The fancy dance of the swinging swords did not look like a dance. The dancers felt like they were well-trained knights.
It didn’t seem like something that would be Sienna’s idea, and Carl, sitting next to her, said admiringly, “They’re great. Although they’re male dancers, I feel as if they were actually trained men. The swords they’re spinning are also well crafted…”
Interestingly, Carl jumped to his feet while watching the dance. At the same time, the Royal Knights of the Emperor, who was guarding Carl, drew his sword.
“Live!”
As the knights drew their swords in unison, the dancers fired at the large wooden box in unison.
Bang!
The box broke into pieces, and smoke from the box filled the banquet hall.
“Strike the Emperor’s neck first!”
“Don’t live anyone alive!”
“Protect the Emperor!”
The sounds of the knights mingled with the screams of the nobles. The smoke burned both eyes and nose, and Sienna coughed repeatedly. Her eyes were red and irritated from the hot smoke.
Sienna looked at Arya sitting next to her. She was still as graceful as ever in that commotion. Acting as though she had known about it beforehand, she covered her mouth with a handkerchief and looked down at the blood-red banquet hall, dripping like salsa over food.
“Queen Arya…”
Sienna turned to the banquet hall again at the sound of the screams and the soldiers battling. The smoke, which was blocking the view, gradually subsided. There was nothing but horror left in its place.
The servants who had been delivering the wine, the musicians who had been playing the instruments, and the servants who had been carrying the gifts were holding weapons in their hands. Red blood dripped from their gruesome blades.
On the floor, were familiar people falling with terror stricken faces. It looked like the slaughter of cows and pigs, not people. The sight of them at the end of their lives sent Sienna into a frenzy. At the same time, she worried about Carl’s safety.
“Do not forget the Emperor! Bring me the Emperor’s neck!” Queen Arya shouted after watching the situation with her mouth closed.
The voice was not loud, but to Sienna, it sounded as loud as a thunderbolt. Sienna said as she tugged on Arya’s arm, “What are you talking about?! What do you mean by ‘Bring the Emperor’s neck?!'”
Arya turned away from Sienna’s arm in vexation.
“Empress Sienna, we’ve started this together.”
“Together! When did I do that?! This is treason!”
Arya’s eyes narrow as if she didn’t like the word treason.
“The word treason is for losers. If this is successful, this will be recorded in history under a different name.”
At Arya’s words, Sienna’s face turned pale.
As time went by, there were more people lying on the floor like broken dolls than there were those standing. Sienna scanned for him inside the crowded banquet hall, hoping that Carl would be alive.
Carl was picking up blades from one corner. Fortunately, the Royal Knights were standing by him.
However, their condition was not favorable.
The Royal Knights didn’t look well. Some were seen wielding knives with one arm, others were giving up their backs on behalf of the Lord when the assailants flew toward Carl. She didn’t know how long they’d last.
“Kyah!”
Then, she heard Bluebell screaming.
“Protect Bluebell! Not me! I said protect Bluebells!” Carl screamed out, but his retainers did not leave his side.
“I said protect Bluebell!”
Hearing his shouts, Sienna looked back at Bluebell, who was crawling on the floor, making her escape.
She was covering her belly to protect the child within even in that situation. Managing to crawl in front of Sienna, she said, “Save me! Save me! I beg you, please!”
Even at her words, Sienna held Joseph tightly, unable to do anything.
“Don’t kill my child. Please.”
The shadow of a soldier holding a sword behind Bluebell, whose face was covered in tears as she begged for her child’s life, came into view.
“No!” Sienna shouted as she stretched out one hand, and Bluebell turned around.
“Bluebell!”
She heard Carl’s voice in the distance. The swords of the assassins surrounding Bluebell were rained in unison, and her face twisted like ginseng.
“Bluebell!”
Once again, she heard Carl’s voice mingling with his cries. She couldn’t stand to see it through to the end, and so she turned her head to the side. Sienna’s face was covered in hot blood. It was Bluebell’s blood.
The smell of iron made my stomach queasy. She felt dizzy.
“The Emperor is running away!”
Carl tried to approach Bluebell, but he was being dragged out of the banquet hall by his guards. His face, which had never been tearful, was in a mess of tears. The beautiful, light blue eyes were in despair, and even with his long battlefield experience, his two once hard and confident arms were now limp and drooping.
“Carl…”
Arya shouted as Carl walked out of the banquet hall, “Don’t let him go! Come on! Seize the emperor!”
Those who picked up the bag of swords at her frosty command rushed to where Carl had fled.
Sienna, panicked at the sight of Bluebell’s death, began pleading against the wrongness in front of her body.
“I’m sorry. It’s because of me. I’m sorry.”
She hadn’t killed Bluebell herself or participated in Arya’s rebellion, but Sienna knelt by Bluebell’s body and begged for forgiveness.
“I was stupid.”
The little request Arya had asked her to do… She shouldn’t have told Carl that she had prepared the box for the blade dancers. At the very least, she should have questioned how that would make Joseph emperor.
“Wah, wah!”
At Joseph’s cry, Sienna came to her senses. Although the emperor had left the banquet hall, the battle, or massacre, continued. Arya was relentless. All of those who stood by Carl’s side fell before a sharp blade.
Sienna was afraid. She couldn’t tell how far Arya’s blade would go. The tip of the knife might turn at her and Joseph.
She crawled to the ground, looking for a place to hide, but in that banquet hall, there was nowhere to hide, so she just crouched as much as she could behind her high-backed chair.
“Wah, wah!”
Young Joseph, too, never stopped crying. It was as if he could smell death. Frightened, Sienna covered Joseph’s mouth.
‘Please, don’t cry. If the queen finds us, she’ll kill us, too.’
But Joseph, who didn’t know Sienna’s thoughts, couldn’t stop crying. The banquet hall, from where Carl had escaped was quickly cleared up, and Arya finally came up to Sienna.
“Oh, my God! Empress Sienna, you have to keep your morals intact. Should the Empress of the Empire crawl on the floor like that?”
Arya walked up to provoke Sienna. ‘Smack!’ Sienna hit her with the back of her hand, Arya’s face turned cold when she the back of Sienna’s hand turning red.
“To me, this…. This kind of discussion never happened!” Sienna said while staring at Arya.
As powerfully as she had said it, her whole body was trembling like a wooden tree.
“What do you mean, Empress Sienna? I’ve kept my part of the agreement.”
“What do you mean, the… What…….”
Arya took a step closer to Sienna. The bottom of her long skirt was stained with blood.
“I thought I said I’d make Joseph the next emperor. With what I did today, Joseph will be the next in line, so I’m sure I’ve kept my promise.”
Arya reached out to Joseph in Sienna’s arms, and Sienna held him tighter so he wouldn’t be taken away.
‘Chang!’
Two knights standing guard by Arya thrust their blades at Sienna’s neck.
“What are you going to do with Joseph?” Sienna asked, still protecting Joseph in her arms.
“You don’t have to glare at me like that. I’m just trying to help.”
“What…”
“Seeing as how you can’t even clean up after yourself, peeing and shitting, after becoming Empress, it’s no wonder no one is on your side to help you. I’ll help the emperor choose his companies better.”
She meant that she would clean up the court by using Joseph.
“The emperor is alive. How can Joseph be emperor?”
“Carl won’t survive.”
“How come… How can you be so sure? His Majesty has survived many wars.”
Arya turned to look at the banquet hall. She looked cynical when she saw the blood and the bodies filling the floor.
“Carl could only buy help when there were still people around to help. How can he survive when the men who helped him are strewn about the floor like that? No. Even if he’s alive, can he even come back here?”