Two gazes met.
Velkirei’s eyes, which had always stared blankly into the air without focus, suddenly turned toward Eliana as if they had never been like that at all.
Seeing Velkirei looking straight at her, Eliana could not hide her confusion.
His piercingly blue eyes gleamed with a vivid light.
The expression of a beast stalking its prey.
A cold aura she had never seen before.
An unfamiliar gaze.
It was also a gaze she had never once received.
Because he had been pretending to be blind.
Even if he could not see her, he had always been gentle. But now he was staring at her with chilling intensity.
The sight made goosebumps ripple across Eliana’s skin.
The moment she faced the real Velkirei hidden behind the veil.
Eliana had no choice but to acknowledge it. The overwhelming difference in power.
The thought that she might survive if she persuaded him well shattered in an instant.
‘If I say even one wrong word, my head might roll.’
Eliana’s gaze shifted to the note in Velkirei’s hand.
A piece of paper describing the story of the novel she had read in her previous life, The Blind Princess Who Loved the Emperor.
And…
This place was that very novel.
Eliana’s eyes rolled back and forth. Without realizing it, her mouth had gone dry and she kept swallowing.
Ever since the moment she possessed Eliana’s body, she had known that someday she would face this situation.
But when it actually happened, she could not calm herself at all.
She had gone to find him so she would not die.
But now she had no confidence that she could survive here.
The novel had changed too much, and even unexpected figures had appeared.
Under his unfamiliar gaze, Eliana’s body trembled.
It was the first time.
The sharp killing intent directed at her made it difficult to breathe.
Her lips would not open easily.
At that moment, Velkirei began to approach her, step by slow step.
Before she knew it, he stood directly in front of her and ran his fingers through her hair.
Then he suddenly grabbed the back of her neck hard.
The place where Velkirei’s fingers touched felt as cold as if ice had been pressed against it.
A chill traveled from his fingertips down toward her heart.
Cold.
The moment he touched her, her trembling body froze as if struck by a shock.
Her identity had already been discovered.
He must have read the contents of the note.
Since he had realized the secret she had carefully hidden, he would also know that she had approached him intentionally.
“Since when did you know?”
Velkirei asked as he lifted Eliana’s chin with one hand.
His eyes looked as though they might devour her at any moment.
Strangely, Eliana felt her heart ache faintly.
An indescribable sensation churned inside her stomach.
Since when?
At Velkirei’s question, a faint smile unconsciously appeared at the corners of Eliana’s lips.
What did it matter now when it had begun?
The moment Velkirei saw her smile, his face twisted harshly and a dry laugh escaped him.
The gaze that had been only cold now flared violently, turning hot.
The blue of his eyes was gradually being overtaken by a crimson glow.
“That expression again.”
Velkirei spoke with clear displeasure.
That expression again?
Eliana pondered what kind of expression she had shown him until now.
She could not recall doing anything that would have disturbed his temper.
Yet Velkirei’s expression looked dissatisfied.
At that moment, Velkirei pulled Eliana toward him roughly.
Eliana did not avert her gaze.
Before she knew it, their breaths were touching.
They were so close that if either of them moved even slightly, their lips might brush.
Whenever his long hair lightly touched Eliana’s face, it burned strangely, as though it were fire.
Eliana stared straight into Velkirei’s eyes, which had already turned completely red.
A clear mark was drawn within them.
A contract made with one’s soul as collateral.
Velkirei, who had obtained demonic power that existed only in myths, desired only one thing.
Revenge against the Empress Dowager.
Eliana held her breath as the suffocating atmosphere tightened around her.
Her gaze drifted toward Velkirei’s hand.
It was a hand that might stab out one of her eyes depending on her answer.
No, perhaps he might simply twist her neck like this.
It was absurd to think that the power Eliana possessed could oppose demonic power.
But she could not run.
And she must not run.
The moment she turned her back and fled, she would be killed.
She had already prepared herself for this from the moment she decided to seek him out.
From the very beginning, the only things she had been given were two rotten ropes.
Should she go to Empress Dowager Hera, who intended to use her?
Or to Emperor Velkirei, who pretended to be weak but was actually the hidden mastermind?
A self mocking smile appeared on Eliana’s lips.
Each time she smiled, Velkirei’s expression changed in ways that were impossible to read.
Ever since entering the novel, Eliana had never once slept properly.
Because she was anxious.
Because she was afraid.
Especially of the man standing before her.
In the novel, Eliana’s role was to be brutally murdered by this man.
The reason was simple.
Because she was Hera’s pawn.
That was why she had gone to him directly instead of to Hera.
Because she wanted to live.
Because she did not want to die as she had in the original story.
Eliana had walked to the man destined to kill her with her own two feet.
After making her decision, Eliana looked straight at Velkirei.
The contract terms the Empress Dowager had offered meant nothing to her anyway.
Power? Fame?
When had she ever wanted such things?
Eliana’s goal was simple.
To live quietly and for a long time.
To live out her natural lifespan. A normal life where she would not fall ill halfway through it, nor be murdered.
In her previous life, she had not been able to do that.
When she first opened her eyes here, she had felt relief that she was alive.
But at that moment she realized the original “her” had already died.
And when she tried to accept this new life, she discovered the fate awaiting her.
The woman she had possessed was Eliana Mushe.
And she was destined to be killed by the mastermind.
“Have you become mute? Do you need your neck twisted before you’ll speak?”
The cold voice pierced Eliana’s lungs.
It stung.
Even so, Eliana did not show it.
Even though the color of his eyes had changed, it seemed that his mind was not yet dominated by the demon as it had been before.
Facing the man who threatened to twist her neck, Eliana spoke calmly.
“If my neck is twisted, I will not be able to speak, Your Majesty.”
Though she trembled, she still managed to talk back. Velkirei looked at her with disbelief.
“…You still talk back even at death’s door. In a situation like this, you can make jokes?”
Did he not realize that if she did not joke, she would not be able to open her mouth at all?
Eliana looked straight at him as he menacingly tightened his hold.
“Your Majesty’s breathing is tickling me, so I cannot speak.”
“….”
The killing intent surrounding Velkirei scattered.
Looking at Eliana, he wore an expression as though wondering what kind of creature she was.
A moment later, Velkirei roughly removed his hand from the back of Eliana’s neck.
Thanks to that, a small distance appeared between them.
It seemed he had finished thinking something through, because he once again regarded her with a domineering aura.
Only then did Eliana finally breathe out in relief. The cold sensation that had touched her neck still felt eerie.
“Why? Now are you going to say you cannot speak because we are too far apart?”
“No.”
“Then speak quickly. Before I feel like killing you.”
Velkirei warned coldly. The smile on his lips was still sharp.
Looking at him, Eliana spoke calmly.
“I am not a person of this world.”
A truth that had to be revealed eventually.
It was something the demon had already discovered.
But it was still a secret Velkirei did not know.