“I don’t understand why I should bestow upon others the mercy that was never once given to me.”

Within Divlik’s sharp, piercing, and frozen words mixed an inexplicable lamentation.

Eva couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t even imagine what kind of life this man had lived—this man with a voice that had lost its original sound, who had declared that she didn’t know what death was.

Eva could only guess at the strange obsession toward her, the master of the castle which was the final destination of his conquest, and the depth of his desire for her submission, by comparing it to the years she had endured.

Was that it? Was it still not enough? Taking her for granted, promising the future—was that endlessly insufficient?

Divlik released Eileen’s neck and stood right next to Eva in one stride. Their gazes, looking in opposite directions, crossed in empty space. Stopping there, Divlik whispered near Eva’s ear.

“The cloak wasn’t burned by fire, was it.”

Eva felt her heart sink in that moment.

“Why are you lying, deposed empress.”

“If you say I’m lying……”

Could Fabian have been caught?

Though Eva thought from the beginning that Divlik knew something had happened to the cloak, she couldn’t understand how he was so certain about the way it had disappeared. Eva pretended ignorance and asked. There was too little information about how much Divlik knew to explain the whole situation here.

Telling Divlik about Fabian’s appearance would be like putting her neck before a sharpened blade when he was already furious. If only she could offer her neck to the blade, that would have been better.

“Before I came here, I found the embroidered cloth torn to pieces near the window of your bedroom…… yet you say it burned in a fire.”

The current Divlik seemed capable of killing everyone standing here without reason, if only to see Eva screaming in pain. His anger was that extraordinary.

The emotion transmitted clearly was that he wanted so badly to kill Eva but killing her simply wouldn’t be satisfying enough, driving him mad with rage and confusion.

“Your lie means you know who tore that cloth. Who is it? Who dared to touch what is mine?”

Eva couldn’t tell the truth. She didn’t even know about the secret passage Fabian had mentioned. If she rashly brought up Fabian and they couldn’t find the passage, someone innocent might be blamed for secretly letting Fabian into the castle.

Yet the possibility of Eva taking all the blame and dying was also slim. Unless she had acted like his tongue in his mouth from the beginning, a lie about communicating with Fabian, staying in the castle for that reason, and refusing to share his bed until now wouldn’t work.

“I…… I did it.”

Bringing up Fabian carelessly would only make matters worse. Eva took a deep breath and answered with a resolute voice.

“My fingers hurt from working on it for so long without knowing when it would end, and I was angry about making a cloak for a stranger instead of for my son. This morning when I opened my eyes, I felt miserable about my situation—having to follow Lord Divlik’s orders, unable even to die—so I did it.”

This was the only method and conclusion left for Eva. Everyone present already believed she had spent the night with Divlik. That Divlik had finally obtained Eva’s—the empress of Yarden—surrender. In this situation, Divlik had no reason to ignore another attempt to belittle him.

“You worked so diligently on the embroidery for a week, then suddenly felt miserable about your situation and tore it up? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes.”

Divlik laughed as if he found it absurd.

“I wonder if you think I would believe such a thing, or what you take me for to tell such a lie, but truly, I don’t understand. When I try to laugh it off, you act as if it’s the truth, sometimes trying to please me, other times deceiving me like this…… Tell me. What was your real reason for refusing to share my bed until the end?”

Divlik let out a hollow laugh that escaped between his lips before continuing.

“Was it love for Fabian? Or aversion to me? Or both? Or perhaps none of it was a lie? Do you possess any truth at all? What did you ultimately hope to gain by protecting your body?”

His voice revealed confusion as he rambled on, showing that his statement about not understanding Eva’s actions wasn’t just idle talk—her behavior increasingly baffled him.

“Look at this, Finn. The deposed empress still wants to die, she’s desperate to die. What should I do? Should I grant her wish and kill her?”

“Do as you wish, Lord Divlik.”

“Kill me! I am the one who offended you, Lord Divlik!”

Eileen, who hadn’t properly heard the whispered conversation between them, stepped forward asking to be killed. Eva shouted as soon as Eileen finished speaking.

“No, Lord Divlik! Kill me! Whoever tore that cloth, it’s all my fault, including my failure to properly control my servants!”

With each word spoken, the anger that had been emanating from Divlik’s body like flickering flames exploded.

A strong force grabbed Eva’s hair. Simultaneously, the sound of several plates crashing to the floor echoed. Instead of the tableware that Divlik had swept away with his arm, Eva’s upper body now occupied part of the table.

“Eva!!!!”

Before anyone could realize what was happening, Divlik pulled up the hem of Eva’s dress as she lay bent over the table. Just as the shocked Finn shouted for everyone to leave the dining hall, and as the undergarments beneath Eva’s dress were about to be pulled down—

Thunk. Eva felt something being stabbed into Divlik’s side behind her.

“Lord Divlik! You really!!”

What Finn pulled from Divlik’s side and threw to the floor was the small knife used to cut meat.

The sound of a slap and Eileen’s scream followed in succession. Eileen, unable to simply watch what was happening to Eva, had finally caused this commotion.

Drip, drip. Blood fell onto Eva’s dress, but Divlik showed no intention of removing his body pressed against hers.

“I thought, that can’t be, it’s impossible, but deposed empress,”

After the momentary burst of anger subsided, what remained in Divlik’s voice was darkness that had sunk to unfathomable depths.

“So it wasn’t that you didn’t want to betray your love, nor that you wanted to avoid the shame of being taken by someone like me. You truly…… wanted to die.”

That would make sense, he said; all that struggle was for death. The hollow sound of Divlik’s laughter, still unable to believe it, echoed in Eva’s ear.

“But…… what did I tell you? I told you not to think of escaping through death, didn’t I, deposed empress. No, I’ll stop calling you that name now. Even with the word ‘deposed’ attached, it’s become unpleasant to even utter the word ’empress’ toward you. You’re determined to make me into this beast……”

Amid the chaos—Finn shouting, Eileen being dragged away, someone crying while clearing plates—Divlik’s voice, filled with silence, reached Eva’s ears distinctly.

“Your appearance last night was truly pleasing to see, Eva. If it wasn’t because of the drug, that is. Won’t you show me that appearance once more?”

“What……?”

“I’m giving you one last chance with several lives at stake. From the beginning, what I wanted was your submission. You must show me that. Will you become a beast like me, if only for that moment?”

In that position, Divlik bit Eva’s neck with such force it seemed he might tear it apart. When Eva let out a death scream from the worst pain she had ever felt, Divlik smiled with satisfaction.

“From this moment on, it’s your turn to be desperate. Try to seduce me as if you desire me, as if you’ve gone mad with wanting me. Make me breathless with your gestures and movements. Make me so captivated that I can’t even think of you as a trophy.”

“Seduce you? Didn’t you say you disliked women who desired you, Lord Divlik?”

“Exactly. You don’t want me for any reason. A deposed empress who must seduce me without any feelings and satisfy me. What greater humiliation could there be?”

“Seduction, that is……”

“I’ll give you today and tomorrow. If you satisfy me during that time, I might consider sparing that woman who stabbed me. If you fail to use even this opportunity properly, you’ll have to see my cruelty, which you’ve only heard about in rumors, while still alive.”

“Divlik……”

Divlik disappeared from the dining hall without listening to Eva’s words to the end, and Eva sank helplessly to the floor.

Seduce a man and satisfy him—how?

Beyond whether she wanted to seduce Divlik or not, Eva didn’t even know how to do it.

At this rate, servants’ heads would fall every day in this castle.