He never saw Cecilia’s body. Although he was told her face was intact, he adamantly refused and ordered all remaining portraits to be burned.

“Now that the official funeral is over, dispose of all items in the Empress’s chambers. Burn everything that filthy woman used…… No, since it’s an old building anyway, it would be better to demolish it completely and rebuild.”

Rockfort had officially announced his wedding with Elia would be in a year.

There was enough time, so it was an opportunity to demolish a place with bad memories. It was intended to erase not only Cecilia but also memories of the Empress Dowager.

“Your, Your Majesty…… I’m terribly sorry to report……”

Jayden carefully began speaking to Rockfort, who was reading letters in his office as usual.

“Has she arrived?”

At his question, asked without even looking up, Jayden pursed his lips.

“Yes, she has been insisting on seeing Your Majesty since earlier. Soon, she might force her way in here……”

Rockfort immediately frowned.

“Words become seeds.”

And unfortunately, such premonitions often came true.

Despite the desperate attempts of the chamberlain to block her, the office door opened. It was obvious who would dare do such a thing.

“It’s been a while, Your Majesty.”

Cassandra’s voice was still soft and elegant.

“The mother and son have much to talk about, so withdraw.”

Poor Jayden, caught between the two, read the atmosphere and finally withdrew at Rockfort’s gesture.

“Is that letter more important than your mother?”

Cassandra arbitrarily snatched the letter from Rockfort’s hand. His amethyst eyes glared at her.

“Why are you glaring at me? With the Empress’s funeral taking place, how could I not come, if only for appearances?”

“You could have avoided coming here.”

Despite his cold answer, Cassandra huffed and smiled with her red lips. Having given birth to Rockfort at just twenty, she still had a young and beautiful face.

“How could I not see the face of the son I bore and raised, at least at a time like this?”

Cassandra calmly took out a long cigarette holder and exhaled a cloud of smoke, despite her son’s obvious aversion to her.

“Rockfort, this mother knows everything.”

When his name was called, Rockfort looked at his mother again with an even more displeased expression in his amethyst eyes.

“That the daughter of Duke Theon committed adultery, that she tried to commit suicide by jumping with her sister, that you gave the the former Emperor an estate and a separate palace in Seira.”

Cassandra’s black eyes shone cleverly.

“Why wouldn’t you? Of course you would know.”

“Don’t misunderstand. I too only learned the inside story after the Empress died; I didn’t stand by and watch.”

“I have no empress.”

It was a firm answer in many ways.

“Also, I have no more private funds or territories to give to the Empress Dowager.”

“How can you speak such disappointing words to your mother? After how I raised you and put you on that throne……”

Her red lips held a seductive smile.

“How did you raise me?”

Rockfort blurted out without realizing. The Empress Dowager always painted her lips red and covered even her true intentions with such paint.

But he had recently met a woman who showed him a completely clear face. That woman had asked him questions he had never considered before.

“How did you raise me? Have you ever understood my troubled heart and cherished me?”

It was the same question he had heard. The Empress Dowager briefly made an incredulous expression before letting out a scoffing laugh.

“I raised you to be superior and stronger than anyone. It is this mother who gave you everything you enjoy now.”

That wasn’t the answer he was looking for.

“I risked my family, my life, everything, and fought all my life to put you in that position. Cherish? Don’t belittle my efforts with such trivial words.”

Rockfort looked at his mother with calm eyes.

Elia was right. The answer she wanted to hear never existed in the first place. It couldn’t have.

Cassandra, unconcerned with Rockfort’s thoughts, continued.

“Fortunately, there’s another daughter left in the Theon ducal family, and you’ll make her empress next year? A wise decision.”

The Empress Dowager was a distant great-aunt of Lorelaine, the Duchess of Theon, from the Belest family. With their shared power ties, it was advantageous for the Duke of Theon’s daughter to become the next Empress.

“I was worried you might ruin future prospects with emotion, but I didn’t realize Your Majesty had grown so much.”

There was no way such praise would make him feel good.

Rockfort abruptly stood up and snatched the cigarette holder that had been bothering him from the Empress Dowager, jamming it into a flower vase. The hissing sound of the fire being extinguished rang clearly in the silence.

“Is governing difficult? You’ve become much rougher since I last saw you.”

“I learned it from the Empress Dowager. Didn’t you extinguish everything that bothered your eyes like this?”

She had extinguished the lives of many of the former Emperor’s children that way. Rockfort knew of several personally.

“How many were there…… do you remember, Empress Dowager?”

“Must I count them one by one?”

The gap between mother and son would never be bridged.

“It’s thanks to that that Your Majesty exists now.”

“How could I forget? That I bear the original sin.”

Tsk, Cassandra clicked her tongue as if displeased. She seemed irritated that after doing everything for him, now that he had grown a bit, he was portraying his mother as a murderer.

“The separate palace where I stay has aged and needs repairs in several places. It’s time to readjust my private funds too. Though it can’t compare to a separate palace in Seira.”

In the end, her goal was wealth and her own comfort. She must have become dissatisfied thinking she was receiving worse treatment than the former Emperor.

“I said I have no more private funds to give you.”

“Of course, if the treasury has no surplus, there’s no help for it. Then, since I can’t lower the dignity of the imperial family by appearing impoverished…… shall I return to this Imperial Palace and help with state affairs by my son’s side?”

It wasn’t negotiation but blackmail. As Rockfort gradually grew up, he had seen his mother’s cold and cruel aspects.

Fortunately or unfortunately, he could never think like the Empress Dowager. His growing distance from his mother was a very natural progression.

“There are so many accusations against Duke Belest piled up that my desk feels cramped.”

Rockfort was no longer a young prince. Seeing her son like that, Cassandra’s gaze turned icy cold.

“You are the child of me and the former Emperor. Don’t forget what flows in that bloodline…… and who you are.”

The negotiation had failed.

“We are not sheep but wolves. If you confuse who you are, you will surely regret it someday. Remember this warning from your mother.”

Rockfort ultimately turned away from the Empress Dowager.

Cassandra seemed to think it was useless to say more and abruptly turned away. This was the extent of their mother-son relationship.

—You are the child of me and the former Emperor.

The Empress Dowager’s words particularly echoed in his ears.

—Don’t forget what flows in that bloodline…… and who you are.

The former Emperor was a heartless man, and the Empress Dowager was an even crueler woman. Rockfort was born and raised between them.

“I see.”

He murmured blankly.

“I never had it.”

Even after ascending to this noble position, Rockfort’s deficiency could not be filled.

He had never truly understood someone’s pain or cherished anyone enough to give everything.

His life had no room for such luxury from birth. Whether it was an excuse or not, no one had ever taught him such feelings.

—I risked my family, my life, everything, and fought all my life to put you in that position. Cherish? Don’t belittle my efforts with such trivial words.

He knew nothing about how to cherish something. He had only lived according to his instincts and ambitions, like a wolf preying on sheep.

—Your Majesty doesn’t know.

Elia had seen right through that.

“Sigh……”

He couldn’t concentrate on his documents at all.

It still felt like the unpleasant tobacco scent left by the Empress Dowager lingered. He couldn’t help but laugh at how the Empress Dowager had complained about insufficient private funds yet abandoned her cigarette holder decorated with coral and gold.

“Jayden, let’s go out.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“The smoke is nauseating, have the room ventilated.”

“Yes.”

Rockfort walked away quickly, as if escaping.

It had been that way for some time now. He despised his father and hated his mother. Even the most noble man in the world couldn’t choose his parents.

* * *

Although Elia’s heart pounded at her bold actions belatedly, no punishment from the Emperor had fallen by the time the next day faded into afternoon.

“This…… works. I’m still alive even after doing that.”

She still couldn’t believe that she had repeatedly refused him to his face, and even turned her back after lying down.

But there was no telling when he might barge in again. Then she might really die.

“That’s probably right.”

Elia would refuse him to the end. Then the only option left would be death.

As she had told him, she hated becoming his empress while alive, even if they put an empress’s coffin over her corpse.