Chapter 05

“You must never, ever raise your head first. You must not talk back. You must not turn your back.”

“Yes, I’m well aware.”

A guard and a knight dragged the black-haired maid to the underground dungeon.

I gave the knights and attendants a rough explanation of what had happened.

The middle-aged head attendant replied, “Her Majesty wishes to be briefed directly on all matters related to treason.”

He then led me to the audience chamber.

The entire way, he meticulously recited the rules of an imperial audience.

“Do you think this is my first or second time seeing Her Majesty? I know what I’m doing, so please, just be quiet.”

I finally lost my patience and snapped at the head attendant.

He gave me a strange look.

“It has only been a year since Her Majesty Jeirilis ascended the throne, and to my knowledge, she has never summoned Your Highness, Grand Duke Valen. What are you talking about?”

A mistake.

I sighed inwardly and shook my head.

“It’s nothing. Let’s hurry.”

The Main Palace occupied a vast mountain area.

The audience chamber was a building constructed on a rather high point within it.

We climbed flight after flight of wide stairs to reach it.

Seeing the steps before the audience chamber, I paused for a moment and looked back.

I could see a clear blue sky and a panoramic view of the capital, with its many tall towers.

This is where the rebel prince’s head and Jeirilis’s left arm fell.

This time, I would never let that happen.

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothing. Let’s go.”

The head attendant opened a side door to the audience chamber.

Including my past life, I had seen this sight hundreds, even thousands of times, but it was magnificent every time.

Colossal pillars, over twenty-five meters tall, lined the left and right sides, and the floor was paved with marble and colorful crystals.

The ceiling of the audience chamber was a dark, navy blue, from which hung thousands of candles in glass lanterns.

Watching the flickering candlelight felt just like gazing at the night sky.

“Grand Duke Valen?”

“To come to a place like this dressed like that.”

“That scoundrel. Does he think he’s at a ball?!”

Similar reactions came from both sides of the pillars.

It was indeed impolite to arrive at the suicide of one’s kin wearing a glossy white uniform and flashing gold decorations.

But I intended to be as impolite and reckless as possible, a true hellion.

The royals seated in a line to the right of the pillars were not bound, while the five royals seated to the left were in handcuffs.

They were the ones who had been ‘graciously granted the opportunity to commit suicide.’

The head attendant scurried up the dais and whispered something in Emperor Jeirilis’s ear.

With my head bowed, I couldn’t see what expression she was making.

“Grand Duke Valencianus. After the executions are finished, do not return to the Red Halo Palace. Wait here.”

A reprieve.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

That was all I could say.

“Now, then. I will hear the rest. Rsus, I hear you also tried to kill me. Come forward and speak if you have any excuses.”

Jeirilis spoke.

I looked at the royals seated to the left of the pillars.

A royal with the build of a bear walked out in handcuffs.

His face was bruised all over, but he still carried himself with dignity.

“I am aware that you sent a letter to your maternal family in an attempt to acquire several swords engraved with spell circuits. To whom were you planning to give those swords?”

“Your Majesty. What will you do if I do not speak?”

“I have already said I will permit you to take your own life. Your honor will be preserved. Therefore, I have no choice but to interrogate those who are under suspicion.”

At the mention of interrogating the suspects, Rsus gritted his teeth.

I knew from my past life.

She called it an interrogation, but it was just torture.

And since the Emperor herself had ordered it, the torturers would show no mercy.

“I sent the letters.”

“To whom did you send them?”

Rsus recited a list of names. They were all already locked in the underground dungeon.

After reciting the list, he looked over at me.

His contorted face seethed with venom.

A sense of dread washed over me, and I took a step back.

“And finally, I sent a letter to Grand Duke Valencianus.”

Goddammit.

I nearly cursed out loud right then and there.

I wasn’t Jeirilis’s beloved, yet hated, confidant yet.

The royals seated along the right pillar stared at me in shock.

The four or five royals seated along the left pillar looked on as if it were only natural.

Perhaps they had already gotten their stories straight.

Or maybe they had just figured it out.

It was true that I had received the letter.

Though I had politely declined the next day and burned it.

I hadn’t kept the letter.

But I hadn’t informed the knights, either.

In my past life, I didn’t know what was best for Jeirilis.

I didn’t want to see her suffer under the heavy burden of being the Emperor.

At the same time, I didn’t want her to die.

I couldn’t bring myself to join the rebellion, nor could I draw a clear line against it.

I didn’t understand that if you weren’t an ally, you were an enemy.

I paid the price for my foolishness and stupidity with the death of someone precious.

It was an old story that must not be repeated, a story that must vanish into time.

I kicked off the marble floor, took a step forward, and spoke to her.

“Your Majesty! This bear of a man is insulting me with his foxy tricks.”

“Grand Duke Valencianus. Have you forgotten your oath from that day?”

“The guy who got knocked out by my wine bottle is talking about oaths?”

The knights stomped their boots on the floor, trying to look imposing.

Of course, I didn’t bat an eye and shouted defiantly.

“The guy who got thrown out a window after barging into someone else’s room with his cronies sure has a lot to say.”

“I had certainly prepared a suit of armor for you.”

“Do you think you can just spew any garbage from that mouth? Why are you trying to make me kill myself too? If you got caught committing treason, just shut up and drink your damn poison!”

I deliberately used vulgar language.

It was a tool to remind everyone of the common sense notion that one wouldn’t involve such a violent and ignorant person in a meticulous rebellion, and to show that there was already conflict between Rsus and me.

It had been a while, so the words didn’t roll off my tongue easily, but I had to get used to it again.

Jeirilis raised a hand.

The entire chamber, including me, fell silent.

“I judge the attempt, not the intention, more heavily.”

The head attendant and the knights nodded.

“I will not tell you not to dream. But if you try to turn that dream into reality, be prepared. I have said this time and time again.”

She looked at the royals seated on the right.

A few of them flinched and avoided her gaze.

“If I were to punish for thought alone, who among you could remain seated there? Locking you all in the dungeon wouldn’t be enough.”

The sound of clearing throats could be heard here and there.

“Valencianus.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I have heard the reports from the maids and knights of the Red Halo Palace. They say you live your days drunk, as if your spirit is broken.”

“I am deeply ashamed.”

“I know your conduct is not proper. But that is not a crime punishable by death. I will not ask what you have given up to escape into drink.”

Her voice echoed coldly through the audience chamber.

“I hope you will not try to grasp again what you have let go.”

It meant she would bury the matter without questioning its truth.

I bowed my head to express my gratitude.

“I am overwhelmed by Your Majesty’s grace.”

She let out a faint smile before turning her gaze back to Rsus.

“I do not repeat myself. You will say nothing more and take your own life.”

Rsus returned to his seat.

Next, a blonde-haired royal walked out. She looked as if she wanted to say something.

Jeirilis spoke to her.

“I have permitted your maid to commit suicide alongside you. Her family will not be punished, so rest assured.”

Good.

I breathed an inward sigh of relief.

“I am overwhelmed by Your Majesty’s grace.”

The blonde woman bowed her head respectfully.

“I understand you are the child of a concubine of my father, the former Emperor. You are neither a swordsman nor a mage, and your maternal family is not powerful.”

The Emperor continued.

“Why did you participate so actively in the rebellion? Even if I were brought down, there would not be much of a share for you.”

“My older brother achieved the rank of Sword Expert at the age of twenty-five.”

Jeirilis’s expression shifted to one of understanding.

The blonde royal continued.

“He was killed in battle a year ago, fighting you, Your Majesty, when you were still a princess.”

“I remember. He was an outstanding swordsman with light brown hair. He nearly cut off my wrist in a surprise attack. I intended to win him over, but he would not listen.”

“Do you need any more reason?”

The Emperor shook her head.

A deep shadow fell over her beautiful face.

“That is sufficient.”

After that, Jeirilis called forth the three remaining royals from the left of the pillars and heard their stories.

Of course, the verdict she had delivered did not change.

That was the same as before my regression.

But some things had changed.

I was sitting to the right of the pillars, and Jeirilis had not drunk any poison.

The blonde royal’s body would not be salted and sent to her maternal family.

No one would be denied an honorable suicide and sent to the guillotine.

I could consider this a good first step.

“The wine.”

At her command, attendants carrying glasses headed toward the five royals on the left.

Wine laced with deadly poison was poured into each glass.

She, too, held a glass of poison-free wine.

“Drink.”

The five royals to the left of the pillars raised their glasses.

Some squeezed their eyes shut, others stared wide-eyed.

But none screamed and threw their glasses down.

Whether born of a concubine or a consort, they emptied their glasses with their own hands.

Soon, they slumped silently into their chairs.

It was the end of the traitors.

One by one, the bodies were carried out on stretchers.

The Emperor, who had been watching them with an indifferent gaze, turned her head to me.

“Grand Duke Valencianus, prostrate yourself before me.”

It was a familiar voice.

A clear voice that held a dizzying, flame-like quality.

As she commanded, I walked to the front of the dais and knelt on the red carpet, bowing low.

“The maid said she put ‘Nail-less Poison’ Onyx in the wine.”

Onyx was a poison that, once ingested, caused a burning fever, stinging, and itching, making the victim scratch their entire body until their nails fell out before they died.

Among the many deadly poisons, it was renowned for the horrific agony it caused before death.

Of course, the Jeirilis who had drunk it in my past life hadn’t so much as flinched.

“Had I drunk it unknowingly, even I would not have found it pleasant. I thank you for your loyalty and devotion.”

“I am overwhelmed by your grace.”

“However, I have summoned you because there is something I wish to ask you, Grand Duke.”

Her voice rose slightly.

From long experience, I knew she was now wearing a sadistic smile.

“Why were you in my wine cellar?”

I took a deep breath and answered.

I had to be shameless.

I had to become an ill-mannered ruffian and distance myself from power.

I had to make everyone think I was unfit for the title of Grand Duke.

I had to make everyone think I could never replace Jeirilis.

“To be honest, I was also trying to sneak out a bottle of wine.”

“!”

At my outrageous words, the Imperial Guards placed their hands on their sword hilts, and the head attendant trembled, his teeth clenched in fury.

I paid them no mind and looked up at the Emperor seated on the golden throne.

“Grand Duke Valen! In whose presence do you dare raise your head?”

I ignored the head attendant’s horrified whisper.

Despite being my twin sister, her face, unlike mine, held no trace of youthfulness.

It was because her body, having shed its old form upon reaching the level of Sword Master, had transformed into its peak state.

Since she had reached that realm at such a young age, the physical reconstruction had manifested as maturation rather than rejuvenation.

Naturally, her face was no different from before I regressed.

White hair that looked like molten platinum and deep yellow eyes that seemed inlaid with gold.

A woman who sat with her back straight and legs crossed, as if to boast of her slender body and tall stature, looking down on all before her.

A monarch with the proud, confident air of a dragon.

The Empire’s youngest Sword Master and a Great Mage acknowledged by the Lord of the Ivory Tower.

The one who had started a rebellion at sixteen, slaughtered her kin, and seized the throne.

A war hero who would go on to suppress nine rebellions and lead her forces to victory in five great wars over the next forty years.

A tyrant who would earn the resentment of her people for taxation that bordered on plunder to fund her military expansion.

The Emperor of the Empire that ruled the continent.

And my twin sister.

Jeirilis Soletaraon Soletaras.

She tilted her head.

“You were trying to steal my wine?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“How audacious. Do you know whose property you were trying to steal?”

She revealed her anger in a restrained tone.

I held my head high and spoke firmly.

“I apologize. However, please understand. After drinking nothing but cooking wine every day at the Red Halo Palace, I could not resist the aroma.”

“Why were you drinking cooking wine?”

“My dignity maintenance fee was cut to a quarter of what it was, so I have no money to buy proper wine.”

The knights shot me pitiful glances.

The head attendant went so far as to call a soldier over in advance, ordering him to prepare another bowl of poison for my suicide.

But I wore a confident smile and shamelessly made my demand.

“Was it not thanks to me trying to steal wine that you caught an attempted poisoner? Please let it slide just this once.”

The entire hall fell silent, as if frozen.

The sound of the spring breeze blowing outside was the loudest thing in the room.

The one who broke the silence was the highest authority present.

Jeirilis burst into laughter.

Her laughter echoed through the wide hall like a dragon’s roar.

“Truly audacious. Very well. One who has saved my life once deserves to be forgiven once.”

“I am overwhelmed by Your Majesty’s grace.”

“Head Attendant. Give this man a bottle of Tears of the Wasteland. It is a reward for saving my life.”

The head attendant, who had been preparing the poison, stared with wide eyes as if he had misheard.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will add a potent poison to the Tears of the Wasteland. Grand Duke Valen, Her Majesty has shown you consideration. Be grateful for the imperial grace of allowing you to end your life with a fine drink.”

The Emperor clicked her tongue.

“Do not add any poison. Just give him the wine. I have decided to forgive this man.”