She spoke firmly while watching Aidan’s expression. He neither denied nor confirmed it. He simply maintained eye contact with Karina. That alone was answer enough.

The moment she heard from the physician what kind of poison she had been exposed to, all of Aidan’s strange behavior made sense. Though she had seemingly complied with his request by leaving the palace for House Hewitt, she came here immediately afterward. When she visited alone without Aidan, the butler appeared flustered but didn’t turn her away, suggesting he had prior instructions from Aidan.

She quickly discovered who the mercenaries were tracking and what they were investigating. Suspecting the Viscountess Highmond’s connection to the Empress, Karina spoke as if she knew everything. The butler, believing she was already aware, revealed the truth.

“But was it really necessary to send me out of the palace? You set quite a grand scheme in motion before leaving.”

Two weeks ago, on the day Aidan departed for the Italus border region, the Imperial Knights arrested the Empress and Marquis Belmont. While Belmont’s arrest was expected since they had been pursuing him, the Empress’s arrest at the same time was unexpected.

The ministers who sided with the Empress and Lloyd caused an uproar, demanding to know how they could detain the Empress without clear cause. Following the ministers’ insistence that basic courtesy be shown to the Empress regardless of suspicions, she was confined to her palace during the trial. No one could enter her palace during this time. Neither the ministers supporting her nor even Lloyd were allowed visits.

Lloyd was furious. He appealed to his supporting ministers, asking how the Emperor could treat the Empress this way, claiming Aidan must have schemed something. However, despite their protests, the Emperor remained unmoved. He even refused to meet those who were blindly defending the Empress.

The trial began without explanation. As it progressed day by day, the voices of those supporting the Empress diminished. Events unfolded contrary to everyone’s expectations.

Marquis Belmont confessed to killing a servant from Aidan’s palace and attempting to kill Lloyd’s subordinate. When asked why, he testified it was to cover up Lloyd’s attack on Aidan. His testimony matched that of Liam Smith, Lloyd’s former subordinate.

Lloyd insisted until the end that he had nothing to do with it. He became serious, asking if they were trying to frame a prince based solely on Belmont’s words. The surprise came from the Empress. In court, she testified with a bloodless face that it was she, not Lloyd, who had tried to kill Aidan. Lloyd, who had been claiming innocence, froze in shock. He stared at her with a blank expression, unable to even question why she suddenly said this.

The trial didn’t end there. A shocking revelation awaited everyone.

The Empress and Marquis Belmont were brought to trial for insulting the imperial family. This was separate from their attempted murder on Adrian. The nobles, wondering what insult they had committed, were stunned by the court’s question.

‘Does Empress Lilith admit to conspiring with Marquis Belmont to conceive a child and falsely claiming it as imperial offspring?’

Murmurs wouldn’t cease throughout the court. Those who were gathered stared alternately at the Emperor, sitting with a cold expression, and the Empress, who no longer retained her former beauty.

‘Impossible! That itself is an insult to the imperial family! Who dares to speak such nonsense!’

Lloyd caused an uproar, acting like he was having a fit. He shouted that these were all rumors spread by Aidan, that everyone was being deceived by these rumors, until he was dragged out of court. Throughout the commotion, the Emperor kept his lips firmly sealed. He only stared at the Empress with a cold face throughout the trial.

‘No. While it’s true I had relations with Marquis Belmont, that was only before entering the palace. Lloyd is His Majesty’s son.’

The Empress repeated the same words from beginning to end. For the nobles, just the fact that Lilith McCoy had such a relationship with Marquis Belmont was shocking. They all knew that Lilith McCoy had been the Emperor’s lover, having won his favor before entering the palace. Her claim that it was ‘only before entering the palace’ essentially admitted she had been with Belmont even during her early days as the Emperor’s lover.

If she wanted to deny it, she should have denied her relationship with Belmont entirely. However, due to the overwhelming evidence, Lilith McCoy couldn’t deny her relationship with Belmont. All she could claim was that Lloyd was definitely the Emperor’s child, and therefore she had never insulted the imperial family.

No matter how much she insisted, few believed her words now that her relationship with Belmont had been exposed. The ministers who had maintained neutrality, siding with neither Aidan nor Lloyd, completely turned away after this incident. Even if Lloyd was the Emperor’s son, they couldn’t deny the possibility that he was Belmont’s blood. They believed that Lloyd shouldn’t become the next Emperor.

The ministers supporting Lloyd desperately defended that while the Empress couldn’t escape the crime of attempting to kill Aidan, her words about Lloyd’s birth were true. They argued that when she met Belmont, she was a widow and hadn’t harmed anyone, and though she was the Emperor’s lover, she was just that — a lover with no obligation of fidelity to the Emperor.

Was Lloyd definitely the Emperor’s son? That became the central point of contention.

Watching the trial process over two weeks, Karina became convinced this was all orchestrated by Aidan. The delayed capture of Marquis Belmont helped maximize the Emperor’s anger. The Empress made the mistake of meeting him directly because she was anxious about his delayed capture.

The song about Lilith McCoy that spread among the people during this time also influenced the trial. While they couldn’t be certain whether Lloyd was the Emperor’s son or not, everyone already believed he was Marquis Belmont’s son. Not just among nobles but also among the common people, the lyrics of the song had become fixed as truth itself.

Aidan hadn’t simply fixated on the attack against him. He used that incident to make the Emperor doubt Lloyd’s origins. Just revealing that the relationship between the Empress and Belmont was deeper than everyone knew began to shake Lloyd’s position as prince.

No one remained on the Empress’s side. While her attempt to kill Aidan was problematic, they could have understood it among themselves as trying to eliminate a political rival. However, when it came to light that she had deceived the Emperor for years and showed ruthlessness in trying to kill Belmont, her loyal subordinate, all ministers turned their backs on her. Their only remaining hope was for the Emperor to acknowledge Lloyd as his child. Only then would their support for Lloyd retain some justification.

This entire tangled mess was Aidan’s design. Yet he departed for the Italus border region during the trial that turned the palace upside down. Had he remained in the palace, he too would have been caught up in the trial, willingly or not. More people would have insisted, like Lloyd, that Aidan had orchestrated everything. Was it excessive to suspect he had planned the Italus border inspection schedule anticipating all this?

That wasn’t all. Even while away from the capital, his investigation into Viscountess Highmond continued. It seemed like he was preparing it in case the Empress somehow escaped from the earlier scandal.

“We probably don’t need to bring up this matter anymore.”

Aidan seemed to already know how the trial had proceeded without explanation. He had likely received continuous reports from his subordinates who were left in the palace. She marveled at his thoroughness in coming here first to check the results of Viscountess Highmond’s investigation immediately upon returning to the capital, even though he must have known the Empress’s power had completely crumbled.

“I don’t plan to let it go. Actually, that incident pissed me off the most.”

Aidan checked the investigation papers scattered across the desk with a bitter smile.

Though Aidan tried to brush it off casually, Karina couldn’t ignore his words. The attempted murder didn’t count since he wasn’t himself when it happened. Dismantling the Empress’s power to become Emperor was also a rational decision.

However, he was saying that approaching Viscountess Highmond and investigating her was different from all that.

“What pissed me off the most was when you, Aidan, asked for divorce.”

She retorted, using his exact expression. Aidan looked up at Karina, surprised by the expression she would never normally use. When she met his gaze calmly, he smirked.

“You asked for divorce. Though some time remains.”

“If anyone does it, I will. Not you. The agreement clearly stated that too. That you would comply with my request. Nowhere in that agreement was there a clause allowing Your Highness to demand divorce.”

Aidan sighed softly at her formal address and stiff tone.

Though he believed Karina would understand his intentions, his suggestion to divorce was half sincere. The thought of something similar happening again while keeping her in the palace was horrifying. He had never feared attempts on his own life, but his heart froze at the thought of Karina getting hurt or harmed.

That feeling was indescribably awful. More than his personal desire to keep Karina by his side, he wanted her safety.