The Beast Bit The Throat of the Late Empress - Chapter 4

Eva blew breath into her hands, stiffened by the cold.

The sun, which had risen high without her noticing, was now past its zenith and the shadows were lengthening. In this manner, the sun had risen and set once, twice, and now for the third time it was setting.

This meant that Eva had been locked in the tower and starved for a full three days.

Hunger was one thing, but for Eva, the cold was more of a problem than hunger in her life in the tower. Although it was said that the days had become much warmer as spring approached, enduring the nights in the tower where sunlight barely reached even during the day was not easy. Eva lit the fireplace for just a brief moment at night using the items in the room. Fortunately, the soldier guarding outside didn’t stop that, and they didn’t take away the blanket that was here, so she could wrap herself in the blanket when sleeping.

But how much longer could she endure?

Eva muttered inwardly, looking at the few remaining books on the bedside table that she had burned. At this rate, she might die from the cold rather than hunger.

Is the conqueror anticipating my defeat by now?

But Eva had no intention of bending her will. Even if she froze to death, she couldn’t, wouldn’t beg for life in his arms.

I’ll die here. That was the only will Eva had left.

Growl.

Despite her firm resolve, Eva let out a hollow laugh at the sound of her body inevitably making her stomach growl loudly. To talk about dying, yet worry about firewood to burn at night.

—Do you even know what death is?

How could I know death? I, who think of death with just this much hunger and cold… how could I know what real death is like? How terrible, how painful real death might be.

That’s why Eva wondered why Divlik, who must have seen so many such deaths, wouldn’t simply kill her.

“I hope Charlotte returned safely…”

As Eva stood under the small window where sunlight barely reached, idly trying to quell her hunger and worrying about Charlotte, at that moment,

“Your Majesty, the Empress.”

Someone called Eva from outside the door.

* * *

It was already suspected from the point when he disappeared leaving the Empress Eva alone, but it seems Fabian truly only thought about saving himself. When the servants remaining in the castle were called to gather in front of the fountain, there appeared to be well over forty who hadn’t managed to escape.

“Is this everyone?”

“Yes. I ordered everyone except the servants serving meals in the dining hall to come here, Lord Divlik.”

The atmosphere was indescribably gloomy. Some maids were already hugging each other and crying, thinking they were going to die due to Divlik’s sudden summons. Divlik couldn’t help but feel contemptuous thinking about how the one called emperor had fled in haste to save his own life without considering anything else.

If even a person like that was called emperor, was the former empress, who said she would face death to maintain her fidelity, perhaps injured in the head? He wondered to that extent.

Has there ever been such a woman? Thinking about it… No, there hasn’t been. Not even one. They all pretended to be in a special relationship, but in the end, they abandoned their men without hesitation to save themselves first. All of them.

Although the days had noticeably lengthened in the few days since they entered the castle, the news Divlik had been waiting for still hadn’t come.

He thought she would come running, not even wearing shoes, before dawn the very next day, saying she would do anything, begging.

“Relay my words to those standing here.”

“Yes, Lord Divlik.”

Everyone trembled in fear at Divlik’s cold expression, but the words Divlik wanted to convey were nothing else.

“Lord Divlik wishes to show mercy! Those who wish to leave the castle may leave!”

Wasn’t this the Blue Wolf who was said to have left pools of blood wherever they passed? The servants all looked at Divlik with surprised expressions.

“Count how many will leave so we can determine how many new servants to hire, and then come back.”

“Yes, Lord Divlik.”

Turning his back on the maids now crying with relief that they would live, Divlik turned around.

Passing through the first-floor lobby of the outer castle adjacent to the fountain and exiting through the back door, a path leading to the inner castle soon appeared. One might have expected a garden in such an open space, but wherever one walked, only hard stone pavement was felt underfoot.

“They should have spent money on things like this.”

After looking around for a few days, Frentz Castle was disgustingly large and filled with all sorts of expensive and fine things. What kind of luxurious appearance would that separate building in the east, which he hadn’t visited yet, have?

The moment he turned his eyes away, a soldier came running out from the entrance of the inner castle.

“Lord Divlik, were you here?”

“What is it?”

“The clothes you ordered have arrived today, they say.”

“Is that so?”

He thought they might finally bring news that the former empress had knelt, but it was completely different news.

Was that it? Was merely starving her for a few days not enough?

Entering the bedroom, several pieces of clothing were neatly placed on the table. Although they said they barely found a tailor after the named tailors had fled with the nobles, the clothes that were brought seemed neater than expected, not appearing to be of poor craftsmanship.

“They’ve already made clothes, you say? It’s fortunate that a quick-handed tailor remained.”

The soldier who had gone out must have relayed the news, as not long after, Finn entered the reception room with a broad smile. It was Finn who had hurried to have new clothes made, though there was originally no rush. Urging Divlik to try them on right away, Divlik had no choice but to change clothes on the spot.

“It suits you well. Are you pleased with it, Lord Divlik?”

“It seems fine. Make sure to pay the tailor an appropriate price.”

“Yes, Lord Divlik.”

For a long time after that, Divlik couldn’t leave the mirror.

There was once a time when neat clothes like these were all he had, but he couldn’t remember when armor and such had become familiar, it felt indescribably awkward. After carefully buttoning up his shirt and checking his appearance, Divlik looked at Finn through the mirror.

“How many new servants do we need to hire?”

“Ah…”

Unlike Divlik’s awkwardness, the smile immediately disappeared from Finn’s face, who had been looking at Divlik with satisfaction. Finn hesitated with an expression of utter disbelief before finally opening his mouth.

“Well… we don’t need to hire any new ones.”

“What…?”

One of Divlik’s narrowly opened eyes froze. Finn answered while watching Divlik’s reaction.

“They say, with their Empress in the castle, where would they go… If they can work as before, they want to remain in the castle.”

Staying in a castle conquered by an invader meant that one’s life was not guaranteed. Yet still.

“You’re saying… not even a single person wanted to leave?”

“Yes. Among the maids, some even asked to be allowed to take the Former Empress with them if they were to be sent away. In this atmosphere… probably even if we asked the servants serving meals, it would be the same.”

It wasn’t that they couldn’t escape, but that they chose not to escape. Divlik gritted his teeth loudly, seemingly displeased with their loyalty to Eva.

“So she was such a respected and loved Empress. Should I applaud?”

Divlik laughed with a not at all pleased face, then asked with sharp, glinting eyes.

“So, is our beloved Former Empress, whom everyone loves so much, still holding out?”

* * *

When the tower door that seemed like it would never open until the moment of death opened, instead of the soldiers who should have been guarding the front, a familiar face entered Eva’s sight. It was Eileen, whose hair had turned so white that one couldn’t tell what her original hair color might have been.

“What brings you here, Eileen?”

“What else could it be, Your Majesty? Of course, I came to bring you something to eat. The soldiers who were taking turns guarding this place all went down to the dining hall together today, so I thought there would be no one guarding the door and rushed here. To see you so thin, really…”

Eileen, who first wiped away tears at the sight of Eva who had grown thin in just a few days, took out a loaf of bread from her pocket. When she removed the cloth wrapping the bread, a warm steam rose along with the savory smell of butter, as if it had just been baked.

“Please eat quickly, Your Majesty. I hid the biggest loaf and brought it. How hungry you must have been all this time. Those wretches… how could they treat Your Majesty the Empress like this.”

“Eileen…”

With the smell of bread tickling her nose, Eva desperately wanted to stuff that bread into her mouth right away. But Eva slowly shook her head, averting her eyes from the bread Eileen was holding out.

“I’m fine, Eileen. Please take the bread and go back quickly.”

“How could you be fine? You haven’t eaten anything for three days straight. Please eat quickly.”

“No. The conqueror is bound to notice if I’ve eaten something. If this is discovered, your life will be in danger.”

“Don’t say such things and please eat quickly. The other soldiers seemed busy calling the servants out. Of the many soldiers that were here, only about twenty remain, yet they’re still eating as if raiding the food storage. Who would notice if one loaf of bread disappeared from there? It’s at times like these that you need to eat to endure, Your Majesty.”

If you ask if she wavered, she did waver. Although she had resolved to die, the sensation of her stomach shrinking and sticking to her back was different.

But whether it would be discovered or not was beside the point. Eva didn’t want to use this kind of expedient. Also, her answer that she would rather die than serve him in bed was sincere, without need for reconsideration. She would die. Eva had no other choice.

“I can’t do that, Eileen.”

“Yes. I understand, Your Majesty. You think that even such a person should keep their promise, don’t you? But what use is all that if you die? Now is not the time to say such things. After watching for three days straight for when no one would be here, we finally have a chance. You must eat, even if it’s to protect Your Majesty’s honor to the end.”

But despite Eva’s refusal, Eileen continued to push the bread towards Eva.

“It can’t be done. Eileen, please take the bread and go down quickly. If someone comes while we’re like this… Haven’t you heard? The Blue Wolf are cruel people. If they find out we disobeyed their leader’s order, neither of us will be safe.”

Knowing that Eva wouldn’t budge at this rate, Eileen tried to persuade Eva by bringing up past events.

“Your Majesty. You know, don’t you? I would already be dead if it weren’t for Your Majesty. When His Majesty the Emperor was going to kill me for breaking a plate he cherished, Your Majesty took pity on me and saved me, allowing me to live until now.”

“But you were still expelled from the kitchen.”

“How can that compare to dying? In any case, living like that, whether it’s thanks to or because of the Blue Wolf army, we’re short-handed and I’ve started to get flour on my hands again, but to think I can’t give the bread I’ve baked to Your Majesty. This cannot be.”

“Eileen…”

As Eva was tearing up for a moment, grateful for Eileen’s words that conveyed her sincerity, a familiar male voice was heard from the direction of the stairs.

“It cannot be, you say? It seems you don’t value your life.”

A sizzling voice, it was Divlik.

Realizing Divlik’s presence, Eva knelt on the floor and prostrated herself flat before Divlik’s figure was even visible.

“It’s a mistake committed out of habit as one who served! As one who served! Please spare my life!”

“Eek…!”

At the same time, Eileen also hurriedly gasped and prostrated herself on the floor. Just because she came running out of concern for Eva didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid of death.

“What is this… I wondered how you were enduring so well. To think you were secretly eating something like this. Pay for the crime of disobeying Lord Divlik’s orders with your life!”

Finn, who had stepped onto the last stair a beat behind Divlik, saw the bread in the maid’s hand and immediately drew his sword, stepping forward.