Chapter :01

“Aaaagh!”

“P-please, save me!”

Screams echoed from all directions.

It wouldn’t be long before the rebel army stormed this very room.

After all, what they wanted was my head—the Empress’s.

“Haha.”

A self-mocking laugh escaped through my teeth.

Looking out the window with hollow eyes, I saw an immense army swarming in from the distance.

Their faces were frantic with bloodlust as they searched for the Emperor who had ruined the empire.

‘I guess they haven’t found Delos yet.’

Well, of course not. The bastard they called the Emperor had already fled the imperial palace.

I recalled his final moments before he turned his back on me just fifteen minutes ago.

Tossing aside his usual arrogant expression, he had approached me with a face wrought with fear and anxiety, saying:

“D-Dahlia. There’s something you need to do. Just draw my brother’s attention for as long as possible until I safely escape the palace. Please, I beg of you.”

He framed it as a favor, but in the end, it was no different from telling me to die as bait to buy him time.

With those parting words, he slipped out of the palace along with his exclusive mage, whom he always kept close like a limb.

There was not a shred of lingering attachment in his retreating steps.

“I must have been completely out of my mind. To think I stayed by his side all this time…”

It had been a whopping thirteen years.

The time I spent begging for his love and staying by his side.

He was the man I had chosen, even to the point of turning my back on my own family.

I stared blankly at the scenery of the palace burning crimson and muttered,

“I really was nothing but a puppet.”

I never imagined I would feel the weight of the world’s mockery—calling me Delos’s puppet—so vividly.

Once I admitted the truth I had tried so hard to deny, a hollow emptiness washed over me, leaving a gaping void in my chest.

*Step, step.*

Just then, I heard the sound of someone running quickly toward this room from beyond the door.

*Bang!*

Soon, the door burst open, and a rough voice spoke alongside a dumbfounded sigh.

“Ha… Why on earth haven’t you run away yet?”

Recognizing the intruder’s face, my eyes widened.

‘Duke Valenstein.’

A war hero of commoner origin who had been elevated to the rank of duke about two years ago after making distinguished contributions in the war against the Kingdom of Kleitz.

He was also a man of such fearsome reputation that even the most formidable nobles dared not utter a single word in his presence.

My gaze soon drifted to the sword in his hand.

Unidentified blood dripped from the terrifyingly sharp tip of the blade.

Despite thinking just moments ago that I wanted to die, seeing the blood-stained sword right before my eyes struck a sudden chord of fear in me.

Just as I thought that my own blood would soon stain that sword—

“It’s not like you’ve resolved to die.”

The Duke strode toward me, his voice a low rumble.

Flinching instinctively at his overwhelming presence, I took a step back.

At that, the Duke, who had been marching straight toward me, came to an abrupt halt.

As the fierce-looking man stood in place with his mouth shut tight, strangely enough, he looked flustered to my eyes.

Soon, the Duke questioned me in a voice calmer than before.

“The damn Emperor’s closest cronies have already fled long ago. Why is the Empress herself here all alone?”

“It’s none of your business, Duke.”

Unable to bring myself to admit that I had been abandoned as bait to buy time, my response came out sharp.

“I can guess.”

Having apparently found his answer from my reaction, the Duke let out a cold, mocking laugh and muttered gloomily.

His voice was too faint to hear clearly, but it sounded as if he had muttered a curse aimed at Delos.

‘He must be angry because he was one step too late.’

As his aura grew increasingly bloodthirsty, I instinctively slumped my shoulders.

Just when I thought all that was left was for the wrathful Duke to kill me—

“Find the Empress!”

Along with the sound of hurried footsteps, the voices searching for me echoed closer than before.

At the same time, the Duke grabbed my wrist and spoke urgently.

“We must leave here immediately. Follow me.”

“W-what are you doing…!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, the Duke dragged me out of the room.

It all happened so fast that I was dragged along, led by him with a completely dazed expression.

“Let go of me! Where on earth are we going?!”

He must have heard my panicked voice, but he merely walked forward in silence.

As I was dragged along helplessly, the surrounding scenery suddenly caught my eye.

Red splatters sprayed across the floors and walls of the imperial palace, and fallen knights lay strewn everywhere.

My breath grew ragged at the sheer horror of the sight.

Then, the Duke, who had been walking in silence, spoke briefly.

“Once you escape the palace, run without looking back. And don’t you dare think of ever meeting that piece of trash again.”

A low, simmering anger resonated in his voice.

“Why…”

Realizing belatedly that he had come to save my life, I could only repeatedly part my lips and utter that single word: “Why?”

‘You hated me, too.’

The memory of him scowling in displeasure and turning his head away whenever our eyes accidentally met at official gatherings was vivid in my mind.

While social circles overflowed with people who mocked and slandered me as a puppet empress, it was the Duke’s cold gaze that lingered in my memory the longest.

‘And on top of that, this man is the Grand Duke’s closest confidant.’

Grand Duke Axif, the instigator of the rebellion and Delos’s older brother.

Duke Valenstein was famous for being so close to him that the Grand Duke openly referred to him as his only true friend.

Judging by his hurried pace, the Grand Duke seemed to have absolutely no idea about this.

We ran frantically, arriving at the palace’s hidden exit in the blink of an eye.

“There’s the Empress!”

Soldiers who had been lying in ambush nearby revealed themselves all at once.

Perhaps this was unexpected even for the Duke, as I heard him softly spit out a curse beside me.

At the exact same moment, dozens of arrows rained down from above like a torrential downpour.

‘I’m going to die…!’

At the imminent arrival of death, I squeezed my eyes shut.

*Thud.*

The subsequent sounds of flesh being pierced repeatedly rang clearly in my ears.

Yet, no matter how long I waited, I felt no pain.

Opening my tightly closed eyes, I was left utterly speechless by the sight before me.

“Ah…!”

The only reason I didn’t feel any pain was because the Duke had thrown his entire body in front of me to shield me from the downpour of arrows.

The area near his forearm, where an arrow was lodged, was rapidly turning purple.

It was obvious that if left untreated, the Duke would die within minutes.

“Y-you…”

I couldn’t bring myself to ask if he was alright.

After all, his back was already riddled with dozens of arrows, without a single spot left unscathed.

“I am fine, so do not worry. I have prepared a carriage outside. A man named Roman will guide you. If you trust and follow him, you will be able to escape the imperial palace safely.”

He spoke to me, taking a heavy, stumbling step forward with great difficulty.

Though he claimed to be fine, his voice grew increasingly faint toward the end, striking fear into my heart.

I grabbed his hand tightly, speaking with a trembling voice.

“Let’s go together. If you don’t get treated quickly, you’ll die!”

At my words, the man’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

Soon, letting out a soft chuckle, he took something out of his pocket and handed it to me.

“Do not worry about me and go ahead. Keep this with you, just in case.”

“This is…”

It was a crudely shaped dagger.

“The person who sold this to me said so. They said if you hold onto it, your wish will come true.”

The Duke toyed with the dagger, then muttered with a faint smirk.

“Well, my wish didn’t come true, but it’s quite a useful little thing, so keep it close.”

As I stared blankly at the dagger I had received from him, a soft sigh drifted from in front of me.

“When holding a blade, you should grip it like this to put less strain on your wrist. And… if you ever have to use it, you must aim for the opponent’s vital spots.”

Adjusting my grip on the dagger himself, he pointed to his own neck and solar plexus in turn.

“These two spots can inflict a fatal wound instantly, so be sure to remember them. Understood?”

I barely managed to nod my trembling head.