쓰면 뱉고 달면 삼켰더니 : I Spit It Out and Swallowed It When It Was Sweet by 꿀밤비
Chapter 1
“Take that bitch with you right now.”
The Emperor's cold voice commanded.
Following the order, the knights approached Elia.
“Your Majesty?”
Frightened, she hesitated and backed away, only to be captured by the knights.
'Why?'
Late at night, Elia ran to the emperor's call for a month.
But it was a strange day.
Because the face of my father, whom I believed would greet me with a smile, was as cold as ice.
What about the knights who tried to arrest me, and what about the servants who kept their expressionless faces without showing any signs of surprise?
'You must be very worried.'
Elia could not hide her worry as she turned to the emperor.
Empire Amaranta.
The Empire, which had been leading the Golden Age, was in great confusion due to a sudden cataclysm.
One day the sun suddenly disappeared. No, it was eaten.
'A transparent beast appeared and swallowed the sun.'
The huge beast, which appeared from nowhere, ate up the sun and quietly disappeared.
The whole world then went dark, and only artificially created lights were sparsely illuminating the pitch-transparent darkness.
But there is a limit to creating light with a magic stone.
Due to this, scholars and priests are said to be the best of the empire. Even the magician had to work hard to find the cause of this.
The Emperor's worries never dried up, and Elia, as the Princess, was also worried about the future of the Empire.
Elia thought of this as she moved at her father's call.
'Maybe you need me?'
I was kind of excited.
Among the descendants of the imperial family with outstanding abilities, Elia was an ugly princess with no special features or cleverness.
'The Emperor's useless finger.'
That was Elia's nickname.
But she didn't even deny the slander. Because it was true.
Even though she was compared to her half-brother and sister, she always felt sorry and grateful to her family.
It wasn't that Elia was a Princess from the start.
She was Count La Pasha's illegitimate child, and she had lived only knowing that she was such an illegitimate child.
'A dancer who was the Count's concubine. And a child born of the Emperor who touched the dancer.'
One day, the Emperor suddenly declared that he would find out his lineage, and the truth was revealed.
That child was Elia. She found out about the fact that even the Count did not know about it because of the Emperor.
'I have a real family.'
After entering the imperial family, Elia enjoyed immense wealth and family love.
The Empress, whom she thought would hate her as well as her father the Emperor, and the crown prince, even the youngest princess, all cherished and cared for Elia.
But now, are those cold eyes really looking at her daughter?
“The play is finally over. I am very sick of it.”
The Emperor turned his back on the knights. A low-pitched voice pierced Elia's ears at once.
'It's a play?'
Elia's screams suddenly stopped.
She looked up at the Emperor in disbelief.
His purple eyes, the same color as Elia's, were coldly frozen.
“… … That's a lie... … Yes?"
Elia was shocked and spat out nonsense. In the meantime, the knights faithfully carried out the Emperor's orders.
“Leave this! Let go!”
Elia struggled desperately, but the knights did not budge.
Elia, who had been dragged along for a long time, was pushed into an underground staircase like a prisoner or luggage.
'Oh, I'm scared... … .'
The road below, like the throat of an animal, silenced her.
'Here is… … ?'
The place Elia arrived was in the transparent room.
While she was sitting on the floor, people began to enter the transparent room and the various paths leading to it.
All of them were faces Elia knew.
"Violet… … ? Kanus?”
There, her half-sister and Elia's fiancé stood together.
Elia clearly called them by name, but the two of them looked at each other and talked affectionately, acting as if her voice could not be heard.
“Good thing. My heart sank, wondering if I really had to marry that lowly old woman.”
“Oh, no joke. That's just superficial. The real fiancé is me, me.”
Violet laughed and was taken into Kanus's arms.
She didn't stop with that and encouraged her older brother, Prince Balan.
“Your brother has suffered a lot, too.”
Balan did not answer.
He just looked at Elia with a cold gaze.
Elia was lost in confusion and couldn't do anything.
'Now, what are you talking about?'
Shocked, Elia began to deny reality.
'Violet and Kanus... … Strange. This must be a dream. Okay. It has to be.'
It was the moment when she suppressed her fear and tried to call her love once again.
“Kanus… … !”
“Noisy. At least put a gag on it.”
"Kanus… … Eup, ugh... … !”
At Kanus' nervous words, the knights immediately carried out the order.
A large stone slab was placed in the middle of the large transparent room. Elia, who had her mouth covered, was pulled up on top of it.
At that time, the royal prophet stepped forward.
“Now. At the hour of perfect darkness, if you sacrifice someone of royal blood, the sun will shine again toward the Amaranta Empire.”
When the one who foretold all features except catastrophe announced it, the crowd cheered.
'Offer. The sun is gone. The blood of the royal family.'
The three questions began to merge like pieces of a puzzle in Elia's head.
Only two royal family members were born in the Beros imperial family at the time.
Regardless of gender, the law of blood was so established that there were no illegitimate children in the imperial family.
The first person to break that rule was Elia.
Elia believed that the reason the emperor brought her was because the royal descendant was precious for generations. However,
“Let the ceremony take place.”
The magic circle under the slate glowed red at the same time as the emperor's words.
At the same time, Elia wriggled. It was getting hot as if the stone slab had been heated.
“Eup, uh uh… … !”
The burning pain continued.
A terrible caustic pain consumed Elia's consciousness, but she could hardly close her eyes.
Looking at those widened eyes, Violet smiled.
“Did you really think you were part of our family?”
Those who claimed to be Elia's family. Even her fiancée, whom she loved so much, all cheated on her.
Elia only realized that fact right before his death.
'It was all a lie.'
Everything was in vain. On the contrary, everything was hateful.
It was the time when her screams faded and her consciousness faded.
THUD. COOONG!
“What’s going on?”
A huge vibration shook the transparent room.
The Emperor asked the astrologer, but even he couldn't answer properly.
The vibration became even stronger.
Finally, the layers of barriers were broken and a transparent haze shimmered in the air.
“The noble imperial family has been preparing dirty numbers for a long time.”
The man who tore through the air appeared in front of the imperial family.
Pitch-transparent hair and red eyes wide open in the dark. He was a very beautiful man.
His alluring appearance like sparks caught Elia's attention, but he had a very strong aura of evil in him that resembled her death.
'Reaper?'
Elia seemed to be the messenger he had come to pick up or a fallen angel.
Then, one of the members of the royal family murmured.
“Axion Mahart… … .”
A killer with cursed powers.
The ripple effect of that name was enormous.
Axion walked towards Elia, ignoring the royal family's murmurs.
"It's already too late this way."
The man who checked Elia's condition briefly clicked his tongue.
The man took Elia in his arms and extinguished the fire on her body. However, Elia's body was already beyond repair.
“Awesome! Dare to interrupt a sacred ceremony... … !”
Even if the Emperor shouted, all of Elia's five senses were focused on the man.
The man reached out and covered Elia's eyes.
"Stop… … Kill me... … .”
Even while dying, consciousness remained, so the pain continued.
If I can't live, I want to die.
Axion answered Elia's request.
“I will grant your wish.”
transparent magic wrapped around Elia's body.
Everyone was cursed. It was magic pointing fingers, but at this moment, it seemed to Elia like a warm night hugging her.
'Cozy.'
Elia felt the warmth of others for the last time.
When Axion withdrew his hand, Elia could no longer open her eyes.
In front of those she thought were her real family, Elia passed away in the arms of others.