“How can you guarantee that?”

“If you die, it’s over. And even if there is a next time after death, do you think you can meet again?”

Ruskun tried to hold Kaiden’s spirit by speaking more soberly.

“If Your Majesty lets go of everything, Her Majesty’s body, which was forcibly buried in the imperial family’s tomb, might be dug up.”

“… Who would do such a thing?”

“I will do it. Because she dared to be buried in the imperial family’s tomb as the Empress.”

“I’ll have to kill you before you do that.”

Kaiden seized the sword. Then he aimed at Ruskun’s neck and glared.

“I’d rather you kill me first. It’s hard to keep seeing Your Majesty so broken.”

Ruskun Weimar lost his will to fight when he saw that Kaiden didn’t even realize he was crying even though he was glaring at him.

“There is a legend in the Empire.”

The Duke of Ruskun sighed and said to Kaiden.

“It’s a legend that if His Majesty remains as a sage to future generations, he will grant one wish from heaven when he passes away.”

“If there was such a thing, it doesn’t make sense that no one has made a wish so far.”

“Because they were all messed up.”

Kaiden sighed and lowered his sword as if he had come to his senses at Ruskun Weimar’s acrimonious insult to the imperial family.

“Work, let’s do it.”

Kaiden got addicted to work again.

Ruskun didn’t think he could stand it any longer. It’s the only way to survive.

~~~~

It was late at night. Even Kaiden, whose physical strength was monstrous, met its limit.

He didn’t get well because he didn’t sleep. When he slept, he saw Evelina, and the despair he felt when he fell asleep and woke up was as if he put a gun to his head.

He had never dared to return to the Imperial Palace’s bedroom since her death because of his longing for Evelina.

‘It’s a sleeping pill.’

Large amounts of sleeping pills were brought by Ruskun Weimar. And a green rum to turn it over.

Kaiden was barely able to stand now, having an unsound mind. He had barely reached the bedroom.

“Lina.”

It was the bedroom of the Imperial Palace. It was a place where he couldn’t come sober.

His eyes clouded when he saw the bedroom with the traces of Evelina. The floor seemed to be coming up, giving him a sense of floating due to the sleeping pills, but every time he stepped on the floor, he felt as if he were walking on clouds.

So on the bed where he sat, there was the negligee that she wore.

‘Open your eyes, Lina! Lina!’

‘Your Majesty… Your Majesty…’

‘Save her.’

He remembered grabbing the palace doctor by the collar and shouting to save Evelina.

‘Your Majesty, Her Majesty has already left.’

‘That can’t be. Lina… she wouldn’t have left me.’

“Your Majesty…”

Kaiden couldn’t believe it more when he saw Hans, Evelina’s childhood friend, crying.

‘Lina, please open your eyes. Please.’

For several hours he begged, lying on top of her cold body.

Heartlessly, she left him like that.

“Haha…”

He had an ambivalence of joy because of the vivid image of her in front of his eyes, even though the image of Evelina brought to his memory brought tears to his eyes in pain.

“Lina.”

‘I understand Kaiden. That’s how much… I love you. My husband.’

‘The hawk you gave me as a present. It looks like the Kaiden’s eyes.’

‘Kaiden’s a sly one. I think it’ll be scary if I sit there.’

‘Then the face and eyes are mine, and whose body is it?’

The conversations they had before she died made Kaiden sick, messing with his head. It was as if her words were like shattered crystals, the shards of which ran through his veins and lodged in his heart.

Only those days when he was drunk and barely asleep, remained for Kaiden.

~~~~

“I’ll go to the palace to get some medicine.”

“What medicine?”

Usher hurriedly packed up as if to get ready to go out and was heading outside. It was very dark around because it was still before dawn.

“<Memory of Dreams>.

“What’s that?”

“Yes, the medicine that Her Majesty was taking.”

“If that’s the case, you can go to the next village and buy it. There’s a doctor and a pharmacist in the next village even if you’re not here.”

Usher, who seemed to resist irritation at the ignorance at Hecate’s words, sighed and said.

“Do you know how much it costs for one?”

“How much is it?”

“It’s ten gold pieces a piece.”

“What? Why do you need that?”

Usher mistook the red medicine Evelina took every day for <Memory of Dreams>. What Marquis Logias fed her may have been <Memory of Dreams>, but the medicine that Kaiden fed her was an antidote.

“If we draw blood on our own, she will try to run away.”

“You can keep her from running away.”

“I’m sure I can. She’s a pregnant woman.”

“She can’t run away anymore because she’s pregnant.”

“How will you hide a woman and a child if she has one? And she’s pregnant, so she’ll try to run away more. Before she has a baby.”

“There’s a barn.”

Usher pondered for a moment at Hecate’s words. If they really kept her in a barn and exploited her blood. Then, as Evelina hoped, she would avoid the emperor’s eyes.

But she was pregnant.

Usher knew that his mother had died because of him, so he had a bit of conscience left.

“Then what if there is a backlash? If you saw them during the Founding Festival, you would have known, right? What kind of person is the Emperor?”

“That is…”

Hecate could not have known. The Emperor’s actions were bound to spread among knights.

The Emperor, who ascended the throne by stealing the throne, did not punish the Queen for ruining the first event and important events like the National Foundation Festival. On the contrary, the Dowager Empress, who had said it was the Queen’s fault, was kicked out and had to go to an island,  and the Princess was detained in her room, and couldn’t come out for almost 10 years.

On top of that, he even said that he would do it every year during the National Foundation Festival if she made a mistake.

Whatever the reason, the person in charge had to take responsibility if the royal event was ruined. But the Queen took no responsibility for it.

At that time, when he had already gone up to take part in the National Foundation Festival, the story of how much the Emperor cared about the Queen was so prevalent that his ears were itchy.

But what if the Queen who was thought dead was alive? And what if they find out that they had the Queen in the barn?

“It’s your child, isn’t it? That’s why she ran away. Is that why you turned her into a dead man?”

Usher pondered on how to respond to that. He was worried about his future if he said it was his child, and he thought Hecate would withdraw from the plan if he said it was the Emperor’s child.

“I don’t know.”

“Oh, I guess it’s not the Emperor’s child anyway.”

“How can you conclude that?”

“She must have fled because it was not the Emperor’s child. If you just give birth to a child in the Imperial Palace, your life is guaranteed. Wouldn’t you be crazy if you ran?”

As Hecate finished his brief thought, Usher seemed to be somehow disgusted by his dull intelligence.

“The imperial family is more complicated than it looks.”

Usher recalled his mother and said,

“You take care of Her Majesty until I get back. It would be difficult if she starts getting doubts and ran away.”

“Hey, but do you really need that medicine? Do you have to erase her memory?”

“She has to take the medicine to erase her memories and live a long life. I’m sure her health is dangerous when she vomited and collapsed all the time like now.”

Hecate nodded at Usher’s words. Then he thought he shouldn’t be too inhumane to Evelina, recalling that he already have a diamond mine on Maineber Island.

“Get her attached to the town. That way, she will take medicine voluntarily.”

“Yes.”

“And they say that if you take medicine and get shocked, the memory will come back. Then it will be difficult, so be careful not to shock her.”

“Oh, yeah. Come back quickly. One day is enough, right?”

“Yes.”

So Usher headed for the palace.

~~~~

Kaiden continued his days drunk on alcohol, sleeping pills, and painkillers. He couldn’t sleep properly even if he took sleeping pills.

He had a dream when he fell asleep. When he had a dream, he saw Evelina, who came to him saying she loved him. And after that dream, He woke up alone. It was painful every time he woke up from his dream.

He still couldn’t accept that there was no Evelina when he woke up. He would rather avoid sleep and work.

By the time he collapsed, he had to take medicine and force himself to sleep.

No one knew he was going to ruin except his closest ministers, but now everyone knew. The Emperor was creaking like a machine that wouldn’t be strange if it broke down anytime. Ruskun Weimar knew it, but kept quiet.

During that cruel time, Kaiden became increasingly ill.

~~~~

“Is this the medicine? Ten gold coins?

“It’s precious, so don’t touch it recklessly.”

Usher stole Evelina’s entire music box. Put all the red pills she took in it.

“How is it?”

Evelina helped with the housework as usual, and Lady Ross was annoyed by her husband’s kindness to Evelina, but she was relieved thinking that she was lucky that her husband, Usher, had returned.

“Lena.”

“Usher, what’s this?”

“Medicine from your mother’s house.”

Evelina realized that the medicine Usher brought was her heart medicine.

“How…”

“He told me to throw this away, too. So I brought this, too.”

Evelina looked at the music box that Kaiden often played.

Then she chuckled in relief at Usher’s lie that Kaiden told him to throw it away. At the same time, her heart ached. It was fair and bitter that he asked them to throw her stuff away.

She hated herself so much that she tried to laugh so as not to look at her feelings again.

“Thank you, Usher.”

Evelina smiled happily at his kindness and accepted the music box. For a moment Usher looked blankly at her and turned his head.

“I was having a hard time because I couldn’t take medicine these days.”

She said so and held the music box in her arms.

It started that day.

He took Evelina’s blood, purified the water, and began selling the purified water more expensive than gold.

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