It was her first morning at Lize’s palace.

“…”

Sezh woke, moved her body to sit up, then gazed at her surroundings. Lize’s bedroom looked completely different from before. Not a single piece of furniture Lize possessed was left behind, including small things like the bedding.

It wasn’t a result of her demand. Saying that everything was ready, Raytan brought her here, and everything had already been replaced by that time. Also, a separate dressing room was filled with expensive dresses and jewels that she wouldn’t have even dared to own in the past. The chamber had a completely different ambiance from the one in her palace. Her old room would freeze her to death in winter and boil her in summer. Maybe that was why Kaen, who priorly trembled in fear, seemed to be a little at ease. She even said:

‘If Luna was here, she would have been delighted.’

Maybe it would be like that. Now, Sezh was treated like a real Princess. However, she didn’t feel comfortable with any of this. Every time her anxiety relapses, she would do nothing but embrace Luna’s portrait in her arms.

“Phew…”

Sezh approached the window and opened it slightly. The white fog caused by her breath slowly spread over the snow-covered landscape. While staring outside the window, she suddenly remembered Eton. Sezh hadn’t seen him since her birthday.

“Nothing… would have happened to Eton, right?”

Numerous people died in the Imperial Palace, but it seems Eton has safely taken good care of himself. It was just guesswork, but he must have done an impeccable job staying undetected. Eton…. was not an ordinary person.

“He said he was going to stay in that room.”

In other words, Eton was in the same palace as her now. However, does Eton know that? What if he goes to her old palace? There’s nothing there anymore…

“Princess, are you awake already?”

Sezh heard Kaen’s voice as the door opened. She held several gorgeous dresses in her hands.

“I think we need to prepare a little. We don’t have much time…”

“Okay.”

Sezh nodded.

Today was… Raytan’s coronation.

***

The main hall was full of people.

Nevertheless, the atmosphere was not bright. Fear was clearly etched on the faces of the nobles.

Sezh swallowed her dry saliva and stepped inside the hall slowly.

She was fully aware of their stares. They must be all thinking the same thing: ‘All the royal family members died, so why has only Princess Sezh survived? In addition, he subjected their bodies to such harsh treatment.’

Yerena’s buried body was something conspicuous they would find suspicious. Nonetheless, Sezh also didn’t know the answer. Perhaps it would stay as a mystery forever.

“I greet Princess Sezh.”

A man suddenly approached Sezh and greeted her in an embarrassingly polite manner. It was her first time seeing him.

“My name is Philip Michael. It is an honor to meet you.”

“Ah, yes…”

Although the atmosphere was bleak, Philip still showcased a soft smile on his face.

“I have the pleasure of guiding you to your seat, Princess.”

‘Is he a newcomer?’

While following him, Sezh wondered who Philip was.

However, her inquiring urge didn’t last long. Sezh’s face couldn’t withstand the bewilderment as she confirmed the place where she was to sit. It was the seat for the empress or the woman who would become an empress or a person with equivalent status to the previous two.

“I’m sorry, Philip, but… Is that… truly my place?” asked Sezh with a pale face.

“If you need anything else, please feel free to tell me anything. I have been ordered to take good care of Princess Sezh.”

It wasn’t difficult for her to guess who the person who issued the order was— It was positively Raytan.

“It’s not just today. If you ever need anything in the future, please tell me. I am an escort sent by His Highness.”

‘His Highness’

Philip’s words made her head go blank.

“The coronation shall begin soon. I ask you to please excuse me.”

Philip gave her a farewell with a “too much” courtesy then disappeared into the crowd.

Left alone, Sezh felt like she was sitting in a seat of thorns. The nobles’ intrusive eyes that tried to sneak a glance at her were too obvious, and she was painfully aware since this was her first time in such in position.

Sezh, whose face gradually turned blue, bowed her head then twiddled with her fingers. A few minutes later, she took a peek at her surroundings.

That was the moment she saw someone familiar.

‘Mathias…?”

Their stares collided.

She didn’t see wrong.

Mathias was unmistakably sitting in front of her. He quickly greeted her as if he had been waiting for her to look in his direction from the start. Sezh greeted him back.

Mathias’s face, which she had not seen in a long time, was filled with concern. Silently, he agitatedly looked at Sezh.

[Are-you-okay,-Princess?] he mouthed.

She wasn’t sure what to answer.

Her pondering mind did not last long because soon after that, the banquet hall door opened.

It was the brigade of the new Emperor’s guard knights.

“God is watching the new beginning of Denhelder.”

A loud voice rang out.

The voice’s owner was a man Sezh had once seen in The Wizards of Denhelder book. Regardless, he wasn’t an archmage. Something was weird. Usually, when a new emperor ascends to the throne, the Archmage is the one who conducts the coronation ceremony…

“As expected, the Archmage won’t be there.”

“Yeah, that’s right. The Archmage is loyal to the Imperial family.”

Small whispers sounded from the aristocrats.

“But it is strange. All the priests would have followed the Archmage’s will…”

“Are those who are upright only at the temple?”

“Be careful with what you say. Does that mean that we who attend the coronation are not upright?”

Hearing the nobles get enthralled by their whispers made Sezh chew her bottom lip without realizing it.

“All knights, bow your heads and pay respect to the new Emperor.”

With the man’s command, the knights all bowed with one knee on the floor at once. The rumbling sounds of metal filled the room. The nobles also followed. They did not kneel like the knights but bowed their heads. There was also a face that Sezh knew: Duke Regent. Before long, Raytan walked in. He looked completely different from anything Sezh had ever seen him. Instead of a shirt, which was always half-open, a splendid robe adorned with jewels rested upon his shoulders.

Sezh suddenly remembered the cheap cloak she gave him in the past.

‘Emperor— Your Majest— Brothe— No…’

She was thinking about how to address Raytan after blankly staring at him for a while.

At that moment, Raytan’s blood-red eyes gazed at her. Sezh flinched a little and then hurriedly bowed her head.

Following that, Raytan recited a few oaths in a low and heavy tone. It was like she was still dreaming. Sezh couldn’t believe she was hearing those oaths in Raytan’s voice herself while still being alive.

Sezh, looking down at the floor, unknowingly looked up slowly. On the other side of the crowd, she suddenly spotted a person she had never thought would be there.

It was Eton.

‘How is… Eton here?’

Although his hair color was lighter than Raytan’s, their appearance and vibes were similar. Another thing was his crimson eyes. Everyone knew that no one in the Imperial palace except Raytan had eyes like that. It was undoubtedly something that would catch anyone’s attention. However, something was strange. People didn’t even look at Eton. It was like they couldn’t see him at all.

Being stared at, Eton eventually turned his face to Sezh too. He raised his index finger to the front of his mouth. His next movement was to go back to concentrating his gaze on Raytan.

“I give to the new owner the sacred sword that has been passed down from generation to generation in the Denhelder Imperial family.”

The mage held a long sword in his hand. Even though it looked old, its dignity and radiance didn’t seem to have ever left it.

Raytan raised the sword.

But at that moment…

Eton’s face subtly contorted. He wasn’t staring at Raytan, but at the sword. It was like the mentioned thing had a weighty history behind it.

“Prince, please kneel and bow before God…” repeated the wizard with a solemn expression.

It was the final step of the coronation. He will grace Raytan with the crown that legitimizes him as a new emperor in front of God.

Regardless, Raytan didn’t kneel. He just kept stepping forward and reached out towards the crown the mage carefully held.

“….”

Sezh could hear the nobles’ murmur. Even the mage seemed to be surprised too. Raytan was the only one whose expression remained poised.

He held the crown high and put it on his head without making ceremonious declarations or using symbolic words.

“I do not fear God. Doing that courtesy is unnecessary.”

Surprise flashed across everyone’s faces. Even though Raytan staged a coup, everyone didn’t expect him to do such a thing even at the coronation. Even so, the God worshiped by the people of the empire was not anyone else but Herace I.

“So, the person you all have to follow is the emperor, not God,” Raytan stated coldly.

“I will create the new Denhelder, not God. You must fear me as you fear God. Only me.”

The nobles’ buzz soon dispersed into the air resulting from the mad atmosphere of their new emperor.

One thing that every attendee would remember forever was this: if anything goes against the new emperor’s will, he will not hesitate to destroy the ones held responsible.

“I resolutely declare…”

In the quiet banquet hall, only Raytan’s pronouncement loudly rang out.

“…that Denhelder’s new era has begun.”

Nobles, knights, and everyone in the banquet hall politely lowered their heads. Sezh also bowed with her trembling fists clenched.

And in the midst of it, only Eton stood upright and stared fixedly at Raytan.

His expression was so obscure that nobody could distinguish what emotions were behind it.