Chapter 247: Chapter 247

Unfortunately, Ferio still couldn’t see the lioness.

All he could tell was that something—what Varia claimed to be a lioness—was tugging at his clothes.

But the moment that lioness touched him, something long forgotten came rushing back, clear as day.

Even though it had been well over ten years since he’d last thought of it, Ferio was certain.

He could feel Regina’s Fang emanating from the invisible lioness.

Startled, Varia turned to look at the lioness.

It still had Ferio’s clothes in its jaws, but sensing he wasn’t going anywhere, it slowly relaxed its grip.

Varia trailed off, glaring at Remus with contempt.

Regina had been a tragic Voreoti, taken far too early—all because of him.

It was that bastard who killed her.

That only made Ferio angrier. He hurled Remus to the ground. He thudded like a frozen fish.

But he was still breathing.

‘She’s dead. I know she’s dead.’

Ferio tried to reject what he had just felt.

Regina had died. He had seen her remains with his own eyes when they were brought up north.

Her black hair had been laid beside her body.

Even Remus’s necklace had been there.

“Is it possible that a Voreoti’s power lingers after death?”

As special as the Voreoti were, they were still human.

When they died, they returned to the earth like anyone else, ending in a way no one could foresee.

His grandfather, his parents—none of them had caused any supernatural phenomena after death.

Even the legends of the North, the ones responsible for everything unfolding now, never mentioned anything about the afterlife for a Voreoti.

And those legends themselves weren’t confirmed to be true.

Varia hesitated before continuing,

“Just the Fang that returns?”

Ferio squinted at her.

But Varia insisted it was a plausible theory and explained:

“That power was a gift from the gods, wasn’t it? So when the person dies, maybe that power returns to the gods. What if this lioness really is Lady Regina’s Fang?!”

Ferio was about to say it was impossible—but stopped.

He’d meant to refute such a far-fetched idea, but instead found himself wondering if it could be true.

Because right beyond this very place... lay the domain of the gods.

Ferio’s gaze sharpened as he looked toward the black plain.

He had never been one to believe in the gods. Even though he had witnessed things closer than most ever could, he had never once placed his faith in them.

But now, he had to believe.

Ferio muttered a curse under his breath.

Trying to believe in them only made his blood boil.

If the gods really had a hand in this insane mess, then they were nothing more than puppetmasters.

Ferio felt entire sequence of events had been orchestrated by those damn gods.

Looking back through that lens, there were too many oddities.

Varia’s careless decision to go outside, despite knowing the dangerous situation unfolding...

The Gladiago Knights—skilled enough to kill vicious monsters—being unable to subdue a mere kidnapper with a hostage...

Leonia showing up just in time to strip him of his title...

Even Probo’s testimony about Varia’s strange behavior.

Ferio’s lips twisted into a bitter smirk.

‘Aust saw all of it.’

The Duke of Aust, secretly plotting rebellion, would never have called the three of them together to teach them foresight unless...

Unless he knew it would fail.

Aust had seen everything.

He had known their rebellion would collapse—and that it would be Voreoti who would ruin it all, and that the Voreoti family would experience something in this very place.

The foresight Aust gave them was a kind of insurance.

“I’ve passed you the key,” he was saying. “So maybe go easy on the South.”

Ferio asked her about the foresight she’d received from Duke Aust.

Duke Aust had offered solace for her first life—and blessed the second one that had begun.

“...He told me to pull something.”

“He said to pull whatever I could get my hands on.”

To demonstrate, Varia made a tugging gesture.

But even as she said it, her expression was uncertain.

“What was I supposed to pull?”

Ferio nodded at the still-breathing Remus. At this point, it was practically divine intervention keeping him alive.

Ferio shut that idea down immediately. Varia wasn’t eager to grab Remus’s collar anyway.

She’d much rather grope Ferio’s sternocleidomastoid muscle.

“...My prophecy already came true.”

Ferio had come here because he believed in Leonia—as the foresight said.

So Varia and Leonia’s prophecies were likely to come true today as well.

“What do you think Leo heard?”

“Maybe stealing my title was part of hers.”

“If so, then what I heard...”

Varia grew serious. There was a high chance it would happen today.

She still had no clue what she was supposed to pull.

“What am I meant to /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ tug?”

She asked the lioness.

“Do you know anything?”

The lioness stared at her, sniffed the air once, then looked at both her and Ferio.

Then it calmly lay down.

“What’s the lioness doing now?”

“Tell her to just bite that bastard’s neck.”

Ferio said it half-joking, half-serious.

If the lioness really was Regina’s Fang, it had plenty of grudges against Remus.

Suddenly, the lioness let out a low growl.

And then it really bit into Remus’s neck.

Calling Leonia by her title took more courage than Empress Tigria expected.

She had two sons, had been through a marriage and an affair, and she considered herself someone with solid life experience—but even she needed courage.

“Why don’t you stop?”

“I was just about to.”

Amid the pale-faced nobles, Leonia alone looked refreshed as she answered.

“I explicitly told you not to kill him.”

Leonia lifted the large object in her hand as if to say, Look.

It was drenched in red blood and looked vaguely human in shape.

“Barely, since he’s unconscious.”

“Please understand, Your Majesty. A worried child does rash things when her mother’s kidnapped.”

“You’d kill someone out of worry?”

Leonia’s tone was sharp, as if genuinely puzzled.

“He’s the father of the man who kidnapped my mother. And just as monstrous as his son.”

The Empress realized she’d said the wrong thing—but she couldn’t let Leonia, as wild as she was, cross the line unchecked.

“...Perhaps I went too far.”

Fortunately, Leonia stepped back first. The Empress let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Truthfully, she wasn’t confident she could win against that insane little beast.

“Viscount Olor should take a seat now.”

Leonia sat the blood-soaked lump down in a chair.

“There we go, sit properly.”

She hoisted his slumping body up and leaned it against the chair again.

Viscount Olor had fainted cold. His eyes were rolled back, his forehead cracked and swollen where he’d hit the table. His clothes were slashed and punctured in several places.

A small pool of blood had gathered on the floor—a light wound, considering.

“Ugh. This is why I hate torture.”

Grumbling, Leonia returned to her seat.

“Torture’s really not my style.”

“Duke, there’s something on your lovely face.”

Countess Bosgruni gently wiped blood from Leonia’s cheek with a handkerchief.

Though the thick blood didn’t come off completely, it only made her complexion look more vivid.

“...Let’s move on to the first agenda item.”

The Empress gathered the nobles’ attention.

“It feels took forever.”

Not much time had actually passed—but it felt like days just to get through the first item.

“Let’s hear your thoughts on stripping Viscount Olor of his title.”

Only one attending noble didn’t vote in favor—Viscount Olor, unconscious in his chair.

The Empress signed the document.

Viscount Olor was stripped of his title. He no longer had the right to attend the noble council.

She called for the Imperial Knights waiting outside.

“Hand the criminal over to the Revoo Knights.”

“You’re not sending him to the Imperial prison?”

“They’ll be the ones to put him there.”

The Empress scoffed at the noble’s question.

“...It’s time for a purge.”

Including all of you.

The Imperial Knights blushed in shame.

The Empress saw them no differently than Olor’s ilk. Many of them had been appointed through his recommendation—who knew what might happen if they were put in charge?

“Keep a close watch.”

Leonia told her escort knights waiting outside.

With Olor dragged out, the council resumed quickly. The following agenda items were dealt with at once.

The Second Prince’s appointment as Crown Prince, the Empress’s regency—they all passed without issue.

As the end of the council drew near, Leonia’s anxiety only grew.

Her fingers twitched uncontrollably on her crossed arms. Her eyes darted between the window and the door, trying to stay composed.

“...With the final motion passed,”

The Empress signed the last document.

The tense atmosphere in the chamber began to ease.

“This meeting is adjourned.”

She stood. The nobles rose and paid their respects.

Just as she was about to turn and leave, the Empress called out to Leonia.

“You seem to have urgent business.”

The Empress stepped aside from the wide-open door.