How the Abandoned Queen Made That Man Kneel - Chapter 63

The carriage carrying Katharine and Farnese left the capital and soon turned onto a quiet countryside road.

However, there was no time to joyfully reunite with Farnese or candidly share recent circumstances.

This was because there was one last person they needed to meet before completely leaving the land of the Khan Kingdom.

“Your Majesty, Lady Katharine. We have arrived.”

The coachman stopped the carriage on the side of the road.

It was a small inn with a sign that read “Blue Back Inn” along with a cute fish illustration, creaking as it swayed.

Although I’m not sure why they built an inn so close to the capital, it was the perfect place for a quiet meeting.

Katharine flung open the door and went inside.

Just as the distinctive musty smell and the scent of long-simmered stew hit her nose, someone sitting in the corner stood up and shouted, “Miss!”

It was Rogia.

“Miss Rogia. You’re already here.”

“Miss, I’m so relieved. I believed you must have been falsely accused. Your sincere eyes told me everything!”

Recalling their brief eye contact in the courtroom, Rogia excitedly blurted out her words.

Katharine comforted her and formally expressed her gratitude.

“Thank you for believing in me. And for speaking up on my behalf. I don’t know how I can repay you.”

“Repay? Please don’t say that. If anything, I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

Just as she was about to console the downcast Rogia, telling her there was no need to be sorry:

“Excuse me. Would you mind thanking me as well? See how chapped my lips are? I can’t even remember when I last slept.”

Aster, who had been sitting in a shaded corner, spoke up with a slightly playful voice as he stood.

However, he had to stop in his tracks before he could get close to Katharine.

This was because Farnese, standing firmly behind Katharine, gave Aster an unwelcoming look.

“It seems the men of the Khan Kingdom consider brazenness a virtue?”

Aster cleared his throat awkwardly while glancing at him.

“Honestly, I have nothing to say. But please give me a chance to say farewell to Lady Katharine. We may meet as uncomfortable acquaintances from now on.”

“Uncomfortable acquaintances? What do you mean?”

When Katharine asked curiously, Aster smiled faintly and shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s nothing. Just something I said.”

“If you’d like, I’m willing to take Lord Aster to the Renel Empire with us.”

“Oh my. Please don’t say things you don’t mean. Although I helped you a bit this time, I’m still someone you’re wary of, Lady Katharine. Or perhaps… you haven’t developed feelings for me, have you?”

Aster grinned slyly.

At that moment, she thought she heard Farnese click his tongue behind her.

Katharine simply nodded in understanding without adding anything more.

In fact, what she had just said was merely a casual remark.

Katharine wasn’t foolish enough to blindly bring along someone like Aster, whose true intentions she couldn’t fathom and couldn’t fully trust.

It was appropriate to simply bid him farewell and part ways cleanly.

“Miss Rogia. Will you come with me?”

“What? M-Me?”

“Yes. If you’re willing, I’d like to make you my personal maid. What do you think?”

It seemed to be an unexpected proposal she had never imagined, as Rogia even pointed at herself in great surprise.

She blushed and didn’t know what to do.

Honestly, it seemed she wasn’t against the idea.

At the same time, she was needlessly worrying about whether she could really go to the Renel Empire and if she might be a burden.

“Is someone like me really worthy of the honor of serving you, miss?”

“Of course. Your Majesty, is that alright?”

Katharine gazed at Farnese and asked.

He smiled readily as soon as his eyes met Katharine’s and gave his permission, saying, “What could be the problem?”

“See? His Majesty welcomes you as well.”

“I-I-I am deeply honored. Then… I shall humbly accept, if you’ll excuse my impudence.”

“Wonderful. It’s decided then.”

Having concluded all their business, the four of them hurried out of the inn before any more time passed.

Rogia shyly greeted the coachman and knights, while Aster led his own horse out from the small stable attached to the inn.

Before boarding the carriage, Katharine asked him:

“Lord Aster. What do you intend to do now?”

“I must return. To where I belong.”

Hearing his vague answer, Katharine realized he planned to go back to the palace.

She narrowed her eyes, looking at the Khan royal castle faintly obscured by mist in the distance.

“No one will welcome you there.”

“Yes, I suppose not. But don’t worry. I have a plan in mind.”

“I see. I’m sure you’ll manage well. In any case, thank you for helping clear my name. Take care.”

“Yes. Farewell, future Empress.”

Aster kept his head bowed until their carriage disappeared down the hill, then slowly raised his face.

Realizing you like someone just as you understand that love can never be fulfilled isn’t a very pleasant feeling.

But what could he do now?

He’d have to curse his own stupidity and foolishness, suffer a bit with some regret and longing, then gradually forget.

A heavy silence enveloped the court, as precarious as walking on thin ice, as if something might happen at any moment.

The void left by Katharine, who had struck the back of her own head with the pebbles of betrayal she had carefully piled up and departed, was empty.

As if searching for vain hope that all of this might just be an absurd dream, Charlen quietly closed and opened his eyes.

“Y-Your Majesty. I can explain everything.”

Behind Charlen, who had been staring out the window for hours with eyes so empty it sent chills down one’s spine, Rose was trembling endlessly.

“What explanation could you possibly have?”

Charlen asked back in a calm voice devoid of any anger.

Given his usual temperament, it wouldn’t have been enough even if he had raged, smashing all sorts of furniture and screaming at the top of his lungs.

But now, Charlen seemed detached, as if he no longer felt the need to do so, as if he no longer held any expectations for the woman named Rose standing before him.

“Your Majesty, I…”

“Just what exactly was truth and what was lie?”

“I, well… Everything was for your sake, Your Majesty.”

Rose ultimately chose once again to evade the immediate crisis with a shallow lie.

Although she had no idea how to clean up the mess later, for now, it was more important not to be abandoned by Charlen.

After all, she wanted to avoid at all costs living the rest of her life in disgrace as a divorced queen.

“I felt that elder sister Katharine would someday ruin Your Majesty. So I must have gone mad for a moment. In my desire to protect Your Majesty, I ended up committing a terrible act.”

“You seem to be under some misunderstanding, but that was not an action for my sake.”

Charlen warned in a voice that, though somewhat softened, still carried a chilly wind.

The sense of betrayal towards Rose, whom he had trusted so much, was not something easily dispelled.

“Because of you, I ruined everything, lost face as a king, had my pride as a man trampled, and Katharine left ostentatiously for the Renel Empire. No matter how I think about it, I cannot forgive you.”

“I was wrong. Please forgive me!”

Rose sank to her knees on the cold floor, clasping Charlen’s trouser leg and begging with both hands.

Her tear-stained face no longer stirred Charlen’s sympathy as it had before.

“I’ll accept any punishment gladly. Just please don’t say you’ll cast me aside. I can’t live without Your Majesty. Without Your Majesty, I’m as good as dead.”

“How can you say such things?”

Charlen asked, glaring fiercely at the fireplace where flames blazed.

Rose sniffled, rubbing her cheek against his leg.

“Because I love you…”

“Anyone can say they love someone.”

“I’ll repent and prove it every day from now on. My sincerity towards Your Majesty. I’ll follow and obey everything Your Majesty says. So please, for the sake of our child…”

Charlen’s cold gaze fell upon her lower abdomen.

Yes. That was the last hope.

“…Don’t make such an expression. I never intended to cast you aside in the first place.”

“R-Really…?”

“Yes.”

The final link connecting Katharine and himself – a child with features resembling Katharine and the same emerald eyes as hers would be perfect.

Wasn’t it for this very moment that he had chosen Rose as his queen, surpassing all the excellent women overflowing in this vast world?

So that even a tiny bit of his blood and ‘her’ blood could mix and become one.

“Didn’t we vow to each other on the day we made our century-long promise? That we would overcome and move forward no matter what hardships and adversities befell us. I am not a man who makes promises I cannot keep.”

“Your Majesty.”

“I will give you one last chance. So you too must remember this. Never again hide anything from me, deceive me, or scheme foolish acts. After all, isn’t it the way of married couples to have no secrets between them?”

Charlen thought as he bestowed deception wrapped in the fine packaging of forgiveness and mercy.

Perhaps God had designated Katharine as his beloved and fated partner, while Rose was meant for safely continuing the lineage.

Rose, unable to understand the true meaning hidden in his words, nodded her head so vigorously it seemed her neck might break.

Not noticing that Charlen’s eyes no longer shone with the former ecstatic light, but were filled with desire for another.

Rose gritted her teeth, realizing that at this point, she must take the secret of her birth to the grave.

If even that were to be discovered, then Charlen’s sword would surely sever her head directly.

“Come now. It’s not good for you to sit on the cold floor, especially in your condition.”

As Charlen embraced Rose affectionately, his eyes glared in the direction of the border beyond the window.

There was still a chance.

If he could only prove to Emperor Farnese, who was unknowingly being deceived by Katharine, that she was incapable of bearing children.

Surely their relationship, built on shallow interest and curiosity, would shatter like thin ice.