CH 158

Estian? Could she have misheard him? Cecile drew closer, doubting her ears. But as if to mock her doubts, the man opened his mouth again.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Estian. But you should know… I would’ve died if I failed to complete you…” he muttered.

She hadn’t heard wrong after all. The man was certainly saying the name ‘Estian.’ There was no reason to doubt that he was referring to anyone else but her Estian—not in this world. Children originally christened with the name Estian had their names changed, with parents fearing that sharing a name with the emperor would only incur disaster.

First things first, Cecile needed to get an explanation from this man. Surveying their surroundings, she didn’t sense any other presence aside from him. Feeling emboldened with the blue phoenix in her arsenal, Cecile felt confident she’d be able to restrain the man if need be. Shifting her grip on the scepter, which could substitute as a readily-available weapon, she inched towards him.

“Excuse me,” she began.

“Ah-ahhh! Wh-who are you!” The man screamed and retreated in fright, as if a ghost had spoken to him.

“There’s something I want to ask. You mentioned Estian a moment ago. Who were you referring to?”

“Who… who might you be?” The frightened man’s expression eased up after glimpsing Cecile’s face. “Is that all you want? Do you want to know anything else? C-could you come a little closer?”

Cecile noticed a shift in the man’s demeanor, and thought, ‘Oh boy.’ She could see the indecent look coloring his eyes as he stared at her.

“Yeah, if this is to be my end, then before I die I may as well…” the man muttered.

“Sic him,” Cecile ordered the blue phoenix. With a cluck, the blue phoenix reverted to its original form, sans the flames, and swooped at the man. Fwip! Smack! Flap! Slap! The air was filled with the sounds of the blue phoenix thrashing the man. When the man began yelping from the attack, Cecile added, “I think it would be better if you made him shut up too.”

The blue phoenix faithfully carried out Cecile’s orders by stuffing its long tail feathers into the man’s mouth, before zealously resuming its pecking. It wasn’t long before the man was on his knees, bowing in front of Cecile.

“I apologize! I’m sorry! I must’ve lost my head for a second there, with death facing right at me!”

Cecile didn’t bother to question him on what he’d intended to do before he died—his answer would obviously rot her ears and be a waste of time. “Answer me. The ‘Estian’ you were referring to…”

“Emperor Estian of the empire, of course. Who else could it be?” the man answered puzzledly.

“But why were you apologizing? What wrong did you commit against His Majesty?”

“Well, who are you? You’re obviously not from the lab. It’s definitely my first time seeing you…” the man muttered, narrowing his eyes, before turning towards the window. “His Majesty, you say? Are you from the empire? I suppose you must be. Who would address Estian that way here?”

“His Majesty’s eminent name isn’t for the likes of you to call without permission,” Cecile frowned and snapped. For some reason, she felt an inexplicable sense of disgust whenever the man uttered Estian’s name.

The man watched the displeasure flash across Cecile’s face, before standing to point out the window. “Can you still address him as His Majesty, even after looking at that?” He was pointing at the wriggling black thing outside.

“What are you talking about? What does that have to do with…”

“That thing outside is the emperor you’re talking about—Emperor Estian of the empire!”

“That’s His Majesty?” How could that be? However, the man didn’t seem to be lying, even as the madness in his tone began to rise.

“Yes! That is Estian’s true form… Woah! Hey!”

The man barely dodged the scepter that was swung in his direction, and it struck the ground with a resounding smack. Cecile thought she saw the jewel attached to the scepter fly off, but that wasn’t important now.

“You scum! What did you all do to His Majesty!” Cecile screamed, gnashing her teeth ferociously. If the thing outside really was Estian, then…! The man had stepped back in shock, but Cecile’s onslaught wasn’t over.

“Speak!”—Bang!—“Properly!”—Crunch!—“What have you done to my husband!”

Cecile continued to swing the scepter relentlessly. Each swing that missed smashed against the floor and walls. Her hand was growing numb from the pain of each impact, but she didn’t pay it any heed. How could that terrible thing out there be Estian?

“Husband?”

“That’s right! He’s my husband!”

“You’re Empress Cecile!” The man suddenly began nodding in understanding and burst into maniacal laughter. “Hahahaha! Unbelievable! To think that you were here! Yes! I can live if I have you… Grand Duke Farus had said so… that Estian accepted a woman for the first time!”

There was a strange glint in his eyes, and Cecile retreated at the sudden change in the man’s atmosphere. His behavior was increasingly strange, and she could tell he was growing more deranged by the minute. His mood had swung from terror, to joy, to ecstasy in a matter of seconds.