When the Tower Master arrived with the mages, the outcome was easily decided.

The dream of rebellion vanished vainly within a few hours, and Neiyard and the high nobles were imprisoned in the underground dungeon.

Soon their interrogation began.

Charte appeared before Neiyard.

“H-how.”

Neiyard stammered in confusion and eventually couldn’t continue speaking.

And then Yasrin appeared before them with her wrists bound.

Neiyard shot a sharp glance at Yasrin.

“If only the princess hadn’t betrayed us!”

However, Yasrin immediately ignored Neiyard and looked at Charte, speaking desperately,

“Charte, this is unfair. I was being held captive by them. They took me hostage and threatened our kingdom. So I was just waiting for a chance to escape. I escaped with great difficulty, only to face such a misunderstanding.”

Yasrin sobbed as if she were truly wronged.

The sobbing gradually intensified until she cried so sadly as if her heart was melting.

It was the kind of tears that might sway someone who didn’t know Yasrin’s true nature.

“Princess Yasrin.”

“Charte!”

“We captured the knights waiting for Princess Yasrin at Lake Mielre.”

When Yasrin was looking at Charte with an uncomprehending face, the captured knights were brought in.

Yasrin’s face immediately crumpled, and she bit her lip with her teeth.

“There will be no mercy for the eighteen nobles including Duke Neiyard present here, and Princess Yasrin.”

“If I die, the kingdom won’t stay still. Are you going to start a war? I’ll never come back. Send me to the kingdom. Just spare my life.”

Charte looked at Yasrin with cold eyes and twisted one corner of his mouth upward.

Seeing this side of Charte for the first time, Yasrin trembled involuntarily.

“Princess Yasrin, you seem to be mistaken about something. Is war between the empire and the kingdom even possible? It would be a one-sided massacre. We have already informed the kingdom of all your crimes, and the king has made his choice.”

Yasrin’s face turned pale as if all the blood had drained from her body.

“Do you have anything more to say?”

“Your Majesty, I have done wrong. Please spare my family at least. Elisha is still too young. Her only crime is having a foolish father. Please be merciful and spare my daughter’s life.”

“There is no mercy for traitors. After the investigation is complete, all will be beheaded.”

The rebellious group began to wail, not just bowing their heads to the floor but pounding it.

As Charte turned away with a cold face, cries of “Your Majesty the Emperor, please save us,” “We were wrong,” and other desperate pleas were heard from everywhere, and after a while, they blamed each other before finally breaking into sobs.

Their rebellion, which began at the deepest hour of darkness, was suppressed in six hours before darkness disappeared.

* * *

“You worked hard.”

She felt sorry for Charte, who seemed to have overexerted himself while the wound near his chest hadn’t completely healed yet.

Charte embraced her as if collapsing and leaned on her for a long time.

She was worried as Charte’s body seemed slightly feverish.

“Charte, are you okay? You have a fever.”

As she laid him on the bed and was about to call the royal physician, Charte grabbed her hand and said,

“Just a moment. I want to be alone with you now.”

She sat beside him and stroked his tired-looking face.

Although they had suppressed it, Charte’s face looked so bad after experiencing the rebellion attempt that one part of her heart ached.

They had already committed serious crimes multiple times including instigating murder, so they were already doomed to die and this was their last struggle, but rebellion was absolutely unforgivable.

Seeing Charte lying there with a pale face, she truly felt the weight of the crown and felt sorry for him as a fellow human being.

The position of emperor was one where he couldn’t rest even when sick, and couldn’t even spend time with loved ones before they departed forever.

She felt disgusted by humanity’s endless greed, wondering why people coveted such a position so much.

Of course, there were many benefits, but looking at it from an individual perspective, there was also much to give up.

She thought it might be the loneliest profession if there was no one to trust and rely on.

She wanted to be someone Charte could always lean on when he was struggling, but the world was cruel in taking away what they wanted most.

“It must be because I’m lacking so much as an emperor that these things happen.”

“It’s because they are greedy and evil. And they probably did it because they wanted to live, to not die. I think the desire to live created the devil.”

“I’m lacking as both an emperor and a man.”

Seeing Charte speak with a bitter face, anger surged toward the rebellious group who had made so many people tired when they were going to die anyway.

She felt like grinding them all up and drinking them for making her man so upset, when Charte spoke again weakly,

“Sometimes I think it was easier when I was a tyrant.”

“Don’t you know all of this started from the empress’s position?”

As he looked at her with an expression asking what she meant, she smiled slightly and stroked the front of his hair.

“Because you’re a good emperor and a good man, many people aim for the position beside you. Both Yasrin and Elisha liked you and wanted to be by your side.”

As numerous thoughts rippled in Charte’s eyes, she kissed his forehead and said,

“Don’t think about anything now, just rest.”

“I don’t think I can sleep. I want to hear the story you tell me. Actually, I’m afraid you’ll leave when the story ends, but I still want to hear it. You’ve never told just any story until now. Looking back, everything was connected.”

The long story, like us, was heading toward its conclusion.

Her heart was heavy, but with a warm smile, hoping this story would be a moment of rest for Charte, she parted her lips.

“One day, a woman receives a terminal diagnosis. She tells the god to leave because she will soon die. But the god gives up ascending to the heavenly realm and stays by her side. He chooses to wait for her to be reborn, even though he will be alone when she dies. Isn’t it a brilliantly beautiful story?”

“They meet again, but have to part again, and meet again, repeating the cycle? Is it a happy ending? Or a sad one?”

“If the person who chose is happy with it, isn’t it a happy ending?”

“It’s not something for others to gossip about anyway.”

“Charte. Meeting you has been such a great happiness in my life that I’m afraid of my last birthday, but if I’m given another life, I’ll love only you from the beginning. I won’t do anything else, I’ll just love you.”

She saw Charte clenching his fist and biting his lip to hold back tears.

“Charte, the time given to us in this life was short, but give me all the time in your next life. So to make sure we can meet again, you must be happy in this life too. I’ll forgive you for forgetting me this time.”

Instead of answering, Charte held her tightly.

She felt his shoulder becoming damp.

Seeing this man, who had seemed stronger than anyone in the world, become so vulnerable made her feel guilty, as if everything was her fault.

She couldn’t understand or accept why they had to go through this.

“You seem to have a higher fever than before. I’ll call the royal physician now.”

Charte, seeming unwell, leaned on the bed as if collapsing and held her hand.

“If you ever leave without saying goodbye to me, that’s absolutely not allowed.”

“Don’t worry. That kind of departure isn’t my intention, and you know I’ll come back again. Rest assured and sleep.”

She smiled while looking into Charte’s eyes.

A moment later, when Charte’s eyes closed, the tears she had been holding back burst forth.

* * *

“I wish to see His Majesty.”

Rad looked at Neiyard with an incredulous face.

“You seem to have forgotten your current status. Remember that you’re no longer Duke Neiyard but traitor Neiyard. A dangerous person like you has no business seeing His Majesty the Emperor.”

“No. Just relay my message. Then His Majesty will certainly meet me. Because I have the documents His Majesty is looking for.”

After hesitating, Rad went to the emperor’s palace, but instead of Charte who was resting due to illness, he conveyed the situation to Prime Minister Whyman.

After contemplating, Whyman went to the underground prison first to see Neiyard himself.

“You cannot see His Majesty. Who knows what you might do.”

“Are you afraid even with my hands and feet completely bound?”

“We’re not being careless. You know the law of the country well, don’t you? Have you already forgotten the law just because you’ve become a criminal?”

Neiyard exhaled in resignation, feeling the reality of his situation as he heard the word “criminal” from Whyman, whom he had considered a lifelong rival.

When Neiyard tried to move his hand, soldiers approached. Whyman extended his hand to stop the approaching soldiers.

“It’s fine. Stand back.”

A small folded paper that Neiyard had deeply hidden was placed on the desk.

“What is this?”

“Look at it and then we’ll talk.”

Whyman’s expression began to show bewilderment as he unfolded and read the paper.

Barely composing himself, Whyman spoke to Neiyard, unable to suppress his anger,

“Do you still have attachments after committing treason? Is it slander this time?”

“Your daughter committed the act, so you too won’t be able to escape unscathed.”

“Are you insisting this is true?”

“Look at the signature there. You must have seen it many times, so you should know.”

“Signatures can be forged, can’t they?”

“Whyman, this was taken from the imperial palace’s secret safe. You know that only members of the imperial family know the location of the secret safe in the palace. You probably don’t know the location either, despite being Prime Minister. This isn’t something to be taken lightly.”

“Since I have no way to verify that, whether you’re lying or telling the truth, I wouldn’t know.”

“Tell His Majesty the location I mentioned.”

Whyman fell into deep thought as Neiyard didn’t seem to be lying.

Whether this was true or not, he needed to know why Neiyard was doing this now.

“I planned and executed the rebellion. I was prepared to die then. There’s no reason for me to forge documents like this. This is the truth, so you can just ask your daughter.”

“Do you think I believe this? No, do you think you can live by doing this? I can just destroy such documents right here. You can’t do anything.”

“Please confirm the truth with your daughter. I’m begging you. I’m not doing this to save myself.”

The arrogance disappeared from Neiyard’s face, leaving only a desperate wish.

“Nathan, please save our Elisha. If you do, I’ll take the contents of this document to my grave.”

Whyman looked at Neiyard as if piercing through the truth.

“I could speak out in the square. I could reveal this document there.”

“No one would believe you if you spoke out. Besides, who would believe such a contract exists?”