New drops of red blood dripped down onto the old hallway every time he took a step.

There was no one in his palace this late at night. Thanks to that, Raytan didn’t have to go through the trouble of wiping off the blood before returning. Being active at night has many advantages.

The smell of blood covered his body, but he didn’t even have the strength to wash it off. He just wanted to lie down and sleep, even just for a moment.

However, from some time ago, Raytan could not sleep deeply. He had constant nightmares. He dreamed of aristocrats who were killed with their heads cut off and their stomachs ripped out.

Sometimes people with faces he didn’t know appeared. He also saw the same unknown person from when he killed General Hayden.

They all stared at him with frightened faces. Before he could even say anything, a bright red flame broke out. The smell of burning flesh radiated out, and Raytan would wake up to the sound of desperate screams.

It will surely be the same today.

Raytan felt his tired eyes start to twitch.

‘Close your eyes for a bit. I’ll wake you up.’

‘If I lay my head on your thighs like that time, will I be able to sleep comfortably again?’

But Raytan knew he couldn’t do it. He opened the bedroom door with his still trembling hand. Suddenly, he paused for a moment.

In the dark bedroom where not even a single light shone, someone was sitting on his bed. It was Lize.

“…Mother.”

Cold emerald eyes stared at him. Lize looked frail and skinny, but her gaze was fierce. Raytan thought to himself that the spark in her eyes might be from her monstrous passion.

“You should have just called me. I would have gone to your palace…”

Lize hasn’t been able to get out of bed for days. Besides, her palace wasn’t that close to his. Raytan spoke softly, but the words that came back from her mouth were cold.

“Duke Liran?”

“…He’s dead.”

A faint smile slowly carved onto Lize’s lips.

“What about Carolyn Regent?”

“She said she will lend me her military.”

“Conditions?”

“If all goes well… She wants the seat of the Empress.”

“Not bad. That’s fine,” Lize chuckled, but she soon started to cough.

“Mother!”

Raytan put down his sword and ran to Lize. He gently rubbed her back, but he didn’t think her cough would stop anytime soon.

Lize’s beautiful face contorted as she felt pain. It’s like she is going to die anytime soon.

“Physician. I will call the—”

Raytan, who was about to get up, stopped. It was because Lize grabbed his wrist. Her grip was so strong that it was impossible to think that it was the hold of a dying person.

“Don’t. Call—”

Lize didn’t finish what she was about to say but instead covered her mouth. Something rained down onto the bed with the grunt of her cough. Blood.

After vomiting blood, her cough stopped. Lize panted with a pale face and wiped the corners of her mouth with her hand. The bloodstains on her white face were terrifying to see.

“Next is Johan. Johan Franz.”

It was someone he also knew. Sezh’s mother, Yerena, was in frequent contact with him these days. Lize must be aware of that fact. Not long after, she spoke again.

“He seems to have had an eye on Princess Sezh ever since the debutante ball. That’s why he asked Yerena to take the Princess as his second wife.”

Raytan frowned.

“For Yerena, it’s a deal with nothing to lose. If she becomes in-laws with him, Duke Franz will certainly help her in many ways.”

“…”

“Kill him,” Lize said in a cold voice. “If you kill Duke Franz, I will spread a rumor that it was one of my actions.”

“But then Yerena… to you, Mother… She will—”

Try to kill you.

Raytan couldn’t utter the words left behind on his tongue and only looked at Lize. Then he soon realized. That was exactly what his mother wanted.

“No matter what, the method isn’t important. Especially when it comes to royal affairs.”

Raytan didn’t answer.

“If Yerena kills me, you can use it as an excuse for the coup.”

Lize’s eyes twinkled. She had carefully crafted all these plans from the start. She had dedicated her whole life to it. She even damaged her own body to find the right time to achieve her goal.

“The Emperor’s health is at its worst, and Bern will soon go through the process to take the throne. Everything must end before that.”

“I… understand.”

Suddenly, Lize’s gaze turned to his hand. Raytan reflexively hid and clasped his hands tightly behind his back. He didn’t want his mother to see his shaking hands.

“My son,” Lize gently caressed Raytan’s blood-stained cheek. “Do you know how happy I was when I gave birth to you?”

However, there was no warmth in her touch. It’s like Lize was touching the objects she cherished, but there was no affection for a son.

“Red eyes, black hair. I was convinced the moment I saw it. Ah, you…”

“…”

“You are the opportunity God has given me.”

Raytan’s hands trembled.

“It must have been because of God’s blessing that the stupid Emperor brought me to Denhelder. I resented it, but I had a realization after I gave birth to you. The life of living from here to there, from there to there, from there to finally back here. That’s all over now.”

A vivid madness flashed through her emerald eyes.

“…Become Emperor and get everything. Return everything they gave to us. Persecute, steal, and kill. Just like what he did to us!”

Raytan spoke in a low voice, “…Since when?”

“What?”

“Your hatred for Denhelder… and who created that legend?”

Raytan couldn’t find it no matter how much he looked in books. He couldn’t find any clues about who created such a daunting legend.

“Well…” Lize smiled softly and said. “It was a long time ago. It wasn’t my mother, my mother’s mother, or even the next grandmother who did it. Isn’t it funny? Even so, they’re still continually tracking us and tracking us.”

“…”

“And then killing us.”

‘Lize, run away! Hurry!’

Lize still remembered it clearly. That little house burning brightly. And even the image of her mother screaming with her whole body on fire…

Young Lize ran away while shedding tears. The last thing she saw was the sad smile that spread over the charred face of her mother.

‘She must have died. There was no way someone could have survived such a fierce fire.’

The next day, Lize returned to the place she used to call home and what welcomed her was a burned-down house that left no traces…

‘Don’t you know that even these ashes were also on the verge of being crushed by the ruins? Since I said she was a girl under ten, she must have already been crushed. The roof collapsed, you know…’

It was the ashes of her mother that were as black as crows. Young Lize’s eyes were fixated on the remains of her mother’s body while hiding. She could still hear her mother’s cries when she saw it.

‘Lize, run away!’

‘Run away, now!’

‘Hurry!’

“How- why… Such a thing…” Raytan mumbled.

“A long time ago,” Lize slowly parted her lips. “A woman who betrayed God gave birth. The Emperor threatened her life. She had no choice but to escape without even having time to cut her baby’s umbilical cord. They said that was the root of all of this.”

“…”

“They said that it was someone like you. A woman… with black hair and red eyes.”

(*The author said it was ‘yeoja’. It can mean both a girl and a woman. So it can be the feature of the baby or~ in the story that Lize heard, Syarhwina was the one who has that feature. Basically, it’s an old story, so whether it was the baby or the woman who had the cursed features is ambiguous.)

It was for the same reason that Lize’s mother, her mother, and countless other mothers were targeted and killed.

The Imperial family of Denhelder was afraid that one day, a person with black hair and red eyes would return and destroy them just as the legend said. So they had a motive to cut off the bloodline. Nevertheless, even after years passed, this was nothing less than the unfinished fate of the Imperial family of Denhelder. They didn’t know that Lize survived.

“But I was angry,” Lize’s voice was cold. “I don’t even know who that woman is. Why do I have to be like this because of my unfamiliar ancestor? I don’t understand. I hate everything. Because of them, I had no choice but to live a poor life without being able to settle in one place. From here to there, from there to here. It felt like my life was cursed.”

She had shed tears of blood several times, and everything in her world always turned to ruins.

“And then… I met Moonid.”

A man who was like the day. The man who brightened up Lize’s world, which was always as dark as night.

“I thought maybe we could live happily ever after in this life. Maybe we can live a normal life like everyone else. It was the first hope I had. In the end, even that was all shattered.”

Everything returned to how it was supposed to be. Lize returned to the first place where people had tried to cut off her ancestor’s bloodline.

“But look at me. Didn’t I come back here after all? They didn’t even allow me to have hope.”

Raytan bit his lips.

“Everything is their fault.”

It was like that from the beginning. All of the things…

“What made us like this is Denhelder. I couldn’t even run away since they took me back here. And, that legend?” Lize laughed bitterly. “It is unknown who wrote that. But what does that matter? Whether the Emperor created it or a mage… Even if it’s a made-up story, nothing will change.”

“…”

“Raytan, you are born to make everything in that legend happen.”

But is it worth it for his mother to risk her life for it to happen? He wanted to ask that, but the words never came out of his mouth. Raytan looked at Lize with a sorrowful expression.

“Kill them all.”