By Zephyria 
There are people in the world who have to put their hands in the fire to know it’s hot.
No matter how much you tell them not to, that they’ll get hurt, they don’t listen. They haven’t experienced it themselves, so they mistakenly believe they can endure it.
Everyone else gets burned and hurts, but I’ll be fine. Surely the injury won’t be that bad. I’m sure I’ll be the only one who doesn’t get hurt.
They mutter as if hypnotized, shove their hands into the fire, and end up a complete mess. And they all regret it.
I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have bothered. I should have just listened. It’s the biggest mistake of my life. It hurts so much. It’s agonizing. I feel like I’m going to die. Please, save me. I shouldn’t have come here in the first place.
“A fine mess you’ve made.”
With every breath, an unpleasant wheezing sound could be heard, as if there was a hole in his lung. He couldn’t even speak properly; his lips kept moving, but no sound came out.
“I told you to stay put and act like you were dead instead of doing such useless things.”
“…….”
“Even after gathering you all and teaching you, you couldn’t understand. All of it was just a waste of time.”
“…….”
A dark, bluish face turned towards me. Staring at eyes with bloodshot veins and no visible whites, I felt chills and a surge of nausea.
Ignoring my churning stomach, I forced my mouth open.
“How can you be so clueless after being in the Imperial Castle for so long? Why on earth would you do that?”
What’s the point of asking now? Even if I knew the reason, it wouldn’t mean anything. But I couldn’t stand the curiosity. There were a few brainless people around, but they weren’t the type to take such initiative on their own.
“Are you in too much pain to speak?”
“…….”
“Endure it and open your mouth. You’re going to die soon anyway. Use all your strength to bear it and speak.”
“…….”
It wasn’t the first time they’d drunk poison, but why were they suddenly doing such a thing, as if they’d all gone mad? Did they think the Emperor would listen if they begged and pleaded and cried like that?
Everyone died overnight, and I was just dumbfounded and speechless.
I stared silently at Jia, who was dying quickly every second, without even blinking. My eyes felt so sore and stinging that tears threatened to fall, but I didn’t close them.
If I took my eyes off her even for a moment and she died in the meantime, I wouldn’t get an answer after all.
“Your Highness.”
Jia, whose skin was completely peeled off and whose red lips twitched several times, finally spoke. Could that even be called a voice? It was a bizarre timbre, a mix of the sound of scraping metal and escaping air.
Suddenly, anger surged at that terrible voice. The heat that couldn’t escape swirled between my chest and solar plexus.
“Are you…….”
“…….”
“Are you alright…….”
“…….”
The anger that felt like it would explode was extinguished like a lamp before the wind by that weak and faint voice.
To open her mouth and utter such insignificant words while dying, like a sewer rat worrying about a cat.
Like a beheaded corpse, the wick was cut off, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t light it anymore.
As if a dam had collapsed, something invisible poured out from every corner of my body. I carelessly shed, discarded, and dropped everything, unable to distinguish between good and bad, and stared silently at Jia’s face.
It was an ordinary day. As always, I followed my routine yesterday. I did think it was strangely quiet today.
Sakira, who usually chattered beside me, was nowhere to be seen, and neither was the guard who followed me around with a towel, telling me to take care of my health when I trained. The Servant, who always brought me something to drink while resting because it was hot, didn’t come today either.
I happily enjoyed the long-awaited tranquility. But it didn’t last long.
“Your Highness!”
The moment I heard the sharp voice that pierced my eardrums like a knife, I knew instinctively. Something big had happened.
My heart pounded like crazy with ominous foreboding, but I didn’t show it. Sa Dillin’s Servant took a few breaths and announced with a face like a piglet being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
“Your, Your Majesty is urgently looking for you.”
Normally, I would have gone without complaint. After all, the Servant was just following orders and didn’t know anything. But perhaps because my anxiety was excessive today, I asked a pointless question.
“Why.”
The answer should have been that he didn’t know, but that wasn’t the case.
“That’s…… about, about the retainers…….”
Before the stuttered words were even finished, I moved my body. I had heard countless times that I should never run in the hallway. That I should never show my emotions no matter what happened, and that my clothes should always be neat.
“Your Highness.”
I ran without stopping and almost swung the sword I was holding at a spear blocking my path. When I turned my head, countless gnats were buzzing noisily, covering the knight’s face in a swarm.
“No weapons are allowed beyond this point.”
“…….”
A constant buzzing sound rang in my ears. The sound waves shook my brain and vaporized my blood. What on earth was that? I couldn’t see his face because of the countless bugs, so I couldn’t tell who it was.
But when I closed my eyes and opened them again, the sound, the bugs, everything was gone.
The knight looked troubled as he looked at me, who was lost in thought. I lowered my head and looked at the sword in my hand. I had come straight from training, so I didn’t have time to tidy up my clothes.
I handed the sword I was holding to the knight.
“Thank you.”
I was out of breath, but I kept my mouth shut. I stopped walking slowly along the hallway and turned my head. There wasn’t a single one of those black bugs, just the backs of the knights.
I stared blankly and walked forward again. Every joint in my bones ached every time my foot touched the floor. The image of the physician split in half before my eyes remained like an afterimage, following me.
When I entered the innermost part and the door opened, there were many people there.
“You’ve finally arrived.”
I didn’t look around. I fixed my gaze on the Emperor and moved my feet until I reached him. I knelt down and slammed my head on the floor. Sweat dripped down.
“I greet Sun God Rahan.”
“Raise your head.”
Without any further explanation, the Emperor handed me an empty glass. I received it respectfully with both hands, and he poured wine directly. The sound of filling the empty glass echoed emptily in the wide hall.
“Don’t drink it yet, just hold it.”
“Yes.”
Then he moved his legs. I could see it in my field of vision without having to turn my head. Those who should be following me around and nagging me were all sitting at the table with their heads bowed.
The Emperor poured wine into all the glasses in front of them. It took quite a while because his movements were so slow. Finally, after pouring wine into his own glass, the Emperor took out a small bottle containing a transparent liquid from a drawer.
He dropped just one drop each into the glass I was holding, the glasses of the others, and his own glass.
I could easily tell that it was poison. I didn’t know the taste, but judging from the fact that it had no smell or color, it probably wasn’t ordinary poison.
“Kyle.”
The Emperor called me and reached out his hand. The name that came out of his mouth began to add color to the monochrome world. My hardened, stopped heart beat, and my fixed vision shook violently.
My body trembled at the sudden loss of composure. I bit my tongue and recited the imperial etiquette in my head to calm myself down, but it was no use.
“Stand beside me.”
At those words, I stood up. Standing like a leaf in front of a typhoon, I finally checked those sitting in the chairs.
Pale and bluish faces, red eyes as if they had been crying, parched and dry lips, knuckles clenched into fists and turned white…….
“From now on, when I count to three, everyone empty their glasses. Do you understand?”
“…….”
I didn’t understand the situation. Why suddenly gather everyone and tell them to drink poison? If he was just killing them all because they were an eyesore, I could have accepted it.
But the problem was that there was poison in the Emperor’s glass too.
“Why…….”
Just as I was about to ask, I felt an intense gaze. The Emperor stared at me with eyes like a burning fire.
“Are you going to ask me why again?”
“…….”
“Why did you kill them? Why did you do that? I was just expressing my opinion.”
“…….”
“Again?”
Judging from the fact that he was unusually verbose, I felt like I would get slapped and fly backward like last time if I said any more. If I was alone, I would have shut my mouth at this point, but I had no choice.
“Did they commit an act of disrespect?”
I would be grateful if I could just get hit a few times and be done with it. Even if I floated in the air, crashed into a wall, and bled, even if my eardrums burst. But unfortunately, the Emperor didn’t hit me.
“Then what would you have me do?”
His patience was wearing thin, so much so that it was evident in his expression. Nevertheless, I couldn’t stop.
“If everyone who commits a crime must die, then why does the law exist?”
Having nothing more to say, I asked a question that even I thought was strange. As expected, the Emperor gave the correct answer.
“I am the god of this land.”
“…….”
“I am the law.”
“…….”
I asked a futile question to the great god addicted to drugs and alcohol.
“One.”
I almost burst out laughing at the number that flowed from the Emperor’s mouth. He was planning to poison and kill all these people, but he was now acting like he was playing a prank.
Is this fun?
“Two.”
Killing people?
“Hic…….”
A sob burst from the mouth of one of the Servants who had been silent all along. Starting with that, crying sounds came from here and there.
“Please, save me…….”
He got up from his seat and groveled miserably on the floor, begging for his life in a desperate state.
“Please, save me, Your Majesty. His Highness is still too young…….”
“His body won’t be able to handle it if this continues!”
“Please, reconsider just once! Please, please, Your Majesty!”
I was speechless at the cries that followed. Were these guys crazy? They were completely out of their minds.
“These guys are out of their minds. Stop whining and get up, everyone.”
The Emperor seemed to have the same thought as me, and said with a dumbfounded and hollow expression.
I couldn’t understand why he was gathering them all and going to the trouble of poisoning them to death, but now I think I know.
Could it be that these guys were collectively whining to the Emperor? Telling him not to poison me? Really?
My vision blurred at the certainty that flashed through my mind.
“From now on, if anyone opens their mouth even one word, they will die by my hand before they can even empty their glass.”
As soon as the Emperor finished speaking, the knights waiting at the entrance drew their swords. Even in the sharp and eerie sound of metal scraping, someone bravely spoke.
“Your Majesty, His Highness’s body is currently……!”
The sobbing and whimpering stopped all at once. A sharp sword pierced his chest. Blood, not a voice, flowed from the mouth that had been talking so enthusiastically just a moment ago.
Gurgling, he spat out blood foam and collapsed forward.
“…….”
I checked the face of the knight who had swung the sword. He was a handsome man with long black hair tied loosely. Was he someone who frequented the Emperor’s bedroom? He looked neat at first glance, but upon closer inspection, he seemed to be out of his mind as well.
His eyes were shaking as he looked at the dead body. Not out of fear, but out of faint joy.
“Experience for yourself why it is necessary.”
What.
I took my eyes off the guy I didn’t even want to call a knight and looked at the Emperor. I saw the hollow eyes and dull skin that I hadn’t noticed before, and the blackened fingertips.
I looked at the knight again. It was the same for him too.
“Kyle, drink.”
With those words, the hall turned into a scene of carnage.
People who drank the poison themselves and died vomiting black blood, and people who were skewered by swords like skewers, fell to the floor.
I still couldn’t understand the situation. The Emperor also stared at me like that and emptied his glass, but he was quite fine compared to the people who were convulsing as soon as they drank.
He frowned slightly as if he had drunk bitter liquor and put the empty glass on the table.
“Drink.”
“…….”
Amidst the screams, the Emperor’s voice pierced through accurately.
I suddenly saw blood flowing to the floor and pooling under my feet. I held the glass of poisoned wine and lowered my head.
“Aaaargh!”
“Waaaaaah!”
“Kkeuaaaak!”
What kind of mess was this?
“I said drink.”
I stared silently at my feet, which were wet with blood, and raised my head again.
“Hurry.”
That man is the Sun God who rules the desert. The great Emperor of Actan. The Monarch who rules this country.
“Hurry!”
“…….”
That.