“Yes, the Duchess is strong, just as you know. So she’ll manage well.”

Hannah’s warm words provided some comfort. A mother like that would persevere even in a small, shabby castle.

When she was young, Elia disliked that aspect of her mother, but now it became a source of strength, which felt quite strange.

“Mother deliberately chose Cecilia to be empress. And she said she arranged a match with the grand ducal family so I could live gently and happily.”

Perhaps Lorelaine understood both daughters’ temperaments from the beginning.

Her stepdaughter, Cecilia, was calm and kind but harbored an intense flame in her heart, while her biological daughter, Elia, seemed too gentle and pure to withstand hardship.

Since she truly loved only her biological daughter Elia, if not for that incident, everything would have proceeded according to her wise decision.

“Hannah, Mother was somewhat quick-tempered but wise, wasn’t she?”

“Yes. She managed that huge ducal residence with ease.”

Something felt off. No matter how shocked Lorelaine might have been, even if she couldn’t let go of the family honor until the end, why did she make such a foolish choice?

“Mother…… did she really fall for that man’s deception so easily? Just because it was urgent and secret?”

Elia’s fine eyebrows furrowed. Hannah couldn’t speak up on such a sensitive matter.

“I wonder if there’s something more I don’t know?”

There were many facts she wouldn’t have known if Daniel hadn’t extended his claws and just left Elia alone.

“Why choose that man over Father? Cecilia…… why would my sister, who was smarter than anyone, choose her own destruction?”

She couldn’t understand any of it. But if that wasn’t everything, there was also her mother’s foolish choice, and before that, Cecilia’s incomprehensible infidelity.

There might be something else hidden……

“Sister became empress, but His Majesty left for war without consummating the marriage. Even if she didn’t conceive, it would be discovered, so why would sister, who’s already an empress, do such a thing.”

At first, Elia sympathized with Cecilia, but after seeing her true face, she felt chills and didn’t want to think about her anymore.

But as the terrible memories faded, she remembered that Cecilia wasn’t foolish either.

“There must be a reason. For everything…… there’s always a reason.”

This too was something Elia’s father taught her.

“My lady, now is not the time. Even if there are more secrets we don’t know…… your future is most important.”

Hannah gripped Elia’s shoulders firmly and met her eyes.

“Promise me you won’t do anything dangerous. Think only of your future now. Please.”

Elia clasped Hannah’s hands on her shoulders. Her genuine concern for her came through clearly.

“Yes. Thanks to you, I feel a bit calmer.”

She mustn’t act emotionally. She almost forgot the most important fact for surviving in this Imperial Palace after just a few days.

“My lady, as time passes……”

Hannah tried to offer comfort, but suddenly, the sound of trumpets rang out loudly.

It was the emperor’s procession. The entrance to the palace was bustling, and the grand chamberlain’s announcement of the procession carried clearly.

Soon, the footsteps of a man approached. He opened the door to Elia’s reception room without knocking.

“We greet Your Majesty the Emperor.”

When Hannah paid her respects, Rockfort gestured with his chin for her to leave.

After Hannah left and the door closed, he took a few more steps toward Elia. Only then did Elia bow her head to him.

“I greet Your Majesty the Emperor. Please forgive me for paying my respects while seated due to my injured body.”

It was a calm and composed greeting as always. But Rockfort stood looking at Elia for a while without speaking.

What’s more suffocating than the heavy silence was his purple-tinged gaze that remained fixed on her face.

“You must be busy with affairs of state, why……”

Elia opened her pink lips, unable to bear the tension. Though she wore no rouge, her complexion returned from her recent bath, making her plump lips alluring.

“I have something to ask.”

Rockfort answered curtly. His gaze still lingered around her lips.

Elia unconsciously clenched her hands tightly. Though it was only his gaze, she recalled the moment his lips had touched hers, making her feel a ticklish, unbearable sensation somewhere deep inside.

“Ask…… as you wish.”

She felt breathless though she just sat still. Unable to look at him directly, her lowered eyes cast shadows from her neat white eyelashes.

“You said you hate me. Is that still true?”

Her fingernails dug into her flesh.

She hated him. She hates him. She should continue to do so.

“Yes.”

At Elia’s answer, Rockfort extended his large hand to grasp her chin and lift it.

“Look me straight in the eyes.”

Her blue eyes were filled with the image of Rockfort.

“Are you rejecting me, Rockfort Petrion?”

The depth of his question differed from anything he asked before.

Elia unconsciously held her breath. She felt his hot body temperature through the chin he grasped.

“Do you dare think you can do that?”

Rockfort threw another question without waiting for an answer. He didn’t want to hear her say she hated him more than death again.

“I am the emperor. It means everything in this world exists under my permission.”

His scathing voice penetrated Elia’s ears and heart.

“I will not permit you to hate me.”

He suddenly bent his waist and whispered near Elia’s ear.

“Therefore, rejecting me……”

As his hot breath tickled her earlobe, Elia bit her lip, unable to endure.

“I cannot allow it.”

His low voice burned with instinctive heat.

The subtle fragrance emanating from Elia and her flushed cheeks broke down his self-control.

“Your Majesty……”

Her trembling voice stimulated his desire to dominate. Perhaps it would have been better this way from the beginning.

The instinct to subdue the proud Elia surged within him.

“Do you think you can push me away with those fragile arms?”

The hand that held her chin now cupped her cheek. His thumb traced her neat eyelashes.

“You can’t run away now. Even if you did…… you couldn’t escape my grasp.”

Despite his domineering words, the hand cradling her cheek was careful, like he’s holding something fragile.

That touch, Rockfort’s large hand hesitating without realizing it, made things more difficult for Elia.

He never held her hand when she wished for it, yet now, just as she had finally sorted out her feelings, he shook her like this—she felt almost resentful.

“You said there was no reason for your hatred?”

Every time he whispered, his hot breath and lips tickled her ear, forcing her to bite her lip harder.

“If I say I want to possess you without reason, would that be an answer?”

Her white, defenseless neck caught his attention. The instinct to bury his lips there and make this woman his own boiled within him.

“Nothing can oppose me, the emperor. Hating me, rejecting me—both are impossible.”

Elia closed her eyes tightly. Her clenched hands trembled.

“The entertainment ends here. I will no longer tolerate such insolence.”

He was the emperor. Though an obvious fact, feeling his oppressive pressure made her sense this reality with her entire skin.

Emperor Rockfort couldn’t tolerate a woman who dared reject him. Perhaps he realized this was unacceptable to his authority and pride.

“If you threaten to die again, I will kill your lady-in-waiting first.”

Elia’s heart froze.

“If killing all the palace staff in this building isn’t enough, I’ll kill your parents in Theon territory too.”

Ah…… why did she hate him? Now the reason came back clearly and distinctly.

Because he didn’t love her? Because he treated her coldly? Those were secondary reasons.

Elia instinctively felt a deep repulsion toward the very existence of an emperor. She despised this oppressive, arrogant man who believed he could control everything in the world at his whim, treating others as insignificant.

“Now I ask once more.”

Rockfort raised only his head to meet her eyes while still holding her cheek.

The sight of her own self reflected in his cold eyes resembled her past helpless self, making her heart ache.

“Do you still hate me and therefore reject me?”

The tips of his long fingers pressed into Elia’s fair cheek. The eyes looking down at her now were the cold eyes of an emperor.

“……”

She was so bold when risking her own life, yet hesitated when a mere lady-in-waiting’s life was threatened—it was maddening.

Suddenly, Rockfort withdrew his hand coldly, his eyes frosting over with clear anger.  

His frustration with Elia for refusing to bend to his will was unmistakable.

“The imperial physician said your mind was sound. Perhaps you’ve lost the emotion of fear?”

Of course, it would be a lie to say she wasn’t afraid. But there was something she found even more frightening.

Elia didn’t want to be just a woman who briefly passed through his life. Becoming a woman he took as he pleased and eventually forgot would be more unbearable than death or any pain.

“I fear Your Majesty.”

Elia spoke slowly. Rockfort’s eyebrow twitched with interest. He still looked down at her domineeringly.

“Tell me more.”

The ache in a corner of her heart came from recalling his face when he made vows at their engagement ceremony.

—I will live with you for a lifetime and cherish you.

—Also, I promise not to part under any circumstances and to understand your heart even in difficult times.

The man who made those promises, not even required as duties, felt so distant now.

“I fear that the cold eyes with which Your Majesty looks at me are not those of a fiancé, but of an emperor.”