Sometimes Jeanne mulled over the words ‘Don’t forget my love.’ When she sat in the old, stuffy quarters given by her mother-in-law reading dull literature, she understood all the murmurs he had left behind.

His words that their parting would not be short, and that she must not forget his love….. 

 Jeanne parted from her husband at age nine. Their newlywed life together hadn’t even reached nine months.

On their first wedding anniversary, she was caned on the calves by her mother-in-law’s lady-in-waiting.

Even Beatrice, second to none in solemnity, reddened her eyes saying the treatment was cruel.

However, the Countess of Meteland…… that is, her mother-in-law’s lady-in-waiting was an extremely stern person. Looking at those thin lips and sharp eyes reminded her of her former governess, Madam Solis. The women of the Empress Dowager’s palace were terrifyingly chilling enough to make one’s legs weak.

Thus for a while, the scabs on her calves never had time to heal. Beatrice, who used to wipe the blood from her calves, began to disappear one day. Louisa, who though cold had sincerely cared for her, was also driven out of the palace.

Though Beatrice had said her father from her family home would come see her more often as she left the palace, her father was dispatched to suppress an uprising in the western border region. Time passed. One noon, a week after Jeanne moved to her mother-in-law’s palace…..

The mother-in-law’s lady-in-waiting opened her lips toward Jeanne, who was waiting to give morning greetings with her hands neatly clasped.

“The things you wear and the things you eat….. Isn’t it too much for a surrogate?”

“……Pardon?”

“I mean, for someone like you.”

Jeanne rolled her eyes. She didn’t know what to say. She was too young to understand the awl-like emotion in the middle-aged woman’s eyes. The woman tilted her head at the trembling Jeanne before jerking her chin at the maid standing behind her.

“Strip her.”

At the monotone command, the maids rushed forward. The startled Jeanne struggled and pushed away the maids. But the rough hands didn’t change. The sky-blue silk dress became rags. Jeanne bit her lip to hold back tears. Her reddened face burned hot.

Left in only her negligee in midwinter, Jeanne crossed her arms to hold herself and gritted her teeth.

She couldn’t understand why they were doing this. Had she done something wrong with last evening’s assignment? Or had her dining etiquette been wrong? If not that then….. Why?

“Ma, Madam….. What, what did I do wrong……”

“Your crime is not knowing your place.”

“Wh-what does that……”

“It means exactly what I said, child. You are merely your father’s house slave, and thus merely His Majesty’s surrogate. It’s laughable to see someone like you dressed up like a young empress.”

The cold murmur was no different from a blade. Jeanne only looked up at her, not knowing what ‘surrogate’ meant. Winter wind came through the open window. Countess Meteland, wearing a fox fur like a shawl, rather looked refreshed, but Jeanne did not.

Jeanne, who had even her shoes suddenly removed, felt her feet would crack from the cold rising from the floor. The welts on her calves from being beaten days ago stung in the wind.

“Madam, Madam. I was wrong. Please……”

Her trembling calves buckled and Jeanne collapsed to the floor. She pressed her hands to her chest and begged forgiveness. Though she didn’t know what she had done wrong or why such harsh words were being poured on her, she thought surely she must have done something wrong to make them angry.

“Get up.”

The woman commanded coldly. Jeanne rose shakily, trembling. The lady-in-waiting jerked her chin at the maids.

After that day, Jeanne was moved to new quarters again. Though her original quarters had been old and narrow, the newly assigned quarters were so small and shabby that even maids wouldn’t use them. Moreover, it was so isolated that even maids had difficulty accessing it.

Jeanne lived there for 8 years.

A separation as long as her age awaited her. Thus it was an extremely difficult thing not to forget her husband’s love. Nevertheless, Jeanne waited for him. There was nothing else she could do but wait.

* * *

 19 years later. 

 It was an afternoon when the sky was ripening. In the intimate western part of ‘Baren,’ the main palace of the vast Riscarlo Empire in the Eastern Continent, there was a small villa named ‘Siena’s Garden,’ so called because it was as cozy and beautiful as the mansion where Siena de Abreuil, the first Emperor’s Eve, had grown up.

Unlike other overwhelmingly splendid palaces, the red-roofed villa built in the middle of a small farm had an extremely modest and simple exterior.

And there, as usual, the Emperor who had finished his official duties returned with his chief attendants. The servants who had been cleaning windows and sweeping corridors simultaneously stopped their movements to await his return.

“It seems the official duties ended early today.”

Olena, the head maid managing the villa, casually spoke to the chief attendant following the Emperor. The attendant nodded.

“Where is Her Highness the Empress Consort?”

“She’s waiting inside.”

Olena answered briefly to the attendant’s question. Despite the Emperor’s unannounced return, the villa wasn’t particularly bustling. After all, the Emperor often visited his wife like this. Olena was thinking about what the Empress Consort might be doing now when she snapped to attention at the sweet fragrance that brushed her nose.

The young emperor in his imperial regalia passed by her. She hid the handkerchief she had been using to clean windows and bowed until he passed.

“Jeanne.”

“Welcome, Your Majesty.”

At the end of the corridor, the Emperor’s beautiful wife was waiting for him. Olena watched the man who looked at his wife with the face of a newlywed. They were a couple approaching their 20th year of marriage. They now had six children between them, and accordingly should have been familiar with each other.

However, the Emperor still seemed to find his wife as lovely as a new bride, his face drenched in a tender smile. With long strides, he crossed the corridor with his long legs and finally embraced the slender woman.

Olena gazed at the Emperor. It was a gaze filled with longing and affection. The time they had been apart was merely three or four hours at most. Since the Emperor always commuted to and from this villa after the Empress Consort, mother of the imperial children and his wife, moved her quarters to ‘Siena’s Garden,’ they weren’t really apart for long. Yet his gaze remained so tender…..

‘It’s beyond understanding.’

Olena shook her head as she turned away. To the Emperor, his wife was his only one. She was also the only woman who had borne the Emperor’s children. No matter how many women lingered around the Emperor…..

No matter how many consorts there were in the rear palace. Looking at the Emperor’s gaze toward her, one could tell how absolute her meaning was to him. However…..

‘And yet….’

Olena, who had been tracing empty air, pressed her lips together, feeling some anger at her following thoughts. She was a woman who had been designated as the Emperor’s bride from her mother’s womb. After fifteen, she had also taken charge of all the palace’s domestic affairs. Yet even now, she wasn’t Empress.

Kirion was hovering around him. Her husband’s face after conducting official duties looked sharper than usual. His haggard face was pale. Jeanne gestured for her son to come to her side. The child pretended not to see her and carefully approached his father.

“Father.”

“Kiril, have you been well?”

His tone was strangely formal for addressing a child he had seen just yesterday. He had clearly said he visited the child’s quarters yesterday afternoon to guide the Crown Prince’s studies. Yet the father and son were awkward like strangers meeting for the first time. Jeanne watched her eldest son and husband.

“Yes. I hope Your Majesty has also had a peaceful day today.”

Kirion smiled with reddened cheeks. He raised his hand to roughly ruffle his son’s black hair. The youngest, Enoch, who had just started toddling, hugged his leg. He lightly picked up the child and patted his bottom before lifting each of his four sons who were approaching shyly into his arms one by one.

“Joshua. Maxim. Giuseppe……”

His young sons who resembled him stretched out their hands to be held by him. He hid his fatigue and kissed each son’s cheek before lifting them up and kissing the crown of each laughing child’s head in turn.

“Father, hold me again.”

The third son, Maxim, stretched out his arms again. The child was innocent, reaching out his arms again as soon as he was put down. Unable to watch any longer, she got up and approached them.

“Come here, Maxim. Father is tired from his official duties. He needs to rest now.”

Maxim pushed out his lower lip. Unlike an Emperor’s son, the child who was honest about everything couldn’t hide his emotions. In other words, while he could be called the most childlike, it wasn’t a virtue for the imperial family. She immediately scolded her son with a stern expression.

“Go back to Lady Sara now.”

Lady Sara was the governess for Joshua and Maxim. The wife of the Baron of Langbottom, the Emperor’s Minister of Protocol, was also her lady-in-waiting.

“Quickly.”

“Stop it, Jeanne.”

The Emperor restrained her with a faint smile. Jeanne looked up at her husband who cast a shadow over her and hardened her expression. The youngest who had just started walking burst into laughter while shaking his epaulette. She worried that the child’s saliva or mucus might get on her husband’s formal attire. Just as she was reaching out both arms to take back the child—