Berus had told only the Second Prince Isel and the First Princess Louise, who were imprisoned with him in the underground prison.

But nobles plotting rebellion, like Marquis Miko, might know about it too,

Planning to crown that child as emperor when they grew up.

According to Araceli’s laws, if even one person between the empress and emperor in a generation had Araceli imperial blood flowing in them, they could become a legitimate emperor in any way.

It was quite absurd that both Rondimio, who had taken the direct imperial princess of Araceli as his empress, and the hidden illegitimate child of the exiled crown prince could become legitimate emperors.

Louise stamped her feet in the cold weather outside the banquet hall as she made plans for what she needed to do next.

Now that she was seriously thinking about turning against Rondimio, her heart ached.

“You should have completely plundered me, or forcibly violated me, and possessed only me……”

Rondimio had harmed everyone surrounding Louise to keep her completely by his side.

If he had only given up his greed to possess Louise completely, he wouldn’t have started the rebellion.

Louise covered her face with her hands that had become ice-cold from deliberately going out into the cold wind.

Though she had resolved not to love Rondimio anymore, she couldn’t erase the thought that ultimately, just a little bit, she still loved him.

“Ah, it’s cold……”

She wanted to go straight back into the warm banquet hall, fearing harm to the child in her womb.

But it seemed better to wait a while before entering, rather than letting it be known that the empress had met separately with Marquis Miko.

Louise gathered her trembling hands from the cold over her flat belly.

If anyone knew her circumstances, they might call her foolish, but at the point where she had decided to completely betray Rondimio, Louise hated herself the most.

She wanted to escape from Rondimio’s embrace through death, but she couldn’t do that because she would feel sorry for the child in her womb.

Should she beg the nobles plotting rebellion to spare Rondimio’s life?

No, they wouldn’t grant that. Then, asking them to wait until the child is born and can be held in his arms once….

With her face pale from the cold, Louise was so lost in thought about Rondimio and the child in her womb that she didn’t notice Rondimio approaching right in front of her.

“Louise.”

“……”

“Are you sick somewhere, Louise?”

“Ron, Rondimio…?”

Louise turned her head at the familiar voice tickling her ear.

Marquis Miko had said that Rondimio, who had gone with Duke Havent, would arrive late, but he seemed to have come quite quickly.

Rondimio, who had been tracing Louise’s deathly pale cheek with his fingertips, sighed softly, took off his emperor’s formal jacket, draped it over Louise’s shoulders, and embraced her.

The jacket, large enough to completely cover her small frame, was heavily imbued with Rondimio’s uniquely cool scent.

“How can you wear such thin clothes while carrying a child in your womb? You were definitely wearing a shawl earlier……”

Rondimio only rubbed Louise’s pale cheek, not caring that the jacket embroidered with the emblem that only the emperor of Araceli could use was dragging on the ground.

As expected, he was a man who couldn’t think of anything except the woman named Louise. To notice immediately that the shawl was gone.

“It was hot inside the banquet hall, so I left it with Margaret and forgot about it……”

Louise answered while fixing her gaze on the empty terrace, afraid that Rondimio might notice her subtly trembling voice.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a lie.

Marquis Miko’s reception room was inside the banquet hall, and his daughter Margaret had taken the shawl beside her.

Just as she pushed aside his large jacket, uncomfortable as it was, and snuggled tightly into Rondimio’s warm embrace, Rondimio smiled slyly.

“From now on, don’t wear dresses with such exposed chests either. You’ll catch a cold.”

Rondimio pulled up Louise’s fallen shoulder strap and gently embraced her snow-white shoulders, which had broken out in goosebumps as soon as the warm jacket was pushed aside.

Somehow the atmosphere had become strange.

Despite having just met with people who hated Rondimio and planning to turn against him, her heart kept pounding.

“Ah… does it look that bad?”

“No, the problem is that it looks too good.”

Feeling Rondimio’s gaze focused on her half-exposed cleavage, Louise blushed deeply and wrapped herself tightly in his jacket again.

She knew she should behave more modestly now that she was carrying a child, but the banquet date had been set so urgently that she hadn’t bothered to have a new dress made.

She had been busy plotting to meet nobles behind Rondimio’s back, and until now, everyone had liked dresses with this kind of exposure.

Rondimio certainly seemed to have liked it too….

“I’m sorry. From now on, I’ll only wear modest dresses.”

“If you really want to wear it, just wear it in the bedroom.”

“Are you… jealous right now?”

Louise’s lips had already curved into a smile.

Ah. She couldn’t help responding to Rondimio’s playful voice.

In her younger days, Louise had wished for Rondimio’s happiness just as he was now.

“Do you understand now? I want to kill anyone who even glances at you. I’m holding back because you might be shocked.”

But the result that came with that happiness was truly frightening.

Louise quickly erased the smile that had spread across her face. Rondimio had never once told a lie.

His jokes were truths without even a hint of falsehood.

He said that when he was younger, even when he was abused by his family until he was covered in blood, he never willingly uttered the mocking words they wanted to hear.

When Louise, the only one who pitied him, visited him and treated his wounds while crying, asking if the wounds from the abuse hurt a lot, only then did he say it hurt too much.

He said it hurt so much that he had been waiting for the princess to come find him and treat him.

“But each and every person’s life is precious.”

“Well, I understand that you and our child growing in your womb are precious.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Rondimio bent his knee on the cold floor and made eye contact with the child in her womb.

She hadn’t known he would like the child this much.

At the same time, Rondimio wouldn’t give Louise the answer she wanted, even in jest.

Once again feeling sorry for him, Louise stood on her tiptoes and gently patted his shoulder.

Rondimio had been so small when he was younger. It was amazing how he had grown so tall.

“By the way, what did you discuss with Duke Havent? It seemed urgent.”

With her body warmed by Rondimio’s attentive touch, Louise leaned against his shoulder and asked casually.

“Hmm…. Various parts of the Araceli Empire are a bit chaotic right now. There’s a record drought in the west, and we’re looking for solutions.”

“Solutions for a record drought?”

Louise leaned closer to his shoulder, seemingly more curious.

From now on, she planned to extract various information from Rondimio and relay it to the nobles preparing for rebellion.

Though she wasn’t sure how much of what he said she could understand and convey to them, given her limited knowledge.

“It’s not something for you to worry about. Let’s really go inside now. You’ll truly catch a cold.”

Despite her courageous question, Rondimio didn’t answer her inquiry.

Instead, he walked toward the banquet hall where bright light was streaming out.

Was Rondimio truly an incompetent emperor of Araceli?

Louise looked at Rondimio’s face, where the smile had disappeared, while pondering the rumors she had occasionally heard.

If even the commoners of Araceli were saying that the beautiful princess of Araceli had sold out her country because she was blinded by love, it probably wasn’t just an idle rumor.

Though it was a childhood memory, everyone had said that the Araceli Empire was wealthy, peaceful, and a good country that was generous even to commoners.

But that didn’t seem to be the case now. Now, the emperor neither handled imperial affairs daily nor left his beloved empress’s side.

The endless pile of nobles’ complaints and commoners’ protests….

“You are the most precious thing in the world to me, Louise.”

Louise looked up at Rondimio. Standing under the bright light, he looked extremely happy.

He looked so happy that she couldn’t bring herself to ask why he had done such things in the past.

She couldn’t help but hate this man who had willingly become an incompetent emperor just for one woman.

* * *

A few days after the banquet celebrating the arrival of an imperial heir to the Araceli imperial family.

“I hope His Majesty finishes his state affairs and returns today….”

Waking up past noon, Louise inhaled the fragrance of the bouquet Rondimio had given her as a gift before leaving.

Today it was red dahlias, the same color as Rondimio’s eyes.

Despite the turmoil inside and outside the Araceli Empire, Rondimio had tried to stay by Louise’s side until she woke up as always, so she had seen him off early in the morning and gone back to sleep.

Louise was a woman who, despite her position as empress of Araceli, knew nothing but how to be loved by the emperor.

But the young Louise had never even dreamed of becoming empress, so it couldn’t be helped.

Everyone believed without doubt that it would be Crown Prince Berus or Isel, one of the two, who would handle the affairs of the Araceli imperial family, not Princess Louise.