Chapter 137………………………………..
* * *
‘…Ugh, my whole body aches.’
I couldn’t tell whether my eyes were open or closed. It felt like someone was carrying me while running.
They stumbled several times and got back up.
‘I can’t see anything.’
I could feel my eyelids trembling, but I couldn’t move them at will. My body was stiff like stone, jolting with every movement.
Then it felt like I was laid down somewhere.
‘Home?’
It smelled like our estate. But I couldn’t move even a finger.
‘It wasn’t Dale.’
That much, at least, I was certain of.
I had rushed off to find Dale, but it was difficult to locate the place where he was being hidden.
However, there was someone closest to the Emperor.
The Empress.
I secretly entered her bedroom—where she lay with her neck wrapped in bandages—and tried to persuade her.
But the Empress was trembling in fear, as though she had lost her sanity.
“Just like he killed my child, he’ll kill that child too. We have to stop him before he harms more innocent people. Someone has to stop him.”
The attendants whispered that she was suffering from a nervous breakdown. But they also said it was understandable.
She had been the daughter of Count Nezenka, married to the crown prince in a political marriage and became crown princess.
Then the crown prince killed his older brother—the reigning Emperor—and took the throne himself. She became Empress.
But everything began to unravel from there.
An Empress trapped and powerless.
An Empress whose entire family was slaughtered.
An Empress who lost her child in the process.
‘This is exactly like the original story.’
I had heard of the Nezenka Count family before. A tragic house executed in full under false accusations of treason.
They were relatives of my mother, who came from a baron’s family—my maternal cousins.
I once heard that Father had served as the former Emperor’s Knight Commander to protect Mother. Perhaps this was why.
To prevent harm from reaching her.
The Emperor the original story pointed to wasn’t Dale.
And the Empress wasn’t me.
There was no reason for me to avoid Dale.
‘I have to tell him I was wrong. I have to apologize. I have to tell the future Dale too…’
But I feel feverish…
Really… feverish…
* * *
Avoiding the Emperor’s strike toward Enya and shoving him aside, Dale ran until he was out of breath.
Before his uncle could pursue them, he had to find Enya’s father.
“Your Highness…?”
“Please help!”
Crying, Dale showed Enya on his back.
“E-Enya, Enya…! My uncle…!”
Marcus Lockhart sensed immediately that the situation was dire. He took both children and left the imperial palace at once.
When they returned—with Enya covered in deep bruises and Dale in even worse condition—the estate fell into heavy silence.
“My dear.”
“Swearing loyalty to the Emperor wasn’t the best choice.”
“You were trying to protect us. It’ll be fine. Our Enya will wake up soon.”
“……”
It was an open secret that the current Emperor had poisoned and killed his elder brother—the former Emperor—to seize the throne.
Marcus had chosen not to confront the mad Emperor in order to protect House Lockhart and his family.
But he hadn’t expected to regret that choice so soon.
That day had come.
His clenched teeth ground harshly, and murderous intent filled his blue eyes.
When he saw his injured daughter, it felt like his heart had burned to ash.
Looking at Enya’s suffering—and the even more miserable Crown Prince—Marcus realized something profoundly.
When one decides to protect something, what action is truly right?
Defense was not the answer.
His complacent judgment had returned as the worst harm to his precious daughter.
“……”
The Crown Prince brought to the estate stayed by Enya’s side, crying. He refused treatment and would not leave her.
Marcus had known the boy was the former Emperor’s son.
He had also known he shouldn’t let Enya grow close to him—but he hadn’t stopped it. Out of guilt toward the child.
In the end, Enya was hurt because of him.
And because he had betrayed his loyalty to the former Emperor—who had every quality to become a wise ruler.
“Your Highness.”
“C-Can Enya live?”
“My daughter will survive. She is a strong child.”
“B-But…”
“It was Enya who first saved you, and it was Enya who found you again. She will overcome this trial.”
At Marcus’s firm voice, Dale’s tears slowed.
“And one more thing…”
Kneeling on one knee before Dale, Marcus bowed his head.
“I apologize for being late, Your Highness.”
“……!”
Dale’s eyes widened as tears fell. Marcus gently wiped them away.
“I’m sorry for turning a blind eye to your suffering.”
“……”
The roundness in Dale’s eyes gradually sharpened. His startled expression settled into calm.
He was a perceptive child.
He had no choice but to grow that way.
“I dare to ask you, Your Highness.”
As though performing a knightly oath, Marcus held out the hilt of his sword and met Dale’s gaze.
The child’s eyes were impossibly still.
Yet deep within those golden irises, flames surged. The fading light of life reignited in a blaze.
Marcus could not look away.
“Would you grant me legitimacy, Your Highness?”
Dale’s eyes gleamed. His tears had dried, replaced by a thirst for a clear objective.
An overwhelming presence radiated from the small boy.
“Will you become the new Emperor?”
His face grew calm—eerily cold.
“How far can you go?”
“……!”
“Can you kill my uncle?”
Dale stared at Marcus, reading his intent.
“I will.”
He grasped the sword hilt Marcus offered. The weight was heavy in his small hand—but he endured it.
“I’ll become Emperor.”
* * *
“!”
Pain throbbed through my entire body, and my eyes snapped open.
Overwhelmed by simultaneous agony, I bolted upright—only to hunch over immediately.
“Ugh… where is this?”
This time, it was truly my body. Not a child’s—my adult body.
I had used the scroll to return to the past and then awakened, but my skin was drenched in sweat.
“It felt too real.”
Breathing hard, I scanned my dark surroundings. The air seemed hazy, thick with dust.
It definitely wasn’t the carriage Hexagon had dragged me into.
I had successfully used a teleportation scroll once—and now I was sitting on an old bed.
“…But this isn’t our estate.”
This wasn’t good.
The entire building smelled rotten—like the abandoned warehouse Duke Hexagon once discarded.
Clink.
“Damn it… figures.”
My arms twisted behind me were completely shackled.
That removed any doubt.
I had been captured again.
“Is the young lady still not awake?”
“She hasn’t opened her eyes yet.”
“Damn it! It’s already been a week. She’s not a hostage—she’s a burden!”
Hearing Duke Hexagon’s voice, I quickly lay back down and closed my eyes.
It sounded like there were many guards outside, and Hexagon himself seemed cornered.
But a week had passed?
What is happening?
“If we stall any longer, it won’t be negotiations—it’ll be all-out war! Are you so stupid you’d botch this to such a degree?!”
Something shattered.
“What the hell did you do to bring her back in that state?!”
“We did nothing… She was already unconscious when we found her in the forest.”
“Shut up!”
Duke Hexagon roared.
“Wake her up by any means necessary. She’s only useful if she’s conscious.”
“Yes, sir!”
“The Lockhart girl will be useful for life as long as she’s alive. She’s neither my blood nor my wife, yet the Emperor has already granted one of my demands. That alone says everything.”
I shot upright at that.
The Emperor granted what?
“There are only five days left until the wedding. Wake her within that time. The Emperor won’t fulfill the contract unless he sees the hostage’s face.”
Five days… until the wedding.
