Chapter 128
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High Priest Amar staggered to his feet, barely holding on to his senses. Raha Delharsa hadn't sensed any killing intent in Karzen, but others saw differently; it looked as if the Emperor was about to kill the Princess.
"Your Majesty......."
High Priest Amar had barely opened his mouth to stop Karzen. Something slipped past him like a flash. High Priest Amar narrowed his eyes.
A strong hand grabbed Karzen's arm and held him upright. Karzen knew this arrogant man who dared to touch the Emperor's body so casually. He'd been through this before, and it didn't take long for his half-formed mind to recover.
"......Emperor."
The voice was low. Without turning his head, Karzen spoke.
"There you are, earlier than I invited you."
"Your Majesty."
There was not an ounce of politeness in the royal lord’s voice, even as he uttered the highest of titles; it was cold and unforgiving, like a sword plunging once more into a corpse's chest.
"Do not touch my fiancée at will."
"......At will?"
Karzen's eyes flashed with rage.
"I never gave the lord permission to be this arrogant."
"Did you say arrogant?"
"Otherwise. What the hell is this behavior?"
"Your Majesty."
A clear sneer tugged at the corners of Shed’s mouth.
"I see you've already forgotten why I volunteered to be Delo's ally."
Of course.
Very well.
"Indeed."
Karzen's voice was cold.
"You saved the lives of so many Delo nobles in order to claim my twin as a prize."
"I'm glad you remember, Your Majesty, I thought you'd forgotten all that time."
"How could I have forgotten?"
His blue-gray eyes looked like those of a beast about to bite Karzen's neck. So did Karzen's glazed eyes. Across Raha, the two men made no secret of their desire to kill each other.
"Your Majesty......."
High Priest Amar's thin, trembling voice pierced the tense air.
Karzen slowly released Raha's wrist, barely able to contain his desire to tear her apart.
Rahar gracefully picked up her wrist, which still bore the marks of his fingerprints. She slid off the table unaided. The shimmering hem of her dress curled up from Karzen's rough lifting.
The dining room would still be sweet and cozy if it weren't for the corpses of the priests strewn about.
The Emperor hadn't given permission to clean it up, so it was still filled with the breath of the freshly dead.
This amount of corpses was considered favorable on the battlefield, so why would a warrior knight blink an eye?
The Princess had spent the night in front of the corpses of nearly a thousand warriors.
The High Priest should be grateful that it was over.
So there was no problem.
Karzen returned to his seat and sat back down.
"My twin said you tried to kill her, royal lord."
His voice held an old cruelty.
"But Raha, how fragile she is. She said she became overly fond of you and changed her mind."
Raha realized that Karzen's anger had not abated in the slightest, for he was mocking her to perfection.
"How about that, royal lord. How does it feel to be the object of my twin's undying love."
"It's worth the effort."
Duke Blake, who had been quietly observing the situation, narrowed his brow slightly.
"Now that you've won the princess' heart, take her to Hildes and make sure she never dies."
"......."
"You've won her heart, you should be able to do that."
There was a tense silence. Karzen and Shed were staring at each other like they were going to eat each other alive, but half of their attention was on Raha. Her sea-blue hair was slightly disheveled from the rough manhandled by Karzen, but that was all.
Despite having just been the recipient of the Emperor's unbridled anger and hatred, Raha was as graceful as a brush stroke. It made her look like a noble lady who had nothing to do with this situation.
Funny.
Emperors and kings alike were losing their minds over her.
She might as well have been a courtesan from history. Who the hell was she.......
Duke Blake's thoughts didn't last long.
"I'll do you a favor, royal lord. My twin has a soft spot in her heart, and I'm worried about her."
Karzen looked at Raha. His excitement gradually subsided as he saw her beautiful face, only made more vibrant by the rosy color.
He smirked.
"But since she’s been such a bad sport for the lord, I'll have to give you a personal reward."
* * *
"High Priest!"
High Priest Amar ended up vomiting as soon as he returned to his bedchamber. His already cold hands felt as if they would never regain their warmth again. His body shivered.
The priests who had come with him to Delo died where they sat. It was beaten to death like a prisoner for a terrible crime.......
He couldn't help but think that this seemed to overlap with the horrific death of Emperor Delo's first aide, not long ago.
It was then.
Duke Blake came to see High Priest Amar, but he was not alone: behind the captain of the guard were four more knights carrying heavy crates.
"......What can I do for you?"
"We've come to deliver what the Princess had sent."
The chests they set down on the table were filled with precious jewelry. The brilliance reflected off them was blinding.
Clearly, it was a reward for the events of the day. The riches that High Priest Amar had received to pay for the lives of his lost priests.
"I've already looked inside, so you can rest assured."
Duke Blake did not bother to hide the fact that he had already turned the jewelry boxes over once.
"I shall retire now, High Priest. May you rest in peace."
The sunken eyes of High Priest Amar roamed over the beautiful boxes.
At first glance, the gift seemed insignificant. To send such a lowly thing as a consolation prize to an exalted High Priest.
But High Priestep Amar knew it was for Raha's best. She had suffered just as much today.
It was the Holy Land that had been stomped on by Karzen, and it was the Holy Land that would have to bear the loss.
And yet.......
"The Princess ....... wanted to die."
"......That's why we couldn't bring her to the Holy Land. Since the Princess refused, we were allowed to take her life by studying a holy object instead."
Every single word was calculated.
With the offering of flesh and the spilling of blood, the Holy Land could conceal only one of its most primal goals: the murder of Karzen.
Had they been found out. High Priest Amar would have seen a massive army marching into the Holy Land today.
It was Raha Delharsa who had calculated it.
High Priest Amar knelt with his back to the jewelry.
He clasped his hands together in prayer. A prayer for those who had died today. He was ready to sacrifice.
From the moment he could no longer turn a blind eye to the cries of the slain souls from Karzen’s act, High Priest Amar knew he would not die in peace.
'The Princess ......'
The Princess told him that he would have to pay for the lives of the Priests who would come with him, and if he didn't want to, she would have her people dressed up and seated pretending to be the Priests.
The Princess’s coldness was evident in her words.
It didn't matter if other lives were sacrificed to keep what was important to her alive. It was an imperial mindset, and it was in her blood.
Nevertheless.......
If it weren't for the royal lord who had come out to the border to greet the queen of Hildes, the Holy Land would have had to make a greater sacrifice.
"It would be nice if the Princess’ lies were not lies, at least that was the look on her face, High Priest Amar."
A lie that made her fall in love with the royal lord and want to live.
The look on the lord’s face when she told the cruel lie.......
"And yet, Raha, she’s so fragile. She’s so in love with the lord that she’s changed her mind."
However, as he listened to the Emperor's words, High Priest Amar saw a shadow pass across the lord’s face.
An all-too-brief burst. So brief that no one but High Priest Amar would have guessed.
Why had they fallen in love?
A pity it had been a daydream.
* * *
"Go away, all of you.”
Some time later.
Karzen kept his promise of a personal reward to Shed. Bringing the heads of slaves to Shed as a gift would be a reward.
"......."
Raha sat up in the overstuffed chair and stared straight ahead. On the bed in the center of the room, Rosain was slumped over, his face flushed.
Rosain Ligulish hadn't been awake since he was brought to Raha’s palace.
He hadn't, and still didn't, whenever Raha peeked in.
He wasn't dead. Not dead, but.......
"I wasn't thinking straight, Raha."
Karzen, sitting beside Raha, rested his chin on the back of his hand.
"I should have taken care of your slaves long before I gave you to the lord of a friendly nation."
The sight of a few hundred corpses did not move Karzen. The same could not be said for the two bodies that had just died.
"Raha. What were their names?"
"......."
“Raha."
"......."
"Raha Delharsa."
It took Karzen two more times before Raha slowly opened her frozen mouth.
"They didn't have a name."
"Oh. Right. They were numbered. What were their numbers?"
"It was 195, 196."
"I see."
Karzen smirked.
"A shadowy life indeed, a derivative number of the Holy land experiment that loved you so much, Raha."
***
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