I Abandoned the Male Lead Who Cheated with the Villainess - Chapter 166
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
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Therefore, Arnold could never raise a sword against the temple! The main reason the Queen fled to the temple was surely because of this. Arnold, too, was aware of this fact, and he was displeased with the Queen’s escape.
But that didn’t matter to him. He had known since the Pope first extended his hand, making him Emperor, and attempting to control the Sortenic Empire. Arnold wasn’t naive; he had simply been blinded by his lust for power.
The Pope, looking somewhat embarrassed, hesitated before speaking.
“Hmm, it’s a difficult thing to hear, Your Majesty. You claim I made you Emperor. Have you forgotten? It was God Novnie who made you Emperor.”
However, Arnold didn’t hear the pope’s words. He was terrified, unlike the pope, who continued to smile gently. Arnold desperately asked,
“Then please, give me the prophecy. What must I do?”
“The prophecy… the prophecy…”
“Yes? How can I escape the fate of ‘defeat by the one who possesses the Emperor’s mark’?”
Not long after Herix was born, the Pope gave Arnold a prophecy.
It was said that many who died at his hands cursed him in blood, and just as he had killed his brothers, relatives, and parents while wearing the golden crown, he too would be consumed by it.
Furthermore, the prophecy foretold that the one who possessed the Emperor’s mark, a fate Arnold could never attain in this life, would bring about his downfall.
Since then, Arnold’s life had been plagued by anxiety and despair. No matter how much the Empress comforted him, it was in vain. Her eyes, resembling the Emperor’s mark, only fueled his fear.
Arnold began to have nightmares where her eyes turned a deep violet, and he imagined them murdering him.
Then, one day…
― Your Majesty, our child has finally opened his eyes!
The Empress called out brightly as she entered Arnold’s dimly lit chamber.
The air was stale, having not been properly ventilated, but the presence of the child in her arms seemed to purify the atmosphere. Arnold, sitting on the bed with a damp blanket draped over his shoulder, smiled warmly for the first time in a long while.
No fear could suppress the love he felt for his child. However, that love quickly crumbled when the Empress approached and showed him Herix’s face.
― Look, it’s the purple eyes.
― Ah…
― It’s the Emperor’s mark! Our child will surely be a great Emperor!
The Empress did not know the prophecy Arnold had received.
She was likely unaware that it was with the help of the temple that he had become Emperor.
Arnold had subconsciously hidden the fact that the Empress, with her lavender eyes, had a profound influence on it.
This is why the playful, innocent Herix was able to stir Arnold’s deepest fears so easily.
Arnold stood frozen with his mouth open. After another quick glance, he saw that the child’s eyes were truly purple.
— Haha…
The child’s bright, shining eyes looked both hopeful like the early morning and comforting like the early evening. But to Arnold, they seemed far more terrifying than any disaster or horror the world could present.
— Daa.
Herix mumbled, his gums still bare as he attempted to speak.
— He’s definitely calling you!
The babbling was so lovely. The Empress, overjoyed, immediately wanted to pass the child to Arnold. She was confident that this baby, like all children, would become a source of strength for both parents.
‘Maybe seeing this child will help ease His Majesty’s inexplicable depression.’
The Empress was so certain, but her expectation was completely off. What seemed like innocent baby talk to her sounded completely different to Arnold.
‘Die.’
Every feature of Arnold’s face seemed to distort. Herix continued to babble, but his movements, like those of any infant at that stage, seemed meaningless—yet to Arnold, each motion was a tightening noose around his neck.
Die, I’ll kill you, you’re going to die by my hand, just like you killed us, my brother, my sister, my mother, my father, save me, save me, you’re going to die, you’re going to die by our hands.
The child was cursing him. Arnold could hear the voices and gazes of those he had trampled to seize the throne, forecasting his end.
— Eek! Get… get away!
In terror, Arnold sucked in a breath and pushed the Empress away from him as though she were something filthy, as she held Herix in her arms.
— Ah!
The startled Empress fell backward. As she protected Herix, she fell awkwardly, striking her head on the floor and losing consciousness for a moment.
When she regained her senses, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
— Y-Your Majesty?
With difficulty, she raised herself and saw Arnold, face down, trembling, hiding his face as if trying to hide his entire body, like an animal trying to escape from the world.
— Save me, no, I don’t want to die, save me, I can’t die.”
Arnold murmured quickly, his words slurred and unclear, muffled by the blanket, but it was clear.
He was begging.
