“They said my execution by fire will be carried out the day after tomorrow. Is that true as well?”

Once again, there was no reply.

A cold silence settled over the bedroom. The faint color drained from her face beneath the weight of the brutal truth. Her body felt unbearably heavy, as though she were submerged in water. Uncontrollable emotions surged through her, causing her limbs to tremble violently. Despairing, she realized that all she could do was beg, her voice breaking and choked with tears.

“You know better than anyone that I’m not a witch. I’m not.”

She had never possessed magic, nor anything even remotely resembling it. There was nothing remarkable about her at all. What kind of wicked sorcery could she possibly have wielded? And yet she was to be executed by fire. While she — the one to be burned — had known nothing, he had gone so far as to become engaged to Vanessa Bernac in the meantime.

After the initial shock and despair came the realization of betrayal, crashing down on her with cruel delay. Had he known everything all along and deliberately kept her in the dark? Had he allowed her to remain locked away here, facing death without ever understanding why? Was the man standing before her truly the man she had loved?

If you’d like, I can make it even more raw and frantic, or make her feel even more numb and hollow, or heighten the sense of delayed betrayal further still.

Large, crystal-clear tears streamed down her cheeks endlessly. Without thinking, Alix reached out, but when she saw the unreadable expression on Selonia’s face, she shook her head and took a step back.

“Don’t come any closer.”

Her voice trembled, yet she spoke with unwavering resolve. For a moment, a vacant light flickered in his eyes; then his expression twisted. It was as though he had only just realized that this was the first time Selonia had rejected him so completely. Perhaps his pride had been wounded. Alix’s lips pressed into a thin line.

She had hoped he would offer some kind of excuse. But seeing him stand there, unable to say a word, with that unfamiliar expression on his face, made something inside her flare up.

“Why… why did you do this?”

An overwhelming sense of anxiety and terror churned through her. Her breathing became so rapid that it felt as though her chest might explode at any moment. At last, a scream tore from her throat.

“You said you loved me! Then why—why did you do this? Hic… you said you loved me…!”

“……”

A desperate cry tore from her frail body. Alix watched Selonia sob, barely able to stand, but said nothing. Contrary to her expectations, he calmly smoothed away the distortion in his expression. The warmth that she had once loved had vanished without a trace from his golden eyes, which were now flickering. Confronted by that strange, glinting light, Selonia forgot how to breathe, unable to do anything but stare at him in stunned silence.

“I did this because I love you, Selie.”

“…What did you say?”

He couldn’t be sane. As Selonia’s face stiffened with horror, he ground his teeth and sighed deeply and wearily.

“I could have simply declared you missing. Or I could have branded you a witch from the beginning. But I didn’t. I went to the trouble of keeping you by my side, mixing medicine into your food, secretly taking your blood, and giving you the best of everything. If that isn’t love, then what is?”

What had she just heard?

Medicine with every meal? Had this happened before?

She had lived with this truth for six years without ever knowing. Blinded by the love he had whispered to her, she had endured everything in ignorance. Branded a temptress who had ensnared the Emperor and mocked as an unworthy mistress, she had never realized that while drugs seeped into her body and her blood was drained, her health was crumbling and she was surrendering everything to the sweet lies he murmured in her ear.

Could the wasting and unexplained illness she had suffered for six years — the weakness that even the imperial physicians could not diagnose — have all begun with him? A body subjected to daily bloodletting could never remain whole.

Blinded by love, she had failed to realize that staying by his side was poisonous in itself.

Even now, clinging to the faint hope that his words were lies made her feel foolish and contemptible. And yet—

As though she needed to hear them again to make them real, Selonia repeated his words in a hollow voice.

“You… secretly took my blood.”

“…Long ago, there was the Aetheria clan. Before they were accused of being demons and slaughtered, they were said to be the origin and source of magical power.”

An inexplicable fear tightened around her, leaving her rigid. Watching her closely, Alix’s lips curved into a faint smile.

“Judging by your expression, you truly knew nothing about your birth mother.”

Whatever had pleased him, he put on the gentle smile he always wore. The way his expression shifted so swiftly was grotesque—far more chilling than anger.

“Thanks to you, I gained magic. I truly believed that I could establish a line of powerful magicians within the Ardia imperial family, strong enough to overthrow the Grand Temple.”

His voice was steeped in madness.

“I still have a great work to complete—one my reign cannot end without.”

The man muttering with bloodshot eyes bore not a trace of the lover she had known. Selonia, terror filling her gaze, tried to inch farther away from him.

“Well. There was one other way.”

Alix’s eyes drifted to Selonia’s flat abdomen.

“If you had borne my child, it wouldn’t have come to this. They might have granted a reprieve.”

For a moment, rage and despair flashed across his distorted features. He had deceived and betrayed her, shattering her entire life, and yet here he was, seething with anger. Ignoring her trembling lips and deathly pale cheeks, Alix showed no sign of stopping.

“Unfortunately, even after sowing my seed so many times… nothing. There’s no helping it now. Selie.”

Pain and madness crossed his distorted face in quick succession.

“Ludvig has realized it too—that your blood isn’t as useful as we thought. There’s only one hope left. So yes… it has to be that.”

At some point, his words, which she could not comprehend, started to pass her by without registering. But one thing was painfully clear: he wasn’t lying.

The unbearable reality weighed down on her body, and tears spilled endlessly from her eyes. A faint voice, barely audible, came from between her trembling lips.

“You’re insane…”

Had he even heard her? Alix, who had been muttering to himself, suddenly grabbed her by the waist. Once, she would have yielded to his touch without hesitation. Now, even the slightest touch from him made her shudder, as though a snake had slithered over her flesh.

She struggled desperately, but his arms, forged of solid muscle, were immovable. The distance she had clawed open vanished in an instant as he dragged her back to him. Selonia screamed and twisted in his grasp.

“Let go of me!”

“You asked if I love you? Yes. I do. I love you, Selonia.”

He brushed his lips against her bare, white nape and whispered. The grotesque sensation of insects crawling over her skin made Selonia gasp and shudder violently.

“You were extremely valuable. I failed to reach my goal in the end, but you helped me a great deal. How could I not love you? You’re beautiful, and you chose me over that b*stard.”

Much of what he said was unintelligible, but one thing came through with brutal clarity.

‘He approached me from the beginning just to use me.’

At the imperial banquet where they had first met, he had offered her his hand. The gentle smiles he had shown her. The trembling voice that had confessed love in the night garden — it was all a lie. The whispered declarations of love, the jewels he fastened around her neck, and the way he kissed her body as if he were intoxicated — all of those moments had been nothing but deception.

“How could you… do something like that…”

Wave after wave of despair crashed into her mind, making her wish to simply lose consciousness. She loathed herself for being so foolish and blind all this time; for being deceived the whole time.

Alix pulled her trembling body closer once more.

“Let go—h-hic—let go of me!”

She struggled and sobbed, trying to escape his increasingly tight grip. But he just whispered calmly, as though her resistance meant nothing at all.

“You love me too. You said you’d do anything for me. Don’t you remember?”

His hand stroked her thick, pink hair tenderly, sending shivers down her spine. How could she have forgotten? She had been worn down by rumors that she was not a good lover, merely a kept woman, and that she was past her prime and not even engaged. When she told him that she wanted to end it, he clung to her, tears spilling as he begged her not to leave, swearing that he loved her.

Deceived by those sweet words, she promised to endure anything.

And now, after deceiving her all this time, he was asking whether she loved him?

Disgust flooded her lake-blue eyes. As revulsion seized her and froze her struggling body, his affectionate voice reached her once more.

“Die for me.”

“What are you even saying right now?”

Selonia’s voice trembled, and her face drained of color. Though the room was heated, she was cold, her teeth chattering uncontrollably. His lips brushed against hers again and again, as though he were a devoted lover. The touch made bile rise in her throat.

“Let go! You lunatic!”

Desperate to escape, she fought with everything she had left, but to no avail — it was as though she were striking a boulder with a feather pillow. Her screams grew weaker. Her limbs, which had been twisting, lost their strength. Her pale face looked as though it were about to collapse.

As her body sagged towards him, Alix caught her and held her tightly, his expression hardening.

“D*mn it. Did I draw too much blood?”

The way he held her and stroked her with false tenderness made her feel sick. She had countless questions she wanted to scream at him and a multitude of curses she wanted to hurl at him. She was consumed by a thirst for revenge. But her consciousness was sinking into a dense fog, leaving her unable to resist.

Summoning her last remaining strength, she tried to speak, her lips trembling. Yet no sound emerged. Not even a breath — just empty air slipping uselessly between her parted lips.

Still, Alix continued to strip off her chemise, his eyes clouded with desire. With each layer of clothing removed, she felt herself being dragged deeper into a bottomless pit of despair. The filthy, repulsive sensation of his frantic hands roaming her body made her wish for death. However, her body was no longer hers to command, lying limp and unresponsive like a corpse.

After that overwhelming shock and despair, which made her want to abandon everything, her consciousness finally gave way.