Chapter 11 (Part 4)

During the banquet, Baron Demori suddenly collapsed.

The Emperor did not allow Therese to care for her father. In the emergency, Duke Richard carried the Baron on his back and sought out a physician. Fortunately, because the Baron had brought his personal doctor to the banquet, he managed to overcome the critical moment.  

“The Baron has a heart condition, so he must never be subjected to shock.”  

At the physician’s warning, Jeremy, who had been leaning against the wall, let out a hollow laugh.  

“…Shock, you say.”  

Jeremy had experienced his fair share of hardships in life, but today’s revelation about Therese was completely unexpected.  

The fact that Therese had sought a divorce from him to hold the Emperor’s hand left him reeling.  

However, the thought tormenting Jeremy now wasn’t one of betrayal.  

‘Why, of all people, that man…?’  

The Emperor was utterly unhinged—madness didn’t even begin to describe him. The thought of Therese being with such a man gnawed at him endlessly.  

“Your Grace, you don’t look well. Shall I examine you?”  

“I’m fine.”  

Jeremy curtly refused the physician’s offer.  

Having just returned from resolving matters on the frontier, Jeremy had ridden non-stop without even a day’s rest.  

There was someone he had to meet at the Richard ducal residence immediately.  

‘Therese, what in the world are you thinking?’  

Had Therese asked for a divorce that night, he would have complied without hesitation.  

Even if she’d told him to die on the spot, he would have obeyed her.  

‘But this… this is unacceptable.’  

Leaving without a word, with only the signet ring and divorce papers left behind, was something he couldn’t accept.  

‘She acted as if we’d be together forever…’  

The night Therese had come to his tent felt like a dream, but the scar on his hand reminded him it was all too real.  

Jeremy absentmindedly touched the bite marks she had left on his finger and sighed deeply.  

‘…Ah.’  

He kept picking at the wound on his finger with his nails, unwilling to let the mark Therese left fade away.  

‘Your Grace, you’ve returned.’

When he arrived at the residence, the butler, Alfredo, greeted him. Jeremy, panting heavily, brushed off the greeting and asked urgently,  

‘Where is the Duchess?’

The Duke’s menacing tone left Alfredo visibly uneasy.  

‘Your Grace, perhaps you should wash up first.’  

Having ridden without rest, Jeremy looked utterly disheveled. His face was caked with dust, and dried blood clung to him, making him appear like a grim reaper straight out of hell.  

‘Alfredo! Did I not ask you a question?’  

Losing his composure, Jeremy shouted. He felt as though he would die if he couldn’t see Therese immediately.  

The aged butler, who had served the Richard family since Jeremy’s father’s time, had always been treated with respect by Jeremy.  

Seeing the butler’s tear-filled eyes, Jeremy realized his worst fears had come true.  

And as he received the Emperor’s invitation to the banquet, his vague unease solidified into a concrete dread.  

Therese had abandoned him completely.  

‘Was it more power and wealth that she desired?’  

But that couldn’t be it.  

He could still vividly recall Therese’s radiant smile at the roadside café.  

If she were truly greedy, she wouldn’t have used her wealth to support the frontier.  

‘And considering her actions in this recent incident…’  

Therese had saved not only him from a monster attack but also Gabriel, who had been in danger. She had even rescued those held captive by Count Pablo and returned them to their families.  

‘So it can’t be personal greed.’  

But all of this was mere speculation.  

Therese had always been an enigma, her emotions impossible to read.  

“Why won’t she even look me in the eye?”  

Earlier, in the dining hall, Therese had avoided meeting his gaze.  

“…Ah.”  

The memory of the Emperor gripping her delicate wrist flashed across his mind, and Jeremy’s chest tightened painfully.  

Unable to breathe properly, he pounded his fist against his chest.  

He had vowed to accept whatever Therese wanted, but this was too much to bear.  

“…Therese.”  

As he whispered her name, his face contorted with anguish.  

***

The dining hall, now emptied of guests, was eerily silent.  

Although the Emperor had ordered her to continue eating, Therese couldn’t take a single bite.  

Having just witnessed her father collapse, there was no way she could swallow food.  

‘Everything will be fine.’  

She kept repeating this to herself, but her chest felt unbearably heavy. The jewels adorning her body felt like they were suffocating her.  

“…Ha.”  

Letting out a deep sigh, Therese flinched as the Emperor suddenly spoke.  

“I despise fools.”  

His voice, sharp enough to cut, sent shivers down her arms.  

“I can’t stand the sight of such imbeciles breathing.”  

Felipe Morciani, slicing into his cold meat, spoke with barely contained rage.  

His rough movements sent bits of meat and blood splattering across the table.  

“If you had humiliated me earlier, I would have killed them all right here.”  

Therese, trembling as she watched him, finally managed to speak.  

“My father and the Duke are your loyal subjects, Your Majesty.”  

Therese’s presence in the Imperial Palace was the result of a deal.  

She had sacrificed her happiness and daily life to protect the Duke and her father.  

But a deal could crumble at any moment if one side reneged.  

Therese was constantly on edge, fearing the Emperor’s sudden change of heart.  

Thus, she had no choice but to tread carefully around him.  

“Your constant attempts to shield them are displeasing to me.”  

The Emperor sneered at her submissiveness and slammed his fork onto the table.  

“You!”  

Grabbing her wrist roughly, the Emperor pulled her into his embrace.  

“From now on, you will look only at me.”  

As he clung to her, his warm breath brushing her skin, Therese felt a wave of revulsion so strong it made her hair stand on end.  

But she couldn’t show her disgust.  

‘Yes, I can endure this much.’  

Therese thought of the two people somewhere in the palace.  

Her father was likely receiving treatment after his collapse.  

The broad shoulders of the Duke, who had carried her father out earlier, flashed before her eyes.  

‘…Your Grace.’  

Recalling Jeremy Richard’s gaunt face, devoid of reproach, tears welled up in her eyes.  

‘I love you so much…’  

Her forbidden love choked her, and for a moment, another image overlapped with that of the Emperor.  

A man with broader shoulders and golden hair that smelled of sandalwood.  

Therese’s thoughts drifted to the night she had spent in the Duke’s tent on the battlefield.  

The tent had shaken violently in the fierce wind, but the bond between the two of them had been unbreakable.  

‘I won’t hurt you.’

Despite his tender words, the Duke’s actions had been anything but gentle.  

Jeremy Richard, holding her in his arms, had poured out his passion with fervor throughout the night.  

‘Duchess, if you dislike this, push me away.’ 

His eyes, glinting like those of a beast, betrayed the emptiness of his words.  

‘…Ah.’

That night, Therese could feel the Duke’s affection completely.  

It was so overwhelming that it brought tears to her eyes.  

Soon, her gaze grew hazy, as if wandering through a dream. Therese reached out and gently stroked the Emperor’s back.  

She desperately wished to touch the Duke once more.  

At her touch, the Emperor suddenly lifted his head and studied Therese’s dazed expression. The ever-sensitive Emperor immediately realized that she was thinking of someone else.  

“To dare in my presence!”  

“…Ah.”  

Startled, Therese couldn’t utter a word, and the Emperor abruptly pushed her away.  

…Crash!  

Therese, toppling over with her chair, fell to the floor along with the tableware. Her hand was cut by shattered glass, and blood trickled from her lips.  

“…”  

As Therese remained silent, not even groaning, the Emperor quickly knelt beside her.  

“Look at this, you’re bleeding.”  

The Emperor plucked the glass shards from her palm and flung them aside. Then, he gently blew on her wound.  

His tender demeanor was in stark contrast to the forceful shove earlier, leaving Therese too frightened to even tremble.  

“If you obey me, I can place this empire at your feet.”  

“…Yes.”  

Therese weakly replied, and the Emperor, brushing the blood near her lips, widened his eyes and smiled.  

“You must be worried about the Baron. I’ll allow you to visit him.”  

“Thank you for your generosity, Your Majesty.”  

The Emperor had felt an odd thrill watching the reunion of the Duke and Duchess at the dining hall earlier.  

The Duchess, unable even to greet her own husband.  

The Duke, a pathetic fool who couldn’t utter a single word of protest despite losing his wife.  

“What a delightful evening.”  

A peculiar excitement gleamed on Felipe Morciani’s face.