Chapter 2

The relief she felt was immeasurable, but Beatrice still couldn’t calm her trembling knees. Just from the memory of his gaze looking down at her made her breathing falter significantly.  

She fixed her eyes on Alexandro’s receding back.

Without a doubt, he was the most ferocious man she had ever seen. Beatrice didn’t need to see him kill people to know that he, the person who possessed the supreme power in this room, was more callous than the knight who took her maid’s life.

“Kill her.”

“Then leave her head to hang on the castle gates”

At the unsympathetic words he said concerning her life, she felt deeply appalled. It was like he saw her as only a lump of meat he could easily dispose of.

There was not an ounce of emotion in his eyes, let alone pity. Of course, his towering height, muscular body and thick and broad shoulders, also contributed to his intimidating appeal. Even if she had the chance, Beatrice didn’t scrutinize his face for long, taking her gaze away from him, afraid that she would make eye contact with him. 

Feeling the cold shackles around her wrists, Beatrice couldn’t help but feel ridiculous about her situation. A wheel of life, her life, seemed to exist. She came from slavery and by birthright, entered the castle as a princess. And ironically, here she is again, a prisoner slave by all means!

Nonetheless, she appreciated the fact that she was still alive.

She heaved a heavy sigh. She must prepare herself for one thing–the familiar life she would once again taste.

***

“Your Excellency, El Pasa has many mountains, its plains and lands, rich and fertile. If I become the lord of El Pasa and rule over it, the taxes I will pay to the empire will be formidable, hehe.”

Gilbert, the Chancellor of the Fallen Kingdom of El Pasa, was shameless in doing anything just to catch the eye of the powerful man, Alexandro Graham. As he spoke, expressing his desired proposition to Alexandro, he rubbed his hands together greedily with a sheepish grin on his face.

For his own gain, Gilbert betrayed his kingdom El Pasa, the king, his long-time close friend, and his wife, the royal Princess Beatrice.

He hungered for power and thirsted for connections with the Nosteros Empire. There was nothing he could not possibly do to see his dreams flourish into reality. Even if that means forsaking the very kingdom he grew up in.

‘Alexandro Graham is a famous person in the empire.’

Duncan Graham, who controls the empire’s puppet emperor, and his only son, Alexandro Graham were the two big fishes he wished to catch.

The Graham family was the elite of the elite. How did they rise to power? Duncan killed the former emperor in a coup*. But there had been rumors that he refused to claim the throne to accumulate more wealth and move in stealth through the puppet emperor’s presence.

*T/N: Coup is a violent and illegal seizure of power.

Alexandro Graham was the only heir to the aristocratic family that now has the greatest wealth, power and military presence in the empire. Gilbert looked up at him with a glimmer of hope.

‘I heard he grew up hating slaughters. I guess the rumors aren’t wrong.’

However, Alexandro still had participated in every war. Thanks to this, he was given the title of Commander of the Knights, but rumors about his expeditions were quite disconcerting.

“Then, as you promised, when will I receive my prize? When will I have the land of El Pasa”

El Pasa, the last remaining independent country on the continent, had disappeared from history as of today. With its downfall, Gilbert couldn’t be any prouder of himself for joining forces with the Grahams, the foremost elite family of the Nosteros Empire.

This incident would go down in history because of his betrayal. A traitor. Yet, he felt no shame in it.

Gilbert, the king’s son-in-law, was promised half of El Pasa’s territory and a  posthumous title of a lord as a payment for his committed treason.

‘The Grahams never break their promises.’

The puppet Emperor of Nosteros was not involved in any political affairs because the lad was weak and young. Behind him, Duncan Graham examined and controlled all his affairs. This was a fact that everyone in the Empire knew.

“Commander Graham…?” A servile expression and a flabby body, Gilbert’s eyes twinkled as though of a child waiting for his candy.

Alexandro did not like those beady eyes which were filled with nothing but greed. He slipped his fingers on the table.

‘What a shameless twit .’

“I heard that the princess is your wife. The last royal blood of El Pasa. Will you take her in exchange for the promised territory?”

Unexpectedly, Alexandro proposed a deal using his wife, Princess Beatrice, as collateral. Yet, before he asked, he already knew Gilbert’s response. An answer from someone who betrayed everyone, even his kin, and turned his back on his own country was not hard to predict.

‘What will this greedy man say to refuse?’

“Did you keep Princess Beatrice alive?” Gilbert retorted with astonishment. It was such an interesting sight to see his small eyes open wide for the first time. His fat hands perspired noticeably.

“Won’t you have several women in Nosteros? She’s only a half-royalty anyway, so I don’t care what you do with her, Your Excellency.” As if the mention of his wife was truly a waste of his time, Gilbert spoke in a rash, gruff tone.