‘Endure… This is nothing.’

Yes, even pain that feels like your skin is burning is nothing.

It was Aris who had tried to take her own life with her own hands. Compared to the countless wounds in her heart and the sharp emotions that had driven her to attempt suicide, this was really nothing.

Aris came down from the altar, tightly gripping the sword. Then, before leaving, she approached the front of the terrifying knight statues that stood on both sides of the hall.

“……”

After a moment’s thought, she soon removed the cloak draped over the knight’s shoulders and wrapped it tightly around the sword blade.

Then she put the sword down on the floor for a moment, and took off the cumbersome dress and shoes she was wearing. Instead, Aris squeezed herself into the knight’s breastplate stolen from the statue, and also took the stone-like helmet to wear.

‘Unless it’s made of special material, it won’t be of much use against monsters, but it’s better than nothing.’

Aris picked up the sword from the floor again, held it close to her chest, and ran out of the sacred hall.

Her body, clad in unfamiliar metal, felt excessively heavy. The large helmet, clanking against the breastplate with every step, kept obstructing her vision, making it difficult to see ahead properly.

‘It hurts…’

Moreover, the pain that had spread from her palms now felt like it was burning her entire body. Aris coughed up blood several times even as she was out of breath from running.

But instead of stopping, she glanced up at the sky. The sky had turned even redder. It was a terrible blood color as if she had come to hell.

Aris hugged the sword tightly.

‘His Majesty must surely be thinking of this sword. He’ll know he needs to get it, but he won’t be able to leave his post…!’

With that thought alone, Aris endured the suffocating pain. Running on the uneven path with her bare feet all skinned, she gasped for breath.

Then, as she swallowed once, her muffled eardrums suddenly cleared, and a huge roar rushed in. It was the sound of a battlefield where life and death hung in the balance.

Aris plunged into the battlefield without hesitation and began to shout.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”

It was the first time in her life she had raised her voice so loudly. In the East, raising one’s voice in public was considered vulgar, and Aris had lived her entire life speaking softly in accordance with that.

But this was not the East. It was the West, and it was a battlefield.

Aris ran through the battlefield, which had become a mess due to monster attacks, and shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Your Majesty…!”

He must be somewhere here.

But what if she had come to the wrong place…?

Just as Aris felt uneasy and slightly lifted her helmet to improve her vision, it happened.

“Don’t let a single one cross the walls! Remember, everyone’s families are in the town!”

Miraculously, Kalaian’s command was heard. Turning her head towards the direction of the voice, she saw him cutting down approaching monsters one after another. Aris let out a sigh of relief as soon as she spotted him.

The already breached western front and the collapsed western wall of the imperial palace. It was clearly an unprecedented disadvantageous situation.

Nevertheless, just the fact that he was always the hero who achieved victory made all the anxiety in Aris’s heart melt away.

“Your Majesty!”

Aris called out to him as she ran. Kalaian, who had just sliced a monster in half with his sword, turned around at the sound. His eyes widened as if he’d seen a ghost, then quickly turned suspicious.

Aris, remembering her own appearance, threw off the helmet that had been covering her entire face.

At this, Kalaian’s eyes grew even wider. He swiftly cut down the approaching monsters in one stroke and rushed to Aris.

“Your Majesty, I’m so glad you’re safe…!”

“Empress, what on earth were you thinking coming here? How could you come in such a state…!”

Kalaian, after looking Aris up and down, burst out in exasperation.

“I’ll assign you an escort, so return to safety immediately. This is no place for the Empress.”

“There’s no need to waste precious troops. I just came to deliver this to you.”

Aris pushed the cloth-wrapped sword into his arms. Kalaian, who received it reflexively, checked it and his face hardened. After staring at the sword in disbelief for a moment, Kalaian looked back at Aris.

Then at Aris’s hands once, and her face again.

As he shifted his gaze, Kalaian spoke in a low, sharp voice.

“…Are you out of your mind trying to die? Don’t you know what this is, what happens when an ordinary person touches it?!”

“I know!”

“If you know, then why…!”

“Because I thought the one with the greatest power here, Your Majesty, couldn’t possibly leave your post!”

For the first time, Aris shouted at Kalaian. It was a voice mixed with frustration and pent-up emotions. Kalaian seemed at a loss for words, his mouth opening and closing.

Aris suddenly felt overwhelmed. Thinking about it, he had always been the one who didn’t appreciate her efforts, no matter how hard she tried.

‘…No. I don’t have time to keep His Majesty here for so long.’

Crying and getting angry now wouldn’t help in this time of war.

Aris composed herself. After all, his scolding was about the state of her body, which she had neglected while bringing the Sword of Time.

Aris tried to relax her expression to show that she was really fine.

In truth, the relief she felt from meeting him was greater than the pain of her body falling apart. As sincerity filled her expression, her eyebrows relaxed slightly, and a genuine smile emerged.

Aris spoke with a gradually trembling voice.

“I… believe that Your Majesty will end this war. Because Your Majesty is a hero.”

“……”

“My hero… and the hero of this empire… who always brings us victory.”

Kalaian silently looked at Aris. Aris took a step back from him.

“So, Your Majesty, please don’t worry about me anymore and protect this country.”

Aris smiled gently. Kalaian finally opened his mouth.

But at that moment, Aris spotted a sharp-tailed monster fiercely flying towards his back.

She gasped and, without thinking, threw herself in that direction. She embraced him urgently. The piece of protective metal, woefully inadequate to block the monster’s attack, was pierced in an instant.

“Empress…!”

Kalaian’s voice grated on Aris’s eardrums. For a moment, Aris was in too much pain to even breathe.

Soon, her whole body began to go limp. She vaguely felt her clothes getting warm and sticky from the blood from her pierced abdomen.

‘…Did I interfere unnecessarily?’

Amidst the noisy chaos of war, Kalaian’s calls, seeming even more unreal, echoed confusedly. In the midst of this, a foolish thought occurred to her.

It was truly pathetic. Perhaps if she hadn’t thrown away her insignificant life, he would have skillfully blocked it anyway.

Maybe she had just meddled unnecessarily and only caused him more trouble.

Still… Perhaps the worst situation could have happened.

In that assumption, it would be better for her worthless life to be sacrificed rather than the hero who could end this war.

Aris, gasping for breath with her collapsing body, barely managed to grab Kalaian’s arm. Even if it was a stupid death relying on mere possibilities, she wanted to say her last words.

Words she had never dared say to him before.

“I’m sorry… And…”

She struggled to speak, but suddenly her vision blurred. The words she couldn’t utter in the end only echoed in her mouth.

I love you so much.

The life of Empress Aristena Etenbarke ended with such a pathetic and foolish death.

It was a life barely worth a line in history.

* * *

“…ter.”

As if submerged in water, a muffled voice was heard from somewhere.

Aris slowly exhaled.

‘It’s peaceful…’

Her body no longer hurt or felt uncomfortable.

Just as she was about to sink deeper into the quiet comfort of death, something firmly grasped both her shoulders and a loud voice was heard.

“Sister!”

Aris opened her eyes in surprise. At that moment, all her senses awakened, everything rushed in like a wave.

In front of her, a young boy with platinum blonde hair that looked just like her sighed and said,

“Why are you hesitating so much?”

“What…?”

“It’s an engagement with the Crown Prince, why are you hesitating so much?”