“Congrats, you’ve involved yourself again. Keep up the good work.”


    Ett muttered to herself, she snorted while staring at the bloodied hands she got from clumsily slipping a while ago.


    Ugh. That young man looks exactly like the novel’s illustration of the male lead who will destroy the Adiand Empire, exterminating the blood of Adiand Royalties.


    But it was not him. She was sure it’s not that young man. He even admitted that the name she mentioned was his sister’s name. There’s some loophole in this context. The sickly woman was 25 years old and unmarried as she is weak. Too weak. As to what extent, Ett doesn’t know.


    “Hah.”


    In the story, although the Ett in the novel likes to scheme things there was one family that she didn’t touch either because she wasn’t bothered or she does not feel the need to because they are neutral.


    That is the family of the male lead. They were never really open to whom they side with, but this would be the first for the Neutral ones. If, and only if it goes well.


    “I really hate thinking…”


    However, when Guren insulted the female lead for being annoyingly positive for him, that was the start of their head-on argument. If the male lead would treat the Emperor 50% formality and 50% neutrality, after that it was 100% baring fangs as long as it is regarding the female lead.


    Going back, the revelations about an assassin in the first banquet opened by the little Emperor only state that they are just hired by someone from the north and not the head itself. Saying so, both had the benefit of the doubt even when hiring to kill someone from either side, it was equal between nobilities and royalties.


    “Hmm.”


    There is still no news about assassinating someone from the Noble Factions. Usually, Akan would come running after her when he had found something juicy to tell.


    “Noice.” She should take advantage of this.


    Now she truly knows why the Ett in the novel didn’t come to the next bouquet and so as the other ones. She became temporarily homophobic, this was not the time of the Great Massacre where she truly became numb and became extremely ruthless to the max.


    The ‘Ett’ in the novel didn’t discover the young man’s identity who is presumed to be Ralis. Instead, fear took over her, and then fainted. She doesn’t know why, but the conclusion she can derived from this is ‘Ett’ fainted, and the young man didn’t kill her for some reason.


    Yet, this results in Ralis’ downfall because the Emperor after discovering what happened in the first-ever banquet made his own move as a warning to others and kept his main pawn hidden, his mother.


    Very good, that kind of neutrality will soon be broken between the North and the royalties. So, what if it’s part of the male lead’s family? She will just have to push herself to think about how to deal with the mishaps that shall occur for future gain.


    For now, it’s the most beneficial. As the saying goes: strike while the iron is hot.


    If the death of Ralis was one of the reason the ML turned his back on the empire and rebelled as well as the female lead being the final trigger, then this time there would be a change.


    Ett was so into her thoughts that when she looks ahead, she is already at the back of the palace, far from her own place.


    “Cough. Where is this…?”


    “The Empress Dowager is truly admirable.”


    Yes?


    !?


    Guren was propped up against one of the pillars, his eyes never leaving her. His viridian eyes glowed in the darkness, emotionless, as he looked at her. Ett admired the way his features had been put together, making him look incredibly handsome and adorable. No. This is not the time to think about that.


    Ett did not utter any reply, as there was nothing to say, and even if there is, she IS still will not say anything. How long had he watched her? Followed her? Eek, that’s creepy if he followed her. Coincidence, yeah, let’s says it’s coincidence.


    “Death is not foreordained. I appear to still lack the skill of tact.”


    Even after hearing it Ett just walks casually while her mind is full of mantra ‘ignore him, ignore him, ignore him.’


    What death is not foreordained?


    So, you’ve seen it and really, followed me?! Dude.


    This kid was there all the time, listening and watching her. Why was he even there?! Did this happen in the novel? Was this why that young man was killed and Guren just devised a scheme? A loophole? Well, it makes sense.


    Ett had too many questions in her mind while still performing her chant.


    Stolen story; please report.


    “You can’t even look at your son.”


    She paused, feeling a shiver as if someone''s eyes were drilling a hole into her back.


    It’s not that I really can’t look at you, well part of it. But, once contact is ensured, chains of events may arise. I don’t want that yet. I’ll follow the story quietly, so don’t bother with your highly attained perceptiveness!


    A memory in the novel triggered Ett, the sentence she read was closely familiar to what Guren just uttered, ‘Even in the face of death you still can’t look at me. That expression of yours would never be mine’. He spoke of it with his typical lack of sentiment, yet that instant seemed to be touched with emotion. After saying that he killed his mother.


    As a reader who read from the beginning until the end of her life and had a soft spot for villains, at that moment she had felt how painful it is for Guren. The old her had her heart all for him and she was extremely saddened when he died alone and abandoned.


    Even if he was a villain, he was not truly like any serial killers she watched in documentaries. Their mother and son relationship were complex, yet even when Guren became an adult, it was possible that there was a tiny little bit of light even though lost in all hopes for years, a speck of dust to see the reaction of her mother sprouted. Yet it failed.


    She is extremely aware of this, and still, she is continuing Ett’s footsteps. Of course, she wants to save him, she really does. But she also fears OOC’ing and changes are something she does not want to happen. Afraid to step out of the box.


    It will lead to unpredictability. Her being Ett already had made silent changes, the more she does not know the harder it gets to scheme and see the process of the end.


    Ett looked up at the stars, she sides glanced a cold tone full of indifference rang in the air, “Huh.”


    Aiyo, this is troublesome. These kinds of feelings are truly troublesome.


    Why put me in this novel?


    Do you want me to be like the other earthlings that will patch up the mother and son relationship while thinking of ways to save him? To not be blackened? And then what? Have a male lead on my own? Or finding his father and then we will become a family? If not, a stepfather? Happily eve after?


    No, maybe I’ll die along the way, and like any other novel a step-mom that is also a fellow earthling will come to care more about the Emperor. Ah, what a joke.


    Ett’s mind was full of curses as she departed.


    ***


    On the other hand, Guren watched as his mother, who was even smaller than him, yet with an aura like the mountains of ice that never melted even in summer, more frigid in winter than any foe he had ever encountered, walked away, gradually becoming obscured from his sight.


    “Even today.”


    Nothing has been altered.


    Guren had a dream, a dream that was so vivid and blurry it happened when he was on the battlefield after being unconscious for about three months.


    A vision that was neither fast nor slow at the same time turbulent and muddy as he witness a piece of what has happened only to realize it when the Empress Dowager went missing.


    She was cruel to him in her dream just like she always was, he was about to fall into another territory, rescuing her then just three weeks ago before the assassin came to murder him he dreamt of that frame, then a party, it flashed by when he realized he became tall holding his sword realizing he stabbed someone, his own mother.


    Nevertheless, even in that dream her eyes were dull and held no interest. Would that come true in the future too? He was annoyed by that dream, and tested to find her mother when the banquet was being held a while ago.


    Ha, to think it turns out those fragments of his dream that he put in the effort to piece together were true even if some events change from before. However, as he observed, the little girl that he calls a mother seemed colder than what he was reminded of.


    Nothing change regarding her so-called mother.


    “Can all dreams come true?”


    Guren wondered, staring at the distant pavement where his mother left off. He had never believed in second life, much now. That dream also does not feel like a memory. Ah, is this what he heard before as a lucid dream?


    “Your Majesty, I finally found you. Her Grace, the Dowager…”


    It was Xiwen rushing up to him.


    “The Northern Duke, is he in the banquet?”


    “No, Your Grace. It’s his eldes .t son, Veralis came as the representative.”


    “Keep watch, they’ll be more useful than the rest of the guests today.”


    Butler Xiwen stilled.


    What just happen? Just before, the Emperor was planning to exterminate the northern nobles. He even prepared such a grand plan ready to be executed a month after this banquet. Did he not, and Archduke Froiz found testimony of their secret meeting?


    “The Dowager has a greater plan than mine.”


    The way that the Emperor is looking far away…Butler Xiwen had a thought, he met his mother?


    “Understood. Then, do you wish to go back to the banquet?”


    “Cumbersome.”


    “Then I will assume responsibility for the rest. Your Majesty ought to rest.”


    Butler Xiwen who is also the one representing the Emperor glances at the side before turning back to the banquet.


    “Mhmmm.”


    A second later, his right-hand man, Archduke Larak Froiz walked next to him. His chestnut hair was on a high ponytail, tall and graceful as he genuflected at Guren. “Your Majesty, I invited the child to your Drawing Room.”


    Guren nodded, his gaze imperceptible. Considering the passing faces in his dream he drew those he caught sight before they started fading in his mind more or less some were non-existent but this child who seems a little older than he is, actually existed in life.


    Arriving at the Drawing Room, a young boy at 13 was sitting uncomfortably on one of the seats. Seeing the two people at the door, with one child younger than him, he quickly bowed.


    “Greetings to the Firmament of Adiand, the Sun and Moon of the people. This humble servant, Lativ éclair Mairn Yushon pays his respect to His Majesty and the Archduke of Froiz.”


    A stifled silence pervaded the air, Lativ didn’t dare raise his head. Something about His Majesty who is not less young than him feels like he was towering over him. As if what he is facing now is not based on age, but on a ruler that is of greater caliber than his father. He was extremely nervous.


    No, he must remain calm. Even though it is his first time seeing His Majesty up close, he must restrain his curiosity lest his head would be sent to the guillotine! It is all known and rumored how cruel the Adiand royalties are to those that defied them. Seeing their closest person is also like seeing the Emperor himself. How much more now that he is in front of him? Noble. He must act like a noble.


    “So, you''re ‘him‘.”


    Lativ''s brow furrowed as he heard the Emperor pronounce three words he had difficulty comprehending.


    Him who?