Chapter 141
****
When Raha was about ten years old, before she inherited the eyes of the heir, the Empress gave her this stiletto dagger.
It was so small, light, and easy to strike an opponent with, that in the Empire, female nobles slept with it under their pillows in case of emergency.
Soon afterward, the Empress took back everything she had given Raha, so that too was soon taken away, but not for much. After Karzen's ascension to the throne and Raha's ascension to the most exalted position in the imperial court, sleeping with stilettos under one's pillow became old-fashioned and outdated.
It was a change Raha had instigated, and though her childlike nature was evident, she laughed it off as cute and pathetic.
For what purpose the vendors sold the daggers, which had recently fallen out of favor, Karzen, who had fought on the battlefield, could not tell. It was used to end the lives of defeated soldiers who had been irreparably wounded.
Naturally, the stiletto dagger took on a new meaning.
To reap the honor of the defeated.
"Even though I promised the young lady the position of empress."
The blue eyes that resembled Raha's stared him dead in the face.
"Why does Young lady hate me?"
"Your Majesty."
"Because I painted your hair blue?"
"I was not brought up to hate my monarch to that extent, Your Majesty."
"Then why."
Karzen coughed out a rasping cough. Red blood burst forth like a heatwave.
"Why did you take Raha's hand, Jamela Winston."
"That is the only thing you remember."
Jamela smiled with pink cheeks.
"Do I need to remind you of my hatred of Your Majesty?"
"Jamela Winston."
Even as poison and venom spread through his body, Karzen exuded a cold sense of authority. A man born with a noble bloodline and a noble crown.......
Yes. For this young and beautiful monarch, much of his behavior was merely an extension of his playfulness. The raw flesh of his opponents, severed countless times, would be nothing more than meaningless chunks of meat to Karzen.
Those who were sliced and diced alive were simply unlucky, and if they went mad, so be it.
"Your Majesty."
At this point, he had no choice but to let go.
At this moment, the young lady, who had lost her status as the Emperor's consort, laughed nobly. Just as she had been taught all her life.
However, the way she stroked Karzen's blue hair with a hand covered in red blood was uncharacteristic of a noblewoman.
Instead, she looked like a lifeless figure in a painting whispering vengeance.
"I, too, would love to paint Your Majesty's hair golden......."
"..."
"But that would give away my desire, wouldn't it?"
"....ah."
Karzen laughed again. It was not the usual beautiful, noble emperor's smile; like paper crumpled under pressure, Karzen's ashen eyes glowed with an aura of predestined death.
"Does your father know?"
"He knows nothing. He is sleeping peacefully."
"What was Winston supposed to get from Raha in return?"
"The ashes of my childhood friend."
"Rosain Ligulish......."
Karzen coughed up blood and laughed. His eyes soon glazed over.
"You think he’s in love with you?"
"There are some feelings you don't realize until you lose them, Your Majesty."
"Is that why you came to hate me?"
"Does my hatred matter to you, Your Majesty?"
It probably didn’t mean anything to him anyway.
Nothing except Raha Delharsa.
"Yeah. Doesn't mean anything."
Karzen spat out in a low voice. With each inhale and exhale, a terrible pain ate away at him.
"Raha must have arranged this for you on purpose. My twin is good at making deals. Born to it."
"...."
"But Young lady is not Raha."
"..."
"You don't know one yet."
At the same moment, Jamela Winston collapsed in a heap. Karzen was helped to his feet by Blake Duke, who approached him like an assassin.
"Your Majesty. They must have sensed something out there. Three quarters of the Isles garrison, including the Duke's knights, are marching on the palace."
Three-halves was the highest unit that Duke Blake, the Captain of the Guard, could single-handedly raise. Karzen lifted his head slowly.
"Let's go to the insignia."
Raha Delharsa would be there.
***
Karzen stepped into the auspices, where a massive monument stood.
It was not difficult to get in, for there was a secret entrance, unknown to the world, passed down from generation to generation only to the emperor of the present.
Though in the process, all the guards were killed except for Duke Blake.
Karzen entered this beautiful garden alone. Upon entering, he had to dispense with the word beautiful. Clusters of light bumped into each other, and the flat ground rose like a tumor.
One in particular shot out as if to attack him, and then fizzled out like an arrow that had lost its power. It was hot, like a hand on a candle.
The monument, still a magnificent marker.
Raha, crouching.
A bloodied body of the former emperor lying miserably before her. No breath, no movement.
"Have you finally killed him?"
Raha slowly moved her head to look at Karzen.
For a moment, Karzen's face froze as if struck by lightning. There were no eyes of the heir that Karzen had been seeking for half his life. They didn't exist. As if he were looking in a mirror, he saw a pair of ashen eyes that looked eerily like his own.
Intense shock boiled to a boiling point. It was only for a moment. A nightmarish sight that completely overwhelmed even the pain in his body, and before he knew it, Karzen had a firm grip on Raha's shoulders and was forcing her to her feet.
"What did you do to your eyes?"
"...."
"I asked you what you did to your eyes, Raha Delharsa!"
"I got rid of them."
"Are you out of your mind? Does that make sense......."
Karzen slowly looked to the side. Cracks in the insignia could only be seen by those with expansive eyes, but no one else could see it 'crumbling'.
With a dull, lonely sound, a section of the tombstone crumbled away.
The shock of actually witnessing what he had only suspected was immense. It was a terrible feeling, as if someone was sticking an impossible needle into his brain.......
"......Why is this happening, Raha Delharsa."
"Because I want to kill you."
"..."
"Because I wanted to kill father, too."
"..."
"I really wanted to kill......."
Raha Delharsa's voice was so sweet as she whispered, and if it weren't for the sharp pain that crushed his entire body even at this moment, Karzen would have been willing to believe that this was his bed.
A beat too late, Karzen coughed out a cough. The outpouring of blood left deep marks on Raha's cheeks, exposed neck, and collarbone.
"You say you love the royal lord, but can you die without him?"
"You've trampled on me at every turn, all the while claiming to love me."
"That and."
"It's the same, Karzen."
Raha whispered.
"There's nothing else, Karzen."
There was a promontory in her voice. In its pointed beak, hidden by the blue waves, the scream Raha had been holding back for so long pools like blood.
Karzen knew his life was burning. One can only know one's own death so well.
An intrinsic fear of death, one he had lived in oblivion of for so long, consumed him.
He could no longer open his mouth.
Karzen grabbed Raha by the throat, but that was all. Unpierced by the poisoned sword, she easily pushed him away. Raha Delharsa pulled the sword from the Emperor's chest. A gush of blood stained Raha's moonlit skin red. Karzen blinked once more.
He then realized she had plunged her sword deep into his chest.
Blood rushed into his lungs.
"I'm going to rip you to shreds and hang you on the city walls, Karzen."
"...."
"And I'll give the royal lord this country."
"..."
"And each and every descendant of my husband’s blood will remember you as a soul that will never exist again.”
"..."
"Nowhere will you be preserved intact."
"..."
"Because I'm going to make it so......."
Karzen couldn't answer as he curled into a ball and vomited blood. The last of his life slithered away.
"You've lost to me, Karzen Delharsa."
It was as she said.
He was utterly defeated by her.
Karzen didn't believe that Raha really wanted to die. It had never even crossed his mind.
Why would she wish for death when there were so many who desire her? Suddenly, he remembered Severo.
He had always held his breath when Raha came to the palace to see Karzen, and when she left, he would always say the same thing, with a look of ecstasy in his eyes.
"The Princess is truly born to be heartless, Your Majesty."
Karzen didn’t really listen to it. He didn’t know what he was talking about. He knew Raha always smiled at him in an innocent, loving way, and he guessed she harbored some hatred in her heart, but that was it.
Raha Delharsa was weak and pitiful. She was nothing, just a little girl who wandered around for days on end because she couldn't get over the fact that a doll had been taken from her.......
How could Raha be so heartless and cold?
That sarcastic retort was Karzen's only response.
Raha Delharsa was so breathtakingly heartless and cold that she had chosen to seek revenge.
She willingly threw love, lust, and life to the ground like a handful of sand. Raha Delharsa was a woman who had spent her entire life with only her hatred as a steadfast guide, and everything else as a cold, calculating choice.
She had created countless desires, drowning out those around her. Yet she remained this cold to the end. She abandoned the lord she loved, and even her own life. ....... she was a royalty who could have done anything.
Yes.
Severo was right.
***
To donate for extra chapters for my series or to tip me visit my personal kofi page
Join my discord to get notifications for updates https://discord.gg/MKWnASzDFB
(If the link is expired, message me for a new link)
Write a comment