[This was a scene of the defeated.]
[The dark clouds in the sky were torn apart by Aestus Estus (Original Fire), and sunlight poured out, shining on Agrippina's face.]
[At this moment, she was extremely angry, and her voice trembled.]
"Why?! Why can you stand there as if nothing happened?"
Agrippina's hysterical roar, as she held the white bones of Britannicus, spread across the battlefield.
"I... I was the one who was always doing things!"
"I was the one who put you on the throne of Rome! For it, I did so many disgusting things!"
"Why don't you realize at all that it's mine?!"
"..."
[You probably understood what happened.]
[Agrippina had made contact with Nero's adopted brother, Britannicus, in some way.]
[But unfortunately, this coward who had fled from the Roman capital a long time ago had already been dead for a while.]
[What Agrippina saw was nothing more than his corpse.]
[This was also why Agrippina could form a so-called alliance with him—the dead would, of course, agree to anything.]
[However, you also realized a terrifying thing.]
[That was that Agrippina seemed to have learned some kind of extremely twisted magic.]
[It could not only give the long-dead Britannicus "life" again, but it could also make the skeletons destroyed by the war stand up again.]
[Is this really a kind of magic that someone like her could master?]
[You couldn't help but feel some doubt about this.]
"Of course I understand that!"
Nero aimed Aestus Estus (Original Fire) at her mother.
"That's why I've been working hard."
"Mother, isn't my performance on the throne worthy of your dedication?"
"Or... after I became emperor, did I ever mistreat you in any way?"
"I've always treated you well, haven't I—but have you ever treated me well as a mother?"
"..."
Upon hearing this, Agrippina's eyes narrowed, her jaw tightened, and her expression was stunned. It was clear that she had not expected her daughter to say something like this.
As time passed, the malicious woman seemed to calm down.
She gave a self-deprecating bitter smile, then let go of her hands, letting Britannicus's white bones fall to the ground with a crisp sound.
Then, with a thud, Agrippina herself collapsed onto the ground.
"Nero... you're right."
"I was not a good mother. I'm sorry."
"..."
Although she didn't have deep feelings for her mother, seeing her like this, Nero couldn't help but feel a little sympathy.
She put away her Aestus Estus (Original Fire) and said softly:
"Then give up these thoughts now."
"As long as you're willing to do so—I will continue to treat you as my mother. I will never disrespect you."
"..."
Agrippina looked up, revealing a smile of repentance.
"Is that so?"
"That's wonderful."
The malicious woman, who had used all her might to fight for the throne, now seemed to have come to a great realization.
She stood up and walked toward Nero step by step.
Nero didn't say anything else. She just silently opened her arms, ready to welcome her birth mother's repentance.
This... seemed like a scene of atonement for the past.
But—
Was that really the case?
[You sensed that something was wrong.]
[This wasn't just you guessing—when Agrippina walked past you, you felt the mana around you flowing at an extreme speed.]
[No!]
[This isn't to make peace with Nero!]
[This is an assassination attempt!]
Ian's premonition was not wrong.
As she approached Nero, a subtle sneer appeared on Agrippina's face.
Then, a hysterical roar once again broke the silence of the battlefield.
"Don't be so arrogant, you disobedient daughter!"
"You've always been just a pawn to me!"
"How dare you say you forgive me now?!"
As she spoke these vicious words, a sharp dagger slid out from Agrippina's sleeve. She grabbed it and stabbed toward Nero.
"If I don't want you to be the emperor, you'll never be able to!!!"
"Go die with your wishful thinking!"
The gleaming dagger rapidly approached the young empress of Rome.
This was a distance that could not be avoided.
Nero had not expected such a betrayal to happen—the young empress realized that she had been fooled by her mother's acting.
She... had never seen her as a daughter from the beginning.
But it seemed a little too late to realize this now.
The next moment, blood splattered, and a little warmth fell on Nero's and Agrippina's faces.
However—
This blood did not belong to either of them.
It was... Ian's blood.
That dagger of revenge from Agrippina had pierced the man's body and had not harmed Nero in the slightest.
"Good... I blocked it."
"Nero..."
The man fell to the ground with the dagger still in his body before he could finish his sentence.
Agrippina had not expected her perfectly disguised attack to be blocked by the teacher who was coveting her daughter's body. She froze.
Nero, who had come to her senses, realized that her beloved teacher had blocked the most fatal blow for her.
Flames burned in the young woman's green eyes.
Her anger toward her mother had reached its peak.
Without a word, Nero instinctively drew Aestus Estus (Original Fire) again.
A crimson flame emerged from the blade forged from the meteor, converging into an unprecedentedly sharp form.
Sizzle!
It pierced Agrippina's heart, then split her in two, and burned her fiercely with the most terrifying fire.
Nero didn't even give her a second look. She turned around and shouted at the soldiers behind her:
"What are you all doing?! Get someone to help!"
"If anything happens to my teacher, I'll make sure you all pay with your lives!"
[The conquest of Britannicus finally ended in an indescribable way.]
[You blocked the fatal blow for Nero, allowing her to defend her empire without a single scratch.]
[However, Agrippina's blow was not so easy to take.]
[Being good at poisoning, she had covered the dagger that was supposed to stab the emperor with a terrifying poison.]
[It was a terrible thing that was filled with the fire of jealousy in every drop—this was Agrippina's deepest hatred for her daughter.]
[And you endured all of this for Nero.]
[You fell into a deep coma.]
[All of this was even more difficult for Nero to accept.]
"Why was I soft on that woman?"
This was the question Nero had been asking herself repeatedly for the past few days.
If she hadn't been soft on her mother, her teacher would not have been hurt like this.
Nero covered her forehead with her hand, her fingers leaving visible marks, which showed how much she regretted it.
Foolish... This was so foolish!!
She shouldn't have trusted anyone, not a single one!
In her endless remorse, Nero's attitude toward people dropped to an unprecedented freezing point.
If Ian had really died, this anger might have turned into an extremely terrifying power.
At that time, Rome might have been burned to the ground.
[Fortunately, you did not die.]
[After all, Agrippina was just an incompetent poisoner.]
[For you, who had been studying magic for a while, her poison attack could be said to be an extremely inefficient method.]
[Of course, this did not mean that Agrippina's assassination had no effect.]
[After all, poison could be defended against with magic, but the physical damage caused by the dagger was unavoidable.]
[This was a long process of recovery.]
[Nero's personality gradually changed during this process.]
Bang!
In the room where Ian was resting, the sound of something being smashed came out.
And anyone who heard this sound knew what had happened—Nero had started to lose her temper again.
Although numerous doctors had judged that Ian was unlikely to wake up, the young empress of Rome stubbornly pursued the only result she wanted.
Or rather, she only allowed one outcome to happen on Roman soil—that was Ian waking up from his coma.
She would not accept anything else.
Because of this, the medicines provided by famous Roman doctors, as long as they did not show an effect in a short period of time, would be smashed by Nero on the spot.
And the Roman prison also had many people who were imprisoned for this reason.
No one dared to protest against Nero's behavior.
Because Ian's status was indeed very important, not to mention that the person doing this was the emperor of Rome.
"Take it away! Take it all away for me!"
"Go and get me better things! Don't use this low-grade stuff to fool me!"
Nero gave orders over and over again, and then met with disappointment over and over again.
But she had no intention of giving up.
She would never let her teacher leave her like this. Never!
[Normal methods were not working.]
[The extremely anxious Nero began to try various strange methods.]
[And the most prominent among them was personally playing music.]
[For her, this voice, which you had recognized, was her last resort.]
["Teacher, listen carefully."]
["This is a song I just wrote for you. After you listen to this, you can no longer disobey my orders and must wake up immediately."]
[After saying these repetitive words, Nero would begin to play a song that belonged only to you.]
[Everyone knew that the emperor's actions were meaningless, but no one dared to stop her from doing so.]
[One day, two days, three days, one month.]
[Nero sang songs for you for a whole season.]
[Whether it was fate's feedback or her singing truly touched you.]
[On the day the first autumn leaf fell, you woke up.]
"Nero, your singing is really special."
The man slowly opened his eyes and said these words.
At the same moment, the young empress, who was sadly playing a song on the other side of the room, froze.
She turned her head and looked at everything in front of her in disbelief.
"Teacher, you... woke up?"
"Yes, I'm awake," Ian forced a smile. "I'm sorry for sleeping for so long."
"..."
Tears rolled down from the young empress's eyes and fell to the ground, splashing into beautiful patterns.
"I knew it... How could my singing not move you, Teacher?"
Clatter! The musical instrument in Nero's hand fell to the ground.
She then threw herself onto Ian and began to cry on his chest.
"Teacher... you idiot, why didn't you wake up sooner?!"
"I... was about to go crazy!"
"I'm sorry, Nero. It's my fault."
Ian gently stroked Nero's soft golden hair, but his eyes gradually became heavy.
There were some cruel words that he just couldn't say.
[Your awakening was not without a price.]
[The damage Agrippina had done to you was irreversible—this actually meant that your time was up.]
[You absolutely couldn't tell Nero this.]
[Because you knew that if she really found out, she would definitely do something even crazier.]
[That was a situation you couldn't predict or control.]
[In any case, you didn't want to see things turn out that way.]
[And—]
[You didn't want to die just like this.]
[At least... let me accompany her for a little longer.]
[Her life as an emperor had just begun.]
[You didn't want to leave like this.]
"It's not your fault, Teacher. It's my problem."
After venting her emotions, Nero looked up at Ian.
"I was too indecisive—if, if I hadn't believed that my mother would repent from the beginning, Teacher wouldn't have been hurt like this, right?!"
"Teacher, I promise you that I will never trust anyone else from now on."
"Cough, cough," the man coughed a few times.
"Nero... that's not good."
"Don't lose your trust in others. Doing that will make you lose your people."
"But I can't bear the consequences of losing you, Teacher!"
"..."
Nero's one sentence silenced Ian.
He couldn't refute the love that she was so obviously showing.
And seeing him like this, Nero continued to speak.
"Teacher, there's one thing you absolutely must do with me this time."
"...What is it?"
"Marry me," Nero answered very seriously.
"I can't wait any longer."