“Aren’t you going to dethrone me anyway?”

Rodelia lifted her head and looked at Kane, who was approaching her.

“Or are you going to execute me?”

She burst out laughing. The days when she used to try to catch Kane’s eyes seemed like an illusion now.

Even though she had been betrayed by Viscountess Cohen, her heart was surprisingly calm.

It was funny.

It was so pitiful to be so helpless.  However, even if she had known, would anything have changed?

Realizing this, she smiled. It was better to have known than to suffer while remaining ignorant.

If, by chance, the truth is revealed after she is executed….

“Impossible. Rodelia, do you think I can kill you?”

The thoughts that gnawed at her in quick succession were cut short by Kane’s words. He smiled strangely, as if Rodelia’s reaction was interesting.

Do you want to seem like a benevolent emperor?

That may be the case. The blood of those he slaughtered was enough to dye a river so he might have wanted to change the perception that he was a cruel and heartless emperor.

“I plan to consider your dethronement later.”

He raised one corner of his mouth and smirked.

Dethronement.

She struggled so hard to protect the Empress position. Was it something so trivial that dethronement can be easily mentioned?

Rodelia closed her eyes tightly. Thinking back on it, it was indeed absurd. Clearly, Kane wasn’t the type of emperor with a clouded judgment.

No, on the contrary, he belonged to the side with good judgment. So even after shedding so much blood, he received the best reputation among all emperors of Thebes.

But what about now?

Did the poison ruin him? Or was it the ugly inferiority complex that destroyed him?

The exact reason was unknown. However, Kane can no longer go back to the man he used to be.

Rodelia turned her head with a complicated look. Kane, perhaps displeased with her expression, reached out and forcibly grabbed her chin.

[T/N: Tsk]

“So Rodelia, if you want to keep your position as empress…….”

“……”

“Kneel at my feet now. While everyone is watching.”

Kane’s words, which no one expected, made the surroundings frighteningly quiet. Only the sound of breathing and swallowing could be heard. The eyes of the guards who were lined up by the wall followed his lips.

“Then I’ll protect the Empress’ seat.”

Kane’s generous words mocked Rodelia.

She can keep her position as Empress?

The position of empress which she had carefully guarded has quickly turned into a mockery. Having suffered such humiliation in front of so many people, if she had to kneel down to protect the empress’ seat, would she be able to hold her head upright?

If she admits to the crime and kneels, will she be able to live comfortably?

No one knows.

Rising from her chair, Rodelia slowly knelt down. Surprised gasps came out here and there but in the current situation, what did shame have to do with it?

[T/N: Girl, Noooo!!]

She just wanted to protect the empress’ seat. At first, it was just because of the greed of Marquis Florence, however, as the years went by, a sense of responsibility for the Empire of Thebes arose within her.

Now, she wanted the position of the empress for herself.

She could feel numerous gazes focusing on her. Her body trembled from the shame and her heart pounded madly.

Rodelia slowly lifted her head and gazed at Kane with quivering eyes. He made a face that didn’t make sense to her and then started to laugh out loud. For a long time, Kane’s laughter alone resonated.

He suddenly stopped laughing and opened his mouth in amazement.

“It’s hilarious.”

“……”

“Truly astonishing.”

“…..”

“I didn’t know the empress would want to keep her place this much.”

Kane stood up from his seat and slowly walked towards Rodelia, harshly holding her chin. Then with a sneer he said.

“I was able to see something good in the end. But…… as you know, a dethronement is decided in a council meeting. Inserting my hands in it is impossible.”

[T/N: ( -_- ), I felt that humiliation]

 *

Fortunately, she was not put in jail.

Until the day the council convenes, her punishment was to be confined in the Empress Palace. She didn’t know whether this was his last consideration for her as the empress, or if he wanted to play the role of a merciful emperor.

Either way, it was a fortune out of all these misfortunes.

She spent her days staring out the window. Only after ten full days of imprisonment could Rodelia see her attendants. They burst through the door with pale faces.

She didn’t know how they managed to go past her tight security and get there but it was a very welcome thing in which Rodelia was grateful for.

“Your Majesty the Empress……!”

Lady Aden rushed in and hugged Rodelia tightly. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“I’m alright.”

Rodelia said to her calmly who was in her arms. Only then did Lady Aden move away from Rodelia and examined her body’s condition with a worried look.

At the door, Baroness Verna was whimpering, unable to come in.

“Baroness, come here.”

At the sound of Rodelia’s calm voice, she moved her feet one step at a time. Soon after, the madam came up to Rodelia and held her hands tightly without a word.

“Your Majesty……”

“Don’t just stand there, sit down.”

The ladies-in-waiting couldn’t hold back their tears, they felt sorry for her as she tried to raise the corner of her lips. Rodelia looked at the crying women with mixed feelings before walking to the sofa and holding their hands.

After crying for a long time, they finally calmed down and blew their noses with their handkerchiefs and spoke in tearful voices.

“Viscountess Cohen… How in the world could she do that……”?

“How could she?”

“We do not believe that Your Majesty would have done such a thing. How much Your Majesty loved His Majesty the Emperor…! Viscountess Cohen! Why did that woman…….”

“How kind Your Majesty was to that woman, how…….”

Rodelia smiled bitterly.

No one knew why Viscountess Cohen had forsaken her. Perhaps she was never one of Rodelia’s people in the first place.

But now, Rodelia felt much better knowing that there was someone who believed in her like this. Of course, that didn’t mean that it wouldn’t change in the future……

Baroness Verna continued to wipe away her tears then said in a sobbing voice.

“Even Marquis Florence has been imprisoned in the Imperial Palace.”

“…….so that’s what happened.”

She had already expected it, but her mind became troubled when she heard that he had been taken in. It wasn’t due to familial affection. She just felt a little bit pitiful for him who had lived his life so tenaciously.

Trying to seize power by using his daughter, only to be ultimately accused of poisoning; wasn’t this such a shabby ending?

Rodelia couldn’t hold back her sighs from leaking out.

“Your Majesty the Empress…..”

The voices of her maids full of sorrow pierced her heart. She had just suddenly realized that it is now truly over.

Her formidable supporter, Marquis Florence, had been arrested for poisoning the emperor, so she had no place to retreat.

It was no different from the Florence Marquisate going to complete ruination. It was also evident that the ladies who had promised to stand by her side would betray her eventually.

This situation was like having the tip of one’s toes on the edge of a bottomless cliff. Even though she badly wanted to escape from the hands of the Marquis, she was powerless without the Marquis.

Her hands trembled like crazy but she couldn’t show it in front of them. Rodelia slowly raised her gaze to capture the images of her ladies-in-waiting.

Her ladies-in-waiting would also be criticized once she is deposed.  Perhaps they would even be deprived of their titles. The reason, standing beside the empress who was guilty of high treason until the end.

“We will help, Your Majesty. Please let us help.”

“Yes. Surely, if we work together, we can solve this situation.”

You shouldn’t. Rodelia then deliberately spoke in a cold voice.

“You, how? The evidence is already pointing to me. Even if you come forward, nothing will change.”

“But…….”

It was a great comfort to her that they had willfully come here at the risk of their lives. Therefore she can no longer drag them into her own miserable situation.

“Leave.”

“……”

“Please…”

Rodelia tried to fake her expression, hiding her trembling hands.

She never imagined that having no power would be so miserable. She closed her eyes gently.

 *

Outside her window, the spring rain fell incessantly.

Come to think of it, today is the day that the council meeting would be held.

She couldn’t stay still for a moment in her nervousness. Rodelia lay down on the bed, got up and then sat down, repeatedly.

She was nervous because she already knew the outcome yet she still had a faint glimmer of hope. Just in case things turned around. Perhaps her kneeling worked a little……

[T/N: shaking my head ( -_- )]

If that wasn’t the case, perhaps bringing her ladies-in-waiting forward could help?

Her palms were dripping with sweat as she imagined various endings, then.

Bam bam bam!

Rodelia, who was startled by the violent knocks on the door, stood up from her seat. The result is finally out.

She hasn’t even opened the door but the aide, Ferna, slammed it open on his own accord, and looked at Rodelia with gleeful eyes.

Rodelia knew then. That the result was something that would have been satisfactory to Ferna.

Perhaps her dethronement or being sentenced to death. Ferna seemed to be barely holding back his laughter from leaking.

“As a result of the nobles’ council meeting, I have come to punish the sinner, Rodelia Florence.”