The Empress' Beast Selection (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 6
“Why didn’t you come yesterday when you stayed quiet, but show up today?”
“It’s not easy to reveal myself before someone who tried to harm me. You’re a herbivorous beastkin, after all.”
At those words, Sophia let out an involuntary scoff.
The malice she’d felt inside the carriage remained vividly clear.
Sophia met his reproachful gaze.
“I didn’t push Lady Titié.”
Only now did she finally understand.
The reason Demios had kept their breakfast appointment was for Titié’s sake.
Silence settled over the table.
Just as the soup began to cool, Demios opened his mouth with a deep sigh.
“Feuds aren’t good—especially between us.”
Between us…?
Sophia’s pupils trembled.
What exactly was he trying to say?
Childhood memories? Or perhaps their marital relationship, which had solidified before it even truly began?
Or maybe he was speaking of the relationship that might unfold from now on.
She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again.
“I don’t know how or what you heard to come here, but I can say this much: I did not push Lady Titié.”
Her calm voice stated only the facts.
Demios, who had been watching her, roughly ran his fingers through his hair as if exhausted.
“You’re misunderstanding something. I didn’t come here just to interrogate you.”
“Then why did you come?”
“We always had breakfast together once a week. I simply added a reminder this time.”
He added the remark as though she were being unnecessarily sensitive.
“In any case, since Titié wasn’t injured, I’ll let this go—for now.”
It was a clear warning to be more careful next time.
Apparently intending to end the conversation there, Demios picked up his utensils.
The silver knife smoothly sliced through the steak.
As the rare-cooked meat parted, crimson juices stained the pristine white plate.
Beneath a human exterior lay a predator who favored meat day and night without distinction.
Though she watched him eat with impeccable decorum, Sophia felt no desire whatsoever to join him.
“I’m not asking you to ‘let it go’—I’m telling you I didn’t do it.”
His hand, which had been moving gracefully, froze midair.
Demios set down his utensils and warned her.
“Don’t escalate this further, Empress. If you keep being so stubborn, I’ll have no choice but to investigate this matter properly.”
Stubborn?
How could a single word sting so bitterly?
With a crack in her patience, Sophia retorted,
“Do you have any evidence? Evidence that I pushed Lady Titié?”
Demios fell silent at her question.
Of course he had none.
Only Sophia and Titié had been in the carriage that day.
That was precisely why Titié, despite not even being present at the accident scene, could so easily pin the blame on Sophia.
In the oppressive silence blanketing the dining table, Sophia reached her conclusion.
“So you’ve been interrogating me without any evidence at all—and without even pretending to listen to what I have to say.”
A hollow laugh escaped her involuntarily.
Weren’t they still husband and wife, even if emotions had long since faded?
No matter how favored she might be by him, could he really believe only one side so blindly and accuse the other?
Her carefully composed heart, which she’d managed to calm, began to waver again.
Yet the noble etiquette ingrained in her over years kept her expression steady.
An unbearable silence stretched on.
As the standoff continued, Demios’s brow furrowed in irritation.
To him, the entire situation seemed nothing but tiresome and annoying.
“You seem overly agitated. Besides, Titié has no reason to lie to me about something like this.”
“And I have no reason to push her either.”
It was she who felt struck from behind.
Far from being agitated, her mind grew steadily colder with every passing moment.
Their opposing claims hung heavily in the air.
Since her words clearly wouldn’t be accepted anyway, there was no point in speaking further.
Sophia chose to rise from her seat.
“I should take my leave first. Enjoy your breakfast.”
She offered a brief, polite bow and turned away—without once looking back.
Only the soft click of her low heels echoed through the banquet hall.
Unseen by her, crimson eyes followed her retreating back.
A week passed since breakfast.
In that time, she hadn’t encountered Demios again.
Instead, she’d only heard news through rumors about the Emperor and his favorite.
‘Perhaps this is better.’
It was preferable not to meet him at all than to be treated like a criminal for something she never did.
After the carriage incident, Titié had remained in the Imperial Palace.
And it wasn’t just a simple stay.
Sightings of the two together all over the Imperial Capital kept circulating.
Sophia couldn’t help but hear the news—she wasn’t meant to.
Factions that had opposed her becoming Empress since the beginning were now enthusiastically welcoming Titié.
Moreover, they were even spreading rumors like this:
“The Emperor has finally found his true partner.”
It was deliberately provocative, clearly meant for Sophia to hear.
But since she’d anticipated this, she wasn’t surprised.
Sophia buried her face in stacks of documents.
Lately, she’d been spending more time in her office.
At least here, she could avoid the judgmental stares of others.
Preparations for the Victory Celebration were already complete; now she was merely reviewing everything once more for any oversights.
While scanning related documents, another file caught her eye.
The guest list for the Victory Celebration.
Though she’d checked it multiple times already, her hand reached for it instinctively.
Sophia flipped through the pages one by one.
Even after reviewing it again, she couldn’t find that man’s name.
‘Wasn’t he supposed to return from the expedition?’
She wondered if her assumption had been wrong—but it didn’t quite feel that way either.
Sometimes people had two names, after all.
‘If not that, then perhaps he won’t attend the party at all?’
But that theory didn’t seem very credible either.
Attendance at the Victory Celebration was mandatory for related nobles, especially high-ranking ones.
‘He didn’t seem like an ordinary person.’
The image of his large, scar-covered hand flickered before her eyes.
Even the firm muscles beneath his thin clothing hadn’t been fully concealed.
A carnivorous beast.
A puma? Or perhaps something even more…
Sophia abruptly shook her head, cutting off the thought.
‘What am I even thinking about right now?’
She’d become too absorbed.
She’d return the coat someday—though if even that proved impossible, so be it.
Just as Sophia was about to put the list away,
at the very top of the attendee roster,
the name of the Victory Celebration’s guest of honor caught her eye.
‘Duke Claude Leofort.’
She knew only his name and age; everything else about him remained shrouded in mystery.
‘What kind of person is he?’
Among the high nobility, the Duke was the only one Sophia had never met.
He was also Demios’s openly hostile blood relative.
She’d tried several times to learn more about Duke Claude, but all attempts had been blocked.
‘Even I, as Empress, can’t access his information?’
She’d just learned that only the Emperor himself was permitted to view any details about him.
What could possibly be entangled here to warrant such ironclad secrecy?
Lost in thought, Sophia was interrupted by a knock.
“Come in,” she called, and a handmaiden entered.
It was Madam Remodi, a songbird beastkin.
“Um… Your Majesty…”
Her clear voice carried a note of unease.
Sophia asked curiously, “What is it?”
“A servant from the Imperial Palace has arrived.”
Knowing the current situation well, even the maids handled anything related to the Emperor with extreme caution.
‘What could this be about?’
After remaining quiet until now, why send a servant all of a sudden?
However awkward things were, she couldn’t avoid him forever.
After all, he was the Emperor—and they were married.
“Let him in.”
“Yes. Please wait just a moment.”
Soon, Madam Remodi returned with the Imperial Palace’s servant.
He was a raccoon beastkin, a familiar face she’d seen quite often.
Why did he look so uncomfortable? What had he brought?
The servant swallowed hard and handed Sophia a document.
“This is a formal request sent directly by His Majesty.”
Puzzled, Sophia took the document.
Its contents were brief.
‘…Requesting to lend the Leven Palace to Titié?’
The Leven Palace, the third largest in the Imperial Capital and famed for its camellias, was second only to the Empress’s own palace in value.
Currently, a swan beastkin—once a close friend of the Late Empress—occupied it on an indefinite lease.
Management and authority over all palaces in the Imperial Capital, excluding the Imperial Palace itself, fell solely under the Empress’s jurisdiction.
Thus, requests regarding leases or granting permissions rightfully came to Sophia.
But that place—
“Viscountess Swani is currently residing in the Leven Palace.”
“I’m well aware of that…”
Demios’s servant wiped cold sweat from his brow.
Seeing the servant turn pale, Sophia understood the underlying implication.
‘So… he’s asking me, using my authority, to evict Lady Swani and install Titié in her place?’
Viscountess Swani had served the Late Empress Yerdiel her entire life.
In recognition of her loyalty, Swani had retained her privileges in the Imperial Capital even after Empress Yerdiel’s passing.
Of course, as the current Empress, Sophia technically held the authority to remove her from the palace.
‘But even so…’
This wasn’t just anyone—it was a matter of basic decency.
Moreover, Lady Swani had even helped Sophia when she first became Empress.
At that time, Empress Yerdiel, now the Dowager Empress, had been so gravely ill she couldn’t utter a word—and within two years, they’d had to hold her funeral rites.
When yandere male lead believes she loves him — but she never did
“How dare you!”
“How dare you make me love you, only to cast me aside as nothing more than a friend?!?
“I will never accept that.”
“I will never let you return to him.”
“Even if I have to burn myself to ashes.”
“Even if I must shatter my purity, my dignity, my very soul.”
“I will never let you escape me!”
This was the first novel that introduced me to the matriarchal genre. I’ve read it three times already!
At first, the male lead despised the female lead. Later, he misunderstood that she liked him, so he condescendingly and reluctantly reciprocated her feelings.
Then, he suddenly discovered that she was kind to everyone in the same way, and there was already someone she cherished in her heart, and that person was not him.
The male lead couldn’t believe it, he became angry and crazy. He was determined to capture her body and heart by any means necessary.
Synopsis:
Want to see how a green tea bitch male lead falls in love with the female lead?
Want to see how he flirtatiously pursues the female lead?
Want to see how he gets slapped in the face repeatedly?
The male lead is a green tea bitch, a poisonous lotus, jealous, ruthless, unscrupulous, with a venomous heart, and he’s also a delusional maniac.
The female lead is righteous, positive energy-filled, kind, a holy mother.
Let’s see how two people with extreme personalities come together~
_____
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