Chapter 3

“That’s a given. Would this Carla send the lady to that crazy tyrant?”

Click.

With the window locked, Carla’s golden eyes turned to the carriage in front of the iron gate of the mansion.

The purple carriage, symbolizing the Dsev family, was already sitting by and waiting.

“You’ll be right back after filing your taxes, right?”

“Should be.”

Annie, who was feeling optimistic, stretched out to relieve her fatigue.

The two stepped on the shiny marble floor of the Imperial Palace to file taxes for the family during the season of the rose wind.

Today was that day too. Although it was cumbersome, it only happened once a year, so it was necessary to deal with it immediately.

Carla, being the meticulous maid that serves the smartest member of the Dsev family, put Annie’s pre-filled tax return in a brown folder and packed it in her arms.

Meanwhile, Annie was lost in her thoughts as she sat in the carriage, on her way to the capital.

The enormous imperial castle, looming in the distance, even looked daunting.

That is the tyrant, Ejed’s residence.

‘A tyrant…’

Was it because his name slipped out of her mouth this morning?

She suddenly recalled the story she had forgotten a long time ago.

Shhh, don’t cry, baby.

If you don’t stop, then the tyrant will come to catch you.

A story that has been passed down from her grandmother since she was young to the point where it became a scab in her ear.

The horrors of the tyrant Ejed Jean Porcaus had spread throughout the empire like a plague to the point where his name alone made men and women tremble.

Even before Ejed was born, Robish Abge, who was called the Lion of God, received a bizarre divine message.

The next emperor will also be a tyrant who will rule the empire and spill enough blood to write in the history books in red. Those who oppose him will be chopped into two and become a delicacy for the crows.

Everyone believed in the Divine Lion as it had helped the imperial family for over two generations.

In the end, people were talking about a bloody, ruthless slaughterer even before Ejed was born.

Twenty years later.

Currently, all the empires that declared war with courage have disappeared without a word, and there is no one to stand against the tyrant.

To be precise, there was one until a few days ago, but now he has completely gone into the underworld. All of them were judged by Ejed’s ruthless sword.

During her childhood, Annie was just like the average, snotty child. She was afraid of the tyrant younger than her, and every time her family made fun of her, they mentioned Ejed’s name.

[Annie, if you don’t eat, you will be caught by the tyrant and become his bride!]

[Waaahh!]

‘There was a time when I was so pure too.’

Annie smirked. She was really afraid that she would become the tyrant’s bride and obediently followed her family’s words.

Why was she so scared of that threat? The tyrant who was younger than her should be an even snottier kid, yet she was so frozen.

But that was a distant past.

Even if she went to the Imperial Palace anyway, there is no need to be afraid of someone who she could not even run into. This was because, even in the Imperial Palace, Ejed does not appear often.

Outside his official position, most of his whereabouts were unknown.  He went down to the underworld and beat his demons, where he destroyed other countries, killed someone, and so on. There was only a lot of talk about things like that.

There are more people who have lost their lives to the sword than the number of people in the capital.

‘Well, it’s not like it has anything to do with me.’

As she got older, Annie’s fear disappeared because she, as a mere aristocrat, would never have a private relationship with Ejed, the Emperor.

However, it was not that there was no contact at all.

Both of them have attended the same social gathering in the past.

‘That’s already 7 years ago.’

It was a long time ago, and it was faint, as if covered in a haze, but she vaguely remembered it.

Annie opened her mouth as soon as she saw Ejed that day.

[Is he a real person?]