The Beast Bit The Throat of the Late Empress - Chapter 3

Finn and the other soldiers, who had been watching the scene thinking, ‘Is our lord trying to kill the Former Empress by biting her neck?’, couldn’t help but swallow dry saliva as they witnessed Divlik licking Eva’s neck afterwards.

It was because that cruel act, stained with blood, felt strangely erotic in some parts. The sight of Eva gradually being stained with blood according to the movement of Divlik’s lips evoked an indescribable sense of blasphemy. Would it be an exaggeration to say that Eva’s delicate body, trembling perhaps from pain, looked similar to a woman trembling in a man’s arms on a bed?

“You said you wanted to die, but you’re shaking in pain from just this much.”

After finally nibbling on Eva’s earlobe, Divlik removed his lips from Eva’s face. While staring at the black darkness spread out before him, Divlik whispered in Eva’s ear.

“It would be right to cut your neck here and now, but then you’d be revered as an excellent Empress who maintained her fidelity to the Emperor. Do you think I would stand by and watch a worthless Former Empress, who can’t even protect herself, receive such praise?”

Divlik picked up the coat that had fallen at Eva’s feet, roughly wiped the blood from his lips, and carelessly threw the coat over Eva’s head.

“However, I haven’t given you permission to feel relieved in front of me.”

As he slowly straightened his legs and stood up, looking at the coat carelessly draped over Eva’s head and shoulders, Divlik suddenly changed his demeanor at Eva’s momentary sigh and mercilessly grasped her chin.

Not stopping there, he bent down and pulled Eva’s face close enough to feel his breath. His face, contorted, fully revealed the hostility he had been hiding until now.

“Very well, Former Empress. Let’s see how long you can endure.”

As if leaving clear teeth marks on her neck wasn’t enough, Divlik’s blue eyes flickered like a beast before its prey as they passed over Eva’s nose, Eva’s lips, every corner of her face. It looked as if he might open his mouth and tear off a piece of Eva’s face at any moment.

“Yes. You can’t simply crumble so easily. How did I endure those harsh years to come this far? If the Former Empress, my last opponent at the end of the war, were to simply kneel before me and lick my feet, it would make all the effort I put into getting here feel meaningless.”

It’s become more interesting, Divlik smiled and calmly hid his expression. But even amidst that, Divlik’s enormous body, which seemed several times larger than Eva’s, still overflowed with a chilling anger that heavily pressed down on the air.

Eva felt like she would suffocate from the pain in her neck combined with the pressure of that anger. Already with her shoulders pinned down by the men on either side, Eva was struggling to breathe as her face was forcibly pulled up by Divlik’s hand.

Unable to endure any longer, Eva began to cough and choke. Seeing Eva in this state, Divlik pushed away her chin as if throwing away an object and stood up completely.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

As Eva’s body heaved greatly, trying to catch her breath all at once, Divlik laughed loudly.

“Look at this. You can’t even endure this much and look like you’re about to die, yet you ask to be killed? Do you even know what death is?”

‘Hahaha.’ Divlik, who had been laughing loudly, suddenly hid all outwardly visible sounds and emotions.

“Listen well, Former Empress.”

With a resolute and cold voice that left no room for doubt, Divlik once again clearly stated his intentions.

“I am a person who gets what I want by any means necessary. You may want death, but I don’t want your death. I want you in my arms, so in the end, you will have to live and give me what I want.”

You can’t escape even through death, Divlik declared. Even at these words of Divlik that determined her fate, Eva didn’t seem to even consider wavering. She soon steadied her breath and even stopped the visible trembling of her body.

Despite having her lifeline completely in his grasp, even in this bloodied state, does she intend to remain an Empress until the end?

Divlik’s brow furrowed slightly.

“It seems the Former Empress has forgotten her position. I should help her realize that she is no longer an Empress.”

“What? You’re going to let her live?”

Finn asked in surprise. To show such mercy, to this extent… Divlik had never before spared anyone who opposed his will on the way here.

Divlik said, twisting his face full of killing intent.

“Doesn’t she say she wants to die? So we must keep her alive.”

“Then…”

“Yes. I want to see it. Isn’t it interesting that she says she’ll throw away her life for fidelity to her lord? We can’t just let people like empresses or noble ladies—who don’t even know what death is, let alone have ever properly gotten blood on their hands—die while pretending to be noble beings.”

Divlik looked down at Eva kneeling on the floor, chewing his lips several times.

“Let’s see. Whether you can still say such things so nonchalantly when death is right in front of you.”

Feeling Eva’s eyes directed at him from behind the blindfold, Divlik ordered Finn in a cold voice.

“Lock the Former Empress in the tower and don’t give her any food except water until I give further instructions.”

“Yes! Lord Divlik!”

* * *

“Get in!”

In the tower at the north end of Frentz Castle. Finn opened the door of a small room where sunlight barely reached and shoved Eva inside as if throwing her away.

“Serves you right. Not knowing how terrifying Lord Divlik is. Fidelity? Seems like you wanted to keep playing Empress till the end, but you’ll have to suffer here starving for a while. Then you’ll learn that dying isn’t such an easy thing, and how much overflowing mercy Lord Divlik has shown you.”

Still not satisfied, Finn slammed the door shut with all his might. Eva, who had fallen to the floor, only removed the black cloth covering her eyes after the footsteps had faded away.

Left alone, a chill penetrated to her bones. Eva hurriedly secured the coat that had fallen beside her and tied the waist belt, but the cold that filled her body wouldn’t easily dissipate.

“Aaargh!”

“Don’t run away, fight to the end!”

“Over here!”

Through the small window under the roof that narrowed towards the top, the voices of the knights still fighting against the Blue Wolf army could be heard. They were resisting to the end, perhaps unaware that it was already futile.

“You should have at least made a declaration of surrender before fleeing, Lord Fabian…”

Fabian, who had never been much of an emperor, was not much of an emperor even in this final moment. Even though the lives that would vanish without value were regrettable, Eva too could not protect them. Because now, Eva was no longer an empress or anything else.

“Why am I alive…”

I should have already died. Before suffering from the fact that no one could be protected even as people died, at the moment I could no longer be an empress, I should have died along with those people dying out there, but…

Yes, even the comfortable death that comes without time to worry must be a luxury for a sinful human.

Eva raised her dim eyes to look up at the window. The moon was still there, not losing its light regardless of what scene was unfolding below it.

Feeling the moonlight touching her body, Eva grasped the carpet with all her might. She had no intention of begging for her life by offering her body, rather… She was only worried that she might end up wanting to cling pathetically after enduring like this, that she might want to say anything.

Don’t waver, endure, bear it. Eva didn’t forget her resolve to endure no matter what time awaited her, even as her body shivered from the cold.

I will die. As the former empress who has lost everything, in this darkness where the moon shines…

* * *

The young maids, though terrified and crying, continued to prepare the bed, laying new bedsheets and fluffing pillows. It was the emperor’s bed that Fabian would have used until yesterday. Standing far from them, looking out the window, was Divlik with Finn keeping his place by his side.

“We’ve captured all the knights who were guarding the castle. We had no choice with those who resisted to the end, but we tried to minimize casualties. Meanwhile, we mobilized the soldiers who entered the castle first to search the entire place, but we couldn’t find Fabian. It seems he escaped while we were fighting in Hael city. There are no horses in the stable, no carriages, and the usually locked side gate behind the castle was open.”

Finn continued his report without pause, but Divlik, staring blankly out the window, didn’t hear a word of it.

—I wish for death.

She wants to die? He never thought such an answer would come. Even if she was prepared to die the moment the castle fell because she was the empress, when he so blatantly offered to spare her life, he thought she would naturally cling to him, crying and willing to do anything. More precisely, that’s how it should have been.

“Lord Divlik?”

“I’m listening.”

“Ah, I’ve talked too much again. It’s something that could wait until tomorrow… I won’t bother you anymore. Please rest well today. You should enjoy this rare moment of leisure. I’ll have the servants prepare a bath first.”

Divlik was about to ask Finn how Eva was doing now as he was leaving the bedroom, but he stopped himself. If Eva had begged, saying she had been mistaken, even just before being locked in the tower, Finn would have mentioned that first.

“We’ve finished preparing the bed, Lord Divlik.”

“Everyone, leave.”

“Yes.”

After dismissing everyone, Divlik flopped down on the bed. As Finn said, he could barely remember how long it had been since he had such leisure.

“Was a bed always this soft?”

It was a bed so comfortable that his body sank into it, feeling like he might fall asleep automatically. Not only the feel of such a bed, but the space large enough to easily accommodate fifty soldiers, with everything from curtains to the vase on the window table not carelessly placed. The empress’s bedroom would be similar, so just entering a narrow and worn-out space would make one catch their breath.

She didn’t beg… because she didn’t beg, she’s not here.

“Even so.”

Even so, even so…

When the time comes that she’s driven from her place in an instant and this luxury becomes a distant dream, her thoughts will change. His laughter was full of frost. She might seek my embrace, unable to overcome this cold, let alone hunger.

“Don’t put on unnecessary pride.”

She won’t be able to regain even half of the pride she showed without the ability to protect it. A smile leaked out involuntarily at the anticipation of seeing the former empress beautifully broken before long. Sitting up, Divlik glared at the bedroom door while feeling the faint taste of Eva’s blood still in his mouth.

Come on, run here and willingly fall into my arms. As if you’ve completely forgotten your lord.