Caught by the Emperor

She picked up the sword that gleamed coldly with killing intent.

Her own blurred reflection surfaced along the blade.

“Do you like the gift?”

A sudden presence pressed in close behind her.

Startled, her fingertips jerked, and the dagger slipped free.

With a sharp metallic clang, it rolled across the floor.

Despite having honed her instincts as an assassin since childhood, Chloe failed to sense Hector slipping onto the terrace at all.

“Your Majesty.”

“Hector.”

He corrected her softly.

Seemingly pleased by her startled eyes, the corner of his full lips curved upward.

Being forced into familiarity weighed on her.

As a gesture of refusal, she folded her knees neatly and knelt.

“I can no longer bear the honor of Your Majesty’s august name.”

“Please withdraw the command.”

Hector tilted his head slightly.

The arrogance befitting a ruler who commanded the world clung to him.

Displeasure leaked through even the smallest motion.

Defying his firm will any further would likely be taken as rebellion.

Chloe whispered in a shrinking voice.

“Hector….”

Perhaps he had been about to retire for the night.

He wore a thin sleeping robe.

The loosely fastened front revealed his chest down to the hollow of his sternum, and his hair fell softly over his forehead.

Feet clad in finely tanned mules approached without a sound and stopped at her toes.

He caught her small, wandering hand that had dropped the dagger and brought it to his lips.

“You call me quite obscenely.”

His shifting lips and the suggestive warmth of his breath tickled her palm.

At the suffocating closeness, she grew restless.

She wanted to push him away.

She wanted to escape.

His overt masculinity made her uncomfortable.

Did she really give off a sexually inviting air?

Chloe could not tell.

She knew she had pleasing features, but she did not consider herself seductive.

If anything, she thought she leaned more toward stirring protective instincts.

A large hand settled on her delicate shoulder.

Though he was not forcing her, her entire body felt as if it were shrinking inward.

The pressure filling her lungs made it hard to breathe.

“……”

She no longer wanted to create any connection with Hector.

With the evidence of murder right before her eyes, she was completely at his mercy, but even so, she wanted to get through this moment somehow.

Floundering in the awkward silence, Chloe lowered her gaze.

The hand on her shoulder slid along her neckline and lifted her chin.

“The one who stepped forward as an adopted son was quite spirited.”

“Did you have no child with your former husband?”

His clear gaze felt as though it pierced straight through her.

For a moment, Philip Larouge’s aging, wrinkled face overlapped with Hector’s, a man said to be beloved by the gods.

“Yes.”

“With looks like yours, why?”

“Was the bed unsatisfying?”

To a question anyone might ask, she gave the answer she had prepared.

“My husband was homosexual.”

The count had poured his efforts into molding a woman to seduce the Emperor.

By offering his wife to the Emperor, he aimed to obtain every privilege imaginable in return.

That was why, among countless girls, Chloe had been chosen and seated as countess.

Naturally, Chloe had no experience with men.

Her first was meant to belong to the Emperor.

Still, a marriage without marital relations would raise suspicion, so Philip had framed himself as someone inclined toward men.
The truth, that he had toyed with numerous women, was buried.

“Then you must not have done much of that.”

It was blunt phrasing, unbefitting an Emperor. Though he spoke casually of s*x, his gaze remained heavy.

She could not read Hector’s thoughts at all.

Judging by how he only observed her, he did not seem convinced.

He must have encountered countless attempts to push women into his bed, so his reaction was understandable.

It was a relief that he did not bother exposing the lie outright.

“In truth… not at all.”

Embarrassed by how transparent her answer sounded, her voice trailed off.

Hector gave a quiet snort of laughter.

“That’s rather strange.”

“If you wanted to continue the line, shouldn’t you have taken medicine and forced the issue?”

The crude words stabbed into her ears.

Did he believe her?

Or was he half-doubting her and probing?

For someone who seemed impossible to deceive to act this way only confused her further.

“Since you asked about something shameful, I had no choice but to answer plainly.”

Hector was an unfathomable man. He had been the same in her previous life. Chloe could never grasp how his mind worked.

Still, she noticed one thing.

Hector was showing her an extraordinary level of interest.

It was not the same pattern as before.

In her previous life, their first meeting had been charged with impulsive desire.

But the Hector before her now narrowed his eyes, examining her with a sticky, deliberate interest.

It was the look of someone amused by a stone suddenly disturbing the stagnant surface of a dull life.

She had to be cautious.

Emperor Hector Montparnasse was infamous as one of the most cruel men on the continent.

Just because she had once been favored did not mean it would be the same again.

From the moment she killed the count at the villa, the flow of fate had changed drastically.

The only thing unchanged was that the wheel of destiny tying her to this man had begun turning again.

“Shame….”

“To my eyes, you seem to be enjoying this.”

The hand that had been caressing her chin slid down smoothly, like gliding over ice.

It brushed her collarbone and continued lower.

Since she had been preparing for bed, her clothing was as thin as his.

The few weak buttons at the front barely held back his improper advance.

His fingertips swam into the valley of her chest.

The loose fabric stretched under his pulling force and gave way.

The pale curves of her breasts were exposed.

She could not endure it any longer.

Unable to tell what she was supposed to endure or what she should release, Chloe retreated hastily.

“No.”

Her front caught on his hook-curved fingers.

With a dull pop, the button came undone.

The opening widened, revealing her bare body.

Her flawless, pale skin shimmered like it had been dusted with pearl powder even under the dim candlelight.

Her naturally fine complexion stood out clearly despite the cramped space of her clothing.

The soft sleeping robe slid down helplessly.

Her foot tangled, and she stumbled unintentionally.

Her breasts bounced, her chest fluttering like a fledgling bird.

Overcome by a surge of humiliation, she hurriedly covered herself.

Her gaze darted about in panic before she finally glanced up at him.

His sharp gaze, like a spear hurled at full speed, was fixed on her face.

He had never once looked away, having watched her expression the entire time.

Only she had panicked and clutched her chest.

Hector had not even looked at it.

“Didn’t you say you weren’t enjoying this.”

A bitter sneer hung at the corner of his raised lips.

It was as if he had proven that Chloe was the one who had dragged the situation into vulgarity.

He had merely watched with interest, while she alone had misunderstood and rushed ahead.

What had happened earlier in the pavilion resurfaced in her mind.

She had offered to give him “whatever he desired” to deal with Guillaume.

He had not only refused but been clearly displeased.

Was she nothing more than an amusing spectacle to him, not a bedmate?

If so, then her panic over the disheveled robe may have backfired.

Shame flooded her, and her heart turned cold.

Hector tapped her front lightly and stepped back.

Then he lifted his chin broadly, like a conqueror returning with abundant spoils.

Watching her face drain of color with interest, he summoned an attendant and had the box taken away.

“I’ll retrieve these unsightly items myself.”

“You should rest peacefully.”

Chloe could only watch helplessly as the evidence of her crime fell into his hands.

She had been completely caught.

Whenever she closed her eyes, the past resurfaced vividly.

Chloe had been nothing more than a tool to warm the Emperor’s bed.

She was constantly tossed about by his whims.

He toyed with her so severely that even the maids worried.

Enduring his inhuman temperament left her body in ruins.

But that near-torturous bed life lasted only as long as he was interested in her body.

Once his interest cooled, Hector discarded her without hesitation.

He had never given her even a scrap of affection to begin with.

She had thought, at the very least, some physical attachment must have formed.

That, too, had been nothing but her foolish hope.

Standing at the pinnacle with everything in his grasp, he was used only to receiving.

He demanded complete devotion, even one’s soul, yet offered not even a speck of his own heart.

Once her value was gone, she had no reason left to live.

The result was the execution ground.