“Didn’t you say I would give permission?”

“Yes. That’s what you said. You told me Lord Divlik would grant permission if I asked him and to take good care of them.”

“Isn’t that the same thing? Former Empress. Who gave you permission to speak on my behalf and presume my judgment? Didn’t I clearly state that you need my permission even to breathe?”

Divlik emphasized each word, displaying his anger with all his might. Eva, knowing she needed to say something, clutched her dress with hands that barely moved. Angry at herself for feeling afraid now, she gathered her weakened resolve and slowly opened her mouth.

“I heard you clearly. I heard and still did this. So, you may withdraw it now. The mercy you once showed me.”

Hannah and Esther, who weren’t present when Eva first met Divlik, didn’t understand what she meant, but Finn, who stood silently beside Divlik, and Divlik himself understood exactly what Eva meant.

Eva was asking to be killed again. She’s deliberately trying to die by saying this.

By admitting she had deliberately disobeyed Divlik’s words.

Clang.

As soon as the sword clattered to the floor, Divlik’s hand gripped Eva’s chin. He pressed his lips against hers and mercilessly bit her lower lip.

“Who gives you the right to die? Do I really need to cut off your ear for you to understand properly?”

With a low moan, a trickle of blood flowed from Eva’s lower lip. Divlik licked the flowing blood and pushed his tongue between Eva’s parted lips. A bitter taste spread in Eva’s mouth as blood mixed with saliva.

“How much more will you provoke me? Have you already forgotten what I said just recently? Didn’t you say you wanted to see? To see when this woman was ever an Empress.”

Eva despaired at the possibility that the words she had forcibly made up that night might have ignited Divlik’s stubbornness. The option of killing Eva that might have remained in Divlik’s mind seemed to have completely disappeared.

“Do you think I would let you die because you believe it’s beneath you to be embraced by someone like me?”

As if confirming Eva’s prediction, Divlik pulled his lips from hers and, just like the day he first met Eva, stared at every corner of her face as if he would devour her.

“Would you come to my bed if I allow that person to plant peach trees?”

“I cannot.”

“What if I say I’ll kill that person?”

Instead of answering, Eva bit her lip tightly, then let out a weak moan from the resulting pain. Divlik licked the blood seeping from Eva’s lips again and muttered in a voice too small for anyone else to hear.

“Ah, yes. You said it was not only your love for Fabian but also your hate for me that made you act this way?”

As if wounded by those words, Divlik let out an empty laugh and stepped back.

“You asked me to withdraw my mercy? You don’t seem to understand exactly what mercy I’ve shown you. Did you think it was just sparing your life?”

While Eva was confused about what else it could be, Divlik called for Finn.

“Finn.”

“Yes, Lord Divlik.”

“She claims to understand her position, but she clearly doesn’t. I need to give her more time to think. Place the former Empress in front of the fountain.”

As soon as the order was given, Finn grabbed Eva’s arm and pulled her away. From behind, she could hear Esther and Hannah crying and begging for reconsideration, but Eva couldn’t look back.

Not for that reason alone. She feared that those words—that it wasn’t just for that reason—words that would only give false hope, words that wouldn’t matter if she wasn’t going to share Divlik’s bed anyway, might escape her lips.

* * *

“Is that woman really the former Empress?”

“That’s right.”

Standing blindfolded in front of the fountain for less than half a day, Eva easily understood what other mercy Divlik had supposedly granted her. It was something she hadn’t realized because she’d been isolated from people’s gazes, first in the tower for a week, then confined to her bedroom.

As soon as Eva stood alone where everyone could see her, sticky gazes and explicit words followed.

“I can see why Lord Divlik kept her alive. She’s pretty. And her figure…… look at those br*asts. They wouldn’t even fit in one hand.”

“I wonder if a woman like that moans in bed?”

“Of course. Nobles are usually more passionate. If you grab that slender waist with both hands and thrust hard, she’ll probably whimper with pleasure.”

“Lord Divlik must be happy. He’ll have her in his bed every night.”

“Is that why he’s been so busy? Damn. If he was going to put her there anyway, he should have stripped her first.”

“If he gets tired of her, will we get a chance?”

After a victory in war, how to reward the soldiers who fought hard was entirely up to the leader.

“Are we the same as Lord Divlik? Besides, she was the Empress. Of course she’s a woman Lord Divlik should take.”

“That’s true, but we’re complaining because he hasn’t let us touch any women.”

Divlik’s words meant that he could have thrown her to these men like feeding animals, but he didn’t. Some might be horrified at how such a terrible thing could happen, but across the sea on the Ikern continent, it was commonplace. Sharing the leader’s trophy meant acknowledging that they had reached this point not by the leader’s strength alone but with everyone’s help.

Eva had never heard of such things happening here on the Bern continent, but it was their conquered land now. If the victors abandoned morality and did worse things, no one could stop them.

—I never had any particular honor to protect in the first place.

Moreover, the Blue Wolves, whose leader’s origins were unclear, didn’t even have honor to protect.

“Still, I hope he gets tired of her soon and throws her to us.”

“You want to use what Lord Divlik has used and discarded?”

“Don’t you? With a face and body like that…… Look. Just seeing her face, I can tell her entire body must be as white and firm as a peeled boiled egg. Who cares if someone else used her first?”

“True. When else would we get to touch a noble woman like that?”

Because everyone had to pass by the fountain whether moving inside the castle or going outside, Eva, standing there, became a spectacle for the soldiers. Without lowering their voices, soldiers passing by Eva spouted all kinds of lewd talk, and some even stopped to stare at her up close for a long time.

“Come look at this. You can see her br*asts a bit.”

“They’re so firm. We can’t touch them, right? Damn. My lower body is killing me.”

“You crazy bastard. What are you thinking of touching here? If you’re that aroused, go take care of it somewhere private!”

Some men touched their lower parts, saying they had something to comfort themselves with tonight.

Of course, while gazes and words were exchanged, no one approached Eva even by accident. To those who believed Divlik had already taken Eva, that would be like coveting what belonged to their lord.

“Do you understand what mercy you received?” The meaning of placing her here without explaining in words probably included a warning that this could still happen. Whether she would endure this humiliation or undress only in front of him.

Eva gripped the collar of her dress with her hands hanging down.

—What if I said I would gladly kill you if you let me embrace you?

Even if he was determined to keep her alive and see her at her lowest, would that offer still be valid? If the conclusion was ending up in his arms as Divlik said, what was the point of resisting any longer? Perhaps…… she should pretend to break down. But would that work?

—I was the Empress. Only Emperor Fabian can embrace me.

The reason Divlik wasn’t greatly moved by those words might be because he saw through her obvious ploy. He was too clever to fall for the shallow trick of a desperate woman who just wanted to die and end it all.

—I don’t know how you think I got this far. Former Empress.

The days he walked to reach this position must not have been easy.

—Ah, yes. You said it was because you hate me?

Even though he didn’t fall for it, he pretended to believe her words and acted hurt, then used that ploy to justify keeping her alive. Divlik must have seen much darkness that was better left unseen.

“What’s with the weather?”

“It seemed like spring was coming, but is it winter again?”

Though it was time for the sun to be high, the air grew even colder. The wind gradually strengthened, and a fishy smell like wet soil circled around her nose. When Eva wrapped her trembling body with her arms and raised her head, a raindrop fell on her cheek as if it had been waiting.

“Ugh! What’s with this sudden rain!”

“Stop watching and come inside!”

The single raindrop that touched her cheek became two, and two became dozens. Even as they multiplied too quickly to count, Eva continued to look up at the sky. A sky she couldn’t see because her eyes were covered.