The Villain’s Aide Has Run Away

Leslun lowered the dagger.

“It worked.”

Lady Miroi spoke in a voice that could not hide her joy. Robin, who had followed her in, nodded slightly and gave a more precise report.

“The herb truly worked. Some strange insect had been eating away at the Headmaster’s body.”

The journey all the way to the Kingdom of Vancor had not been in vain. Leslun smiled faintly, though the smile seemed incomplete, as if it could not be fully genuine. Robin then realized who among them was missing.

“Where is His Highness the Crown Prince?”

“Her Majesty the Empress is in danger. His Highness went to rescue her himself.”

He replied as calmly as he could, mindful of Prince Cassian, who had just awakened.

“Mother…?”

But the effort did little good. Cassian was visibly anxious.

Leslun met Robin’s gaze and gave a small shake of his head.

“Do not worry. I will go to His Highness myself.”

Just as Robin turned in haste, the door burst open.

Kailos entered.

“Your Highness!”

Leslun, Robin, and Miroi exclaimed at once.

“Were you waiting for me?”

At Kailos’s short remark, the tension in the room melted away. Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

“You are not hurt, are you?”

Leslun approached Kailos and examined him from head to toe—his face, arms, and legs—then checked to make sure no part of his clothing was torn or stained with blood.

Kailos obediently lifted his face and arms and even turned in a full circle in place. At last, he answered with a smile.

“I was careful not to get hurt. Someone would be worried if I did.”

He placed a hand on Leslun’s shoulder and, as if to say there was no need to check further, gazed at his lover with warm affection.

Their tender reunion did not last long.

“But then…”

Miroi’s eyes turned wary as she looked at the person standing behind Kailos.

The Empress appeared utterly exhausted. She stood unsteadily, clutching at the torn golden hem of her skirt.

“Is it all right to let her in here?”

At Miroi’s cautious question, Kailos merely shrugged.

“If I send her elsewhere, I might have to go and save her again.”

Accepting the reason, Lady Miroi said nothing more. Yet she was far from pleased. Without even offering a greeting, she left for another room. She knew that what had just happened was, in part, the Empress’s own doing.

Robin quickly led the hesitant Prince Cassian after her. The Empress’s gaze lingered on Cassian’s retreating back.

Kailos turned to the Empress.

“There is much we need to discuss.”

***

Kailos sent Prince Cassian to stay with Robin for a while and seated the Empress in a chair in the reception room.

She looked as though she might collapse at any moment, yet her back remained straight. Though her appearance was disheveled from the attack and the escape through the secret passage, her eyes shone with startling clarity.

This was not the final flicker of a dying flame, but the rekindling of her will to live.

“Now, please tell me. What is your connection to them?”

When Kailos asked, the Empress’s lips trembled—not from fear, but from anger.
“They are the ones who joined hands to strike at the Crown Prince.”

Kailos exhaled as though weary of it all.

“To drag down one man, they would set the whole empire ablaze.”

The mocking tone stung, but the Empress could not deny it.

“Is His Majesty’s illness also their doing?”

Her expression grew even more twisted, showing resentment not for Kailos, but for the Emperor. Yet she could not bring herself to answer. The assault on the Emperor was a crime far too great for her alone to bear.

“If you cannot answer, then I will ask differently. Did you hate His Majesty?”

Her eyes flashed.

“There has never been a moment when I did not hate him.”

The face that had once seemed pure now revealed the emotions she had long kept hidden.
“To be scorned for not bearing an heir… I felt as though I were dead while still breathing.”

Her voice cracked. The sob that rose from the depths of her chest escaped, restrained yet raw. Gone was the cold, formal composure she had shown the Crown Prince; only her pain remained bare.

“That was when they reached out to me. They said they would fill the void left in me—as a woman and as an Empress—by all that had been broken.”