She placed the transparent green herb tea in a cherished teacup before him. Dade frowned deeply at the bandage that was again seeping blood despite his warnings as she kept moving.

“You’re like a reckless child. Why don’t you listen?”

Despite Dade’s scolding, Nian just smiled faintly.

“This herb is hard to find. Please try it.”

“……”

Finally, Dade sighed and picked up the teacup.

Such stubbornness. He took a sip, and Nian approached him and asked.

“How is it?”

“It has a nice fragrance.”

“Right?”

She approached with a satisfied face and raised her uninjured hand to stroke his hair. Puzzled by this uncharacteristic behavior, Dade looked at her curiously.

“Actually, it’s not a hard-to-find herb. To be precise, it’s a hard-to-grow herb.”

“?”

“Last year, hearing rumors about its good fragrance, I obtained many seeds and planted them all over the herb garden, but almost all died except for three or four. Despite giving them so much care…… So I didn’t plant them again after that.”

Dade smiled wryly.

“Indeed, you’re not talented in farming, as they say.”

Despite his teasing, Nian smiled faintly.

“It’s precious only to me, but since it’s an easy-to-find herb, you’ll have occasions to drink it.”

Come to think of it, he had tasted this herb tea somewhere before. Dade silently listened to her words. She gave him a light kiss and continued in a somewhat melancholic voice.

“Honey, when you drink this herb in the future…… will you remember me?”

He wrapped his arm around her waist and twitched his eyebrows.

“Why are you suddenly like this, Ilena?”

“Just because. This is all I have to give you.”

“It doesn’t matter. As I’ve always said, I don’t want herb tea from you.”

Nian smiled a somewhat sad smile.

“And……”

Dade trailed off. He didn’t need anything to make him remember her. Already, for him, she was someone who came to mind at every moment.

He swallowed the words he couldn’t say due to embarrassment, and she didn’t press him to finish. Dade quickly moistened his lips with herb tea to block the ticklish feeling of wanting to make a shy confession.

Afterward, he enjoyed the herb tea, no, Nian’s fragrance for a long time before leaving.

Dade lay in his bedroom in the Main Palace with his eyes closed, but soon couldn’t bear it and got up.

“Is anyone outside?”

At his small call, a servant immediately bowed and entered.

“Find out who the Empress has been meeting recently and what has happened. Discreetly.”

“What? Yes, Your Majesty.”

The servant inadvertently questioned the unexpected order before realizing his mistake and quickly accepted the command. Dade’s eyes grew cold as he watched the servant leave the room.

‘Cut by a sickle? If so, it wouldn’t have been torn so messily.’

A wound from a sickle should have been long and straight. Nian’s wound wasn’t a cut but looked randomly torn as if stabbed.

He wasn’t naive enough not to tell the difference. He was annoyed at Nian for lying to him, but he pretended to believe her, thinking she wouldn’t answer even if he pressed her.

‘What on earth is going on?’

Though he needed to sleep early to depart for the border tomorrow, Dade only managed to close his eyes near dawn due to his complicated feelings.

Meanwhile, Nian stared endlessly at the bandage wrapped around her hand.

He seemed quite angry when he saw the wound on her hand, and she was worried he might really pull up the herbs, but fortunately, he didn’t. He just hurriedly called a doctor, making a fuss to the sleepy physician who came running.

The elderly doctor’s hands trembled so much under the Emperor’s urging that he dropped the bandage several times. Even afterward, the Emperor repeatedly asked if it was definitely done properly, making the doctor break into a cold sweat.

Nian kissed the bandage with a sad smile.

‘Thank you. I won’t forget. This is…… enough, Your Majesty.’

The next day, the Emperor departed for the border.

And while the Emperor was away, the Empress Dowager took over his role.

Unable to see the Emperor off, Nian wept sadly in her bedroom. For her, love was like the herb tea she had given him.

Something extremely common and abundant around her, yet something she could never cultivate. Despite expecting a unique fragrance and tending to it with all her care, her love rotted from the roots and simply died.

* * *

“Your Majesty, I can’t do it.”

Azel shook her head vigorously. Though Nian tried to persuade her with a gentle smile, Azel’s eyes were already full of tears.

“I can’t do it. You might as well ask me to jump into a fire.”

“Azel.”

“Now…… are you asking me to say what you’ve written here?”

Azel read the paper Nian had handed her and trembled.

[The Empress has been secretly meeting with Count Cain Payon for many nights.]

“It’s not incorrect, is it?”

True. It was true that she had frequently met with Cain.

Though she didn’t know why they met, as her blunt mistress was concerned about something but didn’t tell her the reason, she had indeed done so.

But the content of this note was telling a quite different story. Anyone would see it as testifying to the Empress’s adultery. The woman she knew would never do such a thing.

Moreover, recently she had seemed to be getting along well with the Emperor.

The day after the Emperor left the palace. As if they had been waiting, anonymous testimonies reported the Empress’s adultery. Therefore, with an investigation underway, it was like a bolt from the blue that she was asking for this instead of requesting defense.

“Azel, I’m going to leave the palace. You know I’ve lived in pain all these years, so you won’t try to stop me.”

“……”

“Thank you. I know you’ve been working hard all this time, but please help me one more time.”

“Your Majesty, if you would at least tell me what’s going on.”

Nian shook her head.

“The more you know, the more painful it will be. I don’t want to burden you unnecessarily. But please say this for me, don’t worry.”

“Your Majesty……”

As the tears that had been welling in Azel’s eyes finally flowed down her freckled cheeks, Nian hugged her.

Azel cried even louder in her embrace.

* * *

“So, Empress. Based on the testimonies of the maids, entry records, and documented witness accounts, do you admit to your improper relationship with Count Cain Payon?”

The official in charge of investigating this case came and asked in a rigid voice.

Nian steadied her trembling voice and answered.

“Yes.”

“Your Majesty’s confession will affect the decision regarding your future residence. I ask for the final time. Is it true that you forgot your position as Empress, committed adultery with Count Cain Payon, and tarnished the honor of the imperial family?”

“Yes. It’s true.”

Nian answered without hesitation.

She had pondered for a long time. Without a proper reason, there was no way to remove the shackle of being Empress that was bound to her ankle. While she was deliberating, Cain once again said he would sacrifice himself.

‘You may use me anytime, Your Majesty.’

It was a dangerous matter. Of course, having already discussed it with the Empress Dowager, it would end with her taking all the blame and being deposed, but it would tarnish House Payon’s reputation, and they would receive no support from the imperial family as long as Dade reigned as Emperor.

‘If I, who ran away leaving Your Majesty alone, can be of help even in this way, it would rather be my joy.’

What a foolish person.

A person more like family than her only remaining father. A person she was grateful for. Come to think of it, how could Cain be the only person she was grateful to? There was also Azel, and the Empress Dowager.

After coming to this vast and cold palace, she had thought she was alone in the world, but looking around, so many people were protecting her.

Nian smiled faintly. The official looked at her strangely, but she didn’t mind.

After signing several documents recording her confession, the official left.

Nian looked around the herb garden. As she examined the densely planted herbs, she caressed them like she’s touching treasures before biting her lip.

It was the only place that had offered her comfort in this cold imperial palace. She was grateful for it because it had allowed her to meet him, yet she also resented it for making her heart ache by making her experience a love she had never known before.

Suddenly, Nian’s hand, which had been touching the soft herb leaves, tensed. As she grasped the herb leaves, the delicate leaves spilled green blood, smeared in her palm, and emitted a moist grassy fragrance.

Though she had lived in this vast imperial palace for 8 years, the only thing that was truly hers was this herb garden. That was rather fortunate. Thanks to this, the cleanup she needed to do for the new Empress was extremely simple.

Although she regretted parting with what she had nurtured with time and heart, was this herb garden the only precious thing? With the most precious thing being left behind, this was rather an easy task.

Nian entered the cottage with an empty expression.

Dried herbs were spread across the workbench, and those parched herbs without moisture were perfect for catching fire. Nian took a deep breath, savoring the last fragrance of the herbs, then took out a burning log from the brazier.

When she placed it against the dry herbs, smoke rose and soon caught fire. The fragrant herb scent turned into acrid smoke and filled the cottage.

After watching this scene for a moment, Nian walked out still holding the log. She walked along the path where she used to water and weed, meticulously setting fires.

Compared to the dry herbs inside the cottage, the fire didn’t catch as easily, but once it did, it spread quickly.

Nian couldn’t bear to watch such precious things turn to ashes, so after gazing at the reddening blaze, she turned away.

It was regrettable, but there was no choice.

Just like how she loved him, but that too was inevitable.

Three days after the investigation concluded, the Empress Dowager, who had temporarily been delegated the Emperor’s authority, decided to depose the Empress.

Some argued that Count Payon should also be punished, but it was moderately settled with just the Empress’s deposition. Some nobles’ opposition was also ignored when the Emperor’s long-standing coldness toward the Empress and her failure to produce an heir were emphasized.

Above all, the Empress Dowager’s influence and the now-former Empress’s confession played a significant role.

If the former Empress’s father, Duke Roben, had intervened, it wouldn’t have been decided so easily, but for some reason, he meekly accepted the deposition, saying he would willingly bear the punishment for tarnishing the imperial family.

Thus, Empress Nian was deposed.