Hearing the unmistakable authority in Esdeath’s voice, Byn couldn’t help but feel a little helpless.

  He had figured it out—Esdeath was the embodiment of a queen.

  And her desire for control was overwhelming...

  "Didn’t you say you’d give me freedom? But here you are, still trying to control me," he said as he took a step back, breaking free from her grip on his chin.

  Byn had no interest in being dominated. He wasn’t a masochist.

  "I meant retive freedom, not absolute freedom," Esdeath said coolly. "Besides, do you even know what that woman’s true nature is?"

  "That woman? You mean Aria?" Byn asked, curious.

  It seemed like Esdeath knew something about her.

  "That’s right. Her name is Aria, and she’s a repeat offender. She regurly deceives newcomers from the countryside, luring them into her home, fulfilling their desires just to toy with them before torturing them to death," Esdeath said matter-of-factly. "Of course, someone like you wouldn’t have ended up as one of her victims, but just know she had no good intentions toward you."

  The atrocities committed by Aria’s family weren’t exactly a secret—just something the general public remained unaware of. Their victims were usually naive outsiders who had just arrived in the Imperial Capital.

  Esdeath, naturally, was well aware of their crimes, but she had never been interested in dealing with them.

  "I see..." Byn nodded slightly.

  Though he had been wary of Aria, he hadn’t expected her sweet exterior to hide such cruelty.

  Thinking back, it was hard to tell how much of what she had said to him was the truth.

  Still, now that he was about to become the deputy commander of the Imperial Capital Security Force, he might just have the chance to deal with that twisted noblewoman.

  "But surely others know about this too. Has no one ever done anything about them?" Byn asked.

  By his standards, this was an unspeakable crime. And yet, not only had Aria and her family avoided punishment, but it seemed like no one had even attempted to intervene.

  If it were a case of “the power of wealth,” he might have understood. But Aria’s family wasn’t some high-ranking political force—just a wealthy noble house. The fact that they could act so brazenly without consequence was absurd.

  It could only mean one thing—whether it was the officials at the top or the Imperial Capital Security Force at the bottom, the Empire simply didn’t care about the lives of outsiders.

  And perhaps... even the lives of its own citizens weren’t valued.

  The Empire was even darker than he had imagined.

  "I don’t know, and I have neither the interest nor the patience to care about such things," Esdeath replied bluntly.

  "Figures. Someone like you wouldn’t care about things like this," Byn sighed.

  Their worldviews were completely different.

  But he wasn’t going to waste time trying to change her.

  Esdeath had spent twenty years shaping her beliefs—there was no way she would suddenly alter them just because someone told her to.

  "Oh? You talk as if you know me well," Esdeath said, intrigued. "Then tell me, what kind of person do you think I am?"

  "Probably... a queen-like personality? And someone who strongly believes in survival of the fittest," Byn answered honestly.

  "Hmm. You’re not wrong."

  Esdeath made no attempt to deny it.

  "You believe in survival of the fittest so strongly—is it because of your childhood experiences?" Byn asked.

  "Maybe. If my father and the rest of my cn had been strong enough, they wouldn’t have been sughtered by the Northern Tribes. Isn’t that a simple truth?" she replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

  "But..."

  Byn wanted to argue but ultimately chose not to.

  "Then again, you’re right," he said. "The Northern Tribes were invaders, but in a world where the strong rule over the weak, having reason on your side means nothing if you ck power. The weak are trampled regardless of how just their cause may be."

  It was like that old saying—"Fall behind, and you’ll be left to suffer."

  If a nation is destroyed, if its people are wiped out, then concepts of justice and evil become meaningless. The only thing that matters is strength—the ability to survive.

  No matter whether it was his previous world or this one, both operated under the same brutal rule: the strong thrive, the weak perish.

  This truth was undeniable. But Esdeath’s interpretation of it was extreme.

  "See? We get along just fine," Esdeath said with a smirk, assuming Byn was starting to agree with her.

  Byn remained silent and instead changed the subject.

  "So you don’t hate the Northern Tribes?" he asked.

  "Of course not. The weak being sughtered is natural. But regardless of what they did to my people, it won’t change the fact that I’ll sughter them when I go to war," she said indifferently.

  "Maybe your people were weak," Byn admitted, "but they didn’t deserve to die. They were innocent. Their deaths weren’t ‘natural.’"

  Esdeath’s expression turned slightly cold.

  Not wanting to start an argument, Byn continued, "I’m just stating my opinion. That’s all. But I am curious—if I were stronger than you, what would you, as the weaker one, think then?"

  "If that ever happens, then whether you kill me, make me your servant, or force me into submission, I won’t have any compints," Esdeath said with a cold smile. "But unfortunately for you, that won’t happen. I will be the strongest in this Empire."

  She wasn’t boasting. If anything, she was the only one truly qualified to say those words.

  Now that she had obtained the Ice Teigu, her absolute strength was inevitable.

  What she didn’t realize was that Byn wasn’t bound by the rules of this world. As a transmigrator, he was an anomaly—one she couldn’t predict.

  "We’ll see about that," Byn said with a faint smile.

  He wasn’t pnning anything strange.

  But he was certain of one thing—dealing with Esdeath in the future was going to be troublesome.

  And the best way to handle trouble... was to be stronger than it.

  Just then, Esdeath suddenly changed the topic again.

  Without warning, she reached out and gently touched Byn’s face.

  "You can smile, can’t you? Why not smile a little brighter?"

  Her sudden shift in demeanor completely shattered the previously tense atmosphere.

  In an instant, the conversation’s intensity vanished, repced by something entirely different.

  PinkSnake