/
After a while.
Damian nodded as he let out a short sigh.
“I forgive you.”
“
Thank you.”
“Raise your head, I’m not comfortable with this awkwardness.”
When the Duke of Rochester slightly raised his gaze, Damian was scratching his cheek with a slightly embarrassed face.
“Since my apology was sufficient, let’s quickly get back to the Empress’s palace.”
“
Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”
“If I dally any longer and return late, Charlize will eat me alive,” Damian jested as he turned around with a smile.
In the distance, he could see the scenery of the Empress’s palace.
‘Charlize.’
Damian’s footsteps spontaneously sped up.
As soon as the two men entered the Empress’s palace, Charlize, sitting with a nervous expression on her face, jumped up from her seat.
“Your Highness! Duke!”
Behind her, the Empress and Empress Dowager stuck out their heads.
Everyone had a worried look.
“Damian, are you okay?”
“How did it go, brother?”
In unison, the Empress Dowager and the Empress gave queries.
Bright smiles formed on Damian’s and the Duke’s faces.
Because the people in front of them were those that the two men had decided to protect with all their hearts.
Charlize trotted towards Damian.
“How did things go?”
“Well, first, Lady Bennet will be living in the countryside for her own safety.”
Damian ran her through what happened.
“As an important witness, guaranteeing her safety was a minimum.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. In exchange for protection, she promised to live a quiet life for as long as she lives.”
“I see
”
Charlize finally put on a slightly relieved face.
After that, she gave a subtle look to Damian, asking him the question on everyone’s mind.
“Then, what about His Majesty, the Emperor?”
“The abdication of His Majesty, the Emperor was resolved at the meeting of the Council of Nobles.”
The Duke of Rochester listened to Damian recount what happened.
Charlize, who was momentarily frozen in place after hearing the whole story, reflexively looked back at the Empress.
The Emperor’s abdication meant the Empress would no longer be able to retain her position as empress.
“Your Majesty, the Empress
”
“Don’t look at me like that, I’m fine.”
However, the Empress only smiled softly.
“Rather, I feel free.”
“But, still
”
“I’ve been wearing clothes that haven’t suited me for the longest time. It’s time I hang it up.”
The Empress shrugged her shoulders lightly, widely spreading her arms toward Charlize.
“Come here, Charlize.”
Charlize hugged the Empress tightly without hesitation.
As chuckles rang out, the once-heavy weight of such a title was little by little let go of.
The Empress’s hand that brushed Charlize’s hair was so delicate.
‘There’s no mistaking it
.this feels like I went back to when I first met the Empress when I was five years old.’
Strangely, she felt like she was going to cry.
Wanting to conceal her emotions, Charlize buried herself deeper and deeper in the Empress’s embrace.
****
When the evening newspaper revealing the Emperor’s actions circulated throughout the empire, the entire empire was sent into an uproar.
“Oh my God, what is this!”
“So the Emperor set fire to the library and massacred the entire Bennet family?!”
“Then the rumors about the Duke of Rochester were drivel!”
For the people of the empire, the newspaper only affirmed the series of doubts that had gradually built up regarding the Emperor.
“‘Setting the library ablaze could have caused massive casualties if it was done wrong
’”
“The hell?! Does he even value human life?!”
In addition, rumors surrounding the Emperor and the fire tied to the fact the Emperor evacuated first.
To think that even though the Empress was right beside him, he chose to abandon his wife and run off alone, saving his own hide.
And to make things worse, he tried to drag Charlize, the Crown Prince’s fiancee, with him.
“

isn’t this inappropriate?”
People all over felt a visceral rejection sprung up in themselves for the Emperor.
In sum, he was a ruffian in their eyes, coveting his nephew’s fiancĂ©e.
Furthermore, the only people who acted decisively to end the fire were the Empress, the Duke of Rochester, the Crown Prince, and his fiancée.
The Emperor didn’t even involve himself one bit in the recovery after.
‘How could they trust and follow such a person whom they called Emperor?’
Such thoughts formed among the people without their realization.
“Speaking candidly
.is it not true that the current Emperor ascended to the throne by an improper process?”
“In contrast, His Highness, the Crown Prince has made countless contributions
”
“Let’s not forget—the Crown Prince has legitimacy, right?”
“Right. I heard that not only has His Highness, the Crown Prince but Lady Charlize as well, fiancĂ©e, awakened the power of the divine beast.”
As a result, a single conclusion was drawn.
“It seems that the time has come for His Majesty, the Emperor, to abdicate the throne to His Highness, the Crown Prince.”
What’s more, the Emperor’s biological mother and the Crown Prince’s grandmother, the Empress Dowager, has also announced she is in favor of the Emperor’s abdication.
Water takes time to boil, but when it does, it doesn’t cool down quickly.
The people’s suspicions of the Emperor had been long heated and now they had reached boiling point.
The aristocracy had turned their backs, and the Duke of Rochester, who supported the Emperor the most, withdrew his support.
So, in need of someone to turn to, the Emperor, in his direst moment, visited

The Empress.
***
“Your husband, His Majesty, the Emperor said he wishes to see the Empress
”
“The Emperor? See me?”
The Empress, with widened eyes, burst out laughing.
“It’s comical; despite being his wife, he treated me like a stranger, and now he’s seeking me.”
“Your Majesty, the Empress.”
“The Emperor didn’t have a modicum of politeness towards me, not even now when he knows his time is almost up.”
The Empress looked out the window.
It was late at night, and darkness blanketed the garden.
Sending an attendant at this hour to request a meeting was discourteous.
But
.
‘Hahaha, but when has the Emperor ever been polite to me, his wife? Hardly!
So, it wasn’t surprising when the Emperor kept to his old ways.
“I will not meet him. Please tell him that.”
Thus, the Empress rejected the Emperor’s visit.
Meanwhile, the Emperor couldn’t have foreseen the Empress’s refusal to see him.
“Shit!”
The Emperor gnashed his teeth and swept everything off the desk.
Tsshhh, clang!!
The sharp, unpleasant sound of items hitting the floor and shattering rang out.
The Emperor repeatedly drew in quick breaths in frustration.
“The Empress said she wouldn’t see me?!”
“Y-You
.”
“How dare the Empress do this to me, I am still her husband!!”
Had the Empress heard his remark, she would have burst into laughter.
Didn’t the Emperor refuse to treat the Empress as his wife from the start?
However, the Emperor disregarded his duplicitous behavior.
Your dear husband wants to see you face to face, how dare you disobey?!
“Shit!!”
The Emperor felt his stomach churn once more.
As he spat out harsh swear words, the chamberlain grew further concerned and clung to the Emperor.
“Your Majesty, please get a grip
”
“If you’re going to anger me by talking nonsense, get out of here!”
The Emperor yelled.
The chamberlain, who fearfully watched the Emperor with his neck tucked inward like a turtle, quickly left the room.
“Shit!!”
The Emperor’s judgment once again became conflicted.
Were his previous chamberlain still here, he would not have bolted.
He’d somehow remain in the Emperor’s good graces by appeasing the Emperor’s outburst.
However, his current chamberlain was all too eager to stay away from the Emperor when possible.
“So that’s how it’s going to be.”
The Emperor gritted his teeth.
“If my efforts to hold the throne are in vain, I’d rather everything be destroyed
”
– Are you serious about that?
A strange voice responded to the Emperor’s rage.
The surprised Emperor raised his head.
“W-What! Who is this?!”
– I am the only one who can fulfill your desires.
The voice hovered between that of a young girl’s and a mature woman’s.
– If you want to meet me, come to the basement of the imperial palace.
“Hah, the basement of the imperial palace
.”
– You know it for a fact, yes?
The voice asked the Emperor.
– That I am the only being who can place everything in your hands.
The voice whispered to him, as if tempting.
The Emperor widened his eyes.
There was no doubt; the voice was telling the truth.
The Emperor instinctively felt it.
The owner of that voice was the most powerful being in this world.
‘She,’ who exists in a dark place, untouched by anyone, was

‘She’ was an existence that dared to use the moniker, ‘divine beast.’
The overwhelming existence whose attention the Emperor had caught spoke again.
– You want to destroy everything, don’t you?
“
Yes. I don’t need an empire that is unwilling to listen to me.”
– Then take my hand.
The Emperor’s eyes slowly turned hazy as the voice spoke with such commanding power.
A seemingly enthralled Emperor opened the door and staggered out of the hallway.
Inside the imperial palace, the Emperor felt nothing but disbelief.
There didn’t seem to be anyone around anywhere, it was just quiet, deafening silence.
Like the Emperor was the only one left in the world.
It was an unusually brightly-lit night.
Pure, white moonlight bathed the courtyard as the Emperor crossed.
The direction he was heading in was a shrine dedicated to the divine beast Aurelia.