CH 17

17. When the blue moon rises (2)

Bang!

“Your majesty…?”

Ryan turned her head away in surprise. Against the background of the blue moon, Lescal was making a terribly distorted expression. Seeing that no one was around, it seemed that he had bitten the guards on purpose.

“It’s a Blue Moon! Didn’t you spend it with Her Majesty the Empress?”

Ryan was on probation in the imperial palace. Although it was not her intention, she had to be punished for the accident that caused the Empress to fall into the water. She made a mistake because she was a gnome bird and she was momentarily blinded by it. To say she was a mistake, of course, she wasn’t without a sense of injustice. No one would have guessed that the moment she was about to jump off the boat, a school of fish would appear and crash into the boat. Still, it was her fault, so she calmly accepted the golden sword order that had been issued for a month. Lescal was quite tolerant of his shadow knights, so he could continue hunting birds during the day. That was very fortunate.

“…She is angry.”

“Yes?”

Took, toduk.

Blood dripped from the corner of Lescal’s mouth and dripped onto the carpet. Lescal said softly, wiping his lips with his fist.

“Because of what I did.”

“Ah, Her Majesty the Empress.”

Ryan quickly ran up and propped Lescal over her shoulder, catching her blood with her clothes.

“…No, is that why she kicked His Majesty out? Even knowing that a blue moon has risen? Does Her Majesty the Empress have no heart? Even if she wasn’t a partner, but a stranger, she wouldn’t be able to do something like this!”

Even as she dragged Lescal into the bedroom, Ryan couldn’t stop her anger.

“Ryan.”

Lescal stopped walking.

“Yes, lungs.”

“Be polite when putting the Empress in your mouth.”

“Uh… Yes, Your Majesty?”

Ryan made a bewildered face. A blue moon has risen. Lescal was spitting out his blood. It meant that the whole inside of his body started to twist. In such a situation, she did not know how to speak with courtesy toward the Empress.

“I am…”

“Ouch!”

Then Lescal vomited his blood. It was blood mixed with clots.

“I will move at once, Your Majesty.”

Ryan hurriedly supported Lescal and carried him to his bed. Ryan opened the chest of drawers in his bedroom and took out his vials, opened the lid, and poured them into Lescal’s mouth. It was painkillers and sleeping pills mixed with opium. She didn’t know if it worked, but she just hoped it would alleviate some of the pain.

“Would you like to tie it up?”

Having emptied the entire vial, Ryan ran through the bedroom, shutting the window and bolting it on.

“…it’s okay. She won’t last long anyway.”

Meanwhile, Lescal’s clothes were soaked in blood. He would have vomited blood again.

“Then what can I do for you? Please speak, Your Majesty.”

Every time this happened, Ryan was angry at her own powerlessness, and hated the Empress. She added it now that she had a glimmer of hope that the Empress might be real. Despite having the power to control his demonic blood, the Empress took off her acupuncture needle and stood by this pain. In her heart, she wanted to drag the Empress and lock her in Lescal’s bedroom.

“If you allow it, I will bring Her Majesty the Empress.”

“It is not allowed. Get out.”

“…your majesty.”

“Get out.”

“…”

Ryan bit her lip. However, she could not disobey the Emperor.

“Close the door tightly. So that I don’t run out to find the Empress.”

“…As you wish.”

With teeth marks on her lips, Ryan left the bedroom. Just as Lescal had said, Ryan hung three iron bolts on the bedroom door and wrapped himself in chains.

“Damn it.”

Ryan pulled her hair with both hands as if pulling it out. Today, the moonlight flowing from the Demon Realm was brutally blue. Lescal’s moans could be heard from inside the tightly closed bedroom. Every time she did that, Ryan, who was messing with her hair, at some point kicked off her seat and stood up.

“…No, I can’t stand it.”

Ryan ran toward the Empress’ palace.

* * *

Knock, knock.

“…huh?”

Knock, knock.

Lasilia, who had been dozed off, opened her eyes to the sound of her window ringing. A black shadow snooped outside her window.

“Ah… It is you.”

-Yes, yes. Open the door, open the door.

“Wait a moment.”

Lacilia got out of bed and looked for her shoes. Putting on her shoes reminded her of the process of taking them off, and her shoulders twitched spontaneously.

“What is it?”

It was a black bird.

-This, this.

The black bird thumped something on her window sill with her head.

“What’s this?”

She picked it up and saw that it was a reddish stone. She was surprisingly similar to the red egg she had seen in her dream. Lacilia was surprised, she asked.

“What’s this? Could it be an egg?”

-Keep it well, keep it.

“Answer me. Is this an egg?”

-I don’t know. don’t know that

“Then why did you bring it?”

-I’m giving it back. It was originally here.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

A black bird rolled around her eyes, and she shook her head.

-I don’t know. I was here, that girl stole it

“This was originally here, but who stole it? Who is that woman?”

At that, the black bird sighed with a somewhat tired face.

-The woman. That human bother us.

“Is she bothering you?”

-Yes, yes. Keep bothering me, bothering me so we can’t come anymore.

“You couldn’t come. What does that mean?”

-I can’t come even if you call. That girl is bad, can’t come.

That was when he said that.

Bang, bang.

“Your Majesty the Empress. I will go in.”

Shadow Knight Ryan knocked on the bedroom door. And at the same time, the black bird quickly flew away.

* * *

“Ryan. I think it would be unreasonable to turn a blind eye to this.”

Before Ryan opened the bedroom door, Serben blocked her way. What Lasilia saw after opening the bedroom door was the scene of two shadow knights facing each other, staring at each other. Even though both of them were bare-handed, tension was conveyed as if they were standing with a knife.

“Your Majesty instructed me to guard Her Majesty the Empress. He would have given you similar instructions. Go back to the imperial palace.”

“I’m not going to violate the imperial order.”

Ryan looked over Serben’s shoulder at Lasilia.

“I’m going to appeal to Her Majesty the Empress. If Her Majesty says she’s going on her own feet, then Her Majesty can’t help it either, right?”

“Would that be okay if you did?”

“That doesn’t mean I’m forcibly taking Her Majesty by threatening her with her sword. I don’t even have a knife right now.”

“Oh, yes. There is no knife. That doesn’t mean you suddenly become a different human being.”

“Can you move away for a moment? Please.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that. Even His Majesty won’t believe it.”

Sreung!

Serben drew his sword.

“Your Majesty, please go in. I will send Ryan back.”

Ryan laughed.

“It would be better if you just stayed. I’m in a state where I can’t see anything right now, and Serben is no match for me at that time. It will just break the door.”

Serben clicked his tongue.

“It is an exaggeration. I can hold out until the Royal Guard arrives.”

“It’s a bluff, Her Majesty. I believe in that and get hit in the back of the head.”

She couldn’t tell if the twin knights were going to fight right now, or if they were just showing off their friendship. Still, Lasilia was not in her character to watch a sword fight break out over her.

“It would be nice to put the knife in first. I want to hear what’s going on.”

At those words, Ryan burst into anger.

“You don’t know what’s going on, now? A blue moon has risen!”

“So. What do you want from me?”

“Ha, are you still going to use the excuse of memory loss? Forgot all about what happens in a blue moon? So you don’t know anything?”

She knew. He seemed to understand why the shadow knight suddenly had his eyes reversed and ran. So that was the problem. She knew but she couldn’t do anything.

“Did you act like this before I lost my memory?”

Lasilia struggled to feign her composure. It was a pity that the Emperor was suffering. However, if the Empress had lost her mark, she would not have even been the real companion of the Emperor in the first place. No matter how sorry she felt, there was nothing she could do. Like the Empress who said she loved the Emperor as if she would die.

“Did you knock on my bedroom door every blue moon for four years and pull me out?”

“Weren’t things different back then?”

“What was different?”

“At that time, even His Majesty didn’t want it… Damn, can’t you fulfill your duties as an Empress just for once? You are an Empress, and since you have done everything in your life, can’t you act like an Empress just for today?”

“I am,”

When her memory returned, she would do so.

‘His Majesty and I have agreed to do so, so it is not your business to intervene.’

She meant to say that. But her conscience was much more painful than she thought.

“Something like that.”

It was then.

Bang!

There was a terribly loud sound of something breaking.

* * *

“Who is there!”

Serben shouted toward the hallway.

Poof!

The wind blew. At the same time, all the lanterns and candles that lit the hallway were extinguished. All she could see was the bright blue moonlight. The disparate moon rising from the other world seemed to distort all vision.

“You ask who I am!”

Ryan grabbed Serben as he tried to jump forward.

“Give me the knife. You protect Her Majesty.”

Serben passed the sword without a word. Raising her sword, Ryan plunged into the twisting darkness.

“Don’t move.”

Serben, who covered Lasilia with his back, spat out softly.

“Is it an intruder?”

It was something that he often experienced even in a small kingdom like Delarta. Empire would have nothing more to say. But it was rare for an intruder to speak so openly and loudly.

“Right now, I don’t know. But somehow,”

After a moment of silence, Serben twisted his jawline.

“It doesn’t look human.”

“It’s not human.”

“There’s His Majesty the Emperor and Ryan, but there’s no human big enough to attack with such a loud noise.”

“Then…”

In the next moment, the identity of the intruder was revealed.

Puck!

“Ugh!”

Ryan, who was jumping into the darkness, bounced right up to Serben’s feet and flew away.

“Ryan? Ryan!”

Serben widened his eyes in disbelief even after seeing it. Ryan clutched a broken knife with her bloodstained right arm.

“Calm down, Ryan! What happened!”

Serben grabbed Ryan and raised him up. Meanwhile, an intruder walked out of the darkness. As Serben said, he wasn’t human. Both hands, exposed through the torn clothes, were covered with black scales. The red nails were sharp like blades. Blood dripped from the tip of that fingernail. His half-dismembered face was covered in blood. She could see fragments of bone protruding through the skin.

“Damn! Her Majesty the Empress! Avoid it!”

Serben let go of Ryan and ran forward, clutching the broken sword. But it was to no avail.

Puck!

With or without a knife, the intruder just passed Serven. No, it was so momentary that it seemed to pass by, but Serben’s body was slammed into the opposite wall. The next moment, a non-human intruder was in front of her.

“…!”

It was because of those eyes that the screams did not come out.

“Your majesty…?”

No matter how much his appearance changed, she could recognize that golden eye.

“Ah…”

…Took.

As if in reply, the transformed Emperor tilted his head. As soon as his forehead touched her forehead, both hands wrapped themselves tightly around her and hugged her. The Emperor leaned on Racilia as he was.

“It’s heavy, it’s heavy,”

…thud!

The two people hugged and hugged like one body fell to the floor at the same time.