“Rondimio……”

As if reading Rondimio’s thoughts, the sleeping Louise tossed and turned, speaking Rondimio’s name for the second time today.

Ha. This time he laughed because it felt too good.

Rondimio would make Louise like a flower in a greenhouse, not letting a drop of water touch her, just as the former emperor had done.

So that she would depend only on me.

Unlike the former emperor, I’ll give you sincere love every day without end and never force you….

“Yes. I’m here, Louise.”

I’ll make you love me sincerely forever.

I can’t tolerate you not loving me.

Rondimio, closing his fluttering eyelashes beautifully, climbed onto the bed where Louise was sleeping and brought his face to her fingertips.

I don’t know why you’re trembling with anxiety right now, Louise… but one thing is certain.

“I am yours, so do as you please, Louise. But stay by my side.”

* * *

The day of the banquet to celebrate Louise and their child in her womb.

After spending several days inseparable from Rondimio, Louise was deep in thought while receiving lengthy preparations for the occasion.

What ways were there to approach nobles who had supported the former emperor without being discovered by Rondimio?

No… she wondered if Rondimio had already discovered her.

No matter how worried she was about the small and weak child in her womb, Rondimio’s attempts to control everything from what she ate to how she walked were extremely burdensome.

“I’ll try to protect our child no matter what, so you don’t need to worry……”

Louise, who had woken up earlier than usual to change her dress and receive preparations, looked at herself in the dressing table mirror.

Her curly platinum blonde hair, which had reached her waist, was parted in half and tied up, with a smaller tiara than usual placed on top.

Every time Louise blinked, the pearl applied to the tips of her eyelashes trembled and sparkled.

Louise knew well that she was counted among the beauties of the Araceli Empire. The late former emperor had been very proud of her appearance.

The former emperor always arranged marriages with unknown men, saying that no one could hate someone as lovely as Louise.

At one time, Louise had rebelled, saying she didn’t want the marriage arranged by the former emperor.

But after growing a little, she realized that refusing political marriages made her parents extremely angry, so she stopped expressing her opinions.

Without a doubt, Rondimio was the only man Louise loved.

If she had been able to choose her own marriage, she would certainly have married Rondimio, but she knew too well that was impossible at the time.

After all, being born as the empire’s princess meant there was no way to avoid a political marriage.

Unlike the corset dress she had worn at the banquet held a few weeks ago, Louise’s reflection in the mirror showed her wearing a dress loosely tied with strings and adorned with elaborate lace. Louise ran her fingertips over her covered belly.

She still couldn’t feel anything, but… it was fascinating.

That in a few months, her belly would swell as if a large ball had been forcibly inserted, and a child would be born.

She couldn’t believe she had conceived the child she had so desperately wanted.

The former emperor, claiming to comfort her for having a body that made it difficult to conceive, told her that when she had a child, her beautiful body would easily be ruined, and suggested she might consider accepting a child born by her husband’s concubine as her own.

But she couldn’t make that choice anyway, since the man the former emperor had arranged for her to marry had his throat cut by Rondimio’s blade on their wedding day, dying as he stained Louise’s pure white wedding dress red.

“Your Majesty the Empress? Is there something troubling you?”

Perhaps she had been too deeply lost in thoughts of the past, as Margaret, who was helping with the preparations along with the empress’s palace maids, called out to Louise.

Ah. This wasn’t the time to worry about the past that couldn’t be undone or about the child that would be born safely unless something major happened.

She needed to figure out how to approach the nobles who had supported the former emperor right away.

She needed to continue giving assurance to Margaret, who had begun to open up little by little.

That I don’t love Rondimio and that I’m in need of help right now.

“No, nothing. Just… I was thinking about the day I got married.”

“You were wearing a pure white dress that day too. Though today it’s not a wedding dress.”

That day, how long did I wear that pure white… wedding dress?

As Louise turned her head, her earrings, densely embedded with tiny jewels, twirled around.

Just then, the very person who had ruthlessly ruined Louise’s pure white wedding dress was peeking his head into the powder room.

Rondimio. My lovely deceiver.

Rondimio, who had dressed up for the occasion to celebrate Louise and the child in her womb, looked extremely beautiful.

Louise, who was putting on lower-heeled shoes than usual with the help of the maids, smiled brightly and waved cheerfully at Rondimio.

Though to Margaret beside her, she spoke words completely different from her facial expression, as if disgusted.

“My dress was pure white that day, you say…. All I remember is being helplessly held in His Majesty’s arms wearing a wedding dress stained red.”

“……”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the past lately. Even though it can’t be undone now.”

Margaret… please help me.

While desperately pleading inside, Louise stood up as Rondimio approached and fell into his embrace.

“You look truly splendid today, Your Majesty.”

“Look who’s talking. You’re even more beautiful today, my lovely Louise.”

Not caring that numerous servants were watching, Rondimio kissed Louise on the lips.

At the embarrassing sound that spread with a smack, a sour expression crossed Louise’s face before quickly disappearing.

Yes. Stay intoxicated by my beauty and don’t pay attention to anything else. Because today I’m going to betray you, Rondimio.

“We should go to the banquet for our child now. You said you wanted to receive congratulations from many people.”

“Yes. Just for today, I want to receive congratulations from many people. And… I want to have conversations too.”

Louise glanced at the maids who had helped with her preparations, especially Margaret from whom she could receive the greatest help, then took Rondimio’s hand and headed to the banquet hall.

While walking very slowly, afraid something might happen to the child in her womb.

“I’m a bit worried that we might be holding the banquet too early, when you’re not even in the stable period yet……”

“Don’t worry. I’m being really careful.”

Louise smiled faintly as she received Rondimio’s concerned gaze.

In truth, she knew that deceiving Rondimio and seeking help from nobles who had supported the former emperor could have negative effects on the child in her womb.

She also knew she couldn’t stop, despite knowing she had a body prone to losing children.

The banquet hall, decorated to celebrate Louise and the child in her womb, was filled with nobles.

Rondimio rarely held banquets at the imperial palace unless they were for Louise. He also rarely attended them.

It had been three years since he killed the former emperor and empress and took the throne.

The banquets that Rondimio, called the new emperor by everyone, had attended during that time were only the recurring New Year’s banquet—the year-end banquet.

And the birthday banquet for Louise, the empress.

Anyway, Rondimio wasn’t friendly to the nobles as an emperor, and he was a tyrant who would kill nobles if he became even slightly displeased, so it was better for them not to see each other often.

Louise, as empress, always had to attend banquets held by Rondimio.

Because every time he tried to kill nobles who caused conflicts because of Louise, she had to stop him.

“I’ll be by your side throughout the banquet, but if you feel even slightly uncomfortable, we’ll return immediately.”

“I told you there’s no need to worry that much, Your Majesty.”

Louise smiled brightly as she naturally leaned against Rondimio’s large arm.

In a way that would make the nobles below the platform say that the emperor and empress were still on good terms.

Even if she whispered fabricated love to Rondimio, she had to appear no different than usual.

“I’ve always wanted to give only precious things to you, Louise…. I’m sorry that today’s banquet seems to have many shortcomings since it was prepared in just a few days.”

“No. What shortcomings? It’s only splendid.”

With her hand resting on Rondimio’s large arm, Louise quickly responded as she wandered through the banquet hall, scanning the interior.

Rondimio was someone who always gave her only precious things, so even though today’s banquet was prepared on a tight schedule, he would have prepared it without any shortcomings.

Right now, Louise’s mind was filled only with finding nobles who had supported the former emperor somewhere in the banquet hall and speaking to them.

Before that, her urgent task was to separate from Rondimio, who was sticking close to her with no intention of leaving her side.

It didn’t seem easy at all.

Louise bit the soft flesh inside her mouth firmly as rising anxiety filled her.

“Louise. Perhaps you don’t like their congratulations?”

“Of course not…. I’ve received so many congratulations that I was just wondering what to say to thank them this time.”

Louise looked at Rondimio beside her as she responded to the congratulations from nobles who kept approaching even as they moved slowly through the large banquet hall.

What are you thinking right now, Rondimio?