“……”

“But I heard from a maid who cleans the emperor’s palace about His Majesty yesterday at dawn.”

However, that didn’t mean she could accept what Rondimio had done yesterday in her right mind.

As soon as she entered the bathroom, Louise burst into tears, overwhelmed by emotions she couldn’t tell were anger or resentment.

“She said that bloody clothes and a whip were messily placed where His Majesty the Emperor had bathed.”

I love you, Rondimio, I’ve loved you, how could you do this?

There’s even your child growing in my womb, how could you do this….

She had known that he had been abusing her brothers during their three years of marriage, but she couldn’t understand why she felt so betrayed this time.

“She said there was a chilling smell in the bathtub, a mixture of blood and the sweet scent of perfume.”

Please… don’t deceive me anymore, Rondimio.

After finishing a brief bath, Louise immediately lay down on the bed.

She sent even Margaret, who had attended her bath, out of the bedroom and remained alone.

She wanted to fall asleep right away to stop thinking about Rondimio, but it wasn’t working well.

“Rondimio, I will never love you again. Really….”

Louise wiped away the unstoppable tears flowing down her cheeks with the back of her hand.

Why did I open my heart to him again, even though that man is the enemy who killed my parents?

Before the child in my womb was conceived, why did I allow him to visit my bedroom every night, knowing he was abusing my brothers?

“I can’t understand myself anymore….”

Louise curled up, drawing her knees close in self-loathing.

Her eyes stung after crying continuously from early evening until late at night.

To welcome Rondimio, who might come at any time, Louise pushed away the pillow full of tear stains.

After washing her face with cold water, she got back under the blanket.

It was clearly the face of someone who had been crying, but….

If Rondimio asked why she had cried, she would say she cried because her stomach was upset due to severe morning sickness.

“But you, baby… I will protect you.”

With both hands cradling her lower abdomen, Louise stared at the firmly closed door of the empress’s palace bedroom.

What was Rondimio doing that he hadn’t come by this time?

If he was abusing her brothers again, she would never forgive him. She would never forgive him until she died….

Whether this should be considered fortunate or not, Rondimio did not come to the empress’s palace until the moon, emitting a piercingly white light, hung outside the window as darkness fell.

Only when Louise, tired of waiting, had fallen into a light sleep did Rondimio appear in the bedroom.

Louise nestled into Rondimio’s arms to check if he smelled of blood like yesterday.

Fortunately, instead of the unpleasant smell of blood that stung her nose or the ominous sweet scent of perfume, she could smell Rondimio’s unique cool scent from his embrace.

Yes…. This is the scent of the Rondimio I love. She seemed to have thought that in her half-asleep state.

It’s true that she had tolerated his abuse of her brothers until now, considering how young Rondimio had been abused by his family.

But she could no longer tolerate it. At this rate, Rondimio would end up killing her brothers.

“I want to see my brothers. I want to see my brothers, Rondimio….”

“……”

“You promised to show me my brothers….”

Rondimio silently drew Louise into his arms, stroking her spine with his fingertips.

Intoxicated with sleep, Louise couldn’t properly distinguish whether this situation was a dream or reality.

Rondimio wore a lonely smile in the darkness until Louise fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

For some time afterward, there was no news of Rondimio abusing her brothers.

Louise also did not visit Rondimio’s office again to leak the emperor’s information to the nobles.

Still, she didn’t skip lunch with Rondimio or Margaret’s bath attendance.

Every day, she dined with Rondimio with a smiling face, and at night, exchanged messages about how to point a knife at the nobles and Rondimio.

Louise’s morning sickness grew worse, and unlike her lower abdomen that was beginning to show signs of pregnancy, Louise withered day by day.

It was beyond reasonable to attribute her deteriorating health solely to morning sickness caused by the child in her womb.

Louise was suffering from stress—whether from guilt or hatred, she couldn’t tell—and wanted to leave Rondimio’s embrace as soon as possible.

“Louise.”

“……”

“We agreed to visit your brothers tomorrow, remember? You should go to bed early.”

Louise, who had been blankly staring out the window at the falling snow, shifted her gaze.

As Rondimio said, tomorrow was the day she would meet her long-awaited brothers.

But why didn’t she feel happy at all?

Because it would be the day she directly betrayed Rondimio?

Why, after making so many efforts to leave Rondimio’s embrace, did she keep caring for him?

“Somehow I can’t sleep…… Could it be because I didn’t eat dinner properly earlier?”

“That could be it. Even though you’ve entered a stable period, you need to take care of yourself. Is there anything you want to eat right now? I’ll bring it for you.”

Rondimio smiled as he gently caressed Louise’s lower abdomen.

As the child in her womb grew, he became gentler in every way.

At some point, he started to relax his previously diligent state affairs, and Louise rarely had anything unusual to report about Rondimio to Margaret.

She only received one-sided reports through Margaret about how she should help the nobles with the rebellion they were plotting.

Specifically, how she would sneak the two princes out of the underground prison tomorrow when she went there alone.

“I want… sweet wine.”

Rondimio blinked at Louise’s rather unexpected statement.

He knew it was absurd for an empress carrying a child to drink alcohol.

But thinking about how her brothers, after escaping from the underground prison, would soon take Rondimio’s position, she craved alcohol.

How many people was she helping escape from the underground prison with her own hands?

Years ago, she had helped Rondimio, an illegitimate child from an enemy country, escape. Tomorrow, she would help the deposed crown prince and prince escape with the help of the nobles.

She truly was the villainess who ruined the Araceli Empire.

Even before her pregnancy, she had rarely drunk alcohol, but she didn’t think she could maintain her sanity until tomorrow.

“Alright, I’ll bring it.”

After a brief moment of contemplation, Rondimio actually left the bedroom and returned with a full bottle of wine and some food to accompany it.

Seeing how quickly he prepared it late at night, he must have prepared it himself without going through the servants.

Louise watched as Rondimio uncorked the wine.

His relaxed appearance—hiding his cold red eyes behind his shimmering silver hair—was something only Louise could see.

He said that as an illegitimate child from an enemy country, even in his childhood, he was abused by his mother, who was a concubine unloved by the emperor, and had to serve her in various ways.

Now as emperor, he had no need to serve anyone, but Louise was always the exception.

Occasionally, he would even say he was happy that his experience of serving others was helpful to Louise.

“Don’t you want crackers or cheese? I brought some.”

Rondimio poured a little of the dark red wine into a glass and handed it to Louise. It seemed his real purpose was to feed her crackers and cheese rather than wine.

Louise placed the wine glass Rondimio handed her on the bedside table and picked up just one piece of cracker to eat.

Although she craved wine, she didn’t really have the confidence to drink it.

Unlike Rondimio, who hardly got drunk even after several bottles of strong liquor, Louise tended to get drunk after just one glass of wine.

Also, while waiting for the child in her womb, Louise rarely drank things like alcohol or black tea for fear they might harm the coming child.

It was absurd to drink alcohol while pregnant.

“It’s late. Since I can’t really drink it, would Your Majesty drink it for me instead?”

“I’ll drink it if you eat all the crackers I brought here.”

“That’s not fair……”

Louise looked at the remaining two crackers and put them in her mouth.

They were just made of flour and salt, so they weren’t tasty, but she remembered she hadn’t eaten dinner properly….

And she didn’t want to refuse Rondimio’s request to eat just two more crackers.

Rondimio wiped a cracker crumb from Louise’s lips with his fingertip, licked it, and then filled his glass with wine and drank it.

Perhaps he had brought a full bottle of wine because he himself wanted to drink it.

Louise felt like she was getting drunk just watching him drink the wine.

“I’m happy enough just watching Your Majesty drink wine.”

“You really wanted it.”

Rondimio, who had emptied the wine bottle in an instant, smiled while exuding the sweet scent of wine.

Then, after taking the wine that had been poured for Louise into his mouth….

He kissed her directly.

Unable to even scream, Louise accepted his invasion into her mouth.

It was just one sip, but the sweet flavor of wine enveloped the tip of her tongue. His consideration, not rough but gentle, was always good.

“Baby, your mother really wanted to drink, so please understand just this once.”

After finishing the long kiss, he brought his face to Louise’s lower abdomen and whispered softly to the child before falling asleep.