traitor chapter 8

But that also meant he didn’t want that favor to be shared, especially not with a foreign prince. “Rest assured. I bestow my divine power on only a select few, including yourself. The prince will receive no such blessing.” Unlike a few days prior, she soothed and reassured her confidant, who was repeating the same concerns.

Despite this undeniably generous treatment, Leonhardt remained silent, showing no outward reaction. Diana sighed softly. Leonhardt’s behavior was strange. But as emperor, she had too much on her plate to dwell on it. She would have to summon him again after the meeting, to talk and either persuade or reprimand him. “You may leave for now. We’ll speak again after the meeting.”

“And the matter of succession… is that also unchanged? Do you still intend to take the Tebon prince…?”

“That is not your concern.”

He remained silent, his head bowed. After a moment, she heard the sound of him controlling his erratic breathing. “As you wish, Your Majesty… if that is your will…” Trailing off as if reluctant, Leonhardt straightened, his face as stoic as it was before battle. He left the waiting room before she could dismiss him. What is he thinking? He had come unbidden, repeatedly making statements unlike his usual loyal self, and then left just as abruptly. There must be a reason. Perhaps he’s troubled. Diana generously overlooked her confidant’s unusual behavior and prepared for the upcoming meeting. She assumed it was nothing serious, and even if it were, she could handle it. She knew Leonhardt’s loyalty better than anyone. An unwavering trust, perhaps even blind faith. It blinded her. At the meeting that followed, Diana found herself massaging her temples.

“My aide… didn’t he inform you of today’s meeting?” Her gaze flickered across the empty table in the dimly lit, almost unlit room. Her bewildered expression turned to Ruby, the clerk who had just entered the meeting room, equally perplexed.

“I properly informed all the ministers of the meeting. I received no word of any absences. I was in my office until an hour before the meeting, preparing the agenda, and there was no mention of anyone being unable to attend. There must be some misunderstanding. I can summon the ministers now…”

Thud. Ruby’s words were cut short as the open meeting room door slammed shut. With the hallway light extinguished, the room plunged into near darkness. The man gripping the doorknob turned slightly. It was Monet. “I informed the ministers that today’s meeting was canceled.”

His subdued voice echoed in the darkness, his pale skin and violet eyes unsettling. Diana quietly clenched her fists. With her favored chancellor delivering such a message, the ministers would have had no reason to doubt. That was why the meeting room was empty. “You disliked my decision to take the prince as a concubine so much that you forcibly canceled the meeting, Chancellor?”

“Canceled the meeting…?”

“Even if you delay the meeting and attempt to persuade me this way, it won’t change anything. This will be addressed with disciplinary action.”

Monet scoffed. Astonishingly, the man everyone believed to be a loyal subject was mocking the emperor he so revered. A chill ran down Diana’s spine. A sense of foreboding washed over her, a prickling sensation at the back of her neck. “Chancellor!” An enraged Ruby raised her voice, about to lunge at him, but Diana raised a hand to stop her. This was not the time for anger. This was no ordinary situation. She sensed it instinctively.

Ruby bit her lip in frustration as Monet spoke, a smile playing on his lips. “Canceling the meeting is hardly the extent of my actions. What would be the point of delaying a meeting that will inevitably reconvene? And of course, Your Majesty, I didn’t orchestrate this to try and sweet-talk you.”

As soon as his insolent and ominous words ended, something sprayed from the darkness. A viscous liquid drenched her hair and coated her skin. It smelled like ink. Feeling dizzy, Diana quickly reached for the table in front of her. The solid table crumbled beneath her touch, unable to support her weight, like sand swallowing her hand. Her body lurched forward.

Nearby, Ruby frantically tried to cast a magic circle. Normally, Diana would have reacted first, but strangely, she felt powerless. The white circle flickered into existence before her, then sputtered and died. A curse slipped from Ruby’s lips.

Diana narrowed her eyes, struggling to maintain consciousness. Suppression spells, interference spells… high-level spells were tangled together, making it impossible to grasp them all at once. Her own magical power felt faint, as if it had been drained from her. She was utterly helpless. Splash, splash. Water rose around her feet. An unfamiliar magical energy pulsed around her, laced with malice. There was only one person who could stop this. “Monet!” Staggering, she searched for him. Even in her blurred vision, she found his silhouette and fixed her gaze on him. “Stop this now, and I will forgive you.”

She managed to speak with authority, her voice laced with anger, without stuttering, pausing, or drawing out her words. The figure in the darkness stirred. “Stop…?” He seemed to be laughing, his shoulders shaking. Her vision darkened, making it impossible to be sure. Her body continued to sink. Even Ruby’s voice, close by, was fading. Everything blurred like a thick fog.

“It’s both touching and regrettable that you placed such trust in me, Your Majesty. And I resent it.” Only Monet’s voice remained clear.

“Insolent wretch.” With those words, Diana succumbed to the darkness.