Chapter 4: The Captured Empress (5)

His face, slightly sharper than before, had come to suit the position of emperor quite well. Wanting to slowly grasp his intentions, she watched him carefully.

He said he had asked everyone, but his words were missing pieces. Perhaps he hadn’t gotten information from all the villagers yet, or maybe the people of the village had appropriately hidden things about Rui.

“……”

For now, she stayed quiet and listened. He seemed to have lost his appetite, as he completely set down his utensils.

Even that movement was elegant, but the words that followed were by no means pleasing to her.

“The investigation showed that it was a village unrelated to Baron Trompérie. Did you leave the baron who had been hiding you all this time because of the child?”

At the mention of her father, she felt a chill run through her.

Perhaps it wasn’t just a metaphor. The blood she had inherited would follow her forever. It suddenly felt as though her reckless dash into the forest had all been in vain.

Don’t think that way. Imagining Rui now, probably fast asleep, Larie barely managed to steady her faltering heart.

She had to quickly assess the situation. For some reason, Terian seemed to think her father had been the one hiding her all this time. If he had tried to track her after she disappeared, he would’ve known that wasn’t the case.

It was as if the soldiers chasing her that day had all been a lie—she had never heard that he was searching for her. Of course, she thought it natural that she’d be forgotten, given how busy he must’ve been after ascending the throne.

In any case, Larie decided she needed to understand what was leading him to think this way. Probably, it was her father’s act of pretending to abhor her in front of others that had created this misunderstanding.

“……Yes.”

Hiding just enough of the truth, Larie answered. His gaze was too burdensome, so she naturally turned her eyes back to her plate—but she had long since lost her appetite.

“You have no intention of telling me who the father is?”

His voice, seemingly pressed down with restrained emotion, sounded unfamiliar. She only remembered Terian’s voice as cold and rational.

Rui’s father. In truth, Larie still didn’t know what to make of it all. Now that she was in this grand palace, there were times she wondered if even her belief that she could at least take care of Rui had all been a mirage.

Wouldn’t it be right to raise the child in a more abundant environment? Just like the day she had left the forest and headed toward the village.

On days when she feared Rui had grown slowly due to malnutrition, her heart would ache unbearably. As if a bruise that would never heal remained there.

Then, like an auditory illusion, Terian’s voice echoed in her mind.

‘There is no chance of that for the rest of my life.’

The voice that declared he would never forgive the Trompérie blood.

‘I don’t need a child from you.’

The voice that raged, claiming he needed no child born from them.

‘How can you stand that filth, Your Grace?’

The countless jeers and ridicule thrown her way simply for existing.

“……”

Suddenly, her stomach turned and anxiety set in.

Hiding her hands beneath the table, Larie clasped them tightly together in nervousness. Her breathing began to quicken, and she wanted nothing more than to escape this too-bright luncheon hall. The wall carvings that once looked beautiful now seemed to twist like the sneering faces of those who had mocked her.

She couldn’t let Rui live the way she had.

“I can’t say.”

“I see.”

Larie had barely made eye contact since earlier. Though it was understandable, given the uncomfortable question, Terian found his mouth unreasonably dry.

Her refusal to reveal the child’s father stirred a storm of anger within him. Could the father be another nobleman? Had she claimed the child had no surname simply because the man’s status was low?

He wanted to lock up the villagers until they confessed everything they knew, but he held himself back. Just from seeing how Larie had lived there, it was obvious how much she had emotionally relied on that village.

Those who had shown her kindness deserved a proper reward. Just as those who dared to act with disrespect deserved punishment. Besides, blindly oppressing innocent citizens of the empire was not Terian’s way.

Had the child’s father actually been among them, he wouldn’t have been able to act so rationally.

“……”

“……”

When he deliberately tried to draw a firm confirmation, just as expected, it had been the Trompérie Baron who first took her in. It would have been impossible for her to live a prolonged life on the run alone. He didn’t know how that man had managed to so thoroughly blind Terian’s eyes until now.

Still, observing Larie’s reactions, Terian was able to grasp a few more things.

Even if Larie was currently apart from her family, that fact could change at any time. With the issue of the child in play, wouldn’t she long for the embrace of those who cherished her if it meant avoiding him?

Terian suppressed the chill that gripped his heart.

Though she stood only a few steps away, she still looked so far.

❖ ❖ ❖

Several days passed, seemingly in peace.

Terian kept his promise of seeing Larie three times a day without fail. Yet contrary to the tension, nothing particular happened during those meetings.

Unlike the sharp exchange during the luncheon over the child’s father, there were times they dined without a single word, or he would silently watch over her and Rui at the lakeside.

As time in the palace passed fruitlessly, Larie grew more anxious. She still couldn’t understand his intentions.

He had claimed there was no place in the palace she couldn’t go, and indeed, no one stopped her wherever she wandered. But that didn’t mean she could leave the palace itself.

“Carefully surveying her surroundings, Larie always felt the presence of watchful eyes nearby.

So she began to suspect that Terian’s true intent might be surveillance, rather than anything else. Because nothing else should be.

“Auuu…”

“Is it tasty?”

“You must like today’s food.”

Rui had started eating a little more. He’d never been a picky eater, but Larie could feel the difference.

Rui also wanted to go to the lake constantly. Perhaps because it was the first time he’d seen such a vast body of water, he loved playing by it.

It was a sacred place, so Larie had felt uneasy at first. But seeing how much Rui enjoyed it slowly melted her heart.

“Mama, uu!”

“Not today. It’s raining.”

Even now, having finished his meal, Rui flailed his arms toward the window. From every window in the Empress’s palace, the grand view of the lake could be seen at a glance.

Unfortunately, heavy rain had begun falling just a while ago. The weather was hazy enough to blur the view, and the surface of the distant lake rippled chaotically.

“……”

Whenever it rained like this, Larie was reminded of the day she fled from the Grand Duke’s manor into the forest. The despair and fear she felt that day seemed to seep into her skin through the rain.

Maybe it was because he was nearby again—this rain felt even heavier on her heart.

After a bit of whining, Rui quieted down, and she lifted him gently and began to walk slowly.

Patting his small back, she quietly watched the pouring rain.

“Shall I hold the little prince, Your Majesty?”

At that moment, the Marchioness Dowager of Incarze, the nursemaid, approached.

Renowned in the social world, she had long been the idol of debutantes. Even Larie had once heard of her name.

It was only natural that someone like her had held the honorable post of royal nursemaid since the previous emperor’s reign. Of course, it felt undeserved for Larie to now benefit from her care.

Still, for Rui’s sake, Larie decided to rely on her a little—though she still cared for him mostly on her own.

“I’ll ask for your help later, Marchioness.”

Now accustomed to Larie’s gentle refusals, the nursemaid and the head lady-in-waiting quietly bowed and stepped back.

While the maids busily cleaned up the Empress’s dining room, Larie, feeling uneasy, stepped away.

If there was one good thing about being here, it was that Rui had become much healthier. Back in the forest, he could barely crawl, but now he was moving around confidently.

On the day they first visited the lake, she had briefly laid him on the bed, only for him to crawl toward her, clumsily but determinedly. Perhaps thanks to the improved environment, his activity level had noticeably increased day by day.

Even the Marchioness Dowager Incarze praised him, saying he was a composed child who rarely fussed.

Though Larie knew she was someone Terian had sent, it wasn’t unpleasant to hear her child being praised.

Still, she found all the care and attention from them burdensome.

Especially the way they consistently addressed Rui as “His Highness the Prince”—it was beginning to worry her.

What exactly was Terian thinking? If he believed Rui wasn’t his child, then why…?

“Your Majesty the Empress.”

“…Yes?”

She had just been walking the hallway, considering whether to return to her bedchamber, when a maid approached and bowed respectfully.

“His Majesty the Emperor will be arriving shortly.”

“….”

Before she could respond, she spotted Terian approaching quickly from a distance.

Even on such a gloomy, rainy day, his striking features seemed to shine brightly.

“Madam.”

“….”

They had already met twice today—once at breakfast, and again just before Rui’s meal in the garden.

So she had assumed their third meeting wouldn’t be until evening.

Wasn’t this a bit early for him to seek her out again?

“Is something the matter?”

A sudden sense of unease made Larie speak up. Terian’s gaze, fixed intently on her, seemed oddly vacant.

It hadn’t been raining when they met earlier. Perhaps it was the sudden downpour that now made his face look so weary.

Only after a long pause did he begin to speak, his voice subdued.

“There’s somewhere I’d like to take you.”

“…Take me… somewhere?”

The vague opening made Larie tilt her head in question. Despite having seemingly hurried here with a clear purpose, Terian hesitated before finally speaking again.

“I’d like to show you my study.”

“Your study? Why all of a sudden…?”

Especially since it was the Emperor’s private study—a deeply personal space, one even his closest aides rarely entered. Larie instinctively tensed, wary of his unexpected proposal.

Reading the emotion flickering in her eyes, Terian twisted his lips slightly and said,

“This makes three.”

“…”

At the mention of a “third,” Larie’s expression shifted from caution to a kind of troubled confusion. Watching her closely, Terian quietly stifled the bitter smile that had crept to the corners of his mouth.

The promise of “three times a day” had gradually turned into something else entirely. An excuse—a desperate justification to wedge himself into her time however he could.

To her, it must have felt more like reluctant acceptance than willing agreement. That was why, after fulfilling the promise of three daily visits, Terian always tried not to push her further.

Unless, like today, it rained.

He had planned to wait until the evening after coaxing her into a reluctant walk through the garden. But the moment the downpour began, something inside him tightened, squeezing painfully around his heart.

Ever since the day she disappeared, Terian had experienced the same sensation whenever it rained.

‘We found it at the edge of the forest.’

The soldier had handed over her garment, heavy with the scent of rain. The shawl, soiled and crumpled by rain and mud, had felt like it embodied his soul.

The moments when her absence felt most real would sometimes haunt him in nightmares. Never a deep sleeper to begin with, Terian’s insomnia always worsened on rainy nights.

Even now, fully aware that Larie was in the Empress’s quarters, it was no different. From the instant he stepped out of the council chamber and caught the scent of rain on the air, he could no longer bear it.

He just needed to confirm, once more, that she was truly here.

“Alright.”

“Let’s go.”