I Just Wanted to Avoid Death - Chapter 188
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“Your Majesty, the Empress. The Archpriest and Senior Priest Yeshion from the temple have arrived.”
The attendant at the door called out in a clear voice, and the massive doors to the audience chamber opened smoothly. As they stepped inside, dozens of eyes turned toward Yeshion.
Once the doors closed, an old man seated at the dais spoke.
“We explicitly summoned only for Priest Yeshion. We did not expect the Archpriest to come along.”
His voice was openly mocking.
Seeing the sour expression on the old man’s face, Eldis responded without even a flicker of emotion.
“We heard that unseemly talk was spreading within the palace.”
“Ahem, hrm…”
One of the high-ranking nobles cleared his throat awkwardly at Eldis’s blunt remark.
When Eldis simply turned his gaze away, the Empress, who was seated at the highest place, rose slowly.
“Priest Yeshion.”
The voice that spilled from between her lips was seductive, almost captivating.
Startled by the sudden call, Yeshion, who had been staring at the floor, flinched violently.
The Empress continued.
“Raise your head, Priest Yeshion. The reason I summoned you today is because… it’s time for me to reveal the secret I’ve long kept hidden.” ‘……She hid something from me?’
Yeshion tilted his head. As far as he could recall, ‘Yeshion’ had never once met the Empress. He hadn’t even imagined that she would know his name.
‘What on earth…’
With each word that fell from the Empress’s lips, the strange unease in his chest grew larger.
When Yeshion finally forced himself to lift his head, chewing gently on the soft flesh inside his cheek, the Empress came into view not far ahead.
Pale skin. Calmly flowing black hair. Eyes the color of violets, gleaming as though they might devour a person whole.
But that wasn’t the problem.
The thick, black aura radiating from around her was nauseating to the point of horror. So foul it felt like if all the malignant energies he had seen in the southern Mishemol Duchy were compressed into one body, it would feel like this.
If he opened his mouth recklessly, he might retch.
How many people must she have killed for a single person to reek like sewer-clinging slime?
‘Disgusting……’
Yeshion instinctively recoiled from the horrific energy.
Then, Eldis quietly raised his divine power, wrapping it gently around Yeshion. It was a clear, serene energy that only the two of them could perceive.
When Yeshion looked at Eldis, the man gave him a faint smile. That smile seemed to nudge him forward, as if to say not to worry. Taking a deep breath to suppress his rising anxiety, Yeshion looked again at the Empress and opened his mouth.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand what Your Majesty means. I’ve never had an audience with you, and this is the first time we’ve even spoken.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s true.”
“……”
“But you met Baine, didn’t you? More than a few people saw the two of you together.”
The moment the name ‘Baine’ was mentioned, Yeshion’s fingertips trembled faintly.
Baine was the woman who had done every vile job imaginable in the marketplace. If the Empress wasn’t careful with her words now, even Baine’s private deeds could be pinned on her.
Baine was her right-hand woman, after all.
So why bring up Baine’s name now?
Yeshion, unable to read her intent, stared at the Empress in silence. She smiled and spoke.
“Baine died not long ago, didn’t she? And yet, you claim to know nothing?”
“… I don’t quite understand what Your Majesty is implying.”
“Baine Anderson. She was a princess of the Kingdom of Omert, now a province of the Empire.”
“……”
“And the royal bloodline of Omert had a peculiar power… the ability to cast curses.”
The Empress smiled again as she said this.
It was the same kind of smile Baine and Veronica had worn before doing something wicked, and it made his skin crawl.
Before Yeshion could offer a single word in response, the Empress rose from her seat and turned toward the assembled nobles.
“The Crown Prince, Adelio, is under a curse.”
