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Chapter 36
They began speaking as if they had no idea of the weight of the words they were tossing around.
“Not sure if you know, but there’s a forbidden book hidden in the underground of both the Mertiel and the Jaepino dukedoms.”
I gasped.
It was so unexpected that the sound escaped me before I could stop it.
Hian and His both caught my reaction with their eyes.
“And not just any forbidden book — a legendary healing forbidden book.”
“It was created by the temple centuries ago. Fearing that the imperial family would covet it, they made a contract with the two dukedoms and sealed it underground.”
“Your parents never told you?”
I shook my head as if it were the most obvious answer in the world — because it was the first I’d heard of it.
“They… passed away in an unexpected accident, so they couldn’t tell me.”
“…”
Hian hesitated for a moment, but I was too disoriented to catch the exact expression on his face.
“I’ve heard that the healing forbidden book can cure any illness.”
At his words, the deep scar that had been etched into my chest came to mind.
And my conditional, borrowed life.
It felt as though I’d stumbled upon a clue in the most unexpected place.
If the healing forbidden book could cure all illnesses, then maybe… just maybe… my life — which was essentially on a countdown — could change.
But the words that followed shattered my fleeting hope.
“Yes, it’s an incredible book. That’s why it’s sealed.”
“Sealed?”
His drew a thumb across his throat in a cutting gesture.
“The only way to break the seal is the death of the dukes’ direct bloodline descendants — people like us.”
“…”
So, to unseal it, I’d have to exchange it for my life.
“And here’s the more interesting part.”
His leaned in close, cupped his hands around my ear, and whispered.
“The emperor is terminally ill.”
“What?”
I’d lost count of how many times I’d shouted that word today… but this was something that simply couldn’t be taken calmly.
Today of all days, keeping my face neutral was impossible.
His spread his hands wide and shrugged.
“We don’t know exactly what kind of illness. Her Majesty the Empress didn’t tell us that much.”
“What we do know is that the healing forbidden book is the only thing that can save him.”
And in that instant, I understood why the emperor had so easily allowed me to become a duchess.
Whether he intended to target Jaepino or Mertiel, if it was Mertiel, he would need to keep me — the only remaining direct bloodline — inside the ducal estate in order to execute his plan.
“If you think I’m lying, search the underground of the ducal estate. It’ll be hidden, but since you’re the owner of the estate, it won’t be too hard to find.”
I hesitated for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.
The information was beyond anything I’d imagined, and my mind was in complete turmoil.
“What if I betray you and side with the emperor?”
Hian and His both smiled as if they’d just heard a good joke.
“If you knew the emperor even a little, you wouldn’t dare think of such a thing.”
“To the emperor, we’re nothing more than prime prey.”
When I thought of the emperor, I couldn’t help but agree, so I swallowed my sigh.
“That’s why we’re proposing an alliance.”
“So, what do you say? Want to… join hands with us?”
The two men before me spoke with confidence.
“It wouldn’t be a bad choice.”
“Satisfying a lady is our specialty, after all.”
Looking at their sly smiles, I slowly opened my mouth.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was a place that seemed cut off from the rest of the world.
Within it, Iris quietly smiled at the birds she locked eyes with, when suddenly she lifted her head.
The man sitting across from her spoke first.
“I’m curious… if I told you I wanted to know what Your Holiness has seen again, would you answer me?”
At his words, she turned her head, the pure white cloth covering her eyes fluttering.
A graceful curve formed at her lips.
“I’ve seen the reason His Majesty the Emperor came all the way here.”
The man sitting before her — the emperor — rested his chin atop his clasped hands and smiled languidly.
“Then you already know what I’ve come to hear.”
The emperor reached out and gently stroked the chin of a bird that was loitering nearby.
“Will you answer me?”
As both pope and saint, she was the only one who could truly stand on equal footing with the emperor.
For that reason, the emperor also treated her with formal respect.
But refined speech did not mean the content of that speech was refined.
Iris retrieved her bird from the emperor’s hand.
“As always, you keep your lips sealed.”
She covered her mouth with her sleeve and laughed softly.
“My god wishes for me not to involve myself in the affairs of you mortals.”
“Well, of course. As the incarnation of a god, you should only receive love. It wouldn’t do for you to witness something filthy.”
“…”
“…”
Though he could not see where her eyes were looking, the emperor was certain she was staring right at him.
Iris slowly released the bird into the air.
“But, Your Holiness, do remember — I have countless hostages in my hands. I thought I’d remind you, in case you’d forgotten.”
Iris slowly untied the cloth covering her eyes.
Her gently closed lids were revealed.
“You always speak of such dull things, Your Majesty.”
The “hostages” he spoke of were the people of the empire beneath his feet.
“They are my subjects, yes… but also those whom Your Holiness must protect as part of your divine mission.”
“That’s one thing I truly enjoy about you, Emperor.”
Even after killing his brothers and ascending the blood-stained throne, he was still called a virtuous ruler.
Yet those who knew his true nature were few.
“Reminding me that I cannot take any life.”
On the day Iris had been chosen as both pope and saint, the emperor had come to her and said:
[The temple will always need the empire’s aid, and having the temple benefits us too. This fight has no nutritional value.]
And so began this ambiguous relationship that had lasted to this day.
“But there’s one thing you’re mistaken about, Your Majesty.”
Her pure white eyes, without pupils, slowly became visible between her pale lashes.
“I love them only because my god loves them.”
The emperor let out a pleased chuckle.
“Then why is it you don’t see — that in truth, no one holds any value to me?”
“Haha.”
Laughing, the emperor slowly let the sound fade, still smiling.
“Of course I know. Which is why, for as long as your god loves all living things, Your Holiness, you’ll have no choice but to match my steps.”
At those words, Iris gave a faint smile.
“My, my… if this keeps up, our conversation will never end.”
She clapped her hands at the emperor’s remark.
A priest dressed in white entered the room.
The smile on the emperor’s lips deepened.
“Shall we make a wager, as always?”
At Iris’s voice, which seemed to dissolve into the air, the emperor’s smile turned satisfied.
“As ever, the winner gets what they want.”
The priest placed a chess set on the table before them.
Neatly arranged white and black pieces lay between them.
“Chess today, is it?”
“Since I chose the game, you make the first move.”
The emperor moved his hand.
“I’m curious to see what it is you’ll want from me this time.”
“You already know.”
The emperor’s pawn moved, and Iris looked down at her still-empty side of the board before moving her own piece.
“Of course I know you have many questions for me. But even if you win, you’ll only get a single question and a single answer.”
They had played chess countless times before.
A game whose number in their history was unknown.
And a match where no one could predict the winner.
“I’ve been wondering which question I should ask.”
The smooth white chess piece, made of flawless porcelain, looked small in the emperor’s large hand.
“Should I let my wife keep enjoying her little amusements… or not?”
He placed his piece on the alternating colors of the board without hesitation.
“Or perhaps — how much and what exactly the Jaepino princes know?”
Who could possibly know that each move they made on this board had the potential to change the future?
“Or maybe…”
Of course, Iris and the emperor knew this truth.
“…what weakness the Duke of Mertiel holds.”
Without a ripple in her expression, Iris set down her piece.
The emperor rolled the cold, hard, yet fragile chess piece in his hand as he looked at her.
“To get an answer to even one of those, I’ll have to win, won’t I?”
In the entirely white space, the emperor was the only outsider.
