“This is your last chance to survive. Give up the right of succession and offer the divine beast to me. Or hand over your magical power. You know the method, don’t you, Sister?”

Even as her vision swam, Roelia let out a faint laugh.

Of course she knew the method. The ancient texts she pored over countless times in order to become a perfect emperor gave Roelia a deep understanding of magical power.

‘I will never yield.’

She had no intention of doing something as foolish as handing over magical power to a traitor like Silena. Giving them power would only destroy the empire she so carefully protected all this time.

Roelia still remembered Silena, who went around killing small animals for sport even with that meager magical power. And she remembered herself, who reasoned with her rather than scolded her.

Roelia shot back between ragged breaths.

“You’re insisting I take responsibility again for a failure that came from your own lack of ability. Then again, the only things you’ve ever known how to do since you were little were shifting blame and throwing tantrums.”

Silena’s eyes narrowed further and further upward at Roelia’s words. A gleaming murderous intent settled at the corners of her eyes.

“Ha!”

Silena bit her lip. She actually attempted to make Roelia’s magical power run rampant in order to obtain it, but failed to awaken the divine beast. Who could have known Roelia would seal her own magical power? Because of this, Silena had no choice but to form a new plan.

That was also the reason she was reduced to tormenting Roelia with something like the “rite of atonement” rather than killing her outright.

Since an emperor without a divine beast was no emperor at all, Silena had to receive the divine beast’s choosing by whatever means in order to ascend the throne. When those holding the right of succession failed to receive the divine beast’s choosing, the other method of compelling that choosing was to use magical power.

‘It would be different if the other plan were completed, but……’

The secret passed down quietly only to those who would inherit the throne, that is, the power and knowledge to compel the divine beast’s choosing, lay with Roelia.

So she pushed Roelia to her limits, trying to wring the method out of her. She also needed to shift the blame for failing to awaken the divine beast onto the next emperor.

In the end, it always came back to magical power.

That damned talent. That damned, truly…!

Silena smiled even more brightly with bloodshot eyes.

“Because of that person who only knows how to throw tantrums, you ended up like this, Sister. In the end, I will win. I have plenty of time, and you’re going to be executed come tomorrow morning anyway. Once you’re dead, the right of succession and everything else won’t matter, will it?”

Leaving those venomous words behind, Silena shoved back her chair and rose. Someone in a hood approached her side and whispered in her ear. In that instant, an eerie smile settled at the corner of Silena’s lips.

“As expected, I am a chosen person.”

Roelia’s eyes went wide at the chill she felt from Silena’s smile. Silena, her expression triumphant, looked at Roelia with gleaming eyes.

“I’ve found a way to receive the divine beast’s choosing even without you giving up the right of succession, Sister.”

Roelia did not take her eyes off her younger sister as she moved away with a bewitching smile.

Only after even her shadow disappeared did Roelia release her strength and collapse onto the cold floor.

She knew the girl was not what she appeared to be on the surface, but she did not think of her as a threat. When Roelia opened her eyes again, there was no one in the underground prison. The restraints binding her remained as they were, and magical power continued to drain away. Yet her mind was strangely clear.

— Do you want power?

A voice kept speaking to her.

No matter how she looked around, there was no one there. Perhaps because the magical restraints were fastened on, even the guards and mages who kept watch over this place were gone. When this night passed and day broke, Roelia was scheduled to be executed on the gallows visible through the high window of the underground prison.

Russell and Silena, who took even her last hope from her, seemed to have decided that Roelia gave up by now. That was likely why they left this place with not a single guard.

— Do you want power?

The sound that rang in her ear again carried growing force. Roelia swallowed dryly and gave a labored nod. She did not know who owned this voice, but it did not matter. As long as she could take revenge on those outside.

“I do.”

It was the first time she answered the voice. A voice tinged with laughter came back to her.

— And what will you do with the power?

“I will take revenge.”

She would repay every last one of those who made her like this.

She would take revenge on the nobles who sided with Russell and Silena even knowing she was led into a trap, and on Russell and Silena who masterminded it all.

She would bring down flames of ruin upon those two, who sought to usurp this Wintergrass Empire.

Roelia turned it over and over in her mind. Whether the voice heard her wish, it spoke once more.

— Hmm. I don’t like being used as a tool of revenge, but the other side is even less to my liking, so……

A voice that seemed to have no choice filled the space entirely. It was not only in her ear but rang out from all directions, and it seemed to carry something mysterious within it, something that drew at a person’s heart.

‘Please.’

Roelia prayed on instinct. She had a certainty that this voice would open another path for her.

— All right.

The deliberation was long, but the permission came in an instant.

Red flames surged and swallowed Roelia whole. They were strangely warm flames. Those flames gnawed at the restraints binding Roelia and at last broke them apart. Sensing that some of her magical power returned, Roelia took stock of her current condition.

‘I can’t even use healing magic properly.’

It was the red flames that severed the restraints, but the medium for that power was Roelia’s own magical power. Having drawn and used too much magical power, very little remained. But there was no time to delay.

They were bright flames, so someone would surely have seen them escape through the gap in the high window. She had to flee before someone came to capture and imprison her again. Roelia gathered magical power in her index finger and drew it sideways.

The bars were cut through with that small gesture, and at last Roelia was able to leave the prison. The pain in her legs, oozing blood and fl*id, was considerable, but she clenched her teeth and walked. She could not waste magical power on healing magic. She judged that split skin was something she could endure.

“Ugh!”

But the pain surged before she even took a few steps. Roelia had no choice but to use healing magic. The wounds did not fully close, but now almost no magical power remained. At best, she had enough to cast magic that could move her about twenty steps.

She wanted to sink to the ground, but she clenched her teeth and held on. If she were caught here, she would have to surrender what little life she had left. Roelia walked on, enduring the pain to the point where she could not even notice the strangely quiet state of the underground prison.

How long did she walk through the narrow corridor of the underground prison?

There was something reflected in the flickering torchlight. Roelia stood still for a moment to catch her breath, pressed herself against the wall, and swung the burning torch rod in her hand at the black shadow approaching her.

“You’re still safe!”

The man who quickly dodged the feebly swung torch whispered softly to Roelia. The man, full of relief, was Maziel Carpes, Russell’s younger brother.

“Did you come to kill me?”

Roelia turned one hand behind her back and formed a hand seal to cast a small spell. Swinging it would create a small flame capable of taking the life of one person, Maziel. Maziel let out a sigh of relief toward Roelia, who was watching for her chance.

“I know that the late Emperor passed away because of my brother and the Second Princess.”

“You knew?”

“Yes.”

“Then you should have come forward at the noble council!”

“Which noble council? The one my brother has in his grip?”

Maziel whispered with a self-deprecating air. He stepped up to Roelia immediately and poured a potion over her wounds.

“This…!”

With a bubbling, sizzling sound, the wounds began to close, and tremendous pain surged through her.

“You must bear it. If you go like this, you’ll be caught.”

She could not make a loud sound. Roelia gritted her teeth and endured the pain, and at last she was able to stand on two clean legs. But the wounds on her wrists from the restraints remained as they were.

“This was the only potion I could bring. It’s fortunate it’s at least high-grade and of some help.”