Three days later.

“That must have hurt.”

Angell spoke with concern as he treated my hand that had been scalded by the splashing tea.

“Did you find what you lost?”

The priest didn’t leave after finishing the treatment but asked me this question.

I stared blankly at the bedroom door.

“Yes.”

She’ll probably come in soon, saying she’s here to help with my bedtime preparations.

Could the fact that Debora returned to this eerie castle to help arrange my bed really make me feel this good?

Even I couldn’t understand myself, wondering if this too was a remnant left behind by Diana.

Angell smiled gently at my answer, saying it was fortunate. However, that discovery wasn’t particularly fortunate for me.

“But I regret it now.”

“……Regret?”

“Yes. In the morning I was debating whether to go look for it, but now I think its mere absence might make me angry.”

Things that didn’t bother me before are starting to irritate me one by one.

When Debora said she would stay with me—when she resolved to die with me—I recalled how she always came to me first thing in the morning with meals and washing water, and how she remained steadfastly by my side even among the priests who forced me to eat for my medication.

Debora Barochel followed me like a shadow wherever I went, staying by my side every moment when everyone else had abandoned me.

The moment I realized this, I felt that if the door opened in the morning and it wasn’t Debora, or if I didn’t see her red hair among the people passing by, I would become extremely uncomfortable.

“It’s troublesome.”

“Is it?”

The priest caught my quiet murmur and met my eyes.

“I think it’s a good thing.”

I frowned at the priest who smiled at me as if looking at a child.

“How can it be good? I’ve just gained another inconvenience.”

“That discomfort will keep you alive.”

The priest spoke with serenity.

“The things you love will keep you alive that way.”

/”I’d still like you to dance.”/

Then, as if overlapping with the priest’s words, someone else’s voice echoed.

The nightmare is coming again tonight.

My expression involuntarily twisted at this persistent visitation, and I found my hand pinching and twisting my thigh.

“……Your Majesty.”

The priest, who had been carefully observing my actions, gently wrapped his hand around mine to stop what I was doing.

“……May I?”

Then, with a hardened expression, he slowly lifted the thin chemise covering me.

The hidden wounds I had been concealing were exposed, suddenly stinging as they met the air.

The priest was speechless when he saw the numerous wounds on my thigh.

“Why……”

I just stared at the priest without answering.

His actions were starting to bother me too.

Would Angell Clarvin also become an annoying presence like Debora Barochel, destined for a tragic end by my side?

Without my answer, the priest rose from his seat and began searching the room.

After a while of frantically searching, he discovered a piece of glass hidden under the bedside table and carefully picked it up.

I could see the priest’s bewildered expression as he held the glass shard, demanding an explanation.

“……I have nightmares every night.”

“……”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

New nightmares come.

Diana is crying. She has come as a pale ghost, looking at me with resentful eyes. I don’t understand why she resents me and am just looking around in confusion when I feel something hot on my legs.

Looking down to see the source of the heat, I find Debora Barochel there.

Debora Barochel, covered in blood more vivid than her hair, is growing cold.

Debora is dying on my legs, and Diana wails at me.

/”You ruined everything.”/

I’m shocked to see Debora’s blood on my hands, and I look at Diana, who glares at me murderously, through the gaps between my fingers.

Then suddenly, the scene changes, and I find myself sitting on a stage, clutching my blood-soaked legs, vaguely staring at the silent audience.

The gazes that reproach me for failing to continue the performance sting my skin, and then someone points at me and shouts.

/”……You ruined everything.”/

/”Please disappear from my sight!”/

In that spotlight stands a pale woman.

‘Mother……’

The image of a fallen swan, frozen at a young age similar to mine just before death.

Since the first nightmare, I’ve avoided sleep to escape these disturbing dreams.

When drowsiness came, I stabbed my thigh with a glass shard wrapped in cloth that I had hidden.

If I made it through the night safely, Debora would come in to wash my body and ask about the previous night.

That made me even more afraid.

“……You’re wrong.”

Looking at the wounds on my thigh, I recalled the nightmare I had been trying to avoid.

Then I said to the priest:

Do you know why this place is such a mess? Do you know that your fate will be no different from this broken place?

He is here on behalf of the temple, hoping the Empress is not a heretic and trying to prove it.

In the revised manuscript, the priest is deeply shocked by the Empress who takes her own life, returns to secular life, suffers endless nightmares, and eventually commits s*icide.

What about in my manuscript? The priest is executed for helping the Empress k*ll the Emperor.

And the Empress? She brings a bloodbath to the Empire through internal strife, eventually claims everything in this land, but meets her death at the hands of a young king from a southern country who arrives during the chaos.

A sad ending no matter where you go.

The reason this novel cannot end happily is because I wrote it, and what happens in it is my doing.

No matter how much appearances and situations change, I don’t change.

A monster is a monster wherever it goes and causes pain to those around it.

When the priest eventually learns this fact, what disappointment will he show me?

“You said that people who seek heretical power have no emotions.”

“……”

“Is that really true? ……Have you ever met one? A demon, I mean.”

Everyone who has been by my side has met a tragic end.

So this priest who embraces me will also face a cruel fate because of me.

Sadly, he was a priest who had encountered a cruel god.

※※※

“Wow, look at this. What time is it now?”

The deacons who had been suddenly summoned to the West Palace in the afternoon due to the commotion finally returned home late at night.

Levin, one of the deacons called to treat the mistress, shook his head upon discovering Angell Clarvin roaming the West Palace at this late hour.

“It’s just past… midnight.”

Angell casually glanced at the clock tower in the garden beyond the corridor and answered, while Levin glared at him with narrowed eyes, remembering that Angell had been absent when the West Palace was busy.

“This is no time for a high priest to be wandering about. ……Where have you been?”

“Sometimes I have trouble sleeping too, you know.”

Angell answered Levin’s pointed question in a tired, subdued voice.

Surprised by his unusually cold attitude, Levin hesitated and stopped in his tracks.

“The palace atmosphere isn’t good, Father. I’m worried. Worried that innocent priests like you might get caught up in baseless rumors…”

If the Empress has truly been possessed by a heretical demon.

Levin’s dark expression was clearly visible under the chandeliers that were unusually lit at midnight in the castle.

“You still believe Her Majesty the Empress is innocent, don’t you?”

No matter how much priests are supposed to shower impartial affection on everyone, he must have heard about what happened today.

Levin’s expression darkened further at Angell’s apparent unwillingness to take action against the Empress.

“It might have been just an accident.”

“……But I saw it with my own eyes. Lady Atrens’s wound was not at all minor, Father. As you’ll see when the report comes in, the witnesses’ testimonies are also clear.”

“Did they see it?”

“……Pardon?”

“Did they say they saw it directly? If so, there’s an inconsistency in that statement. From what I heard from Miss Barochel, only Her Majesty and Lady Atrens were in that room. Sir Londman said the same thing.”

Levin was displeased with Angell’s defense of the Empress, but it was clear that the witnesses hadn’t directly observed the situation, so he couldn’t argue further.

If the Empress is a heretic, the most troubled person would be High Priest Angell Clarvin, yet why does he continue to shield her like this?

“……Father.”

As Angell stared into space with a complicated expression, the young man’s voice, tinged with disapproval, reached his ears.

“Please make one thing clear. Are you truly judging according to the Holy Spirit’s will, as you’ve always shown us in the past?”

“I am, but……”

“Are you absolutely certain there isn’t even the slightest personal interest involved?”

Levin Sabiel was a seventeen-year-old young deacon, but he had walked the apostolic path early and experienced many things alongside Angell. Thus, he was quite mature for his age and quick-witted.

Since it was Angell Clarvin who had taken him in when he was stealing from the belongings of the dead in the slums, Angell couldn’t readily answer the young deacon’s sharp observation.

“……Father Sabiel, could you help me? I need to apply wound ointment, but we’ve used it all treating Lady Atrens.”

“……Right now? You want me to make it at this hour?”

Instead, he decided to share the workload.

Angell walked through the now-quiet corridors of the East Palace, dragging along Levin, who complained with a dissatisfied look.

※※※

In front of the cauldron where medicinal herbs were boiling, Angell burst into laughter as he watched Levin nodding off. He laid him on the sofa and covered him with a blanket.

In the dark dawn, Angell stared out at the quiet scenery outside the window, finding it difficult to erase the image of the Empress that kept coming to mind.

/”I have nightmares.”/

/”I couldn’t sleep.”/

On the ship with rolling waves, hiding from the eyes of the Emperor’s dogs, he guarded her nights.

Holding the struggling Diana firmly in his arms, he had wished that the long night would pass even more slowly to meet the morning.

Even knowing that moment was a time of utmost pain for her, he had wished for time to flow sluggishly.

And now he was suspecting her of being possessed by a demon. Even if it was just a grain of suspicion, it was definitely suspicion. He was in a position where he could both heal and punish her, which meant his existence could potentially be poison to her.

Was it right to just let time pass while harboring such deceit?

Even at this moment, might she be spending another long night in agony?

Though the glass shard was here, if the root cause wasn’t addressed, anything around her could become a weapon.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he moved.

“……”

On the way to the Empress’s room, he looked up at the eerie spire of the East Palace where the Empress resided, visible through the corridor window.

Once a castle of a small country, then used as a fortress, and now widely used as a place of confinement for the imperial mothers—a place like a massive coffin.

What had made her fate so harsh?

When he hurriedly reached the bedroom, Diana was, perhaps predictably, not there.

After exhaling a frustrated sigh while looking at the empty bedroom, Angell quickly headed outside.

Since he had searched for her like this once before, he wasn’t particularly surprised this time.

Rustle—

As he was aimlessly wandering through the forest surrounding the East Palace, he sensed someone’s presence nearby.

He had already turned his steps in the direction of the sound, and soon arrived at a place where he encountered the same scene as that day.

“……Your Majesty.”

The Empress was there.

The beautiful Diana Veronique, unable to sleep, was slowly moving her body under the moonlight in an unknown dance.

The Empress’s movements, as she stretched her arms as if to soar into the distance while standing firmly on the ground in her chemise, were strangely ethereal.

Unaware that her escapade had been discovered, she seemed absorbed in her own movements, constantly examining her straight, extended leg.

Watching her, Angell suddenly had such a thought.

Even in madness, she was a person who had gone mad beautifully.

※※※

Everything I loved shatters and crumbles.

Though the content of the nightmares changed, that one thing remained constant.

“His Majesty the Emperor summons you.”

When morning came, the flow of roles proceeded diligently.

I couldn’t eat breakfast because of the guards who came menacingly to drag me out of this castle.

Debora prepared adornments instead of a meal, and I stood on the dais, blankly watching the layers of fabric and ornaments piling up on my body.

Debora usually put effort into my appearance, but today she finished with a modest look.

However, no matter how pitifully they tried to dress me, they wouldn’t recognize my innocence.

That was my karma.

“I heard Lady Atrens has a large burn mark on her leg.”

“……Such a terrible thing to do.”

“How could such a kind person do something so offensive? She lives quietly, hidden in the West Palace.”

Upon arriving at the main palace, I saw the wives of council members who had come to discuss the matter gathered in groups in the corridor.

They were busy whispering and glancing curiously at the Empress who had appeared after a long time.

“Your Majesty.”

One of them blocked my path with a disgruntled expression.

Countess Satin, the Emperor’s wet nurse and a woman with deep ties to the imperial family.

She had risen to the rank of countess by raising the current Emperor more attentively than his own mother. This implied that the Emperor was weak to personal affection and relationships.

The fact that a mere wet nurse could have the authority to block the Empress’s path showed how disorderly this place had become.

“She is the woman who managed this place while Your Majesty was absent. From orphanages and poorhouses to wanderers in the marketplace, she looked after and supported them all.”

“Move aside.”

“Your Majesty. How can you be so cold? Really……”

“I said, move aside.”

Only after my fierce gaze turned toward her did Satin close her mouth.

She was in charge of Minerva’s education by the Emperor’s order, and it was Satin who had suggested those achievements for Minerva to build a good reputation.

Satin’s material and moral support for Minerva Atrens was not only due to the Emperor’s orders but also because she saw it as a lifeline to bring honor to her countess title, which had a short history and struggled to assert itself among the nobility.

Though Satin closed her mouth, she still stood blocking my path with a chilly expression.

Tilting my head askew, I asked her:

“What’s the source of the funds she used for charity?”

“Charity is more about the intention behind it than the amount—”

“The imperial family, right? Who paid off the debts of the imperial family that was declining due to extravagance in the previous generation? The Veronique ducal family. My family.”

“……If you still want to use that as a weapon, Your Majesty, the debt from that time is nothing compared to your illness and the hardships the imperial family has endured—”

“As you say, the dowry from that time would have been more than enough to cover it. How much time has passed? Let me change the question then: what has been the main reason the imperial family has been able to maintain itself until now? Is it the mistress who is intoxicated with performative service that looks good, leaving the menial tasks to subordinates while just smiling prettily? Or is it me, who spent day and night worrying that the dowry would run out?”

Duke Veronique, who had been rumored to have sold his mentally ill daughter by tempting Empress Dowager Claudia with wealth, raised his daughter to be an excellent imperial worker by pushing her forward.

Diana worked tirelessly to protect the imperial family so as not to be rumored to have bought the position of Empress with money.

So the imperial family must have begun to falter as soon as she was gone.

“Now, tell me again, Countess Satin. Is all of this nothing?”

If Diana dies or disappears, the most likely candidate for the next Empress would be Minerva Atrens, who monopolizes the Emperor’s love.

So Satin was desperately trying to make Minerva the Empress for her own advancement, and everyone here was ready to discard the precarious Empress without hesitation.

But how long would that honor last? Once Diana Veronique dies and all the capable personnel are demoted, this place will soon collapse like the castle in the east.

“If you have nothing to say, get out of my way instead of being annoying.”

The harsh words echoing through the corridor caused the women to gasp in surprise.

They reacted this way because they remembered the loving and benevolent Empress before she lost her mind.

I was about to pass by Satin, who had frozen and could no longer speak, heading toward the council chamber with the guards when—

“You seem to be using High Priest Clarvin’s goodwill to maintain your position, but while he may try to protect a demon like you for now, he too will soon abandon you.”

What stopped me in my tracks was the unexpected mention of that familiar name.

“Why is the priest being brought up here?”

As I turned to look at Satin, she also turned to face me.

“I heard that after Your Majesty was isolated in the East Palace, the priests who recently visited here also went there.”

“What, are you now going to call everyone who dines with me a heretic too?”

“Until now, I thought they were just watching over you because you were ill and refusing exorcism, but seeing Your Majesty today, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Satin looked around at the frightened women nearby, then said with a sneer on her lips:

“What I’m saying is that if Your Majesty doesn’t want to be branded a heretic and if you’re not trying to use the reputation the high priest has built, you should have accepted the exorcism ritual, if only for his honor’s sake.”

The women behind Countess Satin began to whisper in agreement with her opinion.

‘A beauty captured by a demon.’

They spoke such words while despising me.

These people who didn’t know how hard I had tried to drive out that dove.

“Don’t worry. The high priest won’t make a decision that disappoints you.”

After firmly stating they shouldn’t worry needlessly, I continued on my way.

The guards’ surveillance was intense, and sharp gazes followed my every step, but my pace remained leisurely.

I walked this way because I knew how a demon’s end would play out.

I walked this way because I could overcome this ridiculous situation in my own way, as I always had.

Even while assuring myself it was nothing, that one statement weighed heavily on me and provoked me.

The high priest would not disappoint them.

Just as I had warned him, I planned to behead the Emperor in this place and bring about the ending of the broken novel.

He would have no choice but to declare me a demon.