Louis, twisting his head to deepen the kiss, gradually felt his heartbeat becoming calmer.

But still feeling anxious, he pulled Aer completely into his arms as if wanting to feel her with his entire body.

Even the contact of their skin seemed to purify him. Louis held her fingers tightly between his own, interlocking them while savoring her lips and mouth.

Yet he still felt it wasn’t enough. When he first received purification from her, that alone had been ecstatic, but now, no matter how much he received, he felt it wasn’t sufficient.

He wanted to receive even deeper and more intense purification.

Louis, who had been mindlessly exploring her lips, came to his senses when he felt a hand tapping his shoulder.

Breathless, Aer quickly inhaled during the brief moment their lips parted.

“Hah, let’s, catch our breath.”

“Haa, okay.”

Seeing that he seemed calmer than before, Aer pulled his hand.

“Let’s sit down for a moment.”

“Okay…”

He obediently followed her words. The two sat together, cooling their flushed faces for a while.

Even though it was her own home, Aer’s face remained red at the thought that they had been mindlessly kissing in a space where employees could pass by.

Fanning herself with her palm, Aer spoke.

“How can we make your anxiety disappear?”

Having recently learned to enjoy leisure, she felt sorry for him, who was no different from herself just a few months ago.

“Come to the palace.”

“What?”

Louis had no intention of missing this opportunity. He couldn’t sleep just thinking that people were targeting Aer from all directions.

Even though they met every day, he was filled with anxiety during the hours they were apart.

He thought he would only feel somewhat at ease if she was right by his side, but he couldn’t imprison the freely wandering Aer just because of his selfishness.

But if Aer asked first, wouldn’t it be okay to be a little selfish?

“I think the coronation will happen soon.”

“…But you said His Majesty the Emperor had awakened.”

“That’s true, but he seems to have aftereffects that prevent him from handling duties anymore. He’s going away for recovery.”

“…What will happen to His Highness the Crown Prince?”

“Hmm, well. That’s not something I alone can decide. I’ll hold a meeting with the central nobles.”

Of course, he had already thought about it.

Louis planned to perfectly dispose of not only the Empress but also the Crown Prince. It’s best to thoroughly eliminate any potential source of trouble.

However, unlike the Empress, the Crown Prince had neither perfect evidence nor motive, so he couldn’t be executed arbitrarily.

If he couldn’t be eliminated, he would have to be sent far away, and Louis judged it would be better to leave that to the nobles.

After all, there wouldn’t be any nobles willing to help a Crown Prince who had lost his backing.

“By coming to the palace, you mean…”

“I want you to become Empress, El.”

“…”

At Louis’s definitive tone, Aer closed her mouth. She understood it was like a proposal, but it felt different.

Although she had anticipated this since accepting his proposal, she didn’t expect things to progress so quickly.

“El.”

“Yes.”

Taking the seemingly bewildered Aer’s hand, Louis continued.

“Only one thing will change. We’ll open our eyes together in the morning, talk as the sun sets, and fall asleep in the same bed. I’ll be able to see you without you having to take a carriage, and you’ll also be able to find me anytime, living together at a close distance. That’s all that will change.”

His words felt like a promise. As if he would ensure that they could live no differently from now, no matter what happened.

“I trust you, Louis.”

So the burden disappeared. The future is unpredictable anyway; perhaps she had been anxious because of the future she vaguely knew from the original work.

“I’ll come to the palace.”

“…Thank you, El.”

At her positive response, Louis couldn’t help but embrace her tightly. The two once again forgot their surroundings and pressed their lips together.

In the moment they reconfirmed each other’s feelings, light flowed from both of their marks, but neither noticed.

***

The Empress found it difficult to properly accept the current situation. She was angry, but there was no one left by her side to listen to her.

Imprisoned in the cold underground dungeon, she leaned weakly against the wall she had once complained was dirty.

In that dark place, there was a creaking sound as the door opened, and light briefly entered and then disappeared.

Thud, hearing someone’s footsteps, the Empress raised her lowered head.

She naturally thought that the person coming to see her would be the Crown Prince.

The Empress, believing that her son had surely come to rescue her, looked at the bars with a bright expression, but the figure that appeared was none other than Louis.

Upon seeing him, the Empress immediately scrunched her face and began to rant.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know this was your doing! How dare a lowborn like you presume to become Emperor?”

“Well, do you think it’s possible for someone who isn’t of Basium blood to become Emperor?”

“…W-what are you talking about!”

“I commend you for deceiving the world until now. However, you cannot deceive me, even if you fool everyone else.”

“…”

His deep purple eyes, reflecting the moonlight coming through the small window, gleamed ominously. The Empress trembled in fear as she met those eyes.

How did he know? It was a truth she had never revealed to anyone.

How could he know something that even her parents in the Kingdom of Moncha didn’t know…

“The abilities of a Transcendent might not be as impressive as people think, but there’s one reason they’re rumored to be powerful.”

“…”

“Because secrets cannot be hidden. Everyone must reveal everything before a Transcendent. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Huh!”

Louis spoke each word distinctly and glared at the Empress.

She was looking back with fear-soaked eyes. While looking at this woman who was no longer worth brainwashing, Louis voiced the question he had wanted to ask all along.

“How could you think of killing my mother while keeping a child who isn’t even of Basium blood, and still have the audacity to look down on me as lowborn?”

“…”

“A person with a conscience wouldn’t have dared to do that.”

“…That woman, she did it first!”

“First?”

“She dared to doubt the Crown Prince! It’s natural for my son to become Emperor. I am the Empress. The child born to me, the Empress, should naturally become Emperor!”

“Huh, I thought you were shameless on a human level. Even magical beasts would be more humane than you.”

Louis, who hadn’t known that his mother had suspected the Crown Prince’s origins, wondered if his mother might have had some kind of ability.

Being a princess from the Kingdom of Lunaris, which only produced Transcendents, he thought she might have had some mental ability.

He was curious for a brief moment, but there weren’t many ways to find out.

Louis lost interest in the Empress, who would be executed anyway. As he was about to leave with a disinterested face, Isabel crawled toward him and grabbed the hem of his pants.

“S-spare my life.”

“…”

“I’ll live like a dead mouse. Just send me back to my homeland.”

“Doesn’t it hurt your pride to make such a request to a lowborn?”

“…P-please send my son with me too. Please.”

The Empress could finally properly grasp the situation.

She now understood why the investigator had persistently questioned about the Crown Prince, and realizing the clue, she knew that not only her life but also the Crown Prince’s life was in danger.

“Please… Please, I beg you.”

Louis looked at the Empress with cold eyes. He had thought he would be pleased to see the person he had so wanted to kill begging, but strangely, he felt nothing.

“It would be faster to ask my mother, not me.”

Having left these words, Louis lightly brushed off her dry hand.

“Prince! Prince!”

The Empress pleaded, clinging to the bars, but Louis did not look back. He firmly closed the door, leaving his dark past in the underground dungeon.

Surprisingly, his heart felt at peace.

He quickly moved, thinking of Aer, who would soon enter the palace. He planned to personally arrange everything for her.

T/n: First of the sentence: “It would be faster to ask my mother, not me,” is such a badass line. The chapter’s theme strongly evokes the proverb: You reap what you sow.