I’m in Trouble Because The Emperor Thinks My Time is Limited - Chapter 26

There is a place in the Imperial Palace where no one dares to approach. It lies deep underground, where not a single ray of sunlight can reach. The cold, damp air was filled with a musty, oppressive atmosphere.

However, for the first time in a long while, footsteps echoed through the quiet space. The sound of hurried steps reverberated eerily along the stone walls of the long corridor.

—Crackle.

With a small noise, a flame flickered to life, lighting up the dark passage. Reaching the end of the corridor, Sionel lit the torch he had brought and hung it on a metal bracket near the iron door.

“It’s like a cursed grave.”

Muttering to himself, Sionel grabbed the iron door’s handle. The door, which hadn’t been opened for a long time, scraped against the brick floor, making an unpleasant screeching sound.

Sionel’s eyes scanned the wide space inside.

“Whose coffin is this?”

A strange voice broke the silence from behind him. Despite the sudden intrusion, Sionel answered without any sign of surprise, “The coffin of a sinner.”

“A sinner’s coffin, huh. I’ve heard the current emperor, Sionel Ulysses Woodburgh, is famous for executing the Empress Dowager.”

Melaine, the voice’s owner, approached Sionel’s side. “I also heard you burned her body and threw it into the fields to be eaten by beasts. So what’s it doing here?”

Melaine’s gaze followed Sionel’s, settling on the coffin. The coffin, which held the remains of a woman who had once been the most noble lady of the empire, was worn and unimpressive.

‘It truly looks like a sinner’s coffin.’

The lid of the worn coffin was nailed down with dozens of nails. Seeing how securely it was sealed, Melaine thought, They must have really despised her.

“Well, that’s not my business. Why did you call me here?”

Dropping his pretense of interest, Melaine turned to the main issue. Though he enjoyed provoking others, there was something more pressing on his mind.

“What’s so important that you’re making me come and go like this?”

“You already know why you’re here.”

Sionel’s gaze finally shifted to Melaine. His cold, lifeless eyes were devoid of warmth, inhuman in their emptiness. The chilling gaze gave Melaine an eerie feeling, almost as if he were looking at a corpse.

“If it weren’t for Lindel, I wouldn’t have called for you. And you wouldn’t have come.”

Melaine’s eyes darkened, but Sionel continued as if nothing had happened.

“You must be quite invested. Not only have you been lingering around the palace, but you’ve also been investigating me.”

“You knew?”

“I ordered my knights to fetch you not too long ago. But you arrived as if you were waiting. How could I not know?”

Sionel’s indifferent reply was mechanical and emotionless, like reading from a book.

“Someone like you, who doesn’t care about human matters, went out of your way to learn about the Empress Dowager. Quite the effort.”

“You.” Melaine’s face hardened with anger at the familiar feeling he had sensed before. “Just what are you?”

Sionel didn’t seem like an ordinary human. While his strength had been impressive, it wasn’t just that. Other things about him troubled Melaine.

He hadn’t felt it as strongly when Lindel was around, but now, without her presence, Sionel exuded an oppressive and dangerous aura. For a mere human, Sionel felt far too dark and sinister.

“You’ve been talking like you know me well, but I never forget anything I’ve seen. I may not care about humans, but I never forget a face.”

Melaine found Sionel’s dried-out eyes ominous. They didn’t belong to an ordinary human.

“Especially those eyes. If I had seen them before, I’d never forget.”

Even though he knew Melaine was on guard, Sionel remained relaxed. Or rather, he seemed entirely uninterested.

“You’re right. You’ve never seen me before. But does that really matter?”

“You bastard. You’re getting on my nerves—”

“The only thing that matters is Lindel.”

For the first time, emotion crossed Sionel’s face. His expression twisted with irritation.

“Stop muddling the issue. The only thing that’s important to us is Lindel.”

Sionel’s pale fingers pointed toward the coffin. “Check if there’s a soul in there.”

“Are you scared it might rise from the dead?”

“If it does, I’ll kill it again.”

At Melaine’s sarcastic response, Sionel shot him a cold glare. His icy blue eyes were filled with a chilling murderous intent.

“But if Lindel is in danger, that’s a different story.”

Check. Now.

Though Sionel didn’t say it aloud, his gaze demanded Melaine’s compliance. It wounded Melaine’s pride to follow a human’s orders, but this was a matter involving Lindel.

The dragon, who resembled him, weighed on his mind like a thorn. That was why Melaine had come here.

‘It was said the Empress Dowager cursed Lindel.’

Specifically, Lindel had taken the curse meant for the emperor. Melaine wanted to incinerate the coffin on the spot, but for now, he followed Sionel’s orders. His pupils elongated into reptilian slits as he searched for the sinner’s soul.

“There’s nothing.”

Even in the brief moment of using his power without permission, fatigue weighed heavily on his eyes.

“She’s completely dead. Resurrection is impossible.”

“In that case, what about that?”

Sionel’s finger pointed to a small jar behind the coffin. Covered in mold, the jar was as dirty and unimpressive as the coffin.

“What’s that?”

“Is there a soul in there?”

“In that tiny jar? Are you crazy?”

“Enough nonsense. Check it properly and answer.”

At Sionel’s frigid command, Melaine ground his teeth. If Lindel didn’t care about this human, he would have killed him on the spot.

“There’s nothing in there either. What’s in that thing, anyway? Someone’s severed head?”

Sionel’s face fell back into thought when he heard that no soul was present. Melaine, who had been showing his frustration by crossing his arms, grew irritated by Sionel’s silence.

“What the hell is this? Why are you making me check—”

Melaine walked past the coffin and strode toward the jar. He ripped off the lid with an aggressive movement.

“What the—!”

With a growl, Melaine tossed the lid to the floor, where it clattered noisily. His eyes remained fixed on the jar’s contents.

Inside was a red, fleshy mass reeking of blood.

It was a human heart. The jar contained a dark red human heart. But that wasn’t the only problem.

“What the hell is this!”

Melaine’s pupils trembled. The heart, sitting alone in the jar, was still beating.

As if it were alive.

At that moment, Sionel’s calm voice echoed behind him.

“A sorcerer’s heart.”

“What?”

“If they’re truly dead, then this isn’t connected to the Empress Dowager.”

“Hey, what are you talking about—”

Melaine’s confusion was no longer of any concern to Sionel. Ignoring the commotion, he once again fell deep into thought.

What is the danger threatening Lindel?

Until now, Sionel had suspected another curse.

Only a curse could leave no traces. That’s why he hadn’t known about the curse Lindel had taken on before. But if there were no souls here, then it meant they were truly dead.

Another person’s doing? Or lingering aftereffects? Neither is certain.

“Hey! Answer me! What the hell is this?”

“Melaine Crostan.”

Melaine’s angry footsteps echoed as he stormed closer, but Sionel stopped his thoughts and stared straight at him. Faced with Sionel’s chilling gaze, Melaine forgot his anger and flinched.

What kind of human could have such eyes?

“Stay in the palace for a while.”

“What?”

“There’s something you need to do.”

***

“Ah, this is driving me crazy.”

I wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth and barely managed to shake off my drowsiness.

It seemed that I had dozed off again while trying to read the contract. Despite my efforts to read it bit by bit, the mind-numbing list of monotonous clauses kept putting me to sleep. As a result, I wasn’t making any progress at all.

“When am I ever going to finish reading this?”

From a quick glance, it seemed I had barely made it through 400 pages out of the 1700-page contract. Part of the delay was due to the time I wasted passing out after practicing Aura, but the main culprit was the overwhelming drowsiness.

I pushed the contract aside, still stained with drool, unable to hide my gloomy mood.

‘Why on earth does it contain all this useless information?’

When I first learned about the contract’s existence, I had been sure Laroche must have pulled some sneaky trick. However, as I actually started reading it, I realized it was filled with an entirely different kind of nonsense.

‘All contracts must be made using paper crafted from the bark of 200-year-old trees…’

‘This contract originated in the region of Jacarse…’

‘The Jacarse region refers to the southern direction of the current flowing along the eastern strait…’

“How would I know where Jacarse is? And why does this need to be explained in the contract?!”

The contract seemed to have been written according to the stream-of-consciousness method, crammed with all sorts of irrelevant details. It covered everything from the texture of the paper to the origins of the contract, and even included a section on the best times to read it.

None of it was information I wanted or needed to know.

“Argh! Laroche!”

If he had handed me this thick contract right from the start, I would have rejected it outright without even glancing at it. In that sense, Laroche had used a clever tactic by initially only giving me a summary.

“I don’t want to read this anymore…!”

As I lay sprawled like a zombie, a knock came at the door.

“Miss Lindel, you have a visitor.”

‘Who could it be? Could it be them?’

There weren’t many people who would come to see me here, so I wondered if Utilia and the others had come to visit. We hadn’t met in a long time since that day, so it was certainly possible.

I hurriedly tidied up the contract that was scattered across my bed and hastily hid it.

“Please, come in.”

I straightened my posture, sitting up to greet my guest. But the people who entered the room were unexpected.

Standing before me were a strikingly beautiful man and woman, both with creamy-colored hair.

“Duke?”

“It’s been a while, Lady Bodebachne.”

The handsome man, who exuded intelligence, was someone I knew well.

Cassius Areta.

The chancellor of the empire and the emperor’s right-hand man had come to visit me.

The woman standing next to him, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Cassius, was his sister, Julia Areta.

I was more surprised by Julia’s appearance than by Cassius’s.

“Miss Julia…?”

Her cold gaze sent a shiver down my spine.

“It’s been a long time, Lady Bodebachne.”

Julia’s smile directed at me was icy.

Julia had once been considered the strongest candidate for the position of empress.