Synopsis and Starting Chapter Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90 - Light And Shadow>
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112 - The Morning Comes>
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118 - After The Storm
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132 -
Chapter 133
Chapter 134 - Epilogue 1.3
Chapter 135 - Epilogue 2.1: Traces Of Life
Chapter 136
Chapter 137 - Epilogue 2.3
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141 - Epilogue 4.1: Ever After>
Chapter 142 - Epilogue 4.2
Chapter 143 - Epilogue 4.3
Chapter 144 - Epilogue 5.1>
Chapter 145 - Epilogue 5.2
Chapter 146 - The Most Romantic Weekend>
Chapter 147 - Short Stories 1.2
Chapter 148 -
Chapter 149 -
Chapter 150 -
Chapter 151 -
Chapter 152 -
Chapter 153 -
Chapter 154 - Short Stories 3.1: Unexpected Things Happen>
Chapter 155 - Short Stories 3.2>
Chapter 156 -
Chapter 157 -
Chapter 158 -
Chapter 159 -
Chapter 160 -
Chapter 161 - Short Stories 5.1: The Man Behind The Mask>
Chapter 162
Chapter 163
Chapter 164 -
Chapter 165 -
Chapter 166
Chapter 167 - Short Stories 6.2
Chapter 168 - Short Stories 6.3
Chapter 169
Chapter 170
Chapter 171
Chapter 172
Chapter 173
Chapter 174
Chapter 175
Chapter 176
Chapter 177
Chapter 178
Chapter 179
Chapter 180
Chapter 181
Chapter 182
Chapter 183
Chapter 184
Chapter 185
Chapter 186
Chapter 187
Chapter 188
Chapter 189 (End)
Categories Genre: All, Completed, Fantasy Status: Completed ______
Total Chapters in book: 189
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
______
LIST OF LAST 10 CHAPTERS:
Page No. 189 Page No. 188 Page No. 187 Page No. 186 Page No. 185 Page No. 184 Page No. 183 Page No. 182 Page No. 181 Page No. 180 Page No. 179 Chapter 6
Chapter 6:
I had no time to process the situation.
The man whispered to me in a threatening tone, “Shh, be quiet.”
He continued to cover my mouth and pushed my shoulder down. He was strong, and I was too weak. There was no point in fighting back.
This was a killer. He murdered the emperor. A professional assassin. There was nothing I could do to stop him from killing me too.
I wanted to live. I didn’t care about the emperor. I just wanted to live.
I nodded to show him I would obey his orders.
His green eyes narrowed. Even though he was wearing a mask, I knew he was smiling. Such confidence and calmness in this situation.
He said to me again, “I’ll trust you not to scream. If you do, I will kill you. You will end up joining your dead husband.”
I shook my head. He laughed quietly and removed his hands.
“Ahh…”
I was finally able to breathe.
The man looked down at me with a strange expression. I looked up nervously.
He was in control of this situation. I had only two options. Either do what he said or die. So in truth, I had no options at all since I wanted to live.
He took out another dagger. It was the same one he used to kill the emperor. A simple, common dagger without any decorations. It touched my neck.
“…!”
I couldn’t breathe. It felt cold and deadly against my skin. If I didn’t do something, he would murder me.
Think! I had to think of something. Somehow, I had to survive this situation.
Suddenly, an idea came to me.
I trembled as I said to him. “I, I…”
“You?”
“I can help you.”
“What?”
He looked at me as if I went crazy. It was understandable. What could a useless concubine from a weak colony do for this man?
However, I had an idea.
In this room were a body, the assassin, and I.
Just the three of us.
If I survived this situation, I would be the only witness.
“I… I can testify!”
“…”
The man’s eyes brightened. He seemed intrigued. I had to grab this chance. This could work. I had to make it work.
“Whatever reason you had for killing the emperor, I don’t care. You want to make sure no one finds out about you and whoever hired you, right? Then you need someone to testify with a lie.”
“If I kill you right now and escape, no one will find me.”
“But this is a castle. Just outside the 100-kina radius, this room is surrounded by guards. Wouldn’t it make it safer to have me as a witness? I can keep quiet until you escape, and tomorrow, I can tell everyone that the assassin had a visible scar above his right eye with black eyes and dark skin.”
Of course, this man didn’t have dark skin nor any scars. His eye color was also green. If I testified this false account, he would be safe.
There was no reason why I wouldn’t do this. This man saved me from becoming the old pervert’s sex toy.
I thought this was a perfect plan. I looked up at him expectantly.
He laughed. He laughed loudly.
“Hahaha! You are full of surprises.”
My hopes died. The knife on my neck pressed harder.
My fear escalated.
“What if I tell you I don’t need your help at all?”
“…pardon?’
“I was able to get into this room despite the countless guards, and your assumptions are wrong. I don’t need to run away that far. I don’t need a witness at all.”
There was nothing I could say.
I felt dizzy. I really thought it could work, but I was wrong. The only hope I had now was that this man would show me mercy.
Unfortunately, it seemed unlikely. This man killed the emperor without hesitation in cold blood. Killing another nameless girl would mean nothing to him.
His cold, green eyes looked down at me. It was as if he was looking at a piece of meat, not a person.
I didn’t want to look away. I couldn’t hide my fear, but I still wanted to be courageous. If I would die anyway, I wanted to save my pride.
Thankfully, the assassin killed the emperor quickly. He could probably show me the same kindness.
“Then can I… ask you for a favor?
“A favor?”
He raised his eyebrows.
“…If you’re going to kill me, then please kill me… quickly. You can do that, right? It doesn’t look like it will be that hard.” I sighed deeply.
My hands still trembled visibly. My jaw was shuttering too.
He remained silent for a few seconds before laughing.
“Hahahaha!”
“Huh?”
He laughed as if he meant it. For a second, I was worried someone might hear him and come into the room. That’s when I realized how stupid I was.
It would be better if someone came in. I might live if that happened.
Why was I even worrying about this assassin?
It was like a mouse worrying about the cat’s safety.
It seemed like he read my mind. He laughed again and removed the blade from my neck. I was able to breathe again.
“Whenever the emperor takes a naïve young girl to his bed, all kinds of scream comes out of the room. That is why he ordered the guards and the servants to stay 100 kinas away from the room. No matter what kind of noises they here, no one will come into this room.”
Just what did the emperor do to those women? I wanted to kick his dead body.
I restrained myself and said to the intruder, “…I guess I’m lucky this happened.”
The man grinned and played with the dagger. He threw it in the air and caught it midair. He kept doing this over and over again. It was like watching a circus. I just hoped he doesn’t throw it at me.
I sat in front of him obediently and waited for him to speak. It was always a smart idea to look meek when someone in front of you had a knife.
The man finally said to me, “Your logic has many holes, but it’s not completely wrong.”
“Pardon?”
“There is something you can do for me.”
I could see the light at the end of this dark tunnel.
“W, what is it?”
He grinned. “You look like you are willing to do anything. Would you lick my foot if I asked?”
“I am willing.”
I meant it. If he ordered me to, I was ready to lick his boots.
“You’ve got guts. I will give you that.”
He sounded genuinely impressed. He reached for me.
He ignored my flinch as he pulled my gown up to cover my bare shoulder. He then pulled me off the bed. He studied me carefully.
Suddenly, he ordered, “Turn around.”
“Pardon?”
When he glared at me, I did as he asked. When I faced him again, he nodded in satisfaction. Did he like what he saw…? That was ridiculous.
I was right.
“Good thing there isn’t any blood on your cloth.”
Blood?
He continued, “As I said before, no one will come in even if they hear a scream. However, it would be a different story if you ran out screaming.”
“Pardon?”
“When I leave, you need to run out of this room.”
“What?”
“Are you going to do as I say or just keep asking questions?”
“…” I nodded in silence.
He continued, “I won’t be leaving through that door. Not the windows either. There is no way I will get caught by the guards. So when I leave, you run out screaming. Tell the guards the emperor has been murdered. Cry or faint or whatever you want to do.”
“That… That will help you?”
He nodded.
I couldn’t understand. Didn’t murderers want their victims to be found as late as possible? However, he wanted the emperor’s body to be found immediately?
“That is all you need to do. Tell them you haven’t seen anyone at all. Oh actually, I will leave one window open, so tell them you saw a dark figure leaving through the window, but you didn’t see who it was.”
I nodded. If he would let me live, I was willing to do anything, and this seemed too easy. That’s all I had to do?
His green eyes laughed at me again.
He continued, “That’s right. If you do what I just said, you will live, and… I could even give you a reward.”
Reward? What reward?
He was talking nonsense. As I contemplated what he said, he turned around and walked towards one of the bedroom walls. When he pushed a few bricks, a small opening appeared.
Ignoring my gasp, he winked at me. “Good luck, my accomplice.”
…Then I suddenly realized.
I have met this man before. Those unusual green eyes. They looked kind at first, but I saw the coldness and cruelness in them.
I murmured without thinking.
“Luc…cre…”
His face turned rigid.
Total Chapters in book: 189
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
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