112. The Abandoned Villain, and the Secret of Birth (2)
‘No way…?’
At that moment, as if sensing the coming separation, the baby wailed at the top of its lungs.
“My baby! My baby!”
Still weak and unhealed, Shylo dropped to her knees and crawled forward, clinging desperately to the guard’s leg. It was a frantic struggle to prevent the catastrophe she foresaw.
But the guard wrenched the child from her arms with his rough hands.
The baby, unaware of where its future was headed, was taken away by the strong hands of men—torn from its mother.
“Aaaah—!”
Shylo screamed in despair, her voice cracking.
It was a cry filled with grief and agony.
Her world collapsed into darkness as the sight of Shylo’s wailing figure flickered out.
—Blackout.
“……”
When I opened my eyes again, the scene had completely changed.
I had been here once before.
The Emperor and Empress’s bedchamber—the very same one I had glimpsed earlier through the Empress’s memories.
And once again, the two of them were speaking.
“I was thoroughly deceived by the Empress all this time.”
The Emperor sneered coldly.
He was still young, with sharp, burning eyes, yet his hardened jaw and severe expression bore the marks of time and endurance.
The weight of the throne he carried was written all over his face.
“The Empress killed my child.”
Murderous intent burned in his gaze.
Hatred surged, violent enough to strangle her right then and there.
His hand clamped tightly around her throat.
“You tampered with the paternity test.”
“……”
The Empress did not resist. She simply let his hand grip her fragile neck.
It was as slender as a gazelle’s, thin enough to snap with the slightest force.
Yet she did not let out even a groan.
“You bribed the examiner, didn’t you? You wanted to take the child away from me from the very beginning!”
The Emperor hurled a bundle of papers in her face.
They struck her cheek with a smack before scattering across the air.
“That Shylo carried another man’s child? Utter nonsense!”
His furious roar shook the chamber.
“Had I not uncovered the truth myself, it would have been hidden forever. My child would have borne the stigma of being illegitimate.”
“……”
“You killed my child—my innocent child!”
The Emperor’s eyes reddened.
Grief and fury made his hand tighten further around her throat.
Yet the Empress remained calm, as though death was something she had long since accepted.
Her cold gaze met his.
“I did not kill the child.”
“…What?”
“It was Your Majesty’s suspicion that killed it. You could not even trust your own concubine. Wasn’t it Your Majesty who gave the order to have the child killed?”
“……!”
His expression twisted.
Murderous rage gave way to a suffocating despair.
In that moment, perhaps it was not the Emperor holding her life in his hands, but the Empress holding his heart in hers—piercing it with her razor-sharp tongue.
“Ha… haha…”
A hollow laugh slipped from his lips.
The rotting anguish within him burst out as bitter laughter.
His grip loosened.
The Empress drove the final wedge without flinching.
“Your Majesty is still far too soft.”
“……”
“A ruler must be willing to cast away even his own blood when necessary. I only helped you avoid a misguided decision clouded by sentiment.”
Her serpent-like tongue dug mercilessly into his festering wounds.
“So you killed the child for that?”
“Your Majesty.”
“What a terrifying woman. To think I shared a bed with someone like you—it makes my skin crawl.”
“……”
“Not knowing it was all your trap, I… I even held that child…”
His words faltered, lips trembling.
He covered his eyes with one hand.
The grief of losing a child, the despair of having ordered its death, the guilt of failing to trust the woman he loved…
Hatred, regret, and sorrow boiled over, with no clear place to turn.
“If you must resent someone, then resent me. If it will ease Your Majesty’s burden, then direct all your anger at me.”
That was all the Empress offered to the Emperor drowning in despair.
For a moment, his gaze dimmed—but then his sharp eyes returned as he glared at her.
“Speak honestly. Where did you hide the child? No matter how cold you are, you wouldn’t dare kill my own flesh and blood, would you?”
It was less interrogation than desperation.
A frantic attempt to believe, in any way possible, that the child still lived.
But the Empress crushed that fragile hope without mercy.
“No. The child is dead.”
Her voice was cold, denying even the faintest spark of hope.
“The day Your Majesty ordered Lady Shylo imprisoned in the dungeon, the day you commanded the eradication of that tainted bloodline—that was the day the child died.”
Her death sentence drained all color from his face.
“Aah…”
The Emperor staggered, unable to believe the cruel reality.
“Your Majesty, please compose yourself.”
“……”
“There are still many duties you must uphold.”
“A pathetic man who could not even protect his own child—what responsibility could such a man possibly bear?”
He gave a bitter laugh.
“Forget it. Perhaps it’s better this way. If that child had lived, he might have threatened the prince.”
“How cruel… Do you truly have no emotions, Empress? No compassion, no guilt? How can you push an innocent child to death and then say it’s for the best?”
“……”
Even saying the word “death” tore at the Emperor’s heart. His eyes bloodshot, he trembled with grief.
“How could that child ever have been a threat to the prince? What power would he have had?”
“Your Majesty.”
“He would have had no claim to succession. He would have lived his whole life like a doll, with only a hollow title and wealth, nothing more.”
“No. You’re wrong.”
The Empress remained unyielding.
Calmly, with eyes impossible to read, she gazed at him.
“The concubine’s child would have used Your Majesty’s affection to one day strike at my own.”
Her dry, unfeeling eyes were the last thing I saw before Cayenne’s memory faded away.
“……”
Even after returning to reality, I stood there in a daze.
The weight of what I’d seen refused to let go.
How much time passed, I couldn’t say.
At last, Cayenne spoke first, deciding we couldn’t linger.
“Have you come back to your senses?”
“……”
“From your expression, it seems you saw everything. I was curious how much I could show through telepathy—turns out, quite a lot.”
His tone was light.
But I was still reeling, as if struck on the back of the head.
“Who… are you, really?”
“What do you think, Master?”
Who is he…?
Cayenne’s pale golden hair, his vivid crimson eyes—they were eerily similar to that woman in his memory.
It was strange I hadn’t realized it sooner.
I had dismissed the thought as impossible, but now the truth was undeniable.
“You’re… the Emperor’s—”
“Shh. That’s enough.”
Cayenne pressed a finger gently to my lips and smiled faintly.
It was as good as a confirmation.
My head felt like it would explode.
He was the Emperor’s lost child.
Some things now made sense. Yet others remained too overwhelming to accept.
“…Are you certain?”
“Pretty much. I’ve spent my whole life digging for this information, checking and rechecking it.”
“I think I might faint.”
“You really didn’t know? I thought you’d figured it out already.”
“Well… I had my suspicions.”
From the moment I peeked into the Empress’s memories… from the instant I stumbled upon the clue of a secret birth…
Maybe even from the first time he appeared as the novel’s hidden villain—I had always suspected he carried a tremendous secret.
But facing the truth directly was another matter entirely.
“It can’t really be your memory, though.”
I muttered blankly.
Some of the scenes, I had already glimpsed from the Empress’s perspective.
They could have been hers, but not Cayenne’s.
He had been just an infant then—there was no way he could remember them so vividly.
“Well, strictly speaking, they’re not my memories. I only learned the story from records.”
I glanced at the glowing system window before me.
【SYSTEM: Achievement Unlocked! ‘Two Thrones’】
[‘Lucky Roulette Ticket ×1’ has been awarded.]
Perhaps the reason his past had been delivered to me so vividly was due to the system itself.
I tried to untangle the mess in my head.
There were still too many unanswered questions, but…
“So, what are you going to do now?”
What I wanted to hear most was what came next.
I can hear Admin’s thirsty answer to that question in my head