“Dear sister. I am not like our father, I won’t soothe you as he did. So listen carefully, all right?”

“…….”

“The Emperor betrayed you. And because of that, our lives are now in danger!”

“…….”

“He summoned the confessor priest. Do you know what he’s saying before everyone right now?”

“What? The confessor priest? I have to go. I must go to him. Right now—”

The Empress, who had frozen momentarily at the Marquis’s forceful tone, flinched at the words ‘confessor priest’ and began to struggle. Terror clouded her trembling eyes.

“Ameline, listen! You’ve lost your mind!”

Yet the Marquis did not release his sister’s shoulders. He continued to grip the Empress’s shoulders and shake her back and forth. After looking around, he lowered his voice to a near-whisper.

“The Emperor summoned the priest, saying he would make amends for his sins before he died. And then he revealed Gerard’s true birth year. He had it recorded before witnesses, with evidence to prove it.”

“What?”

It was something she had never imagined. Gerard’s true age was revealed: he had been born while Empress Ines was still alive. For the emperor to confess this in the sacrament of confession, a legally recognized declaration, was tantamount to proclaiming to the entire empire that Gerard was illegitimate and that the emperor had been involved in an improper relationship with the former empress.

“Because of that, Gerard is an illegitimate child again. Do you not understand what that means? Legally, he no longer has any right to the throne! No….he’s not even a prince anymore!”

Of course, many people knew about their relationship and Gerard’s true age, but knowing and having it officially acknowledged were not the same thing. This was the equivalent of sentencing Gerard to social death.

It stripped him of his legal status, leaving him crushed, disgraced and with nothing. It also meant that everything the Empress had done for her son until now had been in vain.

“And because of this, your own position is at risk! Who would recognize a queen who was the Emperor’s concubine? Even the rigid priests of the Asterian Church will turn their backs on you!”

For the sake of the crown prince, the emperor had destroyed his own son. A father destroyed one child for the sake of another. Although he hadn’t wielded the blade himself, he was punished far more severely.

Ameline let out a scream that tore through her chest, but it caught in her throat and no sound escaped.

“Do you still not understand?”

The marquis’s voice rose as he shouted at her, half-mad with fear and rage. He too was losing control. Grief and fury poured out of him as he went on.

“The Emperor cast you and Gerard aside in favor of the Crown Prince! He did it right before he died, when we couldn’t stop him. He handed the succession to the Crown Prince plain and simple!”

His voice trembled with raw resentment and despair. Yet even that could not compare to the Empress’s sense of betrayal.

Ameline realized it then, it was the third time.

First by Charles, then by the Emperor, each time, she had been abandoned without mercy.

··· ✦ ···

It was an unprecedented crisis.

The emperors of Laxion and Callithea died almost simultaneously in both empires.

The first to die was the Emperor of Laxion. This occurred in the presence of a confessor priest and several witnesses, including his son and successor, Cedric. Four days later, the Emperor of Callithea was beheaded.

Technically, his title had been stripped prior to his death, so one could argue that it was not the death of the Emperor, but of the man who had once been Emperor. Nevertheless, most people continued to refer to it as the death of the Callithean emperor.

Two emperors had perished, but their circumstances could not have been more different.

In Laxion, the death of the emperor was a sorrowful event. However, death by illness was beyond human control. In a sense, dying of illness was nothing extraordinary. Some even said that he had finally found peace, free from pain as a man rather than a monarch.

However, Callithea’s emperor met a violent end, and the events leading up to it were steeped in tragedy. A man who had once ruled from the highest throne had his neck severed by those who had risen from below; his downfall was as dramatic as it was fatal.

Following the deaths of the two emperors, the paths of their respective empires diverged sharply.

Callithea remained mired in civil war. The empress and her twin prince and princess were still on the run, while the rebel factions, once united by common interests, began to fracture.

The group that had gained the most support sought to dismantle the class system entirely, but their excessive brutality turned public opinion against them. Sensing an opportunity, the faction that upheld the old order of nobility seized control.

Before long, Callithea’s civil war had degenerated into a struggle for profit and power among rival factions.

Meanwhile, Laxion had been caught up in a fierce succession dispute, but the revelations following Emperor Charles’s death tipped the balance decisively in Cedric’s favour.

Now holding the uncontested legal right to the throne, Cedric oversaw the funeral himself.

During the procession, as the late emperor’s coffin was carried before her, the empress disappeared, vanishing before the end of the ceremony.

Of course, she did not leave alone. Her son, Gerard, who was no longer a prince, was with her.

There was confusion in Laxion for a brief time after the disappearance, but order was quickly restored to the imperial palace under Cedric’s direction.

He supervised every detail, from the state funeral and the mourning period to preparations for his coronation. Each decision he made served to reinforce the legitimacy of his succession.

While Cedric worked day and night, Anita lived under what could only be described as confinement in his chambers—for her protection, as he called it.

Her pregnancy had yet to be made public, but the sharp-eyed within the palace were already beginning to notice.

“How’s your condition?”

Everything that Anita ate, drank or wore was inspected under Cedric’s supervision. Whenever he appeared, which was once a day without fail, to ask after her health, her breath caught in her throat.

“…No problems.”

Even without Cedric’s control, Anita could hardly move. Her brother’s death was overshadowed by Emperor Charles’s passing and was hardly mentioned within the palace walls.

The despair of losing her family, coupled with her inability to act, weighed heavily on her.

Even Renee had fallen ill after hearing the news from Callithea and could no longer look after her.

Listless and hollow, Anita did only what was necessary to survive: eat, move and breathe. It was only Cedric’s quiet assurance that the twin princes and princesses were still safe that gave her the strength to carry on.

“Those children… Have you heard anything? Are they safe?”

Cedric’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her frail body avoiding his gaze. Arms crossed, he took a few steps closer, closing the distance between them.

“Did you sleep badly again last night?”

Instead of answering Anita’s question, Cedric swept his eyes over her from head to toe. His tone was slightly cutting as he asked, A chill ran over her skin. She rubbed her slender arm and tilted her head slightly.

As far as she knew, he was always busy with a hundred different things and hardly slept. She almost told him to take care of himself, then stopped. Faced with his intense gaze, she answered reluctantly.

“Just… there’s been a lot going on. I only have a little trouble falling asleep, that’s all. It’s not enough to worry about…”

“Your nephews are safe.”

Cedric tossed the words out, and only then did Anita lift her head to meet his eyes. He felt both satisfied and displeased to see his wife look straight at him.

“So take care of yourself. I won’t stand by and watch you fuss over grown-up children while my own child, who hasn’t even seen the world yet, is put at risk.’

“They’re still young…!”

She shot him an angry look in response to his barbed remark, then stopped. Her eyes trembled slightly.

The man before her had wounded her with his words. He had lost his mother in tragic circumstances as a child and now his father as well. Anita had also lost her brother, who had taken her father’s place when she was too young to remember, and her mother not long ago.

Having experienced grief herself, she didn’t want to hurt him by saying anything about his family. Even though she was already hurting.

“…I’ll do as you say.”

As she had always done since coming to Laxion, Anita pressed down on her own wounds. With her head bowed, she murmured the answer Cedric wanted.

“I brought in two female physicians. They’ll stay by your side from today. I vetted them thoroughly so don’t worry.”

Looking at his wife, Cedric’s voice softened as he introduced the new palace physicians. Despite the difficulty of doing so, he had urged his subordinates to recruit highly skilled female physicians, rather than male physicians, to be stationed at his wife’s side.

“And once the official mourning period ends, we’ll announce that the imperial house has a new descendant on the way.”

Anita, who had been nodding, faltered. Her hand moved to her belly of its own accord. It still didn’t feel real…

“In Hardyde, for the time being, you’re the only one who can play the role of an elder. Remember that.”

The late Emperor Charles had told her to protect the child in her womb and prepare for the future.

“The child in your belly is your strength.”

The child’s father had said as well.

‘Isn’t that a tool?’

The words about the child revealed no hint of love or blessing. The woman who had given birth to the child first remembered that she had never wanted this pregnancy, and how it had begun with something terrible. Then she found herself considering what she could gain from the child.

Anita was appalled by her own thoughts. Whatever others might say, she was still a mother, carrying life within her. A fierce, unforgiving guilt pierced her heart, leaving her breathless with shame.

“Anita.”

“…….”

“Physician! Where’s the physician!”

When Anita’s face turned deathly pale, Cedric shouted her name, caught her and prevented her from collapsing. He looked extremely panicked, as though he might lift her into his arms and run for help at any moment.

Fortunately, the palace physician, who had been waiting just outside, came in at once to examine her. Cedric remained by the bedside, unmoving, until he had received at least a dozen assurances that both she and the baby were safe. Only then did he rise to leave.

The officials, who had been waiting helplessly for his return, finally breathed a sigh of relief when he reappeared to resume his duties.

To allow for her recovery, a translucent curtain had been drawn across Cedric’s bedchamber to dim the midday light. Lying half-asleep beneath the shadowed veil, Anita watched the faint sunlight filtering through the fabric until she sensed a gaze upon her. She turned her head to see who it belonged to.

One of the maids attending to her in Renee’s absence was standing nearby. There was something uneasy about the girl’s faintly upturned lips, an expression that made Anita’s chest tighten with dread.

“…Do you have something to say?”

Anita had been about to turn away and ignore the strange half-smile, but changed her mind and spoke first. The maid flinched, her hands trembling. Beneath her polite exterior, suppressed delight flickered in her eyes. Swallowing hard, she bent closer to Anita.

“I’m just repeating what I’ve heard, Your Highness, but it seemed wrong that you hadn’t been told, of all people. After all, it’s family business, and ignorance could cause complications.”

The maid’s voice trembled slightly as she tried to hide the malice behind her excitement.

The moment she finished speaking, Anita’s body began to shake. She clutched her stomach and curled up into a ball, a cry of pain escaping her lips.

“Ah…!”