Who Stole The Empress

At Gillotti’s order, the faces of Tamon and Theoransha hardened at once.

The other royalty and nobles who had been watching them, began to secretly whisper to each other.

No matter how much he was the emperor of Tanatos, Amor and Tanatos were allies.

In other words, it was wrong for him to order Amor’s people brazenly.

It was even more so to order a woman who was burned and unable to show her face in front of so many people.

But Gillotti smiled arrogantly and urged her to carry out the order with low, open eyes.

“…….”

Although he did not directly push and shove Tamon, the order was disrespectful enough to him.

And this was at the same time an act of disregard for Theoransha, the king of Amor.

A light silence drifted through the banquet hall.

It was just then that Asha, who had been standing still, moved.

“It might be difficult for Lady Natasha, who is with a child, to see it.”

She murmured in a small voice and slowly lifted the veil.

The long veil came to her waist under a hood that was tightly enclosed so that not a hair was visible.

However, the clothes she wore inside it were dug in to the place where her breastbone was.

All of this was calculated attire.

As Asha lifted the veil to the end of her forehead, several women who had been stealing a sideways glance at her let out a low scream.

“Arghhh!”

“Haaaaa!”

Startled, these women quickly turned their heads away or quickly covered their eyes with their fans.

Natasha Roanti, too, raised her eyebrows and lowered her head.

“Your Majesty ……”

Gently, she grabbed Gillotti’s sleeves as if she couldn’t stand it.

Gillotti took Natasha’s shaking hands in his and stared at the woman, who had removed her veil with a furrowed brow.

Her skin was so distorted that it could hardly be described as skin-colored.

The burns were still reddish, as if smeared with mucus and blood.

What wasn’t exposed was the part of the eyes that was covered by an eye mask made of soft lace like a veil.

“Why did you cover your eyes?”

“Because the eyelids had melted away, revealing all of the eyeballs. Perhaps you would like to see that part too?”

Tamon interrupted, as if unable to resist, and explained.

Gillotti stared at Tamon with strained eyes.

Tamon Krasis faced him, not avoiding his eyes.

The appearance of standing upright with his back and shoulders stretched out was outrageous.

Gillotti wanted to shout that Tamon was arrogant, but he endured it with extreme patience.

To clash with him here was to ruin the fun festival right from the start.

‘But I will surely humiliate you in the near future.’

Gillotti glared at Tamon again with a close gaze, then shook his hand at Asha as if it was enough.

“I don’t want to see any more of this. You can wear the veil.”

Asha said nothing and pulled down the veil again, which she had lifted.

The secret tension that had been hanging over the banquet hall eased after she had covered all of her face.

Gillotti turned his head as if he wanted her to disappear quickly, but Asha did not immediately get out of the way.

Standing up straight, Asha turned to Gillotti and said something meaningful.

“In return for all that fate has taken from me, I now have a special gift.”

Gillotti looked back at Asha with narrowed eyes.

A woman without any power, any strength, not a decent face, but standing straight, looking straight at him unwavering.

It was unusual.

A woman with an eye patch and a veil, but it felt like she was staring at him.

“What do you mean by that?”

“……Winter in Tanatos, do not let the night breeze come back on July 16th.”

“What?”

“You will have your worst nightmare.”

“……!”

Asha slowly withdrew from her seat, leaving Gillotti with his eyes wide open.

Tamon held her hand and the two greeted the soulless Gillotti with courtesy.

Gillotti frowned and looked at the two’s disappearing backs for a long time.

Pretending not to have seen such Gillotti, the banquet continued naturally.

* * *

“Wow, this really worked.”

As soon as she entered the guest room, Theoransha released her stiff expression and burst into laughter.

Helia, who was looking around, quickly poked Theo in the side.

Ronasso, who had been waiting in the distance, ran after them.

“I was watching and my heart was pounding and I thought I was going to die. Everyone is okay?”

Ronasso, who was approaching them in a panic, asked in a whisper if they were safe.

Tamon nodded and looked at Asha because there was nothing wrong.

It was regrettable and unfortunate that he couldn’t read her expression or her eyes properly because of the dark purple veil.

“Your face, isn’t it hard to breathe?”

Asha answered Tamon’s question by shaking her head.

She gently raised her hand and touched her cheek, which felt strange.

A thin layer of makeup used by the actors had been painted over her face.

It was really good to exaggerate it on purpose so that it was hard to see.

‘I almost showed my true face to everyone.’

“You are absolutely right.”

Theo spoke with no small amount of admiration toward Asha, who was taking a breath.

“Gillotti will ask you to unveil even if you say you were burned. It was true.”

Aranrosia said they should not treat Gillotti with common sense.

She said that besides wearing a veil, she would also have to cover her eyes.

Still not satisfied, she asked them to introduce her as someone who had a history of suffering from an “infectious disease.”

This would make Gillotti and Natasha avoid her.

But that was also a way of having the risk of being kicked out of the place or having accusations and reprimands come to Theoransha and Tamon.

Asrell, who was with them at the time, raised her hand.

“When I was young, I worked for a while with a theater company.”

“Didn’t Asrell stay at the Krasis for a long time?”

“I ran away from home for about a year when I wandered around for a while.”

Asrell smiled and reminisced about her younger days.

At that time, he helped the actors dress up, and created a sick appearance.

Asrell recommended that Asha wear a thin layer of burned skin, if only Asha would be willing to wear it.

She explained that it looked very painful and no one would be able to look at it for a long time.

Asha, of course, gladly accepted and they got to work right away.

Asrell was very dexterous with her hands, so even though it had been a very long time since she had done this work, she quickly became very good at it.

It was much more plausible than she expected, despite the fact that she put it over Asha’s skin right after practicing it once.

Asha remembered Gillotti’s face, who was looking at her abhorrently as soon as she removed her veil.

‘Now you’re really close.’

The agony of still having to wait with her eyes on the road ahead of her was akin to having all of her intestines cut out.

She clenched her fists and forced her swollen heart down.

“By the way, what was that thing you were talking about earlier? July 16th?”

Tamon asked, wrapping her cold hands around his.

She was surprised at his nonchalance in the face of this horrifying disguise.

But Tamon only wondered if this suffocating costume would hurt her skin.

“July 16th is ……..”

Asha turned and stared at the front of the splendid banquet hall.

“It is the day the previous emperor died.”

At her words, Tamon and Theoransha looked at each other as if something had occurred to them.

About five years ago, the news spread throughout the nations that the emperor of Thanatos had finally passed away.

However, the major nations had already realized that the Emperor Tanatos had died before that time.

However, because of the thorough internal secrecy, the exact date could not be known.

They could only vaguely guess that it was just before the end of the July Festival of Tanatos.

But Asha, being in the center of the imperial family, remembered the exact date.

The imperial household embalmed the emperor’s body and kept it for about 20 days. Tanatos in July must be unconditionally joyous, and the previous emperor left that as his last will and testament.

The death of the previous Emperor was sudden and mysterious.

It was precisely for this reason that Asha remembered the day so precisely.

Until the day before, all the imperial physicians had spoken in unison, saying that the emperor would live another month.

He died suddenly that day, however.

Gillotti came to see him, two hours later.

That was not the only strange thing.

Gillotti was plagued by nightmares for months after that day.

Sometimes he would walk around the hallways in his sleep like a crazy man.

It was customary for the emperor and the empress, or the crown prince and the crown princess, to share the same room during the festival.

This allowed Asha to observe his condition more closely than anyone else.

“I’m sorry, Father.”

“….. ha, what did I do so wrong!?”

“No, I, I tried to…….”

“Die, die!”

Roselyn of that time locked the door in case anyone heard this sleep talk, and stopped him firmly.

Sometimes he would break down and cry or bury into her arms.

‘Something’s happened.’

There was no way she could have known that was the case.

But what could she do at that time?

She had to watch him without being able to sleep.

But it was a very busy schedule for the imperial family at the time, and the sudden passing of the emperor almost overwhelmed Roselyn.

When she was unable to hold out, Roselyn fell asleep, and Gillotti slipped out of bed.

When she was startled and rushed after him, Gillotti was in the room of the previous emperor.

And in that room, she saw what had happened here that day.

She saw it.

Gillotti, up on an empty bed, strangling someone……