Chapter 67
Chapter 67. Love Painted with Deception
“Take care on your way back, Uncle. Be sure to keep in touch.”
“I will.”
The uncle’s attitude, which had been quite friendly throughout their time at the imperial palace as if to flaunt their close familial relationship, changed.
Vinea watched the delegation leaving the palace in carriages before turning around.
“How many were missing?”
“Fourteen. The Emperor Emeritus has been given quite a few.”
“That might not be enough for the Emperor Emeritus whose hands and feet are all tied, if he wants to kill me as my uncle desires.”
“Be careful, Empress. The Emperor Emeritus’s greed must have been stoked.”
“He’ll probably stay quiet for a while since we’ve thrown him the bait of the article about the death of the Empress Emeritus.”
“I’m not so sure.”
Vinea turned her head. Seeing the cunning face with lips curving into an arc, she felt uneasy somehow.
It didn’t take long to confirm the source of that feeling.
* * *
“…Lineue, explain what’s going on.”
“I-I’m sorry. I haven’t received any reports either, so I don’t know what this is all about…”
Vinea’s gaze focused straight ahead. The garden newly created in the Empress’s Palace after the construction had become famous for its beauty, and many guests visiting the imperial palace wanted to see it.
It was troublesome to refuse each request, so she had instructed to allow visits on days when she was away from the palace. But today wasn’t one of those days.
Vinea lightly curtsied, holding the hem of her dress.
“I greet Your Majesty the Emperor Emeritus. I trust you’ve been well?”
“You would know that better. You must have heard through Tatar.”
The surveillance reports on the Emperor Emeritus from Tatar had indeed been passed on to her. However, why hadn’t she received any information about ‘this woman’?
Vinea looked with dry eyes at the woman standing beside Maxiul, the Emperor Emeritus.
How novel. It’s the first time things have unfolded this way. While it’s strange to see such a big ripple effect from her desperate struggles to end the time loop, she can’t help but click her tongue at her uncle’s vileness.
“Offer your greetings.”
What a situation – the Empress of the Tessibania Empire having to greet a woman of uncertain status whom she’s seeing for the first time.
The woman’s shoulders trembled with fear under Vinea’s gaze.
“Oh, no. It’s alright. I, how could I possibly…”
The Emperor Emeritus wrapped his hands around the woman’s shoulders.
“That’s not right, Agasha. You should be angry. It’s only proper that you should be furious. Are you not the Empress Emeritus of this empire?”
Vinea lowered her gaze and swallowed a bitter laugh.
Agasha. Whose name was that again? It belonged to Tatar’s mother, the deceased Empress Emeritus.
‘He’s completely lost his mind, Emperor Emeritus Maxiul.’
It wasn’t hard to guess why he had been driven to such extremes.
His relationship with the Duchess Castallo, his half-sister, had completely soured, and having betrayed her daughter Eurene, he couldn’t dare approach her first.
It seems his regret and twisted affection had finally found the wrong direction to turn to.
To think that her uncle would offer a woman resembling the Empress Emeritus ‘Agasha de Tessibania’ as payment for cooperation with the Emperor Emeritus.
It was a staggering blow.
To protect this ‘Agasha’, the Emperor Emeritus will now desperately try to reclaim his position. He might even kill not only his daughter-in-law from Veshnu, who irritates him, but also his own son.
The situation had changed from when he simply sent assassins or joined hands with Eurene to corner her.
Vinea’s blue eyes, as she lifted her head, gleamed coldly like a frozen lake.
“The Empress Emeritus I know is buried in the cemetery behind the imperial palace, Your Majesty. Not this ‘fake’ before us.”
“Watch your tongue. How long do you think it will remain attached! This is my Agasha. I have decided so, and if I deem it so, who can deny it!”
It was sophistry. Nothing more than a game of painting his twisted desires with deception and calling it love.
“Now I see you’re not insane. You seem to know that this woman isn’t the real Empress Emeritus.”
The Emperor Emeritus didn’t answer. He just gripped the woman’s wrist tightly.
So tightly that the veins on the back of his hand bulged, so tightly that he ignored the woman’s face contorting in pain.
It wasn’t the kind of behavior one would show to a woman they truly loved.
“If you wish to see her that way, then do so. If you want to marry her, do it, and if you want to keep her as a mistress, do even that as you please.”
Vinea looked back and forth between the woman and the Emperor Emeritus before snorting. It was a laugh filled with clear contempt and dismissal.
“But I hope you’ll keep that scandal from crossing the palace walls. You should be ashamed. To think you’d insult the Empress Emeritus and violate an innocent woman, really…”
“How dare you…!”
The Emperor Emeritus’s lips, trembling with anger, soon curved upwards.
“Yes, I intend to take this woman as the Empress Emeritus. Who would stop me? Tatar? Do you think it was thanks to anyone else that I was able to leave the separate palace and come here?”
A sneer appeared on the Emperor Emeritus’s lips.
“I didn’t think it would last long. I knew it was just a passing interest. So Tatar has finally let go of your hand.”
Vinea lightly dropped her head and let out a small laugh.
The Emperor Emeritus’s brow furrowed at the reaction, so different from the denial or shock he had expected.
“Has he merely let go? It seems he’s started to rush in, wanting us to fall into hell together in earnest.”
Suppressing information about the deal between her uncle and the Emperor Emeritus, and lifting the restrictions on the Emperor Emeritus. No doubt the pressure on the Emperor Emeritus’s forces had also been lifted.
Even the books related to clothing in the office and library had all disappeared.
The smile disappeared from Vinea’s lips. Her eyes, now pitch black, turned to the Emperor Emeritus.
“Still, thanks to you, I’ve made my decision. Enjoy your remaining time, Your Majesty. You will die by your child’s hand. Without fail.”
To spout such nonsense. He should raise his hand and slap her cheek right now to feel better, but somehow the Emperor Emeritus couldn’t move his hand.
It’s chilling. Despite her thin frame that looks incapable of wielding a sword properly and her merely beautiful appearance, she seems to harbor a terrible poison.
He had felt a similar sensation before. Yes, when Tatar first came to see him after the marriage. It was the same chilling feeling he had when he met those gray eyes.
The Emperor Emeritus turned away, his eyes glistening with anger and hatred. The woman, practically dragged along in his grip, hurriedly followed his steps.
Ding, ding, ding—
A clear bell sound rang through the garden. Vinea’s gaze moved following the sound.
It came from a small bell attached to the ankle of the woman called ‘Agasha’.
Isn’t it like keeping a pet? As she raised her head, her eyes met with the woman who had turned to look back at that moment.
The woman’s lips quivered. Vinea watched quietly for a moment before turning away.
* * *
As Deron was walking down the palace corridor, Lineue caught his eye.
He was about to ignore her and pass by, but she looked as if something had happened, sighing deeply in place. Recalling the seemingly estranged relationship between His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress over the past week since the Empire Foundation Day ended, Deron let out a quiet sigh and approached Lineue.
“Is something the matter?”
“Ah, Sir Deron!”
Lineue sighed in relief, clutching her chest, and looked around cautiously.
“Where is His Majesty?”
“He’s in his office. Did Her Majesty the Empress look for him? I’ll relay the message to His Majesty.”
“No!”
Lineue waved her hands in alarm and spoke carefully.
“I have a few things I’d like to ask.”
“I’ll listen and decide whether to answer after judging.”
At Deron’s strict attitude, Lineue nodded as if she had expected it.
“Um, about that woman who’s said to be by His Majesty the Emperor Emeritus’s side recently…”
“…You mean Lady Agasha.”
“Ahem, yes. Her.”
Since they weren’t married, she couldn’t be called the Empress Emeritus, but knowing who the original owner of that name was, it felt inappropriate to use it casually.
She was the protagonist of many recent conversations among the palace servants, like an uncomfortable thorn.
“His Majesty the Emperor Emeritus and the two of them often… visit the Empress’s Palace garden, don’t they? And Her Majesty the Empress tacitly allows it.”
“Yes. I’m aware.”
“Has, perhaps, His Majesty said nothing about it?”
“Even if he had, it’s not something I can mention, but…”
After a moment of consideration, Deron continued with a short sigh.
“He hasn’t said anything.”
“It’s been a week since the two of them last met. Is that really true?”
“Yes. It seems Her Majesty the Empress is in the same situation.”
“That’s unfortunate, but it’s true.”
In the incomprehensible tense atmosphere, a sense of kinship was felt between the two people serving the highest-ranking individuals. Deron spoke to Lineue.
“If necessary, I could ask to at least restrict access to the Empress’s Palace garden.”
“What? Oh, no. There’s no need for that, Sir Deron.”
Lineue visibly flustered, discreetly pressing the small paper and pen she was holding to her body.
“Tomorrow is the day of the grand council meeting, isn’t it? Will His Majesty the Emperor Emeritus attend the meeting? Her Majesty the Empress attended the last meeting, so I thought it would be good to know.”
“Judging from his recent behavior, the probability is high.”
Despite the time he had been laying low, which now seemed wasted, the Emperor Emeritus had started gathering forces at every opportunity. Recently, the Emperor Emeritus’s schedule involved meeting with nobles all morning and afternoon, having lunch with the woman in between, followed by a short walk.
It was clearly an attempt to regain lost power, and recent movements among the nobles were also unsettling.
Although not yet revealed in official settings, the woman’s existence had spread through whispers, with secret expectations that the Emperor Emeritus might have a child at his late age.
This was also the reason why nobles who had been dissatisfied and fearful of Tatar’s relentless removal of opposing forces were making appointments with the Emperor Emeritus.
“Have you asked everything you wanted to know?”
“Yes. Thank you for answering.”
“I will report this conversation to His Majesty, my lady.”
Lineue nodded without showing any surprise, rolling her eyes downward for a moment.
“Go ahead. I didn’t ask anything special.”
Deron, who had been standing still for a moment, opened his mouth.
“Does Her Majesty the Empress have other thoughts?”
Lineue answered with a bright smile.
“How could I dare guess Her Majesty’s thoughts? Well then, I’ll take my leave, Sir Deron.”
Although it was somewhat suspicious, as Lineue said, she hadn’t asked anything special, so Deron watched her turn towards the Empress’s Palace before turning away.
As he did so, Deron’s gaze suddenly turned to the door where Lineue had been standing.
‘…The kitchen?’
After tilting his head for a moment, Deron continued on his way.
