CHAPTER 120
One hour before the puppet banquet. In the quarters of the King of Laikanoor within the Imperial Palace.
Bergen, having finished preparing to attend the banquet, was conversing with his captain of the guard.
“Is everything ready without any issues?”
“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. We’ve trained her well; she’ll be worth her price.”
“The Emperor is no easy opponent. If we show even the slightest opening, we’ll be the ones to suffer.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
After the captain of the guard and the knights withdrew, the door to the bedroom connected to the reception room opened.
Bergen’s mustard-yellow eyes scanned the woman standing by the door.
There was no emotion in his gaze as he took in the sight of the beautiful woman.
Soon, an inexplicable dark emotion spread through him.
Once, just looking at her had brought him peace of mind...
But now, an uncontrollable hot surge rose from within him.
The dreams he had long harbored had turned to dust, slipping through his fingers like sand.
He had once believed that by possessing Tristiny, he would someday conquer the world.
He was confident that through her, the Lumen Savior, he could break the curse and, furthermore, use her powers to build a new empire.
He knew that Lumen Saviors could not only communicate with animals but also converse with them.
This meant that beasts could be turned into living weapons.
There was no military force capable of withstanding the onslaught of beasts attacking from land, sea, and air.
Not even the mighty Helterd Empire.
It wasn’t just military power. Beasts could be used to create trade routes through deserts, plow fields on rocky mountains, and build bridges over turbulent rivers.
The possibilities for training and utilizing beasts through the Lumen Savior were endless.
His blood boiled with anticipation at the thought of toppling Helterd and establishing the Laikanoor Empire on its ruins.
He had once believed she was the woman who would fulfill his dreams.
Bergen glared at the pale, bloodless face in front of him.
He had killed his brothers and destroyed his fiancée and her family for this woman.
He had never regretted it. He had considered it a price worth paying to obtain the greatest treasure in the world.
He had treated her with the utmost care and affection.
He had protected her until she came of age and became her betrothed afterward.
He had filled the life of the future queen of Laikanoor with only the most beautiful and precious things.
It was only natural.
She was supposed to make him the greatest ruler in the world.
But...
She was a fraud.
A fake who had appeared real because she had been raised under the protection of a powerful Lumen Savior, nourished by its light.
He had believed that when Tristiny came of age, the powers of the Lumen Savior would manifest.
The first time they made love, the crushing headache and the searing pain in his veins had disappeared.
He had held Tristiny's shoulders for a long time, expecting the curse to be lifted.
But the joy didn’t last long.
As time passed, her light lost its efficacy.
With each eclipse, as the white moon was obscured by the black moon, the curse began to reveal its true form.
The unbearable pain stripped away his sanity, transforming his face and body.
The features of a wolf began to emerge under the black moon.
Though it was not yet complete, he could feel that it would soon be.
The curse that had begun to manifest would soon occur once a month, then twice... then three times.
In the end, he would never return to being human.
It was a repetition of the curse that had destroyed his ancestors.
Despite Tristiny's desperate love and care, everything only worsened.
And then he learned the truth from a witch he found on Mount Ecol.
“She is not a pure Lumen Savior. Her light is so insignificant that she’s practically no different from an ordinary human. She was merely protected by the light of a powerful Lumen Savior.”
The look in Bergen’s eyes as he glared at her was so painful it felt like his gaze was cutting into her flesh.
Tristiny struggled to compose her expression.
“You’ll need to behave yourself at the banquet. If you try anything foolish just because you’re a Lumen Savior...”
Tristiny let out a small, mocking laugh at Bergen’s words.
A voice tinged with derision escaped her lips as she tried to conceal her wounded heart.
“And what will you do if I do something foolish? No matter what you do to me, I don’t think it could be any more cruel than this.”
Bergen stepped forward and grabbed Tristiny by the back of her head.
As he twisted her wrist downward, Tristiny’s head was forced back.
Their gazes met, devoid of any love or hatred.
“Do you know what I lost because of you? If it weren’t for you... I would have been the one to possess Arabelle, not Maxwell.”
“Arabelle loves Maxwell. You will never possess her.”
“Ha. It seems you’ve forgotten...” Bergen sneered, his lips curling in contempt.
She clenched her hair tightly in her fist.
"Once, you loved me too. Do you know why? Because I made you love me. I gave you everything. If she had met me first, she would have loved me too. Not that damn Emperor Helterde!"
Bergen growled fiercely.
He was furious at the time he had wasted.
Just as he had made Tristine fall in love with him, he was confident that he could make Arabelle love him too.
He would have showered her with love and affection, just as he had with Tristine.
Moreover, to his knowledge, the Helterde Emperor was ignorant about the Lumen Saviour.
Unlike Lycanor, the Helterde Royal Family had hidden the curse related to the Lumen Saviour tribe.
If he had known from the beginning that Tristine wasn't the Lumen Saviour meant to save him...
He would have undoubtedly found Arabelle before Emperor Maxwell did.
The unlucky, arrogant man with those confident red eyes flashed through his mind.
Not knowing that Emperor Maxwell was also under a curse, Bergen muttered a low curse.
His ancestors’ kingdom had fallen, forcing them to settle on a distant island.
It had taken countless sacrifices over hundreds of years to rebuild everything.
How much sweat and blood had been shed to claim the four islands.
And now, the Helterde Kingdom, which had led the charge to annihilate the Lumen Saviour tribe, had become the continent's greatest empire.
While Bergen suffered from the manifestation of the curse, his peer, Emperor Maxwell, ruled the continent.
Resentment and jealousy turned into hatred for his rival.
Did he know that the continent's greatest weapon was now in his hands?
"Of course, he doesn’t know. If someone as ambitious as the Emperor knew that Arabelle was a Lumen Saviour, he wouldn't stay still. He’d already had those beasts in his army."
Bergen muttered coldly to himself.
Arabelle, the Lumen Saviour.
To the Emperor, she was just a wife, but to Bergen, she was salvation.
"Whatever it takes, I'll bring her back."
"Do you think the Emperor will stand by? If you kidnap his wife, he'll chase you to the ends of the earth."
Though Tristine had never spoken to or been close to the Emperor, she could tell.
She had seen last night how much the Emperor loved his wife.
And she realized something.
The look Bergen had given her all this time wasn't love.
It was the gaze of someone looking at the most valuable thing they owned.
A look that would change if something more precious came along.
At that moment, all the nights she had spent sleepless, her heart fluttering because of that gaze shattered.
Bergen sneered, lifting one corner of his mouth.
"Sometimes you really underestimate me."
He tilted his head slightly, bringing his face close to Tristine's.
In a low voice, as if sharing a secret, he said,
"The Emperor will never know that I kidnapped Arabelle. I’ll make it seem like the work of his opposition. While he wastes time on futile pursuits, Arabelle will be mine."
At the center of the Emperor’s opposition within the Empire was the power of Empress Dowager Natalia.
At first, he had intended to use the Emperor’s aunt, Grand Duchess Caroline Lussan, but he changed his mind.
If the Empress Dowager was suspected, it was clear that not only the Empire but also her homeland, the Kingdom of Sebilles, would be implicated.
The Kingdom of Sebilles had five other kingdoms closely allied through marriage.
The Emperor would surely suspect that Arabelle was hidden in one of these five kingdoms as well as Sebilles itself.
And those five kingdoms would undoubtedly deny the Emperor’s demands to return his wife.
The stronger the Emperor’s demands, the more strained relations with these kingdoms would become.
While the Emperor wasted valuable time on unnecessary wars...
Bergen would focus all his efforts on winning over Arabelle’s heart, hidden within the palace.
Bergen’s thumb slowly traced Tristine’s lips.
"I'll let him know when I conquer the Imperial capital. I’ll show him how his wife became my woman when I sever his head. He’ll need to say goodbye on his way out. Heh heh."
Bergen’s eyes gleamed with pleasure at the thought.
Bergen was... mad.
Tristine shuddered with chills.
She violently shook her head, freeing herself from his grasp.
Bergen withdrew his hand, looking bored.
His expression returned to one of cold, almost ascetic, composure.
His icy gaze fell upon Tristine’s eyes.
Her large eyes, on the verge of tears, hardened.
In those tear-filled eyes, Bergen's smiling face reflected back.
"Even if you go and blab about my plan to the Emperor and Arabelle, it won’t matter."
The voice that had once been so tender was now nothing but cruel.
"I’ve already tampered with your identity so that no one will believe a word you say. The moment you reveal my plan, you’ll be arrested as a spy for Kuvil. With undeniable evidence to back it up."
Tristine’s eyelids quivered violently.
Her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
The Emperor whispered as he tidied Tristine's disheveled hair.
"And even if you are an utter failure, once it’s known that Lumen Saviour blood runs through your veins..."
Now, Tristine’s lips trembled uncontrollably.
"Certain groups will want to possess you. Do you remember how Elenia died? If you don’t want to end up like her, you’ll do exactly as I say."
Elenia’s death. A trauma that had been permanently etched into Tristine’s memory.
Perhaps that’s why she had clung to Bergen so desperately.
She had witnessed firsthand the tragedy that befell a Lumen Saviour in the wrong hands.
She firmly believed that as long as Bergen protected her, she wouldn’t suffer such a fate.
"And you know better than anyone that without me, you can’t do anything. You can’t survive on your own."
Bergen was right.
Having been under Bergen’s care since she was young, she couldn’t do anything by herself.
The fear of being abandoned by him far outweighed the hatred she felt for him.
Despite being treated worse than a human by Bergen, she was terrified that he might abandon her.
In that sweet voice he once used to seduce her, Bergen said,
"If the plan to kidnap Arabelle succeeds... I’ll never abandon you. You’ll stay by my side for life."
Thud. Large tears rolled down her cheeks.
Meeting Bergen’s gaze, Tristine slowly nodded her head.
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