When the Villainess Died, the Male Lead Went Crazy - Chapter 110
Kylian knew he didn’t need to search for the Empress himself. His subordinates were already on it, and it was more practical for him to wait and act once she was found.
Yet, he couldn’t stay idle. Kylian began to search through the palace like a madman.
Rumble!
“I love you, Kylian.”
The haunting face of Anais, who had said those words to him, now pierced his heart with pain. Back then, he had thought it was a deception, but now it felt like a spear through his heart.
“Your Majesty!”
Kylian was running. He couldn’t accept that she had left him.
He had to find the Empress. He had to hear the truth from her. That the priests were lying, that the Empress was the real Anais.
Otherwise…
“I wished for you to be happy, Kylian. If I had known I would ruin you like this… I wouldn’t have done it.”
Could he live otherwise?
“Kylian, you never loved me.”
“…”
“If you had loved me, you wouldn’t have failed to recognize me.”
“No.”
Despite saying this, it was difficult to breathe as his heart pounded painfully. His breath was rough, and the pain felt like his chest was about to burst.
“I’m sorry. If it’s because of me that Kylian changed like this, I’m truly sorry.”
“No, please.”
He headed toward the wisteria where he had stayed during his prince days, filled with memories of Anais.
“I’m sorry, Kylian.”
“No…”
Sobbing, Kylian reached the tree and collapsed under it. The cruel rain began to fall devastatingly on his head and back.
* * *
“Welcome.”
As Phileal and Anais entered the flower shop, which was quite large—likely due to the cheap land value of the remote island.
“What flowers are you looking for?”
An elderly woman looked at Phileal. As he met her gaze and smiled, the florist paused, caught off-guard by his unusual red eyes.
“Are you the… priest of death from ten years ago?”
“Yes. I bought a lot of flowers back then.”
“Aahh.”
The old woman remembered Phileal. When the temple of death had completely collapsed, and he was the only child left, Mephist, the high priest at that time, had come to take him.
Phileal had bought many spider lilies for the temple in addition to the ones for his mother’s grave.
“What brings you here today?”
“Nostalgia.”
Anais was surprised that the old woman was not at all afraid of the priest of death.
From the old woman’s perspective, it made sense.
She was an elderly woman with not much time left to live, and she knew that the priests of death would have no interest in someone like her. An elderly person with a short remaining lifespan wouldn’t particularly please the god of death if offered as a sacrifice.
“It’s already been that long, huh?”
“You have a good memory.”
“It’s because I haven’t sold that many.”
Anais watched Phileal and the old woman laugh as they conversed.
“What kind of flowers are you looking for today?”
“Spider lilies.”
“Again for…”
“No, this time it’s for my family.”
“Understood.”
The old woman had thought he was again involved in something related to the temple of death, and she was relieved to hear that wasn’t the case. She looked at Phileal gently.
“For a memorial?”
“Yes. But make it really fancy, pretty, and big. It’s for my mother.”
“Understood.”
Anais noticed Phileal was speaking cheerfully, yet he was gripping her hand very tightly, showing that he wasn’t really okay. She squeezed back reassuringly.
It took over 30 minutes to assemble and decorate the flowers elaborately.
After receiving the bouquet, Phileal handed it to Anais briefly. Then he clenched and unclenched his fist and handed something to the old woman.
“This, this is…”
“I’ve paid properly for it. Right, Anais?”
Anais, seeing the diamond transferred to the old woman’s hand, chuckled and said,
“Yes, well done.”
“Hehe.”
Phileal smiled and then pulled Anais by the hand and left. The previously sharp-edged Phileal seemed at ease, and the old woman, holding the diamond tightly, blankly watched the direction they had left in.
* * *
When Kylian found the Empress, she was already unconscious, appearing to have collapsed.
“Revive her.”
High Priest Raviel was stunned as Kylian dragged him along by the collar. However, given the unfolding situation, it seemed the Emperor had finally grasped everything.
“Your Majesty, have you discovered something?”
Raviel cautiously asked, and Kylian’s desolate eyes turned towards him.
They were in Kylian’s bedroom, where, for some reason, the Empress had been found sleeping outside, now completely drenched. Normally, Kylian would have immediately warmed her up after a bath, making the room as warm as a desert at noon.
However, he was not in any state to think logically now. His breathing felt like swallowing thorns, so painful that it was hard to even think.
“When did you know?”
“I’ve known since the day I was captured. Haven’t I been telling Your Majesty ever since!”
Raviel had been captured and had told Kylian from the start that Anais was an impostor and that the person inside Anais’ body was Lilith. However, Kylian had not believed him, and when the Empress had fainted due to purification, he had even tried to kill Raviel.
Raviel felt a twisted satisfaction. The man before him might have been crazy, but he was still the Emperor. It seemed he could be manipulated.
“Revive her. I need to hear her speak.”
“What do you wish to hear?”
Raviel recalled the treatment he had endured. Not only had he been exploited for his divine power until he passed out, but he had also been dragged here like a dog.
“I…”
Kylian knew what he wanted to hear but was afraid to speak it.
“Do you think this impostor will speak the truth when she awakens?”
Raviel had always despised the high priest of death. The high priest had been the lover of his fiance who had fled and abandoned him.
Raviel had been the one to orchestrate events leading to her death. He had abandoned his original identity after she died, and was able to live comfortably as a priest.
However, he hadn’t known that she had given birth shortly before her death. Raviel had been oblivious to the fact that a woman’s stomach who had recently given birth would still appear pregnant.
And when Raviel discovered that Lilith was the daughter of the High Priest of Death and his former fiance, his anger knew no bounds. He had not been satisfied just by selling her into slavery.
Even when he returned to the temple, it was agonizing and miserable for him to see Lilith, who resembled his former fiance so closely.
He wanted to utterly destroy her and throw her back into the abyss where she belonged. And now that opportunity has come back to him. He thought it was all over when Kylian madly sacrificed all the priests. But it was just beginning.
“Your Majesty.”
Kylian’s eyes had turned dead. High Priest Raviel, observing the dark light in his soul, said in awe.
“Instead of healing, she needs to be purified.”
“Why is that?”
“We must purify her for Lady Anais to return.”
Suddenly, Kylian remembered the look in Anais’ eyes after the purification. If that truly meant their souls had found and then left their proper place.
“Then perform the purification.”
“That’s impossible.”
Suddenly, the Empress opened her eyes and spoke.
“Your Majesty, would you allow this man to touch me?”
Kylian could not tell if the person before him was truly Anais.
Everything about her—the expressions Anais used to make, her habits, her actions, and even her way of speaking.
Everything was gone. Yet, he tried to understand her based on the mistakes he had made before her death, not realizing it would be his undoing.
“Stop this, Lilith Isadora.”
“High Priest. That is presumptuous. I am not Lilith Isadora.”
“Then swear it by Goddess Julias.”
High Priest Raviel addressed her casually, as he would have with the original Lilith.
“I am not a priest. Why should I swear by God?”
“Then I will do it. I, Raviel Mya Romberdin, swear by Goddess Julias, with my current life, past lives, and all future reincarnations and souls, that the woman before us is Lilith Isadora.”
“Your Majesty, this man might already be excommunicated. Moreover, if he has changed his allegiance to another God, swearing by another God’s name is meaningless.”
The Empress was taken aback and continued the conversation.
“Empress.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The Empress was disconcerted that Kylian still addressed her as the Empress. Her voice had changed from what it used to be.
“How would you know such things about priests, Empress?”
She blinked in momentary confusion and widened her eyes. Then her expression shifted to one of disdain as she swung her legs off the bed.
“You’re not as perceptive as I thought. Only now you realize?”
She shrugged her shoulders in boredom and walked towards Kylian. He felt estranged from her. At that moment, he deeply realized she was not the Anais he had so desperately sought.
“Lilith Isadora.”
“Yes, it’s been a while since you’ve called me that, Kylian.”
She ran her fingers through the hair that had fallen around his eyes. Kylian sharply knocked her hand away.
Lilith mocked the tear-stained look in his eyes.
“What changes now that you know? Anais left because she was tired of you.”
Kylian’s gaze remained fixed on the Empress, and she coldly met his eyes.
“It’s because of you.”
“You must be insane, Lilith Isadora.”
“No. Why blame me when you didn’t recognize and mistake her?”
Kylian bit his lip before speaking.
“Do you think I’ll just let you be?”
“I heard from Lewarren. Anais has run away.”
“Lilith Isadora.”
She continued to speak, seemingly uninterested in his words.
“Bring Anais here. Otherwise, this body will soon die.”
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