"I’ll quit."

  It was the first words the Empress said.

  "I’ll stop here, so leave Angenas alone."

  The usual loft tone and smile had already been thrown out of the carriage.

  Her face left only a look of frustration and exhaustion.

  "We’ve already lost half of our properties. As way things are now, Angenas will not pose a threat to your future."

  Perez did not answer.

  Instead, he slowly crossed his legs and looked at Empress Ravini with an oblique gaze.

  The Empress, who has been receiving that gaze for a while, said, "I promise."

  "……Promise."

  Finally, Perez’s tight-lipped mouth opened.

  "What exactly do you promise?"

  Empress Ravini’s eyes trembled at Perez’s question, looking as if she couldn’t stand the humiliation.

  "Angenas……"

  Empress Ravini’s voice shook so gently that sympathizing with her could be justified.

  "Angenas will lay low and live quietly in the future."

  "And?"

  "I will stamp the sign of approval for the processing of your appointment to be the Crown Prince."

  "And?" Perez cynically asked again.

  "What more do you want to hear?" Empress Ravini asked, raising her voice.

  But Perez only shook his head leisurely.

  "Aren’t the things you are presenting too meager, Empress? I’m holding on to the Empress’s life in my hands right now."

  There was even a faint smile in his voice.

  The Empress glared, looking as if she would kill Perez any minute now.

  But that’s only for a while. Soon Ravini breathed out in resignation.

  "I will step down from my position as the Empress."

  This time it was unexpected.

  The Empress handed out a better card than he thought.

  Calm red eyes stared at the Empress.

  Then Perez threw a word.

  "That’s not how you apologize. Get down on your knees."

  At Perez’s outrageous command, the Empress opened her eyes wide.

  But that’s all.

  There was no such thing as ’lowly’ or ’humble’ words that usually follow.

  The Empress sighed, trying to calm down. Her eyes, which were staring at Perez, also closed tightly.

  And then.

  The Empress got up from her seat and knelt on the floor of the carriage.

  "I-I apologize. So, please……"

  Ravini, with her slightly lowered head, uttered word per word, sounding like she’s struggling with pain.

  Perez looked down at the figure with cold eyes.

  There was no sense of triumph on his face that the Empress could see.

  While staring at the Empress for a moment, Perez suddenly looked out of the carriage window.

  A knight, who continued to look back at the carriage with an anxious face, was seen turning his head in a hurry when Perez met his eyes.

  "What do you want?"

  "Please stop the result of the meeting, nothing else."

  "……That’s a reasonable price."

  Empress Ravini’s face glowed when Perez said those words.

  "Well, that’s what I’m going—"

  "My mother, who died apologizing to the Empress, will not return alive."

  "You……you……!"

  The Empress got angry and tried to get up from kneeling on the floor.

  But with no time for Ravini to escape, Perez leaned over to her face right away.

  "I will tell the future of the Empress."

  The red eyes shone eerily.

  "Yes, it would be better to start with Angenas first," Perez said as if he had already decided.

  And he lifted one index finger straight out.

  "In years time, the name of Angenas will disappear completely from this Empire. Your name will not be found on the map, as well as on the Registry of Nobility. In a few years or so, even the commoners who you say are so dirty will say, ’I never heard such a family name.’"

  "Second Prince……"

  "I’m not done yet."

  Perez shook his head and covered the Empress’s mouth.

  "And when Angenas is scattered, I will search all over the Empire and remove those who are loyal to the Empress. Every last one of you. One by one."

  Perez didn’t laugh.

  "I’m sending Astana to the battlefield on the borders. If he has the talent, he can survive. On the battlefield, you don’t know who will stab you in the back."

  However, he was enjoying himself watching the fear spread over the Empress’s face.

  "And you who are left alone."

  At that moment, Empress Ravini felt a chill running down her spine.

  It was because Perez was slowly smiling in front of her.

  "You will be trapped in a place no one knows. Where no one can help you, no one can hear you."

  Like how he was left alone in that crumbling palace.

  "And just die alone there, Empress. This is your future that has already been decided."

  Perez clicked his tongue.

  At that time, the carriage rattled loudly once.

  "We’ve arrived at the palace."

  At Perez’s words, the moving carriage gradually slowed up.

  "But you’ll have to thank me for doing it in haste. At least everything will end quickly."

  The carriage came to a complete stop.

  However, there was no attendant rushing with a footstool.

  The Imperial Knights weren’t getting closer with the inadequate timing.

  It can’t be helped.

  Perez lifted himself from the seat and gave a short message by the Empress’s ear.

  "But don’t ask me for mercy, Empress."

  Perez’s hand twisted the doorknob of the carriage.

  "From the beginning, wasn’t it a game that ends when one of us disappears?"

  Then he politely opened the carriage door for the Empress and said, "There’s no turning back now."

  Without a chance to prevent it from happening, the door instantly opened and the Imperial Knights and servants standing further away have witnessed it.

  The figure of the Empress kneeling before Perez.

  Their eyes widen in astonishment.

  "Then I’ll get off first. Goodbye." Perez said so and he stepped off the carriage.

  Then he gave a word to the attendant.

  "The Empress will need a foothold. Attend to her quickly."

  Leaving that order alone, Perez took a step towards the Poylac Palace.

  The three members of the Academy, who were waiting in advance, quickly joined after that.

  But a sense of wonder has all crossed their faces.

  "Your Highness?"

  It was because Perez’s face was getting frigid.

  The Empress knelt in front of him, why the hell?

  Perez, who was walking in the lead, said in a low voice, "Lignite."

  "Yes, Your Highness."

  "Make more thorough surveillance on Astana."

  "That foolish brother of yours? Why?"

  Perez replied with the sound of heavy footsteps walking on the stone path of the Imperial Palace.

  "She didn’t ask for Astana to be spared even though she was kneeling to her knees."

  Perez didn’t believe for a single moment that the Empress’s acting was sincere.

  He had seen the Empress for too long to do that.

  The Empress never gives up on Astana.

  Ravini wants absolute power and without Astana, she can’t hold it in her hand.

  She just wanted to keep Perez off her guard and make some time.

  "Sooner or later, the Empress will move."

  Of all the things the Empress said in the carriage, there’s only one truth.

  It was that she was frightened of what would be the outcome of the meeting.

  ***

  At the meeting room in Lombardy Mansion.

  No one easily answered my Grandfather’s question.

  "Everyone must have a lot on their minds."

  Grandfather nodded and said, "Okay, I wouldn’t have called you all like this if it had been just to appoint a Deputy Head. I hope you all get it."

  At my grandfather’s words, the lords have stirred up again.

  "Are you talking about……succession?"

  Everyone held their breath and waited for Grandpa’s answer.

  It’s the same case for me.

  Like a student waiting for her report card, I looked at my Grandfather with a trembling heart.

  My heart was about to pop out of my chest.

  "That’s right."

  I knew it!

  I clenched my fists under the table.

  Not just a Deputy Head, but the successor to Lombardy.

  Oh, I love it!

  The words I heard directly from my Grandfather’s mouth were so sweet that I felt like I was about to faint.

  ’Done! It’s done!’


  I want to stand up and shout.

  I managed to swallow the cheers and instead smiled quietly.

  "Tia." Grandpa called me.

  "Everyone seems anxious."

  "That’s understandable."

  I looked back at the people with a nod.

  I meant it from the bottom of my heart.

  I would be worried as well.

  Skipping the son and daughter of the Head and moving to the granddaughter below them. And of all people, to me, who is still ridiculously young.

  "I understand it because you all care for the Lombardy family."

  Because I know well what can happen when a wrong person becomes the Head of the family.

  "Well, let me ask you a few questions. Answer that question honestly."

  "Yes, Grandpa."

  "How do you think Lombardy should behave in the current situation?"

  "Lombardy……" I opened my mouth and tried to answer right away but I shut up at once.

  It was because I remembered my previous life that I wanted to shout out what I was about to say.

  "Hmm."

  I pretended to be coughing and took breaths.

  If I didn’t do that, I felt like I would burst out the old resentment that I had forgotten for a while.

  "The path that Lombardy has to go now is so simple and clear."

  In my previous life, they couldn’t do this simple thing which led the Lombardy family to ruins.

  Because I couldn’t do this easy thing before, my great Lombardy had to disappear into history.

  I spoke to my Grandfather and the vassals who were looking at me.

  "The Second Prince will become the Crown Prince. We need to maintain a friendly relationship with Second Prince Perez and take advantage of it. That’s all."

  But in this life, it’s different.

  I came back for this very moment, and I ran all the way here.