Two years ago, the nursemaid who had come to the palace with them from the estate passed away. Although it was due to old age, the continued mental shocks were likely the main cause.
At the funeral, attended only by the two of them, Eliade cried a lot. She released all the pent-up sorrow at once, crying out everything inside her. The scar on her neck trembled with her sobs.
The long, dark diagonal scar was proof that Eliade had saved Lynette and the nursemaid.
Every time Lynette looked directly at that scar, her throat tightened. And she remembered the nursemaid’s last words, worried about Eliade until she closed her eyes for the last time.
“Thanks to you, Your Majesty the Empress, this old woman was able to live a little longer… now live for yourself.”
Perhaps it was because of the nursemaid’s final words, but Eliade survived. She erased all expressions, dreaming only of revenge.
In the dark bedroom, Eliade’s eyelids fluttered. She had fallen asleep, exhausted, so it was assumed she wouldn’t have nightmares.
But the relentless nightmares did not even spare her moments of rest.
**
It was an unusually cloudy day when the terrifying word “treason” struck the Melfiram estate like lightning.
Emperor Claudius ordered the arrest of those who dared to harm the Emperor of the Empire and plotted insurrection. All evidence, statements, and circumstances pointed to the Melfiram Count’s family.
If they had cleared the suspicion when the first spark of doubt flew, running around to prove the family’s innocence, perhaps they could have avoided the tragedy of the family’s annihilation.
As if reading Eliade’s thoughts in advance, Claudius immediately confined her in the Imperial Consort’s Palace, not allowing her to leave.
“Emperor, please let me see them one last time.”
Eliade’s heart-wrenching cries from within the Imperial Consort’s Palace went on for days, but the Emperor remained unmoved. The Empress stopped eating and stared blankly.
After some time, a word from a servant moved Eliade.
“Your Majesty the Empress. The Emperor has… taken the chamberlain and the nursemaid.”
A spark flared in her previously vacant, blurry eyes. Her skirt tangled as she rushed frantically to where Claudius was.
It must be a dream. Yet, knowing this, her breath involuntarily quickened.
There, she saw the Emperor’s back as he held a sword. Eliade gathered all her strength to run and shield Lynette and the nursemaid.
“Your Majesty the Empress!”
“Step aside.”
His voice was devoid of any warmth, as cold as she remembered it from years ago. Eliade, in her dream, shook her head slightly and barely opened her mouth.
“……They are innocent.”
“They worked for a family of traitors. There’s no reason to spare them.”
“These people have been with me since I was the Crown Princess. They neither plotted nor thought of such things.”
“Right, they are your people, so naturally, you would defend them. But can you be sure they didn’t collude with the Melfiram family?”
“Please reconsider your doubts and…”
“Reconsider and… what do you want? Should I show mercy just for the Empress?”
Claudius was mocking Eliade’s desperate pleas, laughing scornfully while playing with people’s lives.
Kneeling and begging here would only lead to Claudius stepping over Eliade and executing Lynette and the nursemaid.
That couldn’t happen. Eliade pulled out a hidden dagger and aimed it at her throat.
“Your Majesty the Empress!”
Lynette’s desperate cry and the nursemaid’s sobs soared into the sky. Claudius, who had been smirking with the sword, froze at the sight.
The blade went deeper than expected. The sharp edge drew a red line across Eliade’s throat, slowly penetrating deeper into the flesh.
The always calm and elegant Empress, famous since her days as the Crown Princess, was now broken, her blood dripping along with the shattered illusion of her beauty.
“Empress…”
“Don’t come any closer!”
It was a threat filled with genuine intent. Her eyes, red from crying, had no more tears left, only a cracked voice.
“If you harm them, I will die right here.”
Her voice was clear and unwavering despite days without food. Her determined eyes bore into him fiercely.
Claudius took a step forward to disarm her, but Eliade confronted him with fiery eyes.
The blade sank deeper into her throat. Blood trickled down the knife, staining Eliade’s hand and the ground.
After a few drops of blood, Claudius relented.
“……I’ll leave their fate to the Empress.”
As Claudius turned away with his sword, all emotion drained from Eliade. She finally removed the dagger from her throat.
What happened next was blurry. The surroundings seemed to waver like a mirage. Her vision darkened, and she thought she heard Lynette and the nursemaid’s voices behind her.
Blood had soaked the spot where Eliade fell. When she awoke, the doctor diagnosed her with pregnancy.
It should have been a joyous occasion, but no one dared to offer congratulations in such a somber atmosphere.
The unborn child, a blessing in despair, received no warm words. Eliade always felt sorry she couldn’t speak kindly to her first child.
What had Claudius’s reaction been to the pregnancy news?
As these faint memories tried to resurface, Eliade forcefully woke from her sleep. She didn’t want to recall them, even if she could.
The room was dark as she opened her eyes. Beyond the carefully drawn curtains, it must have been dark too. Despite her instructions to be woken up, Lynette must have left her sleeping, seeing her peaceful.
The end of the nightmare always brought self-reproach.
Eliade placed her hand over her closed eyes. Another layer of darkness pressed down on her, heavy with the weight of her thoughts.
It’s all my fault. The death of the child, the purge of my family, everything. If I had just refused the position of Crown Princess, if I hadn’t entered the palace, this tragedy would never have happened.
Beneath the hand resting on her eyelids, moisture began to seep through. Tears she thought had dried up burst forth. Her crying was always silent, never making a sound.
Cold Male Lead Became My Clingy Husband (Female-Dominant)
Feng Bai Su transmigrated into a matriarchal novel, becoming the sister of the female protagonist and the Seventh Princess of the Feng Ling Kingdom.
After working herself to death in her previous life, finally reincarnating as a princess, she only wanted to be a lazy fish who could eat, sleep, and play.
Until she met the male protagonist from the book, Wei Jing Mo, and he took a liking to her!
Wei Jing Mo is the top young man in Feng Ling City, talented in both appearance and ability, from a prestigious family, with a cold and otherworldly appearance, a figure like the bright moon in the hearts of noble ladies. It was thought that only the most powerful and talented noble lady in Feng Ling City would be worthy of such a brilliant young man. Who knew that this young gentleman would secretly admire the infamous Seventh Princess?
Short scene 1:
Feng Bai Su looked at the young man crying like a pear blossom in the rain before her, and couldn’t help but doubt her life.
Wasn’t the male lead described as a cold and otherworldly figure in the book?
Then who was this poor little thing crying with swollen red eyes and tear-stained face?
Short scene 2:
Wei Jing Mo stared intently at Feng Bai Su who was about to go out, wanting to say, “Be careful on the road.”
Before he could speak, Feng Bai Su suddenly bent down and bit his cheek.
Her peach blossom eyes were full of disdain: “Tsk! You’re so clingy!”
Wei Jing Mo: “…”
A talented fox spirit female lead with a flirtatious appearance but actually abstinent VS A cold-looking but actually naive and clingy little jealous male lead
