It Turned Out She Wasn't a Favored Concubine - Episode 97

“Are you truly going to lay hands on Arne’s body? That body once held Arne’s soul—it belonged to that child!”

Was it because of Giscal’s outcry? The swiftly approaching blade halted just a hair’s breadth from my neck. I exhaled deeply, feeling the chill of the sharp blade.

“You’re right. I couldn’t possibly harm Arne’s body.”

Erich bit his lip and threw the sword to the ground.

“But the soul inside is different. It really… isn’t Arne. Arne would never have made that expression upon seeing my blade.”

What kind of expression did I make? As if answering my silent question, Erich murmured,

“Arne always wanted to leave… So she wouldn’t have shown such a desperate desire to live like you just did.”

With those words, I finally understood—he had grasped something about me that even I hadn’t realized.

My act of stepping forward and exposing my neck to him, despite everyone’s protests, had been nothing but bravado.

When his blade stopped just short of striking, the emotion I felt was unmistakable relief.

I wanted to live. No matter how I came to this world, no matter how much time had passed in my original world—I was alive, and I wanted to keep living.

Of course. It was the instinct of the living, the most earnest desire. Foolishly, I had ignored it for a while.

“Yes, I knew. I knew something changed after she had that fever.”

Erich spoke while looking at me—but his gaze wasn’t truly on me. He was seeing the Arne in his memories.

“She whispered sweetly that she’d give me a token of her love, made a bracelet herself and fastened it to my wrist, even said she’d postpone her wish to destroy the Edelheit family for my sake… That’s not something she would’ve done.”

The actions I had taken—whether forced or for other reasons—held entirely different meanings for Erich. His trembling lashes and heartfelt voice were no act. I wondered why I had ever thought he was pretending.

“I knew it all, but I closed my eyes to it. I clung to the vain hope that maybe she had truly begun to love me.”

Erich closed his eyes, pressing a hand to his chest as if to bury his unfulfilled hopes.

A solemn silence fell, so heavy that I felt guilty even trying to speak.

Erich truly loved Arne. But it seemed Arne didn’t love him back. I still didn’t know what their relationship had been.

What did Arne think of Erich? Why did she want to destroy the Edelheit family? Where did she want to go?

Arne’s heart…

I clenched my fists. Though I shared her body, I had never once tried to understand her heart.

I simply believed what others told me, what was written in her diary. I assumed she was a spoiled, cruel noblewoman—ambitious, arrogant, and petty.

I thought she entered the palace as a concubine simply because Erich was emperor and the most suitable person to fulfill her lust for power.

But the truth was different. Arne wasn’t of Edelheit blood. She grew up unloved by her family and was completely isolated in high society.

Erich loved her obsessively—not as emperor, but as a man. That’s why he bound her with promises to keep her in the palace.

If Arne had truly been obsessed only with power and wealth, Erich wouldn’t have feared her departure.

After all, the palace—beside the emperor—was the very center of power and riches.

Then I heard Erich murmur again.

“If Arne left of her own will, I wouldn’t dare defy her wishes. But if she left unknowingly to some strange place, then I must bring her back. Back to when she was by my side.”

Erich reached out toward the distance and grasped at empty air, as if trying to snatch Arne’s wandering soul and trap it like a specimen.

“To do that, I need you.”

Erich swiftly bound my hands. I groaned at the rough grip, but he didn’t care. My pain, as someone who wasn’t Arne, meant nothing to him.

“Where are you taking her?” Giscal l asked urgently.

“Of course, to the palace,” Erich replied slowly.

“But you admitted she’s not Arne.”

“This body belongs to Arne, doesn’t it? At the very least, her body should be by my side. And…”

Erich gazed deeply into my eyes.

“You said this soul is connected to Arne’s, didn’t you? Then I’ll use this soul to bring Arne’s back.”

A fire lit in Erich’s blue eyes. He was determined to bring Arne back to his side—no matter the cost.

“That’s not something easily done! Didn’t you hear everything we said?”

“Yes, I heard. This soul crossed the thick wall between worlds. So Arne’s soul can cross it again too, can’t it?”

Erich only accepted what he wanted to hear. The fact that crossing worlds required risking death, or that time flowed differently between them—those were trivial to him.

“There are dozens of Motus artisans in the palace. If they risk their lives researching, they’ll find a way.”

Erich pulled me closer again.

“And we have a perfect test subject here, don’t we? This soul doesn’t matter—let them experiment freely. Something will come of it.”

It was a cruel statement, treating a person as less than human. I knew Erich was ruthless, but he had hidden that side from me—Arne’s shell.

Now, with his sharp cruelty flying at me like arrows, my body trembled.

Erich handed me over to the knights and prepared to mount his horse. Just then, a heavy thud rang out—two knights who were about to take me collapsed instantly.

“You’ll never get a satisfying answer.”

Giscal, who had been detained, had somehow knocked out the knights and now stood facing Erich.

The imperial guards rushed forward in shock, but Giscal drew a sword from a fallen knight’s waist and pointed it at Erich.

The guards froze, and Erich stared blankly at the blade. I covered my mouth with both hands.

“Do you want your entire family executed for treason?”

In the past, Giscal had been imprisoned for stepping onto the throne’s dais to plead for me. That alone had earned him punishment—now, he was pointing a sword at the emperor. It was a crime worthy of immediate execution.

Giscal knew this. Yet he didn’t hesitate. In front of all those knights, he dared to threaten the emperor.

“Even if the Edelheit family ends with me, I won’t let you take her.”

“I don’t understand. Arne never once looked back at you, her supposed brother. Why do you care so much about that woman?”

“She’s not that woman. She’s Yoon Seha.”

Giscal pronounced my name more clearly than ever before. But Erich’s label didn’t change.

“A name that isn’t Arne is worthless. Wasn’t that your belief too? You, who took on war and the family headship out of duty—why care about someone from another world? Why not just ignore her?”

“Yoon Seha came to this world because of my mistake. Of course I have a duty to take responsibility.”

Erich twisted his lips.

“Ha! Responsibility? Seems your precious sense of duty weighs heavier for a woman than for your own family.”

Erich stepped forward fearlessly. Giscal retreated his sword accordingly.

Of course. Giscal wasn’t truly rebelling. He was using his last resort to stop the emperor from taking me.

But the fact remained— Giscal Marquis of Edelheit, had pointed a sword at the emperor. That could never be undone.

“You’ve committed a grave sin. By threatening me for that woman, your family is finished. Prepare a welcome gift for Arne’s return.”

Erich gestured to the knights. They exchanged glances and surrounded us.

“No matter how skilled you are, you can’t defeat all these guards. You’ll die a traitor, and she’ll be the sacrifice to bring Arne back.”

Erich and Giscal stared each other down. The air between them was taut with tension.

A single gesture, a flick of a sword, could shatter it all. But it was Giscal who broke the silence—he lowered his sword to the ground. Erich raised an eyebrow.

“Didn’t I say you’d never find a satisfying answer?”

“What do you mean?”

“No matter how many palace Motus artisans you gather—even if you bring in foreign ones—none can compare to Perelona or Elliot, who holds the knowledge of ancient mages.”

“So?”

“I’ll persuade them.”

“…So you’ve chosen your family over that woman?”

To Erich’s suspicious question, Giscal slowly nodded.

“Yes.”

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