“What more do I need to do here?”
Sephia looked at them expressionlessly.
Just sitting quietly, yet accused of being outraged and drawing a sword, what more could she possibly do?
Her words were drenched in irony.
But Demios, as if expecting Sephia to understand, immediately listed his demands.
“Just this once, I wish the Empress would yield. As a commemoration for Titie’s first entrance into the palace. And as for Lady Swani, give her the Lepeto Palace.”
It was unbelievable.
She had said it without any intention of a real discussion, yet here was his response.
‘What commemoration?’
A commemoration for my husband’s consort entering the palace?
His every word was like a stab to her heart.
Maintaining composure was becoming excruciatingly painful.
Sephia opened and closed her eyes, trying to regain her calm.
“Even setting aside the reason of Lady Swani, your request is inappropriate, Your Majesty.”
“……What do you mean?”
Demios’s eyes narrowed.
He seemed annoyed that his request was not easily granted despite her explanation.
But the main point was yet to come.
“To lend a palace within the royal domain, one must be married or have been married.”
Imperial Law, Article 57, Clause 6.
To temporarily or long-term lease a palace under the Empress’s authority, the lessee must be married or have been married.
It was one of the long-standing laws of a culture where beast-kin were recognized as full adults only after marriage and reaching adulthood.
Demios’s expression hardened, seemingly not anticipating this.
Sephia stood up and added,
“Bring Titie to the palace after marrying her off to someone else. Then I will consider the matter with Lady Swani.”
A willingness to marry off a consort bearing his name to another man might be worth considering.
Demios’s face contorted with Titie flinching at the same time.
Sephia ignored them and returned to her desk, shuffling papers.
“There’s much to prepare for the Victory Festival, and it’s not long now. Please leave.”
Picking up her pen, she completely ignored them. The sound of chairs scraping against the floor followed.
Click-clack.
The sound of the consort’s heels.
Soon, their presence was gone.
The maids had left, and Sephia finally found herself alone.
She hunched over her desk and covered her mouth.
“Sob… Hic…”
Only the large desk shielded her.
Sephia couldn’t get up for a long time, waiting for her tears to dry.
Rumors spread among the nobility.
News that the Emperor’s consort had acquired a palace in the royal domain.
Lepeto Palace, the fourth most lavish palace in the domain, was granted under special permission thanks to the Emperor’s guarantee.
A guarantee by the Emperor was historically given only to heroes or figures who had made significant contributions to the empire.
Granting such a guarantee for a consort, even one bearing the Emperor’s name, caused much sneering in society.
Sephia headed to the secluded lake within the deepest parts of the royal domain.
Reserved only for the royal family’s relaxation, the small lake took barely ten minutes to circle.
Its tranquility and quietness usually brought a sense of peace.
Brown willow leaves swayed in the wind, offering a semblance of calm.
But Sephia’s mind was far from tranquil.
Titie’s residence within the palace was possible only with Sephia’s permission.
All palaces within the domain were under the Empress’s jurisdiction.
So, even if Demios had given his guarantee, it couldn’t override the authority Sephia held as the Empress.
“That’s enough.”
Sephia rubbed her eyes.
Given Demios’s temperament, Titie’s entry into the palace was practically a foregone conclusion.
‘It was just a matter of sooner or later.’
She had managed to protect the palace where Lady Swani resided, so that should be sufficient.
Yet it was not an easy thought to harbor.
Even sitting in her office felt overwhelming.
The maids kept worrying about her.
‘Did they see it?’
She thought she had cleaned it up, but perhaps they noticed the tear stains on the carpet.
It’s not that she wasn’t grateful to have someone by her side during tough times.
But sometimes…
Even such concerns could feel like pain.
And that was exactly how she felt right now.
It was extremely embarrassing and filled with regret.
‘I shouldn’t have shown my tears.’
The Empress occupies the most dignified position among the women of the empire.
Wearing the tiara means bearing its weight.
But first, it was about whether one deserved to wear the crown.
‘An Empress? You’re not even worthy to be a person. That’s the kind of blood you have inherited.’
The voice of the curse she had barely managed to forget.
Memories from Hyuron clung to Sephia’s ankles.
Sephia was born the eldest daughter of Duke Arte.
It was when she was three years old.
Duke Socio Arte entrusted his young daughter to the Hyuron royal palace.
It was to establish Sephia as the future Empress early on.
However, the Duke was unaware.
His wife, Duchess Baluntie, and Emperor Bertic were in a close extramarital relationship.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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