But if they had been a normal couple with affection and trust, they wouldn’t be having this conversation.

“I told you when the Empress said she would bring in the government, I understood. I thought that our personal relationship had been completely severed.”

“…Our personal relationship?”

“Yes. Your Empress’s school days…that you lost. That’s what I thought.”

Demios didn’t remember much about the time when he and Sepia were lovers.

But there was a reason he had lost his memory.

“The death of Emperor Sunghwang.”

The death of Emperor Sung Hwang occurred two years after Demios returned to his homeland.

The Emperor collapsed while drinking tea, and he died along with severe bleeding.

Poison was found in the teapot.

The problem was revealed later.

Demios had suffered a month-long illness after the Emperor’s death, during which he lost his memory.

Thanks to the heavens, everyone was relieved that there were no side effects of the poison.

The problem was that Demios didn’t remember anything about his time in Hyuron.

Even receiving letters from his past lover.

Sepia learned about Demios’s memory loss only after arriving in the Suin Empire.

It was very sad that he had lost precious memories they had shared.

But on the other hand, she was relieved.

“He didn’t deliberately avoid me.”

She could console herself that he hadn’t purposely avoided seeking her out.

Demios’s memory loss became a justification for Sepia’s waiting not being in vain.

As Empress, Sepia recounted one by one the events that had happened to Demios during his time in Hyuron.
Certainly, here’s the English translation:

He couldn’t remember most of it, but he still didn’t refuse to listen.

Very rarely, when Demios mentioned that scene, Sepia had been delighted as if she had the whole world.

But the effort to recover the memories was once limited.

The time they spent together with their busy duties had decreased, and even when they managed to create moments for just the two of them, discussing the affairs of the country took precedence over past memories.

Sepia, at some point, discovered that she no longer injected her past into him.

Memories could be built up again.

Even if it wasn’t as lovers.

But the distance between the Emperor and the Empress, beyond their roles, grew wider and wider.

She couldn’t help but feel bitter about this change.

Still, she consoled herself, bound by the ties of marriage.

You shattered that comfort.

Sepia was speaking with her eyes.

“…Yes. That’s right.”

Demios nodded as if agreeing.

However, the cold atmosphere and intimidation remained, even more so.

“Still, let’s be straight with each other, Sepia. You were the one who rejected me first.”

Sepia froze in a chilling laughter.

She knew exactly what he was talking about.

“The first night as Empress.”

Sepia and Demios’ betrothal was the Suin Empire’s tradition.

On that night, Sepia prepared to welcome her husband as his wife.

In contrast to the easily removable, thin dress, there were several heavy accessories in her hair that her husband had to take off.

Sepia waited for Demios in the Empress’s bedroom.

Eventually, the Emperor, wearing only his underwear, came inside.

Until her husband took down her hair, she couldn’t look back.

One, two.

As the accessories fell, the weight on her head decreased, and with each of those moments, Sepia bit down on the flesh in her mouth.

Extreme aversion arose towards Demios, who was touching her hair.

‘Why is he doing this?’

The aversion, so surprising to herself, reached its climax when Demios finally released Sepia’s hair.

Just before the dress was removed, Sepia, standing up from her seat, took a step back reflexively.