Do Not Treat Your Wife Like a Dog

Larinne Ontuevi.

The soon-to-be empress and fiancée of Emperor Seidon Varbel.

She is the beloved only daughter of a formerly glorious founding family from a long-since fallen kingdom, a lineage erased from the pages of history.

The road that led her here was a cruel one.

Caught up in the chaos of war, she lost her parents at a young age. Although she had once enjoyed the privileges of noble birth, she was dragged to a foreign land and treated like a lowly creature overnight.

Yet none of it managed to break Larinne.

Like her mother, whose resolve only grew stronger whenever she had something precious to protect, Larinne possessed the same unyielding spirit.

As long as she had someone to protect, she would not collapse easily, even if the ground beneath her feet was h*ll.

She endured the insults of her fiancé.

She endured the whispers and malicious gossip of those who looked down on her.

She endured it all.

But the countless trials she faced never forced her to kneel. Instead, they hardened her, shaping her into someone even stronger.

And yet, there was one thing that truly tormented her: The moment she failed to protect what she held dear.

Whenever that happened, the overwhelming sense of loss pushed her to the brink.

***

The path behind the imperial palace eventually led to an abandoned temple.

When the imperial authority changed hands, the god worshipped by the previous emperor was rejected.

The walls were cracked.

Cobwebs clung to every corner.

Scorpions scuttled across the floor and desert rats nested in the shadows.

Despite its proximity to the palace, no one had visited the temple for years. It had long since fallen into ruin and was now nothing more than a forgotten relic of the past.

And yet, to Larinne, it was a place of quiet refuge.

If someone were to ask her why she came to such a desolate place, one that looked as though it might collapse at any moment, she would simply say that it was because of those buried there.

Crouching beside a cluster of small earthen graves, Larinne scooped up a handful of soil from the ground.

Her companion, the maid Chardi, watched her and let out a soft sigh, gently scolding her.

“Didn’t I tell you it would be better if I lived as though I were already dead? Every time you quarrel with His Majesty, this kind of disaster follows. You know that.”

Chardi, the only maid assigned to Larinne, was a descendant of the red-haired Aydin tribe. As a member of a persecuted minority, she understood the sorrow of oppressed people all too well.

“Please… gather your strength.”

The corners of Larinne’s pale lips trembled faintly. Normally, if only to avoid causing worry, she would have forced a reassuring smile. But today, she simply did not have the strength.

Only twenty-five members of Pellet remained. She could not lose any more of them.

‘I suppose I must give up now. Waiting for you with that foolish hope…’

The time had finally come to accept the death of her first love—the truth she had stubbornly refused to acknowledge deep within her heart.

Five years of waiting were enough.

Now she had to let go of that lingering attachment and focus only on reality.

Yes.

Five years had been enough.

Larinne placed a single cornflower—symbolizing peace and rebirth—on the grave of Jeba, a Pellet intelligence agent whose body had never even been properly recovered.

‘Please… do not forgive me.’

Closing her eyes, she whispered the words softly.

The early summer wind that rushed against her chest felt strangely cold.

“……”

“You’ve endured so well all this time. Why did you do that? If you had simply obeyed His Majesty without resistance, he would have had no reason to take out his anger like this.”

“You’re wrong, Chardi.”

Larinne slowly lifted the gaze she had been keeping lowered.

‘The more you endure, the more they push. It never lessens.’

Around the freshly made mound of earth stretched countless graves without tombstones.

All of them belonged to innocent Lemen people who had been sacrificed to the emperor’s senseless whims.

Whenever such tragedies occurred, Larinne had begun creating graves one by one to mourn them.

Now there were too many to count.

‘You always destroy the things I love like this.’

Her blue eyes swept across the endless graves of her fallen companions before stopping on a small stone slab.

On it was a crookedly carved name.

…Libehi.

A name that tore at her heart no matter how many times she called it.

Five years had already passed since she built his grave, yet his voice still echoed vividly in her ears.

“Once I finish this mission in Zhakan and return, I’ll come for you. Larinne—let’s run away together.”

Libehi had left with the promise that he would make Larinne the happiest woman in the world.

But he never returned.

They said even his body could not be recovered. Only a single notice of death had arrived, announcing their farewell.

Ripples stirred in the blue eyes that had long resembled a still lake.

“I can’t endure this anymore.”

“Please, just hold on a little longer. Your coming-of-age ceremony is only two months away. Once you become the Empress, His Majesty will surely regret everything he has done and become a kind husband to you.”

Regret?

Would he really?

The unbearable thirst rose within her once more, and her voice cracked weakly.

For some people, becoming Empress might have been the greatest honor they had dreamed of all their lives.

But to Larinne, it was nothing more than a chain.

“Empress… I have never once wished for something like that.”

“Please don’t say such things. I’m frightened His Majesty might hear you.”

Startled, Chardi lowered her voice in alarm.

‘Ah, God…’

‘I beg you—please deliver me from this h*ll.’

She prayed desperately in her heart.

If it were possible, she would rather lie buried in the earth in place of the Lemen people who had been sacrificed.

She wanted to run far away—somewhere beyond the reach of her fiancé’s hands and eyes.

If only she could.

If there were someone who could pull her out of this h*ll, she would gladly sell even her soul to them.

“Ah… what should we do now?”

“……”

“The Zhakan troops who returned after subjugating monsters at the border are scheduled to receive treatment at the Grand Temple this afternoon.”

“There are countless priests at the Grand Temple who can use divine power. What is the problem?”

Of course, not all of them possessed divine power as strong as Larinne’s, but it would not cause serious trouble if she did not help.

Simple purification was originally the responsibility of the Grand Temple’s priests anyway.

‘You actually disliked it whenever I used divine power for people of low status.’

Perhaps because Larinne looked so absent-minded, Chardi glanced at her carefully before adding,

“There’s also a Lemen soldier assigned to the Zhakan unit, isn’t there? He returned after earning merit, yet then an imperial order like this was issued… You know how it is—if the curse of a monster isn’t purified in time, the pain only grows worse…”

“I’ll go.”

Larinne rose from her seat. Her blue eyes were as cold as winter frost.

“Excuse me?”

Realizing too late that she had said the wrong thing, Chardi hurriedly stepped in front of her.

“B-but Lady Larinne! His Majesty ordered that divine power must not be used on anyone of Lemen origin for the time being.”

“Yes. I know.”

That was precisely why she was going.

The face of someone she longed for flickered through her mind.

Before long, the anniversary of his death would arrive.

That thought alone set Larinne’s feet in motion.

“I believed that if I simply endured, I could protect my people.

That’s why I kept enduring all this time.

But it seems that wasn’t the answer.”

“Lady Larinne…”

“Chardi. You were wrong. Enduring alone does not protect anyone.”

…To protect them, one must fight.

The lives of her companions rested in her hands.

Her only goal was to escape this h*ll with them.

“Y-you mustn’t do this, Lady Larinne!”

Chardi called out urgently as Larinne walked past her, but Larinne did not stop.

She could no longer stand by and watch her companions become sacrifices.

She would face it head-on.

Even if it meant her own body would break.

***

A shadow marked by dried tear stains reached the entrance of the Grand Temple.

It was a threshold she often crossed, yet today it felt strangely unfamiliar.

“Lady Larinne, you were told not to come anywhere near the Grand Temple today.”

The gatekeeper, Kali Ergo, blocked her path with a frown.

For a moment, it made her feel like someone who had come here to do something wrong.

‘Well… that isn’t entirely incorrect. I did come to defy the emperor’s order.’

Larinne moved her lips, raw from biting them too often.

“I heard there is a Zhakan soldier of Lemen origin who requires treatment with divine power.”

“My apologies, but you must turn back. I cannot open the gate for you.”

“Kali, please. I truly beg you. I don’t want to hold another funeral today.”

“I understand how you feel. But all the more reason you should know how His Majesty will react.”

“The anniversary of that child’s death is coming soon.”

The fifth anniversary of Libehi’s death was approaching.

This alone was enough to silence Kali.

Although he was not Lemen, he had quietly watched over Larinne and Libehi like a protective older brother when they were children.

Like them, he belonged to a minority tribe that had become a vassal state of the Eastern Empire.

Above all, he understood what it meant to lose someone precious.

“There’s only William left among the Lemen in Zhakan now. How could I turn my back on him?”

Yes.

She could never do that to William.

He had been Libehi’s closest comrade—the one who personally recovered his belongings and delivered the notice of his death.

“…You have ten minutes. No more than that.”

“Thank you, Kali. I won’t forget this kindness.”

At last, the rigid spear that had been blocking her path was lowered.

Larinne quickly crossed the threshold and headed straight for the main building.

The faster her footsteps carried her across the corridor, the closer she came to the sound of raised voices.

It seemed the hot-tempered William had already started arguing with one of the priests.

Just as Larinne reached the entrance to the main hall and pushed the door open—

a man stepped forward and blocked her way.

He was one of the attendants who served Seidon.

“Lady Larinne, His Majesty requests your presence.”

“…Isn’t His Majesty currently in a meeting with envoys from a foreign kingdom?”

“You have also been ordered to attend that meeting.”

He truly was a man who did whatever he pleased.

Her fiancé, Seidon, wanted Larinne to come when summoned and leave when dismissed. Yet the more he tried to control her, the stronger her resolve became.

To her fiancé, her companions were lives worth less than flies buzzing in some filthy alley. But to her, every life was precious.

As long as she still possessed even a little strength to protect them, she wished to do so.

“I will treat my people first, and then I will come.”

“If you disobey, His Majesty has also ordered that everything touched by Lady Larinne’s hands or gaze be dealt with accordingly.”

Of course.

He would resort to this again.

It was a threat—using the incident from this morning as leverage.

A crack finally appeared in Larinne’s previously composed expression.

“It would be better for both of us if you quietly comply.”

***

The attendant led her out of the main building and towards the annexe.

Although she was unwelcome, Larinne followed without protest, thinking of those she needed to protect.

The meeting was taking place discreetly in the annexe of the Grand Temple.

Beneath the open, arched ceiling were only two men: Seidon and another man wearing an unfamiliar military uniform.

‘That must be the envoy from the Kingdom of Lirmen.’

Larinne’s gaze lingered on the man’s back as he stood studying the cacti in the garden.

Perhaps it was because of his strong build. Or perhaps because of his dark black hair—rare in the Eastern Empire… and reminiscent of him.

For some reason, he drew her eyes.

“You’re here.”

Noticing Larinne, Seidon crooked his finger.

A command for her to come closer.

Strangely, she found herself thinking that, by his usual standards, this was almost a gentlemanly summons.

She walked past the envoy from Lemen, who still had his back turned, and approached Seidon.

“You called for—”

“Ugh—”

Without warning, Seidon seized her chin in a brutal grip and lowered his voice into a growl.

He had lowered it only enough so that Larinne alone could hear.

“The envoy from the Kingdom of Lirmen requested that Ontuevi—you—be summoned.”

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

“I cannot tell whether you are too foolish to understand, or merely pretending to be. So I will ask you directly. Since when have you been colluding with the Kingdom of Lirmen?”

Fury burned in his deep teal eyes.

“That is a baseless accusation. I swear I know nothing about it.”

“You knew perfectly well that I was investing effort in this matter, yet you chose to ignore it. Was that not your way of mocking me?”

“Let go of me.”

The strength of his grip tightened.

It tightened and tightened until Larinne could barely endure the pain—

until a low, steady voice broke the tension between them.

“Please do not press her so harshly.

It simply means Lady Larinne’s reputation has reached even the Kingdom of Lirmen.”

Broad shoulders slowly turned.

The faint clatter of armor plates shifting against one another oddly sharpened Larinne’s senses.

Then their eyes met.