A house burnt black. A woman in a black hood stood in front of it, where white snow had piled up.
“How.”
As if she couldn’t believe it, the murmuring woman staggered. A young man standing next to her quickly supported her.
“Mother.”
It was Rehir, Josephina’s son.
“Re-Rehir, Lansen.”
Rehir glanced at the ashes as Josephina spoke, trembling.
“Is dead.”
“Huuu.”
Josephina collapsed as her legs gave way. Rehir stroked his mother’s back and whispered.
“Calm down, Mother. It is very cold today. If you overexert yourself on such a day, it will greatly harm your health.”
“My wings have disappeared again.”
“Don’t be upset over those wings. As long as the souls of the first high priests exist, the wings will be reborn.”
Though his voice was very gentle, his eyes were indifferent, like looking at a rolling stone.
Josephina, who had noticed nothing, panted heavily and clung to Rehir.
“We must find Kailas.”
“We have dispatched people, so we will find him soon. However, you must consider the possibility that Kailas betrayed you…”
“No!”
Josephina shouted impulsively.
“If we lose Kailas too… Only three wings are left!”
With the fifth wing, Lansen, dead, only the sixth, seventh, and eighth wings remained.
“Even if there are only three, they are your wings, Mother. Fake wings can never compare. Forget about Kailas, Mother.”
“We must never lose the power of healing! For the deal with the Emperor, we absolutely…”
“Your wings will arrive soon. We just need to have them secure the barrier stone. Then it will all be over.”
Rehir whispered.
“Your ungrateful and arrogant sister, the foolish wings who believe and follow the fake as if it were real, the damned dragon Sigmund who dared to intervene in fate despite being a transcendent.”
Sigmund. When he said that name, for the first time, emotion flickered in Rehir’s eyes. It was intense murderous intent.
“We can kill them all. The day when the entire continent, not just the empire, will be yours, Mother, is not far off.”
* * *
“A letter has arrived from the imperial palace, Lady Leticia.”
“From the imperial palace?”
Leticia brightened and accepted the envelope Ahwin handed her. She quickly exclaimed.
“Ahwin, the Emperor has accepted my proposal for a private audience! He wants to meet me.”
The letterhead decorated with gold foil contained the Emperor’s handwritten letter.
It respected Leticia’s claim of being the new saint and expressed a desire to discuss the power of the goddess as the Emperor who leads the empire.
“He even said he would hold a banquet to acknowledge me as a saint?”
“It’s a lie. There’s no way he would come to his senses so easily. It must be a trap.”
“Of course.”
Leticia giggled. She neatly folded the emperor’s letter back into the envelope and smiled gracefully at Ahwin.
“Still, it feels good. Things are progressing step by step. Negotiating with the emperor, persuading the nobles, securing the barrier stone… As we keep working on each task, the day when everything is resolved will come, just like when Kailas became my wing.”
Recently, Leticia had been more energetic than ever. This was because Kailas frequently checked her condition and infused her with healing power.
Watching Leticia’s expression carefully, Ahwin found the answer to a small question in his heart.
‘I see. I was wondering why everyone was so excited these days. It was thanks to Lady Leticia.’
Since Kailas became a wing, the other wings were as excited as children the day before a picnic. Leticia’s joy had spread to them.
‘By the way, when does Kailas plan to tell us what she found out?’
Ahwin furrowed his brow slightly as he thought of Kailas. Kailas still hadn’t revealed what the secret was.
‘What on earth is she hiding about Lady Leticia?’
At that moment, Leticia spoke.
“Ahwin, we must prepare to enter the palace. There will be many things to take care of to meet the emperor.”
“Yes, my lady. I will call the attendants to help with your preparations.”
Being a capable wing, Ahwin quickly obeyed Leticia’s command, though his doubts about Kailas lingered.
* * *
Today, there was an unusual tension in the Imperial Palace of the Holy Empire. Today was the day Leticia, who had turned the empire upside down, was coming to the palace.
Since dawn, the entire palace had been busy preparing to welcome Leticia.
Servants had spent the morning cleaning and polishing every corner of the palace. The Royal Knights were on high alert, almost as if preparing for war.
Those who had experienced the power of the wings at the shrine were naturally on edge without being told.
Princess Dana was bustling around, urging people to hurry up.
She was in charge of preparing for the private audience today.
The emperor’s earring still dangled from her earlobe.
“Everyone, stay focused! The fate of the empire could depend on the outcome of this audience.”
“Commander! Control your expression. Do you want to fight the wings of the Queen Consort? Can you handle it if a fight breaks out?”
Because of the cursed earring, she was still pretending to hate Leticia. Fortunately, her act was still convincing.
“Your Highness! The carriage has already passed through the main gate!”
“Already?”
The princess quickly checked the time. Leticia’s visit was imminent, but there was still no word from the emperor. She urgently spoke to the chief attendant.
“The Queen Consort will arrive soon! Is His Majesty still not here? Surely he’s not still in that room!”
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. It seems he will stay longer than usual today.”
“Ha, why is he in that room even on a day like this! I’ll go fetch His Majesty myself!”
* * *
“Ha.”
Around the time the news of Leticia passing through the gates was delivered, the emperor was lounging in his chamber, sitting in a chair adorned with gold and jewels, staring blankly into space.
“Show me a little more.”
The room was filled with thick smoke. There was a very pungent smell as well. The emperor’s gaze grew increasingly dazed.
“Show me a little more. Just a little more.”
Despite his desperate voice, the smoke gradually thinned. The focus slowly returned to the emperor’s eyes, and his fingertips trembled.
“It can’t end already. Don’t go. No!”
With those words, the mist completely cleared. The emperor, who had been rigid with wide eyes, began to cough repeatedly.
“Cough! Gag!”
“Your Majesty!”
The door burst open, and the princess entered. She quickly picked up a cloth from the ground and held it to the emperor’s mouth.
“Spit it all out, Your Majesty.”
Her tone was gentle, but her eyes were fiercely angry. As she caught the emperor’s vomit, she glared at the incense burner on the table.
‘Josephina, you damned wretch. How could you use drugs even on a day like this? Do you want us all to die?’
Since returning to the imperial palace, the princess had discovered that the emperor had lost his sanity.
He was being controlled by Josephina and the shadow lurking behind her.
In the process, Josephina used drugs.
Horribly, the emperor had become addicted to narcotics.
The drugs were so potent that the emperor couldn’t last half a day without them.
Day and night, he chased hallucinations induced by the drugs.
He had even swung his sword while intoxicated by the visions.
‘Josephina! Are you insane? Turning the emperor of a nation into this? Do you think you’ll survive after doing this? Do you think I’ll just watch this happen?’
Just a few months ago, the emperor had been fine. It was astonishing how quickly things had deteriorated.
‘I won’t forgive Rehir either!’
Josephina’s son, Rehir, was also the princess’s enemy.
It was due to Rehir’s influence that the emperor first touched the drugs.
Initially, the princess had tried to be kind to Rehir, considering Leticia. But upon learning his true nature, she changed her mind immediately.
‘Are he and the Queen Consort really siblings? How can they be so different when they were born from the same womb? Was the Queen Consort picked up?’
Suppressing her anger, the princess supported the emperor. Leticia was waiting outside. There was no time to be blinded by rage.
“Your Majesty, the Queen Consort is waiting. Can you go out?”
“Ugh… Just a little more, show me a little more.”
“Rest, Your Majesty. I will deal with the Queen Consort.”
The emperor was in no condition to attend the private audience.
The princess immediately abandoned any expectations of her father and propped him up in the chair.
She spoke to the attendants waiting outside.
“Bring a physician to check on His Majesty’s condition.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
With that, the princess turned her head sharply. She glared at the incense burner on the table and clenched her fists.
‘Damn incense burner. I will smash you one day.’
She was furious.
Her life had felt like a constant battle lately, exacerbated by the damned earring.
As expected, the earring had a surveillance function to monitor her every move.
The problem was that it had an additional function.
It had a lethal function.
If it exploded, it had enough destructive power to blow her head off.
She learned the truth thanks to the emperor’s warning not to do anything foolish if she didn’t want to lose her head.
‘I am not a dog on a leash!’
The princess was crushed by a fear she had never experienced before. She had braced herself for surveillance but not for an explosion.
No matter how brave she was, it was not easy to overcome the fear that her head might be blown off at any moment.
It was thanks to the self-control she had cultivated as an heir to the imperial family that she had managed to endure so far.
‘I’ll overturn everything. Once the matter with the saint is resolved, I will leave this damned country!’
Now, she even thought, what does it matter if this country falls?
Bang! Filled with anger, the princess unknowingly flung open the door to the drawing room.
“Your Highness?”
Leticia, startled, widened her eyes and half-rose from her seat. The princess, frozen for a moment, trembled.
“I’m sorry. I must have frightened you.”
The princess quickly smiled and approached Leticia. As she came to her senses, sweat trickled down her back.
‘Have I gone mad?’
Who did she just vent her anger on? She had been like this more often lately, rage bubbling up at all times. Fine one moment, furious the next.
‘Calm down. Please calm down. There’s no use in getting angry. Nothing changes…’
There was no other way. The princess, internally trying hard to soothe herself, smiled kindly.
“I was lost in thought for a moment. I’m really sorry for startling you.”
“It’s understandable.”
Leticia nodded with a smile. Then she called Banessa, who was standing by her side.
“Commander, could you bring something to wipe off the sweat?”
“Understood.”
Banessa brought a napkin and said something to Leticia. The princess looked out the window, trying to gather her thoughts.
She had no capacity to pay attention to their conversation.
She felt like her head would explode from stress, not the earring.
She even felt like tearing her ear off.
“Your Highness, you seem to be sweating a lot. You must be very tired. Would you like to wipe off the sweat with this?”
“Yes. Thank you…”
Quickly donning her practiced smile, the princess accepted the napkin but then paused. There was a burnt mark on the corner. Looking closely, she saw the scorch marks formed letters.
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