“Empress Dowager?”
While Charlotte was lost in her thoughts, Annette had stopped walking and was looking at her with a curious expression.
Startled, Charlotte quickly asked with a smile, “So, about the person you’re going to marry, your fiancé now. How did you feel meeting the Duke in person?”
“Oh, that, um…”
It wasn’t a particularly embarrassing question, but Annette’s ears turned red. Was she unaccustomed to such conversations, or was it the thought of Cardin that made her shy?
Charlotte smiled warmly at Annette’s adorable reaction and said, “He was completely different from the rumors.”
Annette spoke in a small voice. She had imagined him as a brutal and rough person, notorious as a bloodthirsty warmonger and murderer. She thought he would despise her for being called the Seed of the Demon due to her appearance caused by the demon’s blood. But she was wrong.
“He was kind, thoughtful, and very warm.”
She regretted holding such prejudices despite suffering from various rumors herself since birth. In reality, the Duke seemed too good for her.
Unaware of how Charlotte and Serina’s expressions had changed upon hearing her honest confession, Annette was deep in her reflections.
Charlotte and Serina were both surprised. The actual Duke was quite different from the public rumors, but they knew a different side of him.
“Also, he was honest yet shy.”
Who is this person?
“Especially his ideal values. I was surprised by how upright and earnest he is.”
So, who is this person?
Serina remembered the Duke from his prince days, who had stolen the hearts of countless ladies with his angelic appearance but had a reputation for being unapproachable and haughty. She acknowledged him as a war hero worthy of respect, but kind and considerate?
Charlotte, who considered the Duke almost like a younger brother, couldn’t say he was warm-hearted.
He never meant to hurt any of the ladies with his behavior; it was a combination of his belief that giving hope to unrequited feelings was crueler and his obsession with purity due to his secret birth.
The Duke had been conservative, not even tolerating a woman’s touch, except for Annette, whom he had decided to marry long ago.
Charlotte guessed that the ‘ideal values’ Annette mentioned might relate to marriage and spousal relationships.
‘Without Annette, I would never have seen Cardin get married.’
Charlotte looked at Annette with affection, thinking she should be even nicer to her.
“……?”
Annette, with flushed cheeks, suddenly froze like ice.
“Your Majesty? Why are you here?”
“Feeling a bit heavy after staying up all night. I thought a walk before tea might be a good idea. Is that alright?”
Annette was momentarily stunned by the sudden appearance of the Dowager Empress, then quickly responded, “Of course, Your Majesty.”
Realizing too late that she hadn’t greeted properly, she wondered if she should still do so, but it seemed too late now.
At that moment, the Dowager Empress’s cool gaze swept over Annette from head to toe, as if assessing her. Annette stiffened as if she were a prey animal in front of a predator, but consciously tried to relax.
‘The Duke always called the Dowager Empress “mother” from start to finish,’ unlike how he never called the former emperor “father.”
It really seemed like he thought of the Dowager Empress as his own mother, and if that was the case, then surely she must be as trustworthy and kind as Cardin had described.
Moreover…
‘Your Grace, um… does the Dowager Empress really… like me?’
‘Like you?’
‘Yes? Yes… so, is that true?’
During her conversation with Cardin, Annette couldn’t ignore a particular remark and finally asked about it. Cardin, as if waiting for that question, immediately nodded, “Of course, that’s natural.”
The response was so quick that Annette’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. He had arrived early in the morning, so it was likely he hadn’t yet had an audience with the Dowager Empress.
How could he be so sure about the Empress’s affection without having met her?
Cardin, as if reading her thoughts, explained, ‘The dress you’re wearing now was personally made by my mother.’
During his childhood, the Dowager Empress, despite being busy with official duties, often made clothes for her two sons. Especially for her younger son, Cardin, with his fine and delicate features, she often subtly suggested dresses, so he immediately recognized that the dress Annette was wearing was the Empress’s handiwork. He was too familiar with her favorite fabrics, patterns, and designs not to recognize them.
Only after hearing Cardin’s words did Annette realize, from the nightgown she had worn on her first night to the dress she wore today, that all those clothes, which she had thought were hastily acquired for her, were actually tailored by the Empress herself.
‘The Empress didn’t dislike me after all!’
And perhaps, as Cardin said, she might even adore her. Otherwise, why would she take the time to alter so many dresses to fit Annette perfectly?
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
