Nian had not left the East Palace for days. Azel noticed that her mistress’s mood was unusual, but she could only pace anxiously, not daring to ask the reason.

The day after she returned to the palace, Dade came to the East Palace with a somewhat awkward face, but Nian didn’t meet him either.

No, in fact, she couldn’t meet him. How could she face him? With what face? Unable to meet him, she just locked herself in her room, endlessly staring at the envelope Cain had given her.

As time passed, the answer became clearer. Returning things to their rightful place, even if late. It had been too greedy of her to try to compare her marriage, which began for her family’s benefit, with their noble love that started with sincere hearts.

How dare she, not knowing her place.

Nian smiled bitterly.

From beginning to end, Dade, who had done no wrong, was just a victim. And Rachel too.

The brief kindness she had received from him had originally all belonged to Rachel. If it weren’t for her, the two of them would have been completely happy. Just thinking about it made her heart ache as if it were being torn apart.

From the moment she faced the truth, no, in fact from the very beginning, her fleeting love already had a predetermined end. Therefore, what she had been contemplating for days locked in her room was not the “ending” but the “method.”

At first, she thought about running to him and confessing the truth in detail, but soon gave up. That capable man would become furiously angry upon learning the truth and would handle matters quickly and efficiently.

He would immediately capture Duke Roben, give him an appropriate punishment, and then depose her. Then he would finally obtain Rachel, whom he had longed for even in his dreams. That was truly what Nian wished for.

However, what worried her was his heart. If it had been just a few months ago, he would have done so without hesitation, even with relief, but now, as he said, their relationship had changed.

He no longer just hated her.

After all, they had shared their bodies on countless nights, and thus greeted each morning together. Nian worried that he might hesitate even slightly out of unnecessary pity.

What if he felt any guilt in the moment of abandoning her?

What if he felt even a little sorry for her as she left?

Ah, if he truly felt heartache because of her……

‘Please. May not even a piece of his heart be hurt. May he be completely happy with his beloved even now. May he have no hesitation in abandoning me. May he be heartless to me in the end.’

Nian desperately wished and wished.

After thinking until her head felt like it would burst, Nian decided on one method. Having finally made her decision, she clenched her fist. Blood droplets seeped from her palm through the wound that had reopened from lack of treatment.

Important imperial matters are naturally decided by the Emperor. However, when the Emperor is absent, that authority is delegated to the Empress Dowager.

To leave the palace without his decision, without him having to abandon her directly, she needed the help of the Empress Dowager.

* * *

Dade was gradually becoming angry with Nian, who had been explicitly rejecting him for several days.

He had been displeased that she didn’t return with him in the first place, but he had generously understood that she must have had her own complications. He even forgave her rudeness in not coming to greet him on the first day of her return, which was uncharacteristically generous of him.

But despite him swallowing his pride and visiting the East Palace first, she rejected their meeting, saying she was ‘deeply asleep from fatigue.’

In truth, normally he would have barged in regardless of whether she was asleep or not, but he too was somewhat confused by the emotions he had felt that day.

As Rachel suddenly came to mind, he was confronted again with the guilt he had forgotten while falling into a new love. Clearly, he had resolved to be with Nian in hell, if only to make amends to Rachel……

But when he came to his senses, being with Nian made anywhere he was heaven. There was no hell he could go to with her anymore. She had already become heaven itself to him.

My love, my heaven, whose very existence is rapturous.

Such feelings were unprecedented even for him. He felt newly troubled. For Rachel, who had left alone and lonely. His heart, marked by guilt and remorse, kept making him hesitate to go to Nian.

Even so, what could he do now? After just a few days, he missed her so much.

Tomorrow, he would send knights to the East Palace to bring her to him.

He would immediately bring her and hold her tightly in his arms. Then he would comfort her about what happened at the cottage, and scold her so that she would never reject him like this again. Dade firmly resolved.

And, that night……

The Empress visited the Empress Dowager’s bedroom without notice. It was extremely rude, but since it had never happened before, the Empress Dowager granted her visit with a bewildered heart.

Cautiously entering the bedroom in the West Palace, Nian, who was already quite frail, looked particularly fragile today, as if she might break.

The Empress Dowager looked worriedly at Nian, who bowed her head in greeting. She had felt both sorry and frustrated for her daughter-in-law because of her son. Yet she was also a pitiful daughter-in-law who had never complained even once.

“What brings you here at this late hour, Empress?”

“I am deeply sorry for my rudeness. Thank you for letting me in.”

“It’s fine, please sit.”

As Nian sat down with a very dark expression, the Empress Dowager looked at her with curiosity.

What could this be about? Once Nian was seated, the Empress Dowager urged her.

“Now, tell me what’s on your mind. Seeing you come here like this, you must need an old woman’s wisdom.”

At the Empress Dowager’s words, Nian forced a faint smile. Despite having resolved and planned this, the words wouldn’t come easily, and her lips kept moving without being able to speak.

Finally, after hesitating for a long time, Nian opened her mouth. Though they were words she never wanted to say, they were words she had to say, so she couldn’t delay any longer.

“……Mother.”

At Nian’s quiet address, the Empress Dowager looked surprised. She had always formally addressed her as ‘Your Majesty.’

Mother, how nice to hear. The Empress Dowager thought.

With a more generous expression due to the familiar address, the Empress Dowager nodded.

“Yes, Empress. Tell me.”

“His Majesty asked to break our engagement when I was still his fiancée.”

“……!”

“He said he had a woman he loved.”

“Ha. What is this?”

“Although I accepted, the marriage proceeded normally and led to today.”

The Empress Dowager knew. She knew that her son had a lover during his time as Crown Prince. But what young man doesn’t have such experiences? Even so, it was all in the past.

The Empress must know this too, so what was she trying to say now?

“Empress. Are you trying to disgrace the Emperor by bringing up past events?”

The Empress Dowager looked at Nian with a mother-in-law’s gaze.

“Of course not, Mother.”

“Then?”

With an ominous feeling, the Empress Dowager’s tone naturally sharpened. Nian hesitated briefly before speaking.

“My family tried to assassinate that woman.”

“What?!”

The Empress Dowager asked urgently with her mouth involuntarily open in surprise, but Nian continued in a calm tone.

“His Majesty thought that woman was dead. That’s why he treated me so coldly.”

“Empress.”

“That woman is alive, Mother.”

“What did you say?”

The Empress Dowager closed her eyes tightly as her blood pressure rose and the back of her neck stiffened from the series of shocking revelations.

What on earth is happening?

As the Empress Dowager gasped in shock, Nian took out an envelope from inside her garment and handed it to her.

“This is evidence that my family tried to harm her.”

The Empress Dowager opened the envelope Nian handed her with trembling hands. After checking the contents, she bit her lip with a hardened face.

‘Ah, how could this happen? Duke Roben should have been more careful. If he was going to do such a thing, he should have at least not been caught.’

After keeping silent for a long time, the Empress Dowager spoke again.

“Why are you confessing your family’s crime now?”

Nian hesitated briefly, then bowed her head deeply and answered.

“I beg you…… please depose me, Mother.”

“What?!”

The Empress Dowager’s face contorted uncontrollably as she tried to maintain her composure.

“Are you mad, Empress? What is this?”

The Empress Dowager asked with undisguised bewilderment at Nian’s words, but Nian bowed her head even deeper and answered quietly.

“Mother. I want to put things back in their rightful place, even now. I beg you.”

Indeed, it was a decision true to her character.

The Empress Dowager bit her trembling lips tightly and spoke with a voice she had barely managed to steady.

It couldn’t be done. Deposition?

“This is beyond my authority. Go to His Majesty and tell him, not me.”

“He……”

Nian, who had been calm until now, finally showed tears when he was mentioned.

“I don’t want to burden His Majesty. Of course, if I told His Majesty, my wish would be fulfilled more easily, but I don’t want him to feel guilty because of me, Mother.”

The Empress Dowager looked at Nian with sympathetic eyes.

“Still, you’ve been husband and wife for several years. Although it’s my family’s crime, it won’t be easy for His Majesty to reject you with his own hands. He will worry, and perhaps…… he might even feel some heartache. I want His Majesty not to do that, I want him to purely hate me again.”

“……”

“These events happened because of my sin, so I want to bear it all. Please help me.”

“Hah…… what are you asking me to do, Empress?”

“Please send him outside the palace for a short while, Mother.”

The Empress Dowager finally sighed in understanding. Why go to such lengths?

“Empress. I understand your intention, but it would be difficult to dismiss a Duke for killing a lower provincial noble. Even more so to depose the Empress.”

Duke was the highest rank among the titles bestowed by the imperial family. Moreover, it was the Empress’s family. Unless the Emperor intervened directly, he would be punished, but it would likely end with just confiscating some territories.