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Chapter : 65
Of a Different Order, a Sense of Dissonance
A black-magic sacrifice.
Lower demons tainted by black magic.
Everything began with black magic.
“I’m tired.”
Charlophe whispered softly.
Holding the reins, she passed quietly along the imperial road.
“……”
As the silence stretched on, the royal guards grew solemn. They exchanged hand signals among themselves.
‘What’s wrong with Her Majesty?’
‘Ask her.’
‘Her thoughts seem complicated. Better to wait.’
‘Storm clouds soon. If we leave her like this, she’ll get soaked in the rain.’
And indeed, storm clouds were gathering.
“Your Majesty.”
“……”
“Your Majesty, can you hear us?”
There was no reply even to the guards’ repeated calls.
“I’ll move closer for a moment.”
Katarina tightened her grip on the reins and approached her side.
“Are you feeling unwell any—”
The Empress turned.
Her cold gaze swept through the air. Her eyes were empty—like stone that had been carved away.
A jagged stone collides, is chipped, worn down.
And eventually, it grows numb to everything.
“……”
Katarina swallowed dryly.
‘Something’s strange.’
The Empress’s pupils were unfocused.
It was not human. She had erased the human parts of herself.
Humans weave relationships and immerse themselves in culture in order to remain human—but she was not immersing herself.
It felt as though the Empress had fallen away, completely alone.
‘As if—snap—utterly severed.’
Katarina felt it instinctively. This is dangerous!
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
Katarina roughly grabbed the Empress’s shoulder.
“Where are you looking!”
“Ah……”
“Your Majesty! You’ll fall from the horse! Hold the reins tightly!”
Katarina barked sharply, urgent as if trying to rouse a dying soldier’s eyes.
To dare lay hands on royalty violated palace protocol—but knowing it was rude, she committed the rudeness anyway.
‘What is this… this depth?’
Thunk.
A pressure crushed down on her brain.
“Get a hold of yourselves!”
Some guards lost their wits and loosened their reins. Others grabbed them by the nape and forced them upright in their saddles.
“Don’t lose focus!”
“……We apologize.”
“You look as though you’ve been possessed by a ghost.”
This was different. Unlike before.
The Empress emanated a restrained solemnity.
‘The kind of dissonance one feels when facing a being of a different order.’
A being fundamentally different from humans.
That dissonance flowed around the Empress.
“You.”
Charlophe lowered her gaze.
“What.”
“……”
“You’re spacing out.”
She exhaled thinly.
“The imperial physician?”
“Yes?”
“Was the imperial physician dispatched?”
“Ah—he has just arrived at the royal villa. Please don’t worry too much.”
“I’m not worried.”
Charlophe carefully touched her throat.
“The child was a hostage, and from the start, they were after me.”
“Yes. They needed a hostage, and even the criminal likely had no intention of killing the child.”
Charlophe blinked slowly. Her head had felt as if submerged in water, but now she was fine again.
“Are you all right?”
The guards, too, had noticed the change.
“Are you in pain anywhere?”
“My breathing feels a little tight.”
Charlophe tilted her neck languidly.
“Did the last trace disappear in Popyuta?”
“……”
“We’re going to Popyuta.”
“That’s an active extermination front!”
The guards warned her.
“There are paths in life you must walk even knowing you’ll be hurt—even if the ground beneath your feet is stripped bare.”
That was all Charlophe said.
The commander of the Imperial Second Knight Order swallowed dryly. The Second Knight Order was the Empress’s direct guard.
‘Dissonance.’
Right now, the Empress radiated dissonance—
as if she were losing, one by one, the humanity that allows a human to exist as human.
That kind of dissonance.
In the end, he exchanged brief hand signals with the knights.
‘Did you send an urgent message to the extermination force?’
‘Yes. The message was sent, and we’ve received word that His Majesty will arrive shortly.’
The Popyuta extermination front.
The Empress set foot on Popyuta’s land.
Popyuta was a front teeming with demons—and the place where the last trace of Duke Tutor had vanished.
‘Why does it feel like she’s growing farther and farther away?’
The Empress seemed like someone dropped alone into a remote place.
“The extermination force is returning!”
“Clear the way! His Majesty the Emperor is returning!”
The Emperor approached, leading his warhorse.
Damp humidity hung in the air, mist rising. Everything fell silent.
The rain pouring over the front subsided; only the chirping of insects remained.
Zzz—
Zzt.
Both the Second Knight Order and the extermination force slowly melted into the stillness.
Operations came to a lull.
Tap, tap—rain seeped into the soil. The cold night wind cooled their cheeks.
Whip—
A shawl slipped off, and tightly curled red hair was soaked by rain.
Charlophe tilted her head back. Her cheeks were pale, drained of color.
“Did I ever tell you—”
“What story?”
Benjamin tightened his grip on the reins.
“That if I leave you alone, you look at me with eyes soaked in melancholy and steal my words.”
“……”
“You make me sad.”
Because I can’t bring myself to be angry at you, coming to me like this.
“You’re speechless again.”
A solemn air spread through the extermination force. They pleaded from nearby.
“For now, it would be best to take shelter. The force has also been exposed to rain for a long time.”
“The extermination force has returned! Open the gates!”
A guard announced their return. The gatekeepers of Popyuta’s inner fortress threw open the gates.
The force rushed inside.
“The Count’s residence!”
They stopped before the Count’s estate. The horses, driven nonstop from the front, snorted as they halted, steam rising from their bodies.
“Bring blankets.”
“Fetch coverings! Bring something to cover them!”
Because an urgent message had been sent ahead, maids hurried out to receive them.
“Please come inside. His Lordship was informed in advance.”
The maids brought blankets. Charlophe silently wrapped one around herself. Servants glanced at the Empress, but at the butler’s reproachful look, they all bowed their heads.
“The bath is prepared.”
“Clear a meeting room. I’ll come out shortly.”
Benjamin lifted Charlophe into his arms.
“I can walk myself.”
He said nothing, only looked down at her and pressed his lips together.
“Be quiet, Charle.”
Having roamed the extermination front, a thick killing intent clung to the Emperor.
The stench of demon blood and corpses kept nerves taut.
That was the front.
A body gripping a sword always fought death. Even when not dying, Benjamin drove himself relentlessly every moment his hand held the hilt.
The blade grew sharper, and the body that rolled through the front hardened to survive.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
Servants hurriedly cleared the way. The guest room doors opened, and Benjamin set Charlophe down inside.
“Any injuries?”
“None.”
“……If you’d been hurt, I would have held the guards fully responsible and dismissed them.”
He swallowed a sigh.
“You’re trembling again.”
“……Cold?”
Benjamin lowered his arms.
“I’m not angry at you. Don’t be afraid.”
“My body feels sticky from sweat.”
“The sweat stole your heat. You’re cold because you’re wet—take off the outer layer first.”
Benjamin removed Charlophe’s shawl. Her delicate shoulders were revealed, chilled by the cold air. She hunched slightly and looked up at him.
“The head maid will help with the bath.”
A knock sounded at the door.
“The bath is ready.”
“Come in.”
Benjamin called the head maid.
“Take good care of her until I return. If she tries to go outside, stop her.”
For some reason, words failed him.
“I’ll be back soon. Wash and wait for me.”
“The commander of the Second Knight Order is waiting in the meeting room.”
Benjamin walked down the long corridor, having changed out of the ruined outerwear from battling demons. He fastened his cufflinks carefully and wiped away the blood that had stained his wrists.
‘Not completely clean.’
The meeting room door opened.
“The commander of the Imperial Second Knight Order greets His Majesty the Emperor.”
The Second Knight Order assigned to the Empress looked as if they had lost their souls.
“My deepest apologies. I will accept any punishment for failing my duty.”
“We’ll discuss responsibility later. Explain.”
Benjamin entered the room.
“Why did everyone look so out of it?”
The commander spoke first.
“There was an attack on the royal villa.”
“I heard that in the urgent report.”
“Her Majesty personally subdued the lower demons. And after seeing the child taken hostage, she chose to head for Popyuta.”
“And also—”
“Please punish us, Your Majesty.”
The commander knelt.
“I apologize. We failed to block her path.”
“I never ordered you to block her.”
Benjamin pressed his brow hard.
“Everyone followed behind her with vacant eyes.”
“……She didn’t seem human.”
“Be more precise.”
“It was the kind of dissonance one feels when facing a being of a different order.”
A being fundamentally different from humans.
“It’s hard to explain.”
She was different—of a different order. There was no other way to put it.
And they heard a scream buried in silence. A scream that had lost its voice—utterly tragic. A lone back, lonely and weary.
The Empress seemed like someone who came alone, and would leave alone. Bearing her duty while keeping others at a measured distance—
‘If the day ever comes when she walks alone… she seems like someone who would leave alone.’
He could not voice such thoughts, and so he remained silent.
Warmth rose in her body after the bath. Her tightly curled red hair was tangled. She loosened it, touching her pale cheeks.
A shadow fell behind Charlophe. All the maids had been dismissed—so it wasn’t one of them.
“You’re here?”
Benjamin entered, closing the door.
“When will the extermination resume?”
“The force needs to recover, so we’ll reorganize the system before resuming.”
After a brief silence, Benjamin asked,
“Why did you come here?”
He wrapped an arm around her neck.
“When I saw you on the extermination front, every hair on my body felt like it stood on end.”
He placed a hand on her shoulder, brushed her long hair aside, checked her pale nape, then examined her shoulders and arms. Several red scratch marks remained.
“You were scratched.”
“……That wasn’t from them.”
Charlophe pulled up the bathrobe to hide the marks.
“Don’t take an active extermination front lightly.”
“I wasn’t taking it lightly.”
“You take death lightly. This front saw an entire mercenary group wiped out. Their bodies were torn apart by demons, and even as they died, swordsmen gripped their hilts to die alongside the monsters. This is the ground they walked.”
Benjamin was wary of something.
“You said there are paths you must walk even knowing you’ll be hurt?”
“Ah……”
“Don’t walk dangerous paths on your own feet.”
So he wasn’t angry—he was worried.
“Promise me you’ll prioritize your own safety. That you won’t walk alone, won’t cry alone… and won’t leave alone.”
The last part sounded a little strange.
