The Beast Bit The Throat of the Late Empress - Chapter 14

“I don’t know.”

The boy’s eyes, which had been shining like jewels, filled with confusion.

“You don’t know?”

“No. I don’t remember anything. I can’t even recall my name. When I opened my eyes just now, I was here.”

“Not even your name. How sad.”

Eva, who had been staring blankly at the boy’s white cheeks that moved with each word, unconsciously raised her hand and caressed the boy’s cheek. Although there was a bit of sand stuck to it, the cheek felt soft and squishy, which was pleasant to touch. The smooth skin and fine-looking clothes made her think that, if nothing else, this boy was probably not a commoner’s child.

“Leon.”

Eva named the boy as if she was calling someone she had known for a long time, saying the first name that came to mind.

“Leon?”

“Yes. I thought you were a black lion that came down from the mountain. How about it? Can I call you Leon until you remember your real name?”

The reason Eva thought of the name Leon, meaning lion, for the boy was not only because of how he had rushed towards her, but also because even now, his long black hair shimmering in the wind looked like a lion’s mane.

“I like it.”

Just as Eva’s face reddened again at Leon’s smiling face, the voice of Christine calling for Eva was heard from afar.

“Miss Eva! Where are you?”

“Oh no! They’ve come looking for me. If they find out my dress is wet, I’ll be in trouble.”

“Shall I hide you?”

“How?”

Leon, still holding Eva tightly, quickly moved his feet and hid behind a rock where the mountain met the sea. This movement also felt like that of an agile lion, making Eva wonder if perhaps Leon was a cub of the sacred black lion of the mountain that had transformed into a human.

Eva’s face reddened as she heard Leon’s heart beating rapidly in her ear, and she smiled at him like a flower in full bloom.

“Thank you, Leon!”

This time, it was Leon’s face that turned red at Eva’s smile.

Not long after, Eva had to return home after being caught and scolded by Christine, but she wasn’t alone following Christine on the way back.

“Leon will live with us from today. Dad didn’t buy me the puppy I asked for before, right? So I’m going to keep Leon instead.”

Afraid of losing him if she let go, Eva held Leon’s hand tightly with all her strength.

“Miss, people are not pets.”

“Leon said he would live with me too. Right, Leon?”

“Yes.”

“Young master, you should quickly regain your memories and return to your parents.”

“Even if he finds his parents, Leon will still live with me. Right, Leon?”

Instead of answering, Leon squeezed Eva’s hand tightly. Perhaps even more than Eva, Leon seemed anxious about letting go of her hand.

How cute. I’ve never seen a lion cub, but he really is like one.

Walking on the grass that shimmered brilliantly reflecting the sunlight, the young Eva swung her hand back and forth, intertwined with Leon’s. It was a memory from their childhood days when they believed they would never let go of each other’s hands.

* * *

Crunch.

As a piece of paper crumpled in Divlik’s hand, Finn, as if he had been waiting for this moment, began to complain.

“The letters and numbers are all blurring together, it’s a mess. Shall we take a short break?”

For several days, mountains of documents had been piled up everywhere on the emperor’s desk in the office. It was to understand the current state of the empire that Divlik now had to rule. As Divlik quietly sat at his desk with his back to the window and turned his attention to another document, Finn, sitting at the auxiliary desk next to Divlik’s, let out a groan.

“I need to drink a cup of hot chocolate with lots of melted chocolate. What about you, Lord Divlik? Shouldn’t you eat something too?”

“We just had lunch.”

“Doesn’t using your brain a lot make you hungry faster?”

Even Finn, who was known to be the most intelligent among the Blue Wolves despite never having received proper education, couldn’t hold his head high in front of this parade of reports he had never seen before.

“Tea will do. I told you to take it slow. There’s no rush.”

“How can there be no rush? We need to quickly assess the situation to decide how to hold Your Majesty’s coronation ceremony. It would be good if we could at least quickly grasp the current financial situation. If I had known it would be like this, I wonder if we should have kept Count Tenesi alive.”

Finn especially struggled with financial documents that contained numbers. He even complained that if they had kept Count Tenesi alive, who had been not only the lord of the Karhen region where the capital Hael was located but also in charge of the empire’s finances, things might have been easier.

“That’s why I killed him. He took more than the required taxes, embezzled money for himself, and even engaged in illegal high-interest lending, squeezing people dry.”

“Ah… was that so?”

The reason these documents were difficult to understand at a glance was also due to such nobles. It seems that in this empire, no one was doing their job properly. Even documents reporting the same content had different descriptions and financial amounts written in them.

“I’ll look at the finance-related documents, so leave them.”

“If you say so.”

Finn quietly placed the documents with numbers on Divlik’s desk and tilted his head curiously.

“How is it that you’re so good at everything, Lord Divlik?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean this kind of work. It’s not easy for an ordinary person to be good at both physical and mental tasks. When did you learn swordsmanship and how to read numbers and letters like this?”

Finn, watching Divlik easily read through documents that seemed difficult to him, expressed his admiration and continued in a bright voice.

“Do you know? They say the people of Hael are in a celebratory mood about Your Majesty’s victory.”

“Celebrating?”

“Yes. They say anyone who takes the emperor’s throne would be better than Emperor Fabian. Perhaps they instinctively knew that Your Majesty would make a good emperor.”

There’s no way they could instinctively know what kind of person I am yet… but yes, I suppose so. They probably thought anyone would be better than him. Fabian Frentz. He was truly a terrible ruler.

A terrible ruler? Well, even the word ‘ruler’ was too good for Fabian.

The reason Divlik was able to take over the empire more easily than expected was certainly due to Fabian’s existence.

Fabian had stepped back, giving autonomy to the nobles, and showed no interest in what happened to his country. As long as taxes were paid properly, he didn’t interfere with what was happening in the territories. As a result, the conditions in each region depended entirely on the nobles who ruled them. And when given power, not many nobles used it well.

The situation was especially dire in regions far from the capital. People were on the verge of starving to death, and it was not uncommon for both women and men to become playthings for the nobles. Even Finn, sitting here, would have either died helplessly or been called to an old duke’s bedroom to follow in his sister’s footsteps if Divlik hadn’t appeared.

“There’s no need to look further into last year’s documents.”

Divlik stopped trying to grasp the overall operational state of the empire. It would be impossible even if a year passed with these kinds of documents.

“Anyway, there aren’t many nobles left alive, and I’ll be granting titles to the commanders, so we can roughly grasp the current financial situation and decide how to proceed with them.”

“Yes, Lord Divlik.”

“Since we’re on the topic, let me tell you that I’m planning to grant you the title of Duke for the Floropel territory, your hometown, in place of the one who used to rule there. How does that sound?”

“Floropel? But… that would mean being too far away from you, Lord Divlik.”

Finn’s face briefly lit up at the mention of territory and title, but after a moment of contemplation, he spoke with a smile.

“I’ll pass on Floropel. Give that to Dean. He’ll be thrilled.”

“And what about you?”

“I need to stay by Your Majesty’s side. I’ve heard that emperors are usually protected by something called the Central Knight Order? I’ll be the commander of that Central Knight Order.”

“But still…”

“If you insist, you could give me Karhen, which Count Tenesi used to rule. I could hold both the position of knight commander and a title, right?”

“Are you saying a count’s title would be enough?”

“The title doesn’t matter. I want to be by Your Majesty’s side.”

Finn, who smiled saying he didn’t care as long as he could stay by Divlik’s side, looked out over Hael in the distance behind Divlik and asked.

“Ah. How about we go out to take a look around Hael?”

“Hael?”

“We’ve been cooped up in the castle since we arrived. I’m feeling a bit stuffy, and since you said it might become my territory, I’m curious… Your Majesty should also see how much the city has been restored, and take a look at the land you’ll be ruling when you ascend to the throne.”

Divlik, who had turned to look towards Hael in the distance with an indifferent expression, suddenly lit up his blue eyes for some reason and gave a cold smile.

“Yes. That would be good.”

* * *

Eva, who had recovered some strength after a few days of rest and some food, was sitting in a chair in the bedroom, looking out the window in the distance. Although all that could be seen from here were the trees of the Frentz Mountains, Eva felt a sense of stability in it. Before entering the castle, Eva had lived her entire life surrounded by such vibrant greenery.

When she opened her eyes some time after collapsing in the sky garden, a sigh escaped Eva’s lips as soon as she realized this was the empress’s bedroom.

Why did they send her here instead of the tower?

Why insist on keeping her alive?

Me, who should rightfully be killed.

“Miss Eva. It’s Hannah.”

“Come in.”

Hannah entered with a knock, carrying a black dress, hat, and gloves.

“Miss Eva. How are you feeling today?”

“Much better. It’s all thanks to you, Hannah.”

“Not at all. I’ve only helped with meals a few times. I’d like to help you with walks too, but… they’ve only assigned me as your maid and even told me not to spend too much time with you…”

Hannah had filled the void left by Charlotte. Although, unlike Charlotte who had been with Eva almost constantly except for when they slept, Hannah only came to check on her briefly. Even that much was a great help.

“Those clothes…”

“Lord Divlik is planning to go out to Hael and has requested your company, Miss Eva.”

“My company?”

“Yes. Although he expressed it as a request… he said to hurry if you don’t want to end up like Eileen.”

Hannah trailed off, seemingly afraid that she might suffer the same fate as Eileen. If only I could run away… Eva swallowed her sigh and stood up. In the current situation, it was important not to upset Divlik in any way.

But a black dress with lace up to the neck, how suffocating.

Could it be that Fabian has finally died?