Martha shouted, filled with anger. She hated that woman. She heard that last month too, the emperor didn’t attend because of that woman. The emperor always appeared at rear palace events accompanied by that woman, and if she couldn’t attend, he wouldn’t appear……

Last month, for some reason, that woman didn’t want to walk to the rear palace, and today, they say the prince is sick so he couldn’t attend. She heard that he had been urged several times to come alone.

‘Then why is that woman the only bride of the emperor when she’s not even a proper wife? What’s the reason that only that girl…… Such a girl with the status of an illegitimate daughter….’

She couldn’t understand. Although she was designated for the position of empress, wasn’t she a commoner due to her maternal family’s downfall?

No matter how noble her father was, imperial law dictated that if one parent was a commoner, the child was a commoner. The union of Adam and Eve transcends status…… Although the deceased emperor’s grandfather showed an obsessive fixation on Eve, going against the natural order ordained by heaven, anyway, a slave is a slave. Even if she had a national marriage with the emperor, a lowborn is a lowborn and cannot aspire to the position of empress.

‘Even if she’s called the empress consort, where will her birth go? A girl who was a slave until she gave birth to the Fourth Prince.’

So even if that woman is Eve, her innate status is inferior to hers as a lowborn. Although the union of Eve and Adam transcends the imperial caste system, what is innate cannot be overcome. Besides, she also had Eve’s blood.

No. All the concubines in the rear palace did.

They were all women with Eve’s blood mixed in directly or indirectly. So they too might be able to give birth to Adam.

The order opposed the concubine system, saying the possibility was significantly lower, but wasn’t the Empress Dowager the witness? She gave birth to a perfect Adam despite not being Eve. So she was better than, or at least not inferior to, that woman. Yet the emperor was only hovering around that woman.

How much he only sought that woman…… Even Martha, who had only been in the palace for a month, knew it. That she had captured the emperor’s heart and she alone was receiving his favor.

But unlike him, the emperor didn’t completely have her heart as well……

‘Stop whining, Martha.’

‘Em, Empress Dowager.’

The Empress Dowager who put down her teacup engraved with geometric patterns of golden plant vines stared at her. A dry swallow went down at the gaze as cold as the edge of a knife. Martha froze and bit her lip.

‘I thought you’d be better than Aubrey.’

Aubrey was the name of the Marchioness of Toulouse. Martha bowed her head, not knowing what to do in the face of the Empress Dowager’s cold demeanor, which she had never encountered before.

‘Can’t even seduce one man, whining—’

‘Ho, however, Empress Dowager.’

‘Even a nine-year-old child wouldn’t beg like you, do this for me, do that for me.’

At the mention of a nine-year-old child, that woman came to mind. ‘Jeanne,’ the woman who was said to be the emperor’s bride from her mother’s womb. The woman who entered the palace at eight and grew up under the Empress Dowager’s care for a long time. Martha was now being compared to that woman. And to that woman at nine years old…… Her face burned hot. At the same time, jealousy rose fiercely.

‘Who would look up to an emperor who is looking for concubines while his young son is sick?’

‘It, it’s not that I don’t know that….’

‘What can I do about a man who doesn’t seek you out? Should I feed the emperor a love potion and tie him to your bridal chamber?’

The Empress Dowager muttered, glaring at her. Martha wiped her wet cheeks and trembled. She felt angry and resentful that after planting hope in her with all sorts of sweet whispers, now she was taking the attitude of ‘handle your own affairs.’ But she was just a concubine, and the Empress Dowager was the emperor’s birth mother.

There was nothing Martha could do to a being that even the emperor couldn’t dare to do anything about. She bowed her head, saying she was sorry for the rudeness, and turned to leave the palace. The emperor didn’t visit the rear palace for a long time after that.

He only visited the villa where his wife stayed, under the pretext of raising the young princes and princesses. The rear palace seemed forgotten to him.

Martha put the devastating memory behind her and looked ahead.

“Thank you, Your Highness the Empress Consort. The child in my womb will be a strength to Your Majesty…”

“Since you keep saying that I impregnated you, let me ask. Did you really spend the night with me?”

“Your, Your Majesty. What are you…… Clearly two months ago, Your Majesty came to my room. How could you make me…… in front of both of you.”

Martha, who had been blushing, trembled her lips and began to shed chicken-dropping-like tears. Her gentle and pitiful brown eyes were wet. The woman who shrank her shoulders at the emperor’s cold rebuke was pitiful. Jeanne looked at her with sympathy and turned to her husband.

She was curious about what exactly had happened. Clearly Martha was pregnant, but the emperor said he had never spent the night with her. But as far as she remembered, two months ago, the emperor had walked to the rear palace. What he did that night.

Isn’t it obvious what an emperor who visits a concubine’s bedroom does? Jeanne recalled that dawn. The man who hadn’t returned even at midnight. The maid who asked about his whereabouts had a guilty face and stammered before saying he had gone to the rear palace.

It felt like the ground was breaking beneath her feet. It was the first time in her life, and she didn’t know how to deal with it. No, is there anything to deal with? It’s a natural thing…… It’s natural for an emperor who has taken concubines to favor them.

Especially since she had received overflowing favor since entering the palace. So she already had six children. Around the time Martha entered the palace last year, Jeanne was close to her due date and couldn’t properly look after her entry into the palace.

She should have gone to the rear palace and encouraged and taken care of her who started palace life…… As her due date approached, she simply couldn’t move. She even entrusted the care of her children to nannies, so it was understandable. In the midst of that, Cesare also became sensitive, and she didn’t dare to open her mouth to tell him to take care of the rear palace. So……

‘I, I, Your Highness. This, this servant went to the rear palace and His Majesty….’

‘Stop it.’

Jeanne turned her gaze. After comforting the maid who was sobbing as if she had committed a crime, she traced the edge of the empty bed with her eyes. She felt nauseous, as if seasick. Because at the moment she looked at his empty spot, it seemed like her knees, which she had barely been keeping straight, would give out……

She believed she should know how to share. No, she thought she could share. Because sometimes he was annoying. As if even her swollen belly from pregnancy wasn’t a problem…… No, a man who got aroused by her swelling belly.

Jeanne couldn’t understand him.

He was a man who wouldn’t leave her alone for a moment. He had such tendencies originally, but after she became pregnant with their first child, he changed completely as if he were a different person and became crude.

Jeanne found it difficult to accept him and found it harder to endure as time went on. Especially, she disliked him being violent even to the children.

So if he went to release his lust on another woman…… Maybe she should be happy. Because that twisted lust and the violent tendencies resulting from it might improve a little. Besides, isn’t she the emperor’s primary wife?

Even if not an empress, she was currently the woman referred to as the emperor’s only wife. Although her title was only empress consort, she was his only official consort.

Having been favored for such a long time and having several imperial children, she had no need to cling to the emperor’s favor. Her eldest son was supported not only by her family, the Spetunia Count’s house, and western nobles but also by central dignitaries and administrative officials. So……

‘It’s not okay.’

The corners of her eyes trembled little by little. She didn’t want to stay in the bed without her husband, so she went out to the balcony. The cool night air dug into the nape of her neck. She wanted her throat to be cut by that sharp and desolate energy. The impulse could remain just an impulse because of the children.

Her babies still needed her. She knew that if she didn’t take care of them, no one would.

Because Cesare is an emperor, not a father. Even knowing that the Empress Dowager is harsh to her grandchildren…… She couldn’t desire death.

She returned and lay on the bed. She wanted to cut off and remove the part where his scent remained. She didn’t want to be a woman who clings to his scent while her husband went to another woman. What she wanted to protect was not her life as a woman but her life as a mother. So……

‘Jeanne.’

It must have been dawn when she couldn’t fall asleep. Among the blue-tinted dawn light, a black object was visible. The rustling sound of fabric scratched her ear, and elegant fingers entered between her flowing hair.