The first task the Empress assigned to Kiss was to torture his maternal uncle.
<Kilius, you can’t do this. I’m not begging for my life. This is destroying your soul.>
His maternal uncle, whose fingernails had all been pulled out, muttered with a face swollen from torture. Kiss, who had been quietly watching, continued the torture without concern.
How much time had passed? Only after a pool of blood had formed at his feet did his maternal uncle’s breathing cease. The lamp hanging on the wall illuminated Kiss’s blood-stained face. Looking down at the torture instrument in his hand, Kiss thought:
Why do I have to hurt someone in order not to get hurt myself?
“Does the meal not suit your taste, Kilius?”
Kiss’s hand, frozen while holding his knife, flinched and trembled. Kiss, who had been quietly looking at the Empress observing him with a worried expression, smiled faintly. Then he answered in a calm voice.
“I apologize, I was thinking of some unfinished business.”
“Being too absorbed isn’t a good habit. If a soul that has left the body lingers somewhere too long, it forgets how to return to its original place.”
“I apologize.”
“Mm, the atmosphere has cooled a bit. Shall we talk about something pleasant?”
When the Empress neatly set down her utensils, the Second Prince, who had been eating with his spirit completely crushed beside the Empress, also set down his utensils. The Empress continued in a gentle voice.
“Meeting a Guardian in the Void means all the conditions for summoning the Primordial Evil are in place. Guardians will probably appear throughout the empire soon.”
“……”
“But what’s truly frightening isn’t the Guardians. It’s ‘who summons the Primordial Evil.’ A knife in a cook’s hand becomes a tool, but a knife in a murderer’s hand becomes a weapon.”
Kiss’s gaze landed on Deus sitting across from him. He was sipping wine with an expressionless face, impossible to tell what he was thinking. The Empress, who had been looking back and forth between Kiss and Deus, smiled softly.
“So I’m asking, who has the sixth Summoning Seal?”
Sharp eyes pierced the two of them. Since the Primordial Evil couldn’t be summoned unless all six Summoning Seals were gathered, the Summoning Seals were quite important. After a moment of silence following the Empress’s question, Deus, who had set down his glass, spoke in a monotone voice.
“I have it.”
Deus took out the seal from his chest and handed it to the attendant standing beside him. Surprise flashed in the Empress’s eyes at Deus’s action of obediently handing over the seal. The Empress, who had been checking the seal, opened her mouth.
“How unexpected. I thought you’d flatly deny having it.”
Affection that hadn’t been there before showed in the Empress’s eyes as she looked at Deus. Kiss, watching this, quietly laughed to himself.
The priests the Empress kept were excellent at detecting the presence of Guardians, so they couldn’t have denied meeting a Guardian in the Void in the first place. He suddenly recalled the conversation he’d had with Deus two days ago.
<I’ll hand over one of the three Summoning Seals to the Empress. We have a total of three Summoning Seals including Ash’s anyway. We need to hand over at least one to the Empress to avoid suspicion.>
There were a total of three sixth Summoning Seals obtained from the Void, and he was saying he’d hand one of those three to the Empress. At the suggestion of handing over one of the crucial assets for summoning the Primordial Evil to the Empress, Kiss had answered expressionlessly.
<Summoning the Primordial Evil is a different matter from the deal I made with you. I have no intention of handing my Summoning Seal over to the Empress.>
<Yeah, I didn’t expect you to have that kind of generosity.>
<You’re saying you’ll hand over yours?>
<I told you.>
Deus easily showed his emotions in front of Ash, but when Ash wasn’t around, he consistently maintained an expressionless face. There was only one moment when a gleam appeared in the eyes of Deus, who always wore an expression of being bored to death.
<I told you I don’t care what happens as long as I have that kid.>
It was when he brought up topics related to Ash.
As if Deus’s prediction had been correct, the Empress had a separate tea meeting with Deus even after the banquet ended. The Second Prince, who had always had tea meetings with the Empress after every banquet, looked bewildered, unable to grasp the situation.
‘She must have judged that Deus might be better than that greenhorn who can’t even properly grasp the situation.’
The Empress was a woman quick with calculations. If she judged someone to be helpful to her, she would give them a position and reward them, no matter how lowly their status.
But then one day her biological son with Succession Rights suddenly appeared perfectly fine, so she was undoubtedly quite excited even if she didn’t say so. He recalled the answer Deus had given when asked if he could really gain the Empress’s trust.
<I’m surprisingly popular with older women.>
Deus certainly had the qualifications of a monarch. He was cold-hearted but honest about his desires, self-centered but knew his priorities. Unlike himself, who was bound by the past and couldn’t easily open any door, Deus quickly found new exits. Kiss’s eyes darkened as he looked out the window shrouded in darkness.
‘Everything is going smoothly. If Deus gains the Empress’s trust, inheriting the throne will become easier too. It’s a good thing for me as well.’
For perfect revenge, there should be no variables. Every situation had to flow with a clear purpose. Just as he was putting aside his thoughts and about to head to the ballroom, someone called his name from behind.
“Lord Kilius, you were here.”
At the familiar voice, Kiss slowly turned his head. Erina, whose face he hadn’t seen for a while, stood there with a gentle smile. Kiss, who had been looking at Erina expressionlessly, smiled.
“Lady Erina, you’re beautiful today as well.”
“Again with those words you don’t mean.”
Erina, who had laughed softly while covering her mouth, stood beside Kiss. Kiss, looking at the wheat-colored hair flowing over Erina’s shoulders, spoke in a calm voice.
“I wanted to watch the fireworks together, but I regret that we couldn’t. The preparations for Her Majesty the Empress’s birthday celebration made work demanding.”
“It’s fine. We didn’t enter into an engagement to do things like watch fireworks together anyway.”
It was a voice tinged with subtle irritation. Erina, brushing back her flowing hair, continued.
“I met Young Master Ash… He was much more similar to me than I’d thought.”
“……”
“It was a bit unpleasant, but that didn’t really matter. Men can’t bear children anyway.”
The reason Kiss had chosen Erina as his fiancée was one thing. Erina didn’t believe in love. She only trusted money and power. Kiss thought that aspect of Erina was similar to himself.
Using other people’s hearts for one’s own benefit wasn’t something one could do just because someone told them how. Erina, who had been calmly continuing her story, cupped Kiss’s cheek.
“But still, not with a human. I can’t stand to see my fiancé getting cozy with livestock.”
Contempt showed in Erina’s beautiful water-colored eyes. Kiss, who had been silent, opened his mouth.
“It seems you’ve been up to something.”
“Isn’t that why you made me your fiancée? Because you need someone to stand in your way whenever you make irrational judgments.”
Kiss, staring down at Erina, smiled and lowered his head. At Kiss’s sudden action, Erina stepped one foot back. Kiss, embracing her waist, whispered affectionately.
“I let you getting cozy with servants slide, and now you’re climbing all the way to the top of my head.”
“……”
“There are lines we both must keep.”
Erina bit her lower lip as if resentful. Kiss’s steps quickened as he left Erina behind.
Erina usually had a gentle personality, but she made those who coveted her possessions pay a corresponding price. He couldn’t even imagine what she might have done to Ash, having whipped a maid who stole her belongings to death. Kiss checked the paperweight in his pocket.
‘If I’m close, the paperweight’s color will change, so I should check around here first.’
Though he’d given the paperweight as a gift in preparation for situations like this, he never thought he’d use it this quickly. He passed the ballroom and checked every nook and cranny, but Ash was nowhere to be seen. Kiss, who had been running his hand through his hair as if frustrated, stopped. The paperweight, which had definitely been colorless just moments ago, had turned red. Kiss’s gaze, scanning his surroundings, fixed on something. A room at the end of the corridor was locked from the outside.
“Ash.”
He called out to Ash, who might be beyond the door. After a moment of silence, an exhausted voice came back from beyond the door.
“What.”
“Should I help you?”
Kiss thought this might be the difference between Deus and himself. If it were Deus, he would have immediately known Ash had claustrophobia and helped, but even in this moment, he wasn’t curious about Ash’s well-being. He was only thinking about what he could gain from this opportunity.
Ash, who had been quiet, answered in a voice mixed with a hollow laugh.
“Why should I have to suffer like this because of Kiss-nim?”
“……”
“Are you even sorry to me?”
“No.”
Kiss answered immediately with an expressionless face. If he felt guilty over every little thing like this, he would have killed himself long ago. Ash, who had sighed, spoke in a trembling voice.
“Then just leave. I’d rather be locked up here and die than receive help from someone who isn’t even sorry.”
“If you say that, you know I’ll really leave.”
“I’m telling you to really leave. I’m scared of what might happen next if I receive help from you again.”
At Ash’s irritated reaction, Kiss obediently turned his steps away. He didn’t have enough altruism to help a human who said they didn’t need help.
How far had he walked like that? He stopped abruptly in the middle of walking silently. A different emotion crossed his eyes, which had always been steeped in inertia. Kiss, who had been pondering something, headed back toward the storage room where Ash was locked. And he grabbed the doorknob.
<Isn’t that why you made me your fiancée? Because you need someone to stand in your way whenever you make irrational judgments.>
Erina’s words were right. His usual self definitely wouldn’t have opened this door. Because he knew that once he opened the door, there was no going back.
But why? For the first time, Kiss wanted to open the door of his own will. Not for revenge or benefit. Only for himself.
Click.
Kiss’s gaze, opening the door and checking the pitch-black interior, landed on Ash, who was trembling with his body curled up. He looked like a small animal soaked in rain. Kiss, looking at him without emotion, sighed.
“Stop being stubborn.”
The moment he grabbed his shoulder to pull him up, Ash hastily wrapped his arms around his neck. He was so terrified that his entire body was damp with sweat. Kiss, who had been embraced in silence, grabbed Ash’s hair and pulled him away.
“I, I keep seeing strange things…”
“……”
“It feels like someone keeps talking to me…”
Ash muttered as if making excuses after reading Kiss’s cold expression. His tear-stained face was swollen and puffy. Kiss, who had been quietly looking at the incoherent Ash, whispered in a low voice.
“Close your eyes. I’ll make it so you can’t see.”
Ash, who had hesitated, obediently closed his eyes. Their lips touched and hot breaths mingled. Kiss reached back and closed the door. The half-open door shut with a bang.
My little ash doesn’t deserve this suffering 😭😭