Who Stole The Empress

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Sponsored by Vina 💖 (4/4)

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Gillotti raised his head high in surprise.

“I’ll only tell you one thing at a time.”

“Well, say it! Say it, immediately!”

Gillotti hurried him on. Natasha also clenched her fists in excitement.

Hartz glanced around the audience chamber.

As it was the golden empire, the splendor of the main palace was on a different level than in many countries.

Crystal and gold, silver and sapphire.

Not only was the emperor’s crown decorated with various jewels, but the ceiling engravings and the jeweled chandeliers were the height of glamour.

Hartz didn’t know how they did it, but this large area was much warmer than the smaller west tower.

Perhaps it was the same in the East Palace, where the emperor lived.

Hartz, who grinned, mumbled indignantly.

“By the way, it’s very cold in the west tower.”

“…… What?”

“It was so cold that it made my hair stand on end. Should I say that my brain is going to freeze and my memory is going to decline?”

What ……?

 Gillotti’s brow furrowed as he spoke in an angry tone.

“Are you trying to negotiate with me now?”

“Negotiation…It’s not that grand. Should I say it’s just a normal deal?”

Hartz laughed, his voice deliberately vulgar and snobbish.

“It’s all about my convenience while I help you get what you want.”

“You are so cocky. Who should suggest a deal to whom? Even though we are the same talented, you may die here if I want you to.”

Hartz laughed aloud at Gillotti’s words of arrogance and vainness.

hahahaha!

It was a loud laugh, and Gillotti immediately scrunched up his face.

He got up and ran towards Hartz.

With a bright red face, he grabbed Hartz by the chest, but due to his lack of energy, he couldn’t lift him up.

It was partly because Hartz was bigger than he expected.

“You’re a prince of a ruined country, and you’re arrogant for having a single ability?”

 “Who’s being arrogant? Me?”

 “Yes, you are. If you don’t want to die, meekly submit your information. Don’t give me your boring complaints.

Gillotti’s eyes lit up dangerously.

Hartz, who was looking deep into his eyes, chuckled.

Hartz’s strange eyes shone through his long bangs.

“As soon as you kill me, your life will be cut in half.”

The eyes were a strange mixture of blue and gold.

It was a strange and bizarre look.

It gave Gillotti strange goosebumps.

“The more you try to harm me, the more of your lifespan will disappear by the handful.”

“…What?”

“You don’t know how much of your lifespan you have left, but I do.”

Hartz folded his eyes and whispered with a smile.

His voice, which had changed like a snake, insidiously entered Gillotti’s ears.

‘If you’re down by half from that place, then yes.. …I think I’d better start preparing from your will at this hour. ……..” 

“You….you!”

“Your Majesty!”

Natasha hurried down, holding the heavy belly.

She pulled Hartz and Gillotti apart and quickly soothed Gillotti.

Now was not the time to handle things with anger.

This foolish emperor had often ruined things by trying to handle them according to his nature.

“I understand your anger, but now is not the time to handle business with a brazier. I don’t want to take the slightest chance of harming you. Please, listen to this poor Natasha.”

She grabbed Gillotti’s hand and kissed it with her sobbing lips.

It seemed to be the plea of a woman who, by all accounts, cared most for his safety.

Even Gillotti, who was full of anger, could not help but relax at her appearance.

How can one’s heart not weaken when a woman, as beautiful as a spring flower, is pleading in such a piteous manner?

Gillotti glared at Hartz for a long time, and murmured a sneer.

“I will move your residence. You will tell me the location of the holy relics.”

Done.

Hartz, who swallowed a bitter smile, gently revealed the location of the first holy relic.

“Among the merchants of Nyrux stationed in the Caliphate Sea, a merchant wearing the crest of a red octopus has a dagger.”

An antidote dagger!

It was a holy relic that had once appeared on the black market several times.

But even that had completely disappeared over twenty years ago, and the merchant of Nyrux had hidden it.

A quick light flashed across Gillotti’s face. Hartz, who was watching him, put up another condition.

“However, a specific person must go there to retrieve it.”

 “A specific person? Who is it? Are you asking me to go directly?”

Gillotti frowned, displeased.

‘I don’t think so.’

The only reason Hartz attempted this negotiation was for this very moment.

Hartz replied, shaking his head gently.

“Marquis Helio, stationed in the northwest. He is the only one who can retrieve this dagger. If Marquis Helio does not find the merchant until around the 10th of next month, the dagger will probably be lost forever.”

Marquis Helio?

For the first time, a hint of bewilderment flashed across Gillotti’s face.

After the Empress, the Marquis was the most difficult person to deal with.

Not that the Marquis had a close relationship with the Empress, but they had a subtle similarity in politics and a similarity in seriousness.

Gillotti, who had a hard time dealing with a single Empress, pushed the Marquis to the frontier with Natasha’s help.

The northwest was the most rugged and harsh region of Tanatos.

Because it was too cold, the population was small and there was no such thing as crops in the region. In order to live there, people always had to get help from the people around them or from the Imperial Palace. 

The Marquis’s wife could not stand the cold and died of an endemic disease in the first year after the order was issued.

Of the three daughters, it was said that the eldest was hurriedly married off and the second daughter, who was not much older, was kept with her out of necessity, and was having a hard time suffering from the same endemic disease as her mother.

Despite these hardships, the Marquis’s momentum never waned, and it was Gillotti who had suffered the hardship.

Gillotti even marveled at the Marquis’s ability to create a force in such a remote and rugged place.

In a short time, he was even given another name, the “Ice Wolf” of the Northwest.

‘…That guy is trouble.’

Gillotti wrinkled his brow. Why Marquis Helio, of all people….

He was the one whom Gillotti had not even thought of removing so he had to push him far away.

As his nickname suggested, the Marquis had a wolf nature.

He was not particularly tamed by authority, and because of his skillful leadership, he would create his own pack. He must be seething because the emperor had driven him to the cliff and 

even caused the death of his family.

“Does it always have to be that person?”

“It must. It has to be him. The others will die before they find the dagger.”

D*mn it.

In the past, it would have been a matter of calling the Marquis in,  ordering him to do the job, and then kill him with his* ability. (*Gilliotti’s ability is death)

But now Gillotti’s illness was side effects of using his ability, so he couldn’t use that ability now.

And, the Marquis’ sword skills were too superior to send the assassin.

“Your Majesty, I’ll summon him and put him to work.”

Natasha interrupted in a gentle voice.

She smiled softly, grasping Gillotti’s hand tightly and said.

“Don’t worry too much. I have a way.”

Gillotti was already familiar with that look in Natasha’s eyes.

When she had driven out the Empress, and when she had cast Marquis Helio into the pit and driven him out to the frontier, Natasha whispered to him with that smile.

There was nothing more reliable than that smile.

“Indeed, you’re my treasure. Clever Natasha.”

Gillotti pulled Natasha close and kissed her, looking satisfied.

Hartz stared at them silently.

*Marquis Helio is the one Roselyn asked Anna to find for her plan. Hartz predicted it and now he purposely tricked the Emperor to send Marquis Helio.*

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“Your body……”

The moment she saw Tamon’s body as he fumbled to take off his clothes, Roselyn’s eyes secretly trembled in confusion.

“What happened?”

Where the hell did he come back from and what did he do, his body was covered in bruises everywhere and anywhere.

“The king needed to beat me to make her feel better..………”

Tamon said it like it was nothing, but he looked like he was in immediate pain.

“Look. Some of your ribs are broken.”

“…”

Roselyn gently touched around his ribs with a look of impossibility.

The bones were really broken and she could catch them on her fingers.

She knew Theo was going to reprimand Tamon, but she didn’t think that Theo would do this.

How could the king beat a high ranking nobleman herself?

It was a method that Roselyn could not imagine.

“At this point, it’s not me who get into trouble when we’re far apart, it’s you.”

Tamon chuckled quietly as Roselyn mumbled in exasperation.

“Why aren’t you getting treatment?” (Roselyn)

“I’m not used to showing my body to other people unnecessarily…” (Tamon)

“Don’t be ridiculous. Don’t talk, just go and get the treatment!” (Roselyn)

 “I’m sorry, but I really can’t get treatment from anyone. I have a separate dedicated healer for me.” (Tamon) 

 “What? Is there such a thing? Is it a full-time thing?” (Roselyn)

“Yes, there is such a thing. That’s why I’m not going to unnecessarily go out and get treatment from others. Even if I am in danger of dying, only my healer can save me.” (Tamon)

“…Strange.”

Tamon persevered through Theo’s nostalgia and snide remarks, refusing to get treatment.

He couldn’t pass up an opportunity to be this injured.

For him, injury was an opportunity.

A very sweet opportunity to receive Asha’s care justly.