“Mother…The Empress Dowager truly won’t attend?”

Empress Iette asked with a shocked expression upon hearing the news delivered by the Emperor’s aide.

She felt something had gone wrong with the coronation ceremony she’d been preparing for since dawn. On the day her husband would finally ascend as Emperor, if her mother-in-law didn’t attend, it would leave a massive stain on the coronation.

To show the imperial family in discord from the very start.

She suppressed the dizziness threatening to overwhelm her and rose to her feet.

“I need to go see her myself.”

She couldn’t just sit still as Empress. She had worked for months toward this day. She had strived to present the most splendid and magnificent coronation ceremony in the history of this continent.

But if the Emperor’s mother didn’t attend this coronation, all of the Empress’s preparations would become meaningless.

“His Majesty the Emperor tried to persuade her himself, but she wouldn’t budge. We’ve decided to say she’s unwell and have rearranged the seating.”

When the Emperor’s aide sighed, Empress Iette sighed along with him.

Where else would her husband’s stubbornness come from? The only person who could overcome the Emperor’s stubbornness was the Empress Dowager, and no one could overcome the Empress Dowager’s stubbornness.

If the two had decided to give up on each other’s stubbornness, no one could stop them.

Already painfully familiar with the personalities of the mother and son, Iette gave up on persuading them and received the new seating chart from the aide.

The Emperor and Empress’s seats were fine. The Pope’s and the Emperor’s family’s seats posed no problem either. The next in line among the imperial family would simply take the Empress Dowager’s seat.

But she saw the names of unfamiliar women. Pushed aside by them, her daughter’s name was written at the lowest seat.

“Aide, who are these people? This is quite different from the arrangement I confirmed a few days ago.”

Receiving the Empress’s question, the aide hesitated before confessing.

“They’re princesses from other kingdoms. They informed us of their attendance belatedly, saying they would rush to arrive in time…”

“Do you think that makes sense?”

“…”

Knowing full well it was an unreasonable excuse, he couldn’t open his mouth further.

Foreign princesses had been invited, and she, the Empress, knew nothing about it. How long had they planned to deceive her? 

If not for the news of the Empress Dowager’s absence from the coronation, she probably would have encountered the princesses without ever knowing.

Though she had personally devoted herself to every detail of this coronation, she felt the most important matters had slipped beyond her control.

No, in truth, she had long felt she was an unwelcome guest and a blemish in this Basileca Imperial Family…

“…Then we must at least adjust the Princess’s position. Place my daughter in the Empress Dowager’s seat. She’s an Imperial Princess, so she must sit higher than the other imperial family members and foreign princesses.”

“That’s…”

“Seat Candide le Basileca in the Princess’s proper place. That’s an order from the Empress.”

The aide hesitated but ultimately followed the Empress’s command.

Iette hid her upset feelings and left, knowing full well why he acted this way and why her daughter wasn’t receiving proper treatment as an Imperial Princess.

The root of all problems was herself.

Iette le Fleur. The sole wife of the man about to hold his coronation and become Emperor.

Yet people still attached her former husband’s surname to her and refused to accept her into the Basileca Imperial Family. Though she would soon become Empress following him, she had yet to bear her husband’s child.

She did have a daughter born from her marriage to a man named Fleur, but the mother and daughter constantly faced scrutiny and contempt from her mother-in-law and her husband’s family.

And now, inviting foreign princesses to the coronation behind the Empress’s back. Whether her husband’s family did this, or her husband’s close associates.

Or whether her husband had tacitly approved it.

She didn’t want to reach a conclusion either way.

Even while conducting the final review of the coronation preparations, she couldn’t concentrate on anything in her devastated state of mind. Perhaps this would be the last event where she could remain by his side as Empress.

“Empress. You’ve worked hard.”

Her husband, whom she hadn’t seen in days due to their busy schedules, briefly acknowledged his wife’s efforts before turning his head away.

Standing beside him, Iette sighed at his indifference.

Killian Ferga Cairetus le Basileca.

The man about to become Emperor of this empire had come out wearing something like a military uniform even to the coronation. Though she had actively recommended it because the outfit suited him so perfectly as a soldier.

Even if she personally preferred such attire over the overly ornate and old-fashioned court dress, she didn’t know how the people attending the coronation would receive it.

Iette herself had abandoned the style of wearing a stifling corset with multiple layers creating a voluminous skirt, choosing an empire dress instead.

Of course, it wasn’t entirely simple—she had adorned it with various jewels—but she couldn’t be sure whether this outfit suited the coronation either.

Because we as a couple, with these unconventional outfits, intend to show everyone that we’ve broken free from the old dynasty’s traditions and pretenses.

Shaking off all those worries and concerns, her husband strode forward confidently. He wore even the military uniform perfectly, making her concerns seem pointless.

Though he had simply added jewels and a cloak to his usual military uniform, he captured the attention of everyone attending the coronation. He made it absolutely clear who the protagonist of this coronation was.

Watching his retreating figure with admiration, Iette thought of a war god.

Wouldn’t a war god from mythology, which she had encountered through various media in her childhood and thought existed only in legends, look like that? 

When she first met her husband, she had even asked if he was a war god.

While thinking it had been an absurd question, she now wondered if he truly was the incarnation of a war god. And then.

“…!”

The Emperor snatched the crown from the Pope’s hands and placed it on his own head.

People who witnessed this fell silent in shock for a moment before immediately buzzing with murmurs. The Pope, robbed of his duty, couldn’t hide his bewildered state and collapsed into his seat.

“I am the Emperor of this empire, Killian Ferga Cairetus le Basileca.”

He proclaimed that this nation had become an empire and widely announced that he was Emperor.

By himself.

A secular monarch must receive permission from the Pope, God’s representative, to wear the crown. The one who broke that rule ignored everyone’s shock and calmly called for Iette.

“Iette le Basileca, I crown you Empress.”

Though she received the Empress’s crown from the Emperor and was officially recognized as his wife, her shock hadn’t subsided either.

Adjusting the heavy Empress’s crown, Iette gathered her wits and looked around. This situation, this scene. Hadn’t she seen this moment in a famous masterpiece?

…Napoleon’s coronation, painted by the artist David.

Amid the commotion of everyone applauding and proclaiming the empire’s glory, she finally acknowledged it.

What she had continuously suspected since suddenly falling into this country, she could now voice with certainty.

“Napoleon…”

Yes.

It seems her husband was Napoleon all along.