After telling Eva to come out to the dining room to eat, Divlik himself hadn’t shown up at the dining table since their last breakfast until this morning.

“You boasted about having so many jewels from your homeland. Look at how empty your neck looks.”

While Eva remained silent, trying to guess why Divlik’s attitude had changed, he began criticizing her appearance, which he had previously claimed not to care about.

Though he’d denied it before, perhaps on second thought her shabby appearance had seemed disrespectful to him. Judging by how he suddenly had new dresses made for her, that might have been the case. But instead of punishing her for this disrespect, he had dresses made for her. Not knowing which tune to dance to, Eva carefully opened her mouth.

“I thought it inappropriate for my position to do anything beyond keeping my clothes and hair neat.”

“From now on, pay attention to such adornments too. Don’t you want to be an empress surrounded by all the finest things until your dying moment? You can stop pretending to accept your fate with a bowed head and show your true colors.”

“By true colors, you mean……”

“Aren’t you furious enough to die? You rose to the highest position a woman can achieve, yet you can’t freely use even your own jewels when pretending to be kind. When you were empress, would you have even properly spoken to, let alone allowed a beast like me to hold your waist?”

So that was it. Eva realized from Divlik’s direct expression why he was acting colder than before. After hearing that Fabian had burned Eva’s dress, Divlik must have inquired about their relationship.

Despite their poor relationship, he must have thought it made no sense that Eva would maintain her chastity for such a man, claiming him as her lord…… He must have reconsidered her provocation—as if I would ever let someone like you touch me—and concluded that was the real reason she rejected him.

“Stop with your inadequate courtesy and curse me all you want. Go ahead.”

Divlik’s unfiltered anger flew straight at Eva.

Eva’s thought that he might not have fully believed her words at the time of her provocation was now confirmed by his current behavior. Unlike before, Divlik now seemed unable to contain his anger about everything.

Of course, if he truly believed her words were sincere without context, he couldn’t simply laugh off a conquered empress daring to speak of qualifications.

“Somehow you treated me like a beast from the beginning, yet how did you manage to hide your arrogance behind such politeness until now? You are quite a remarkable woman.”

Divlik was so angry he looked ready to strangle Eva right then. Eva could feel it. Divlik’s patience had finally run out.

—What if I told you I’d gladly kill you if you came to my bed?

She should have listened to those words instead of making that unnecessary provocation. Then perhaps she could have met the death she so desired that night with just one encounter. But a man so determined to drag her down to the bottom that he even had new dresses made for her wouldn’t let her go after just one time.

As Eva’s worries deepened about whether Divlik would kick down her bedroom door tonight or tomorrow, an incident occurred.

“Isn’t this going too far?”

“How dare he treat Lady Eva like that……”

“What crime has such a good person committed?”

Not only outside but inside the castle as well, people had been feeling sorry for Her Majesty the Empress being held captive by Divlik. Though they still feared him, they had begun to think he might not be such a bad person after all. Days had passed peacefully as if nothing had happened. Then suddenly, the animosity toward Divlik, which everyone thought had completely died down in the castle, began to surge fiercely.

* * *

“I’ve heard that in the Yarden imperial family, the emperor traditionally wears a cloak embroidered with care by the previous empress at his coronation.”

Divlik, who had appeared at dinner when Eva thought she would be eating alone again, brought up the topic of the cloak. After asking about it, he cut a piece of steak on his plate into small pieces, put it in his mouth, and chewed while waiting for Eva’s answer.

“That’s correct. Usually, the empress embroiders the cloak in advance for her son who will become the next emperor before she dies.”

“Then you should embroider the cloak for my coronation. To me, aren’t you the preceding empress?”

As soon as Divlik finished speaking, Eileen, who was carrying plates, tensed her hands. Divlik’s request was so unbearable that even Eileen, who had been keeping quiet for fear of making things worse for Eva, couldn’t contain herself.

“I heard from the tailor before. He said your embroidery skills are better than those of the craftsmen he employs. Nothing elaborate is needed. Just embroider the wolf face from the Blue Wolf flag on both ends of the cloak I’ll wear. Would that be possible?”

There were several reasons why the servants couldn’t contain their anger at Divlik’s request for Eva to embroider the cloak.

That request treated Eva, who would likely live for decades more barring special circumstances, as if she were about to die. At the same time, it was as good as declaring that there was no possibility of a future emperor being born from Eva’s body.

“Why? Didn’t you say you would follow all orders except serving me at night? Do you hesitate only with this task?”

Of course, this wasn’t something to react to now. Just as Eva was no longer empress when Divlik entered this castle. Eva was in special circumstances where she might die today, and even if she were to have a child now that the empire had been taken from her, that child would have no chance of becoming emperor.

“Since you’ll never leave embroidery for your son, don’t let your skills go to waste and use them for me instead.”

Even so, it was different. Even knowing the reality, being asked to declare that fact with her own hands was different. It seemed too cruel.

Perhaps that’s why, forgetting that their own lives couldn’t be guaranteed either, the servants couldn’t hide their darkened expressions in front of Divlik.

“I doubt my embroidery skills would be suitable for such an important occasion for you, Lord Divlik.”

“First, try your best. I’ll decide whether to use it or not, but I find it quite amusing—the image of a former empress personally embroidering a cloak for the emperor who invaded her empire.”

The servants’ expressions hardened further at the sight of Divlik openly enjoying Eva’s discomfort. Divlik didn’t stop there.

“It could be your son.”

“What…… do you mean……?”

“You never know. If you were to bear my son, I intend to treat all my children equally regardless of whose womb they came from, and if that child were my first, he could become the next emperor.”

Eva didn’t react much since she had heard this persuasion countless times whenever she met Divlik, but the servants were different. The servants began to rebel against Divlik’s insulting words directed at someone who was once empress in a public place, suggesting she bear his child without even promising her the position of empress or concubine.

“No way. Does he think he’s Eva’s son or something? How can he ask the virtuous Lady Eva to embroider a cloak for his coronation after dragging her down from the empress position?”

“He’s been tormenting Lady Eva in private like that. Sophie saw it too. He took her to the hot springs, stripped her n*ked, and admired her. Then he sent everyone away. How could he embrace someone who was an empress in such a place?”

“When the tailor came to make clothes, he had her stand in her underwear in front of people, embraced her and acted like he was going to take her right there!”

“They say he starved Lady Eva at first because she refused to serve him at night. Even though she hated it, didn’t she eventually visit his bedroom at night? If he was going to force her anyway, why starve her in the first place? And now this cloak business. Just how far is he planning to torment Lady Eva?”

Words that surfaced from unknown sources and spread were exaggerated beyond the original facts, mixed with rumors. In just one night, Divlik had become the worst villain in the castle.

“Why is Lord Divlik’s shirt repair still not finished?”

“We assumed Lord Divlik has many other clothes to wear. Lady Eva, thanks to someone, has no proper clothes to wear unless we immediately mend the torn front panel of her dress.”

Though it wasn’t clear who had torn the front of Eva’s dress, the maids in charge of the emperor’s clothes kept delaying the repair of Divlik’s shirts.

“What happened to the meat brought in this morning? Why is there nothing but vegetables on the table?”

“That meat was all eaten by those Blue Wolf soldiers at breakfast time. They threw aside forks and knives and ate so greedily with their hands, it was as if a pack of wolves had come and gone, leaving nothing but bones.”

Eileen and the other cooking maids also made various excuses for not putting anything that could properly be called food on the table.

“These people! I spared their lives and they don’t even know to be grateful……”

Seeing such obvious hostility toward Divlik, Finn shouted that he would kill all the servants in the castle and replace them with people who welcomed the new emperor, but Divlik, for whatever reason, just smiled quietly.

“No need to be angry, Finn. Isn’t it amusing? These aren’t children, yet they dare not say anything unpleasant to my face for fear their heads might fly off, so they express their dissatisfaction with their empress’s treatment through such childish methods.”

Finn didn’t notice, but flames flickered in Divlik’s eyes as he smiled with apparent composure.