145. Tatiana and Oksana (1)
“Now I see you’re trying to slander me to defend your husband.”
Oksana laughed, dumbfounded.
She felt confident she could sway public opinion to her side.
She couldn’t even be compared to that tiny girl from the south.
Unlike her who hadn’t yet received proper status despite already enjoying the privileges of Grand Duchess before the state wedding, Oksana had years of experience living as Grand Duchess.
Both nobles and commoners loved Yuri’s third Grand Duchess.
They believed only she could suppress the ruler’s madness and tyranny.
Of course, that belief was manufactured.
It was a joint creation of Oksana, her maiden family, and Duke Oblonsky.
“Though not born from my womb, I raised them with love like my own daughters. Though we’ve had some friction lately over marriage matters, we still share a mother-daughter bond.”
To be precise, it was Tatiana, the second Grand Duchess, who raised the orphaned siblings Ruslan and Klavdia who lost their mother early, but Oksana cleverly took credit for it.
Klavdia couldn’t help but laugh at how she now spoke of their mother-daughter relationship when she showed her true colors when they were alone.
“It’s natural for a mother to favor children from her own womb. You don’t understand because you haven’t given birth.”
“I wasn’t your child, but I thought of you as my mother.”
“Is your foolishness my responsibility too?”
Oksana had clearly said that then.
She admitted to burning the letters to prevent Klavdia’s marriage to Imperial Prince Norbert in order to make Mikhail Grand Duke.
Yet disgustingly, she now acted out the role of an ideal mother.
As Klavdia stirred, about to jump up angrily, Norbert quietly grabbed her hand beside her.
It was time to observe the situation.
He too roughly knew what would happen today.
Thanks to Nikolai’s tip, he warned the imperial knights to arm themselves in advance, informing them that forces would attempt a rebellion on the day of the state wedding.
Of course, he hadn’t known it would be former Grand Duchess Oksana.
His bride’s country, the Grand Duchy of Hersen, was quite an interesting country.
“I can prove those words wrong.”
Lyudmila spoke in a dry voice.
Oksana nearly fainted in shock at the implication there was more testimony beyond the earlier revelation.
She shouldn’t have kept Ruslan’s wife close.
Regret that’s too late washed over her that she should have eliminated her earlier.
To think that woman would side with Katya.
“His Highness will arrive soon, so you’d better tell me the truth before then.”
“……”
“Why are you here? And what is this?”
On the night Katya woke up after collapsing from drinking the liquor, the one who had sneaked into her bedroom was none other than Lyudmila.
When she pointed at the small vial in her hand, Lyudmila obediently handed it over to Katya.
Brunhilde, who had been waiting in the room, drew back the curtains as if on cue and took the vial.
“It’s the antidote, Your Highness.”
“So you didn’t come to harm me?”
Lyudmila quietly nodded at those words.
“But why? Weren’t you on Her Highness Oksana’s side?”
“Because I owe His Highness the Grand Duke.”
Lyudmila acknowledged her foolishness.
While Nikolai kept silent about the incident where her husband died trying to protect his brother, she had used that young child as a shield to hide behind.
It was cowardly even to herself that she only finally found courage to throw away the blinders after her own sister Irina was victimized.
But her desire to protect Nikolai’s family was sincere.
Katya was his most beloved wife.
She didn’t want him to experience losing his family again.
“I secretly overheard a conversation in Her Highness Oksana’s chambers. She secretly ordered the palace pharmacy to dispose of certain medicines. She also said it was fortunate she used a poison that couldn’t be easily treated. After hearing that, I guessed it must be the antidote and smuggled it out to find Her Highness the Grand Duchess.”
“Y-you dare……”
“This wasn’t the first time you targeted Her Highness Klavdia.”
“What?”
Lyudmila calmly recited the situation Oksana had orchestrated to push Klavdia’s marriage with Duke Klebov.
Norbert was the first to lose his composure.
He jumped up looking ready to grab her by the collar, but this time Klavdia held him back.
Though she was seething too, punishment could wait until all the evil deeds were revealed.
Katya seemed to have more to say.
“Let’s talk about an old story. Have you all heard? Though people of the Kingdom of Arsetia usually have an ashen tint to their hair, in some noble families, children with snow-white hair and skin are occasionally born from ancient times.”
***
22 years ago.
A carriage stood alone in the forest on the outskirts of Arsetia’s capital.
The coachman-less carriage rattled continuously for a while before finally stopping its movement.
The act between the man and woman inside had ended.
Though the cold night had settled into silence, the heat hadn’t yet dissipated inside the carriage.
Yuri lightly kissed Oksana’s forehead as he held her in his arms.
It was the day they coincidentally reunited after being forcibly separated for almost a year because of his mother.
He had crossed the sea to visit Elohim Palace for talks with the King of Arsetian, accompanied by his second wife Tatiana.
And there he met his first love Oksana, who had married an Arsetian noble.
Though both were married, their suppressed emotions ignited as soon as their eyes met.
“Her Highness the Grand Duchess looked quite unwell. Is it alright to sneak away like this?”
“She’s in her final month and got severe seasickness on the way. Don’t spoil the mood by talking about that woman.”
“When Her Highness Yevgenia passed away, I think I was happy even though I shouldn’t have been. I thought I could finally be with Your Highness.”
“You were the one I wanted as my wife from the start. If only Mother hadn’t opposed, you would have been my first and last Grand Duchess.”
“Did you miss me all this time?”
“Can’t you tell?”
Yuri asked as he placed her hand on his chest.
Oksana smiled slightly at his heart beating like panting.
“I always missed you. I respected your opinion when you said you didn’t want to be a concubine when I married Yevgenia, and when you left to marry another man because we couldn’t marry the second time either, I was too ashamed to stop you. But my love was always for you.”
“Me too.”
“I only shared her bed once, on our wedding night.”
He quickly added, seemingly concerned inside.
“Luckily she got pregnant right away, so I could faithfully miss you while maintaining celibacy.”
“Do you want me to have maintained celibacy too?”
“That’s your freedom. I know it’s impossible for the lady of the house to avoid conjugal relations. I’m an emperor with much to apologize to you for, so don’t worry about it.”
It was the answer Oksana wanted.
The guilt she had briefly felt finally disappeared.
Though Yuri hated talking about Tatiana, Oksana rather wanted to bring her up more.
Tatiana Valuyev.
No, now Tatiana de Vasily since she took his surname.
She wanted to confirm she was loved by seeing Yuri’s disgusted expression when that woman was mentioned.
“When is the due date?”
“Well. Next month maybe? I don’t remember well.”
“Aren’t you being too indifferent to Your Highness’s child?”
“I don’t know. I’ll probably grow attached like with Ruslan and Klavdia once it’s born and I see its face. If only they were our children, they would have been more lovable.”
“When do you leave?”
Oksana changed the subject, uncomfortable with talk of the siblings.
Yuri was a loving father to his children.
Though he didn’t love Yevgenia, he respected her as the mother of his children and always showed courtesy.
Would Yuri’s heart change once Tatiana had the child too?
Unlike the plain Yevgenia, that woman was outstanding in appearance.
Enough to easily sway him if Yuri didn’t have such pure devotion only for her.
At Oksana’s question, Yuri quietly gazed at her before parting his lips.
“Come with me.”
“What? What do you……”
“Once Ruslan grows a bit more, I’ll abdicate to him and step down. I’ll divorce Tatiana too. We can live the rest of our lives leisurely, just the two of us. We can even have children.”
“If you abdicate, will we still live in the palace?”
“No. I’ll choose one of the other titles the Grand Duke holds and we’ll go live in that territory. Then you won’t have to face my mother, and we can just live loving each other.”
While Yuri talked with an excited expression about the future he had been dreaming of, Oksana’s expression grew darker and darker.
Due to the state religion’s doctrine, divorce was difficult for the Grand Duke.
To divorce and live with Oksana, he would need to give up the Grand Duke title and become a regular noble.
Yuri was focused on marrying her, but her thoughts were different.
She wanted to become a ruler’s consort since she was young.
She wanted to have the beautiful country of Hersen at her feet.
Even after her husband’s death, she wanted to make her son Grand Duke and live being served as the monarch’s mother for life.
But abdication?
To voluntarily give up the title of Grand Duke?
Was he in his right mind?
Though Oksana’s in-laws were counts, they were royalty who wielded more power than most dukes.
It had been her second-best choice when she realized she couldn’t become Grand Duchess.
But when she confirmed Yuri’s unchanging affection today, Oksana once again held hope that she could become Grand Duchess.
