I Possessed The Immoral Empress - Chapter 36

“Really? Where in the world does such a disease exist?”

From Felio’s perspective, he had simply spoken the truth, but suddenly being branded as a show-off made him feel not only bewildered but also unjustly accused.

“Isn’t making up things that aren’t true just a form of showing off to elevate oneself? I merely spoke the truth!”

“Oh, so that’s the problem, isn’t it? Being boastful, Your Grace. No matter how outstanding someone is, mentioning their own accomplishments diminishes their value. It’s better to wait until someone else acknowledges it…”

“If I don’t speak of my own worth, who will recognize it? I find it more suspicious when someone pretends not to acknowledge their strengths!”

‘Mmm, do they not have the word ‘humility’ in this place?’

Ermedeline rolled her tongue inside her mouth and then gave Felio a slightly challenging look.

“Your Grace, consider this. If I were to go around saying, ‘I am the most beautiful woman in the Trivian Empire!’ out loud, what do you think people would think of me? They’d probably label me as an arrogant show-off, wouldn’t they?”

Ermedeline tried to convey her sense of modesty by deliberately emphasizing herself.

However, as Felio listened to Ermedeline’s explanation, his expression gradually became more hostile, as if he found something disagreeable, and he responded with a rather defiant answer.

“No! If you call the most beautiful woman in the empire the most beautiful woman in the empire, what’s wrong with that? Isn’t it strange for people to say otherwise?”

Felio was more bothered by the idea of Ermedeline being labeled as arrogant or a show-off than by justifying his own logic.

Thanks to that, he hadn’t even realized what he had just said a moment ago.

Looking at Ermedeline’s blank expression, Rooney threw a sentence that might bring Felio, who was confidently convinced of his victory, back to his senses.

“I see. So, Your Grace, you think Empress Your Highness is the most beautiful woman in the empire.”

Finally, Felio, who had just realized the meaning of his words with Rooney’s observation, started to thaw rapidly like an ice sculpture. 

***

After the first assassination attempt using the maid Helen had failed, House de Françoise established itself near the capital.

He had no desire to forgive his daughter and son-in-law, who had brought about his downfall.

However, the Emperor, his son-in-law, was still a formidable mountain to tackle.

He began to devise a plan to first dismantle his daughter and retrieve his assets.

‘Dare to use my money to build an orphanage? That damned X truly underestimates me.’

In the hands of the Marquess, who harbored enmity towards his daughter, was a blueprint of an orphanage that Valliere had ordered to be delivered by her brother, Pierre.

‘This X is truly foolish. Does she think I won’t find out where this information came from? Well, ignorance is bliss. I’ll be holding to a lot of her weaknesses, and when that X becomes Empress, I’ll take my share.’

House de Françoise, even during the time when they had Helen send curses, quickly identified that Valliere was the source of Ermedeline’s whereabouts.

Previously, Valliere had occasionally tried to locate Ermedeline in her attempts to dismantle her, but she always wanted solid evidence and had never resorted to assassination or conspiracies. 

However, recently, she had been moving so hastily.

‘When impatience takes over, true colors are revealed, indeed. Anyway, shall we put this blueprint to good use for now? It might be a good idea to prepare it in line with Foundation Day, don’t you think?’

***

Rooney seemed to think she had made a good move and kept making comments whenever she found an opportunity.

“As expected, Empress Your Highness, the most beautiful woman in the empire, has an extraordinary love for the people.”

“Yes, that’s right. Empress Your Highness, the most beautiful woman in the empire, has not said a single wrong thing!”

Every time this was said, Felio kept his lips tightly sealed, pretending not to hear.

However, with the deep creases on his forehead and lips protruding at least an inch, Felio was clearly in a bad mood for anyone to see.

Ermedeline, who had begun to think she should lighten the atmosphere a bit, discreetly scolded Rooney.

“That’s enough now. Aren’t His Grace getting embarrassed?”

“What’s there to be embarrassed about? I haven’t made up anything false; I’m simply speaking the truth!”

‘Mmm.’

Felio couldn’t openly scold Rooney, especially now that he was genuinely embarrassed because of what he had said earlier.

‘Is this what it feels like to have a helpless and ugly emotion like love?’

There was a time when a close friend had asked for advice, claiming to have fallen in love for the first time.

Felio had criticized his friend for talking nonsense, as his friend, with dreamy eyes and an ecstatic expression, claimed that he was born for this moment.

Watching his friend who couldn’t make rational judgments due to emotions, Felio would sometimes inwardly think, “What a pitiful sight,” and occasionally openly chastise him.

‘Ah… I shouldn’t have scolded him back then. If I had, maybe I would have confided in him…’

Felio’s closest friend, Roberto Bianst, had married his first love last year and was still enjoying a blissful newlywed life.

Until just before their marriage, there had been quite a bit of commotion about the Marquess’s heir marrying the Viscount’s daughter, who had only recently received her title. However, after overcoming all those challenges and getting married, they were now living a visibly happy life.

Although the succession rights of the Marquess title had been stripped, they claimed to be happy as long as they had each other.

Felio, observing such a sight, had judged Roberto for making irrational decisions without reason due to the loss of his rationality.

Due to these circumstances, just a few days ago, when he had met Roberto, Felio had considered seeking advice from him while keeping his feelings hidden. However, he quickly abandoned the idea, fearing that he might receive some harsh words in return.

As Felio suddenly fell silent, Ermedeline stepped in and said to Rooney, “What’s the truth, really? The Trivian Empire is vast. If you look a little harder, there will surely be many women more beautiful than me.”

Felio, who had been lost in his thoughts, unconsciously reacted again.

“I said there isn’t! There isn’t… Oops!!”

If there were a hole to crawl into, Felio would have gladly hidden in it.

Felio had always taken pride in his stubborn nature, rarely correcting his mistakes, but not now. He disliked himself for being this way.

Seeing that Felio’s response was utterly unhelpful, Ermedeline stopped trying to mediate with Rooney.

In the end, Rooney was able to tease Felio about twenty-five more times before the meeting concluded.

As they parted ways after the meeting, Ermedeline had some parting words for Felio.

“Cost doesn’t matter. If another epidemic begins in the capital, it will truly lead to a catastrophe. So, don’t worry about the cost and secure as many masks as possible. Of course, we can’t force people to wear them one by one, so make sure to design them properly.”

A true queen’s heartfelt concern for her people.

But at that moment, Felio looked at Ermedeline with hopeful eyes, wondering if she would hold his hand. It was a fleeting expectation.

Inside the carriage on the way back to the Dukedom, Felio was consumed by a deep self-loathing. During the crucial meeting to prevent the epidemic, he had been preoccupied with personal thoughts.

Rather than saving the people, he was more focused on the fact that Ermedeline was sitting right next to him.

The previous Felio had been a person filled with self-esteem stemming from well-founded self-confidence.

However, inexplicably, whenever he stood in front of Ermedeline, he felt frivolous and foolish.

Furthermore, she was the witch who had killed his mother.

For the first time in his life, Felio found himself disliking himself. He branded himself as dirty and vile trash.

Love was not a dreamy emotion like Roberto’s for him. It was a wretched and repugnant feeling he was forced to confront at the depths of his soul.

***

After a few restless days, Ermedeline finally found some respite and descended to the underground chamber to open a book of magic. She had been preoccupied with the curse magic of House de Françoise she had repelled earlier.

Although she had assumed she wouldn’t need to use magic now that her soul had changed, it seemed that the magical power remaining in her physical body hadn’t dissipated.

‘If there’s still magical power left, could I learn to use magic as well?’

Of course, she had no intention of using magic to curse and kill someone, as the original Ermedeline did. Even Valliere, as obnoxious as she was, Ermedeline had a desire to get along with her.

Moreover, if she were to recklessly use magic and accidentally curse someone, no matter how much atonement she made, the label of being a witch would become even more difficult to shake.

‘But if these assassination attempts continue like this, it might be wise to study it just in case.’

Since taking over as Ermedeline and experiencing two assassination attempts, she remembered that in the novel, the official antagonist Ermedeline was nearly assassinated at least six more times before her eventual downfall.

Of course, Ermedeline had managed to survive multiple times because she was such a powerful magician.

‘Changing souls…’

It was the magic she had seen shortly after her possession. She wasn’t entirely sure about the intention behind the previous owner of the body deliberately scribbling the spell. Still, it was clear that she had been determined to complete it.

Ermedeline began her studies with a focus on this particular curse.

‘Could it be that she was experimenting with this curse? Did Valliere somehow interfere with it?’

While the book clearly stated that the experiment had failed, what if it hadn’t failed completely?

What if the souls of the deceased were simply chosen incorrectly?

‘Indeed, both I and Valliere came here after our deaths. There might be a connection. But then, where did the original souls of Ermedeline and Valliere go? Is that written here as well?’

Out of curiosity, she finally flipped through the last pages that she hadn’t paid much attention to before.

The curse magic that had initially disgusted her, with remarks like “Isn’t this just a zombie?”

‘Wow. A magic that controls the dead bodies… ‘

It was written alongside the method of controlling the empty flesh of the deceased and forcibly detaching the soul of the living from their body.

‘Ah, it seems she succeeded up to this point. It seems difficult to precisely summon the desired soul from the afterlife.’

According to the book, it seemed that souls forcibly detached from their bodies would automatically proceed to the judgment of the gods.

‘Did Ermedeline’s soul completely leave her body? Based on possession, it seems like she can inherit the memories of the original body, but somehow, I know nothing. I’m just glad there’s still some magical power left in the body.’

The following pages detail curses that would bring immense suffering and agonizing death to their victims.

While Ermedeline was careful to memorize which curse magic to watch out for, the extreme content of the book left her feeling queasy.

This book seemed more like a gruesome compendium of methods for killing people in cruel and painful ways rather than an academic text.

‘Ugh. I wonder if people who enjoy gruesome stuff would find this interesting. Why on earth do they create magic like this?’

As she continued reading, she began to understand. Magic, even curse magic, seemed to depend significantly on the lineage of the sorcerer.

‘Yes, I remember now. Felio was also a sorcerer, and Duke Batistian mentioned being one.’

It appeared that innate magical power flowing in the blood and a talent for it were essential for using compatible magic.

‘Huh? It seems the previous owner of this body was quite intelligent.’

Moreover, curses were completed through the sorcerer’s blood and symbols. Typically, it seemed that sorcerers had resistance to the forces they used.

‘If you’re a fire mage, you’d have resistance to fire, and if you’re a curse mage, you’d have resistance to curses.’

As she diligently took notes and studied, she found herself reaching a chapter on handling toxins.

‘Oh, my throat hurts. My eyes are stinging. Should I stop reading?’

By the time her natural lack of enthusiasm for studying had waned, she stumbled upon an experiment log that shocked her.

In the section about handling toxins, there were numerous entries detailing the results of experiments on the human body. At the top of all those names was one name repeated over and over again—her own.

According to the records, Ermedeline had been injected with toxins from the age of seven.