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Chapter 10: Ashes
“It seems there’s a fire!”
The young official, holding his nose against the sharp smell, shouted. The nobles in the hall, startled, began to rush toward the closed doors. But the doors wouldn’t open. A fire, the origin of which no one knew, began to spread through the hall. A few of the nobles, attempting to open the windows to escape the hall, trembled as they looked at the shaking dome. It felt as if a war had broken out, with loud booming sounds echoing repeatedly, and smoke began to fill the entire hall. This could only happen if a massive stone dome was being brought down by a siege engine.
“Ugh, ughh, aaah!”
One of the nobles, who had been running around in panic, was finally crushed by falling stones when the dome collapsed. Alec stared silently at the parts of the imperial palace engulfed in flames and crumbling under the weight of the siege engine. Not only the hall where the nobles were trapped, but the entire palace was burning. This was his command, and those who followed the imperial decree were not the palace guards or soldiers, but the mercenaries he had bought. Alec, standing at the entrance of the palace, thought about death. The enormous death that would engulf this country. The great annihilation.
All the things he had raised up for Afrosa. Everything he had done to protect and make her happy… He had supported it all. People believed that these things were everything to him. But that was a mistake. His everything was Afrosa. Without her, he would not have become emperor. Had he known that he would lose her, unable to protect her, he would never have pursued the throne. If he had known how lonely she would become, if he had known she would be slaughtered by them, if he had known she would abandon him…
Veins, filled with madness, turned his eyes blood-red. He watched the servants and attendants running around in panic. The mercenaries he had brought numbered eighty thousand. It was enough power to destroy and burn everything alive in this country. He gazed at the dying servants and maids, watching them fall to the mercenaries’ hands, then turned his eyes toward Valerie and her children, emerging from the flames.
“Your Majesty. You must escape!”
“Valerie.”
Valerie, holding Amelia’s hand and wearing a cloak, glanced at him before sealing her lips. Her green eyes widened, seemingly in realization. Alec stared at her coldly and then extended his hand toward her son. One of the mercenaries behind him tossed the dying Karl toward her.
“Ahhh!”
Her lips torn open, her nose and eye sockets shattered, her fingers and arms broken in pieces. Her legs crushed to the point that she could hardly kneel. Valerie collapsed to the floor, covered in horrific wounds. Amelie trembled and screamed. Alec, laughing manically, kicked Amelia’s head as she crawled toward Karl’s body and then kicked her in the abdomen repeatedly.
“Your Majesty. Cough…”
“Amelia. Do you know?”
“Ugh…ugh…”
“I’ve always wanted to crush you.”
“Ah, ugh, ugh…”
“Since the moment you started crying. No, since I planted my seed in that woman’s womb.”
He pointed the tip of his sword at Valerie, then whispered as he gently pressed his foot against Amelia’s abdomen. There had never been a moment as enjoyable as this. Since he ascended the throne, since he became emperor, there had never been a moment as happy as today. He laughed maniacally, his lips parting to speak again.
“How does it feel to lose your son in my hands?”
Valerie did not say a word. She only touched the ground with both hands as she looked at her son’s severed head, as if she had lost her mind.
“You’ve never felt this before, have you?”
“…Your Majesty.”
“And you never thought it would happen, did you? That you would lose your son at my hands. But Valerie, I am a man obsessed with revenge. Revenge is what I do best.”
Alec smiled slightly. After nudging the neck of the son who was rolling on the floor with his foot, he stood before Valerie. Valerie, with a pale face, wrapped her arms around her son’s neck, which was rolling on the floor, and began to cry like an animal. Alec, enjoying the sound of her crying as if it were beautiful music, suddenly twisted and pulled the woman’s hair who tried to rush at him. Valeri, with hatred in her eyes, kneeled. Alec drove a knife into her throat.
“AAAH!”
Then he slowly twisted the knife. In the agony of her flesh being sliced by the blade, Valerie couldn’t close her mouth. Trembling, she watched the woman writhing in pain and burst into laughter. Why hadn’t he done this earlier? He should have shown this woman writhing in agony to Aphrosa. She should have seen this woman screaming while holding her son’s severed head…
Valerie, unable to withstand the shock, fainted. He repeatedly stabbed the limp woman’s body. It didn’t take long before the woman’s life faded. But he was consumed by rage, mutilating the corpse. After some time, the body was so mangled that its shape was unrecognizable.
“Heh… heh…”
He discarded the knife. The mercenaries separated the head and torso of Amelia.
“I will live only for you, Rose.”
At that moment, his wife was wearing a violet dress. It had been three years since they got married, but they were still newlyweds, deeply in love with each other. They believed their love would last forever. Even in a palace full of betrayal and intrigue, they believed they could still find happiness.
“I love you, Alec.”
Afrosa whispered sweetly. Alec closed his eyes in joy and held his pregnant wife in his arms. His feet stepped into the flames. This time, no one could stop him. Those who could have stopped him were all dead. Instead of thinking of the people he had killed with his own hands, he thought of his beloved wife. A woman for whom it wouldn’t be a waste to die out of love. His lover. His everything. Afrosa…
The sunlight warming his eyelids felt hot. The smell of grass lingered on slender fingers as they stroked his eyelids. The sound of birds entering through the window tickled his ears.Alec furrowed his brow at the faint noise, then relaxed again, enjoying the touch on his face.
“Darling, are you still sleeping?”
The thin voice was pure and calm. Alec recognized the owner of the voice. He knew how sweetly she would laugh when their lips met and their skin brushed together. How adorable her smile was, the way her eyes crinkled with affection. He thought that if everything he would lose as soon as he opened his eyes, he might as well never open them. If he could feel Afrosa so vividly with his eyes closed, he would rather…
“When are you going to sleep for? Hmm? Are you feeling unwell today? Is that why you’re sleeping so much?”
Suddenly, Afrosa, who had been stroking his eyelids, shook his shoulders and asked. Then, noticing Alec’s lack of response, she seemed worried and pushed his bangs aside, placing her hand on his forehead. Her voice murmured softly, “Do you have a fever?” as she moved even closer. The smell of wildflowers, which would surely be on her pale fingertips and the nape of her neck, stirred him. If he opened his eyes, would Afrosa disappear? Would everything he was hearing and feeling scatter, causing this moment to distort?
“I told you I was bitten by a bug today…”
But he lost to it. The fingers that were about to leave were fiercely grasped, and he pulled Afrosa toward him as his eyes opened. A scream of “Ack!” poured into his ears. Afrosa, who had fallen onto his chest, looked at him in surprise.
“What… what are you doing?”
A pale blue hue. Gem-like eyes, cut round, shone beneath long and elegant lashes. Without a hint of faded light, they were sharp and clear. Even in this moment, as he gripped her fragile white fingers tightly, her contours never seemed to falter. Could this really be happening…?
“…Afrosa.”
Just by looking at her, frozen white, his heart raced wildly. Cold sweat broke out, and his vision blurred as though his heart might stop at any moment. Trembling, he suppressed the echoing pulse by his ear. Afrosa, who had been staring at him with slightly angry eyes, stretched her free left hand toward him, sensing his odd expression.
“Are you really unwell?”
“Rose.”
“Mm. I’m here.”
Her face was full of worry. Alec, unable to believe it, just kept looking at her. His wife, collapsed onto his chest, was already wiping the cold sweat off his face. Her hand traced his forehead, eyes, nose, and lips. With each touch, a strange sensation stirred within him.