Chapter 29: The Tyrant’s Shadow and a Naive Bride

29. The Loyal Heart of a Treacherous Subject

“No, please don’t treat me like those disloyal wretches.”

The peddler’s eyes welled with tears as she twisted her body.

“I know nothing. A noble hunter? Absolutely not. Well, of course! Perhaps those men *are* noble hunters. I don’t know enough to say they aren’t. But I genuinely know nothing. Why would I ever do such a thing? I have a family waiting for me at home.”

The sight of a woman, roughly forty years old, sobbing and begging for forgiveness was not a pleasant one. Adler, standing silently by Erich’s side, wore a troubled expression.

“If you intended to cause trouble in front of my palace, I believe you should have informed me.”

“I-I’m sorry. I truly knew nothing.”

“So you’re not a noble hunter?”

Erich extended the tip of his boot directly in front of the prisoner. As he wiggled his outstretched foot, the porter—who, unlike the peddler, couldn’t even offer a proper excuse—pressed their lips to his instep.

“I was wrong. Please forgive me.”

Having received a kiss begging for life, Erich shook his foot as if it had been soiled by filth. Leaning back deeply into his chair, Erich gazed down at the two with cold, unforgiving eyes.

“What did the deceased say about Winb’s Disgrace?”

“Pardon…?”

“Did the attackers who died alongside you ever speak of Winb’s Disgrace? About the Emperor of Wietern?”

‘Winb’s Disgrace.’ Hearing words that seemed to allude to Erich Winb, the firstborn son who had been magicless until the age of nineteen, the peddler flinched violently.

“Absolutely not! They never badmouthed His Majesty. Not a word! If they had, I would have known.”

“Is that so?”

Erich, resting his chin in his hand with a bored expression, scrutinized the peddler and the porter more closely.

The prisoner showed no reaction even after hearing the term ‘Winb’s Disgrace.’ Given that they seemed to associate ‘Winb’s Disgrace’ with Erich, these individuals truly weren’t connected to the noble hunters.

“How troublesome.”

If they didn’t know ‘Winb’s Disgrace’—meaning they weren’t noble hunters—then he would have to find the real culprits separately. The task had just become twice as annoying.

“Oh, but… now that I think about it, I believe they did mention His Majesty. It wasn’t an insult, though.”

At Erich’s sigh, the peddler, who had been on the verge of bursting into tears, quickly composed herself.

Erich raised an eyebrow at her carefully offered words. It was an unspoken command for her to continue.

“They said they hoped His Majesty would choose better knights…”

“They had complaints about my knights?”

“No, no, it must have been a desire for His Majesty to keep skilled individuals close. At any rate, they did say something like that. That the current Imperial Guard would be insufficient.”

‘Insufficient Imperial Guard?’

Erich leaned sideways, pondering the attacker’s words. As his posture shifted, his foot inadvertently crushed the porter’s hand.

“What region did they sound like?”

“They had a central accent. But at first, I thought they were foreigners. Their clothes were Ailbarnese style.”

The peddler pointed to the area where buttons would be, explaining, “Two-row buttoned clothes are quite popular in Ailbarn these days.”

This was information Evening hadn’t been able to discover, as the fire had charred and burned away their clothing.

The attackers spoke with a central accent yet wore Ailbarnese style clothing. They had spoken of the current Imperial Guard being insufficient, hoping for better knights. Moreover, their methods mimicked those of the noble hunters.

“…Hah, so that’s how it is?”

The image of Margrave Flam, gnashing his teeth at Erich until the very end, flashed vividly in his mind.

They were not noble hunters. They harbored ill will towards Erich’s Imperial Guard and had a connection to Ailbarn.

While there was no concrete evidence, suspicion naturally fell upon Margrave Flam. And Erich suspected that was precisely what the Margrave had intended.

“Truly persistent individuals.”

Erich crossed his legs the other way, clenching his interlocked hands as if to crush them.

He now understood why Orville had been sent to the capital, despite the wedding still being distant.

The attackers had likely targeted Erich’s Imperial Guard or a faction supporting him. Their clash with Greg must have been an unforeseen coincidence.

The plan must have been to cause an incident, intimidate Erich’s faction, and then create an obligation through Orville, who possessed healing magic.

Or perhaps it was to prepare for the moment his younger sister might be unfortunately caught in an accident.

The Ailbarnese style clothing was either to frame them if necessary, or to signal that Ailbarn was also wary of him.

The deliberate mention of the Imperial Guard inside the carriage was to convey his intentions, even if it reached him through the mouths of these commoners in a different way.

Every single one of them was a crude trick, and with all physical evidence destroyed by the fire, only suspicion remained.

Yet, there had been several similar attempts to wear down Erich’s nerves over time.

‘I love you.’

Could Evening, who wagged her tail by his side, feigning innocence, cheerfulness, and all sorts of pretenses, also be part of the Margrave’s scheme?

Erich gritted his teeth, a sneer spreading across his face. He couldn’t have contained the surging disappointment otherwise.

It felt as if he was being plunged back to rock bottom.

****

There was a truth Evening did not know, despite her heartfelt decision to serve Erich as her liege.

Erich Winb was not merely a villain who would fall due to an obsessive affair with a married woman.

His true tyrannical nature would only be revealed after the original heroine and male lead were firmly united.

In just one year, he was destined to collude with the noble hunters and wage war against Duke Elpata.

Erich would be the cause of a civil war, claiming tens of thousands of lives and plunging hundreds of thousands into famine and postwar suffering.

The novel, which had previously navigated challenges of a smaller scale—such as resistance from subjects or the villain’s obstruction due to obsession with the heroine—suddenly encountered a disaster of immense proportions at its climax.

Once Greg and Lucia were united, Erich, weary of crude political battles, oppressed the people within and outside the capital, and raised an army.

He attempted to execute everyone who displeased him, plunging the entire empire into chaos as fugitives and rebels mingled.

To make matters worse, a sudden gust of wind spread the urban fires throughout the capital.

The uncontrollable inferno engulfed the capital, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties and leaving hundreds of thousands in dire straits.

In the Senate, Greg and Lucia revealed Erich’s long-standing collusion with the noble hunters and demanded his condemnation for the sake of the people.

The Elpata couple, having formed a united front, quelled the urban chaos and ultimately killed Erich.

Lucia, in fact, possessed magic that could destroy everything, and she used it against Erich.

Erich, who had seemed immortal, perished under Lucia’s magic, and the protagonist couple abandoned the ruined capital to return north, thus ending the novel.

Wietern was destined for a catastrophic ruin.

Only the protagonists’ love was realized, while the fate of the nation and its people spiraled into tragedy.

However, Evening was unaware of this.

She had closed the novel precisely at the scene where the male and female leads were fully united.

Content with their love story, she had postponed reading the rest, thinking she would get to it later, thus never seeing the true ending.

Because of this, she now stood upon the most dangerous minefield.

‘It’ll work out somehow.’

Evening, oblivious to the impending tragedy, pledged her loyalty with a serene expression.

****

[To my mother, father, my brother, and everyone else I love in reality.

I’m getting married soon.

I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you in advance.

I regret not being able to introduce my family to yours.

Mom and Dad would have clapped their hands in delight if they’d met him.

My fiancé is a wonderful person.

He’s a bit vengeful, sometimes suspects I’m plotting to assassinate him, and is always looking for a chance to ruin the body’s original family, but overall, he’s a very good person.

I don’t know where else I could find a man like him. He’s perfect in every way.

His looks are incredibly handsome, and his family background and wealth are no joke.

And do you know what his job is?

He’s the Emperor.

It’s a lifelong profession he can do until he collapses from old age.

My fiancé even introduced me to a good job, so now I’m a cabinet member, a diplomat, a chief justice, and a chief of staff.

If you play your cards right, you can really get ahead like this.

I’m doing well, so please don’t worry.

My beloved family.

Please wish for only happiness in my future.

Sincerely, Lee Nabin, who loves Mom, Dad, and Oppa.]

****

“Huuah, Mamaa…”

Awakening from sleep, Evening yawned languidly in the soft sunlight.

A lady-in-waiting standing nearby politely looked down at her.

“Good morning, Lady Evening.”

“Mmm, good mornin’.”

Evening slowly pushed herself up.

The standard waking time in Wietern was around six to six-thirty in the morning. By six-thirty, it was already considered late, and a lady-in-waiting would quietly enter the room to wake them.

“What about His Majesty?”

“He doesn’t seem likely to wake.”

Erich was an exception. One couldn’t wake an Emperor who had specifically instructed not to be disturbed.

Suffering from both insomnia and low blood pressure, he woke very late by Wietern standards.

Evening drew her knees up on the bedding, stealing a glance at Erich’s sleeping face.

“He sleeps soundly.”

Starting the morning by looking at Erich’s sleeping face was a pleasant routine.

Evening stretched once more on the bedding spread on the floor. A lady-in-waiting, similar in age to Evening, looked down at the thick quilt on the floor.

“Are you still sleeping here?”

“Yes.”

“Are you alright? Is it not uncomfortable?”

“Sleeping on the floor is a traditional method of rest, so it’s good for the body. It’s also refreshing, like camping.”

Evening spread her bedding on the floor next to the large bed and slept there. When they first began sharing a room, they had also shared the bed, but out of concern for Erich—who had low blood pressure and was sensitive to noise—she had moved her sleeping place to the floor.