Chapter 122
After moving the collapsed rocks and searching every corner, Eda was still nowhere to be found. If she had used magic to escape from the collapsing stone chamber, Roa would have noticed, and it was impossible that she had died under the rubble since there wasn’t a drop of her blood anywhere.
What was found in the place where Eda should have been was the shattered remnants of a magic circle. And the crushed bodies of countless Idelo’s Flowers.
Eda’s fate had likely played out exactly as Joo Yi-Gyeol had wished.
If that was the case, then Sethian’s task was now only one.
“Ugh—!”
The man's hoarse voice echoed loudly through the damp underground prison's torture room. Not only that, but it spread throughout the other torture rooms and prisons through the iron bars of the iron door.
“Ugh... ugh...”
The man, covered in blood and hanging by cold iron chains, was still recognizable as a human, but his appearance was so horrific it was almost impossible to describe. If it weren’t for the blood pooling on the floor, the places where he had been tortured were so vivid that it would be unbearable to look at.
The two guards who had been torturing the man glanced at each other. The aloof emperor, sitting in a chair with his legs crossed, looked calm beside the pale, elderly man.
The blood-soaked man, whose screams had weakened, gasped with a rattling breath, his lips twitching.
“J… kill me…”
Sethian’s eyes twitched slightly as he listened to the man's voice.
“Please… kill me…”
The voice, desperate and pleading, only reached Sethian’s ears as he silently listened. The same words came out a few more times, but Roa, sitting next to him, merely clenched his hands with a pale face, not saying a word.
‘It seems it’s not enough again.’
Had the man’s desire not been enough, even after all this?
Sethian had lost track of how many people he had been through by now.
With an indifferent glance, Sethian stood up and gestured to the torturers, heading toward the door. Roa hurriedly followed behind.
“Finish this and move on to the next one. Two hours, and don’t be late.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The torturers responded in a nervous tone. They picked up a heavy axe as they began mentally preparing for how to torture the next prisoner over the next two hours.
“Guh!”
As Sethian and Roa left, they heard the sound of something being pierced, followed by the dying groans of the blood-soaked man. However, Sethian didn’t even glance back.
Having exited the torture chamber, Sethian joined Renoc, who had been waiting outside, and they walked down the long corridor. The sounds of fearful groans and stifled cries could be heard from all directions.
Ten days ago, the new emperor, returning after leading the long-serving knights outside the Imperial Palace, had made his first order to overhaul the underground prison of the stone tower.
The damp and windowless torture chambers, which were on a different floor from the prisoners’ cells, had been shut down for now. Instead, new torture chambers had been built facing directly across from the prisoners’ cells, and iron bars were widened so that the conditions inside could be seen clearly. As a result, the smell of burning flesh and the stench of blood permeated the entire prison.
The prisoners, facing the new torture chambers, could no longer sleep soundly, even in the early hours of the morning, because the screams came without fail. Additionally, the thought of being tortured like the others led some to choose suicide. To prevent that, the prisoners were shackled and gagged, leaving them no chance to end their own lives. The underground prison was slowly transforming into a hell filled with maddening fear.
It was not clear what the cruel new emperor truly wanted, but whenever he visited during the torture, he would silently watch before leaving. After he left, the tortured prisoner would always end up dead, and another would be dragged in to begin a new round of torture. As a result, the prisoners saw the emperor as the most terrifying being.
As Sethian exited the underground prison, he could see only the pitch-black sky. He looked up for a moment, then began to take a step when…
“Can you stop now?”
Turning at the exhausted voice, Sethian found Roa, his face as haggard as his voice, gazing at him with a pleading look.
“Isn't this too cruel, even for prisoners?”
There were no more prisoners left who hadn’t been tortured to the point of death. Once they had all been tortured and killed, those with the heaviest crimes would die one by one, and if there were no more prisoners, the new emperor would create an evil law to keep the torture chambers full.
“You should be grateful that I'm the emperor.”
Sethian didn’t even look at Roa as he continued walking. If there were no need to maintain his position as emperor, he might have thrown everyone—regardless of their crimes—into the torture chambers and wielded the blood-stained tools himself by now.
“Get some sleep for two hours, then come back.”
“… Yes.”
Roa’s eyes, shaking with uncertainty, lowered as he slumped his shoulders. Meanwhile, Sethian and Renoc walked away without hesitation.
Roa, staring at their disappearing figures, leaned back against the stone tower wall and collapsed onto the floor with a heavy thud.
“Ugh…”
Even after taking a deep breath, he still felt like something was stuck inside him, and he couldn’t breathe freely.
‘At this rate, the emperor really will kill every prisoner.’
Once the last of the prisoners was tortured to death, who would Sethian direct his sword at next? He didn’t want to think about it, so he grabbed his head with both hands and started pulling at his hair.
‘What should I do, Your Majesty?’
The "Your Majesty" in his thoughts was referring to someone else, not Sethian. Roa sighed again as he remembered his old friend, the former emperor, who would never be seen again.
‘You knew this would happen. Then why did you say such things to Lord Joo Yi-Gyeol?’
The former emperor had told Joo Yi-Gyeol everything about how he was living by cutting away Sethian’s lifespan. By then he must already have known what kind of personality and disposition Joo Yi-Gyeol had, so why had he revealed everything? It was something even Sethian had kept silent about.
‘What were you thinking?’
The former emperor must have known that, blaming himself, Joo Yi-Gyeol would leave Sethian’s side. And that, to win him back, Sethian would stop at nothing.
What in the world had the former emperor wanted from Joo Yi-Gyeol and Sethian? What had he wanted them to gain and what had he wanted them to lose?
His long-time friend and eternal emperor had closed his eyes without ever providing an answer. Now, all Roa could do was watch the new emperor’s actions with a bitter, anguished heart.
When Sethian entered his bedroom with Renoc waiting outside, he stood for a moment at the door, gazing around. After a moment, he furrowed his brow and called Renoc inside.
“Didn’t I tell you to keep the room warm? Bring in more braziers.”
“Understood.”
Renoc’s eyes rolled as he scanned the room.
Since a few days ago, Sethian had asked for the room to be kept warm, so the attendants had been lighting many candles during the day and bringing in several braziers. They opened the door to let sunlight in whenever it came, and if the wind grew too strong, they would quickly shut the door to keep the warmth inside. Even now, as the bedroom door opened, a strong warmth greeted him, but Sethian still seemed to feel cold.
After Renoc left and the door was shut, the attendants brought in two more braziers to warm the room. Despite six braziers now warming the space, Sethian still seemed unsatisfied.
He unbuttoned a few of his shirt’s buttons and stood beside the bed. Looking down at Joo Yi-Gyeol, who was lying soundly asleep, his tense eyes seemed to soften a little.
“Joo Yi-Gyeol.”
He called Joo Yi-Gyeol’s name, but, of course, there was no response.
Climbing onto the bed, Sethian pressed his ear to Joo Yi-Gyeol’s chest. His steady heartbeat, perfectly rhythmic and peaceful, contrasted with Sethian’s troubled thoughts. He reached up and gently stroked Joo Yi-Gyeol’s warm cheek, then ran his fingertips across his soft lips. After that, he slipped his fingers into Joo Yi-Gyeol’s mouth, pried his lips open, and kissed him. He lingered, gently exploring his mouth before finally pulling away.
This was something he did every time he returned to the bedroom: checking for any changes in Joo Yi-Gyeol's body, or if perhaps his soul had returned. Joo Yi-Gyeol’s body, enchanted with high-level preservation magic, had been kept alive by a sliver of vitality, allowing him to stay in Sethian’s bedroom. According to Roa, if any significant changes occurred in Joo Yi-Gyeol’s body, the magic would break. He had also said the same would happen if Joo Yi-Gyeol’s soul returned. But the magic had not yet broken.
Pulling Joo Yi-Gyeol close, Sethian pulled the blanket up to Joo Yi-Gyeol’s neck. Despite the warmth from the many braziers, the room still seemed cold, almost frigid. At least, holding Joo Yi-Gyeol made the cold feel less intense.
‘Still not enough.’
The warmth, it wasn’t enough.
Sethian pulled Joo Yi-Gyeol tighter, burying his face in his hair. It felt as though Joo Yi-Gyeol’s scent had become faint.
“Come back…”
He whispered, kissing Joo Yi-Gyeol’s forehead.
“Come back, Joo Yi-Gyeol.”
He continued to whisper, kissing each eyelid. Every time he did so, his heart broke a little more.
Sethian’s bedroom was still filled with an unshakable cold.
After spending a long time in the state of a soul, the concept of sleep becomes strange. While sleep is essential for the physical recovery of humans, souls don’t require it, and Joo Yi-Gyeol didn’t even know how to sleep anymore.
This made everything even more confusing.
How many days had passed since he entered this space? Where was he even going?
‘Am I doomed to wander like this forever?’
Surrounded by blue light, Joo Yi-Gyeol couldn’t tell if he was heading in the right direction or how far he had gone. No matter how far he traveled, all he saw was a blue world.
After stepping into the blue-enclosed space through the dimensional door, Joo Yi-Gyeol was thrown out of Eda’s body as soon as he entered. Eda, despairing in a space where she could not even use magic, must have wandered off searching for an exit, because before long she was nowhere to be seen.
Joo Yi-Gyeol, flying through the space, eventually stopped, unable to continue. He simply stood still, endlessly thinking.
What was Sethian doing? He must have escaped safely with the knight order. Did he realize I was gone? Perhaps he might even miss me a little. Or maybe he’s already forgotten me. If he’s waiting, I don’t want him to wait.
All his thoughts were consumed by Sethian. The worry and thoughts about him piled up, and Joo Yi-Gyeol spent his time reminiscing about their memories together.
But then, he hit his limit.
The loneliness and sadness were overwhelming, and he couldn’t keep his mind clear. The desire to return clashed with the thought that he shouldn’t return, both feelings crushing him relentlessly.
Even if I wanted to return, I can’t.
I’ll never meet Sethian again.
The words were meant to hurt himself, and they pierced him like a cold, icy blade.
‘If I could live perfectly fine even without vitality, I could still see Sethian, right?’
Just being near the person you love can cause them great harm. Like with my family, I didn’t want to live at the cost of someone else’s sacrifice, especially not Sethian, who had given me a new life.
‘But still, I want to be with Sethian.’
Tears that didn’t exist seemed to fall.
I want to live. I want to live. I want to live.
I want to live. I want to live. I want to live.
I want to live. I want to live. I want to live.
He tried stopping himself, telling himself these were thoughts he shouldn’t have, but once they broke free, they came rushing out like a dam had been broken, unstoppable. The pain felt as though his nonexistent heart was being torn apart.
At that moment, when he was drowning in loneliness and pain, feeling like his mind was about to shatter…
He saw something in the distance that wasn’t blue. It was something small and golden, and when he looked closer, he realized it took the form of a butterfly.
Joo Yi-Gyeol was drawn to it as if hypnotized. The butterfly fluttered its wings slowly, guiding him somewhere, just as he had once flowed toward Sethian’s world when they first met.
By the time he had gotten close enough to grab the golden butterfly, had he had a body, the scenery that had once been all blue suddenly changed in the blink of an eye.
What he saw was a long alleyway bathed in warm sunlight. The golden butterfly was nowhere to be found, and beyond the alley were buildings of a style that couldn’t be found in the Empire.
The alley and scenery felt strangely familiar, and as he absentmindedly turned his gaze, he looked behind him. On the dead-end wall, there was a faint, delicate magic circle carved into it—something he wouldn’t have noticed had he not looked closely. Beneath it, a long flowerbed bloomed with irises resembling Idelo, their vibrant petals shining brightly.
He had no time to feel joy at having escaped the desert-like space and entered somewhere entirely different.
In the distance, the sharp sound of a car horn rang out, so clear and distinct.
What was found in the place where Eda should have been was the shattered remnants of a magic circle. And the crushed bodies of countless Idelo’s Flowers.
Eda’s fate had likely played out exactly as Joo Yi-Gyeol had wished.
If that was the case, then Sethian’s task was now only one.
“Ugh—!”
The man's hoarse voice echoed loudly through the damp underground prison's torture room. Not only that, but it spread throughout the other torture rooms and prisons through the iron bars of the iron door.
“Ugh... ugh...”
The man, covered in blood and hanging by cold iron chains, was still recognizable as a human, but his appearance was so horrific it was almost impossible to describe. If it weren’t for the blood pooling on the floor, the places where he had been tortured were so vivid that it would be unbearable to look at.
The two guards who had been torturing the man glanced at each other. The aloof emperor, sitting in a chair with his legs crossed, looked calm beside the pale, elderly man.
The blood-soaked man, whose screams had weakened, gasped with a rattling breath, his lips twitching.
“J… kill me…”
Sethian’s eyes twitched slightly as he listened to the man's voice.
“Please… kill me…”
The voice, desperate and pleading, only reached Sethian’s ears as he silently listened. The same words came out a few more times, but Roa, sitting next to him, merely clenched his hands with a pale face, not saying a word.
‘It seems it’s not enough again.’
Had the man’s desire not been enough, even after all this?
Sethian had lost track of how many people he had been through by now.
With an indifferent glance, Sethian stood up and gestured to the torturers, heading toward the door. Roa hurriedly followed behind.
“Finish this and move on to the next one. Two hours, and don’t be late.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The torturers responded in a nervous tone. They picked up a heavy axe as they began mentally preparing for how to torture the next prisoner over the next two hours.
“Guh!”
As Sethian and Roa left, they heard the sound of something being pierced, followed by the dying groans of the blood-soaked man. However, Sethian didn’t even glance back.
Having exited the torture chamber, Sethian joined Renoc, who had been waiting outside, and they walked down the long corridor. The sounds of fearful groans and stifled cries could be heard from all directions.
Ten days ago, the new emperor, returning after leading the long-serving knights outside the Imperial Palace, had made his first order to overhaul the underground prison of the stone tower.
The damp and windowless torture chambers, which were on a different floor from the prisoners’ cells, had been shut down for now. Instead, new torture chambers had been built facing directly across from the prisoners’ cells, and iron bars were widened so that the conditions inside could be seen clearly. As a result, the smell of burning flesh and the stench of blood permeated the entire prison.
The prisoners, facing the new torture chambers, could no longer sleep soundly, even in the early hours of the morning, because the screams came without fail. Additionally, the thought of being tortured like the others led some to choose suicide. To prevent that, the prisoners were shackled and gagged, leaving them no chance to end their own lives. The underground prison was slowly transforming into a hell filled with maddening fear.
It was not clear what the cruel new emperor truly wanted, but whenever he visited during the torture, he would silently watch before leaving. After he left, the tortured prisoner would always end up dead, and another would be dragged in to begin a new round of torture. As a result, the prisoners saw the emperor as the most terrifying being.
As Sethian exited the underground prison, he could see only the pitch-black sky. He looked up for a moment, then began to take a step when…
“Can you stop now?”
Turning at the exhausted voice, Sethian found Roa, his face as haggard as his voice, gazing at him with a pleading look.
“Isn't this too cruel, even for prisoners?”
There were no more prisoners left who hadn’t been tortured to the point of death. Once they had all been tortured and killed, those with the heaviest crimes would die one by one, and if there were no more prisoners, the new emperor would create an evil law to keep the torture chambers full.
“You should be grateful that I'm the emperor.”
Sethian didn’t even look at Roa as he continued walking. If there were no need to maintain his position as emperor, he might have thrown everyone—regardless of their crimes—into the torture chambers and wielded the blood-stained tools himself by now.
“Get some sleep for two hours, then come back.”
“… Yes.”
Roa’s eyes, shaking with uncertainty, lowered as he slumped his shoulders. Meanwhile, Sethian and Renoc walked away without hesitation.
Roa, staring at their disappearing figures, leaned back against the stone tower wall and collapsed onto the floor with a heavy thud.
“Ugh…”
Even after taking a deep breath, he still felt like something was stuck inside him, and he couldn’t breathe freely.
‘At this rate, the emperor really will kill every prisoner.’
Once the last of the prisoners was tortured to death, who would Sethian direct his sword at next? He didn’t want to think about it, so he grabbed his head with both hands and started pulling at his hair.
‘What should I do, Your Majesty?’
The "Your Majesty" in his thoughts was referring to someone else, not Sethian. Roa sighed again as he remembered his old friend, the former emperor, who would never be seen again.
‘You knew this would happen. Then why did you say such things to Lord Joo Yi-Gyeol?’
The former emperor had told Joo Yi-Gyeol everything about how he was living by cutting away Sethian’s lifespan. By then he must already have known what kind of personality and disposition Joo Yi-Gyeol had, so why had he revealed everything? It was something even Sethian had kept silent about.
‘What were you thinking?’
The former emperor must have known that, blaming himself, Joo Yi-Gyeol would leave Sethian’s side. And that, to win him back, Sethian would stop at nothing.
What in the world had the former emperor wanted from Joo Yi-Gyeol and Sethian? What had he wanted them to gain and what had he wanted them to lose?
His long-time friend and eternal emperor had closed his eyes without ever providing an answer. Now, all Roa could do was watch the new emperor’s actions with a bitter, anguished heart.
When Sethian entered his bedroom with Renoc waiting outside, he stood for a moment at the door, gazing around. After a moment, he furrowed his brow and called Renoc inside.
“Didn’t I tell you to keep the room warm? Bring in more braziers.”
“Understood.”
Renoc’s eyes rolled as he scanned the room.
Since a few days ago, Sethian had asked for the room to be kept warm, so the attendants had been lighting many candles during the day and bringing in several braziers. They opened the door to let sunlight in whenever it came, and if the wind grew too strong, they would quickly shut the door to keep the warmth inside. Even now, as the bedroom door opened, a strong warmth greeted him, but Sethian still seemed to feel cold.
After Renoc left and the door was shut, the attendants brought in two more braziers to warm the room. Despite six braziers now warming the space, Sethian still seemed unsatisfied.
He unbuttoned a few of his shirt’s buttons and stood beside the bed. Looking down at Joo Yi-Gyeol, who was lying soundly asleep, his tense eyes seemed to soften a little.
“Joo Yi-Gyeol.”
He called Joo Yi-Gyeol’s name, but, of course, there was no response.
Climbing onto the bed, Sethian pressed his ear to Joo Yi-Gyeol’s chest. His steady heartbeat, perfectly rhythmic and peaceful, contrasted with Sethian’s troubled thoughts. He reached up and gently stroked Joo Yi-Gyeol’s warm cheek, then ran his fingertips across his soft lips. After that, he slipped his fingers into Joo Yi-Gyeol’s mouth, pried his lips open, and kissed him. He lingered, gently exploring his mouth before finally pulling away.
This was something he did every time he returned to the bedroom: checking for any changes in Joo Yi-Gyeol's body, or if perhaps his soul had returned. Joo Yi-Gyeol’s body, enchanted with high-level preservation magic, had been kept alive by a sliver of vitality, allowing him to stay in Sethian’s bedroom. According to Roa, if any significant changes occurred in Joo Yi-Gyeol’s body, the magic would break. He had also said the same would happen if Joo Yi-Gyeol’s soul returned. But the magic had not yet broken.
Pulling Joo Yi-Gyeol close, Sethian pulled the blanket up to Joo Yi-Gyeol’s neck. Despite the warmth from the many braziers, the room still seemed cold, almost frigid. At least, holding Joo Yi-Gyeol made the cold feel less intense.
‘Still not enough.’
The warmth, it wasn’t enough.
Sethian pulled Joo Yi-Gyeol tighter, burying his face in his hair. It felt as though Joo Yi-Gyeol’s scent had become faint.
“Come back…”
He whispered, kissing Joo Yi-Gyeol’s forehead.
“Come back, Joo Yi-Gyeol.”
He continued to whisper, kissing each eyelid. Every time he did so, his heart broke a little more.
Sethian’s bedroom was still filled with an unshakable cold.
After spending a long time in the state of a soul, the concept of sleep becomes strange. While sleep is essential for the physical recovery of humans, souls don’t require it, and Joo Yi-Gyeol didn’t even know how to sleep anymore.
This made everything even more confusing.
How many days had passed since he entered this space? Where was he even going?
‘Am I doomed to wander like this forever?’
Surrounded by blue light, Joo Yi-Gyeol couldn’t tell if he was heading in the right direction or how far he had gone. No matter how far he traveled, all he saw was a blue world.
After stepping into the blue-enclosed space through the dimensional door, Joo Yi-Gyeol was thrown out of Eda’s body as soon as he entered. Eda, despairing in a space where she could not even use magic, must have wandered off searching for an exit, because before long she was nowhere to be seen.
Joo Yi-Gyeol, flying through the space, eventually stopped, unable to continue. He simply stood still, endlessly thinking.
What was Sethian doing? He must have escaped safely with the knight order. Did he realize I was gone? Perhaps he might even miss me a little. Or maybe he’s already forgotten me. If he’s waiting, I don’t want him to wait.
All his thoughts were consumed by Sethian. The worry and thoughts about him piled up, and Joo Yi-Gyeol spent his time reminiscing about their memories together.
But then, he hit his limit.
The loneliness and sadness were overwhelming, and he couldn’t keep his mind clear. The desire to return clashed with the thought that he shouldn’t return, both feelings crushing him relentlessly.
Even if I wanted to return, I can’t.
I’ll never meet Sethian again.
The words were meant to hurt himself, and they pierced him like a cold, icy blade.
‘If I could live perfectly fine even without vitality, I could still see Sethian, right?’
Just being near the person you love can cause them great harm. Like with my family, I didn’t want to live at the cost of someone else’s sacrifice, especially not Sethian, who had given me a new life.
‘But still, I want to be with Sethian.’
Tears that didn’t exist seemed to fall.
I want to live. I want to live. I want to live.
I want to live. I want to live. I want to live.
I want to live. I want to live. I want to live.
He tried stopping himself, telling himself these were thoughts he shouldn’t have, but once they broke free, they came rushing out like a dam had been broken, unstoppable. The pain felt as though his nonexistent heart was being torn apart.
At that moment, when he was drowning in loneliness and pain, feeling like his mind was about to shatter…
He saw something in the distance that wasn’t blue. It was something small and golden, and when he looked closer, he realized it took the form of a butterfly.
Joo Yi-Gyeol was drawn to it as if hypnotized. The butterfly fluttered its wings slowly, guiding him somewhere, just as he had once flowed toward Sethian’s world when they first met.
By the time he had gotten close enough to grab the golden butterfly, had he had a body, the scenery that had once been all blue suddenly changed in the blink of an eye.
What he saw was a long alleyway bathed in warm sunlight. The golden butterfly was nowhere to be found, and beyond the alley were buildings of a style that couldn’t be found in the Empire.
The alley and scenery felt strangely familiar, and as he absentmindedly turned his gaze, he looked behind him. On the dead-end wall, there was a faint, delicate magic circle carved into it—something he wouldn’t have noticed had he not looked closely. Beneath it, a long flowerbed bloomed with irises resembling Idelo, their vibrant petals shining brightly.
He had no time to feel joy at having escaped the desert-like space and entered somewhere entirely different.
In the distance, the sharp sound of a car horn rang out, so clear and distinct.
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