The Tyrant's Daughter-in-Law
Arinell Maila had no words to express her deep grievance. “Father, I am truly unjustly treated!”
“You foolish child!”
She had barely finished complaining to her father, the Duke Maechert, when the severe scolding she had never heard before from him echoed back to her ears. Her face, already pale, drained even whiter as she stared at him with resentful eyes.
Duke Maechert placed a hand on his throbbing forehead and erupted in a blaze of fury at his daughter.
“I would gladly have my title stripped by His Majesty the Emperor for failing to educate you properly. Do you even know how serious the crime of insulting a royal is?!”
The threat of losing his title made Arinell’s eyes widen in shock.
From the day she was born, her father had been one of the wealthiest and most noble dukes in the empire. For that position to be in peril now… it was unthinkable.
“B-but… I didn’t know he was His Majesty. I thought he was just a palace attendant….”
“When you first started entering the palace, I warned you to be as cautious as a mouse or a bird listening to every word.”
“……”
“Look at what your heedlessness has brought. How shameful for the duke’s only daughter to be barred from the palace!”
Arinell’s small fists trembled faintly.
Her father had indeed taught her that way, but because she believed she would one day become empress, she had never treated the palace attendants and maids with caution.
They were subordinates, after all. Why would she need to be polite?
She had even planned to scold that arrogant attendant, but it turned out to be the Emperor himself… She felt trapped in a perfectly woven snare.
“I… I never expected this to happen.”
The duke’s wife, unable to bear seeing her daughter’s ashen face any longer, raised her eyebrows and pulled Arinell into her arms.
“Enough, dear. Why are you blaming this on us? It’s that vulgar maila girl’s fault.”
At the mention of “maila,” the tips of Duke Maechert’s eyebrows twitched ever so slightly.
The duchess gritted her teeth while holding Arinell closer.
“What’s so special about that ugly wench? Lady Alence adores her, the Emperor even betrothed her to him… Everyone has gone mad. Anyone can see how far superior our Arinell is….”
“You!”
“Am I wrong? And even back when the late emperor was alive, our Maechert family was the most prestigious among the prime ministers’ houses. But now His Majesty treats us like a mere tail to a dog… All because of that maila!”
Duke Maechert glared at his wife with stern eyes.
“If that damned sherbet hadn’t been made by Arinell Maila…!”
But he could not argue back. He already felt it was the entire truth.
Decades ago, Great Spiritist Marquis Heizen Maila had been close to His Majesty the Emperor, Parmes Aslet, who was then a prince among the princes.
“I only follow the path guided by the spirits. I do not interfere in matters that are wrong, Your Highness.”
He had been a rather principled and irritable man who, despite his high status and the 2nd Prince’s and Duke Maechert’s threats, stubbornly stayed on his chosen path.
Anyway, on the day rumors spread that the prince was hiding in the countryside for recovery, the news of Marquis Maila’s death reached the capital.
The funeral was held modestly by the spiritists, but none of his family members or close associates attended.
And one of the three princes was rumored to be connected to Marquis Maila’s death.
The 4th Prince Parmes Aslet had said he would uncover the truth once he returned from recovery, but over the past ten years, Parmes had remained silent.
Just as it seemed the name Heizen Maila would be forgotten forever, suddenly Parmes Aslet, who had suddenly risen to immense power, toppled the three princes and ascended the throne.
Those who had supported the princes were purged or fled into exile. Duke Maechert, having a relatively solid foundation, retained his title by swearing loyalty to Parmes.
Even after more than a year of purges, Parmes had never directed his blade at Maechert.
But today, Duke Maechert felt true terror and had to bow before the Emperor.
It was as if he was submitting to the ghost of Marquis Maila, who had appeared alongside Arinell Maila.
‘Even the other prime ministers are no different from the Emperor. They all support that maila. That weakling who couldn’t even grab my lifeline… I still don’t understand his trust.’
Memories of the three prime ministers signing with joyful faces over the Marquis’s meritorious service and the first-class pension for his surviving daughter, Arinell, had furrowed the duke’s brows.
“Haa… How am I supposed to act now?”
The duke, his face rigid with complicated emotions, abruptly turned and left.
Whenever she got what she wanted, her father always showed this merciless side. Arinell’s clenched little fists shook.
***
A crow sat on the small window of the underground prison.
Outside, the sunset was fading, and the prison’s dim light had long since given way to darkness.
“Craaaw!”
In the torture chamber of the underground prison, the acrid scent of burned flesh and the cries of men filled the air.
It was a horrifying, unbearable sight.
In front of the tortured men sat a single large chair.
It was originally the seat of the Minister of Military Affairs, Duke Gherment, but this time it was occupied by someone else.
The breeze coming through the broken window ruffled his silver hair.
His red eyes, calm to the point of icy stillness, reflected the scene of the torture chamber.
The man who had been winking and smiling at Arinell was gone; in his place stood a true tyrant, eyes cold and merciless as he stared down at the prisoners.
“Stop.”
Parmes’s lips moved, and a low voice came out. The soldiers immediately ceased their tortures.
The men before them were in such a ruined state from the iron rods that they looked like corpses.
“Cough… cough…”
One man spat out blood-tinged phlegm.
And he glared at Parmes with burning, hateful eyes.
He was a subordinate of the purged 2nd Prince, hiding at the ball only to assassinate Parmes before being discovered.
“You filthy traitor…! You monster! You devil!”
But Parmes’s eyebrows didn’t twitch even a little.
“I should have killed you that day at the crossroads! If it weren’t for that damned maila…!”
Veins bulged on the man’s neck.
Even after his roar ended, silence did not descend.
Because the 2nd Prince’s remaining underlings were groaning everywhere.
Their trembling in fear after being tortured so harshly did not satisfy Parmes’s eyes.
If he recalled the child they had nearly hurt, he would feel satisfied only after killing them hundreds of times.
“……”
Parmes rose from his seat and walked slowly toward the prisoner.
He stood right in front of the man who had roared a curse at him.
The man’s face was a mess, and even in pain he clenched his teeth and glared at Parmes with bulging eyes, but he couldn’t hide the way his hands shook.
Even his toes trembled with instinctive fear the moment Parmes approached.
Parmes stared at him indifferently, then stomped on his toes with his shoe.
“Ghk!”
The man let out a pained groan.
Parmes’s cold voice drifted into his ear.
“I thought I recognized your face.”
And he grabbed the man’s Adam’s apple, forcibly lifting him up to face him.
With his foot still on the man’s toes and his neck gripped, he started choking, but a cruel smile curved Parmes’s lips.
“I remember seeing you the day I lost my friend.”
Under the oppressive aura of Parmes, the crows sitting on the windowsill fluttered away in panic.
“Today’s interrogation won’t be boring at all.”
Even the soldiers watching Parmes trembled uncontrollably under that overwhelming presence.
“Cough… cough…”
The man, throat squeezed by Parmes’s outstretched hand, gasped desperately, but Parmes’s expression remained calm and relaxed.
As if he were holding a butterfly’s wing.
“You… will one day beg for the gift of death.”
Among the five Aslet princes, the most ominous one. And finally the one who stole the throne—Parmes. His burning eyes carried a blazing madness and killing intent.