“Please dismiss everyone, Your Majesty. I have something to say.”

Anticipating that Cedric would order her to leave immediately, Anita spoke first. As she had expected, he looked momentarily taken aback, but then motioned for the attendants to move away.

“Have you lost your mind? How did you come all the way here?”

“I got tired of taking the same path every day. There’s a small gate that leads to this garden. The road beyond it was beautiful, so I just kept walking and ended up here somehow.”

“If you’re going to lie, at least change your expression first.”

She had thought her excuse sounded natural, but Cedric saw through it immediately. With a sigh, he ran a hand through his hair and shot a sharp glance at the attendants standing at a distance.

“Your maid, the one following you —”

“Please don’t.”

Anita was struck by a sudden fear when Cedric’s gaze landed on Renee, and she immediately pleaded with him. Cedric felt a surge of annoyance at the sight of Anita’s terrified face before he had even finished his sentence, but he suppressed it. Instead, he took a few steps, positioning himself with his back to the sunlight and shielding Anita perfectly from its rays.

“I ordered her to find a way for me to see Your Majesty.”

With his brow furrowed, Anita looked uneasy and offered him an excuse. Cedric was about to scold her for exposing herself to the strong sunshine in her condition and suggest that she should have sent someone instead. However, he realized that he had intentionally ignored Anita’s requests all this time, so he remained silent.

“If it’s because of the baby… I understand your concerns, but I know a little about the baby in my belly, too. It’s my body. Nothing will happen just by walking this far. In fact, I have to divide my meals into small, frequent portions these days, so I need to go for walks often.”

Even as she spoke, Anita continued her explanation. The hand resting delicately on her abdomen looked fragile. Cedric was somehow displeased by the slightly trembling white hand and by Anita’s words, which made it clear that she believed the child in her womb was the cause of his concern.

“What do you want to say? I don’t have time.”

Not wanting to say anything harsh to his pregnant wife, Cedric urged her to hurry so that he could leave. Fearing he would leave immediately, Anita swallowed dryly and fixed her gaze on Cedric’s silver eyes. Her voice trembling, she managed to speak with difficulty.

“I want to ask you something, Your Majesty. Your Majesty, what am I?”

··· ✦ ···

Confronting the issue felt like something he desperately wanted to avoid. Cedric could only maintain a prolonged silence, knowing what Anita was asking.

Now that he had become Emperor, it was clear that Anita, his lawful wife, was meant to occupy that position. However, he had not granted her the title of Empress, even though she was entitled to it. Instead, he remained silent, allowing her to be ridiculed.

Was this a political manoeuvre to appease those who were displeased with Anita’s survival? Or was he planning to abandon her, as rumor had it? While others speculated extensively about the emperor’s intentions, Cedric alone knew the truth: these were not the reasons.

When he acknowledged the child, he also allowed Anita to live. Before he knew it, Cedric had clearly recognized the woman carrying his child as his wife.

Yet, despite this, he did not want to grant Anita the position of empress. She was useless. He wanted to consolidate his imperial power by ensuring the factions beneath him checked one another. He gave various reasons, but the reason was singular.

He simply did not want to. He was reluctant to have Anita in that position. The thought of her being called ‘Empress’ made his heart clench, and two people came to mind: Empress Ines, his biological mother, and Shisha Yullente, his nanny who had killed her mother.

“Cedric.”

Whenever he heard the word ‘Empress’, it was his dead mother who came to mind first. Ignorance was a sin in itself, but could he truly say that he bore no guilt for her death? If only he hadn’t given her that worthless piece of bread and called it a ‘special gift’.

“She is your destined match, Your Highness. You felt it too, didn’t you? That’s why you smiled so brightly the moment your eyes met hers.”

If only he had sensed Shisha Yullente’s malice sooner; if only he had kept her away.

The memory surged back: his mother’s desecrated body, his vow to live for her, and his prayer that her death had been a form of deliverance. Along with it came the echo of that woman’s voice and her endless praise for Anita, the woman who had once been her obsession.

In the end, everything had unfolded exactly as she had wanted. The Princess of Callithea had married him, and even after her kingdom fell, she remained his wife. Just as his nanny had wished. To the very end.

When Cedric looked at Anita, he saw her as a curse left behind by his deranged nanny, a lingering shadow from which he could never escape.

As silence stretched between them, a flicker of light passed through Cedric’s eyes. His face turned cold, and when he finally spoke, his voice was devoid of warmth.

“Do you honestly think I should keep an empress who serves no purpose to anyone?”

Was he really planning to abandon her?

If so, what would become of her niece, who was still in Callithea?

And what about the child growing inside her?

“You and I both know that I never wanted our marriage. You knew from the start that I didn’t want it.”

“…..”

“And didn’t you once say as much yourself? That you knew you would be cast aside, and that you would gladly offer yourself to other men when the time came? I remember you saying it.”

“..…”

“You sounded so certain and indifferent that I thought you weren’t interested in being Empress at all. I didn’t expect you to come demanding it now.”

Anita said nothing. His cold, deliberate words reopened an old wound that she had thought had long healed. The remark he had thrown out so casually born of her desperate attempt to save her remaining family now turned on her like a blade.

She had believed herself beyond the reach of his cruelty, yet the pain it caused proved otherwise. But now was not the time to falter. She had a purpose and could not afford to show weakness.

Clasping her trembling hands together, Anita managed to speak, her voice barely steady.

“It’s true. I said that once. But Your Majesty, things have changed.”

“..…”

“I am now carrying your child, Your Majesty. This child has survived thus far, unharmed.”

“So what? What does that have to do with your sudden desire for the Empress’s crown?”

Anita didn’t notice, but Cedric’s eyes had been fixed on her, watching her warily and uneasily as she trembled. Yet even then, he couldn’t stop himself from speaking cruelly.

“The child survived… and because of that, I did as well. So I dared to believe that I could guess Your Majesty’s will.”

“…”

“I thought you would become the father of the child I carry. I truly believed that.”

The word ‘father’ struck deeper than Anita could have known. It made Cedric falter; the sharpness in his gaze wavered, and his hostility dulled slightly. Seeing this, Anita hesitated for only a moment before reaching out to him. She caught his sleeve and leaned forward, gently pressing her lips to the back of his hand.

“Please, Your Majesty.”

“..…”

“I beg of you, grant this child a rightful place, a name and an honor that they can bear with pride. I am begging you. If nothing changes, this child will suffer because of me.”

Her niece, left behind in Callithea. The unborn life within her now. To protect them both, she needed Cedric’s mercy, just as Renee had said. All that remained to her was the title of the Emperor’s wife — fragile and hollow though it was. Without even that pretense, she could not hope to safeguard those she wished to protect or even ensure her own survival.

So she forced down the storm of emotions rising inside her, hid every trace of pain, and pleaded with as much composure as she could muster.

“Why should I do that?”

Yet the calm expression on his wife’s face only served to exacerbate Cedric’s already fraying temper further. To him, her composure and silence felt like defiance. He hated the fact that she wasn’t crying, clinging to him or begging him to stop. It made his anger sharper and his words crueler.

“How many emperors have lived without bastards? Do you think I’d be tainted if I had one or even dozens?”

Bringing up bastards while discussing their unborn child was no mere insult; it was a threat. It meant that he was willing to nullify her claim to the throne and their marriage, branding it improper and invalid from the start. Such a declaration would have meant the end of Anita’s life as she knew it.

Her quiet composure infuriated him so much that he lashed out with senseless cruelty. Had he looked closer, he might have seen the blood-red grief trembling in her eyes. But, blinded by pride and bitterness, Cedric saw nothing.

“Look at Gerard. He was born a b*stard too, yet he lived in luxury. If he hadn’t been foolish enough to follow his mother into treason, he’d still be known as the Emperor’s son.”

At the mention of Gérard the prince who had fallen into disgrace overnight Anita’s face turned deathly pale.

No matter how unsuitable a wife she might have been, Cedric’s words carried terrible weight. To annul their union, to rewrite it as unlawful, was almost impossible. But with his current power, even that could become a reality. He was the blazing sun now unshakable and untouchable while Anita was nothing but a fallen foreigner, stripped of every ally.

Fear surged through her like ice. Her whole body trembled uncontrollably, but Cedric, consumed by fury, mistook it for concern for Gerard rather than terror for herself.

“Ah! Come to think of it, there’s also a rumor going around that you and Gerard were close and that he might be the child’s father.”

“…..”

“The child of a traitor, not the Emperor’s child… I’ll have to arrange a paternity test once the child is born.”

“…..”

“Even though it’s the same Fion bloodline, the difference is far too great. Don’t you agree?”

Cedric, whose patience had snapped, brought up a rumor that he knew was false. He simply wanted to see how Anita would react. Anita found it unbearable to have the child in her womb insulted by its own father. Finally, clutching her abdomen, she let a tear fall and muttered in a trembling voice.

“Those words are a tremendous insult to Your Majesty’s child. It’s a crime no one should ever dare to utter, a sin worthy of having their tongue cut out.”