I Plotted The World Destruction With The Male Lead - Chapter 2

She packed a pouch full of potions, changed her clothes, and stepped outside, draped in a cloak. Even as she descended the stairs and left the mansion, the servants of the duke’s estate remained silent.

It was clear that Duke Armore had managed to placate Elena, thus delaying any decision regarding Eleanor’s punishment. Despite the injustice, Carlisle was now the Emperor, and it was unlikely he would completely discard one of the empire’s only two Guides.

As she approached the mansion’s entrance, the butler hurried toward her, bowing cautiously as he spoke.

“Are you going out? It’s rather late, isn’t it?”

“I need to see His Majesty.”

The butler seemed to have expected Eleanor’s words. Just weeks ago, she had been the Emperor’s fiancée, so it wasn’t surprising for her to visit the Imperial Palace upon hearing the latest news. Without objection, he offered to summon a carriage and escorts. Eleanor didn’t refuse.

According to the original storyline, Carlisle never denied Eleanor entry. He underestimated Eleanor—and by extension, Charlotte—as inconsequential. Carlisle intended to keep both Guides close, finding Charlotte’s attempts to undermine Eleanor amusing. He viewed this conflict as an inevitable and trivial squabble within the household. After all, he intended to take multiple women as his consorts.

Soon, the duke’s carriage was ready. Eleanor accepted the hand of a guard as she climbed aboard. At her urging, the carriage quickly set off for the palace.

The palace guards opened the gates without hesitation upon seeing the Armore family crest. For Eleanor, it was an expected outcome, though her escorts seemed visibly relieved. However, upon disembarking, the duke’s escorts were stopped.

“…Only the young lady may enter.”

The guards looked at Eleanor with uneasy expressions. In the past, they might have protested, but circumstances had changed. Eleanor accepted the restriction without causing a scene.

“Where is His Majesty?”

“His Majesty is busy with state affairs.”

“I will wait.”

The Imperial Palace, recognizing the importance of Guides, was willing to tolerate a certain degree of impudence from them. Moreover, Eleanor had been Carlisle’s fiancée for six years, so the indulgence was even greater.

The attendant, though visibly uncomfortable, reluctantly led Eleanor to the Emperor’s office. Eleanor followed without protest, all the while reflecting on the events she knew.

‘In the original story, Carlisle would abandon Eleanor to spend the night with Charlotte instead.’

Eleanor knew this because, in the original plot, it was late at night when she realized it. From Carlisle’s perspective, he acted this way to sever any lingering affection between them, but it was a feeble excuse.

The original Carlisle had deluded himself into believing that ignoring Eleanor for his selfish desires didn’t amount to outright neglect.

She wondered how the real Carlisle would behave now. After all, when Carlisle had spoken those words to Duke Armore to buy himself time, it had led to her family’s demise. Carlisle wasn’t rash or foolish; he must have known what would happen.

Eleanor, maintaining a composed expression, began to assess just how different she was from the Eleanor in the original story. While their paths were similar, they were not the same.

The heroine of the original story loved Carlisle more deeply than Eleanor does now. The current Eleanor, having anticipated Carlisle’s betrayal, didn’t love him to the same extent—although it was true she had once harbored feelings for him.

This wasn’t solely because she had regained her memories from a past life. Even without them, Eleanor had always understood Carlisle’s nature. He cared for Eleanor, but he cared for himself far more. He was an ambitious man, equipped with the ability to fulfill those ambitions.

Subconsciously, Eleanor had always known that Carlisle would never be satisfied with her alone. Because of that, even as she claimed to love him, she had never truly given him her whole heart.

It was likely for this reason that Carlisle had sought to strip Eleanor of all her support. While Eleanor had never fully trusted her family, she could never bring herself to abandon them completely.

The imperial servant escorted Eleanor to the Emperor’s office. Though the office was empty and desolate, the servant lit the lamps, casting a faint warmth throughout the room.

“Shall I bring you some tea?”

“No. I’d like to think quietly until His Majesty arrives. Unless it’s the Emperor himself, I’d prefer not to be disturbed.”

“Understood, my lady.”

The servant bowed silently and withdrew, the door closing without a sound. Now, Eleanor was alone in the office.

She looked around the room, her thoughts swirling. The novel that served as the basis of this world was something she had read decades before her death in her past life. But since she had regained her memories just hours ago, everything felt fresh and vivid, as though she had just read it.

“The palace has secret passageways.”

This knowledge pertained to the secrets of the imperial family. As widely known, the imperial family had been founded by a divine being who descended from the heavens and fell in love with a mortal.

The first Emperor was a woman, and the imperial lineage carried the blood of the divine. According to popular belief, the divine being returned to the heavens after forming a union with the first Emperor, and their son established the empire. However, the truth was much darker.

The divine being had tried to return to the heavens after impregnating the first Emperor, but she had sealed him away on this land. Using a dagger stained with the blood of monsters, she had plunged him into a state of suspended animation and imprisoned him within a stone coffin.

She buried the coffin in underground ruins and built the palace above it. The son born from their union exhibited extraordinary powers, which led the people to believe he was a demigod. The first Emperor did nothing to refute this and actively promoted the idea, as it strengthened her rule.

The allure of ruling under the divine’s name brought people willingly under her dominion, and her small kingdom soon grew into an empire.

However, carrying divine blood wasn’t without its drawbacks. It was later discovered that the imperial family needed Guides to cleanse their “impurities.”

There was another story, secretly passed down among the imperial family. It foretold that one day, the sealed divine being would be freed and seek vengeance upon the empire.

“The former Empress believed in that prophecy.”

When Carlisle committed treason and killed the previous Emperor, the former Empress tried to release the sealed divine being to exact revenge on him.

However, she failed. She was killed before she could even obtain the key to the secret passageways.

Even though the former Empress was only a B-rank Guide, Carlisle had regretted her loss deeply.

“The key to the secret passage…”

Eleanor began counting the number of windows along the wall. The key was hidden behind the decorative lily motif under the second window from the gargoyle statue’s position.

The former Empress had miscalculated. She had counted the windows in the current room, but the gargoyle statue was actually positioned between the windows of an adjacent room. Adding that room’s windows to the count, the key would be under the first window on the far-right side of this room.

Eleanor approached the spot and found the lily motif. The simplicity of it almost made her laugh. She gripped the decorative brick bearing the lily carving and wiggled it side to side. As she worked it loose, fine dust and small fragments of stone trickled out until the brick came free.

Behind it was a small cavity containing a necklace chain that had not rusted in the slightest. The simple chain, made of platinum, was enchanted to resist tarnish.

Eleanor carefully pulled on it, nervous that the chain might break and prevent her from retrieving the key. But her effort paid off—the key, attached to the end of the chain, fell into her palm.

She reinserted the brick into place. Aside from the dust she’d disturbed, the wall looked as unassuming as ever. Even if someone were to suspect and remove the brick, they wouldn’t easily guess what the cavity had held.

Clutching the strangely shaped key in her hand, Eleanor left the Emperor’s office. There was no need to linger; no important documents were stored here. If there had been, the attendant wouldn’t have left her alone in the room.

The fact that no one had been stationed at the door, despite her request not to be disturbed, brought a faint smirk to Eleanor’s lips.

“Your world crumbled because of your arrogance, Carlisle.”

With a cold smile, Eleanor made her way toward the underground prison.