“I’ll escort you back.”

“…Are you saying you’ll continue to wait?”

While refreshments were being prepared, Edgar said he would wait until the tea time ended, as the meeting was taking longer than expected. I knew it was for surveillance, but I didn’t mind his presence since it was better than being watched by others.

Edgar headed to the adjacent room with his attendants, while Debora prepared refreshments with the other women.

One slightly irritating thing was that all the women in this room, except for Debora, were visibly trying to avoid meeting my eyes as they moved about with the refreshments.

“Ah!”

CRASH!

No sooner had I thought this than one of the nervous women dropped the tray she was carrying onto the floor.

The guards and Edgar rushed into the room at the loud noise, only returning to their posts after confirming it was nothing serious.

“Oh my. I apologize on their behalf. My friends haven’t served someone like Your Majesty for quite some time.”

“No need for apologies.”

“…If it’s alright with you, may I dismiss my nervous friends before they cause further offense to Your Majesty?”

Minerva considerately accommodated them while packaging her request in kind words to avoid offending me.

Indeed, judging by their pale expressions, they would certainly ruin the taste of the tea.

Would it be wise to remain alone with this woman?

“One attendant should be sufficient. Debora.”

“Yes.”

Minerva readily accepted this arrangement, and as the accident was cleaned up, all the bustling women disappeared from the room.

Thus, only myself, Debora, and Minerva remained.

“Anyway, I’m so delighted to see you in such good health.”

“You say that despite knowing my return would jeopardize your position. How bold.”

“Well, you know how burdensome this position is. Last time, given the circumstances, I couldn’t properly greet you. I’m glad to have this opportunity now, at least.”

“…Were you always like this?”

“…Pardon?”

“Saying pretty things to gain someone’s favor.”

“If my actions appear to be currying Your Majesty’s favor… then I suppose I’ve succeeded.”

“……”

The conversation flowed surprisingly normally.

The words flowed, yes, but the subtly strained atmosphere, downcast gazes, and excessive silence created a sense of discomfort that heightened my senses.

“It’s wonderful to see you recovering.”

“That’s the third time you’ve said something similar.”

My sharp instincts reacted to the conversation that kept circling around the same point.

Minerva smiled with a kind face that seemed to question my meaning.

Was she waiting for something? All of Minerva Atrens’s behaviors felt strangely familiar.

“Is that so? I suppose I just want to celebrate Your Majesty’s recovery that much.”

“…What are you really trying to say?”

Minerva opened her previously smiling eyes and stared at me in response to my pointed question that contrasted with her polite greetings.

Within that peculiar gaze, I detected something and immediately turned to Debora beside me.

“The aroma is unpleasant. Bring different tea.”

“……”

Debora looked at me with ominous eyes.

If she left now, only Minerva and I would remain in this room.

As if anxious about this, she hesitated to answer despite rarely disobeying orders.

Which made it all the more necessary to send Debora away.

“Hurry.”

Reluctantly, Debora left at my command, and finally only Minerva and I remained in the room.

Only then did Minerva’s tightly drawn smile relax into something more natural.

“…I’ve been feeling terrible.”

With a strangely rigid expression, Minerva reached for the teapot on the table as she rotated her empty teacup.

“I tried to stay as quiet as possible to avoid causing trouble… but as you know, Theo and I… I’m sorry. Given the time His Majesty the Emperor and I have spent together…”

Despite Debora’s absence, Minerva continued to speak in circles, constantly fidgeting with the teapot.

“Doesn’t it exhaust you to live like that?”

“…Pardon?”

“You seem burdened by speaking indirectly.”

“…Your Majesty speaks as if you know exactly what I want.”

“I have no interest in the Emperor’s love.”

“The Emperor’s love, you say.”

Minerva echoed my words with a hardened expression, trailing off.

Then she lowered her head before returning with an icy expression I’d never seen before, and—

CRASH!

—threw the teapot to the floor.

“…All I want is for you to disappear from this place forever.”

The shattered teapot soaked Minerva’s dress, with hot steam rising from the wet fabric.

The heat must have been considerable, yet she maintained her smile, creating an eerie sight.

Only then did I realize I had greatly misunderstood this broken novel.

/”There’s no reason to fear false rumors.”/

Perhaps Debora was right.

The woman before me was not the kind, gentle beauty from the revised novel.

“I came to send you away. From the things Your Majesty considers worthless.”

She was another monster in this place, twisted like me.

“What’s happening?”

Hearing the commotion, Debora’s urgent voice came from outside the door.

She must have sensed this situation and couldn’t bring herself to leave the door.

Minerva’s delay was likely because she wanted Debora to move farther away.

If I had kept Debora in this room until the end, she would have been caught up in this situation with me.

The sense of déjà vu I felt while sharing tea.

Within Minerva Atrens’s strange gaze, I felt an odd kinship.

I rose from my seat and slowly approached the door. Then I clicked the lock shut.

I continued walking in another direction, methodically locking all the doors in the room.

“…This will only make things worse.”

Minerva, who had been calmly watching the situation from the sofa, observed me with a malicious smile.

After all the doors were locked and the environment was properly set to conclude this conversation, I turned back with a satisfied expression.

“Your Majesty!”

Soon after, bang, bang! The doors began to shake as people pounded on them. It was the guards.

“Don’t do this, Your Majesty!”

“What should we do…!”

Edgar’s voice and the worried screams of the women who had left occasionally mixed in.

Throughout all this, Minerva savored the situation calmly, as if waiting for everything to return to its proper place.

I noticed the hem of her yellow dress soaking in the still-steaming hot tea.

She seemed to be enjoying the tea even more now, almost appearing pleased.

Looking at Minerva, I also smiled.

“Will that be enough?”

“…Pardon?”

“I asked if that will be enough.”

Turning away from the rattling doors, I walked back to the devastated table.

The elegant tea time I had expected was over.

The increasingly interesting situation filled me with thrilling excitement.

“If you want everyone to think I’m insane—”

I picked up a knife from the table and pointed it directly at her olive-green eyes.

Minerva flinched at the approaching blade, losing her composure.

“Shouldn’t I do something like this?”

Diana Veronique’s face, wearing a sinister smile, reflected in Minerva’s clear olive-green eyes.

As I examined the colors mixed in her eyes, illuminated by the light on the blade, the fair beauty’s face grew increasingly pale.

“If I had attacked you out of anger… I don’t think I would have stopped with just that.”

I twisted the knife blade around, considering which direction to stab.

Even during this, the woman showed no fear and maintained her aggressive stance.

As if she was certain Diana Veronique would never do such a thing.

“The audience outside seems quite curious about what’s happening in here. We shouldn’t disappoint them.”

“……You look perfect for someone who should be lamenting their abandoned state.”

“You seem to be greatly mistaken.”

I lowered the knife and drew a straight line across Minerva’s collarbone.

“Kyaa!! Mmph!!”

I immediately grabbed the chin of the screaming Minerva. Then I told her clearly while maintaining eye contact:

“I don’t think anyone has abandoned me. No one could have abandoned me because no one ever possessed me, right?”

Minerva, staring at the blood flowing down her collarbone with disbelieving eyes, shouted with a horribly distorted face, as if worried about the scar that would remain on her fair skin.

“…Why didn’t you just beg?! So you could at least keep that miserable life of yours. Theo won’t let this incident slide.”

What is there to beg for?

Her audacity made this even more entertaining.

“Shall I tell you what you’ve just done?”

“……”

“When I want something, I must have it no matter what. …I was just thinking how boring this place was, but this is fortunate. You’ve made things interesting for me.”

When I considered that this insolent woman before me desired all these things I had previously thought uninteresting, my perspective changed completely.

Sparkling, radiant, everything everyone desires. Living in this splendid room, she seems to think it all belongs to her, but everything here is temporary, and the woman before me is merely my replacement who will revert to just another mistress when I return.

Even that authority exists only because of documents signed under the coercion of love.

What a shame. The easily manipulated Diana Veronique is already gone, and unfortunately, it’s me, a demon, who has taken possession of this body.

“Let’s play a game. We’ll see whether you or I will be the one to disappear from this place forever.”

“…Just admit it already! No one wants a madwoman like you in that position!”

Minerva, who had been examining her collarbone wound reflected in the table glass, shouted through gritted teeth with bloodshot eyes.

“Then this incident should confirm it. Will His Majesty the Emperor dare to behead me for the sake of his beloved? …But you know, from what I understand, this isn’t the first time you and I have been in such a situation. Whether it’s true or not, such rumors must have been widespread before. …So why is my head still intact?”

He cannot k*ll me.

At least as long as I hold the position of Empress, he cannot k*ll me.

So he spreads rumors about my insanity and keeps me alive, even if it means confining me in this palace, despite finding me repulsive as I cling to him.

“…Theo is a kind… person…”

“Kind.”

I mocked that foolish answer.

“How sad. You’ll spend your entire life clinging to that kindness.”

Minerva was speechless.

She seemed well aware that as long as the Empress’s position remained filled, she would forever live under my shadow, desperately clinging to what she desired until the Emperor’s interest and affection waned, at which point she would be discarded.

“I hope your kind Emperor will finally behead me this time.”

I offered my encouragement to Minerva, who stared at me blankly, at a loss for words.

She frowned as she stared at me, wearing Diana Veronique’s shell.

Once again, silence fell between us, and bang! The commotion outside began to intrude again.

“Lady Atrens! Are you alright?”

At this rate, the locks I had set would soon break.

Bang, bang! The impacts on the door grew faster and louder.

Watching me approach to open the door myself, Minerva Atrens asked in a disbelieving voice:

“……What are you?”

“Me?”

Bang.

“A madwoman.”

Click.

As the door opened, the guards who had been pounding on it tumbled in awkwardly.

The agitated guards couldn’t hide their confusion as they began surveying the surroundings.

“What have you done?! Your Majesty!!”

“…That damned ‘Your Majesty, Your Majesty.'”

They diligently use that title despite having no intention of giving me the treatment I deserve.

The knight who rushed into the room quickly supported Minerva and shot me a fierce glare.

He looked at me as if he had expected this, as though he were looking at a monster.

Knights gathered around. Edgar was among them.

“……Why did you do this?”

Didn’t you promise, he seemed to ask.

Why did you do such a thing? Edgar’s gaze questioned and reproached me as he failed to understand.

I slowly looked around, starting with his gaze.

Contemptuous gazes that viewed me as a villain.

These were sickeningly familiar gazes.

Edgar supported Minerva, and I asked him as he sighed with a look of betrayal:

“Well. I wonder why I did it.”

A twisted laugh burst out involuntarily.

Anyway, in this place, I’m the demon tormenting that pitiful woman.

Since she’s set up such an interesting game, I should play along.

Minerva, whose eyes met mine, looked at me with terrified eyes.

She’s a woman of remarkable talent.

“See you again.”

When I bid farewell to Minerva as she left the room supported by others, everyone looked at me as if I were dreadful, but I didn’t care.

I had no intention of explaining myself to those who doubted me.

I couldn’t contain my excitement as I watched the departing figure of Minerva Atrens, another monster in this place.

I felt a thrilling sensation at the thought of all the interesting things that Director An would hate happening here.

※※※

The once-neat tea table was in disarray, and I couldn’t help but smile as I imagined the people outside suffering over the deteriorating manuscript.

So I’m curious about the future of this novel that will continue to be endlessly revised.

What kind of damned events will ruin this novel next?

“…While preparing the refreshments, I found this.”

Debora pulled out a small vial from her bodice and showed it to me.

“It was buried under the tea leaves container, and I discovered and hid it while helping with the preparations. Had Your Majesty not come, a more terrible incident than what happened today would have spread throughout the palace with my name attached.”

The Empress’s favored maid attempting to harm the Emperor’s mistress who had shown her mercy.

Were they planning to stage an incident implicating both Debora and me, suggesting the Empress’s involvement?

“Let me tell you an interesting fact.”

Through this incident, I needed to find out. Are you really just a maid?

Why does this one person remain by my side when everyone else has left?

“They might be right. I might indeed be the demon they speak of.”

“If Your Majesty were a demon… the priests of Warmwell wouldn’t have simply stood by.”

A cold laugh escaped at Debora’s firm denial.

“Want to make a bet with me?”

“What…?”

“Even they will soon conclude that I am a demon.”

“I don’t need to. You are absolutely not a demon—”

“Why do you think I’m not?”

Debora’s words halted abruptly at my question.

“Why do you think I’m the Diana Veronique who spent all those years with you?”

“……”

“How can you be so certain? I’ve never given you such assurance.”

“Some things can be known without being seen. You are indeed the person I knew.”

“Really?”

Debora, who had been wiping the tea splashes from my dress hem, looked up with a resolute expression. How sad. Who turned this woman into such a fool?

Debora, who believed what she wanted to believe, was also weak like Diana, resembling her.

Someone who couldn’t let go of her precious mistress despite knowing the truth, ultimately destined for a tragic end.

“Then let’s do this.”

Meeting Debora’s gaze, I slowly lowered my head.

Despite her stoic personality, her inner softness made it difficult for her to let go of attachments. I hoped she would wake from this dream and come to her senses as soon as possible.

“If you’re truly Diana Veronique and unjustly end up on the execution platform, you’ll join me there.”

Debora’s hand, which had been unconsciously clutching my dress hem, suddenly went limp.

“What, you don’t like that idea?”

“……”

“If you can’t even do that much, you shouldn’t carelessly remain by my side.”

Wrinkled fabric and trembling gray eyes. The clock’s second hand began to cut through the silence surrounding us.

Tick, tick, tick.

How much time had passed?

“……”

Debora avoided my gaze.

“…Why did you do that? Making people misunderstand.”

I scoffed while indifferently looking at Debora’s bowed red head.

“……”

“It seems everyone else has found excuses to flee. Didn’t you have any? That’s fortunate. It looks like you’ve finally found an excuse now.”

No one wants to stay beside a deranged Empress. At least Minerva was right about that.

What good could come from staying with such a person? She’ll only get hurt.

I began to walk away.

As I took a few steps, I saw a mirror in the distance. The woman in the mirror stared back at me.

A magnificently adorned, thorny woman.

Perhaps the one who might have died with a gentle appearance, earning the longing of those around her, has become a wretched monster because of me, and now might not be loved even in death.

As I stood there, unable to tear my eyes away from the mirror image—

“…I will.”

An unexpected answer came back.

“…What?”

“If Your Majesty truly meets such a fate… though it’s unlikely. If that impossible event occurs, I will follow you that day.”

The matter-of-fact way she delivered these words made them even more unbelievable.

“…Are you insane? Is this some kind of sense of responsibility? Are you actually thinking of such a foolish thing?!”

How far does this maid want to go to prove herself?

Unable to hide my astonishment, I snapped at her, but Debora stared at me intently before breaking into a small laugh. Though embarrassed by this slip, she quickly covered her mouth, then looked at me affectionately with a smile.

“How could I possibly take responsibility for Your Majesty? It’s simply my choice.”

“……”

“Teaching Your Majesty, accepting life at Wendelloon, following you here—these were all my choices.”

Debora briefly looked around the splendid room, then turned back to me with a sigh and added:

“I simply wish to remain beside the person I want to be with.”

That dry statement produced a more pleasing melody than any kind words could. At that moment, a warm breeze blew through the open window, gently sweeping through our loosened hair.

Debora, who had somehow approached me, took my hands as I stood frozen like a statue and said:

“Besides, the Your Majesty I know isn’t someone who would meekly accept death.”

“The Your Majesty you know.”

But that person is no longer here.

No, she was never here to begin with, and the Diana Veronique you knew has also disappeared, having abandoned all of you and turned away from life.

“…Your chance is over. Don’t blame me if you regret it later.”

Nevertheless, an excitement incomparable to what I had felt earlier settled within me, making me feel elated.

It felt like something was filling an empty space inside me. My throat tightened, and I wanted to burst into tears, but it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.

What does it matter if I’m not Diana Veronique?

“You must take responsibility for those words.”

I’ve already taken her place.