Kneeling on the floor to this inscrutable, stupid emperor was annoying enough, but now it was time to apologize for what had happened in the morning.

‘Damn. It’s killing me to apologize when I haven’t done anything wrong.’

After Anri left, Valiere rolled around in bed.

All she had was Anri’s favor.

As the illegitimate child, not even the real child of the duke, there was not much she could do.

‘No, don’t they usually grant titles to official consorts? How long do I have to live with the label of illegitimate child?’

Moreover, her family was gradually cutting off support since she couldn’t get pregnant and didn’t even receive a simple title.

The money she barely managed to donate to the orphanage was all she could scrape together.

And the letter that came with the money was full of mocking words about her situation.

‘I can’t do anything as I am now. I don’t have any money to spend freely, nor a title to command people. I need to solve these two problems first.’

In fact, Valiere planned to ask Anri for a title and its accompanying land today.

So, she had practiced an apology she didn’t mean all day to appease him.

“I, this morning…….”

“It’s okay. It’s in the past, isn’t it? No need to worry.”

“But still, I…….”

“Did you see it?”

“What?”

Did he ask if she had seen it without giving her a chance to apologize?

“Did you see it? The words I engraved.”
The usually lordly and languidly haughty aura that radiated from his brilliant face showed an excitement akin to that of a tenyearold boy.

“…….”

Velia noticed the expectant look in Anri’s eyes, realizing that he was saying something important.

But she could not answer rashly without knowing the exact content.

Anri, stifled by Velia’s silence, asked again.

“You haven’t checked it yet?”

As she pondered, only then did a pair of earrings that Anri had left in the morning pass through Velia’s mind.

“I haven’t tried them on yet because I’m not feeling well. So I couldn’t check.”

Velia answered with a playful smile, but Anri’s expression noticeably began to turn cold.

“You didn’t check?”

Anri was not readily convinced by her words.

A tradition between them for more than a decade.

For Velia, who had always looked forward to the engraved message on the back of the jewelry more than the jewelry itself, it was a significant act.

The woman standing in front of him, smiling awkwardly, was undoubtedly his beloved lover, but strangely, Anri found her appearance entirely unfamiliar.

He couldn’t describe it exactly, but an ominous unease swept through Anri’s body, leaving him feeling unpleasant.

“If you’re still unable to check, you must be very sick. Stop praying and lie down and rest.”

A lover who knew everything now felt closer when absent than when beside him.

Anri got up, intending to leave before his heart was further swayed.

“Your Majesty!”

Velia grabbed Anri, about to leave, with her whole body.

“I’m sorry for upsetting you this morning. I didn’t pay attention to the earrings because I was upset. I’m almost completely healed now.”

Seeing her desperate appearance, Anri’s heart wavered, feeling he had been too cold.

“I, and since I’m not sick anymore, starting today……”

Her words trailed off, but it was not difficult for Anri to understand Velia’s intent from her blatant, lascivious look.

In the past, his body would have reacted first to his lover’s bold temptation.

But strangely, really strangely, Anri felt as if his whole body was sinking into cold, dark water.

Because Velia’s teal eyes were emitting a ghastly aura, even though she was wearing a lascivious expression.

‘What is it! What’s wrong with him! Isn’t that man really crazy?!’

Had she not had eyes to see or ears to hear, Velia would surely have screamed in a voice cracking with desperation.

A last resort devised to gain power and territory.

He had reluctantly offered to spend the night with her, even though touching was still awkward, only to be refused.

Anri left Velia’s bedroom, fleeing without responding to her proposal.

‘Why! Why is he doing this! Weren’t the two of them inseparable? Even the maids were said to sleep here day in and day out! Why refuse? Why!’

Velia couldn’t accept the situation in front of her.

Of course, she couldn’t understand.

Velia had only seen Anri as a means to achieve her goal, not recognizing him as a human being with emotions.

To Velia, Anri was merely a tool for her to become empress, neither more nor less than a protagonist’s accessory.

And here lies the problem.

Although Anri was calculating, selfcentered, and cruel as an emperor, his feelings for his lover were sincere.

The only human part left in him was Velia.
But Velia, who even when living as Yerim, saw everyone around her as nothing but supporting characters in her life, could not possibly understand that fact.

She felt like throwing up.

It was hard to pinpoint exactly what this nasty feeling was, but if she had to choose an appropriate word for it, it would be a filthy and uncomfortable emotion.

Why she felt this way after seeing the sly smile of her longtime lover, she did not know, but that was the way it was.

Whether Anri wanted to cry or get angry, she returned to her office with an unknown complex emotion, and the chamberlain came to report the news about Ermedillin with an urgent voice.

“The Empress has fainted again.”

Without taking a moment to control his emotions, he rushed to the Empress’s bedroom, and there was Ermedillin, lying on the bed with a pale face.

“What happened?”

In response to Anri’s question, Louise, who had been looking at Ermedillin, answered in a heavy voice.

“There’s nothing physically wrong. It seems to be a mental illness.”