His expectations shattered, anger rose. He had exercised patience as emperor, yet couldn’t tolerate a result contrary to his wishes.

Sensing the emperor’s ominous aura, one of the two consorts, who had served at his side for quite some time, quickly moved away. The other wasn’t so fortunate. As the illegitimate daughter of a high nobleman from a small country who had been offered to the emperor’s rear palace not long ago, she lacked experience. Half-n*ked on the emperor’s lap, she only tried to move away after seeing the other consort’s signal, but accidentally stepped on the emperor’s foot.

‘F-Forgive me.’

The woman offered to the emperor’s rear palace was beautiful and delicate like an actual flower. Forced into the emperor’s rear palace with her lover’s life held hostage, she had lost even more weight from the forced smiles she put on while living shamefully in a foreign land.

How much could it hurt when someone so frail stepped on his foot? Even strangers would overlook such a thing. But the brutal emperor, who never considered those he touched as human beings, immediately began venting his anger.

Slap.

“Aack!”

“D*mn wench! How dare someone like you step on my foot? I’ll fix your manners today!”

Starting with a slap to her cheek, the emperor began stomping on the fallen consort. The sight of him beating a fragile woman made him appear less than human, let alone a supreme emperor. Even his appearance, inherited from his mother who had been the previous emperor’s consort, lost its luster due to his ugly behavior.

“Y-Your Majesty! Aack!”

The woman dragged in as a broken flower became a mess in an instant. Boot marks covered her body, and blood began to appear from the excessive violence.

But no one dared to stop the emperor or even approach him. The other consort, who had witnessed such scenes multiple times, stood pale at the sight that could be her own future, while the servants stepped back to avoid any trouble. Count Wibly, the Sedas envoy who had been dragged along as the emperor’s conversation partner, opened his eyes wide before lowering his head, pretending not to see.

With everyone’s neglect, another consort became a sacrificial lamb. After exercising violence until she could barely breathe, making only groans instead of words, the emperor spat on her and ordered,

“Drag her away and beat her until she dies. And tell the land that sent her to send a replacement. Tell them to consider what will happen if they’re late.”

The emperor spoke without a shred of mercy. Two servants dragged away the bloodied woman.

Thud. In the garden that had become so quiet after the bloody storm that even breathing could be heard, someone fell. The emperor turned his head at the sound, which seemed louder in the absence of any wind.

Beyond the iron bars between his garden and the temple garden, he spotted a group of women. Three wore priestess attire, while one was dressed so poorly she might be mistaken for a mere maid in the imperial palace. But her appearance that caught his eye at once was certainly not that of a common maid.

“That wench is……”

The emperor immediately recognized Yerena. He frowned deeply. The thought that this woman had ruined his day dominated his mind. How dare this object offered to him come with a filthy curse attached—the emperor wore a vicious expression as if about to pounce on Yerena.

“You dare spy on the emperor? Bring her here at once…!”

Just as the emperor was about to explode in anger again, finding fault with Yerena who couldn’t see, the priestesses caught his eye. Particularly, the blindfolded one among them was the high-ranking priestess Alicia, whom even the emperor knew well. Having witnessed her holy power before, he barely controlled his boiling emotions and murmured about the goddess.

“Goddess of Light.”

Completely forgetting that he had just ordered someone’s death, the emperor became a faithful believer, praising the goddess’s mercy. Then he asked Alicia in an irritated voice,

“Is her curse still not lifted?”

“Great sun of the empire. I am honored to meet Your Majesty the Emperor. Yes, Your Majesty. The high priest informed me that more time is needed.”

Alicia greeted the emperor and responded calmly. By then, Yerena had risen with Juul and Jael’s support and, with their help, bowed slightly toward the emperor, murmuring a greeting in a small voice,

“G-Great sun of the e-empire… I am honored to meet Your Majesty the Emperor.”

Perhaps due to the shock of the violence she had just witnessed with her ears, her greeting was awkward. But the emperor paid no attention and examined Yerena thoroughly from bottom to top.

‘It would be a waste to kill her after all.’

Though he thought about immediately disposing of this filthy cursed object, seeing her face quickly changed his mind. Even the empress Liliana, praised for her beauty, would be overshadowed standing next to the Sedas princess. Looking at her carefully, he hardly cared that she was blind. In fact, it made her more appealing as a beauty he had never seen before.

‘Just wait until you enter my bedroom. I’ll personally beat you and completely wash away today’s mood.’

Having decided not to kill her, his resentment doubled. It seemed as though this object, which he should be able to take immediately, was taunting him, the emperor.

“Filthy thing!”

The emperor spat toward Yerena while cursing. Yerena, who had barely stood up, froze at the emperor’s anger directed at her.

Feeling the other’s fear of him, the emperor felt his mood lighten somewhat. Then, a sudden thought made him step back and shout at Alicia,

“Priestess! You are containing her curse properly, aren’t you?”

Alicia only bowed deeper without responding. The emperor covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve and turned away. Then he pointed at Count Wibly, the Sedas envoy who had caught his eye.

“You!”

Startled by the emperor’s sudden call, Count Wibly rushed over. The emperor berated the groveling man,

“What are you doing? Not kneeling!”

“Y-Your Majesty the Emperor.”

Count Wibly’s face turned black. Not knowing his mistake, he knelt and bowed his head deeply.

“Don’t you understand that it’s Sedas Kingdom’s fault?”

“What do you mean……”

“What I wanted was a clean object! Not a cripple with a filthy curse attached!”

“……”

“How dare you brazenly show your face before me after sending an item I can’t even use immediately as war spoils! Do you think I’ll forget Sedas’s impudence just because you brought tribute?”

“Forgive… Forgive me……”

It was an utterly absurd anger. But Count Wibly, thinking his head might roll, merely rubbed his hands like a fly.

“I should kill you to vent this anger……”

The emperor was about to pour his wrath on him but stopped, remembering the priestesses. He rubbed his forehead and exhaled deeply.

“Being in the same space as that filthy thing almost made me commit a sin as well. I’m going to the temple. Call the high priest. I need a purification ritual.”

After glaring at Yerena one last time, the emperor walked away. The servants followed him in a line.

A little later, the emperor’s footsteps completely disappeared. Count Wibly, who had been prostrating himself and trembling in fear of death, finally rose.

“Princess……”

After looking around, Count Wibly spotted Yerena beyond the iron bars and called to her. When Yerena slightly raised her head, he moved closer to her. Finding the iron bars in the way, he made a slightly troubled face before speaking to her,

“The Queen Dowager ordered me to deliver a letter to you.”

“Queen Dowager……”

Yerena, who had been pale-faced, narrowed her brow after a long moment. Queen Dowager? That must refer to Bianca, the mother of Sedas’s new king, Brick.

Her mother’s final moments flashed before her, making her teeth chatter. But Yerena barely suppressed it, held onto her dizzy mind, and extended her hand.

However, Count Wibly didn’t hand over the letter. As Yerena waited with a puzzled face, he cleared his throat a couple of times and raised his head.

“Well… Since you cannot see, princess, you might lose the letter, so the Queen Dowager ordered me to read it to you directly when I met you.”

Count Wibly had already changed. The flattering behavior he had shown to the emperor just moments ago had completely vanished.

“Then read it quickly.”

“You don’t seem particularly busy, so why the rush……”

With an arrogant face, he looked at the princess and loudly unfolded the letter. Then, with malicious eyes, he began reading the rather long letter.

* * *

“Sedas…… I, I was wrong. Forgive me. Mother, I……”

The princess, who had returned to the tower, began falling seriously ill. With fever rising throughout her body, she spoke deliriously, tears flowing ceaselessly from her face.

“What are you looking at? Do what you can.”

“……It’s difficult right now.”

Seeing her concerning state, Roshan ordered Alicia to use her holy power. But Alicia shook her head, saying she couldn’t use sufficient holy power immediately. After using holy power on Yerena a few days ago, she had spent most of it on the emperor and several high nobles by the high priest’s order.

“By His Highness’s command, look after the princess properly. And if you speak of what happened here to anyone outside or violate the caution I’ve advised, you’ll no longer be able to care for patients with those hands.”

Eventually, Frederick, who had received Roshan’s order, secretly brought a physician to the tower. Silenced, the physician took charge of examining Yerena under the watchful red eyes that seemed to monitor him.

“Well… Her body is weak, and she seems to have suffered a great shock.”

The physician couldn’t perform miracles like Alicia with her holy power, but he excelled at finding the causes of patients’ illnesses. He pointed out Yerena’s already weak physical condition and indicated one wound.

“This wound on her palm is the problem.”

It was a small wound. Not very wide or deep—the kind of scratch that might occur several times a day on a battlefield.

With proper disinfection and care, it wouldn’t cause problems even in a dirty battlefield. But the wound on Yerena’s palm, who lived in a clean place, had festered and become inflamed.