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CHAPTER 34:
Don’t You Know Who I Am?
“Do you even know who you’re mouthing off to right now?”
Jeremy’s lips twisted in fury.
The knights, unable to bear the sight of his face, clenched their eyes shut.
“Starting tonight, I’m going to have you every single night. Until you’re carrying my child.”
“……”
“Who knows? If you’re lucky, I might not make you empress, but at least I could make you my concubine.”
Celia silently sneered at Jeremy’s filthy words.
How were men in power always this disgusting?
They didn’t care for the people—they just wanted to crush them with their authority.
Let Avalon burn. It deserves it.
Celia had decided not to tell Jeremy that Illeon had drugged him.
Instead, she would watch from the sidelines as they tore each other apart.
She’d quietly, but actively, contribute to Avalon’s downfall by sowing discord between the royal family and the Three Dukes.
‘Father, Mother… please watch over me from the heavens. Watch the downfall of these beasts in human skin.’
If she wasn’t sure who the enemy was, then she would simply kill anyone who might be one.
Just then, the knight who had gone to summon the palace physician returned.
“Your Highness, I’ve brought the royal physician—”
The knight couldn’t finish his sentence. The physician, wiping sweat from his forehead as he followed in, turned pale.
“Y-Your Highness’s face…”
He reacted as if he were staring at a monster.
Only then did Jeremy notice something was off. He raised his hand to feel his face.
Instead of smooth skin, his fingers touched bumpy flesh.
“Huh?”
He touched his cheek again—on the left side, where his skin should’ve been, he felt something else—his lips.
Jeremy’s hand trembled violently. He let out a scream.
“Bring me a mirror! Now!”
The physician quickly pulled out a small round mirror from his medical kit.
Jeremy snatched it and stared at his reflection.
His once smooth skin had melted away, revealing white bone underneath.
His eyes, nose, and mouth were grotesquely twisted.
A monster.
The face reflected back at him was more monstrous than any monster.
Jeremy was so shocked he dropped the mirror.
CRASH!
Shards of the shattered mirror scattered across the white marble floor.
“This… This can’t be my face! What are you all standing around for?! Kill that physician now!”
The knights hesitated. Jeremy was clearly not in a sound state of mind.
“Why are you all just standing there like fools?!”
Furious, Jeremy looked for Celia—but she had already disappeared amidst the chaos.
“If none of you can do it, then I’ll do it myself!”
Unable to contain his rage, Jeremy drew a sword from a nearby knight.
The sharp blade aimed straight for the physician’s chest.
The physician, who had come running at a summons, now found himself facing death. He dropped to his knees and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Please, Your Highness! Spare me! I haven’t done anything wrong!”
Not wanting to die, the physician made a quick diagnosis.
“If my guess is correct, someone has poisoned you, Your Highness. Do you remember what you ate recently?”
“……”
Jeremy froze.
He’d only had one thing to eat today, due to a hangover headache from the night before.
— Her Majesty was deeply regretful about missing Your Highness’s birthday banquet. As soon as she heard you had too much wine, she ordered me to deliver some honey water and a letter.
The honey water… from his mother.
Jeremy hadn’t eaten anything else.
“That’s impossible…”
He muttered to himself. His mother? There’s no way she would do such a thing.
She cared more about him than anyone. Why would she poison him?
Once he became emperor, she’d be the empress dowager. What would she gain?
“……”
The realization that his own mother might’ve done this hit him harder than the disfigurement.
The handwriting in the letter, the honey water—everything was unmistakably hers.
And it had been delivered by Ben, the knight who had served his mother for over 20 years.
“She wouldn’t… She couldn’t…”
Could he really say that with certainty?
Jeremy knew better than anyone how ambitious his mother was.
Even while denying it, a corner of his mind couldn’t help but doubt.
Their relationship had recently soured.
Illeon had expressed deep disappointment when Jeremy showed interest in Celia, having never cared for women before.
She’d always attended his birthday banquets—but this time, she hadn’t even shown up.
‘No matter how strained things were between us, my mother wouldn’t go so far as to ruin my face…’
Jeremy shakily covered his monstrous face with trembling hands.
‘What if… she wants to make me a puppet emperor and take control of the palace herself?’
The seed of suspicion spread like wildfire.
“I need to see my mother. Now.”
Celia slipped out of the crown prince’s palace during the chaos.
She spotted a fountain tucked away behind the palace and sat on the white bench nearby.
Her silver hair sparkled in the sunlight.
Sitting there with her hands on her lap, she looked like a figure stepped straight out of a painting.
Nearby knights watched, their throats tightening.
They blushed and glanced at her again and again, but none dared approach the woman branded as the prince’s mistress.
Celia quietly listened to the whispers floating around her.
Already, the rumors were spreading.
“I just heard the crown prince’s face turned into some kind of monster.”
“What? Come on, that can’t be true.”
“I swear it is! My friend who works in the palace said she saw it herself.”
The palace was in complete disarray.
— To be precise, it’s a poison that melts the victim’s face. Even a small amount causes horrifying disfigurement.
As Celia eavesdropped, she tried to understand why Illeon—praised as more emperor than the emperor himself—would do something like this.
Her instincts had been right.
Behind his gentle smile, Illeon was a cold-blooded snake.
‘Did he do it because he wants the throne?’
But there were too many strange things.
If he wanted the throne, he could’ve claimed it anytime. Why go through this elaborate scheme?
And why deliberately tell her about the poison?
‘Does he trust I wouldn’t tell anyone?’
Celia narrowed her eyes.
Well, even if she did say anything, who would believe her?
She knew Illeon had done it, and even she didn’t understand why he would—how could others, who worshipped the Three Dukes, ever accept it?
— You know nothing.
Dietrich’s words echoed in her mind.
He was right—Celia didn’t know anything.
Consumed by revenge, she hadn’t even realized her target might be the wrong one.
— Your real enemy is one of the Three Dukes.
His voice lingered vividly in her ears.
Celia didn’t trust Dietrich entirely.
‘Even so…’
Her fingers brushed her lips.
Remembering the kiss from earlier made her feel strange.
She’d expected coldness, but his kiss had been surprisingly warm—gentle, yet rough.
It was her first kiss, but she hadn’t hated that it was with him.
‘I was the one who started it…’
She’d acted nonchalant in front of him—but she definitely wasn’t.
Every time she tried to break away, he pulled her back in.
Though they weren’t lovers, he treated her like one.
Maybe the renewed energy surging through her body was from his healing ability.
If her theory was correct and he did have healing powers, then sticking with him was her best option.
‘He’s not from the Kingdom of Shan. So, the Inata Principality, then?’
As a Shan princess, Celia knew every member of the royal family.
None of them possessed such strong healing abilities.
‘Father once told me the Inata nobility have abilities like ours… but if someone with powers like that existed, I would’ve heard of him.’
She thought his identity didn’t matter in her quest for revenge.
And yet… she found herself curious.
Just then, a large shadow fell over her.
Shaking off her thoughts, Celia slowly blinked and looked up.
A tall man with brown hair and bronze skin stood before her.
He was massive—bear-like in size—and wore a black uniform with a giant longsword strapped to his waist.
Beneath thick eyebrows, his gunmetal-gray eyes gleamed sharply.
“So you’re the famous Angel of Brillion.”
The man let out a booming laugh.
People glanced over at the deafening sound, and he scanned the area.
Celia, puzzled, noticed others quickly averting their eyes.
“Who are you?”
“……You don’t know who I am?”
The man looked stunned.
“You really don’t know me? Are you insane?”
“……”
“You know Illeon, but you don’t know me?”
Calling Illeon by name meant this man held a high rank.
‘Don’t tell me… one of the Three Dukes?’
Celia narrowed her eyes and looked him up and down.
“I’m Balt, of the great Portman family! You don’t know me?!”
Celia, having spent most of her life locked away in the Brillion estate, had heard the names of the Three Dukes—but had never seen their portraits.
She’d been so distracted at the banquet, she hadn’t even noticed Balt standing behind Illeon.
“…Hello.”
She greeted him a beat late.
Balt’s jaw dropped.
