In fact, the one-sided hatred and discord between the Emperor and Empress wasn’t anything new.

This marriage began with Rockfort’s hatred from the start. Naturally there was no room for love to take root.

“You must be very tired today? Let me help you rest quickly.”

Head Lady-in-waiting Hannah removed the empress’s crown from Elia’s head and sincerely combed through her flowing platinum blonde hair.

Elia let out a thin sigh while looking at the empress’s crown in its case.

“Oh right…… I should warm up some milk. I’ll be right back, please wait.”

No one in this imperial palace was unaware of how Elia was being treated. But they couldn’t do anything about the Emperor’s heart.

“Indeed, the empress’s crown didn’t suit me.”

Elia blinked eyes full of loneliness while looking at the beautiful crown studded with large diamonds.

When Elia first wore the empress’s crown, she had just turned twenty that spring. Of course she never imagined such a married life. Nor that that glorious crown would cruelly weigh her down.

“It would have been better if I had died.”

Thoughts of wanting to die came naturally. Though it was only a year, the marriage that felt like an eternity weighed on Elia’s chest.

“But even suicide isn’t allowed for the Empress.”

An Empress who didn’t receive the Emperor’s love, no, who only received hatred, couldn’t do anything.

Neither living properly nor dying completely was up to her will.

“Today, tomorrow, and after…… I’ll just keep withering away until I quietly die someday.”

She didn’t know when that day would be. But somehow she felt Rockfort would be happy at Elia’s death.

Her chest ached again at that thought.

“Still…… foolishly.”

Elia bit her plump lips hard. The fact that her heart raced and fluttered seeing Rockfort who didn’t give her proper attention let alone love made her laugh bitterly.

“If he knew, how disgusted would he be.”

When Rockfort was displeased, he furrowed his strong eyebrows. Then his sculpture-like face looked even colder.

“How dare someone like me harbor feelings.”

A bitter laugh escaped between Elia’s lips.

She was always the foolish one. Why did she believe this marriage that was wrong from the start would somehow get better someday?

What nerve and qualification did she have to dare harbor romantic feelings before the wedding ceremony?

“I’ve warmed up the milk now……”

Hannah’s voice stopped abruptly. Tears were staining Elia’s beautiful cheeks. Hannah’s heart felt like it was being torn apart.

But, she had run out of comforting words long ago. As someone who understood Elia’s heart, Hannah couldn’t even bring herself to tell her not to cry.

“Please retire early today.”

She could only diligently attend to Elia, help her to bed, and at most warm some milk for her. This was something she had done since Elia was very young.

“Okay.”

Back then, Hannah didn’t know. That as the head lady-in-waiting to the young Empress Elia, this was all she could do for her.

“It’s alright. I should be used to it by now.”

Hannah struggled to hold back her tears. Elia, leaning against the bed with her pale complexion, already showed no expression.

“You don’t need to comfort me.”

“I…… can’t do anything else for you……”

From the moment Elia was born, Hannah had decided to care for that lovable girl for the rest of her life.

And the girl born as a duke’s daughter became the Empress, the most noble woman in the world.

“I can’t do anything for you…… I’m sorry.”

But at the same time, Elia had become the most pitiful woman in the world.

“I dare not…… have anything to say……”

Who was hurting the most right now? Looking at Hannah’s sad eyes, Elia just felt sorry, as if everything was her fault.

“How can there be words like ‘dare’ between us?”

Elia, whose tears had dried up, wore a faint smile.

Why did Elia—so beautiful, so kind, so gentle-hearted—have to live a life worse than death?

“Rather, everyone suffers because of me.”

An inner palace not visited by the Emperor holds no meaning. The Empress’s quarters were even worse. The Empress’s quarters without the Emperor’s visits were already like a dead tree.

“I knew it. That this marriage wouldn’t be smooth.”

Her blue eyes had grown cold.

“This was…… originally my sister’s place……”

Fate had been particularly cruel to Elia. The Petrion imperial family and the Theon duchy had deep ties, and the former Emperor, Reyan Petrion, arranged a marriage between his still-young son Rockfort and the Theon family.

‘Since Duke Theon saved my life, I promise that if a daughter is born in the Duke’s family, she will certainly be made the companion of Crown Prince Rockfort and become Empress.’

That promise remained a beautiful tale, but for Elia, it was the beginning of all tragedy.

“This was never my place from the start.”

As the former Emperor Reyan had hoped, a beautiful daughter was born to the Theon duchy. And that was Cecilia, who was two years older than Elia.

The former Emperor confirmed her engagement to the Crown Prince when Cecilia had her debutante at age 15.

“It was never… mine.”

Cecilia had been raised preciously as the woman who would become Empress from childhood. She received an even stricter education than Elia, and occasionally entered the palace to have audiences with the former Emperor and the then-Crown Prince Rockfort.

“This place belonged to my sister Cecilia from the beginning.”

Despite her busy days carrying the heavy burden of becoming the future Empress, Cecilia was a truly kind sister to her only younger sibling.

Unlike Elia with her silver-white platinum blonde hair, her beautiful and kind sister with honey-thick golden hair was always Elia’s pride.

“I’m being punished.”

Elia’s dry voice echoed desolately.

“Don’t say that, Lady Cecilia…… passed away from illness.”

Elia shook her head at Hannah’s words.

“I remember. The day my sister married His Majesty. That day, His Majesty’s smile and gentle manner…… My sister looked truly happy. In my childish heart, I envied that……”

The imperial family welcomed Cecilia, the eldest daughter of the Theon duchy, as Empress as promised. At that time, Elia was eighteen years old. The girl’s heart was excited and joyful watching her sister’s splendid wedding.

“Only Cecilia was the true Empress. As His Majesty said, I benefited from my sister’s death to become Empress…… so I’m being punished.”

Rockfort’s words were always laced with venom, mocking Elia who became Empress because of Cecilia’s death. He simply disliked that a woman who wasn’t his original betrothed wore the empress’s crown.

“How could that be! The former Empress died of illness. Sad as it is, that was her fate.”

The sister who became Empress with everyone’s blessings died too meaninglessly. It was natural for the Emperor, who left for the battlefield right after the wedding, to feel guilty.

“How wonderful it would have been if I could have died instead of my sister Cecilia?”

Rockfort still commemorated Cecilia every week in the palace chapel. Though he usually didn’t show his emotions well, it was probably due to his guilt for leaving for the battlefield right after marrying his childhood betrothed.

Perhaps it was mourning for a love that could never be fulfilled. After all, she was destined to be Empress from birth, but died alone waiting for him right after becoming Empress.

“You must never say such things!”

Hannah firmly grasped Elia’s hand. It was as cold as marble.

“Then…… what is my fate?”

Blank eyes, lifeless cheeks. Why had the beautiful Elia lost all hope at the mere age of twenty?

“I am the second empress.”

That was Elia’s sin.

“Forever.”

Being the second Empress.

“Until I die, no…… even after death.”

The fact that she came to wear the empress’s crown that originally belonged to her sister.

……That was her only sin.

* * *

Elia tossed and turned for a long time after extinguishing the candle before falling into a shallow sleep. Then a familiar scene unfolded. It was a dream of the past that she had dreamed countless times. By now, she could realize it was a dream even while sleeping.

That day. It was that very day.

The blessed wedding day when the former Emperor, bedridden with chronic illness, abdicated to the Crown Prince, and the newly enthroned young Emperor took in the Theon duchy’s first daughter as Empress according to their engagement.

‘Even if it’s just a dream, I’ll take it.’

How could she ever forget that day? Although it was a dream that had repeated countless times, Elia unconsciously wished for this dream to continue.

‘This is the only…… beautiful day I remember.’

Her sister, dressed in imperial robes and wearing the empress’s crown, was beautiful. Everyone blessed that day, and Rockfort, who had just become Emperor, knew how to wear a gentlemanly and kind smile.

That day was the first time Elia met Rockfort. And it was a day she would never forget in her life.

「The Empress’s younger sister?」