them red.

‘How on earth did he notice?’

As I blinked blankly while staring at him, he opened his mouth.

“I often think about this. Those who hurt you, all of them…”

Cail couldn’t continue and gritted his teeth.

I stared at him for a while, then slowly parted my lips.

“Hey, Cail.”

“Yes, Jella.”

“You recognized me too. Who I am.”

“Yes. From the very beginning.”

He nodded quietly.

‘Please don’t abandon me, Jella. My master.’

‘That’s right, my master…’

Cail had spoken and acted as if he recognized me from the moment we first met.

‘An ordinary apothecary… Is that what you want?’

‘Then let’s do that.’

Even going along with me when I pretended not to know him.

So actually, both of us had known each other from the day we met again but had been pretending not to know.

However, what I was curious about was…

“How did you recognize me?”

“How could I not recognize you?”

“But I died.”

At those words, Cail’s face contorted in pain.

“You, why.”

“Cail…?”

“Why do you speak of your death so lightly?”

“….”

I inadvertently drew in a sharp breath at his voice tinged with faint resentment.

“I, whenever you do that…”

But Cail couldn’t continue.

“….”

“….”

A strange silence fell between us.

“I misspoke, Jella.”

He returned to his usual self and apologized.

“I was presumptuous.”

Cail requested punishment from me in a calm voice, his trembling subsided.

“Please punish me for disturbing your peace of mind.”

“Punishment? What are you talking about?”

It was excessive to talk about punishment over just a few words.

Above all, I was no longer the tyrannical Emperor Jella Shunaibel.

But Cail looked at me with an earnest voice and said.

“I will gladly accept any punishment you give. So…”

His voice carried a damp, watery scent.

“…just don’t abandon me, Jella.”

The trembling in his voice that had subsided rose again and shook the air.

“Just allow me to stay by your side and protect you like before.”

“….”

“Please…”

And my heart, enveloped in that trembling, began to stir as well.

“Why? There’s no need for that.”

I forced a smile and replied in a light tone. Otherwise, I felt I would be completely swept away by this inexplicable wave of emotion.

“I am no longer an emperor, nor your master…”

As I was about to say I was no longer his master, Cail’s expression noticeably darkened.

“Ah, what I mean is…! Now you don’t have to stay by my side doing such unrewarding work, you should live for yourself…”

“Living for you is living for myself.”

He cut off my rambling with a firm voice.

“Wasn’t it you who raised me to be your knight?”

“….”

“It was you who saved me from that mire, you who told me to take up the sword.”

“….”

Yes, I had said that. Asked if he wanted to learn swordsmanship. Told him to become my knight.

“Let me protect you.”

No. You didn’t learn swordsmanship to protect me. It was to kill me.

I brought you to my side because I needed you to kill me.

I didn’t save you for such noble and sacred reasons as you think.

So don’t look at me as if I’m your savior…

Words I couldn’t bring myself to say echoed silently in the back of my throat.

Seeing my lack of response, he spoke with a pleading, desperate voice.

“Let me stay by your side with a sword that protects you, not one that pierces you.”

“….”

“Please, don’t abandon me. Jella.”

“….”

I quietly looked at him, feeling somehow numb.

Ah, Cail…

You knew that too.

That I brought you to me for my death.

***

Only two days had passed since Niel declared Yuria as the emperor’s would-be assassin.

When Niel first issued the wanted order, the news surprisingly didn’t spread much among people.

The knights who should have captured Yuria refused the order, and the servants who witnessed Yuria fleeing while bleeding didn’t believe it either.

The press even firmly refused to publish Yuria’s wanted notice.

This was all because of that cursed power.

Enchantment.

For the five years since Jella’s death, Niel had worked tirelessly to restore the honor of Jella, who had been pointed at as a villain.

Wasn’t that why he ascended to the throne in the first place? To dedicate the empire to her once more.

But his efforts always ended in failure.

People believed, as if brainwashed, that Jella Shunaibel was the evil of this world and Yuria and the three men were good.

They even believed, like a religion, that there was a special love between the three men and Yuria, despite the men denying it several times.

‘Wait. Brainwashing…?’

Suddenly, Niel recalled that voice that seemed to brainwash him whenever he encountered Yuria.

‘Perhaps…’

That power still remains. Having reached that conclusion, he went to find Yupheon Arne. It was the first time the emperor had sought out that man first.

When he said that some strange, unknown power seemed to be brainwashing people, Yupheon indifferently replied, ‘I know.’

Enchantment was Arne’s intrinsic power from before he became the main god of this world.

Therefore, even though he had lost his divine status, that intrinsic power remained.

Pope Yupheon had torn out the heart of the god he served and killed him, but he couldn’t annihilate his soul.

The soul that lost its physical body was banished to earth and would be recovering its power somewhere.

But there was no way to know where it was hiding. The only option was to wait for it to reveal itself and then completely annihilate its soul.

Anyway, because of that enchantment that hadn’t been completely eradicated, people still revered and protected Yuria.

The knights who disobeyed the imperial order and released her insisted that Lady Yuria couldn’t have done such a thing and pleaded that they would take the punishment instead. Even the advisors begged him to reconsider, saying there must be some misunderstanding.

But yesterday, for a moment, that inexplicable brainwashing power wavered.

Niel realized this some time after Jella visited in the morning.

Newspapers began to publish the fact that Yuria had attempted to assassinate the emperor as if it were breaking news, and reports came in from various places of sightings of women resembling Yuria.

Some even tried to dig into Yuria’s past.

It was a strange change, unlike the people who had until now regarded Yuria as absolute good and worshipped her.

Niel was somewhat perplexed by this fact but didn’t miss the opportunity and moved immediately.

He gradually leaked information that the infamy attached to the tyrant Jella Shunaibel had been distorted, shaking public opinion that hadn’t budged for five years.

And he completely wiped out the religious group that had taken Yuria away on the grounds of disturbing the world and deceiving the empire’s citizens.

Since merely delegating tasks to subordinates wasn’t perfect, he postponed all other state affairs and devoted himself directly to the matter.

He didn’t have a moment’s rest due to the obsession that the unknown brainwashing power might enchant people again at any time.

While he was busy working, Tenes came to see him.

Niel stopped what he was doing and let Tenes in.