“…Yes?” Mary asked in a daze, and Mia turned around abruptly.
“Do as you wish, Your Majesty. I won’t care anymore.”
Her red eyes and teary face showed her sobbing wasn’t fake, but her voice remained firm.
“I thought Mary was innocent. But to hear she was involved in gambling and running a brothel… It’s not my place to get involved anymore.”
Adilot, holding his sword, looked at Mia once, at Mary once, and then back at Mia.
“You won’t stop me?”
“No.”
“L-Lady!”
A panicked Mary raised her voice. Mia simply shook her head with a tender gaze.
“Mary, thank you for everything… Live well… Oh, no. You’re going to die, aren’t you…”
“H-How could you do this to me, Lady!? After all I’ve done for you!!”
“Poor thing… Being in prison has really gotten to her…”
Mia covered her mouth with her fist and made a sad face.
“Mary, taking care of me was your job, wasn’t it…? You shouldn’t say it like that, sob…”
“Do you know how many servants didn’t even do that? I was the only one who comforted you!”
“Mary, I wasn’t going to say this, but…”
Mia spoke with sad eyes.
“Before I lost my memory… The budget ledgers didn’t quite match the expenditure records, you know…?”
Mary flinched noticeably.
“T-T-They did? I-I wasn’t aware of…”
“Mary… Could it be that you didn’t want me to regain my memory because you were embezzling something?”
“…I don’t know anything about that!”
Mary’s scream echoed through the prison. Mia quietly closed her eyes.
“I already have all the evidence, Mary… I was just asking to confirm…”
At that moment, Adilot almost laughed. Mary, realizing she had been played, flushed with anger before forcing her expression back into control.
“I’m sorry for that, Lady. But I haven’t done anything wrong since you woke up!”
“Not because I woke up, but because I started thoroughly checking the ledgers, right?”
“Lady… I admit I made mistakes! Really! Please give me another chance…”
But Mia shook her head sadly.
“Mary, if you were going to do something bad, you should’ve been prepared to pay the price for it…”
“I-I’m so unfairly blamed! It was all the Count’s fault for seducing me!”
“And you just went along with it…? Did you really think you’d get away with it? No, you couldn’t be that dumb… right?”
Overcome with frustration, Mary pointed an accusing finger at Adilot.
“But they say he enjoys killing people for fun!”
At that moment, Mia’s expression suddenly changed, and she shouted strongly for the first time.
“That’s impossible!”
Mary flinched at her intense reaction.
“Adil would never do something like that!”
Mia shouted again, her expression showing she had no doubts about her words. Adilot’s eyes widened as he watched her.
Mia knew Adilot was looking at her from the side. That’s why she spoke more confidently, filled with certainty.
‘Adilot isn’t that kind of person.’
Adilot had always worked hard to create a better life for the people. It was true he had gained control of the political scene through force, but that was unavoidable. Adilot hadn’t been born as the Crown Prince.
After the death of Crown Prince Claudio, Adilot had been driven out of the capital and had to fight on the battlefield for years. During that time, he faced numerous assassination attempts. Although he eventually became emperor, without a solid support base, the nobles opposed everything he did.
‘His mother died, and her country was completely destroyed, so no one was on Adilot’s side.’
The only thing Adilot had was the knights he had earned through years of fighting in the war. So, he had no choice but to instill fear in those around him to survive.
In other words, he strengthened imperial authority based on military power.
‘But he’s never killed or oppressed innocent people!’
The problem was that the people didn’t know this.
And that was because of Empress Dowager Chrysor Kraus, the villain of this novel.
The Empress Dowager hated Adilot and spread malicious rumors about him, depicting him as a fearsome tyrant who killed anyone who met his gaze. These falsehoods, combined with her continuous slander, made Adilot out to be a monster who supposedly killed for fun and was too indulgent in pleasures to care for his people.
Throughout the novel, these lies had infuriated Mia.
“How could you condemn someone without ever seeing it with your own eyes!”
And now Mia was venting all that frustration.
“Lady, you don’t remember because of your amnesia…!”
“What don’t I know!? I know better than you, Mary! I can even tell you Adil’s waist size!”
Adilot instinctively looked down at his waist.
“And another thing!”
Mia suddenly turned her head sharply.
“You too, Your Majesty!”
Her fiery eyes locked onto Adilot.
“Me?”
Caught off guard, Adilot straightened his posture.
“Yes! You! If you know such rumors are going around, shouldn’t you be out there telling everyone they’re lies?”
“…Mia Celestial. Have you lost your mind?”
“You’ve been looking at me like I’m crazy this whole time, and you’re just now realizing!?”
Oh. So, you knew?
And are you admitting it now?
Adilot’s face went blank with confusion, while Mia’s expression grew more frustrated and sorrowful.
“Why are you letting them spread such nonsense while sitting on the throne like a fool? It drives me crazy just hearing it!”
“…I’m the one being insulted, so why are you upset?”
“Because…!”
Mia paused.
‘Because I know how hard your past was!’
…But she couldn’t say that.
“Ugh!”
Mia groaned, clenching both fists tightly. After taking a deep breath, she crossed her arms and turned away sharply.
“Anyway! I don’t care anymore! I’m done with this!”
Adilot, finally regaining his composure, summarized the situation.
“So, you’re not going to save her after all.”
“Well… ah!”
Mia, who had been pouting, suddenly uncrossed her arms.
“But I do have one request…”
Her earlier boldness had disappeared, replaced by the timid look of a frightened rabbit.
“A request?”
Adilot’s red eyes gleamed meaningfully.
“You’re not going to ask me not to kill her, are you?”
“No, it’s not that…”
Mia shook her head, fiddling nervously with her fingers.
“I… I just think I’ll lose my appetite if I’m around… Can I wait outside?”
“…”
“I’m not good with scary things…”
Adilot’s expression turned blank again. After a moment, he shook his head.
“Are you brave or a coward?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never checked…”
“Do you really have to check?”
Adilot muttered as if in disbelief and motioned with his head.
“Go up. Take the guard with you.”
“Th-thank you… Excuse me…”
“Miss! No, miss! Please, save me! Please…!”
Mia left the prison, blocking her ears as Mary screamed behind her. What happened afterward wasn’t Mia’s concern, as she hadn’t witnessed it.
—
“Why do bad things… Mary, you’re such a fool…”
Mia sat at the entrance of the underground prison, sighing. Several guards stood nearby, but none of them even glanced at her, keeping a strict posture.
‘Adil’s army is impressive! It would be perfect if they didn’t kill me.’
Mia thought, waiting for Adilot. He came up shortly after, looking calmer than before.
Mia glanced at the sword that was now sheathed again.
“Is it over?”
“Yes.”
His firm tone made Mia slump.
“I hope she becomes a good person in her next life…”
Adilot, seemingly exasperated, opened his mouth.
“…She’s not dead yet. I just roughed her up a bit since she’s getting the gallows anyway.”
“Ah…”
“…”
A moment of silence followed.
Mia tilted her head, watching her demanding master’s mood.
“Ah? I see? That’s great?”
“…Is that all?”
“What more do you want?”
Mia asked innocently. After a pause, Adilot said dryly.
“You’re a bit strange…”
“…I don’t want to hear that from you…”
Mia secretly harbored rebellious thoughts as she avoided his gaze.
“Do you regret it?”
Suddenly, Adilot asked.
“Regret what?”
“There are people like her among those you saved.”
“Mm! It would’ve been nice to know in advance!”
“…Is that all you have to say?”
Mia paused for a moment and then smiled brightly.
“What else should I feel?”
“If I hadn’t spared you, you could have died a useless death for scum like that.”
“But I lived!”
Adilot frowned at her playful words.
“Ahaha! I’m just joking!”
Mia laughed and brushed off her dress, standing up.
“Your Majesty,”
she said after a brief silence.
“You believe Empress Lea’s sacrifice was a meaningless death, don’t you?”
Adilot’s face went blank at the unexpected comment. Mia had struck directly at his core. He involuntarily recalled Empress Lea’s final moments.
It was at the gallows. He could still vividly remember his kind and wise mother, hooded and ready for execution.
The crime was defamation—instigating their motherland, Zantaria, into war with Orquenina, thereby disgracing the royal family. Even at nine years old, Adilot knew it was absurd.
Moreover, he knew the real cause.
‘Prince, you’re not watching your mother’s last moments, though you’ve been waiting for this stage.’
The mastermind behind it all wasn’t his mother, but Empress Chrysor, seated beside him.
On the day of the execution, Empress Chrysor had deliberately sat next to him. With a smirk, she had whispered to the trembling Adilot.
‘This is the execution of a brazen woman who dared to divide our ally Orquenina and Zantaria. If you close your eyes, I’ll assume you’re a traitor’s son and send you to her.’
Shamefully, Adilot had been terrified of her threat, and so he averted his gaze from his mother.
‘No… Please, don’t send me there…’
Even though he knew it was all Chrysor’s doing, he had feared death too much and turned away from his mother to save himself.
‘Then open your eyes and watch carefully how the one who stood in my way dies.’
‘…’
He shouldn’t have done that.
From that day on, Adilot never stopped regretting that conversation. Sacrificing his wise mother so that someone like him could live was the most terrible thing of all.
Still, he had managed to carry on somehow.
But when he first met Mia Celestial, those old memories resurfaced. He had been shocked when she said she would die so others could live. It made him angry, too.
He had wanted to tell her—her death would be worthless. People like her could sacrifice themselves all they wanted, but cowards like him would be the only ones left behind.
“Of course. My mother’s death was utterly meaningless.”
The moment he said that, something warm touched the back of his hand.
When he looked down, Mia Celestial was holding his hand.
As he raised his gaze slightly to meet her face, a sigh escaped from Adilot’s lips.
“…Why are you crying?”
