Certainly, translating a passage like this requires utmost precision, especially with regards to maintaining the characters’ names and genders consistently throughout the text. Let’s proceed.

Of course, she had expected some form of excuse, but such a disheartening reply left Valiere beyond shocked, engulfed in rage.

As her head filled with blood and she felt dizzy, she sensed the maids rushing to steady her.

Supported, she sat in a chair and scrutinized Henri’s complexion.

He looked down at her with concern but lacked the terrorstricken face he had before.

‘Is this approach no longer effective?’

As Valiere lamented the loss of a convenient method, Henri emotionlessly extended a lavish box toward her.

“Open it.”

Lifting a feeble hand, Valiere opened the box to find an extravagant mask inside.

“What is this?”

“It’s the mask we’ll wear at the founding ceremony.”

“Didn’t I clearly say I won’t wear it?”

Annoyed by Henri’s continuous disregard, Valiere impulsively tossed the mask onto the nearby table.

“So you finally discard my feelings.”

Henri’s voice seemed resigned. Valiere suddenly came to her senses and picked up the mask.

“That’s not it! I simply thought there’s no need for me to wear a mask when the people are already wearing them.”

“The founding ceremony should be joyous. A festival where people can forget their struggles. Isn’t that what you said?”

It probably echoed something Valiere had said before.

“Do you mean forcing the people to wear masks? What would the people, who had to cover their faces due to being treated like a disease, think when they see you not wearing one?”

“Treated like a disease! When did I—”

“Masks should extend the line of entertainment. How many would obey if forced? The emperor and the nobles should set an example, so the people willingly wear them. Can’t you figure that out?”

Frustrated, Henri rubbed his forehead and slumped into a nearby chair.

Watching this, Valiere felt an intense sense of crisis for the first time.

‘What’s with that sigh? You love this woman, right? You’re inseparable. Even if she’s wrong, it’s fine?’

A past incident flashed in her mind.

Selfharm.

Her parents had approved her double eyelid surgery the moment she slit her wrist at the dining table, hadn’t they?

In desperation, she spotted a glass vase.

Crash!

Without hesitation, Valiere hurled the vase and grabbed the sharpest shard.

“What are you—”

Slash!

Blood spurted from a vein in her hand.

It was a bleed that would be fine with immediate treatment.

Valiere knew very well from prior experience that such a glass shard wouldn’t reach the veins.

“What the hell is this??”

Only then did Henri widen his eyes, rushing to staunch Valiere’s bleeding.

“Summon the priest! Summon him now!!”

Henri’s usually stern voice broke in desperation.

“Lately, it seems your affection has drifted from me. Probably my fault for not meeting your expectations. If I can’t be of use, I don’t need to live.”

Valiere, in Henri’s embrace, spoke with a fragile voice.

‘This method always works. Try experiencing it. I hold the strings to your lover’s life.’

Of course, Valiere’s true feelings diverged completely from her pitiable outward appearance.

She acted with renewed vigor, confident in her strategy.
Priest Louis soon arrived and healed the wrist wound immediately.

The maids started to clean the blood on the floor and as they attempted to remove Valerio’s clothes, Henri left a brief greeting and exited the drawing room.

“Rest.”

Throughout his walk down the long palace corridor, Henri was seized by an inexplicable unease and restlessness.

Of course, witnessing the selfharm of his beloved woman made it natural to feel anxious.

But Henri felt that this unsettling palpitation he was experiencing had another reason.

‘Strange. Really strange.’

Valerio, after slashing her wrist, looked at him with a dreamy expression in her embrace.

A sight that would be pitiable to anyone who saw it.

But at that moment, Henri caught something foreign in his eye.

Valerio’s hazel eyes, which should be emitting a benign light, were emitting an ominous glow.

‘What on earth was that?’

Those eyes were not those of someone who was trying to end her life due to emotional pain from her lover.

Contemplating deeply while walking down the long corridor to his office, his chief servant delivered unexpected news.

“Her Majesty the Empress has requested an audience with General Ferdinand.”

“Ferdinand?”

“Yes. She has requested to see him up close.”

“Ah, it must be time she wants to see him.”

Just when he was thinking about the beneficial card he had, an idea flashed in Henri’s mind.

‘Hostage! Yes, hostage. It was the look of someone who is holding a hostage to make threats.’

Before Valerio’s selfharm incident, Ermedillin had gone downtown with Luni and Pellio to survey some mask workshops in the early afternoon.

Sitting in the carriage and engaged in light conversation, they suddenly heard a noisy commotion outside.

‘What’s happening?’