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Chapter 33 – There Is No Turning Back Now
She wanted to kick Kaien, whose shoulders shook with suppressed laughter, but Gloria looked at him and moved away with an angry step.
Before entering the main palace, Gloria stopped and turned around. Then sighed heavily at the sight of the court ladies hastily bowing. Gloria said, rubbing her throbbing forehead.
“You guys are getting so brave as time goes by. Teresa, why didn’t you stop them but listened together?”
“It was for the sake of preventing an unforeseen accident, but I am sorry if you were offended, Your Majesty.”
“Forgive us, Your Majesty!”
At Gloria’s words, they fell to their knees and began to ask for forgiveness. However, unlike the voices, the faces of the court ladies were confident, Gloria glanced sideways and said,
“You used to listen secretly when I was with the Marquis, but now you do it even when I’m with the Duke. Since I don’t impose harsh punishments, you’re getting bolder.”
“But Your Majesty. You know that men with many women are dangerous, don’t you?”
“How surprised were you that you almost fainted because of the Marquis last time!”
“When I think about that time, I don’t feel relieved!”
Of course. Of course! The court ladies who shouted while biting their lips with their vigilant faces were busy arguing with each other. When Gloria was at a loss for words at the commotion, the court ladies rushed to say,
“Do you know how many ladies approach the Marquis? Men with many women are dangerous, Your Majesty!”
“Rather, the Duke is a hundred, thousand times better. How safe would that cold iron wall aura be?”
“Iron wall… Aura…”
At the words of the court ladies, Gloria mumbled bitterly. She knew well what they were talking about, but Gloria, who was tired of the court ladies chirping like baby birds, raised her eyes fiercely. Then she sighed loudly at the court ladies as they bit their lips and quickly changed their attitudes as if they had made an agreement, and said,
“I don’t know if I should say it’s fortunate that you guys don’t like the Marquis. But now you have to be careful.”
“That’s why we removed all the court ladies who came in at the recommendation of the Marquis in the corner.”
“Ho ho ho. How dare you set your eyes on Her Majesty’s position? I will never forgive you.”
‘Dare to place anyone in our territory? That’s not going to happen!’ They were smiling gracefully, but their tone was cruel. They were not chosen by Erun but by Gloria, and rose from Royal Princess’s assistant to the Emperor’s exclusive court ladies. They came up here from the bottom, but the Marquis’ spies were easily settled?
‘Absolutely not!’
Their eyes flashed dangerously showing their hostility toward Erun.
In fact, didn’t they save her from Erun?
‘At the time, I blamed the court ladies for doing nothing, but now that I think about it, they are really loyal!’
At the sight of the court ladies who flashed like wildcats, she could no longer scold them. Among them, Teresa, who had assisted Gloria the longest, said with a deep smile.
“I think you did a good job pressuring Baroness Berne. It is difficult for us to ignore the Baroness openly.”
“Now, the royal marriage is not far away. I’ll let her select the lady-in-waiting soon.”
“You cannot delay any longer, Your Majesty.”
After Teresa, the court ladies rushed to express their opinions. Usually, many ladies-in-waiting were normal, but Gloria, who hated the power struggles, only wanted Diana. The nobles were displeased by that and criticized Gloria’s thoughtless politics behind her back.
“That’s right. You must choose for sure.”
At the urging of the court ladies, Gloria’s eyes lit up coolly.
The flower that grew up caged by its father and Erun was no longer needed.
‘Now I make my own people.’ Gloria turned and moved forward toward the main palace. ‘Now I’m not someone’s foothold. I have no intention of becoming a stepping stone for others. You guys are my stepping stone, and I’ll surely crush you under my foot.”
“Definitely.”
The Emperor’s deep blue eyes began to show intense light.
She gave wealth to the lord of Palodan and even supported the soldiers.
Some of the central nobles strongly opposed it, but they had to remain silent at Gloria’s words.
“Then are the Lords going to support the soldiers? In a situation where the people of the Empire are becoming thieves, we can’t just leave it to Lord Palodan.”
The nobles had no choice but to agree with her words. As Gloria said, the residents of the Palodan Estate became thieves due to paying excessive taxes, and if this excessiveness continued the economy in the Palodan area would collapse. In that case, it would cost a lot of money for the damaged Palodan area, so it was far better to prevent it quickly in terms of cost.
At this news, Erun’s eyes widened. Because he was pushed away by Kaien, he was very angry with Lord Palodan, but this was one of the plans he had in mind. But now Gloria had begun to proceed with it. Erun threw the papers he was holding nervously on the desk and pulled his hair.
‘Damn it! I was trying to place the rebels in Palodan under the pretext of bandits, but things went awry.’ Erun looked at the papers on the desk with a wrinkled face. ‘Since he was a Lord who would throw away his pride in order to advance to the center, I was going to prepare an army there!’
“This woman. Is this the Gloria I know?”
Erun glanced at a small portrait placed on his desk. The portrait contained a delicate Gloria with a faint smile. She was a woman who made him want to protect her. So, when he was young, he even dreamed of becoming a knight to protect her. But as time went on, the Sun knight’s place became very coveted.
“You look so much like me, son.”
Erun closed his eyes as he remembered the voice of his mother, who was always lying in bed because she was very weak. The Marquis’ wife, who could die at any time, told Erun,
“You don’t want to be satisfied with just being a Marquis, do you? There is only a stupid chick in the Imperial family.”
“Mother.”
“Aaahhh. I really hate Your Majesty. I resent His Majesty for choosing that unsightly woman rather than choosing me.”
Tears of resentment began to flow from her fish-like eyes. With a stiff face, Erun looked down at the hand held by the Marchioness. The back of Erun’s hand was in a mess because of how hard she scratched it with her fingernail. The back of his hand oozed blood.
Marchioness Lebossi looked down at it blankly, and then suddenly grabbed her son’s head hard.
“Mother!”
How could so much power come from a dying sack of bones? Erun called her in pain as if his hair was about to be ripped off, but the Marchioness only spoke with a maddened expression on her face.
“You will become Emperor. I said it’s the Marquis, but if you look closely, you have Imperial blood! You’re the next Emperor! How dare you say that sl*t will become Emperor!”
“I don’t want anything like that!”
Erun slapped her bare arms and shouted harshly.
Emperor! Not even the Emperor’s husband, but the Emperor’s position!
At Erun’s reply, the Marchioness laughed. Her voice was gruesome because of her long illness, but her cackling did not stop. She screamed like a madman at Erun’s back as he turned to leave the room.
“Don’t forget that you are my son. You or I will do anything for the sake of what we covet, no matter the cost. Don’t you know what I’ve done for you?”
–You and I are the same anyway, my poor son.–
“Damn it.”
There was no turning back now.
From a young age, his mother sinned with such thoughts, and he was no different from her in the end. Growing up, endless desire cried out. He couldn’t be satisfied with just the title of Archduke.
“Pfft.”
A small chuckle escaped between his thin lips. Soon after, Erun raised his head and stared at Gloria’s portrait on the desk.
His darn fiancée who stuck together with Kaien.
Crash! He grabbed the frame and threw it roughly. Then the glass in the cabinet shattered and the alcohol on display fell to the floor. Expensive alcohol decanters were broken and liquid poured out, but Erun didn’t care. It just reminded him of Gloria, who had grown cold and ill-mannered.
Erun smiled distortedly and spoke to Gloria, who was in the main palace.
“I will surely take you from that seat, Evee.”
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Erun’s voice was full of dark intent. The portrait of Gloria, which fell to the floor, began to get soaked with alcohol.
——
So- you all may ask this but no, it’s not confirmed that Erun and Gloria are related. That is just what his mother said and as you see, she was quite insane. Also, I am quite surprised with this chapter? When I started, I thought I was going to read about Erun’s tragic past where he was holding onto some lame excuse to justify all his deeds but surprisingly, that didn’t happen? I mean, I said this before, but I definitely respect this villain so far.
He’s not mean and evil because of some tragic, dark, sad, emo, loveless past, he’s just evil– period. Also, I like that he isn’t a crazy madman like most of the villains in these tropes
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