Chapter 12
Escape from Another World with a Possessor (12)
1. Families Collapse, Society Collapses, the Empire Collapses (10)
“Everyone, stop moving.”
Like magic, all the beings in the plaza froze in place.
The person about to take a bite of a skewer, the one trying to put coins from selling wooden dolls into their pocket, the brown cat stretching its tail, the sparrow pecking at street fruits…
Every living thing with red blood froze without exception.
People outside the plaza screamed in surprise, but Selena ignored them and whispered,
“Look at me.”
At the corners of the plaza, she had secretly drawn a magic circle, activating a seventh-class large-scale freezing spell.
Then came her hastily created spell, LOOK AT ME, developed in just five days. A shimmering blue light enveloped the plaza like heat haze and then dispersed.
All at once, the plaza’s beings, like mechanical dolls, turned their heads toward Selena.
Their minds weren’t fully controlled, so their eyes reflected confusion, fear, and helplessness as they stared at her.
In the silence of the frozen plaza, Selena clasped her hands behind her back and declared solemnly:
“Count Kim is disappointed in you.”
“……?!”
She looked down arrogantly at the confused citizens and unfortunate animals, her smile cold.
“There’s been a lot of talk about me lately.”
If left unchecked, the Empire would record this as “The Mad Kidnapping Scheme of Archmage Count Kim”, one of the most absurd events in history. She couldn’t allow that.
“I wanted to ignore it, stay in seclusion, but seeing the current situation, I have no choice but to intervene. It’s utterly ridiculous.”
Her green eyes, like a winter forest, scolded the crowd sternly.
“How could you believe I’d commit kidnapping? I am the Empire’s youngest Archmage, fluent in four languages, and the owner of five businesses.”
“H-however… the Emperor said he would force marriage… uh?”
“That’s what you said!”
“Shh! Everyone, be quiet!”
Selena briefly lifted the spell from their necks to allow small reactions. The response was enough.
She hid her satisfied smile and shook her head.
“Hmph. The Emperor says that? Still clinging. He has no idea how pathetic a man looks when begging.”
“……?”
“……?”
She chuckled at those trembling in fear yet forced to look up at her.
This display might be less impressive than a Hellfire spell, even somewhat ridiculous—but she couldn’t do it alone.
Let’s die together, Emperor.
As a Korean, if someone messes with you, you repay with an even bigger “mess.” If you set the stage, you might as well enjoy the performance—such is their custom.
Incitement with incitement, fabrication with fabrication!
“It’s better to see once than hear a hundred times.”
Selena lifted the perception-altering spell on Gayeon, who had been quietly standing behind her. Gayeon stepped forward gracefully and joined Selena’s side.
The onlookers’ gazes dulled instantly.
“Th-that’s… a fairy…”
“Count Kim is with a fairy…?”
“Is he going to marry a fairy?”
A brief murmur broke when someone finally shouted:
“Wait! That’s the Empress!”
“What? Pink hair and blue eyes!”
“The Empire’s greatest poet described Her Majesty the Empress so wonderfully, yet claimed he had no space to write it all down—isn’t that her?!”
The magnificent Gayeon smiled softly, her eyes gentle.
She linked arms with Selena and rested her head against her chest.
“I will make this clear here and now.”
Remember, Emperor. You started this.
“Please… let us love each other!”
Gayeon, who had once feigned nervousness about acting, was gone. Only the former—hopeful—Empress existed now, swept away by fateful love, choosing to elope with the Archmage.
“W-what?!”
“An elopement for love? My goodness.”
“How could an Empress make such a choice…!”
Before chaos turned to outrage, Gayeon lifted her head, staring directly at them.
Citizens reflexively bowed when their eyes met the Empress’s—but Selena’s spell prevented it. Only the necks were free; bowing was not allowed.
Under the weight of strict social hierarchy, a sense of guilt and unease settled over the crowd. Gayeon’s soft, trembling voice continued:
“I know these overflowing emotions are a forbidden fruit. At first, I was terrified. After all, I already had the Emperor. But…”
Her words faltered, and her long pink lashes trembled delicately.
“Ah…”
“Her Majesty…”
Instead of resentment over a scandalous elopement, the crowd felt a sudden, heart-wrenching sorrow at her delicate, breathtaking beauty.
Those dizzy, deep blue eyes made one instinctively want to offer a handkerchief.
Even the ordinary sense of guilt—“Did I do something wrong?”—rose spontaneously.
Selena smiled inwardly at the turn of events.
Beauty itself became plausibility, and Gayeon’s was extraordinary.
Her face surpassed even the mental magic that blocked perception. Ordinary citizens could hardly handle her allure.
Even Selena, accustomed to two-dimensional beauty, occasionally felt her tastes forcibly rearranged by Gayeon’s radiant smile.
Imagine how unexposed citizens of this world would feel.
Most ordinary Empire citizens, unaccustomed to beauty, would emotionally comply temporarily with her demands, no matter how illogical.
But beyond appearance, Gayeon had a perfectly valid reason to leave the Emperor for the Archmage.
“I tried to endure my feelings. The Emperor loved me so… how could I ever give my heart to another?”
Her words began as a positive lie to temper the audience’s conflicting loyalty and common sense.
Then she criticized the Emperor’s obsession openly:
“He loved me so intensely he didn’t let me show my face to anyone else, would kill anyone who spoke with me, and wanted me to breathe and speak only in his presence in the palace. How could I betray that?”
The crowd’s eyes wavered, stunned by her gentle phrasing of what was otherwise terrifying.
“Ah… ahh…”
“Th-that’s… a bit much…”
“Too… extreme…?”
It was behavior straight out of a gritty adult street novel! An obsession worthy of reporting to the Empire’s authorities!
Amid forced loyalty and common sense, Gayeon struck again and again, exposing the Emperor’s past abuses.
“For three months! I received only the Emperor’s love, unable to speak to anyone else. But I am human, and after three months! his suffocating affection became unbearable.”
She emphasized three months! with a moist blink of her eyes.
In the now-quiet plaza, a sound of someone swallowing echoed. Anyone sane would find it impossible to defend.
Gayeon seized the moment:
“Then, by chance, while walking in the garden… I encountered Lady Selena.”
Gayeon gazed deeply at Selena.
“The one freer and stronger than anyone else!”
Selena, the Archmage Count Kim, ignored most of the Empire’s laws and order—but no one dared to point it out.
