4. Contact

‘I can’t believe it…’

Lasilia couldn’t take her eyes off the mirror. It’d already been 30 minutes.

The woman in the mirror, Empress Cartagena, was beautiful. She seemed like she’d drawn out all the beauty in the world and was created with all of someone’s heart.

The rich, smooth black hair and marble-like skin – along with her vivid purple eyes that seemed to lit up created the image of an unrealistic beauty. Even other things like her earlobes and fingernails were pretty.

But that wasn’t all.

She was the one I saw in my dream. She was the Empress of the Empire.

The woman in the mirror was dying and bleeding from her chest. That face was hers now. It took several deep breaths for Lasilia to accept this outrageous reality.

She herself had become an Empress.

‘Then that dream…… It might have been a prophecy.’

There was no word of the real empress’ death. Therefore, the death of the empress was something that had not yet happened, and would happen in the future.

The empress died before an emperor who did not love her.

The emperor watched the figure without any emotion. The empress expressed her love sadly, but the emperor was heartless to the point it gave her goosebumps.

‘I fell in love with the emperor… Does that mean I’m going to die like this?’

The heart that had not yet been stabbed was appalled.

Lasilia closed her eyes tightly and rubbed her chest.

‘No, you can’t die like that.’

It would be the most terrible death for her who’d already died once from Plotta’s betrayal.

Until the betrayal, Plotta was the closest thing in the world to Lasilia. She was killed by someone whom she gave her deepest affections to – it would be miserable if she had to die the same way again even after she became someone else.

‘So, let’s get out of here. One way or another.’

Being revived doesn’t make you a different person. Lacilia thought she was still a prophet.

The prophet was a person who corrected the wrong things in the world on behalf of God. The rebellion led by Prince’s Ricardo was one of those things. God showed her the rebellion against the monarchy and she was obliged to stop it.

‘I have to go back to Delarta. Time has passed, so Prince Ricardo must have already committed treason. The king might be dead…but I still have the means to reverse the rebellion.’

In Delarta, a place where prophets existed, the next king would also surely appear in the prophet’s dream. Even if Ricardo used the trick of treason, if God recognized him as a king, he would have shown Ricardo’s figure as king through Lasilia’s dream.

Ricardo could not hold the coronation if Lasilia said she hadn’t seen such a thing.

The problem was how to return to Delarta.

‘It would be strange if the empress suddenly said that she would go to a small, far-away kingdom with no prior exchanges.’

Lasilia kept thinking for a long time with her eyes closed.

‘What if I tell them I’m a prophet?…No, that’s too dangerous. Besides, no one would believe me. Then how…Ah!’

Lasilia’s eyes widened.

There was a way. There wasn’t a way to get them to believe her, but there was a way to get to Delarta.

‘Anyway, the empress has lost her memory.’

So, what the Empress has to do is try to regain her memory. The Temple of Delarta made money by praying for healing. In fact, there were not many priests with healing powers, but the prayers’ effects were still evident.

‘Let’s say I wish to receive a blessing.’

Just in time, the emperor has left a message saying they should see other again this evening. She was going to find a way to somehow turn him down, but she now had to treat this chance as an opportunity. If a healing prayer is necessary to restore her memory, the emperor will not be able to refuse her request to go to Delarta.

There was a faint smile on Lasilia’s face. She was able to go back.

* * *

“I’m sleepy.”

Lescal, who returned to the office and held the pen again as if nothing had happened, suddenly spat out.

“Uh-”

“This…”

Riyan, who was lying on the floor of the office as usual, and Serben, who was standing next to her and honing his sword, responded immediately.

By the time Lescal let go of his pen, Serben was already waiting for him with Lescal’s cloak up.

“Will you be going to the bedroom?”

“Well, I guess…no, the sofa would be better.”

Lescal walked to a long couch on one side of the office. Riyan tilted his head as she watched him he lay sideways.

“You must be uncomfortable. The sofa is shorter than His Majesty.”

“It’ll be bad if it’s too uncomfortable.”

Lescal murmured with his eyes closed.

“Will you be in trouble if you’re comfortable?”

“We’re supposed to meet in the evening. I have to wake up before then.”

“Who… Oh, Her Majesty.”

“…….”

As if he had fallen asleep, he heard the sound of even breathing from Lescal. Serben muttered softly as if he was dumbfounded.

“Your majesty is saying he’ll sleep uncomfortably so he can meet the empress later…I can’t believe this.”

The relationship between Lescal and Empress Cartagena over the past four years has been beyond description. Lescal hated the empress. To be exact, he, unlike other humans, felt no emotion for her at all.

However, it was Lescal who needed contact. So he had to condone the queen’s arbitrary stirring of the Imperial Palace by swinging contact as a weapon.

The Empress, on the other hand, wanted Lescal. To be exact, she wanted Lescal to see her as a companion of fate. She didn’t hesitate to try to get his attention by committing suicide while simultaneously avoiding contact.

Regrettably, Lescal had no interest in the Empress. Even when suffering from the Blue Moon’s pain, he did not try to force contact with the empress. He said he doesn’t even feel like it.

So what happened today was shocking.

“Even if you can’t believe it, you have to believe it. It happened anyway. And maybe this is it, right?”

Riyan, who sat down near the couch where Lescal slept, said.

In the meantime, Serben pulled the single-person sofa and placed Lescal’s legs stretched out on the couch armrest on it.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, he’s suddenly sleeping. He’s trying to recover his body, isn’t he?”

“I guess so.”

Riyan carefully lifted Lescal’s sleeve.

“It’s amazing. It’s all gone.”

“What? That fast?”

“Yes.”

Serben also came up to him and looked into his sleeve. There was no sign of the scales growing.

After the Blue Moon came and showed signs of mutation, Lescal fell asleep as if he were dead. He understood that it inevitably occurs in the process of coping with the demon power in a human body.

“The mutation has never disappeared so quickly, and much less without pain.”

“That’s right.”

“Then, was I wrong in my belief that her majesty was a cheat?”

When asked by Riyan, Serben rubbed his chin.

“Well…I have no idea what her majesty is thinking. All I know is that she’s a twisted and wicked person.”

“There is no human being that can understand her majesty…ha, if she’s not a scam, then I’m getting even more angry. Are you saying she’s been turning a blind eye to this all along despite being able to enact ‘contact’ ?”

“Well, is that all you think?”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

Serben continued, wrinkling his brows.

“I don’t know…Her majesty wasn’t like that from the beginning, remember? In the early days of her marriage, she worked hard at the Imperial palace. Her demeanor changed only after his majesty expressed no interest in her. If that’s the case, then isn’t it just a matter of fact? The only weapon her majesty can wield is ‘contact’. If not, there would be no reason for her to exist at the Imperial palace.”

“Huh…? That’s plausible. You’re a little smart today.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Then, has Her Majesty, who was vicious and dreary, but actually felt a lack of affection, now changed her mind? Why today…. Wait a minute.”

Riyan pointed something out.

“No, it’s not like that. Her Majesty tried to deny contact again today. His majesty just forcibly seized what she was trying to avoid.”

“Oh, that’s…. Come to think of it, you’re right.”

“Until now, His Majesty had never tried that much.”

“That’s right. He didn’t like even the hem of their clothes brushing past each other.”

“Maybe Her Majesty was real the whole time, but his Majesty is realizing it only now.”

“Hmm.”

Serben was lost in thought.

“Is that possible? The pairs are destined to be partners from birth. It is said they could sense it the moment they see each other. How could he not recognize her for four years? That’s why you and I considered her majesty to be a fraud in the first place.”

“Whatever it is, it should be related to the amnesia.”

Riyan’s eyes twinkled.

“Think about it. This is the first time she’s ‘lost her memories’, even though she’s made up all sorts of diseases every time the Blue Moon arrives. Saying the amnesia is merely a lie is sort of unreliable, right?”

“I know. I was curious about that, too.”

“In addition, Her Majesty looked different today to me. She was wearing pajamas when she heard his majesty was coming. The one who was perfectly dressed up even when she was committing suicide. Wasn’t she the type of person who couldn’t bear to show herself as imperfect even in death?”

“I totally agree with that.”

“So, amnesia is the problem.”

Serben, who had been thinking for a while, frowned.

“But it doesn’t make sense no matter how much I think about it. Who suddenly suffers from memory loss while sleeping?

“I didn’t say it was real. It means there must be a reason why it has to be amnesia.”

Riyan smiled and got up quickly.

“Anyway, that’s why I’ll leave my post for a little from now on.”

“What? Where are you going?”

“I am just so worried about her majesty, who’s lost her memories.”

Serben clicked his tongue.

“What are you ‘worrying’ about? You’re just going to dig in the back.”

“Even if it’s not me, there are people who report her Majesty’s every move to his Majesty. There’s nothing different about me stepping in too.”

Riyan tapped Serben.

“You’ want to know, too. Just close your eyes and cooperate.”

“……Damn it, I can’t say no. Then be careful. Don’t forget that Her Majesty hates you. If you get caught, you’ll be in trouble.”

“Even if she doesn’t like me, her majesty can’t follow me. I won’t get caught, never.”

Riyan left the office where Lescal was asleep, dangling the sword on her waist.

* * *

Whoo!

The room was lined up with clothes. Lacilia looked at the mountains of clothes hanging on the hangers with her mouth slightly agape, as if she was fed up with everything.

“I brought all the new clothes. Please choose, Your Majesty.”

Everyone in the Empress’ palace knew that the emperor of Eliaden wasn’t a husband who would say kind words to her in the evenin.

The ladies of the Empress’ palace were those who have watched the Empress’ actions in the past four years tiringly, sometimes trembling with fear.

The empress resented the indifferent emperor, and was overcome with evil because she could not mourn and grieve, so the empress closed her door to the emperor on the blue man when he needed her.

All of that was because of a desperate longing, but the emperor never once looked at the empress.

So today, when the evening meeting between the emperor and the empress was decided, the ladies and courtiers of the empress’ palace were all nervous enough to have their shoulders go numb.

No one will be able to handle the empress’ wrath if there’s even a small mistake in her grooming today.

“There are too many. I want you to choose the right one.”

However, the empress, who should have driven them like rats, was strangely calm.

“Are you asking me to choose?” asked the first maidservant, the Marquis of Pasha. It felt like she stuttered a little.

“I hope so.”

“Ha, but…how dare I? Can I really do that? That’s not proper, your majesty…”

The Marquis of Pasha quickly withdrew.

If the meeting goes wrong this evening, the queen will surely blame it on the wrong dress. She didn’t want it to be her.

“You mean you don’t want to.”

Lasilia read the Marquis’ embarrassment.

Whatever the empress might have been like, Lasilia had no intention of forcing others to do something they didn’t want to.

“Then this one.”

Lasilia pointed to a dress.

In fact, all of the empress’s clothes were so colorful that it was ambiguous for her to choose.

Among the clothes that were endlessly hung, Lasilia chose the clothes that looked the least decorated. She also liked it wasn’t inflated at the top by tightening the waist to the point of suffocation.

“Y-you’re going to wear this?”

The women’s faces turned blue when they checked the clothes Lasilia chose.

“but, this is….”