Ivette, who had been sitting nearby, cautiously opened her mouth.
“Your Majesty, aren’t you angry?”
“Should I be?”
“Yes. They’re accusing you unfairly. Who would accuse a noble for executing their own servant? That’s nonsense.”
Bitter but true, that’s how social status worked.
It wasn’t that Ivette now viewed the lives of the palace servants lightly because she had become a noble. It was because the unfairness and discrimination given by social status was all too common.
“So, in my opinion, the issue is not about the life of the palace servant. It’s about the missing mark.”
That must be it.
The temple wouldn’t have gotten involved without knowing the law.
The issue was the mark.
The temple wanted to expose that Rasilia was a fake.
And that’s where things became complicated.
‘The temple is aiming for the Empress.’
If it was revealed that the Empress was a fake, the Emperor would not lose anything. It was the Empress who kept the secret, so the Emperor would just punish her and find a new consort.
‘Although the temple isn’t close with the royal family… they may intend to prevent the Emperor from transforming into a demon. If the Empress keeps her mouth shut, the one who would suffer the most is the Emperor. And the price would be paid by everyone in the Empire. The temple might be trying to protect the Empire this way.’
So, the problem was with her alone.
The prophet of Delarta who had the face of the Empress but was not the real one.
“What happens to me if the temple is right?”
“Ahh… Your Majesty.”
Ivette clenched her hands in sympathy.
“In my opinion… if you lose the trial, you’ll be dethroned.”
“Dethroned?”
Unexpected.
Rasilia thought that the Empress would surely be killed.
“Yes… In Eliarden, the Empress is the position of the Emperor’s consort.”
“What happens if I am dethroned?”
“That is… um, I’m not sure, but you might return to being a Duchess? Of course, you would have to discuss that with Duke Pielleon. The Duke might also be punished. If the mark is really missing, the Duke may have been involved in hiding it.”
Ivette seemed to assume that the mark might actually be missing.
Well, someone as clever as Ivette would not be unaware. The Empress had refused to share a bed for four years and took great care not to expose her body. One would not do such a thing without reason.
“Dethroned….”
It wasn’t an execution.
If she were dethroned and the Duke did not take her in, she would be homeless, but that was not the worst outcome for Rasilia.
‘Then I can go back.’
It felt as if the answer had sprung forth from an unexpected place.
‘I’m not sure if it’s the right answer though.’
The prophecy Rasilia had seen was of her dying self being looked at by Leskal. She had confessed her love to Leskal, and he had rejected it. In the prophecy, Leskal was merely cold. No emotions were felt.
‘Did knowing the mark disappeared make his feelings vanish too? Or is it just residual anger from being deceived?’
So was he trying to kill her, his deposed wife?
But that also didn’t quite fit.
‘If it’s now… that would be a bit strange.’
The aversion she had toward the Emperor had indeed diluted significantly.
However, when he would try to kill her, she didn’t think she would shout, “I am your real destiny, I love you,” consumed by feelings of betrayal and resentment.
‘The time doesn’t seem to be now.’
Perhaps it would happen much later.
When her emotions have uncontrollably ripened. When she had become accustomed to the life of an empress, even forgetting she was a fake. One day when she believed without a doubt that he loved her.
‘Alright. Then I’ll take the risk.’
Before that, she would be dethroned and leave the palace.
She needed certainty that the outcome of the trial would be deposition. If that was assured, she could skip the process of proving her mark in front of the clergy during the trial.
“Your Majesty… is there anything I can do to help?”
Ivette asked, scrutinizing Rasilia’s increasingly serious expression.
Ivette was the one whose face screamed of worry to the point of madness.
“Just say the word. I will do whatever I can. I can testify as you command.”
What Ivette meant was false testimony.
However, lying under the oath of the temple was fatal. She had never seen it in Eliaeden, but in Delarta, divine curses were given. It would be the same here.
“No, you just need to speak what you’ve seen and heard. There will be no need to demand testimony from you.”
“Why? I am the first ladyinwaiting of the Imperial Palace, Your Majesty.”
“That will be so. …Ah, but there’s something else you can do.”
“Please speak, Your Majesty.”
What Rasilia needed was someone who could handle the clergy, the judiciary, and the Council of Nobles.
And that person was very close by.
“We need to meet Duke Fielion. What’s the quickest way?”
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
_____
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