If he had already entered the imperial capital, then no matter how late it was, he would reach the palace within an hour.

The deviation from what she remembered made Diana’s heart grow inexplicably uneasy.

“…At this hour, His Majesty likely hasn’t eaten lunch. Tell the head chef to prepare a generous meal, including portions for the Imperial Guard.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Worried that her fluster might show, Diana let out a shallow breath and lifted the corners of her lips.

“Enoch, I’ll be going now.”

“Wait. You had something you wanted to say.”

“It’s nothing.”

Shaking her head as if it truly were insignificant, Diana gave Enoch a polite nod and turned away.

Enoch instinctively tried to stop her, but Wilhelm, who hadn’t fully heard Lily’s report, asked him about the situation, and the moment was lost.

In that brief gap, Diana left the garden at a brisk pace.

Had Lily not rushed over at just that moment, Diana might have spoken without thinking, without having fully considered how to face Enoch and Wilhelm.

“You’re nervous, aren’t you?”

Walking quickly, Diana glanced down at Lily.

Seeing how hurried she was toward the main palace where Licht would arrive, Lily smiled knowingly.

“Nervous?”

“You’ve only just been married, and you’ve been apart for over ten days. His Majesty may have hurried back because he missed you, Your Majesty.”

Only then did Diana understand what Lily meant. She gave an awkward smile and faced forward again.

Lily likely thought she was embarrassed, but Diana’s expression kept tightening from a different kind of unease.

Thinking back, it wasn’t an unfamiliar gaze.

Before the rebellion, the palace attendants had looked at the imperial couple the same way Lily was looking at her now.

At that time, though it had been a political marriage, the two of them had lived like newlyweds enough to draw curiosity from the staff.

“What kind of face should I greet him with…?”

Diana murmured anxiously.

Strangely, Licht’s expression alone was hazy in her memory.

“Hm. Smiling is probably best, don’t you think?”

“Smiling?”

“Yes!”

At Lily’s cheerful answer, Diana scratched her forehead.

She couldn’t even remember the last time she had smiled in front of Licht.

Most of their marriage had been filled with sighs rather than smiles.

“If you ask me, I think His Majesty likes seeing you smile the most.”

Despite Diana’s lukewarm reaction, Lily added this with confidence.

Diana assumed it was merely something Lily said out of habit, she had never once felt that from Licht, but truthfully, there was no better expression she could put on.

“I should speak with the chief attendant.”

Unsure how to respond, Diana changed the subject.

As they reached the main palace, attendants were moving busily about. The reality of Licht’s imminent arrival finally set in.

“Your Majesty, I’ll escort you.”

As soon as she arrived, an attendant stepped forward.

“Where is the chief attendant?”

“The chief attendant is currently in the kitchens.”

“Then I’ll go there as well.”

The kitchens, preparing the Emperor’s first meal in ten days, were in a state of controlled chaos.

The chief attendant was inspecting the dishes to be served in the dining room while also seeing to the meals for the Imperial Guard who had accompanied the Emperor to the border.

“Your Majesty, to what do we owe this visit?”

“You’ve been working hard. I came to ask, nothing else, that His Majesty’s meal be arranged separately, so that he may dine with me.”

“…Ah.”

The chief attendant did not question her further, but looked at Diana with clear surprise.

This kind of request was unfamiliar even to Diana herself, and she cleared her throat, carefully managing her expression.

Regardless of what they thought, Diana’s mind—fresh from tea with Wilhelm—was filled with a single resolve: she had to stop the rebellion.

She didn’t yet know where to begin, but at the very least, she needed to prevent Licht and Wilhelm from having an opportunity to meet.

When Diana looked at the chief attendant with deliberate composure, he slowly spoke.

“As a matter of fact, His Majesty issued the same order. Forgive my presumption, but did a courier reach Your Majesty last night?”

“…No courier came, but I’m relieved that His Majesty and I are of the same mind. In that case, the study would be appropriate.”

“If I may be so bold once more, Your Majesty—the meal should be prepared in the bedchamber.”

The chief attendant conveyed Licht’s wishes in careful, indirect words.

She blinked, then gave a vague nod and left.

She should have offered words of encouragement for their hard work before going, but she couldn’t hide her fluster at Licht’s unexpected courier, and at the mention of the bedchamber.

“Your Majesty. This way, please.”

What made it even more awkward was what followed once she left the kitchens.

Lily and the attendants of the Empress’s palace immediately moved to escort her back.

“Shouldn’t you wash and prepare to receive His Majesty?”

“Wash—why would I wash…!”

Diana clutched the hem of her dress tightly.

No sooner had they left the chief attendant behind than her own subordinates began chattering shamelessly, spreading the courier’s message like gossip.

“What do you think it means to dine together in the bedchamber?”

“That’s not what His Majesty intends—nor I.”

“His Majesty even sent a courier a day in advance. If you’re this careless, he’ll be hurt.”

The attendants of the main palace, bustling about, cast sidelong glances at the flushed attendants of the Empress’s palace as they passed.

Diana’s mind was in turmoil.

The present differed from her memories, and the confusion only deepened.

And to meet Licht in the middle of all this—

Diana stiffened her shoulders.

She didn’t know what lay ahead, not even a step in front of her—but one thing was clear.

Until everything became certain and settled, she would not sleep with Licht.

If—just if—a child were to come to her again, she did not want to subject that child to another cruel experience.

“What if His Majesty arrives while I’m bathing? That would be an unforgivable discourtesy.”

As though she had never been flustered, Diana straightened her back.

Those who had been loudly boasting of the Emperor’s favor toward the Empress finally fell silent.

As the surroundings quieted, Diana let a faint smile curve her lips.

As she remembered it, Lily and the attendants of the Empress’s palace had stood by her side even when she was being harshly condemned.

They had their reasons.

The attendants of the Empress’s palace knew in detail how often Licht and Diana had shared a bed.

They acknowledged that Diana had been lenient with Enoch, the man at the center of the scandal—but considering how Licht had clung to Diana before the rebellion, it was only natural that a child would follow.

Unfortunately, there was nowhere for the Empress’s attendants to voice this openly—but they were certain that Diana had been carrying Licht’s child.

“Let’s return to the palace now. We’ll receive His Majesty there… Lily?”

Diana turned around.

She could no longer hear Lily’s footsteps, though she should have been following, adding a few words.

“….”

Behind her, Lily and the attendants of the Empress’s palace were bowing deeply.

Diana’s field of vision widened.

Even the main palace attendants, who had been moving briskly, stopped and bowed in place.

Only then did Diana realize what was happening.

From the direction of the kitchens she had just left, the chief attendant was walking out.

Diana’s lips went dry in an instant.

An unfamiliar tension wrapped around her—

“Empress.”

A voice sounded above her head.

The voice of the only man who could call her simply Empress.

Licht.

It was truly Licht.

He was standing behind her.

Diana turned slowly.

Clear green eyes came into view—then jet-black hair.

A man whose gaze was the clearest of all, yet deeper than night. A man who belonged to dawn.

“…Empress.”

Licht Ranelles Harzen.

The Emperor of the Harzen Empire.

Her husband, who had already entered the main palace, was staring down at Diana with relentless focus.

The moment she met his eyes, questions like Why did he come so early? What courier? vanished at once.

Now Diana no longer doubted that the memories she carried were real.

Otherwise, her chest would not ache like this the instant she saw him.

The emotions she had barely managed to swallow before Enoch and Wilhelm collapsed completely the moment she faced Licht.

‘I want to disappear. Please help me. I was wrong.’

He was the man who had seen her at the very bottom of the abyss,

‘You need to know what I endured to keep the name Harzen from being torn off after yours!’

The husband who had shielded her family from annihilation—

‘I was preparing to raise the child, even if it wasn’t mine.’

The one who had tried to hold her together when she had already fallen apart.

“Your… Majesty.”

Licht was the father of the child she had lost.

“Yes, Empress.”