“If she’s not a provincial noble but becomes the Empress…… wouldn’t that change things?”
“Even so, there’s no justification to depose you.”
At the Empress Dowager’s words, Nian spoke quite resolutely.
“Justifications can be created.”
“What?”
The Empress Dowager asked, seemingly dumbfounded.
“For example, if the Empress committed adultery with another man.”
Nian was utterly calm, but the blood drained from the Empress Dowager’s face.
“If you check the palace entry logs, you’ll see that Count Cain Payon visited frequently. We’ve been close since childhood, so if you say the Empress, unable to bear the Emperor’s neglect, committed adultery, the story would roughly fit. Though the evidence is weak, if you emphasize the still absent heir…… wouldn’t that be sufficient justification?”
“How…… could you go this far?”
The Empress Dowager tried to dissuade Nian with a somewhat desperate tone, but Nian, having already made her decision, continued without hesitation.
“Moreover, His Majesty has always been deeply wary of me meeting with him. If he learns that events unfolded because of this, he will feel betrayed and never seek me out again.”
“Can’t you just bury this and live on? Though I feel sorry for her, isn’t it already in the past?”
Nian smiled bitterly.
In the past, how nice that would have been. If only it had been just a faint first love. Ah, if only I could have stayed a little longer by your infinitely warm side……
Nian tried hard not to show her aching heart as she continued.
“For His Majesty, she is never in the past, Mother. His Majesty still loves her. After I leave, when His Majesty returns, he will bring his lover to the palace.”
“I…… can’t do it, Empress. I can’t.”
At the Empress Dowager’s words, Nian knelt and bowed her head deeply.
“Please, Mother. Help His Majesty be completely happy again. And what about me? Would I be happy living beside a man who loves another woman so deeply?”
“Go back. I’ll think about it.”
“Mother!”
Nian finally broke down sobbing. Though she spoke calmly, how could her heart truly be calm? She felt crushed and ground up, to the point of bile rising.
The Empress Dowager sighed deeply at Nian’s desperate tears.
“Calm down and go back for now. I’ll think about it.”
Nian continued sobbing for a long time before leaving the West Palace.
Late at night, a visitor came to the reception room of the West Palace. After Nian left, the Empress Dowager had been unable to sleep for days and finally made a difficult decision.
The visitor who entered discreetly bowed deeply to the Empress Dowager, who looked at him with a troubled expression before sighing and offering him a seat.
“I heard you called for me, Empress Dowager.”
“Welcome, Duke Roben.”
The visitor was Duke Roben.
His face was extremely tense, as if he already knew the reason for this late night summons. The Empress Dowager looked at him for a moment before speaking.
“Since you seem to already know, I’ll get straight to the point.”
“……”
“The Empress will be deposed.”
At her words, Duke Roben’s expression darkened further.
“I thought about just smoothing things over, but now that the Empress knows the truth, it’s only a matter of time before His Majesty finds out.”
“……”
“Given His Majesty’s temperament, if he acts directly, not only will the Empress be deposed, but you, Duke Roben, will likely struggle to keep your life.”
“I apologize.”
“Why did you let things come to this? You must have known that I personally covered it up at the time, thinking it was for the best, even though I had my suspicions. You should have at least not left any traces.”
At her reproach, Duke Roben bit his lip and lowered his head.
It was the Empress Dowager who had stopped the Crown Prince when he was raging and trying to investigate the truth behind Rachel’s death.
Though she wasn’t directly involved and didn’t know the exact truth, she had a vague idea of who was behind it.
When Nian came a few days ago to confess her family’s crime, the Empress Dowager was surprised not because she didn’t know, but because the Empress had discovered the truth.
She thought it would all pass since it was an unnamed noble and a passing love. It was a foolish, baseless assumption.
At that time, Dade was still the Crown Prince, so it wasn’t difficult for the Empress Dowager to manipulate his confidants. Because of that, he simply couldn’t find any evidence.
Rachel was dead. That’s what she had urged them to report. After all, the position of Empress was too political to be attained through mere youthful love.
But now everything was ruined. If the Emperor found out and acted directly, discovering that she had tried to cover it up, the fallout would likely reach her as well.
The Empress Dowager furrowed her brow deeply and spoke in a rigid tone.
“As soon as His Majesty leaves the palace, the Empress’s deposition will be discussed on grounds of adultery. To quickly depose the Empress before His Majesty returns, we need your help, Duke.”
“……”
“For deposition based on simple adultery, the evidence must be solid, which will take time, and even if we emphasize the heir issue, the Empress is still in her prime, so it’s insufficient as justification.”
“……”
“We need the Empress’s confession and the support of nobles loyal to the Duke. Though I’m heartbroken to lose such an excellent Empress, since the Empress herself has given up, I can no longer protect her, and besides, you need to preserve your life, don’t you?”
“Yes……”
“You’ll need to move quickly.”
“Yes…… Your Majesty.”
Duke Roben clenched his fist with trembling hands. Even the Empress Dowager had turned a blind eye, thinking it was for the best.
But his daughter, seemingly without an ounce of flexibility, appeared determined to step down from her position as Empress.
He racked his brain constantly to escape this situation, but there was no other way.
The best option was already gone, and to avoid the worst, he had no choice but to follow the Empress Dowager’s words. Duke Roben’s face flushed red with anger and disappointment as he left the West Palace.
* * *
Visiting the herb garden after a very long time, Nian absently plucked innocent herb leaves. Blood seeped through the bandage that Azel had changed several times, as the wound underneath still hadn’t healed.
Yet Nian moved her hands ceaselessly as though she felt no pain.
“I finally see you, Empress.”
At the familiar voice, Nian froze in surprise and stopped her moving hands. She knew the owner of the voice who had reached her feet with footsteps. It was Dade.
He approached with an expression that seemed both slightly angry and pleased, then grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. Nian looked at Dade and hid her hands behind her back.
“Aren’t you a rather cold wife to a husband leaving on a trip tomorrow?”
The Empress Dowager had granted Nian’s request.
Nian smiled bitterly.
“Travel…… safely.”
Dade glared at Nian before answering.
“You’ve been extremely tired and falling asleep early these days, I hear?”
“Yes. I apologize. I must have accumulated fatigue from traveling.”
At Nian’s obvious excuse, Dade sighed as if conceding and pulled her into an embrace. She had lost too much weight in just a few days to be simply tired from travel fatigue.
Had she been eating properly? Tsk.
“I won’t apologize for what happened at the cottage.”
“Yes.”
“But as time passes, perhaps a day will come when you forgive me.”
Dade spoke quietly, patting Nian’s shoulder.
He had thought about asking her directly. The more he got to know her, the more he thought she wouldn’t harm someone just for the position of Empress.
But Nian had never made excuses to him. Despite having plenty of time to clear up any misunderstandings if the truth was different. Dade didn’t think she had directly committed such acts.
Perhaps she had just run to her father in tears after hearing about the broken engagement.
She didn’t make excuses because she knew well that her tears had become the knife that stabbed Rachel.
Even if he loved Nian, absolving her by calling it a passive action would be too unfair to Rachel.
“So, you should also ease your heart.”
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”
“Alright.”
Dade patted Nian’s shoulder.
“I’ll be away for about ten days. That should be enough time for your feelings to settle. I’d like you to greet me with a smile when I return.”
“……”
After patting her for a long time, Dade gave her a light kiss.
Dade tilted his head at the Empress Dowager’s sudden request to go to the border. To check on his ailing aunt at the border?
Though he would have normally refused such an abrupt request, he surprisingly accepted it readily.
Of course, he was genuinely concerned about her worsening condition as she was recuperating at the border without any children, but the bigger reason was actually Nian.
If he remained at the palace, he felt he might pressure her heart and hurt her again.
Thinking about it, their relationship had become close unreasonably quickly compared to their long cold war. It might not be bad to take this opportunity to catch their breath and think about each other.
Certainly, Dade thought they would become closer.
The light kiss he started gradually made his body heat up. His kisses, which began on her lips, moved across her gaunt cheeks, reached her small earlobe, and then traced her slender neck.
Finding Nian still blunt despite his advances, Dade curiously pulled away from her lips, looked at her, and discovered her hands hidden behind her back.
“What’s that?”
“Pardon?”
One of Dade’s eyebrows raised slightly before he firmly spoke.
“Show me.”
“……”
Dade seized Nian’s hand as she stubbornly refused to move.
“Ha. What is this?”
As Nian fumbled and tried to pull her captured hand away, it was futile. Dade unwrapped the blood-stained bandage with a sigh.
“How did this happen?”
Dade asked, suppressing his anger.
“I was cutting herbs and got cut by a sickle.”
At Nian’s words, Dade flared up but fortunately managed to control himself and spoke.
“Quite a skilled farmer you are. With injuries like this, you might as well have cut off your finger.”
“It will heal soon. Don’t worry.”
Despite Nian’s words, Dade summoned a doctor late at night and only sat down after watching the treatment finish.
Nian gazed at him endlessly before quietly approaching the brazier. Despite his protests not to use her hands, she boiled water and carefully steeped tea leaves.
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i still dont like him lol. if only he’d ask her outright instead of making assumptions like this. he doesn’t even deem it important to apologize to her for his actions, regardless of her supposed involvement in killing rachel. i fully support nian getting the heck away from there