Chapter 13
Escape from Another World with a Possessor (13)
1. Families Collapse, Society Collapses, the Empire Collapses (11)
At this moment, Selena was a miracle—a new love who freed the Empress trapped in the Imperial Palace cage and a guide of unavoidable fate.
“The moment I met her deep green eyes, deeper than summer foliage, I realized a cruel fate: I could love no one else but her.”
Selena felt pleased at the growing support in the plaza.
Of course. If you give people a choice between an Emperor who gives rare treasures but forbids conversations with anyone else and a reckless Archmage who still respects his lover, ask 100 people—they would all choose the latter.
Of course, of course. Naturally. I’m far better than that Emperor!
Selena puffed out her chest proudly.
While enjoying her brief popularity and gently ignoring the fact that neither option was ideal, Gayeon’s speech continued.
“For about three months, ninety days! Two thousand one hundred sixty hours, one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred minutes! I couldn’t speak more than three words to anyone else, but it was because His Majesty loved me so much, so I followed his command willingly. Yet, my weak heart finally wavered. It’s all my fault.”
With numbers drilled into their minds, and even ironic undertones layered over the meaning!
“I already came to love another. How could I stay by His Majesty’s side? That would be a terrible betrayal. So! I decided to leave with this person. It’s also for His Majesty’s own good.”
Gayeon laid out the compromises the public could accept, finishing her ten-minute-long final argument.
“How could this be!”
“So that’s why…”
“Ah, Her Majesty should not have done that, but the Emperor went too far…!”
Everything else was correct, but that last part was nonsense.
If you really care about your lover, you shouldn’t commit an affair. If your feelings change, you should separate properly. Eloping in the middle of a marriage is just garbage.
Still, in this case, since the Emperor hadn’t lost his position, it was Gayeon’s fate to have slapped him with this result.
See? Even the citizens can understand.
Our Gayeon is innocent.
It’s all the Emperor’s fault!
“Did you hear that? I never kidnapped her. Our relationship was bound by fate. Unfortunately, the Emperor couldn’t accept that. So we had no choice but to leave. If he had permitted us, none of this embarrassing chaos would have happened!”
“Sniff… His Majesty is too cruel. He cannot understand our happiness, our true feelings…”
“It’s okay, Aria. We can overcome it with our love. For you, I can teleport us to the ends of the continent, avoiding the Emperor…!”
“Selena…!”
“Aria!”
Selena and Gayeon exchanged passionate gazes.
Gayeon’s blue eyes, filled with joy and exhilaration, reflected all the hidden, shy blame she had toward the Emperor. Watching how carefully Gayeon chose her words, Selena looked at her with a loving gaze.
Hehe, I wonder how the Emperor will react.
Even in the Empire, you cannot silence thousands of witnesses here, nor the countless others who will hear about today’s events!
Only the people in the plaza had seen Gayeon’s face and Selena’s magic. Outside, the story might not lead to “The Emperor went too far, the Empress is pitiful, she had no choice.”
Some might even defend the Emperor and blame Gayeon, since the affair was openly admitted.
But that didn’t matter.
The point was to drag the Emperor into the mud.
The just and righteous Emperor would instantly fall into the role of an obsessive drama villain.
Oh, what sweet justice.
The poor Emperor would clutch his neck in frustration. Could such a dignified ruler ever be caught up in such a low scandal? Add a little salt about his miserable nature from Gayeon, and it would be complete…
Crackle!
…Or at least it should have been. But the world does not always work as one wishes.
Selena sighed with disappointment.
Even for her, creating a massive 7th-class spell and a barrier separately was exhausting.
She layered them to create synergy, but when the barrier broke, the freeze spell was also forcibly released.
The barrier covering the plaza wasn’t very strong, since she focused on the freeze spell, but it shouldn’t have been easy to break.
It could have withstood several 6th-class spells. Yet someone had enough power to destroy it in a single strike.
“H-Huh? My body… I can move!”
“Count Kim’s magic… who did this?”
The skill to break a barrier set by the Archmage. Even if there were layered magical traps, someone dared to destroy them.
The number of people who could do that was extremely limited.
For example, a Sword Master.
“Count Kim!”
Selena clicked her tongue.
A handsome man with dark red hair and blue eyes. A Sword Master, and one of the two pillars supporting the Empire—the Lesser Duke of Roderfel.
Gayeon’s older brother appeared.
“Lesser Duke of Roderfel. Long time no see.”
Despite the sharp call, Selena did not flinch and responded calmly.
“Long time no see? How shameless. Don’t you know what you did? Even if you bow and apologize, I cannot forgive!”
“I don’t know. What did I do wrong?”
There were too many things to count, so Selena lightly provoked him. The Lesser Duke ground his teeth.
“Unbelievable. You dare say you did nothing wrong after kidnapping Her Majesty?!”
For someone cold and composed, known as the Ice Knight, he showed unusual anger.
Sensing the tension, people quickly fled the plaza to avoid being caught in a fight. Selena did not stop them, as her goal had been achieved.
Instead, she shrugged calmly at the hostile knight.
“Kidnapping? Why call it that? We are eloping for love.”
“Shut up!”
The Lesser Duke couldn’t take it anymore, struck by the words “elopement for love,” and immediately launched a sword attack.
Hey, some citizens are still in the plaza. Huh. Seems like nobles don’t care about commoners’ lives.
Selena stared at the incoming sword without blinking.
Boom! Crackle!
The sword was suddenly blocked by a golden shield.
“Kuh!”
It wasn’t an ordinary shield. Electricity ran along its surface.
A Lightning Shield—the worst enemy of close combat fighters.
The Lesser Duke leapt toward Selena to strike from the platform but twisted in midair.
Even a Sword Master cannot avoid damage from a steel sword conducting electricity.
He landed on the ground again and glared at Selena fiercely.
“Count Kim! You have misled the people with lies, insulted His Majesty, and kidnapped Her Majesty. Release your magic and accept judgment!”
“Ridiculous.”
He muttered after his attack failed.
Safe behind her shield, Selena laughed at him.
Surprised by the unexpected interference, and annoyed that it was the Lesser Duke of Roderfel, she was not worried.
“Seeing there’s no supporting knights or mages, you came alone. The Emperor, too, clearly has no sense of his position.”
She had drawn a temporary anti-teleportation magic circle around Dani.
A teleport-blocking circle activated along with the plaza’s magic. Though it lasted only an hour, it was enough to cause trouble. Judging by his movement, the Duke had contacted people outside using communication magic.
And he was the closest one to rush here.
Teleporting to this point, some mages probably pushed themselves to the limit to gauge his position. Five might have even died.
Selena smiled wryly, offering quiet condolences to her fellow mages struggling with the backlash of magic cancellation.
