For a moment, he looked pitiful with his haggard face and glasses with long silver threads perched on top, holding a bundle of documents.

“You looked a bit tired this morning, Your Majesty, so I was worried and came to see you. Have I come somewhere I shouldn’t have…?”

But today she had come to see Rondimio with a purpose.

More precisely, to see the documents Rondimio was reviewing here.

Louise sat on his office table, which was piled high with documents, pretending to be an innocent woman who knew nothing.

There was no place within the imperial palace that Louise couldn’t go, so the emperor’s office was no exception.

That was something Rondimio had thoroughly instructed the imperial palace staff about.

But since Louise rarely left the empress’s palace itself, he probably hadn’t thought a situation like today would occur.

“No, of course not. I thought you’d stay in the empress’s palace for the sake of the child in your womb.”

Rondimio, who had been blankly watching Louise’s actions, answered a beat late and carefully embraced Louise, who was sitting on the table, placing her on his lap.

Thanks to this, she could see the contents of the documents he was reviewing from Rondimio’s seat.

In truth, Louise didn’t know about the empire’s political situation, interests, or terms that required deep knowledge.

To put it nicely, she was a princess who had been raised preciously like a flower in a greenhouse, and to put it badly, she was a stupid woman.

“This is the first time I’ve seen Your Majesty the Emperor wearing glasses. They suit you well.”

“Really? If you like them, I’ll wear them when I come to see you too.”

Louise alternately looked at Rondimio’s face and the pile of documents on the office table.

The documents seemed at first glance to be seeking solutions for the western drought as he had said, but in reality, they appeared to be something else.

While claiming to resolve the drought in the western region, he was gathering information about the wealth and military power of nobles who had territories there.

The territories of nobles who once supported the former emperor, like Duke Havent and Marquis Miko, were mainly located in the barren west.

Just three years ago, their territories, as high and major nobles of Araceli, were located near the capital.

But after Emperor Rondimio legally took away their original territories and granted them to the new nobles who had helped his rebellion, they received barren territories in the west instead.

Not wanting to face death at the hands of the emperor who had staged a rebellion, they moved to the barren territories in the west without any resistance.

Therefore, nobles currently working in the capital were living in townhouses arranged near the imperial palace. Even Margaret, the daughter of Marquis Miko, was like that.

“This is my first time visiting the emperor’s office, so it’s fascinating. May I come again next time?”

“Who would dare block your path? You’re always welcome.”

Louise snuggled tightly into his arms, as he still seemed dazed and unable to accept the fact that she had come to his office.

Even he, called the greatest tyrant in the Araceli Empire, acted like a young boy who didn’t know what to do in front of his beloved empress, which made it quite easy.

“I didn’t know Your Majesty was working so hard.”

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

Rondimio gently wrapped one arm around Louise’s waist as she nestled in his arms, while subtly flipping over the documents on the office table.

He was covering them now after she had already seen everything. What difference would it make? Louise pretended to know nothing, smiled broadly, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Some might call it vulgar, but she was confident in her ability to act coquettishly in his arms.

“Then I’ll come to play again next time.”

Louise firmly gripped Rondimio’s wrist that held the documents and absorbed every detail of the documents that were being flipped one by one.

Despite Louise’s uncharacteristic behavior, Rondimio took it as a cute prank.

He captured every single one of Louise’s gestures in his eyes and wore an expression that said she was lovely.

“Yes, you may do whatever you want.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Louise smiled at him with genuine gratitude and leaned against his firm chest. His large thighs always felt stable whenever she sat on them.

But strangely, unlike this morning, there was no sweet fragrance coming from his broad embrace.

Rather, it seemed to smell familiar yet disgusting.

“Huh…?”

Due to her heightened sense of smell and taste because of the child in her womb, Louise quickly recognized the identity of that familiar yet disgusting smell.

The fact that it was exactly the same smell that had emanated from his body a few months ago, on the day she learned about the child in her womb, after he had abused her brothers.

“What’s wrong, Louise?”

“……”

Rondimio carefully shook Louise, who had momentarily lost herself.

Unable to say anything, Louise tightly embraced his waist with both hands.

There was no whip at Rondimio’s waist…

Louise swallowed hard, suppressing her increasingly rapid breathing. A whip was always hanging deep at Rondimio’s waist.

Why was the whip missing today, when he carried it even on days he didn’t use it?

Why was the whip, which he only removed right before being intimate with her every night, absent now?

Rondimio, you… woke up in my arms this morning.

But, did you come after whipping my brothers until they were covered in blood until dawn…?

“Louise…?”

Louise left Rondimio’s embrace with trembling hands clasped together.

There was nothing to gain by asking him now if he had abused her brothers.

She had confirmed the contents of the documents he was reviewing in the emperor’s office, so now she needed to act affectionately while having lunch with him.

“It’s nothing…. Are you very busy with state affairs? I came to have lunch together.”

“I am busy, but lunch with you is more important.”

When Louise pulled his arm with a smiling face, Rondimio removed his glasses and stood up.

Lunch at the emperor’s palace was incomparably more varied than the simple meals enjoyed at the empress’s palace.

Despite her severe morning sickness, Louise stuffed food into her mouth and swallowed it forcibly, unable to tell whether it was going down her throat or her nose.

She even smiled at Rondimio, who was happy to see her eating a proper meal after a long time.

“I’ll come to your palace in the evening. Get plenty of rest.”

Despite saying he was busy with state affairs, he escorted Louise all the way to the empress’s palace.

Louise waved her hand with a bright smile until he was out of sight, heading back to the emperor’s palace.

And only after confirming he had disappeared in the distance did she hurriedly run to the bathroom and vomit everything she had just eaten.

“Ugh….”

She simply couldn’t forgive him.

Margaret was the most surprised to see the empress vomiting after returning to her palace.

Having heard from her father, Marquis Miko, about what Rondimio had done yesterday at dawn, she approached Louise, who was slumped with a pale face after emptying her stomach.

“What happened… in the emperor’s office?”

“You know the emperor’s office isn’t what matters. You knew too, didn’t you? About what happened yesterday.”

“Ah….”

With an extremely upset face, Louise watched Ciel running around inside the empress’s palace while cleaning her tongue with a sweet candy.

The conversation Marquis Miko had with Margaret was probably about how Rondimio had abused her brothers with a whip yesterday at dawn.

She would need to talk with Margaret alone while receiving her bath attendance later, but judging by Margaret’s reaction, it was certain.

As Marquis Miko had said, it would have been better to hear about it after dinner, considering the child in her womb.

“I don’t feel like eating anything now…. I can only eat candy or caramel.”

Louise gently stroked her lower abdomen while slumped down. Her morning sickness had been severe for the past few days, and she hadn’t eaten much, but she hadn’t expected to vomit everything like this.

When she was alone, she could have just thought of it as losing some weight, but now she feared it might harm the child in her womb.

Was it fortunate that everyone except Margaret understood she had vomited due to severe morning sickness? Not because she was disgusted by Rondimio, who had abused her brothers and then shamelessly slept in the arms of their younger sister.

At that moment, Ciel, who had been going back and forth between the dining room and the main building of the empress’s palace with her mint-green hair rolled up, brought Louise an armful of various candies.

“Oh my, what should we do… Would you like pudding made with fruit or gelato? There are many desserts with caramel too!”

“Sorry…. I don’t feel like eating such rich desserts.”

Why was this child, Ciel, so devoted to the empress who didn’t treat her that well?

She thought she would like to take Ciel with her when she eventually left Rondimio’s side.

But the maid she needed now was not Ciel but Margaret. Louise, who had been slumped down, soon got up and said she wanted to receive bath attendance from Margaret and go to bed early.

Having already vomited once, she had nothing left to shed but tears, even if she heard worse things.

“I don’t know exactly what happened in the underground prison where the two princes are confined.”