Wrong Marriage and Sweet Love

That night.

East Palace.

This was Joyce’s second visit to the East Palace, but her mindset was entirely different from the first time.

The palace’s internal affairs office sent a car to take them to the entrance of the East Palace.

Reuben went to prepare the escort ship for their departure the next evening and did not accompany them.

Hajime ordered the internal affairs office to draft documents and arrange for the announcement of the succession. By this time, Clint and the palace’s troops had driven out all of the Yoshikawa family’s guards from Eastern Capital. The curfew remained in effect, and street inspections were strict, but all patrols and armored vehicles had been replaced by Tanaka family personnel.

When Joyce got out of the car, she turned and hugged Luther. “Wait for me here. I’ll come out as soon as it’s over.”

Luther nodded. “Of course, I’ll wait for you.”

Joyce turned to leave the car.

Suddenly, Luther pulled her back into his arms and kissed her gently.

The kiss was not filled with desire, only reluctance.

Joyce returned his kiss.

The professional agent from the internal affairs office was driving, and Darrin sat in the front passenger seat. He knew what was happening in the back but just looked out the window. He had been in Rohomes for some time and was mentally prepared not to return. But now that he could go back tomorrow, he felt excited. Moreover, Grizela, who had changed her name to Sitou Grizela, would go back with him, making him even more eager.

Luther ended the gentle kiss with another peck on Joyce’s lips.

“Remember, nothing and no one can separate us. I will always love you,” he said.

Joyce understood and nodded.

As she got out of the car, Darrin solemnly said, “Young Marshal, rest assured, I will protect Mr. Warner.”

Joyce nodded and walked through the heavy night towards the entrance of East Palace.

Tadasuke was already there to greet her.

“Miss Knowles, please,” he said.

The title change surprised Joyce a bit.

She followed Tadasuke to Clint’s sleeping quarters.

It looked just as she remembered, unchanged.

Black curtains embroidered with golden chrysanthemums hung elegantly. The delicate bonsai of bamboo still stood in its place, its vibrant green color lush and fresh. The first time she came here, she almost thought she had traveled through time.

Joyce took off her shoes at the door; the floor inside was covered with tatami mats. She walked into the main hall.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

The sight before her made her pause.

Several circles of candles were lit on the ground.

She counted nine circles of candles surrounding an empty space in the middle where a golden cauldron stood.

This setup looked like it was meant for some kind of ritual.

“Miss Knowles, please wait here for a moment,” Tadasuke said respectfully before leaving.

Joyce thought that perhaps undoing dark magic required some kind of ritual. That might be why they needed to come to East Palace and Clint’s sleeping quarters-maybe it was something about the atmosphere or some other mysterious reason. In any case, it seemed this ritual had to be performed at East Palace.

The last time she came here was during the day when warm sunlight couldn’t penetrate this deep hall. Now it was night, making it feel even colder and more imposing. The candlelight added an eerie atmosphere.

She wandered around the main hall for a while.

Soon, she heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Clint walking in.

Injured and having lost blood, he looked somewhat weak at this moment. He wore a loose navy blue kimono with a belt embroidered with chrysanthemums around his waist-black silk with gold thread that exuded nobility. His ebony eyes held a cold and sharp light that commanded respect with just one glance.

Joyce frowned slightly.

Now that everything had settled down, even if she didn’t want to admit it in her heart,

the word “emperor” still suited Clint well.

Clint walked past Joyce without looking at her. “Follow me,” he said.

He walked through the gaps between candles into the empty space surrounded by nine circles of candles and sat down on the ground. Joyce avoided the flames and followed him inside, sitting down as well.

The empty space was large enough for both of them to lie down if needed.

She sat across from Clint with a golden cauldron between them.

Only then did she notice how luxurious and unique it looked-like it was made of pure gold.

“Clint, what exactly do we need to do to break this dark magic? Can we start now?” Joyce asked impatiently.

Clint sat cross-legged on the ground; his wide robe covered his knees.

“Take off your clothes,” he said calmly.

Joyce froze and instinctively clutched her collar. Her eyes widened in shock. “Clint, what do you mean? Don’t go too far! You asked me to spend a night with you just for this purpose? You never intended to help me break this dark magic, did you?”

She angrily prepared to stand up.

Clint neither raised his eyes nor answered her question.

He took a dagger from his sleeve and silently cut his wrist; blood immediately flowed out.

He extended his wrist forward so that drops of blood fell into the golden cauldron.

Joyce was stunned; he actually cut his wrist right in front of her. She couldn’t stand up; she just stared blankly at him. What is this madman trying to do? This is insane.

“What are you doing? You’ve cut too deep; you’ll die.”

She remembered that if a cut was too deep and blood loss happened quickly, within about half an hour a person would fall into shock due to insufficient blood supply and eventually lose consciousness. Delaying any longer would endanger their life.

For ordinary people it was bad enough; Clint had already lost a lot of blood from being shot last night-how much longer could he hold on?

Clint lifted his gaze slightly and handed Joyce a thin cloth covered in runes. “So you need to hurry up. I want you to take off all your clothes and use this cloth soaked in my blood to cover your entire body-everywhere without missing any spots.”

Joyce was astonished; breaking this dark magic required such a bloody method?

Covering herself with blood-how many milliliters would that take? An adult has about 4000-5000 milliliters of blood; losing more than 1000 milliliters causes unconsciousness or shock. Plus, he’s already injured.

This would cost him half his life.

“What are you waiting for? Do you want me dead?” Clint’s face grew even paler than before. “Don’t worry; I’ll close my eyes-I won’t look.”

“Oh.” Joyce hesitated but finally reacted.

At this point, time meant life.

She stopped resisting and quickly took off her clothes. Using the rune-covered cloth soaked in his blood from within the golden cauldron.

She began applying it all over herself. The feeling was unbearable-the smell of blood churned her stomach while its sticky texture made her skin crawl.

She didn’t dare delay; she worked as fast as possible.