There wasn’t much reason behind why the Emperor of the Empire, Viol, had forcibly summoned Ceres.
It was simply because she wanted to see Ares – whom she disliked – suffer.
That woman coddled her sickly son to an absurd degree, and Viol saw an opportunity to use that to her advantage.
So she called him out.
The Empire’s greatest beauty? The most beautiful man in the Empire? Please. He always hid away at home, blaming his illness—no one even saw his face. How would anyone know?
She didn’t believe the rumors about Ceres.
Neither that he was the Empire’s greatest beauty nor that he was a saint.
But then—
So the Empire’s greatest beauty is real.
The moment she saw Ceres at the party, she had no choice but to admit that she had been wrong.
Is that thing even human?
She considered herself good-looking, but next to him, she was just a firefly before the sun.
Silvery hair that fluttered beautifully.
Milky white skin, and features that could be called artistic.
It all drew the eye, but what stood out the most were his eyes.
Those eyes, sparkling like jewel-toned blue gems, contained a mix of emotions.
Hostility. Contempt. A faint trace of pity.
And the look of someone reluctantly meeting someone they really didn’t want to see again.
Aside from the pity, they were emotions she’d faced countless times in her life, so she recognized them right away.
Have we met before?
A stunning beauty she’d never seen before looked at her as though he knew her, she couldn’t help but become curious.
And then—
He’s like he’s floating all on his own. As if he’s fallen into another world. Or like he knows something no one else does and is carrying it alone.
Was it his overwhelming, otherworldly beauty? She felt a strange aura surrounding him.
Is it because our situations are similar? I keep getting drawn to him.
She, too, had lived a life disconnected from others due to her royal blood and position as emperor.
Feeling a strange kinship, Viol wanted to speak to him, but couldn’t move easily.
What do I even say? Thanks for dragging your sick body here because of me?
If it had been her usual self, she would’ve shamelessly walked up and spoken anyway.
But for some reason, she couldn’t do that now and simply watched.
Then—
That wench!
She saw Alios trying to feed Ceres something.
She was irritated for some reason and approached to force a conversation, but still had nothing to say.
Why isn’t he reacting at all?
She had no choice but to try provoking him to get a reaction and ended up going too far.
I learned something new, getting spaghetti thrown in your face feels awful.
When Ceres slapped her with spaghetti, she was angry, but more than that, she had another thought.
‘Let’s use this as an excuse to scold him a little, and keep him at the palace longer.
She pretended to be furious, but she was actually thinking of how to use the situation.
She was going to keep Ceres around as punishment.
But then—
That damned Alios!
When Alios attacked her with aura, she lost it.
She’d truly gotten angry, thinking she wouldn’t forgive that girl.
“Because you’re going to fall in love with me.”
But when Ceres said that, those words made all her anger vanish, and her mind went blank.
Not that I actually planned to kill him, but what the hell kind of line is that?! This guy’s delusions are on another level!
It was so absurd.
Everyone froze, Alios, Ares, the other nobles watching in fear.
But—
C-Could it be true?
Viol, the person in question, started to believe it.
When Ceres told her to test it by approaching, she couldn’t bring herself to lay a hand on him.
Even when he was about to stab himself, her heart dropped, and she snatched the knife away.
“No matter what you do, no matter where you go, you’ll be filled with thoughts of me until nothing else matters.”
Even when he said ridiculous things like that, she found herself drawn to the simple fact that he was staying with her.
Had she ever been like this before?
Never.
Did that mean—
It’s not that I will fall in love with him later… maybe I already am.
She couldn’t be sure how she felt.
So she decided to confine him and observe him over time.
Good thing I learned to cook.
Back when she had spare time after finishing her government work, she was looking for something fun to do.
She’d debated between cooking and martial arts, but chose cooking.
She was already strong enough, and learning martial arts on top of that felt like it would make her even more of a brute.
Thanks to that, she could make food for Ceres, but the only reason she did cook for him was because of Alios.
That girl definitely can’t cook, right? At most she probably fed him food someone else made.
The image of Alios sweetly feeding Ceres stuck with her, and she wanted to one-up that.
That’s how her days with Ceres began, but they weren’t smooth.
Every time she saw him, he looked like an angel, complete with a halo, and yet he was so picky.
She worked hard to cook, but he couldn’t eat it.
She wanted an excuse to visit more often, but he only ate once a day, so she could only come once.
She tried scaring him to get a reaction, but he didn’t seem afraid at all.
He said her hairstyle didn’t suit her, so she changed it, only for him to say the previous one was better.
She got mad and tried to stop feeding him, but then worried and ended up cooking late at night and bringing it to him like a pushover.
Just because I didn’t feed him for one day, he goes and self-harms! If it were anyone else, I’d have killed them on the spot.
There was nothing romantic about it, it just made her angry.
She even wondered if confining him had been a mistake.
But now—
“Ceres, get a hold of yourself! Ceres!!”
Right now, Viol genuinely thought—
She’d preferred those troublesome days much more.
***
She had only pushed him slightly. So why had this suddenly happened?
“…”
“Ceres, open your eyes!”
Viol tried desperately to wake Ceres.
At first, he had screamed and thrashed in pain, but now, he couldn’t even do that.
He had lost consciousness, yet he continued to tremble as though convulsing from the pain.
“Is anyone there?! Bring every healer you can find, immediately!”
Seeing that the condition was serious, Viol picked up Ceres and carried him outside.
She moved him to a safe place and turned the palace upside down, calling people in.
Healing mages, doctors, pharmacists, and even priests working in the palace—
Every person related to healing was summoned in full force.
But—
“What… what is this?”
“I’ve never seen symptoms like this…”
Even though they were skilled personnel serving the imperial palace, all of them looked troubled.
They surrounded Ceres, who lay on the bed in one of the rooms used by the imperial family, drenched in cold sweat.
“What are you all doing?”
Even without medical knowledge, one could tell the situation was dire.
Viol’s expression hardened.
“What’s the problem?”
“It’s something we’ve never seen before. It seems to be a type of mana overflow. Highly compressed mana is flowing through his body, damaging him with micro-shocks.”
“So you’re saying you can’t heal him?”
As Viol aggressively questioned the healing mage who diagnosed it, a priest responded instead.
“To be precise, healing is already underway. A certain power is repairing the damage caused by the mana overflow.”
“Then why is he still in pain?!”
“Because even after it heals, damage occurs again, and then the healing starts again. The cycle is repeating.”
Finally, the doctor and the pharmacist added:
“We tried to at least ease his pain with anesthesia, but it doesn’t work.”
“The unknown power healing his body seems to also detoxify painkillers and anesthetics.”
Viol was speechless.
All the healers responsible for treating the imperial family had essentially given up!
These useless fools.
Suppressing the urge to beat them all to death for being useless when it mattered most, she spoke.
“If none of you can help, then at least tell me someone who can.”
But everyone just looked at each other in silence, no one answered.
“You! Priest! Contact your temple and summon a High Priest!”
“Your Majesty, I’ve heard that Ceres himself possesses powerful divine power… If he can’t heal himself, then even a High Priest…”
“If you don’t call them right now, I’ll send the army to drag them here!”
“…Understood.”
Reluctantly, the priest contacted the temple. A short while later—
“Hames? Why are you the one who came?”
When someone familiar and renowned appeared, Viol looked surprised.
“There’s a High Priest assigned to the capital’s temple. It’s not you.”
“…I happened to be staying at this temple for a while due to other business.”
Hames spoke coldly.
“They said there was an urgent issue needing a High Priest. Since I was idle anyway, I came in their place. Is this related to Ceres Hyperion, who I’ve heard has been staying here recently?”
“Yes. Come quickly!”
Though it was an unexpected visitor, it might have been for the best.
If she was a potential candidate for the Pope, she’d probably be even more effective.
Viol quickly led her to Ceres.
“Ceres!!”
“Eh?”
The moment Hames saw Ceres lying in bed, she rushed over.
Viol watched her with a strange expression.
“Ceres, wake up! Please, wake up. Ceres Hyperion!”
Gripping Ceres and calling his name in anguish—
The very thing she herself had been doing earlier was now being done by the typically cold woman, right in front of the emperor.
Viol’s mouth fell open.
“You know each other?”
“I helped treat him once. But that’s not important right now!”
Hames shot her a sharp look.
“What happened to him?”
“I don’t know either. It happened suddenly!”
“Were there any warning signs or issues before this occurred?”
“That…”
Viol hesitated briefly before responding.
“I skipped his meal once… and pushed him a bit.”
“Why would you do that?!”
“I didn’t push him hard! And I only delayed the meal a little, and then he didn’t eat it!”
She tried to excuse herself, saying she’d just been upset that Ceres ignored her efforts and seemed to be thinking of another woman.
She never intended to hurt him, but Hames looked at her with disgust.
“You feel good, locking up someone who couldn’t even walk until recently?”
“He was walking fine here! I heard he even gathered the people from his territory and did something!”
“He pushed himself. With a body that couldn’t even walk, he endured the pain!”
Hames glared at the emperor with eyes full of hostility, then turned to examine Ceres.
“…Certainly, skipping a meal and being pushed aren’t the direct cause.”
“R-right? There’s a different cause!”
“No. You are the cause.”
Hames, now completely ignoring her, focused only on Ceres and explained.
“There’s an unusual mana overflow happening in his body. I have a guess. It’s likely due to rushing his mana training in order to walk.”
“Why would he rush it?”
“What do you think?”
…So you’re saying it’s my fault for forcing him to come?
Viol flinched. She walked over to Ceres with a hardened face and stared down at him.
Should’ve just gone to visit him myself.
If she had known it would turn out like this, if she had known she would come to think of him this much, then she would have.
“Ceres, you were wrong.”
Seeing him suffer, she was finally certain.
It’s not that she will fall in love with him—
She already had.
“If the problem is a mana overflow, then we need a mana expert.”
Once she accepted her feelings, her head cooled enough to think of a good solution.
Viol gently stroked Ceres’s silvery hair and looked at his pained face with sorrow.
“I’ll call for Sibellius.”
“She’s eccentric. She doesn’t listen to anyone.”
“There’s a way.”
She answered Hames and then summoned a subordinate to give an order.
“Send word: If she doesn’t come immediately, strip her of her titles and make her a criminal. But if she does—triple her research funding. Tell that to Sibellius, the half-demon archmage.”