Chapter 18: Don’t Get the Wrong Idea
I wanted to say it out loud.
That even before she had posted that notice, the Countess had already set her sights on Marquis Liberto.
That she had brought him up from the very beginning to threaten me.
There was no way the Countess hadn’t known about the rumors surrounding him.
But I didn’t need to say any of that.
The Emperor already knew far too much.
All I had to do was step back, just as they had, and watch like a bystander.
As I did, the Emperor’s expression hardened, as though he were truly fed up. Disgust seeped clearly through his face, as if he were sick of this entire situation.
As I studied him, a faint sense of curiosity crept into my gaze.
How does the Emperor know all of this so well?
Had he really investigated that thoroughly in just a few days? None of it was especially difficult to uncover, but it was still impressive.
He really is capable.
I quietly watched him.
The Emperor had been grinding his teeth for a long time, as though the anger piled inside him still hadn’t subsided. Slowly, his expression changed.
“Why don’t you say something.”
“How could I dare to speak? This is all… my fault.”
“Spare me the obvious. Who ever said the Countess was blameless? Everyone already knows what you’ve done wrong.”
Faced with nothing but blunt truths, the Countess could only move her lips without producing proper words.
“Wrong…?”
“Please… forgive me.”
“Forgiveness? Right. That’s not such a difficult thing. Of course, I could grant it.”
I frowned at the sudden turn in the atmosphere.
Was he really going to end it this easily?
“Thank you—”
“But why should I, when it’s obvious you’ll apologize like this and then scheme behind the scenes again? And the one you should be begging forgiveness from is Isabella.”
“Y-Your Majesty… there will be no more scheming.”
The Countess completely ignored the part about apologizing to me, shaking her head instead.
“You’ll do nothing at all?”
“Yes…!”
“And how am I supposed to believe that?”
“I swear it’s true.”
“If that’s true, then was the promise you made to me back then a lie?”
“Ah—no, that’s not—!”
At the sight of the Countess fumbling over her words, the Emperor let out a deep sigh. At some point, he had stepped right in front of her.
“Countess. And Count. Do you truly believe you’ve done wrong?”
Before he even finished speaking, the Countess nodded violently.
“Yes. Everything is our fault. We swear nothing like this will ever happen again. Never.”
“You ignored me even after I gave you chance after chance. And now you expect me to trust you?”
The Emperor brushed dust from the Countess’s shoulder. It was a trivial gesture, yet her body twitched as though seized by convulsions.
“That is—”
“Did you really think you could scheme so openly and still remain alive? I suppose I seemed amusing since I stayed quiet.”
From the beginning, the Emperor never intended to listen to her excuses. He had only given her a sliver of hope—just to snatch it away.
As if to prove that point, his expression grew colder and colder.
Faced with that icy face, the Countess frantically waved her hands.
“N-No, Your Majesty.”
“No? You certainly have a way with words. Even last time, when you brazenly committed acts that bordered on insolence toward me, I thought you must have lost your mind. The only reason I let it slide—why I tolerated your absurd behavior—was because you were Isabella’s parents.”
“Ah…”
The Countess’s face drained of color.
“If you weren’t her family, I would have killed you on the spot. I may favor peace and overlook most things, but not with the likes of you.”
“Th-That is—”
“Were you arrogant? Did you think that since I hadn’t punished you before, this much would be acceptable? How foolish.”
“Harming nobles over such a trivial family matter is simply—”
“Who do you think is standing before you?”
Her hands began to tremble violently. Even I felt fear as a chilling aura poured off the Emperor’s body.
Worried about Sasha, I glanced behind me. Thankfully, the child seemed unharmed, eyes sparkling as she watched the scene unfold.
The Countess was still shaking, unable to form a proper response.
“Th-That…”
“I am the Emperor of this nation. Who would dare object if such an Emperor decided to crush a few insects?”
“B-But… killing us because of Isabella would surely cause problems—”
“True. If I said I executed you for Isabella’s sake, it might harm her reputation.”
As if struck by revelation, the Emperor nodded. Thinking this was their chance to survive, the Count and Countess’s faces brightened slightly.
“So I’ll call it the crime of opposing the Emperor instead.”
“Pardon?”
“You mocked my words, ignored my commands as Emperor, and went so far as to attempt to sell off the woman who would become my wife. Even if you are Isabella’s parents, that is unforgivable.”
They shook their heads frantically.
“What’s wrong? Is that incorrect? Go on—make your excuses. I can spare the generosity of listening to a few last words before you die.”
“Th-That is… everything we did was out of parental concern, wanting Isabella to succeed. Yes. We love her. We only wanted what was best for her, so—so—”
“Oh? Then is marrying me not good for Isabella?”
“N-No, that’s not what I meant—”
“You weren’t thinking of Isabella at all. You just wanted someone easier to control. Parents who can’t love their child, who can’t even wish for her true happiness, only wanting to mold her into a convenient puppet. And you call that family?”
His expression darkened instantly. It was different from before—rage boiling up from somewhere deep within his chest.
I couldn’t say anything. I just stared at him.
Somehow, the Emperor looked… sad.
What had made him this sorrowful, and this furious?
“‘Family’… is ultimately a useless and worthless name.”
Those words pierced my heart. Even I thought family was meaningless—but why did the Emperor look so unbearably sad saying it?
His anger and sorrow intertwined, and I couldn’t look away.
But the Countess, oblivious to his expression, was too busy worrying about her own survival.
“Pardon?”
“I see no need to listen to any more nonsense.”
Watching the Countess fail even to speak properly, the Emperor straightened. With a sharp shing, he drew his sword from his waist once more. Startled beyond expectation, the Countess stumbled backward and fell.
“Y-Your Majesty…!”
The Count, who had been watching, suddenly threw himself flat on the floor beside her.
“Do you only come to your senses when death is at hand?”
But the Count’s reaction went far beyond anything we expected.
“This is all the fault of the Countess—Isabella’s mother, Roenri.”
The Countess, who had expected her husband to help her or beg for mercy together, felt fury surge across her face.
“H-How can you—!”
“I have done nothing wrong. I merely followed her wishes, and I even tried to stop her. She refused to listen. So… so at least spare me—”
The Count’s desperation to save himself was painfully obvious.
“Oh? So it’s all the Countess’s fault, and you bear no guilt? You wish to be spared alone?”
“Yes.”
“You truly have no sense of loyalty. No sense of family. Not even a shred of integrity.”
Rather than calming the Emperor, their behavior seemed to drain him. More accurately, he looked almost empty—like he was wondering why he should even bother killing creatures like this.
“This leaves a foul taste in my mouth.”
I tightly grasped his hand.
“Please stop.”
“What?”
“You don’t need to be angry because of me. My family—my parents—aren’t worth your hands. In the end, they’ll destroy themselves.”
Once Sasha left—once she was gone—they would become powerless. That was the ending they deserved. There was no need to force one upon them.
“Destroy themselves…”
It was a family with nothing properly in place. Isabella—this body—had been raised that way. A child raised without love, merely kept alive.
Perhaps that was why parents who wanted to control their child turned Isabella into an emotionless doll.
And yet, somewhere in Isabella’s heart, a trace of feeling toward her family must have remained.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t wish for them to avoid such a hollow death.
I wouldn’t feel torn between stopping the Emperor and letting him act.
Logically, letting them die here might be the best solution. Cutting the problem off at the root.
They were people who could cause trouble later—who would stop at nothing to reclaim Sasha.
Yet my pitiful scraps of emotion, the desire not to let Sasha witness the death of what had once been her entire family, and the wish to see them crumble on their own—all tangled together.
“You’re much like me.”
“Pardon?”
“You waste your heart on those unworthy of it.”
He let out a short, bitter laugh and sheathed his sword once more. Even so, the oppressive air remained heavy with his lingering anger.
“There’s no reason to stay here any longer.”
The coldness around him softened, just a little.
“Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty.”
“We are deeply honored, Your Majesty.”
“This is all thanks to Isabella. Be grateful to her for the rest of your lives. Had it not been for her, I truly intended to kill you.”
From the way his expression hardened each time he said it, I realized his words weren’t an empty threat.
I lowered my head slightly toward the Emperor.
“I… thank you as well.”
“You have nothing to thank me for. I merely—”
