Chapter 75
Shevers Zelaur adjusted his carefully arranged attire and naturally glanced at his own hair.
Silver hair—the symbol of the Zelaur Count family.
He let out a small, bitter laugh.
“How laughable.”
Because of this hair color alone, his life had changed so drastically—from losing his family to wandering the streets.
Even he could not fully measure what kind of impact that change had had on him.
But there was one thing he had to admit:
his life, built upon falsehoods, had been nothing but a chain of endless inferiority complexes.
“But that, too, will end soon.”
He recalled his recent conversation with the Third Empress and Brindel.
-Yes, Shevers. If the cure for madness is truly developed, then your opinion does hold some logic.
-Hmph, you know how stubborn Lornod’s obsession is. How do you expect to cure that?
-Don’t mind Mother’s grumbling. She only says that out of worry.
Brindel had smiled softly.
-Then be sure to persuade His Majesty carefully. Don’t provoke him. You understand?
-Yes, Your Highness.
-Hehe, if all goes well, your marriage might become the key to our plans. Exciting, isn’t it?
Not once did Brindel mention Nerolie, the actual bride-to-be.
Her opinion had no value to him.
“Even though it concerns his dearest sister, can he really be that indifferent?”
Well, of course—this was an opportunity Brindel had been waiting for all his life.
To seize it, he could not let anything else into his sight.
Shevers, too, as someone who had nearly missed his own chance, could understand Brindel’s drive.
He muttered aloud the prize he had barely managed to grasp:
“Nerolie Mivan Lornod…”
Together with Kinia Helta Lornod, one of only two imperial princesses of the Empire.
Unlike Princess Kinia, who had been betrothed early on, Nerolie had never once been tied to a marriage negotiation—making her the greatest jackpot.
Though far from wielding any real power, she had the Emperor’s absolute affection, the perfect bloodline of the Lornod house, and an innocent temperament.
On top of that, she bore the face of the Fourth Empress, the greatest beauty in the Empire, who had once captivated the Emperor at first sight.
Whether Nerolie knew it or not, countless men had schemed endlessly for the chance to claim her.
And Shevers was one of the few who had survived that bloody struggle to the end.
“How much did I spend to build public opinion that I would be her fiancé?”
The sum was astronomical, immeasurable.
But Shevers did not care.
For Nerolie was the rope that would pull him from the swamp of inferiority and guilt.
“The one who will give me the name of Lornod.”
And…
“The woman who carries a secret like mine.”
He remembered her tear-stained golden eyes.
Under the fading sunset, she had looked up at him with moist, shining pupils.
-I’ll wait for you.
That strangely lingering voice had echoed in his ears for days.
He clenched his fist tightly for no reason.
“Just one more step forward.”
He had Nerolie’s word, and he had finally persuaded the Third Empress and Brindel.
The only thing left was the Emperor’s permission.
“Steward, did you prepare the list?”
“Yes, my lord. It has already been loaded into the carriage.”
Shevers gave a slight nod.
“Good. The dowry must be abundant.”
Yesterday, he had requested an audience, saying he had urgent matters to report.
Usually it took days for the imperial reply, but this time it had arrived quickly.
“Let’s depart.”
“I didn’t expect him to grant an audience this soon.”
Was it because he had already sent the list of treasures he would dedicate in exchange for Nerolie’s hand?
That, at least, was reasonable.
After the Fourth Empress’s death, the marriage with Nerolie had nearly fallen through.
To secure it, Shevers had wagered everything.
“The Zelaur family’s entire fortune and collection of treasures—all of it I’ll hand over.”
He had even persuaded the Third Empress to reveal hidden assets only she knew of.
That persuasion had been Brindel’s work.
-Mother, I can’t become Count Zelaur anyway. Isn’t it better for the house to be absorbed into the imperial family?
-What nonsense! Do you not realize that would erase your maternal house?!
-It’s not erasure. Once I become Emperor, it will return to its rightful owner.
That final line had been the card that swayed the Third Empress.
-…Fine. Better that than letting that wretch’s child inherit my family.
Muttering so, she had cast a venomous glare at Shevers.
He had chuckled faintly without meaning to.
“Did she instinctively sense that not a drop of Zelaur blood runs in my veins?”
Otherwise, how could she despise and loathe him so much?
But Shevers shook his head, dismissing the bitter past.
It was the past, nothing more.
Soon, he would rightfully take on the name of Lornod.
“Nerolie’s birth doesn’t matter either.”
He envisioned his future.
For now, he obediently played the role of the Third Empress’s hunting dog.
But once he held Nerolie’s hand in marriage, he would endure no longer.
“No more dancing to the tune of that mother and son.”
As long as he had Nerolie, never again…
While he steeled himself, his carriage arrived before the Imperial Palace.
He stepped down and ordered his closest aide and knights:
“The carriages behind hold precious offerings for His Majesty. Guard them well.”
“Yes, my lord!”
They were his loyal limbs and could be trusted.
Turning from them, Shevers strode toward the Emperor’s palace.
His heart pounded madly.
“I will persuade him, no matter what.”
To receive an audience just one day after requesting it—surely this was a hopeful sign.
He wished that this tiny sprout of hope would grow swiftly and bear fruit.
Yes, his life had been full of inferiority and guilt.
“But with her, I can do it.”
With the woman whose smile was as radiant as sunlight, perhaps his life could finally be warmed.
And so…
“The Count of Zelaur, Shevers, has arrived.”
The attendant guarding the chamber doors announced his arrival.
A moment later, the Emperor’s voice came from within:
“Enter.”
The heavy doors swung open, revealing the Emperor’s private chamber—a place only his closest men could enter.
Stepping in for the first time, Shevers froze.
“You’ve come,” the Emperor intoned gravely.
“Arrest the criminal.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
At once, waiting knights rushed in, overwhelming Shevers and forcing him to his knees.
“Your Majesty! What is the meaning of this?!” he cried.
Through the press of armored men, a familiar voice rang out.
“Your Majesty, I have brought the documents you requested.”
Shevers twisted his head desperately, seeing the shoes of a man entering.
When he finally lifted his eyes, they nearly tore open in shock.
“You… you!”
The one approaching the Emperor, offering a thick stack of documents, was none other than his most trusted aide—the man Shevers had brought with him today.
“You traitor! What have you done?!”
But the aide did not even glance at him.
He quietly handed over the documents and left the chamber without a word.
In that instant, Shevers realized:
“He was the Emperor’s man from the start!”
All this time, he had believed the man his closest ally.
“How… how could this be?!”
As the horror filled his eyes, the Emperor spoke slowly:
“Yes, you’ve only now discovered that he is one of my secret police.”
The Emperor’s Secret Police—renowned as the Empire’s greatest intelligence network, rivaling even the noblest houses’ spies.
Shevers had never imagined their reach extended this deeply into his inner circle.
“So far into my core…”
Reeling from the blow, he saw the Emperor rise from his seat and approach leisurely.
Crack!
The sound of something breaking rang out.
Glancing down, Shevers saw his monocle, knocked off during the scuffle, crushed beneath the Emperor’s foot.
A sharp premonition flashed across his mind.
“That is my future.”
Known for his keen intuition, Shevers suddenly felt clarity for the first time.
Until now, his senses had been clouded—by inferiority toward the Third Empress and Brindel, by the desire to be a true noble, and above all…
“By my desire to claim Princess Nerolie.”
But at this moment, it all cleared away.
He raised his eyes with difficulty and met the Emperor’s gaze.
Those red eyes looked down on him, filled with a murky darkness he had never seen before.
“You dared covet what belongs to me?”
At those words, every hair on Shevers’s body stood on end.
He understood, with brutal clarity—
“This is what Princess Nerolie warned me about—”
But his thought was cut short.
“Disgusting. Knock him out.”
And Shevers’s consciousness was severed into darkness.
