Delia, awakened by the faint cries, realized that she was lying on the sofa in the office. And that the office was completely empty.

“Did you have a nightmare? Well, it would be strange if you didn’t. Are you alright?”

Why did it have to be this dream?

It was a nightmare. What would have happened if Kaiel had gone to see the Empress.

It was a scene she had written herself, so it was all the more vivid and detailed. So realistic it was disturbing.

It was just a dream, thankfully.

“Where’s Kaiel?”

“Oh my, His Grace left a while ago. Nothing happened, right? I was worried about you, Miss, so I waited outside all this time and only came in now. You should leave soon!”

It seemed the maid had been secretly watching Delia from a distance all this time. Kaiel’s aura must have been so intimidating that she couldn’t even approach, and only came running after he had been gone for a while.

The story of Kaiel crushing the statues and candelabra in the main palace had spread like wildfire throughout the imperial palace, fueled by fear.

As a result, the people in the annex where Kaiel resided had been on edge all day. They were so reluctant to go anywhere near the office that they kept putting off their work.

They had hoped that the situation would improve once Delia went to see him, but when she didn’t return even after several hours, the maids decided to step in.

However, Delia had no time to concern herself with their circumstances. Her face turned pale as a sheet when she heard the maid’s words.

“You said he left a while ago? Where to?!”

“Miss……! Quiet, quiet. I think he went towards the Empress’s Palace…… I’m not sure. Anyway, it’s alright now, so please leave quickly.”

Delia jumped off the bed in a hurry.

“Thank you for waking me up. I need to find Kaiel. Right now!”

“He wasn’t running away, was he? Miss!”

But the maid didn’t get a response. Delia had already dashed out of the office.

The Empress’s Palace.

Kaiel had gone to the Empress’s Palace.

Please, please, please!

Delia desperately hoped that Kaiel hadn’t met the Empress yet.

He wouldn’t kill the Empress just because Lady Rant was alive, but the dream she had just had made her feel uneasy. And come to think of it, hadn’t Kaiel been acting strangely all day?

‘Why did it have to be that dream……!’

She had changed the course of events by saving Lady Rant, so she believed that this would also change the course of Kaiel killing the Empress.

But stories always have a way of taking unexpected turns.

Even Delia herself, as the author, hadn’t she ended up in this situation after writing an ending that the readers hadn’t expected?

‘I can’t be too sure!’

A variable of a variable.

She hadn’t even considered the possibility of such a thing.

Suppressing the unease that was welling up inside her, Delia reached the entrance of the Empress’s Palace. Just as she was about to dash inside—

“You cannot enter.”

Several burly soldiers suddenly blocked her path. Delia, frustrated at being stopped in her tracks in such a hurry, ruffled her hair in annoyance.

“Move!”

“You cannot enter. These are His Grace’s orders. He said no one is to be allowed in.”

Delia felt like she was suffocating.

‘No, no, no, no.’

It was the same as the original story.

If this continued, then really…….

Delia’s face turned pale. In such a dire situation, she couldn’t afford to waste time trying to win over the soldiers with her usual tricks. She didn’t have the time, nor the mental capacity.

‘It’s no use arguing with them.’

Desperate, Delia decided to seek out the one person she could think of. The last voice she had heard, the one that promised to do anything she asked, echoed in her ears.

‘Niol……!’

Delia gasped for breath as she ran towards the Crown Prince’s Palace. But she soon found herself in despair once more.

“I apologize, but His Highness is not here at the moment. He went out for a walk a little while ago……”

The world seemed to darken before her eyes.

The small details that were eerily similar to the original story made Delia even more anxious.

‘A walk……!’

In the original story, at the very moment the Empress met her demise at Kaiel’s hands, Niol had been taking a walk around the palace grounds. The evening air had been pleasantly foggy, and the moon had been full, making it a perfect time for a stroll. And on that peaceful evening, Niol had lost his mother to his half-brother.

As the events of the original story flashed through her mind, Delia stopped in her tracks and caught her breath.

She couldn’t deny the sensations that were becoming increasingly vivid.

‘It’s the same. The air is balmy. The moon is full. It’s a beautiful evening.’

Normally, she would have enjoyed such pleasant weather, but Delia felt a shiver run down her spine. At this rate, the Empress might already be dead by Kaiel’s hand.

Delia ran back to the Empress’s Palace.

‘Kaiel wouldn’t have killed the Empress after I saved Lady Rant. He wouldn’t. The original story won’t repeat itself. Kaiel, Kaiel……!’

As she ran, the night air felt warmer than usual against her skin.

Delia stopped at the entrance of the Empress’s Palace, but instead of heading for the main hall, she slipped to the side.

It was better to find a new path than to try to force her way through the soldiers guarding the main entrance.

‘There must be a passageway that the servants use.’

However, after circling the palace grounds, she couldn’t find a suitable entrance. Back where she started, Delia’s eyes fell upon a particularly large and sturdy tree.

‘That’s it.’

* * *

A head of red hair suddenly popped out of a small window at the end of the hallway on the second floor of the Empress’s Palace. With a grunt, the figure awkwardly climbed out and dropped to the ground with a thud.

Muttering to herself that she might as well become a professional tree climber at this rate, Delia picked herself up from the ground.

Her whole body ached, and her feet felt like they were on fire. Her legs were stiff, probably from running all over the vast palace grounds.

But she didn’t have time to worry about such things. She had already wasted too much time just getting into the Empress’s Palace.

It was more than enough time for everything to have already transpired.

All that was left was to face the consequences.

She was afraid of what she might find when she opened the door to the Empress’s office, but what choice did she have? It was unavoidable.

‘For all I know, I might be worrying for nothing. So much has changed, it would be strange if things played out exactly like the original story, wouldn’t it?’

Dragging her disheveled clothes and body, Delia reached the Empress’s office and cautiously placed her trembling hand on the doorknob. As she took a deep breath and was about to pull the door open,

Thud.

The office door swung open before she could even exert any force. Delia came face to face with the person who had opened the door. If she hadn’t been moving slowly due to her nervousness, she would have slammed headfirst into the other person.

“Kaie…….”

But as Delia looked up, her words caught in her throat.

Thump.

Her heart plummeted to her stomach.

Red.

Dried, dark red bloodstains were splattered across Kaiel’s clothes.

“Ah……”

Her throat tightened, and she couldn’t speak.

Kaiel’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Delia.”

“……”

She couldn’t answer. Delia turned her head away and took a step back. She couldn’t bear to look at the blood.

‘I was too late.’

No matter how hard she tried, it seemed impossible to change the course of the original story.

‘I should have killed Kaiel myself.’

All her efforts—creating the antidote for Lady Rant, seeking out Empress Roena to warn her, ensuring the negotiations at the meeting were successful—had been for nothing.

Just like in the original story, Kaiel had killed the Empress, and he would go after the Emperor next. A war would break out, Ashlene would die, and Niol would meet his end at Kaiel’s hands.

It was over.

“Delia.”

A low voice called out to her, but Delia’s mind was blank, and she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

Kaiel studied her expression, then frowned as he noticed the red stains on his clothes. At least they were dark; if they had been light-colored, the shock would have been even greater for her.

Finally, Delia managed to force out a few words.

“Did you kill her?”

Kaiel’s expression hardened at the abrupt question.

“What are you talking about?”

“You found out who was behind it all, right? I was going to stay by your side because I thought you might be angry……. Have you already…… killed her?”

Kaiel’s eyes turned cold.

“Kill?”

Instead of answering, Kaiel took a step closer to Delia. Delia instinctively stepped back. Her heart pounded in her chest, seized by a primal fear.

This was strange.

She had personally washed the blood off his clothes before.

She had witnessed his ruthlessness firsthand, the way he could end a life with a single blow, the way he could massacre a group of people without hesitation.

So why was she feeling this inexplicable fear now?

One step closer he came, one step back she took.

After repeating this several times, Delia’s back hit the wall, and Kaiel finally stopped.

“You……”

As his outstretched hand gently touched her hair, she flinched, her body trembling slightly.

Kaiel’s brow furrowed.

“Are you…… afraid of me?”

Their eyes met in the air, filled with a mixture of emotions.