The group escorting Sephine stopped when they reached the gates of the Imperial Palace.
They had no idea whether they should deliver her to the Inner Palace or the dungeon.
Sending her to the dungeon felt a bit too harsh; after all, Sephine had fought for better benefits for the soldiers.
They understood at least the basic concept of gratitude.
However, the Demon King’s expression was incredibly grim, showing no joy of victory whatsoever.
In this encirclement and suppression mission, a total of five knights had been sacrificed.
Compared to the battles at the border, this was hardly considered a significant loss.
The soldiers were veterans transferred from the front lines, and they had long since grown desensitized to matters of life and death.
“Demon King, where should we take the Empress?”
“Give her to me.”
The soldiers exchanged glances.
Just a moment ago, the Demon King had been shouting about putting the Empress on trial, but now it seemed the matter would likely be dropped again.
That was for the best; at least the Empress would be spared physical suffering.
Moreover, looking at the Empress’s belly, she was likely already pregnant.
If the Demon King and the Empress were to have a falling out now, there would be trouble for the Kingdom’s Imperial Heir.
“As you command.”
Sephine’s hands were tied.
From the beginning until now, she had kept her head lowered, not saying a single word.
“Move.”
The Demon King tugged the rope, and Sephine stumbled forward two steps.
Sephine wanted to look up at Vi, but the memory of the slap she had received made her give up on the idea.
The two of them continued toward the Inner Palace in a tense tug-of-war.
Ai’er, who was sitting by the entrance pulling up grass roots for fun, saw them return and excitedly waved at them.
In response, the Demon King kicked her, sending her flying several meters away.
Ai’er didn’t make a sound after landing.
“If you want to hit someone, hit me! Don’t take your anger out on Ai’er! She’s already simple-minded, and you still hit her like that!”
“Shut up.”
Sephine immediately fell silent.
The Demon King had used some sort of magic to seal her mouth tight.
Sephine was then shoved inside by the Demon King with a single hand, without a hint of tenderness.
She was like a completely different person.
Sephine could not imagine that this person was the same one who had been whispering sweet nothings into her ear just yesterday.
Was everything before just a disguise?
But she had definitely used the power of the Divine Blessing just now.
Could the side effects of that power truly change a person to such an extent?
It was a total personality reversal.
Or perhaps the side effects simply forced her to speak her true thoughts.
Before Sephine could think further, the Demon King closed the doors to the Inner Palace and stripped off her armor, leaving only the casual clothes she wore underneath.
“I warned you a long time ago, but you just wouldn’t listen.”
Daenifen’s voice was so cold it felt as if it were piercing through Sephine’s spine.
Out of instinct, Sephine shrank back a few steps.
However, she wasn’t so cowardly that a few words from Daenifen would make her tremble with fear.
“I really need to control you. Truly.”
Daenifen closed the distance by a few steps, her crimson eyes staring intently into Sephine’s.
“Scared of me? You should be. I think I’ve been too indulgent with you—and those other people. It seems no one is willing to listen to me anymore.”
“It looks like they respect you more than me, don’t they? Hmm? My dear Grand Chancellor?”
‘Are you out of your mind!’
Sephine couldn’t speak, so she could only make muffled sounds, but her emotions seemed to have reached Daenifen’s heart.
Daenifen lifted a lock of Sephine’s hair, rubbing the strands between her fingers.
She picked out the longest one and yanked it out.
“Mmph!”
“Does it hurt? Maybe from now on, we should get our positions straight. Perhaps in my heart…”
Daenifen paused, the words she wanted to say ultimately remaining unspoken.
Perhaps if she actually said those words, something irreversible would happen.
“Tsk, what’s going on? Settle down.”
Daenifen tapped her own head and grumbled a few words.
Sephine couldn’t quite hear what she said.
She only knew that something was definitely wrong with the woman’s mind.
Sephine believed that if Vi felt her power had been usurped, Sephine would simply resign.
Whether the Demon King found a puppet or did the work herself had nothing to do with her anymore; there was no need to torment each other like this.
It shouldn’t be like this—using false oaths to lure her to her side, using a child to trap her body, and then finally settling scores with her.
Without this job, the worst that could happen would be returning to the ruins of her hometown, rebuilding a house with wood, and continuing to hunt.
She had joined the Resistance Army in the beginning to avenge her parents and sister.
Now that it was done, the story should have ended. Power and treasure were no longer important.
“I remember telling you not to go out, didn’t I? To think you’d dare to wear a cloak and run off for a secret meeting with those two women. You’re quite capable!”
Daenifen grabbed Sephine’s chin and tilted it upward.
Sephine’s face had filled out quite a bit, and with it being lifted like this, the flesh on her face was squeezed together.
Daenifen was carefully admiring Sephine’s face, but her behavior wasn’t like someone looking at a lover; it was like someone playing with a favorite toy.
At this moment, Sephine realized only one thing: a whirlwind marriage was absolutely unreliable, let alone a semi-forced one where the act was committed before permission was granted.
“What’s with that look? Are you dissatisfied with me?”
Sephine tried to headbutt Daenifen hard, but Daenifen’s strength was far too great.
She failed, and instead, her chin hurt terribly, forcing a few tears from her eyes.
“What other crimes do you want to be charged with? Assassinating the King? Let me count them: defying a royal order, deceiving the sovereign, and assassinating the King. Picking any one of those is enough to have your head cut off!”
“Now, in my great mercy, I’ll give you a chance to avoid death.”
Daenifen pulled out a collar from somewhere—a very familiar-looking collar.
“Put this on, and stay in the Inner Palace to serve me for the rest of your life.”
Daenifen’s smile made Sephine feel nauseous.
This was the first time she felt that specific brand of arrogance from this Demon King—the kind one only felt from those in high positions of power.
Daenifen released the magical restriction on Sephine’s speech.
She believed that a smart person like Sephine would choose the optimal solution.
“Do whatever you want with me! You big liar!”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. I wonder who has told more lies?”
Sephine actually dared to call her a liar; that was the title Daenifen could stand the least.
It was clearly Sephine who had been deceiving her all along, trampling on every order she had made for Sephine’s own good, yet now she was turning it around and calling her a liar.
It was truly laughable.
“Give me back the ring! That was left to me by my mother. It’s not for someone like you!”
“That piece of junk was thrown away long ago.”
The moment she heard those words, Sephine felt as if her heart had stopped beating.
“What did this feel like?”
It was probably the feeling of a broken heart—the sensation of having one’s sincerity trampled upon by another.
“Let’s get a divorce. No, let’s just act as if nothing ever happened. I won’t be the Grand Chancellor anymore. Go ahead and enjoy your power.”
This time, Sephine was incredibly resolute.
For a moment, Daenifen froze.
She seemed to have not expected things to develop to this point.
But the one even more desperate than her was Vi, who was trapped inside her own body, forced to watch her “Demon King” persona act recklessly while being completely powerless to stop it.