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Barcado was a strong and beautiful beast. When it became an adult, its size was comparable to a lion’s, and its glossy fur was black, making it difficult to find if it hides in the dark. The tough, thick leather, which couldn’t be torn even with a knife, perfected the beast’s body which was said to be a blessing from its demonic beast part.
In addition, it was healthy, intelligent, and lived a long time due to its pure mana, the blessing from its divine beast part.
However, despite having everything like that, its population was small, and it was often attacked by violent monsters that were instinctively attracted to mana. Barcado was on the verge of extinction.
Once upon a time, it was the greatest pride of the aristocrats to domesticate and raise Barcado. It had become a trend that eventually disappeared some time ago.
“It is ferocious at first, but I heard their nature will improve as time is spent together. And now it bites only me.” When Elisha spoke seriously, Leon concentrated heavily.
Then Elisha gave the verdict.
“Perhaps my blood tastes good.”
I’ll just give it some, then. The body will continue to replenish the spilled blood anyway.
That little cotton ball makes Leon laugh, so feeding it is not a problem.
“That’s not okay. It hurts you, Mother. Cotton Ball will continue to live with us, so it has to learn how to live in the world. I will not fall for it even if it acts like a baby!”
Leon, who suddenly acted like a strict older brother, looked cute, so Elisha went along with him.
Barcado would become a lifelong, reliable friend and escort who would always be with Leon as long as it was well raised.
“Alright.”
After Elisha stopped speaking, Cotton Ball wanted to rush in again. Leon quickly grabbed its back and put it in the cage.
He thought he’d release it later when he returned to his room.
After Leon told it to wait a little while, he sat next to his favorite person, his mother, and was about to eat cookies when-
“2nd Consort! Please come out!”
Dorian rushed over. Elisha looked at her puzzledly, and Marie spoke from behind Dorian.
“His Majesty is coming.”
Elisha tilted her head.
“His Majesty?”
She hadn’t heard it wrong. She was just hoping she’d heard it wrong. But how could anything in the world be so easy?
So Elisha went out with Leon. The emperor appeared shortly as they stood at the 2nd Consort’s Palace entrance.
The emperor stood in front of the 2nd Consort’s Palace and looked around. Then his gaze stopped at the woman with silver hair and sky blue eyes.
Isn’t this place too shabby for her to live in?
“What brings you here, Your Majesty?”
“I have something I want to ask you.”
“Why didn’t you summon me?”
“I’m already here. That’s enough.”
Elisha withdrew at the emperor’s answer. What could she do if he said so? However, it was very uncomfortable for Elisha to have someone who shouldn’t have been there in her space.
Especially since Leon was shaking so much.
Elisha led the emperor to her parlor.
“Have you said your greeting?”
When Elisha put a hand on Leon’s back, Leon lowered his head.
“I see Your Majesty.”
“Yes.”
Silence followed.
After a long while, Elisha said to Leon.
“Come to think of it. You left Cotton Ball in the backyard. It must be scared since you left it alone. Why don’t you take it to your room and play with it?”
When the child showed concern for his mother, Elisha kissed the top of his head and assured him several times that it was okay.
“May I?”
“Of course.”
Elisha, who had given her permission, looked back at the emperor.
“Would it be alright, Your Majesty? Or do you have something to talk about with the 3rd Prince?”
“No. He may leave.”
“Thank you.”
Leon went out quickly.
The emperor had had many brothers. Therefore, among the previous emperors, he was the one who had shed the most blood to sit on the emperor’s throne.
He had seen the empress and the consorts raise his brothers. He had grown with his brothers, but none had expressed their affection so openly. It was unusual to treat each other normally in a place like the imperial palace. How could one survive long growing up like that?
No matter how fond Ascensio might be of that child, would his relationship remain the same for years to come? In particular, Ascensio was obsessed with the consort in front of him.
He knew she was a fake, but was there any moment when he wanted the fake to be real? What would that woman do then?
There were so many possibilities; it was impossible to see in which direction they would all extend.
“You are someone of no account.”
“…”
“And you have too many secrets.”
The more the emperor talked, the more his blue eyes sank.
The emperor really hated the lack of answers. Elisha wondered if the emperor wanted her to make it rain again.
But his proposal was milder than expected—or at least the packaging was.
“I think our relationship could be much better than it is now if you give me a few fixed numbers to control the variables. What do you think?”
The emperor’s blue eyes looked straight at Elisha. Giving him control over the variables meant that he wanted to know more about Elisha herself.
It was obvious what the emperor wanted to know: the backstory that made Elisha suddenly moved William, the Western archmage. The reason she was able to recognize the Shadow Knights of Eastern Duke Cherkah. And how she continued to grow stronger. These were the variables he wanted to check.
And he could’ve made a new plan with the slightest clue. But since nothing showed, the emperor’s suspicions only grew.
There was only one answer to all his questions: because Elisha had returned to the past. It was something she couldn’t explain.
“What? Do you dislike it?”
Elisha felt she had to give him an answer this time.
“It’s not that I dislike it. It’s just difficult.”
“Yes, you must have a lot to consider.”
It was even more surprising that the emperor immediately agreed to her excuse.
“So I’m going to put restrictions on you.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Come to think of it; I don’t think you have to set a fixed price for yourself.”
It sounded ominous. The emperor was still looking at Elisha with unshakeable blue eyes. Suddenly, the most powerful cage which the emperor could use to control her came to Elisha’s mind.
“Your Majesty, that’s-!”
“Yes, I nominate you as an empress candidate, the noblest of the emperor’s women.”
Previously, the emperor had tried using Elisha as a foe and bait for the 1st Consort. And he had been able to get pretty much anything he wanted. However, this one was different in scale. Isabelle had long been prevented from becoming an empress.
She had been included in the decree as an empress candidate but had repeatedly failed the health examinations.
What if Elisha succeeded? It wouldn’t be just the 1st Consort…
The Eastern nobles would be toppled, and the 3rd Prince would take one step closer to the position of an orthodox successor, leaving nothing more to be desired with the crown prince’s faction.
Barossa’s power structure would be reorganized!
“Your Majesty, I am not worthy.”
“Didn’t you say with your mouth that the emperor gives the qualifications of the emperor’s woman? And why do you think you’re not worthy? The West honors you. You sacrificed yourself, overcame all difficulties, and returned to Barossa. People say that the ability you showed in front of the throne room this time is a miracle. Your abilities will continue to do great things for the empire. You will continue to do great things for the empire as long as you have power. So which part of you is not worthy? You’re wonderful enough, enough to overflow.”
There was no justification for Elisha to refuse.
“An empress who has no foreign relatives. An empress who is hostile to all the other powers and has the ability to help the empire. You’re ideal. And what’s even better is that such an empress has two hostages.”
Ascensio and Leon.
Just as she was the emperor’s woman, those two were the emperor’s children.
“Many people want the position. The price has risen daily, so I’ve purposely kept it within reach and made them fight. If you sit there, you will be a part of them from now on. I think it will be fun to watch.”
Empress was a different position from 2nd Consort. Everyone in the empire looked up to the empress, so if there were anything she hid, it would be revealed somehow.
“Your Majesty, you don’t like uncertainty, but why do you always try something uncertain?”
Elisha was genuinely curious. The emperor stood up from where he was sitting. He walked over to Elisha, who was sitting opposite him, and sat down on the armrest of the soft sofa.
A long, well-shaped finger touched Elisha’s earlobe. The beautiful man, said to be a blessing and a gift from God, exhaled sweetly and spoke pleasantly.
“I roll the dice until I get the answer I want.”
“What if the answer doesn’t come out?”
“Then I roll until it comes out.”
How can I stop it? This conversation overlapped with how he had responded to Shamir the other day. It seemed that this topic related to empress position would not be easily sorted out.
“Speak if you want to tell me a fixed number, or if you want to be my fixed number. I’ll take out what you hate.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Some people are desperate for it, but some are forced to sell it.”
“I’m aware, Your Majesty. Please reconsider.”
“You’re the one who should reconsider.”
Ssureuk. The fingertip, which had gone down from her auricle to her jawline, was gently bent and supported Elisha’s chin.
When the emperor exerted force, Elisha’s face was tilted back, facing up at the emperor sitting on the armrest. The upper body of the emperor, who was looking down at her, leaned downward.
The emperor’s lips met hers. When Elisha had completely stiffened, the emperor raised the thumb of his hand that supported her chin and lightly gripped Elisha’s lower lip.
His tongue went inside the gaping lips. The emperor grabbed Elisha’s shoulder and pressed her with his other hand.
His tongue went deeper and rubbed against hers. After a while, he straightened his upper body, released the hand holding her chin, and wiped the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand.
“You’ll have to learn how to breathe when kissing. Otherwise, you’ll faint.”
Elisha seemed stiffened and had no answer, so the emperor stood up.
“Then, I’ll see you later.”
When he left, Elisha, who was left alone, bent over and buried her face in her lap.
That had been her first kiss, and she couldn’t resist. Not because she still had a little love for him.
But because she was the emperor’s woman.
***
“Did you hear? It is said that His Majesty went directly to the 2nd Consort’s Palace today.”
“The two had tea alone together…”
“What kind of conversation did they have with the 3rd Prince?”
Rumors circulated in Barossa.
Marie was surprised that the story from 2nd Consort’s Palace had spread outside and wondered if there was a spy.
“That’s something anyone can tell outside the 2nd Consort’s Palace. They were chosen by you, Marie. Don’t doubt them. No one was eavesdropping in the vicinity, so don’t worry.”
When Elisha spoke, Marie felt relieved.
“By the way, is there anything the palace needs or lacks?”
Elisha had said that she would let Marie do whatever she wanted. Elisha would only watch.
There were so many gifts coming to 2nd Consort’s Palace. Even if they had returned some, there was still a lot left.
“There is always abundance these days, but Your Ladyship-“
“What is it?”
“Dorian had some necessities, so she went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and heard a strange rumor. It says soon we will be moving palace…”
“Our 2nd Consort’s Palace? To where?”
“I heard to the White Rose Palace.”
After the decree to choose an empress was issued, the two candidates for the empress were assigned to the White Rose Palace and the Red Rose Palace.
This was the tradition. And nowadays, it is common for a palace to greet an owner before it gets emptied again, regardless of time and trend.
Elisha knew a woman very susceptible to such traditions and bait.
“He sends me to White Rose Palace just like this. Meanwhile, there’s another woman who will throw everything away to enter Red Rose Palace.”
The 1st Consort, Isabelle Cherkah.
And what was the difference between Elisha’s entrance to White Rose Palace and Isabelle’s to Red Rose Palace?
There were only two candidates—the 1st Consort and the 2nd Consort—for empress, but Isabelle paid a huge participation fee.
Willingly too.
“Because behind me will be the man of the highest blood in the empire, the blessing and a gift from God.”
Elisha remembered the words Isabelle had cried out as she struggled with resentment, love, and obsession as she was dying.