The Beast Bit The Throat of the Late Empress - Chapter 12

“Why, is there a problem?”

For both Divlik and Finn, seeing someone’s death or killing someone wasn’t a difficult or special task. Although the saying that not even a blade of grass remained where the Blue Wolf passed was an exaggeration, they weren’t lenient enough to spare those who opposed their will.

“Isn’t it problematic to starve someone starving to death in the castle you have taken, Lord Divlik… Besides, at this point, it seems the former empress really wants to die, and it feels unpleasant to grant her wish.”

However, Finn said he’d rather step forward and cut her throat himself than see such a sight. He seemed troubled, reminded of his own family members who had starved to death in the past.

“That can’t happen.”

Divlik never intended to starve Eva to death from the beginning. He didn’t care much about his outward image, but to let her die as she wished? Moreover, his cherished subordinate said it would be difficult to watch such a scene.

“Does the former empress look determined to die?”

“It’s almost been a week since she started starving. Although she won’t die easily because she’s used to eating well, she’s also not accustomed to hunger. At this point, it’s hard to see it as mere stubbornness.”

But what method should be used here? Having decided not to kill Eva or the maids, there’s a clear limit to breaking her stubbornness through simple torment. Besides, although it was unavoidable during the war, Divlik was certainly not someone who enjoyed others’ suffering.

“She’s incredibly stubborn. Risking her life over mere night service. And for her emperor who fled alone. Or perhaps he had his reasons to escape alone? Maybe they were just good friends that he didn’t even know what was happening from outside the castle.”

A sneer formed at the corner of Divlik’s mouth at Finn’s rambling words.

“Doesn’t she say it’s love?”

“Love? Talking about love in a life or death situation? She must be well-fed to… I apologize. My words were harsh.”

As if encouraging him to continue, Divlik laughed leisurely and checked the sunlight falling directly on the courtyard through the wide-open door.

“It’s lunchtime.”

“Yes. The smell of food has been strong for a while now. Where should I prepare your meal today?”

“There was quite a nice garden on the ramparts extending from this roof. Prepare it there. And… summon the former empress.”

“Yes. I’ll give the order right away.”

* * *

Eva washed up briefly with Hannah and Sophie’s help. She changed into clean clothes and fortunately found the cloth that Eileen had tried to throw away to cover her eyes.

She didn’t think it was too much to say that the old and dirty cloth suited her best. On the contrary, she found it troublesome that there were no clothes to match it.

As Eva, having finished her preparations, climbed onto the ramparts with Hannah’s support, Divlik, savoring the scent of early-blooming hyacinths before spring’s arrival, simultaneously expressed admiration and criticism.

“Welcome, Former Empress. I’ve heard about the luxury of this castle, but I didn’t expect a garden on the rooftop. It seems your lord truly knew how to waste money.”

The sky garden on the eastern ramparts bordering the river, with its small fountain forcibly drawing water and flowers and trees planted in artificially filled soil in a place where even grass struggled to grow, was all because of Eva.

―Eva! I’ve made a garden here for you. How is it? Now you have a space where you can always see flowers, just as you wished. Aren’t you grateful to me?

Eva’s daily sighs about wanting to see flowers were her way of expressing her desire to return home, but Fabian, interpreting it in his own way, had created this space by arbitrarily spending money.

“With the money spent to decorate this place, we could have bought enough food for the people of a small territory to last a season, and still have some left over…”

Regardless of its appearance, this was Eva’s favorite place in the castle. It was the only place within the bleak castle walls where she could feel an atmosphere similar to her hometown.

Right now, just being able to escape from that narrow castle tower and stand under the sun, smelling the fragrance of flowers and grass, was wonderful. Even if she felt dizzy from the sudden intense afternoon sunlight, she thought that if she could collapse and die embraced by these flowers, there could be no greater happiness.

“It may be wasteful, but it’s certainly nice. I didn’t like this castle because it was just solid and bleak, but this…”

Divlik, who had been sneering for a while, seemed to like the flowers he encountered, and finished his words with an unusually comfortable breath.

“Eva von Frentz. I greet Lord Divlik.”

Eva, who had been waiting for Divlik to finish speaking, greeted him with the most courtesy since meeting him. This was the first time she had faced Divlik in a situation that wasn’t immediately life-threatening.

“It took nearly a week to receive a proper greeting. So, is your answer still unchanged?”

Divlik didn’t wait long to get to the point this time either. His voice sounded indifferent at first, but Eva knew that all of Divlik’s attention was focused on her lips. It seemed that being unable to see with her eyes made other signals easier to read.

“Are you trying to starve yourself to death like this? Is the vow of chastity you made to the emperor so important in the face of death? By now, you must want to eat even the grass here.”

Although the premise of how well she usually ate was wrong, his words were true. Eva felt like she wanted to reach out and pluck any flower or grass from the corner of the garden and put it in her mouth right away. Even before Divlik entered the castle, Eva had felt this way for the past few months. After all, she had only a few pieces of dry bread once a day.

―Are you talking about your hometown again? Why? Are you trying to find traces of your dead lover there? Even though I treat you so well… How ungrateful you are.

It wasn’t because of the war, it was because of Fabian. Angry at Eva for asking to be sent home when she felt the weather turning cold, wondering why she didn’t like anything he did for her.

“Worried that heavy food might upset an empty stomach, I personally prepared soft foods for you. There’s no need to wait for another day to pass while enduring hunger. As I said, I’m a man who always accomplishes what I set my mind to. Do you truly think you can defeat me?”

Unable to give the answer Divlik wanted, Eva simply remained silent. Divlik took Eva’s hand and led her to a resting place created with a canopy for shade in one corner of the garden. As they approached the table, the faint delicious smell of food intensified, stimulating Eva’s nose.

Eva felt the urge to grab the bread and meat with both hands and stuff them into her mouth, unbecoming of someone once praised as the empire’s empress. She also thought that this might be what Divlik wanted.

To show a sight of abandoning the image of a dignified empress, like a stray dog on the street finding food after days, reaching for food with hands and mouth before even thinking of using a fork.

Eva didn’t mind showing Divlik such an unseemly sight unfit for an empress. The problem was that this wouldn’t end with just showing such a spectacle.

“It seems this was also a place where you and Fabian were intimate. You even have a place suitable for lying down… Well, being the highest point of the castle with no one to see you, it must have been convenient, but you couldn’t have hidden the sounds. The knights guarding below must have been burning inside. Whose preference was it? Fabian’s? Or yours, Former Empress?”

Divlik, who was talking about the affairs of men and women even in this place, would likely try to embrace Eva right there under the shade created by the branches of the old trees of Frentz Mountain, the moment she put anything from the table into her mouth.

Eva turned her head slightly to the east. In that direction would be the Hael River, surrounded by rough rocks. If she threw herself straight in, it would be simple… But that would be no different from running away for her own comfort.

Whether thinking of future consequences or wanting to maintain the last conscience of a God-fearing person, Eva’s death should be by Divlik’s hand.

“Please kill me.”

Eva repeated the answer she had first given to Divlik in a weak voice, seeing no other option.

“You don’t need to dirty your hands. If you push me towards the cliff where the river flows, you won’t even have to bother burying the body.”

As soon as Eva finished speaking, Divlik’s hand grasped her chin. Before she could assess the situation, Divlik’s lips overlapped hers.

“Mmph!”

What entered Eva’s forcibly opened mouth wasn’t just Divlik’s tongue. A heavy mouthful of wine was passed from Divlik’s mouth into Eva’s. Eva tried to spit it out without swallowing, but Divlik’s lips, continuing to explore Eva’s mouth, blocked her. To breathe even a little, she had no choice but to swallow some of the wine left in her mouth.

“Haa, haa…”

As Divlik’s lips parted, Eva sank to the floor, breathing heavily.

“Oh my. I offered wine as an aperitif, but was it too much on an empty stomach?”

Looking down at Eva’s staggering figure, Divlik laughed slyly as if he hadn’t known, then spoke in a cold voice, wiping away his smile.

“I’ve told you many times. You have no choice. You say you want to die, do you think you can escape from me so easily?”

Divlik’s following laughter, devoid of any joy, sounded cruel to Eva.

“What to do now. You’ve eaten something… Shall we count this as your submission, unable to avoid it to the end?”

She had already eaten something. She couldn’t escape with the excuse that it was forced or that it was unavoidable. Why didn’t she hold out and spit it out even if it felt like she would suffocate? Eva blamed herself for lacking resolve in that moment. Because of this, tears that had naturally welled up when she was suffocating now flowed down her cheeks with her sigh. She had tried to avoid falling into Divlik’s arms no matter what…

Divlik bent down and wiped away the tears flowing down Eva’s cheeks, cupping her face with his large hands.

“Why are you crying over something like this? You said even death wasn’t frightening, but you shed tears at the thought of being in my arms?”

Divlik’s voice contained a strange reproach, neither angry nor amused, as if asking if being in his arms was so detestable.

“It’s a joke, get up. Did you think I would consider this a victory? I told you. If I had intended to force you, I would have done so on the first day. If this is called submission, where is the force in that?”

At the same time, it was the gentlest tone she had heard. Even the fingertips raising Eva up felt careful. Eva stood up, leaning on that hand. It was a gentlemanly escort befitting his words that he was not a beast.

“I called you here intending to order you to start eating regardless of your answer. I don’t want to see a perfectly healthy person starving to death in my castle.”

But such gentlemanly behavior ended there. As soon as Eva was able to support herself on her legs to some extent, Divlik wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her into his embrace.

Eva was helplessly embraced by Divlik. Thump-thump, she could hear the strong heartbeat from Divlik’s chest against her ear. Even if she wanted to escape from that embrace, her legs were half suspended in the air, making it impossible to push Divlik away.

Just like that, Divlik buried his face in Eva’s neck, as he had once asked about.