Cassian did not question the man’s rudeness and obediently withdrew his hand. Cassian had indeed been hasty. Judging by the half-undressed state of the woman, it was clear she would be startled by the touch of an unfamiliar person.

The man approached the two women.

“I’ll escort her.”

“That would be best. We should have a warm cup of tea.”

“Lu…”

The woman, with tears still in her eyes, turned and wrapped her arms around the man’s neck. The man, with practiced ease, slipped his hand under the woman’s knees and lifted her up.

The woman’s golden hair fluttered lightly. As the man turned and began to walk, Lumière followed behind.

Cassian watched the retreating figures of the three. Just as Cassian was about to turn away without lingering, it happened.

“Who do you think you’re trying to follow right now?”

Amaryllis’s fierce voice lashed out at the back of Cassian’s head. At her sharp tone, Cassian subtly furrowed his brows.

“Who do you think I’m following?”

It was a voice colder than anything in the world.

It was clearly a voice of reproach towards Amaryllis. She secretly clenched her fists tightly. Words that would chip away at her own self-esteem forced their way through her lips.

“Didn’t Your Majesty just call her Belle?”

Sensing the unusual atmosphere, the maids quietly retreated. From the maids’ perspective, the relationship between the Emperor and Empress wasn’t particularly bad, but there was one exception. Whenever something related to that name, which was taboo in the empire, came up, they would always end up fighting.

The Emperor was always calm, while the Empress, for some reason, would unilaterally lose her temper. Today was one of those days.

Cassian finally turned around. His blue eyes, looking at Amaryllis, were as cold as a winter’s day.

Amaryllis let out a bitter laugh.

“When you called that name, you weren’t calling for Mademoiselle Laure, but looking for Madame Marguerite, were you?”

Once again, words that would grate on nerves poured out. Cassian stared at Amaryllis without moving a muscle.

“……”

“Why can’t you give an answer?”

Half-crying, she could only press Cassian.

If only he would get angry and shout. If only he would honestly express the emotions he was feeling towards Amaryllis right now, there would be nothing to feel uncomfortable about.

Cassian’s composed attitude, his excessively cold response, drove her even crazier.

Knowing Amaryllis well, Cassian just looked at her for a while.

After a long moment, Cassian’s lips finally twisted. His lips, which finally opened, produced a voice colder than anything in the world.

“The Empress is being too delusional.”

“Did you just say I’m being delusional? Your Majesty, do you think I don’t know?”

Amaryllis let out a bitter laugh. Everything she had experienced while sitting as a mere figurehead of an Empress flashed through her mind.

“When a saint’s name comes up during festivals, you perk up your ears, when you hear a similar voice, you stop in your tracks, and even when you see blonde hair, you give it a second glance…”

Amaryllis stumbled over her words.

It wasn’t even a poorly kept secret that Cassian was particularly generous to blonde women, especially those with pale blonde hair close to silver like Madame Marguerite’s. It had gotten to the point where some would even dye their hair blonde just to receive one glance from him.

Now she understood why Astaire III’s Empress had gradually gone mad.

“You can’t hide the sky with your palm. The fact that Your Majesty still hasn’t forgotten Madame Marguerite… Everyone knows it, no matter how much you deny it.”

“It’s not me, but the Empress who can’t forget.”

“I can’t forget?”

“To be more precise, whenever the Empress sees anything resembling Belle, you become overwhelmed with guilt.”

At this calm response, Amaryllis bit her lip.

Can’t forget? How could she forget?

Her beloved husband still called Madame Marguerite ‘Belle,’ still considered her his perfect ideal that couldn’t exist in reality.

Then as now, Cassian maintained the same attitude. Unlike his warm and gentle impression, he was a man frighteningly cold.

She knew why such a cold man had made her his Empress. Now, she knew all too well.

“I don’t understand why the Empress is so anxious.”

“Do you really not know when you say that?”

“Yes.”

It was a firm, single syllable answer.

At these words spoken despite knowing, Amaryllis’s eyes trembled. There could be no more wretched deception than this.

“What exactly have I failed to provide for you, the Empress?”

“……”

“Have I ever ignored you? Or have I ever said Bastian inherited different blood? Have I perhaps taken a consort and deceived you, Empress?”

When he spoke like that, there was nothing to say. Except for one thing, Cassian appeared to be the perfect husband.

But that one thing was far too significant. Thus, even though she had obtained the position beside Cassian that she had so desired, Amaryllis was always anxious.

Cassian continued, as if driving in a wedge.

“I said I would put duty and responsibility before love.”

Amaryllis squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

That day when she stepped into her self-made prison, Cassian’s vow had been truly ambiguous and meaningful.

“As Emperor and Empress, it is our natural duty to the subjects who experienced Astaire’s tyranny.”

She thought it was right. She believed it was natural. In those days not long past.

“The choice was yours.”

“Yes, I made it in the end! For Bastian!”

Finally, unable to hold back, Amaryllis’s voice rose. Cassian’s eyes, which had been watching Amaryllis, grew cold.

“Do not use Bastian as a shield.”

It was his sternest warning, telling her not to involve their son. The warning continued.

“Bear your own sins, Empress. If you truly find it unbearable, you may inform the Holy Father at any time that you wish for a divorce.”

Divorce — it was what Amaryllis feared most. Another scream burst forth.

“Your Majesty!”

“I won’t stop you. I will respect the Empress’s choice and gladly accept the Holy Father’s judgment.”

“……”

Her red eyes, full of hurt feelings, trembled as she stared at Cassian. But that pitiful sight didn’t evoke even a shred of sympathy from him.

“I am faithfully serving you as both husband and Emperor, just as I swore before God. The Empress would do well to show proper respect for the loyalty I have shown.”

Cassian turned his head coldly after speaking in an utterly chilling tone. His cold gaze stared down the corridor where Lumière had disappeared.

“I trust the Empress also knows that today’s actions were rash.”

“Rash?”

“That was someone my sister brought. What do you think my sister will think of what the Empress has done?”

“Ha…”

Amaryllis let out an exasperated sigh. Barely suppressing her rising anger, she clenched her fists tightly and bit her lip.

His cold back stood like a mountain before Amaryllis. But that back almost seemed warm in comparison. For Cassian’s gaze as he looked at Amaryllis was like ice.

“Until now…”

As Amaryllis finally parted her lips, only wretchedness remained in her heart.

“Until now, not once have you ever looked at me with such eyes, have you?”

“What are you suddenly talking about again?”

“I am your wife. As Your Majesty said!”

Her red eyes, brimming with intense emotion, trembled.

“The one who swore before God to be with Cassian Pendragon forever is Amaryllis de la Sienne!”

“When have I ever denied that fact?”

“I remember the way you looked at Madame Marguerite! Even now, Your Majesty calls that woman Belle! And then someone who looks exactly like her appears, how can I remain calm…!”

“So.”

Amaryllis, unable to finish her words, trembled. In contrast, Cassian remained composed.

“You want me to treat you the same as Belle, who lived and died for me…”

His voice remained as calm as a windless surface of water.

“Is that what you wish to say?”

“Yes, that might be it.”

Amaryllis readily agreed.

Because perhaps that’s what she had meant all along.

“Why is it that Your Majesty never catches my scent? When you carried Madame Marguerite’s scent so thickly!”

They were married, they were husband and wife, they were Emperor and Empress, but it was all merely superficial.

There was a fundamental problem in their relationship. The fact that they had never spent a night together since their marriage. That was the biggest issue.

Amaryllis had always followed Cassian with her eyes, with her body. That’s how she came to know about the relationship between Madame Marguerite and Cassian.

She remembers seeing the two of them enjoying secret meetings in the Imperial garden. The passionate gaze Cassian gave Madame Marguerite, the image of Madame Marguerite wrapping her arms around Cassian’s neck with flushed cheeks, remained vividly in her mind.

‘Belle, Belle…’

Just one day. She can’t forget, will never be able to forget, the day when a drunk Cassian murmured those words while hovering over her.

Now she finally understood. That cold man would never treat Amaryllis as a woman, no matter what happened.

Cassian’s lips curved into a crooked smile at Amaryllis’s words.

“Should I care about such things?”

“……”