Chapter 0 - Prologue

Prologue

Translator: Lunarise

Editor: Larkspur

Cushioned snugly in her grandmother’s lap, eyes gleaming with ardent adoration, the little girl listened to the sweet melody. The older woman’s voice rang clear through the air as she gazed upon her granddaughter with a soft smile. The girl found herself slowly getting lost in her grandmother’s magical voice …

♫ A god and a beautiful woman, by chance, met by the River Judith —

They fell in love with each other like it were a tryst of fate-

Breaking all taboos, they showered their love on one another.

But the time humans have is limited, their life measured …

The woman’s young body turned ill and grew old.

The soft, silken hair started to wither away, the supple skin laced with wrinkles.

The god abandoned the once young beauty as she grew old and frail.

All her youth was devoted to the god,

Alas, all that she was returned was betrayal and the blame for violating taboos.

Pitiful woman!

Foolish woman!

To love a god, was your first mistake!

Oh, but the woman awaited the god unto her last breath.

She waited at the place they met … ‘til she turned into a flower.

After a long time, the god finally came to realize,

She was the only one that he ever loved.

He cried in pain, his heart ached in grief …

His tears of penitence bathed the flower she’d become.

His endless tears turned into a river … a lake … and a sea …

And yet the tears rained from his eyes …

The Goddess of Love felt pity looking at the scene,

And, in the end, she gave the god another chance—

‘Stop being sad, my son! I shall give you a chance. I’ll split your heart in half.

I will send one half to the human world, and on the day you find that half…

Shall be the moment you will love again.’ ♫

“The God of Judith” was an age-old love song that had been sung from generation to generation. The ballad passed from the grandma’s lips to the little girl’s, from her to another, and another … etching a place in time. But this was no tale of admiration and envy, for all whose ears it reached agreed that the God of Judith was foolish.

♛

Standing by the banks, a woman hazed at the River Judith before her …  where the god may have stood thousands of years ago, her hand resting on her heart, a suffocating feeling clutching at her.

“The god isn’t the only one who’s foolish … Humans are the same as well … You and I.

♛

The continent of Slovenia comprised of several kingdoms. Spread over a quarter of the mainland, was the Arpen Empire – the largest of them all. With lands rich in water and natural resources, spacious and prosperous, this abundance was why this empire was considered a great power.

Life on the Slovenian continent had been peaceful until the Arpen Empire began its conquest.

“The Emperor of the Arpen has appeared!”

“He has conquered yet another kingdom!” Haunting words seized the hearts of people with fear.

The Arpenes had originally descended from a tribe of savages, and their ambition knew no end. During the bloody conflict, there was not a single kingdom that could hope to broker for peace. The kings of all the smaller countries trembled anxiously, worried that they were next to be attacked.

“A thousand people died. Another king’s head has fallen.”

“Don’t expect any imperial etiquette from them! Unconditional obedience is the only way to save your life!”

Unlike other kingdoms that boasted a thousand years of history, the Arpen Empire lacked a solid culture of its own. The only culture that they could claim stemmed from their dark past when their tribe wandered from village to village laying devastation in their wake. Not a single living organism could be found where they had passed through. Such was the beginning of their dynasty. They had no mercy.

“Must all the kingdoms of Slovenia acknowledge him as emperor?”

“What’s the best way to stop the bloodshed?”

The Emperor of Arpen was a ruthless killer. With his Blood Army, he mercilessly slaughtered any and all his enemies. Only after a slew of bloodbaths did the Arpenes finally begin to lay down roots. They chose to build their capital in the easternmost part of Slovenia.

The smaller kingdoms could finally breathe a sigh of relief, now that Arpenes were no longer waging wars. However, that respite lasted but for a moment. The Arpene Emperor sent envoys bearing imperial decrees to each country.

“To establish an alliance with the Arpen Empire, each kingdom must send a princess to become a Crown Princess Candidate. The princesses will undergo six months of training to divide them into those who have the potential to become empress and those who will be concubines. Any kingdom disobeying the imperial edict shall be seen as enemies and their access to the River Judith’s stream will be blocked.”

The words fell like thunder. The Emperor of Arpen had set his sights on becoming an emperor, so some time ago he had stopped his war campaigns and started building waterways to and from the River Judith. His control over its flow made the surrounding countries dependent on him, and now the powerless kingdoms were each left with no choice but to send a princess as a Crown Princess Candidate to the Arpen Empire.

History flowed on like that. The world came to revolve around the Arpen Empire. The smaller, surrounding countries now hailed the King of Arpen their emperor and followed his every order.

However, nothing continues perfectly forever. One fateful day, the emperor, who was then the Crown Prince of the Arpen Empire, made a mistake. One of the Crown Princess Candidates had managed to escape under the cover of darkness and vanished like a shadow. To make matters worse, she had fled on the night she shared his bed.

For no less than eight years, the emperor searched tirelessly for her. And indeed, he eventually found the very woman who had fled from his nest.

“… How…?” Her form trembled as she gazed up at him. Her eyes darted to places, helplessly trying to find a way to maneuver an escape.

“Why are you so surprised? How long did you think you could get away for?”

Skkt-!

The new Emperor of the Arpen Empire unsheathed his sword and easily sliced through the guard who had been protecting her as if he was chopping a rotting fruit.

Puak!

Blood spattered. A blue fruit tumbled onto the floor as hot blood splashed on it, staining it crimson.

The woman gritted her teeth hard. Surrounding her was a sea of blood. She looked at the dark liquid running all over the floor, and the human remains at its center.

The body had all its limbs cut off and no longer resembled a human’s. It was a horrifying sight to behold. She opened her eyes wide so she could remember the corpse of her loyal knight, engraving the grotesque sight in her mind.

“Why aren’t you more distressed?” The emperor snorted casually.

“…”

“Yes, how do you feel, seeing it with your own eyes? Tell me, how does it feel seeing me about to go crazy?”

The emperor drew closer. The sight of his chest heaving ferociously frightened her. As he tried to narrow the distance between them, she backed away.

“Don’t come any closer.” Despite her fear, she dared to warn him.

“Don’t be afraid. It’s not like you. You know, back then, I fully realized how much you looked down on me.”

The smile on the emperor’s lips grew the closer he got to the woman. She carefully searched for a way out while keeping her eyes keenly fixed on the emperor’s face. However, she knew all too well that she couldn’t escape. Her heart went wild and she clenched her teeth. The scent effusing from his body, together with a sticky smell of the ambiance, attacked her nose and stirred her insides. Her whole body trembled uncontrollably, but the way she quivered indicated that there was something other than the fear of the emperor.

She remembered when she had moaned and screamed salaciously for him like a temptress. The emperor’s strong, solid body then came naturally to her mind. Her body had spent countless nights under his, trembling in pleasure …

The man gazed softly at the woman, her secret place slowly grew wet. Her body was reacting to the sight of its master.

“Don’t look at me like that because I am holding myself back from embracing you right now. Well, it’s only natural for your body to get hot from us seeing each other again.”

“That’s not true!” She spat at him.

“Really? You have gotten better at lying.”

There was a lack of courtesy in his gaze as he eyed her from head to toe. The more he laughed, the more her heart tingled, for on his mirthful lips hung the most beautiful smile in the world.

“The way you’re looking at me is proof that you were waiting for me.”

“You’re mistaken!” The woman screamed, causing him to laugh again.

“Don’t lie to me—I’m not that same stupid prince from eight years ago.”

The woman had originally entered the empire as a Crown Princess Candidate before she chose to leave eight years ago. She had barely managed to escape from him and hid in the woods for eight years, hiding her own identity … but she had eventually been caught by him.

The woman’s eyes fell onto the scar on the emperor’s cheek.

♛♛♛

She regretted it.

It might have been a mistake. She should have stabbed his heart, not his cheek! She wouldn’t have suffered this much if she had … Then they would have never had to meet again.

“I am excited to see you again. Can you hear it? The sound of my violently beating heart—”

There was no place for her to run. The woman was horrified when the back of her heel made contact with the wall. She stared back at the emperor with a stiff face as he reached his long arms towards her. She was trapped against his chest with no escape. His unforgettable scent entered her nose and rapidly spread deep inside her body. Her heart beat like crazy as his scent strengthened.

“I hated every time I saw this wound. How could I get revenge on you, not just for tearing up my heart, but for turning a blind eye to my true love for you? What shall I do with you who betrayed my faith? I dreamt about it constantly, and then I realized the only way to heal my melted heart was by finding you … Thereon, I felt happy every day, thinking about finding you and taking you back to the palace with these hands of mine. Because that would have been the greatest punishment for you—”

“I’m never going back to the palace. Kill me right here instead!”  The woman glared at the emperor. If she couldn’t escape, then she was happy to die by his hands.

However, the emperor did not draw his sword. Instead, he put his face right beside her cheek and studied her face. She tried to avoid his persistent gaze, but he caught her jaw with his hands.

Instead of pain, she felt a hot sensation emanating from the place where he gently held her chin. That heat quickly spread outwards from where his skin touched hers.

“You wanted to kill me, didn’t you? Then come back and kill me. Kill me in the palace you hate so terribly.”

She heard a child cry out as soon as the emperor finished his sentence. The woman doubted her ears. That child was supposed to be in the royal palace, but now she was in the hands of a knight. The young girl was frightened out of her wits.

“Wendy!”

“The last princess of the Kingdom of Koronis. Now that they again have a son, does this mean they no longer have a need for another heir?”

“Let her go!”

“What do you think? She looks good enough to be the next Crown Princess Candidate.”

“Crown … Crown Princess Candidate?”

“Yes.”

“She is only seven years old! She’s still not even old enough to leave her mother’s bosom!”

“She’s a princess and as such will become a Crown Princess Candidate anyway. You think anyone is going to complain if I take her to the empire in advance?”

“… !”

The woman swallowed a scream. Her face turned pale. He was basically threatening to take her seven-year-old sister hostage. The emperor had already anticipated that the woman would not return with him so obediently, but if he brought along her younger sister all the way to this foreign country …

She couldn’t breathe. Her throat felt clogged, no matter how hard she tried to come up with the words to clear her insides. She felt her heart stop for a moment.

The woman drew her sword. The determination to cut his heart this time blazed within her. The emperor laughed before removing his upper clothes and pointing to his heart.

“Stab me. This time, you’re going to have to cut my heart, not my cheek”

“— Ah—”

Her arms were trembling. If she just cut his heart, she wouldn’t have to suffer anymore. She could finally become queen, like the King of Koronis had promised her. Yet, just like last time, she could not stab him …

He grabbed her shoulder and smashed his lips against hers none too gently. A wild moan burst forth between them. The hot mass of flesh squeezing between her lips forced her to breathe.

“Mm—”

“Mmm!”

His kiss was impatient. Like a long-lost lover, he sucked on her lips as if he was experiencing love for the first time.

All strength in the woman’s legs disappeared. The reality of having to return to his palace appalled her; however, the tingling sensation bubbling up from the depths of her heart spoke otherwise.

She missed him so much … his lips and body … But at this moment, she could not appropriately express those sentiments. It pained her.

‘Why … You … It’s been eight years … Shouldn’t you have forgotten?’

The emperor was in a hurry. He couldn’t be satisfied with just a kiss. He hugged her body and kicked open the bedroom door. She heard the wooden door crack and clatter. As soon as she felt the fluffy sheets touch her back, her dress was smoothly pulled off her body, leaving her bare.

The sounds of her tongue clashing with his resonated lewdly. He wrapped his tongue tightly around the base of hers as he kissed her, leaving her no time to breathe. Surprisingly, his touch on her body was gentle, unlike the harsh words he spoke a while ago. His lower body, however, told a completely different tale.

Her dress had been spread out recklessly on the bed, displaying her to him. She shivered, not from the cold, but from his smoldering gaze raking her figure. Unknotting the girdle around his waist, the emperor stood as naked as the day he was born, revealing his perfectly sculpted torso illuminated faintly by the candlelight.

He wasted no time—the desire to ravish the woman before him too strong. Seizing her pair of delicate ankles, his erect member surged with a rush of red, hot blood as he plunged inside her narrow opening. A startled moan escaped her lips. It had been so long since their bodies were connected, and the parts that joined them were slick with the juices of their love. Their voices rang out with every strong thrust.

Obscene noises echoed throughout the room.

“Ah … ah!”

It was hard to tell from which of their mouths those lewd sounds came as the two crazily explored each other’s bodies.

Tears suddenly gushed down the woman’s cheeks. She choked back the sobs threatening to spill from her throat.

She didn’t know what she was crying about. The emperor withdrew his lips from hers and tenderly caressed her tear-stained cheeks with his tongue. She took a deep breath, fooling herself that it was a sigh of relief.

The emperor took his lips off her and slowly rose from the bed. He lightly held her chin and stood at ease. His onyx eyes blazed with a fervor that seemed determined to burn the woman’s soul.

“The only person who can make my madness disappear is you, Viola … I left it empty for you … the seat belonging to the empress—”