Chapter 84
Chapter 84. Shh, The Child Is Listening
Two days had passed since the Emperor was found lifeless and a woman claiming to carry his child appeared.
Though a regent had been appointed, there was an overwhelming amount of work that required review by the Empress, who held equal power to the Emperor. Because of this, even amidst her busy schedule with no time to look away, the Empress continued to visit the Emperor.
The Emperor who no longer breathed.
Lineue, following behind Vinea, swallowed a bitter sigh. She was sick with worry over Her Majesty, who had focused solely on work for two days straight without sleep.
‘If she had at least eaten properly during that time, but it’s been just two glasses of water. It wouldn’t be surprising if she collapsed at any moment, yet she keeps avoiding examinations…’
At the Empress’s arrival, the faces of the doctors examining the Emperor’s body in the Empress’s Palace turned sickly pale.
They couldn’t refute the Empire’s Empress, who was insisting that someone clearly dead to any medical eye was not dead. It was true that they couldn’t help but feel sympathy, so in the end, they too could only sigh heavily all day long over the body.
“Everyone, leave.”
At Vinea’s order, the doctors and Lineue left the bedroom, and soon a suffocating silence settled in the room.
Vinea sat beside Tatar after pulling back the long white curtain. As she brushed his silver-gray hair with her hand, the wound on his right forehead was revealed. It was fortunate that the wound wasn’t too deep once the blood had been cleaned away, but that also lent credence to Eurene’s testimony.
“You’re sleeping for quite a long time, Your Majesty.”
No answer came. Vinea stroked his cold cheek with the back of her hand, then lowered her upper body to place her ear on his chest where his heart was located. The silence that had settled in the room still lingered in his heart.
Slowly raising her body, Vinea lightly rubbed Tatar’s lips, which no longer exhaled breath, with her hand.
“Foolish man. To end up like this, unable to overcome a single hallucination…”
However, knowing herself how terrible those hallucinations could be, Vinea couldn’t criticize him further and pressed her lips tightly together.
The first thing Eurene did upon entering the separate palace was to contact the temple.
There was no way to block her ridiculous pretext of wanting to offer prayers to God, so they allowed the contact, but they weren’t stupid enough to believe she had sought out the priest with pure intentions.
Though she considered simply sending an assassin to kill her, the slightest possibility that this might be the ‘last regression’ kept holding her back.
Hadn’t she experienced it countless times before? Being deposed for small incidents and having her head cut off on the scaffold, or being killed due to unexpected entanglements with others.
To avoid ruining everything with one mistake, she had to be extremely cautious.
“It would be better if you woke up before Eurene Castallo starts moving in earnest. If not, things might get a bit troublesome.”
She said she was carrying a child, was it? Since there was no chance Tatar had been intimate with her, there was only one possibility left.
‘The Night’s Veil.’
The high-class brothel frequented by nobles, The Night’s Veil. It was where Eurene had gone on the night of the Empire Foundation Day banquet. If that incident had caused Eurene Castallo to be driven out of the ducal family, and she had made the worst move like a person backed into a corner, the whole situation made sense.
“You’ve made the worst choice out of all the regressions, Eurene Castallo.”
If it had been a situation she had experienced before, she could have dealt with it more easily, but of all times, it had to be the seventy-seventh regression where all choices had diverged the most.
Vinea let out a low sigh and stood up.
Anyway, according to the doctor, it would take a few days to confirm whether Eurene Castallo was pregnant or not. There was much to resolve in the meantime, so she couldn’t stay here forever.
She needed to obtain evidence to bring down the Emperor Emeritus, and check on the results from the dressmakers she had commissioned earlier. The medical examination that Deron had earnestly requested, with Lineue’s prodding added, could no longer be postponed.
“As long as I don’t die, it’s fine. They’re all worrying unnecessarily.”
Leaving Tatar behind, Vinea opened the door handle and met eyes with Lineue standing in front of the bedroom. She seemed to have brought some simple food for her who had skipped meals, holding a small sandwich and tea in her hands.
Just as she was about to refuse, saying it was fine this time too, Lineue’s scream-like cry pierced Vinea’s ears.
“—Your Majesty!”
As her vision blurred, Vinea’s body fell to the floor.
* * *
In the carriage heading to the imperial palace, Duke Castallo clutched his head and lowered it. The expression of his son, Taleum Castallo, sitting opposite him, was also deeply shadowed.
“It’s all my fault. I should have realized that you were no longer at an age needing parental protection. If I had known hiding the truth would come back like this…”
“I know you both made the decision thinking it was for the best. It’s not your fault.”
Even as he said this, Taleum couldn’t completely hide his complex feelings.
After sending Eurene to the villa, he had learned the whole truth from his father.
Why they had to raise Eurene as if confining her, why her face resembled the Emperor Emeritus’s so closely, the secret of his mother’s birth and the hardships they had endured.
It was undeniable that every aspect of Eurene’s life, his sister, had suffered for reasons she hadn’t chosen, but the decisive reason for the current situation was Eurene’s own choices.
Not taking the morning-after pill, not reading their father’s letter, leaving the villa and entering the imperial palace – all of it.
“Judging by Eurene’s claim to be carrying His Majesty’s child, it seems she didn’t read the letter you sent, Father.”
“It was wrong from the start to convey it that way because I lacked the courage to say it directly. What should we do about this, Taleum? To bring such great shame to the name of the dukedom you’ll inherit… And what of Her Majesty the Empress’s anger?”
“We’ll have to talk. With Eurene, and with Her Majesty the Empress.”
But would they be forgiven even if they did? She had dared to lie about a one-night stand at a brothel as an encounter with His Majesty, dragging his honor to the ground.
Even from the rough situation outlined in the letter secretly delivered to the Castallo mansion from the imperial palace, it was clearly not something that could be resolved with just a conversation.
Duke Castallo closed his eyes with a pained expression.
“In the worst case, we might not be able to avoid the extermination of our family. The Emperor Emeritus, the only one who could protect us, is imprisoned, isn’t he?”
“There are plenty of ways to terminate the pregnancy, Father. And it hasn’t been proven that Eurene was the cause of His Majesty’s collapse. We can only hope that Her Majesty the Empress will take pity on us.”
The Duke raised his head. In his dark eyes, resentment towards his daughter flashed like sparks.
“Do you think Eurene, who has driven things to this state, would do that? Even if we tell the truth, do you really believe that child, already pushed to the brink, would make the right choice?”
Taleum avoided the Duke’s gaze, his lips tightly pressed together.
Thus, without resolving anything, the Castallo family’s carriage came to a stop in front of the back gate of the imperial palace. It was thanks to Her Majesty the Empress’s consideration, telling them to enter the palace as inconspicuously as possible out of regard for the ducal family’s dignity.
It was the moment when the Duke and Taleum, following a servant, arrived at the reception room of the separate palace.
A guest who had visited the separate palace before them passed by them as they left the reception room.
“…The High Priest?”
Putting aside their curiosity, as they were about to enter the reception room, the knight guarding the door blocked the Duke’s path.
Who dares to block the path of Duke Castallo? Taleum looked at the knight with a hardened expression.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“Lady Eurene has only permitted the young master’s visit. I apologize.”
Taleum pressed his throbbing temples. A deep sense of betrayal and anger clouded the face of the Duke standing in front. The Duke turned around.
“I’ll wait in the carriage, so come back when you’ve finished talking, Taleum. Don’t forget. From now on, the most important thing you should consider is not Eurene, but the well-being of the dukedom and yourself.”
The Duke walked away after speaking coldly. Watching his retreating figure, Taleum entered the reception room with a complex expression.
“…Eurene.”
“Welcome, Brother. It’s your first time at the separate palace, right? Did you find your way without getting lost?”
An affectionate voice greeted him. Taleum felt a small chill. Given the current situation, was this a time to exchange greetings with a smile?
He looked with a stern expression at Eurene, who was standing by the window holding an armful of flowers.
No trace of worry or concern could be read on Eurene’s fair face as she buried it in the bouquet, inhaling the fragrance. It was a completely different face from the day she left for the villa, overwhelmed with shock.
“Sit down. You came to see me because you have questions, right? I’ll explain as much as I can within my limits.”
“You…”
Taleum sat on the sofa prepared in the reception room, his lips tightly pressed. Eurene, who had placed the bouquet she was holding in an empty vase, sat opposite him.
Taleum, trying to gauge where to start the conversation, decided to confirm the most important issue.
“It seems you didn’t read Father’s letter, Eurene.”
Eurene nodded with a nonchalant face.
“That’s right. I tore it up without reading it. Would you have read it if you were me? Whatever was written in Father’s letter, who sent me away from the capital, it wouldn’t have filled the void in my heart.”
Taleum furrowed his brow and rubbed his dry face with his left hand.
“That wasn’t a letter sent to comfort you. It’s because you didn’t read it that you’re here with such a calm face.”
“What does that letter matter? With a future of being confined to a remote villa for life and having to marry a low-ranking nobleman chosen by our parents right in front of me, I had to do something. I did my best in my position, Brother.”
“You’ve lost your mind, Eurene. Do you know what you’ve done to our parents? Mother has collapsed, and Father spends every night drowning in alcohol. All because of your ridiculous greed!”
“Why is it ridiculous?”
“…What?”
Clear green eyes turned to Taleum. Faintly reading the pitch-black desire nestled within them, Taleum’s brow furrowed.
“I’m going to become the Empress, Brother. In the end, even our parents will have no choice but to acknowledge me. I’ll no longer be the shameful daughter who needs to be hidden in a remote villa.”
“You, you’ve truly gone mad. How dare you say such things when it’s not even His Majesty’s child…!”
Eurene raised her hand to her mouth.
“Shh—”
Her vibrant pink lips curved into a gentle smile.
“The child is listening, Brother. You should be quiet.”
