DTG 105

Chapter – 105

Before Kyle came to the South, he secretly visited the Imperial Palace of the Bitensia Empire.

His actions were extremely careful. He left all of his companions outside the capital and moved alone in secret.

Fortunately, he managed to meet Empress Rona without being noticed by anyone.

Kyle told her everything that had happened.
He explained that Dii had been kidnapped, and that he knew she had been forced to cooperate in the kidnapping of Sian and Jason.

At the same time, he emphasized that Sian’s next target would be the Tolte family.

Rona listened quietly to Kyle’s persuasion for a while before speaking.

“So, you’re asking me to betray Sian and stand on your side instead?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.”

A smile slowly spread across Rona’s face. It was the kind of expression that clearly said, This is getting interesting.

Kyle lowered his head to her. He had always thought that Rona was someone completely incompatible with him.

“Please reveal that Sian kidnapped Jason.”

“That seems like a huge loss for me. After all, I’m also an accomplice in the kidnapping of royalty.”

“In return, even after I become emperor, I will never question Your Majesty’s crimes.”

Rona slightly nodded, apparently pleased with Kyle’s firm answer.

“Well… if I have to choose between believing Sian or my son, there’s no need to think. I’ll choose my son.”

Rona often called Kyle “my son.”

The two of them were the same age, so there was no reason to insist on acting like mother and son now. Calling each other “Your Majesty” and “Prince Kyle” would have been enough.

She called Sian, Hwillia, and Jin by their names normally, but she especially liked calling Kyle son. It irritated him endlessly.

However, Kyle tried not to show it and continued persuading her.

“If Sian continues controlling me using the life of Saintess Diana, I’ll be unable to do anything. I’ll eventually lose both the throne and my life to him. And as I said, the next target will surely be the Tolte family, who hold the greatest wealth in the North.”

Rona fell into thought for a moment.

Kyle was right.
To be honest, she also wanted to get rid of Sian.

After a short silence, she spoke again.

“But I should gain something from this too.”

“Please tell me what you want.”

“Hmm…”

Smiling mischievously, Rona said,

“There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time. You’ll regret hearing it, but keep it secret as well.”

“…I don’t mind. Please say it.”

“You’ll regret it.”

“It’s fine.”

Rona stared directly into his eyes and said,

“Actually, my first love was you.”

“……”

Kyle froze completely.

Resting her chin on her hand, Rona continued casually.

“What’s so surprising? I’m not the first person to say that to you.”

“…Um… Mother?”

Kyle couldn’t continue speaking, so Rona went on.

“It’s just that you were my first love. Back then, I didn’t know I’d end up marrying your father.”

Kyle had expected something shocking, but not this.

Rona continued calmly, as if speaking about a distant memory.

“So I was very angry at you.”

“Why… why would you be angry at me?”

“Why? Didn’t I hover around you more than once? I’m this pretty, yet you never looked at me even once. It was so annoying.”

“……”

“I hated Jason terribly, but that bastard had already decided to marry me and was preparing everything. In my mind, you were my only escape. I thought if you fell in love with me, everything would be solved.”

“……”

“That was when I was young. Now I like my husband. I’m too old for love, but I still like him.”

Kyle realized that Rona was an even more extraordinary person than he had imagined.

And he finally understood why she always insisted on calling him son.

Leaning back in her chair, Rona continued.

“I thought Jason was dead. Sian got the southern wealth he wanted, so I believed this lie would end there. But it didn’t. I was foolish to trust Sian. That bastard used Jason to keep forcing me to lie.”

“Ah… I see.”

So the earlier story wasn’t finished after all.

Kyle felt as if another heavy stone had been placed on top of the one already weighing down his heart after Dii’s kidnapping.

Rona lifted her chin proudly.

“In my current situation, this is a very good offer. I’ll accept it.”

“Th-thank you, Mother.”

For some reason Kyle felt he needed to draw a clear line, so he unconsciously kept calling her Mother.

Rona burst into laughter, looking completely satisfied.

As soon as Kyle left after explaining his plan, Rona ran to the Emperor and began crying.

“And so… because I wanted to marry Your Majesty… I ended up ruining King Jason…”

She covered her face with both hands and sobbed perfectly.

Because of her flawless acting, William looked miserable.

“I suspected something, my dear. I understand how much you wanted me, but doing something like that…”

Ah… just how far does this man’s confidence go…

Rona almost snapped in irritation, but she endured it. Compared to kidnappers who only cared about themselves, one who at least tried to please the emperor was better.

“But… I hated every man except Your Majesty! Especially Jason!”

“I understand that! But why did you have to join hands with Sian? There are people you can trust!”

What? Working with Sian is a bigger problem than kidnapping Jason!?

Rona was startled but continued carefully.

“So… since Sian has already outlived his usefulness, I thought I should simply discard him. That’s why I made this difficult confession to Your Majesty.”

“Ah, my dear. You must have suffered so much. You even worked with someone like Sian because you loved me so much!”

Endure it, Rona Clayes. Endure it. At least you’re sitting in the Empress’s seat.

Rona comforted herself.

As always, William acted quickly. He rushed to the imperial knights and ordered them to immediately bring Sian Clayes to the palace.

Meanwhile, Dii had exhausted every brain cell trying to figure out what she should do next. Eventually, she fell asleep.

Then she suddenly woke up when she heard voices beside her.

“Wow. Amila, how can the Saintess sleep in a situation like this?”

“That’s just the kind of person she is.”

“Still… how can she sleep?”

Dii sat up with a confused expression.

Then her eyes widened.

“Why are you two here?”

“Why are we here? We came to get you, Saintess.”

Hwillia clicked her tongue in disbelief.

Dii’s mouth dropped open.

“R-really? How did you get in?”

“Sian got exposed for kidnapping Jason and was immediately summoned to the imperial palace. We slipped in during that gap.”

“What about Kyle?”

“Jin went to get him.”

Relief flooded Dii, but she forced herself to speak calmly.

“Just as expected. Everything is going according to my plan.”

“Don’t make me laugh. Kyle completely fooled you.”

“Yeah! I’m going to be extremely angry later!”

Dii jumped up and down in excitement before clinging tightly to Amila.

“Amila, this isn’t a dream, right?”

“No.”

“Make me sure. You probably know some extreme method—”

Amila suddenly turned around, took out an arrow, and stopped it right in front of Dii’s eyes.

Dii swallowed.

“W-wow… Definitely not a dream…”

“Yeah. It’s not.”

While Amila nodded, Dii hurriedly ran to Hwillia and clung to her tearfully.

Hwillia clicked her tongue.

“You shouldn’t ask someone extreme like her to prove things with extreme methods.”

“I was too happy. I lost my judgment…”

“Yeah, yeah. You must’ve been really scared.”

Hwillia comforted the trembling Dii.

Then she stood by the window and said,

“Now follow me.”

“Huh? How—”

Dii’s mouth opened wide.

The third-floor warehouse window was open, and a rope was connected far away.

Hwillia jumped onto a wooden tool hanging from the rope and quickly slid away into the distance.

Amila handed Dii another tool and hung her own on the rope.

Dii grabbed Amila’s clothes urgently.

“A-Amila… do you have any tips for riding this thing?”

“Tips… Oh. If you let go, you’ll fall and die. So hold tight.”

Why are you saying that like it’s a serious tip!?

Dii screamed internally.

Meanwhile, Amila had already slid away.

“So cruel… This is Sparta…”

Dii tearfully hung the wooden tool on the rope and grabbed it tightly with both hands, looking terrified.

At that moment, the door burst open.

“S-Saintess Diana is trying to escape!”

“Waaah!”

With no more time to hesitate, Dii squeezed her eyes shut and jumped out the window.

She shot down the rope at incredible speed before slamming into something thick like a giant blanket.

Dii stumbled onto the ground, then her eyes sparkled.

“One more time!”

“No, idiot.”

Hwillia said in disbelief while quickly pulling the rope back.

Kyle, sitting in the prison with his eyes closed, opened them when he heard a loud thud.

Jin and his men were standing outside the bars.

Jin unlocked the door with a stolen key.

“Kyle, see that? That’s the power of a thief.”

“Impressive.”

“Wow, my brother is praising my stealing skills.”

Jin removed the chains from Kyle’s arms and grinned.

“By the way, all our prison-break skills were taught by Dii… but Shinta’s acting was amazing too. Right, Shinta?”

“I’m not listening.”

“Of course you aren’t.”

Jin chuckled and looked at Kyle, who was rotating his stiff wrists.

“By the way, what does Sian usually think of you? He didn’t even suspect you came alone.”

“My acting was excellent.”

“True. If it were me, I wouldn’t suspect anything either. Who would think our brother would make such a sneaky plan?”

“…Don’t call it sneaky. It makes me feel embarrassed.”

The two quickly left the prison and headed to the meeting place.

They had agreed to meet at the entrance of the southern capital.

When Kyle and Jin’s band appeared, the Saintesses and Hwillia’s group who had arrived earlier waved.

But Kyle only saw Dii.

When he saw her standing there safely with tears in her eyes, he let out a trembling sigh.

He stopped walking, unable to move from relief.

Dii ran toward him.

“Kyle…”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Were you very scared?”

Kyle tried to comfort her.

Dii nodded repeatedly and sniffed.

“You jerk! How could you trick me? I’m so wronged!”

“I had to trick you so Sian would believe it.”

“I know that! But being fooled by you is the greatest humiliation of my life!”

Dii shouted, then sniffed again.

She looked down at her black dress and then held her cheeks while looking up at Kyle.

“Since I’m wearing black clothes at night… doesn’t it look like only my face is floating?”

Even in that moment, she asked seriously.

Kyle, who still hadn’t fully relaxed, burst out laughing and covered his mouth.