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“I am not Saintess Lilith. If you kill me now, Your Majesty will kill an old friend.”
Anais stood up straight and looked at him. Before she knew it, Kylian, who had come within arm’s reach, drew his sword and put it to her throat. He said he was going to kill her, but Anais knew that in reality his hand holding the sword was shaking. Maybe that’s why his voice trembled, but his mind was getting colder.
Lilith tried to kill her, and Lewarren tricked her into coming here. But she decided to see that as an opportunity.
“Is that all your last words?”
“What does Your Majesty want from me? Why are you still keeping me alive?”
“…….”
“If you hate me so much, why?”
Anais asked questions that she hadn’t been able to find the answer properly. Her heart was aching, and she was frustrated, but his eyes were like a deep sea of gold that still kept her alive.
“Beg forgiveness from my wife.”
“…….”
“Beg for forgiveness from me. And tell me why you tried to seduce me.”
“You have to tell me what I did wrong.”
Kylian frowned at her as if he had really given up on her and drew his sword close to her neck. The blade touched her and her skin ripped open, and blood began to flow. Anais was gradually feeling something warm where the blade touched.
“Tell me, please.”
“There is a degree to being shameless.”
“Please listen to me just once, Your Majesty.”
Anais was now almost in resignation. So she wanted to die after saying the things properly as she was going to die in the future anyway.
“People who don’t even know what they did wrong have already missed the opportunity to apologize.”
Anais thought he was right.
“From your point of view, it’s something that’s enough to forget, so you can’t remember.”
“…….”
“I gave you a chance while holding back from wanting to kill you right away. Deceiving my wife, deceiving me. And deceiving everyone.”
“…….”
“I tremble when I think of being deceived and swung around by you pretending to be nice.”
Kylian seemed serious. Anais knew he really wanted to kill her.
Obviously, until yesterday, if she died like this, she would feel sorry for Lilith. But Lilith tried to kill her, put her in danger at the Battle of Denver Bridge, and joined hands with her best friend Lionel. Did Lilith want to kill her that much?
“I can do anything to make you happy, Lady Anais.”
It took time to accept that it was a lie. It hadn’t even been a day since she found out about this.
“Please believe that I really am not Saintess Lilith.”
“…….”
“If you don’t know about this because I’m not Saintess Lilith, then Your Majesty will have innocent blood on your hands.”
“You are not innocent. You must be Lilith Isadora.”
Hearing Kylian’s words, Anais still felt that he hadn’t completely changed, so there seemed to be a little glimmer of hope left.
“I am not Saintess Lilith.”
“Then who are you? You’re saying that the High Priest of Death lied?”
“Yes.”
The wounds on Anais’ neck were opening as Kylian’s hands trembled with rage. He suddenly saw the blood from her neck, which was at the end of his blade, soaking his blade and trickling down. Then he saw the swollen, not yet-healing cheeks and chapped lips.
The worst thing is those eyes. The eyes that Anais had shown him before while she was alive, making him want to live, really seemed to question his sins.
“Then how will Lewarren explain?”
“Lewaren is lying too.”
“You don’t know what being repentful is.”
“I don’t know why Lewarren is lying. Look at my hair, I’m wearing the body of Saintess Lilith, but I’m not really her.”
Kylian knew that the hair of a person who was brought back to life by God’s power was blue. Besides, when they return like that, other spirits could enter. Anais looked at him straight in anticipation.
Kylian didn’t want to listen to her anymore, so he raised his sword.
“I hope we never see each other again.”
“……!”
Anais closed her eyes tightly. Kylian was really trying to cut him down with his sword.
“Stop!”
At that moment a woman’s voice appeared.
“Your Majesty.”
The voice was getting closer, and then the footsteps that seemed to be the owner of the voice.
“Wife.”
Anais was flustered by the Empress, who seemed to have rushed in. She wondered if the Empress came to watch her die.
The Empress looked a bit suspicious. Her hair was stuck to her forehead and cheeks as if she had really come running. However, she was not gasping at all, probably because she had the body of a warrior. Even so, it was clear that she had left all her servants—no one was by her side.
“Wife, what are you doing here?”
“Your Majesty.”
Anais stood in front of Kylian and took the sword, which was pointed at Anais’ throat, with her hand.
“Your Majesty, this is mine.”
“What?”
“This is mine.”
It was Anais that the Empress pointed her finger at. Anais suddenly realized that she was still wearing the handmaid’s uniform at her hand gesture.
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“Your Majesty gave her to me.”
“But, Wife…”
He thought he would be able to cut ties with the hated Lilith Isadora, but when Anais appeared, Kylian was taken aback. But his wife was holding the sword, and in fear he withdrew the sword and tried to put it away.
He was immobilized by the fact that the slightest misplaced movement could hurt her palm with this razor-sharp sword. His hand trembled.
“Please let go of the sword.”
She slowly released her hand from her sword. Kylian finally put the sword into the scabbard, reassured. Then he quickly checked her hand. He was worried that she might have been hurt by the sword.
“Wife, are you hurt?”
“No. Don’t hold my hand. I’m still not in a good mood.”
Kylian slowly let go of her hand. The Empress glared at Anais with her arms crossed.
“If what’s mine had made a mistake, then I have to punish her myself.”
“…….”
Kylian realized that the Empress was warning him now. He thought that it would be better to deal with Lilith now, which could be the seed of some trouble in the first place.
It was true that his wife was acting strangely now. However, it was also true that he was confused because the image of her that he had loved did not seem to remain anywhere.
Kylian looked at the Empress and then unconsciously looked at Lilith. The reflection in her eyes was still clear again. He quickly cleared his mind and focused on the woman in front of him.
“I apologize if I have offended you, Wife.”
“…….”
“Still, it was for your sake, so please forgive me.”
“I will.”
The Empress smiled innocently and stroked Kylian’s cheek. He thought it was strange that she treated him this way, but his heart skipped a beat when he saw Anais’ face looking at him.
“Your heart is beating loudly.”
“It’s because you are reaching out to me.”
Like mocking him as he spoke in a trembling voice, the Empress’s lips curled into an arc and she removed her hand.
“I want to go back.”
“I will take you there.”
“Don’t treat me like a child.”
The Empress spoke harshly to him and dragged Anais to her palace. He had to be careful not to show his eyes that had taken interest in Lilith. Even so, he liked the wife who held his hand, so he tried to focus on that.
It was strange. When he was looking at Anais in her lifetime, his eyes were always following Anais, even if wasn’t consciously trying to look at her. But not now. Just as Anais had changed, so had him. He did not know. But even so, he was determined not to let go of her again, to find her old self.
Because one mistake was enough.
* * *
Arriving at the Empress’s palace, Anais was surprised to find that it was decorated in a completely different atmosphere from when she had stayed before. The inside has completely changed.
It’s like being possessed by a ghost who died because they couldn’t afford luxury. Even a single piece of glass on a chandelier seemed to cost more than a piece of jewelry.
“Why did His Majesty want to raise a sword against you?”
“…….”
Anais could not tell the whole story. All this time she had been saying that she was not Lilith Isadora, and she had incurred his wrath with that. It was clear to Kylian now that if she told him she was Anais, he would kill her out of anger even more than now. Then the opportunity for a talk would be lost forever.
“His Majesty said in the past… I tried to kill Anais.”
“Oh my.”
“But I don’t remember that.”
“You’re a really shameless one, aren’t you?”
The Empress smiled brightly and slapped Anais on the cheek with the palm of her hand. As she hit her face with her rough palm, Anais went blank again.
“I thought about what kind of punishment I would give.”
“…….”
“Go up here first.”
The Empress made her climb onto the piano chair. Anais was curious that there was a piano in the room in the Empress’ palace.
“Is this your first time seeing a piano?”
“No. I remembered my friend… who likes the piano.”
“Who?”
Lilith Isadora. She couldn’t say that.
“Just a close friend.”
“I don’t think you would have any friends? You don’t have to lie about that.”
The Empress spoke condescendingly, and then gestured to her to go up. Anais thought about refusing the order, but she didn’t. She shouldn’t die right now. If she causes another commotion, she’ll be brought before the emperor, and this time, Kylian might really kill her.
Besides, after watching the video of the battle at the Denver Bridge, she thought she couldn’t trust anyone anymore. She intended to convince Kylian to set things right, but she began to regret the life she had lived.
Maybe everything before she dies is just her illusion. She wanted to be courageous and strong again, but the fact that the people she trusted were actually playing tricks with her life behind the scenes was adding to her considerable pain.
“Ah. Bring the Second Bishop too.”
“Phileal has nothing to do with it!”
“The priest in charge doesn’t even listen to me.”
When the Empress said that, the other maid nodded her head and left.