Because of this, he thought that even if Louise failed to escape from the palace, she wouldn’t be in danger during the rebellion….

But the new emperor was daring to use his beloved woman as a hostage to suppress the rebellion.

“Louise…. How did you end up loving such a man.”

Berus let out a deep sigh, hating the new emperor’s attitude for treating a woman carrying his child so carelessly.

In the end, he concluded to protect Louise.

“We’ll abandon the rebellion. Proceed as the new emperor’s side wants.”

“Your Highness, we need time to think of another way…!”

It had been long since he stopped caring about which part of the imperial palace they would capture as soon as dawn broke. He had to protect his lovely sister.

First Prince Berus and his brother, Second Prince Isel, did not bend their will despite the dissuasion of many nobles.

“Do you think that emperor will keep Louise alive before cutting off my and Isel’s heads? He absolutely won’t!”

Berus and Isel clenched their fists firmly.

“We must go to the imperial palace as soon as possible.”

* * *

The next morning, at the Araceli imperial palace.

Clang—!

Countless people fell to the blade of Rondimio’s sword.

A merciless hand without a moment’s hesitation. It wasn’t an act filled with emotion.

Even the former princes’ close aides, who had been sharpening their swords of revenge against Rondimio for a very long time, found it difficult to face him.

If they had been sharpening their swords of revenge, Rondimio was engulfed in madness, trying to exact payment from her brothers for being deceived by his beloved.

The momentum of the former princes’ knights was breaking in the face of the emperor’s surprisingly fierce spirit.

“Why aren’t the former princes showing themselves today of all days?”

I need to kill them.

With Louise gone, there was nothing holding him back.

When this was over, he would be hated by Louise and would have to work to be forgiven again. Then Louise would surely forgive him once more.

Even if you cannot forgive me, my Louise, you must pay the price for your deception.

Rondimio killed the former princes’ knights all night like an unbridled horse. Staining his hands with blood allowed him to momentarily forget his beloved’s deception.

Even Rondimio’s close aides were bewildered by the emperor’s madness-tinged appearance, the first such display since he had successfully rebelled and become emperor three years ago.

Marquis Tenul, who was suppressing the rebellion right beside the emperor, handed him a clean towel as he was covered in the blood of nameless people and began to speak.

“The former princes… we’re investigating some changes that occurred last night.”

“Find out quickly. I’ll finish suppressing the rebellion here and kill them. The empress is fine, isn’t she?”

“Yes. Marquis Est must be… taking good care of her.”

Marquis Tenul swallowed hard as he looked at the emperor. The emperor was standing in the imperial palace garden, where numerous corpses and wounded people lay strewn about, leisurely wiping blood dripping from his hair.

Marquis Tenul roughly knew about both what had happened to the former princes’ side last night and the empress’s situation.

But if he told the emperor, the emperor would surely abandon suppressing the rebellion and rush to the empress.

The empress who had tried to escape the palace yesterday would now be coming to the palace with Marquis Est.

That beautiful woman, whom he thought was just stupid, had threatened to bite her tongue and die if he didn’t comply.

Last night, when that news reached the former princes, some of the emperor’s close aides also learned of it, but they absolutely kept it from the emperor.

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Pardon…?”

“No need to find out about the former princes.”

At Rondimio’s chilling voice, Marquis Tenul turned his head back. There stood the two former princes who hadn’t been there just moments ago.

They seemed determined to die, entering the center of enemy territory without even a single knight to escort them.

With faces full of resentment and indignation, they pointed their swords at the emperor’s throat, but Rondimio, as if finding them ridiculous, adjusted his grip on his sword and instantly drove their swords into the dirt ground.

“How dare someone like you claim to love our Louise?”

But the two former princes’ momentum was different from before.

While Rondimio was trying to assess their change, the two picked up their swords from the ground and simultaneously grazed one of Rondimio’s arms.

Clang—. Clang—.

Ignoring his two arms now dripping with red blood from the sword cuts, the three men’s swords clashed and separated in mid-air several times.

Rondimio frowned as he observed the other knights surrounding the two former princes.

The former princes’ knights, who had started to retreat rapidly as if abandoning the rebellion, were creating confusion mixed with numerous corpses and wounded.

The two men’s eyes were filled with as much venom as his own, too intense to suggest they were merely buying time for their retreating knights to gather the still-twitching survivors.

Since the rebellion began, the two former princes had never directly confronted Rondimio. This was understandable, as they had only recently been released from the underground prison where he had abused them.

Clang—!

Nevertheless, facing two strong men who had trained in swordsmanship for a long time simultaneously was quite challenging, and Rondimio gritted his teeth as he confronted them.

“You don’t deserve to love her.”

Their continued words only fueled his overflowing madness.

Rondimio thought as he crossed swords with them again and again. How qualified are you to love Louise?

If he was too vile and sinful to love Louise, their circumstances were surely not much different.

“Why…? Am I not allowed to love Louise while you love her freely?”

‘Do you think you deserve to love Louise after whoring around disgustingly?’

That phrase he had heard from them in the underground prison long ago. It must have been quite a wound to his younger self, as he still remembered it.

Unlike other members of the imperial family, Louise’s two brothers preferred to torment Rondimio in more vicious ways than whipping.

Disappointing their expectations, Rondimio had never “whored around” and found Louise too precious to even think of touching her.

It was always Louise who first whispered love, kissed him, and gave him her first time.

“Remember. You ruined that child completely. You ruined that beautiful, pure child.”

Clang—!

At that moment, First Prince Berus’s sword broke in two and fell to the ground. Rondimio didn’t miss the opportunity and pointed his sword straight at Berus’s throat.

Crimson blood formed on the former prince’s spotlessly white neck. But no one’s expression changed.

“I can make Louise happier than you can!”

Despite being able to kill this man immediately, Rondimio hesitated. From the past, Louise’s two brothers had an indescribable awkwardness unlike her parents.

While Louise’s parents seemed to abuse her just as they did him, her two brothers appeared to genuinely love her.

Then you shouldn’t mind paying the price for Louise.

Long ago, even though the princes knew Louise brought delicious food, bandages, and ointments to Rondimio, who was imprisoned and abused in the underground dungeon,

they turned a blind eye because they didn’t want to reprimand her.

Rondimio himself had slapped his own cheeks and inflicted wounds with a sword to make it look like Louise had abused him, to prevent her parents from finding out.

‘The day Louise gets scolded by Their Majesties, you will never see her again.’

They were mere princes, what could they do? Though he thought it was a pathetic threat, it was the most frightening of the princes’ words.

“Kill me quickly. Don’t hesitate.”

First Prince Berus and Second Prince Isel, who showed no intention of counterattacking despite his brother having a sword at his throat, were urgent as if pressed for time.

The two, as if truly insane, brought their necks closer to the blood-stained blade and cursed Rondimio.

He had no desire to devote effort to anyone but Louise anyway. There was no need to cruelly slice their flesh thinly; if they just waited a little, he would have sent them off comfortably with a single stroke.

As his hesitation grew due to not understanding the reason for this dissonance—

“Rondimio!”

He heard an auditory hallucination.

Rondimio turned his head at that familiar and desperate voice.

It seemed that everyone in the ruined imperial palace front garden who had the strength to turn their eyes was looking at that beautiful woman who had been the cause of today’s rebellion and the rebellion three years ago.

Louise von Derl Araceli.

The woman who had been using the noblest surname in the Araceli Empire since birth, and even after her wedding when her surname should have changed, knelt before the emperor holding her swollen belly.

Yes, she knelt. Rondimio, who had been laughing bitterly, threw down his sword and embraced his beloved woman.

Even though it must be just an illusion, she seemed so vividly present before his eyes.

“I’m sorry, but I can only show you an ugly sight here today.”

“I was wrong. I… was wrong. Rondimio. Please don’t kill my brothers.”

His beloved woman, carrying his child, knelt on the cold dirt ground stained with the blood of countless people and begged even in this illusion.

Normally, he would have wiped away the tears flowing down her lovely white cheeks and said he would do as she wished, granting Louise’s request….

“Louise, don’t bewitch me.”

Rondimio gritted his teeth and pretended not to see the illusion.

Yes. Louise had deceived him, loving only her brothers no matter what. That was a clear fact.

“For the sake of our child… Rondimio…!”

Rondimio picked up the sword from the ground and, without a moment’s hesitation, pointed it at the former princes’ necks and swung it with all his might.

“You will receive the price for what you’ve done in the most cruel way.”

Though the princes’ last words and curse lingered in his ears for a long time, Rondimio didn’t care at all.

He just habitually covered the eyes of the illusory Louise and lifted her into his arms.

“Louise…?”

However, though Rondimio thought he had completely awakened from the illusion, the image of Louise in his arms remained.

As if proving that what unfolded before his eyes was reality, not an illusion.

Louise, who had been desperately trying to stop Rondimio by grabbing his clothes, slowly collapsed into his arms while holding her swollen belly.

“Ah… my baby….”

The heavy thud of two heads hitting the cold ground, followed by Louise’s final scream as she collapsed unconscious in his arms.

At that moment, Rondimio realized that something had gone terribly wrong.