“Why on earth are you doing this?”

Ivan’s first words upon hearing the rumors were spoken when he visited the Empress’s palace. Katrina’s hand, holding a teacup, paused.

“If you had stayed quiet, I would have become the emperor anyway and you would have become the most noble woman in the empire. Why on earth?”

“Your Majesty.”

“Is the position of empress that tempting to you?”

As if there was nothing to listen to, Katrina’s attitude toward the event was a clear assertion that she believed Katrina was responsible for it.

If it were someone else, Ivan might have splashed tea on their face. How dare they mock me with such baseless rumors, he might have gotten angry.

But the other person was none other than Ivan himself.

Her beloved son, the praiseworthy Emperor.

Even if the whole world pointed fingers, he was the one child who should be trusted and supported.

And now, he was the only person she could rely on.

Such a son was doubting her without any reservation.

Katrina bit her trembling lips and mumbled, “Do you believe those rumors?”

Knowing his mother, who even forgave the unforgivable, Ivan barely managed to swallow down the words that surged up to his chin.

To him, it had been a fact, not a rumor, since that incident ten years ago.

He never doubted that his greedy mother had killed Esmeralda.

His mother, who felt relieved only when she had everything she desired, had always coveted the position of empress.

But she never brought up that story in front of anyone. It was much more helpful to stay silent.

Yet now, this incident was tripping him up.

“That woman is not the one I killed. I swear.”

Katrina appealed to her son as if she were really unjustly treated, but Ivan didn’t even pretend to listen and moved on to the next question.

“Why did you try to kill Blair?”

“Ivan! What kind of person do you see me as? She is my daughter and your sister. I have never tried to kill her.”

“Then you admit to kidnapping her?”

“That…!”

“Because of those damn rumors! Because of the disgrace brought upon the imperial family and my dignity. Mother.”

“…”

“After that, you said you would keep silent, but… sigh.”

Unable to say anything more, Katrina silently stared at Ivan.

It seemed that for her son, the imperial family and his own dignity were more important than his mother’s well-being.

Ivan looked at the wounded Katrina and spoke in a softer voice.

“Tell me everything truthfully without hiding anything. That’s the only way I can help you, Mother.”

Although it seemed like consoling her, in reality, it was closer to an order.

Katrina lamented her situation.

From the moment she faced Ivan until now, she had continued to tell the truth Ivan demanded.

I didn’t kill that woman.

I didn’t try to kill Blair either.
But no matter how much I speak, you don’t listen or believe. Does the truth even have any meaning?

“…If I speak, will you believe me?”

Katrina’s expression as she said this was sadly distorted.

Ivan swallowed the irritation rising at seeing Katrina act so despondent and pitiful in front of him.

His mother, who was always confident in front of others, appeared pitiful and miserable in his presence. He knew it was to weaken her son’s heart.

Facing her in such a state made him feel dirty, as if he had become an unfilial child.

Sighing, Ivan rose from his seat.

“Please don’t do anything anymore. I will handle this matter on my own.”

He left the reception room as if escaping from her.

Whether Katrina’s words were true or false didn’t matter. To protect the authority of the imperial family and his own dignity, these rumors had to stop at just being rumors.

But in Delmark, where they had always insisted on Esmeralda’s innocence, they would likely see this as an opportunity.

‘How can I make her keep quiet?’

As Ivan, with an anxious heart, hurried down the corridor, his quick steps suddenly stopped. It was because the image of Herdin, whom he had seen sometime before, came to mind.

‘Madam, before becoming the mistress of Delmark, was Herdin your only sister, a noble descendant of the imperial bloodline.’

Herdin, who urged Wesley and Rachel to be severely punished.

Ivan’s eyes became strangely ambiguous as he recalled that memory.

‘Whether Blair is worth it to that guy, I’m not sure.’

Still, it was worth trying once.

Ivan, with a gaze that had stopped, ordered the waiting chamberlain by his side.

“Go to Duke Delmark and tell him I will see him tomorrow afternoon.”

The rumors that spread throughout the entire island even reached the gentry of Delmark. Some elders from powerful families among Delmark’s retainers came unannounced to Duke Delmark’s residence after the rumors had spread.

After the rumors spread for a while, several elders from influential families among Delmark’s retainers suddenly visited Duke Delmark’s residence without any warning.

Unable to turn away someone who had faithfully served him from his grandfather’s generation, the first words they said when he let them into the reception room were…