Chapter 135

 

Seth frowned at the shirt tightening around his neck. He soon realized that the Emperor’s eyes were not normal.

“…Why are you so obsessed with that bloodline?”

“Obsessed? Yes, I suppose it is an obsession.”

The Emperor tightened his grip on Seth Dolorante’s collar even more.

“Gah…!”

“But I don’t need to tell you why.”

The Emperor threw him onto the sofa, slowly turning his back.

Seth Dolorante coughed roughly as he leaned on the sofa. He recalled the Emperor’s dark, piercing eyes.

Strange desires swirled within them—deep and dark things he could not comprehend.

“Bring that woman to me as quickly as possible.”

The Emperor’s command loomed like a blade.

“Before your head rolls.”

Something was going wrong. It was diverging from the direction he had hoped for.

“…I’m meeting her tomorrow anyway.”

“Tomorrow, huh?”

The Emperor pondered his words in a surprisingly relaxed tone, unlike someone who had just been pressing him.

However, the tone that followed was razor-sharp.

“Don’t make me wait any longer.”

At the Emperor’s words, Seth nodded. He felt a strong instinct that defying him here could lead to serious trouble.

‘I need to prepare myself.’

Now that he realized the Emperor’s condition was strange, the thought that he could not fully entrust everything to him dominated Seth Dolorante’s mind.

‘If things go wrong, Ariadeline might be in danger…’

Seth Dolorante felt that he could not remain idle. The Emperor in this state was a threat to Ariadeline as well.

What he desired was to eliminate Carlothian and obtain Ariadeline in a complete state.

However, he could no longer predict how the abnormal emperor would treat Ariadeline.

“You’re thinking too much for no reason.”

As if he had seen right through him, the Emperor spoke. Seth Dolorante raised his head.

At some point, the Emperor had approached him and was staring into his eyes.

A dark light swirled within those black pupils.

“Presumptuous.”

In an instant, a black hand extended from the Emperor’s shadow and grasped Seth Dolorante’s leg.

“What is…?”

He widened his eyes, unable to comprehend the situation. In the meantime, countless hands began to envelop Seth Dolorante.

“Could it be you…!”

Even as someone unfamiliar with divine powers or magic, he could clearly sense that the force the Emperor was wielding was not normal.

“With a demon…!”

“Haha, does it seem so?”

A black hand covered Seth Dolorante’s mouth. The Emperor smiled, and soon the black hand obscured Seth Dolorante’s eyes as well.

“I have no use for a pawn that thinks too much.”

Wrapped in black shadows, Seth struggled. But what looked like a black cocoon only squirmed a few times before slowly settling down.

Hands disappeared beneath the shadow. And what remained on the sofa was:

“…”

Seth Dolorante, with no expression at all. The Emperor looked at him with satisfaction and commanded once more.

“Bring that woman to me.”

Seth Dolorante slowly blinked, then responded as if he saw nothing.

“Understood. Since you insist, I shall do so.”

The Emperor soon left him and stepped outside. Darkness whispered in his ear.

I have embedded my power within its unconsciousness so it will not escape my grasp.

The voice of Yermondi. The Emperor smiled faintly at this.

“Such things always conspire from behind.”

What was so special about that woman? The Emperor wanted to deliver a death more terrible than anything to Carlothian.

“Atrapha…”

He called out the name of his deceased brother. It overlapped with the name Carlothian.

“I thank the gods that I can kill you again.”

The image of Carlothian in his mind was covered by the mirage of his brother’s face.

To the words of thanking the gods, that which is called a demon gave a strange reply.

“Don’t mention it.”

It chuckled. The Emperor walked down the corridor, disappearing into the darkness as if he were someone who could not hear its laughter.

Left alone, Seth Dolorante exited the Emperor’s audience room as if the black hand that had covered him had never existed.

His head felt heavy, but the tasks he needed to accomplish clearly came to mind.

‘I must take Ariadeline to His Majesty the Emperor and lure out Carlothian.’

That was the task entrusted to him. They had completely erased from his mind what he truly wanted.

“It feels like I’ve forgotten something.”

Seth Dolorante frowned. But in his mind, nothing remained except the Emperor’s command. Nothing at all.

 

ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

 

In the early afternoon, a guest arrived at the Denaves family mansion. Seth Dolorante. The man whom Carlothian was most wary of.

Upon hearing that he had come, Carlothian furrowed his brow deeply. But then the butler said:

“He said he has come to fetch the Madam.”

“…Ariadeline?”

Carlothian’s face hardened. He stood up and headed directly to the first floor.

He could not allow that man, Seth Dolorante, to linger by her side.

Suddenly, a question was thrown at himself. Do I have the right to discuss whether I can accept this or not?

‘Please leave.’

Her cold words came to mind. And also her words that she would try to follow her heart.

Is it that man to whom her heart is drawn?

Could it be that the man who claims to have loved her from the beginning, unlike himself, is the path she is drawn to?

Carlothian clenched his teeth. He then strode confidently to the first-floor hall.

At the main entrance of the hall stood that man. Seth Dolorante.

Noticing Carlothian descending, a twisted smile spread across his previously relaxed face.

“It seems you are not the one I’ve been waiting for.”

“What brings you here?”

“I believe you have already been informed, but to reiterate.”

Seth Dolorante spoke confidently, very annoyingly.

“I have come to escort Lady Ariadeline.”

“What promise did you make with Ariadeline?”

“Oh dear, it seems there is a lack of communication between spouses.”

Seth Dolorante said this mockingly as he reached the bottom of the stairs and stood before Carlothian.

“…Did she give her permission?”

“She wouldn’t have allowed me to be here otherwise.”

His relaxed demeanor contrasted sharply with Carlothian’s tense shoulders.

Carlothian had no words to argue back, and Seth Dolorante looked down at him with a slight lift of his chin.

A sharp pain was felt in his clenched fist. However, it was nothing compared to the crushing sense of defeat in his chest.

At that moment, the sound of heels echoed between the two men.

“What are you two doing?”

It was Ariadeline’s voice. Both men’s gazes instantly turned toward the stairs.

Ariadeline was descending the stairs with her maid.

In a bright sky-blue dress and white shoes, she looked more beautiful than ever.

Thinking that such beauty was meant for Seth Dolorante made Carlothian clench his teeth without realizing it.

“…Did you make a promise with him?”

At that, Ariadeline tilted her head slightly and replied.

“Should I call it a promise? Anyway, I had some business, but I didn’t expect him to come and fetch me like this.”

Then Seth Dolorante slowly interjected.

“It’s only natural for me to come pick you up when I’m meeting you.”

Ariadeline looked at Carlothian standing before Seth Dolorante, walked a bit away from him, and then stood next to Seth Dolorante.

It was fine for her to stand next to another man, but it pained her to be next to him.

Carlothian knew that he was the one who made her like that, but it still stung.

Whether she knew how Carlothian felt or not, she turned her gaze to Seth Dolorante and said,

“Let’s hear the details later. I don’t think this is the place to talk about it.”

Ariadeline was focused on the story regarding ‘Deathrothea’ that Seth Dolorante had mentioned.

‘Completely cutting off my interest in Carlothian would be too much to ask.’

She bitterly smiled to herself. On the outside, she was rejecting him, but deep down, she couldn’t shake off her worry and affection for him.

However, Carlothian, unaware of her feelings, whispered softly to Ariadeline, who was reaching out her hand to accept Seth Dolorante’s escort.

“…Do you really have to go?”