With a deafening roar, Charles’s world turned upside down. He couldn’t make sense of what was happening.
“Ah, aaaaah—!”
Pain shot through his body, tearing a scream from his throat. By the time he realized what had happened, his right arm was gone.
The entire right side of his body felt hollow and empty. Charles’s eyes flew wide with horror.
His face twisted to the breaking point, and he gasped for breath, ragged and desperate.
‘Hollow’ was the only word to describe it. There was no way of knowing how or what had severed his limb. All that remained was a smooth, horrifying stump.
He had lost his arm in an instant. Only now did bl**d begin to pour from the clean cut.
It was all so sudden and shocking, but there was no time to dwell on it.
Charles thrashed around desperately, trying to get away, but the attacker turned to check on Isabel first.
For a moment, the attacker’s eyes narrowed as he examined her unconscious body, her head hanging limp, before returning to normal.
“Uh, uh—AAAGH!”
When that gaze finally turned on him, Charles let out another scream. It was pure survival instinct—he knew, in his bones, that death was upon him.
He begged the person who held his life in their hands, sobbing.
“Y-Your Majesty… Please, have mercy!”
“……”
“I’m sorry! Please—spare my life, just this once!”
The emperor’s eyes were as unreadable as ever, but Charles could barely breathe. His entire body shook like a leaf.
It was an overwhelming force—so great that, even though he’d never seen such power before, he could only accept that this was the end.
One thought filled Charles’s mind:
“Please, Your Majesty, have mercy!”
It was as if the very air around him whispered that he was now paying for the crime of daring to defy an absolute ruler.
He remembered, as if in a flash, something an old tutor had once told him:
“There have always been forces in this world, stronger than anything you can see. Beware those who can see the future.”
“Please believe me! I swear I never meant to kill her. I only wanted to scare her. She dared to covet someone above her station—”
But in this moment, nothing mattered more than his own life.
‘I’m still alive. I can beg for mercy.’
Desperate to save himself, Charles racked his brain for excuses.
“She keeps running off to the library nearly every day, so I figured she must be having an affair with the librarian! I just wanted to make her confess her shameless behavior—put her in her place, that’s all—!”
“……”
“Ah, o-of course, Your Majesty—I only meant to frighten her a little, nothing more. I would never dare lay a hand on Your Majesty’s possession.”
Charles stammered, desperately spewing any excuse that came to mind. But the emperor’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. He looked exactly as the rumors described—a man who never wavered, not even once on the battlefield.
Realizing death was closing in, Charles tried one last time to plead for his life.
“Your Majesty, it would be better to let me live than to kill me here. I have always been loyal to you! Ever since the late king exiled you to that desolate place, I have supported you without fail. Please, I beg you, just this once!”
At that, the emperor finally spoke.
“Do you know why I let you live until now?”
“Y-Your Majesty? I… I don’t understand—”
“It’s better to be angry than to dwell on useless despair.”
The dry air stung his eyes. The Emperor’s gaze had already shifted back to Isabel. Charles caught a glimpse of something chilling and incomprehensible in that look. Suddenly, he understood: he had gone too far. There was no hope left.
‘Still, you crossed the line. You should have known better.’
The murderous aura radiating from the emperor grew even more intense. Facing his imminent end, Charles squeezed his eyes shut.
🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁
When Isabel opened her eyes, she found herself staring at a frosted glass window.
It was her own room. She immediately noticed the dip in the mattress beside her and turned her head. That heavy scent, that broad, solid presence.
Kailhart.
“Your Majesty.”
Kailhart sat on the edge of the bed beside Isabel and looked down at her. As she forced herself to sit up, it seemed as if his brow tightened for a moment. Before she could look any closer, however, his hand reached out and covered her eyes.
Isabel froze, offering no resistance, and focused on steadying her breathing.
She was confused. Everything felt normal, but why? She was sure that she had been tied to a chair before losing consciousness.
With her vision cut off, her sense of smell sharpened.
She could smell faint traces of bl**d clinging to Kailhart’s body. A chill crept down Isabel’s spine. Suppressing her reaction, she bit the inside of her lip, trying not to show it.
It was human bl**d.
So, Charles… had been dealt with, after all.
Isabel tried to gauge the situation without provoking Kailhart’s temper.
“How… did you—”
But it didn’t seem like it would be easy. When he moved his hand away from her eyes, she noticed how tightly he was clenching his jaw — clearly, he was in a bad mood. For now, Isabel kept quiet.
You always…
Kailhart, about to say something, suddenly hesitated.
The thick column of his throat bobbed slowly. His shoulders were rigid. A strange silence fell between them.
“Forget it.”
When he finally spoke, his words came out bitten off, and by then, his face had returned to its usual cold indifference.
“Don’t try to know. Don’t ask. No matter what you say, I’m not going to answer you.”
For an instant, she thought she saw him waver.
“This is outside your rights.”
Isabel’s lips parted, then she bit them closed again, careful not to show her frustration.
Of course. He never intended to let her ponder such matters. To him, she wasn’t a person at all, but rather something to be punished if she misbehaved — especially if she damaged his property.
Her eyes trembled faintly. Although she had always known, the impact of such events was as strong as ever.
Charles had been one of Kailhart’s closest allies for a long time. In fact, despite not being related, he was like a brother to him.
Was Kailhart really so unaffected?
“If you’re that frustrated—”
Kailhart seized her wrist and pressed her hand to his own cheek. His grip was gentle, but the movement dragged her closer until her legs brushed against his knee.
“I’ll give you a chance. Go on, hit me.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Slap me, if you want.”
He didn’t raise his voice at all. But his hand, clutching her wrist, trembled ever so slightly.
Isabel stared at him, momentarily at a loss for words. She held his gaze—longer than she ever had, even after all the countless nights they’d spent together.
“Why… are you doing this?”
“Why aren’t you doing anything?”
Isabel’s wrist was still trembling in Kailhart’s grasp, but she couldn’t tell whose hand was shaking anymore.
He had always been hard to read, but this time she truly couldn’t fathom him.
“How could I possibly do something like that to you?”
She just couldn’t comprehend him. Looking into his eyes, a strange feeling welled up inside her.
“Hit me. Curse at me if you want.”
“……”
“Say it hurts. Tell me it’s too much.”
These were things she’d never seen in him when their bodies came together out of duty.
“So tell me not to do it. Say something to me.”
‘At the very least, you can do that — even if we’re only in a physical relationship.’
His voice was low and unsteady, almost desperate. It sounded like he was pleading with her.
It was hard to believe that this was the same man who had cut down even his own family without hesitation when they stood in his way.
Isabel found herself at a loss for words.
She wondered. For the first time, Kailhart seemed almost human. What was he really thinking? Was it just twisted possessiveness? Did he want to be the only person left at her side?
The air between them was razor-sharp; even the darkness seemed to shy away from it.
The brief standoff ended when Kailhart exhaled shakily and turned his head away.
“I’ll have my physician look after you. Just focus on recovering, and stop thinking about pointless things.”
With that, Kailhart stood up and left. Isabel quietly bowed her head, tucking her trembling fingers under the rumpled sheets.
“Yes, Your Majesty. I understand.”
This was the best she could do for now.
Pretending she didn’t despise the man who had stolen everything from her—because even allowing herself to be held in his arms was almost more than she could bear.
🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁
“Your Majesty… If I may be so bold, I’d like to ask you something.”
As the emperor turned to leave, leaving the exhausted Princess Isabel curled up on her bed, Meli quietly approached and stopped him with a respectful gesture.
“Are you really going to let Her Highness go on misunderstanding you like this…?”
“Do your job.”
The emperor’s answer was curt, and Meli bowed her head politely. He wore the same expressionless mask as always, but she couldn’t help remembering the very different man she’d seen just days before.
“Your name is Meli, isn’t it? You’re the new personal maid Isabel has kept close by lately.”
Startled by the familiarity of his tone, Meli could only nod, feeling flustered.
But what she had witnessed that day didn’t end there.
Isabel probably didn’t remember — she’d been burning with fever and half-delirious — but the Emperor had come to check on her several times.
He had personally wiped the sweat from her brow with a cool cloth, gently cupped her feverish cheek, and sat by her side until dawn, waiting for her ragged breathing to finally calm down.
“Don’t let Isabel know that I came here like this.”
Although Meli had seen it with her own eyes, she found it hard to believe that it was real. However, she dared not defy the emperor’s order to stay silent.
The truth was that Meli genuinely cared for the princess. Isabel was the same age as the child Meli had lost to illness years ago.
Meli couldn’t help wanting to look after her, especially since she kept everyone else at a distance.
“There’s something I’d like to ask you.”
To her surprise, what followed wasn’t a command—it was a request.