Chapter 64

Episode 64

To Sell Your Soul

I raised the corners of my mouth out of courtesy at the empress staring at me silently.

“It’s a dazzling afternoon, Your Majesty.”

“You…..”

“You can ask questions first, Your Majesty.”

This smile was enough. I lowered the corners of my mouth and spoke grimly to her.

“However, when Your Majesty’s questions are over, you will have to answer me.”

The empress sat across from me. She knocked on the table for a moment and asked me.

“How did you find out about this place?”

“A reliable guide took me there.”

“I mean how did you meet the guide?”

She spat it out in a low voice. I tilted my head slightly and recalled the face of a man who had already left to confess.

“I went to see the fireworks today and witnessed the gate opening in person. I was lucky and ran into the culprit who opened the door.”

“Lies.”

“If I had known at the time that the gate would open in the yard and I could die because of the monsters, of course I wouldn’t have gone to the academy. I can see the fireworks from my house.”

The empress shut up at my answer.

She no longer made any excuses, didn’t even try to back out.. She looked out the window silently and spoke quietly without even giving me a glance,

“So, what are you going to do next? Did you intend to file a complaint against me for betraying you?”

“You’re welcome.” (PR/N: Eris being sarcastic.)

I slowly leaned on the sofa. The empress’s gaze turned to me. I closed my eyes slightly and opened them again at her. As is often the case when soothing cats,

“I can’t throw away a card like Your Majesty very easily. First of all, you have to interrogate me today.”

“An interrogation?”

Wondering, the empress asked back. I scrunch my nose playfully. Perhaps everyone in the academy knew that I was at the scene. Maybe everyone who came out as witnesses mentioned it once.

“I went in a bit loudly. Since the daughter was in the place where her father opened the gate, why not check if she’s an accomplice?”

Last time, only a few people knew that I was at the academy because I told them in advance and went in quietly.

There may be a few people who passed by and saw me, but that was enough to cover up that they’ve seen it wrong. And maybe he was thinking of meeting me separately and conciliating with threats.

I have to make it impossible to steal myself.

So that there is no situation where it’s just the crown prince and I are present.

“Your Majesty doesn’t have to interrogate me directly. But please monitor if the interrogation really takes place.”

“What do you gain from doing that? I don’t understand you.”

“You don’t have to understand me. It’s enough if our interests match.”

Although we were not enemies, there was no need to hold hands with the empress. As long as we achieved our one goal of overthrowing the emperor and the marquis, we didn’t need any other emotional elements. The empress was also convinced and nodded her head softly.

“If you’re done with the questions, it’s my turn. Why did you do this? If you get caught, you won’t be safe.”

The scale of the empress’s decorations was larger than expected. In the past, there had been a war of magic with the demon king, so one of the countries that was fed up with demons was the empire.

The reason why the empire was a sacred state that followed the Pope with diplomatic relations came from the magic war. This was because, as well as defeating demons, the divine power made a great contribution to healing the land and people from being tainted by demons.

Those who controlled demons were punished with death, and even if they came into contact with them, they were severely questioned. She even offered a bounty to encourage the extermination of demons at a national level.

In this situation, If it was discovered that she had opened a portal where monsters poured into the capital, no matter how big the empress was, there was a high possibility that she would be dethroned as well as being held accountable and sentenced to death. It was reckless to exchange for the life of a single marquis.

The empress snorted at my question. She raised her head and said casually.

“I hate the Marquis.”

One day, when I told her that I hated her, the empress got mad at me. She honestly expressed her feelings in front of me, saying she wanted to kill me. But now the empress did not even do that. Even a single word of emotion only spoke a certain ‘fact’ in a subdued voice as if it were a luxury.

“And… I hate the Emperor who drew him in as much as I hate the Marquis.”

After the empress had finished saying that, she laughed for a moment. There was more madness than usual.

“I know better than anyone else how to make the emperor suffer. I’ll kill myself.”

“If you know how, why don’t you do it?”

The empress folded her eyes and laughed as if she was looking at an innocent child. At the moment, she looked my age. Youth, which was just happy without any worries, was briefly overlaid on her face and melted away. And the empress calmly described the infinitely terrifying past.

“I tried. I hung my neck. I lost my mind for a day and when I woke up, it smelled strongly of blood…… Hundreds of people’s heads were cut off for failing to manage me. Even the children who have been helping me since I was a Crown Princess, all the children who just joined as apprentices were also beheaded.”

The empress swallowed her saliva for a while with a painful expression. She stopped talking for a long time and barely opened her mouth. She looked calm again.

“lowe my life to a hundred people, so I had to live even if I didn’t want to. If I can’t die or kill the Emperor, I will live to get revenge, I vowed.”

The empress closed her eyes slowly and put her hands together to interlock her fingers.

“After that, I scratched up information and interfered with what the Marquis was doing. Starting with small things, I also destroyed the magic train he worked hard on. The Marquis will someday run that scrap metal again, but he won’t be able to make money for a while anyway.”

It was the empress who broke the magic train I rode. Thanks to her, I was basically a fish in troubled water because it further delayed Jason’s pursuit of me. The Empress then said.

(PR/N: 1 2/2/2/ is a fish in troubled water which comes from the idiom that a fisherman passing by in a fight between a long bill and a clam could hunt both in the middle of the fight. Basically, one person has an advantage due to two people fighting, you play a person off against another and you just benefit from it, in this cose Eris was struggling and the empress was benefiting.)

“It’s still not enough to open the gate and blame it on the Marquis. This is not enough to kill him.”

“Is it not enough?”

Finally, the empress opened her eyes. All of a sudden, there was blood in her eyes. She may have been closer to a witch than me. But she could not transcend. If the empress became a witch, would her life be better?

“Since it’s the Marquis that colluded with the Emperor, he may end up with his property confiscated, and driven out under the pretext of working for the country. That’s not what I want. I have to see the Marquis vomit blood and die.”

If it was the emperor, it was possible enough. No, the marquis did not really commit it in the first place, so it was enough to release him due to insufficient evidence.

A definite sin was needed. The marquis actually committed…… a definite sin. I listened to the empress and said.

“Is it enough to commit treason?”

“What?”

“If the daughter makes her father commit a rebellion, will he be able to pay for it with death?”

She looked at me like someone who saw a ghost. I looked back at Anakin standing behind me for a moment. Anakin shook his head silently. It meant that there were really only the three of us there. I spoke to the empress with confidence.

“However, I’m not the only one who pays the price. Your Majesty must pay the same price as my father.”

“Are you saying that you’re going to take our lives at the same time?”

“Four, me too. I know how serious it is to open the gate. If Your Majesty saves my father again this time, it is only in the name of killing the royal family.”

I blinked and hoped she would get caught. This was more like helping the empress, but it was not a bad situation for me either. The more crimes, the better.

That way, I’ll definitely be executed.

The empress blinked for a moment when I said I would die and asked.

“Why do you want to die?”

“It’s also a matter that Your Majesty doesn’t need to understand. What’s important now is whether or not Your Majesty will hold my hand.”

I shut up for a moment and added.

“If you kill His Majesty and even kill my father for killing His Majesty, isn’t that equivalent to killing two rabbits at once?” (T/N: 4+1 people-Eris, Empress, Emperor and Marquis + Heleno)

She seemed to be thinking about something with her mouth closed for a moment. The empress asked.

“How are you going to kill me?”

In the original story, Eris killed Helena with a poisoned teacup. Perhaps the cup was brought to her by the marquis. I had to stab Helena with the dagger the witch gave me anyway, so I thought that giving the teacup to the empress wasn’t a bad idea.

“I’m going to ask my father to get a poisoned tea cup.”

“….. To drink tea with the emperor in that?”

“You have to drink it together. That way, you can get out from the list of suspects. If it’s found out that you are an accomplice, His Highness might have problems with legitimacy when he ascends.”

“The throne is”

“Of course, His Highness will be there. There are only four people who die.”

I shrugged to the empress and added.

“……Anyway, His Highness is still alive. Wouldn’t it be better to minimize the possibility just in case?”

Killing the emperor and empress would be an adventure for me as well. It was unlikely, but it would

have been difficult for the crown prince to become emperor even if there was a coup.

….Anyway, because I want to make Helena the empress. The child deserves a happy ending.

The empress who was listening to me suddenly burst into laughter. But when I looked up, tears were pouring out of her eyes. It looked strangely beautiful.

“I couldn’t sell my soul because no witch appeared to buy it.”

She got up from her seat as it possessed and knelt at my feet. She smiled while touching my face with both hands. With eyes as if facing holy things.

“Now that I see you, I think I was here to meet you. You came to buy my soul.”

The empress, who had been speaking sorrowfully, growled, clenching her fists on my lap.

“…Give me that cup. If the Emperor doesn’t drink, I’ll, pour everything into his throat. Finally, after such a long time…… I will avenge my son.”