The Empress' Scandalous Paramour - Chapter 14

After the Duke left, I slumped onto the sofa, feeling the strength drain from my legs.

“Haa.”

With this, the preparations for raising the curtain on the stage were complete.

‘To drive out Enrique and become the Emperor myself, I need justification.’

That justification is, yes, Helene. I’ll have to take what you have.

Isn’t it better for the Emperor of the Holy Empire to be a saint who directly receives God’s revelation rather than a holy knight?

If I pretend to be chosen by God, I can create public opinion that God has given birth to a new saint because he couldn’t stand to see a debauched holy maiden any longer.

‘If my elder sisters have sent down a revelation in the desert kingdom, it’s important to know what kind of revelation it is that has brought them all the way here.’

It’s probably a message for me.

Even I couldn’t predict that much.

I wonder what my elder sisters will say.

Will they sneer at me? Will they feel sorry for me? Will they scold me?

Still, if they’re looking out for me as their youngest sister, I’d be honestly grateful.

Even if it’s their final farewell… I’d be happy just to feel my elder sisters’ presence.

Ah, of course, it could just be my own expectation.

‘…Can I become a demon again?’

Even if I finish all this revenge, I may not be able to return to my elder sisters’ side. Another youngest sister may be born and claim the territory I ruled as her own.

Just thinking about that made everything go dark before my eyes.

The future that had always been clear, I couldn’t see anything.

‘I want to go back.’

When no one was looking, I huddled my shoulders alone.

There is no human who can understand this loneliness.

How can mortals empathize with the eternity I have lost?

‘If I go back… I will never love anyone again.’

Never again.

After staying like that for a while, I fell asleep without realizing it.

I woke up in the evening.

It was because Lady Bertolt rushed in, pale as a ghost.

“Your Majesty! The Holy Maiden… I heard the Holy Maiden collapsed as soon as she left the Empress Palace!”

Helene originally should have stayed quietly in the temple like a holy maiden.

However, her special situation as the Emperor’s childhood friend and compass was acknowledged, and above all, the Emperor could not bear for Helene to leave his sight.

That’s why Helene was staying in a small, cozy palace located closest to the Imperial Palace.

This place, Chrysanthemum Palace, was built by an Emperor a few generations ago who cherished his daughter so much that he always wanted to keep her nearby. But now, it was called ‘Lily Palace’ as it was filled with lilies for Helene.

The atmosphere here today was not very good.

The Holy Maiden who had left the Empress Palace was found in a state where she couldn’t even breathe.

Rashes around the mouth and swelling of the throat are symptoms that usually occur when exposed to food that shouldn’t be eaten.

Fortunately, there was a priest stationed in the palace prayer room, otherwise it could have been a big problem if she had been found late.

“You said you had tea with dried peaches and ate peaches.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“It seems that from now on, the Holy Maiden should stay away from peaches. It’s quite common for food that was fine to suddenly cause problems. It could be due to a major shock or stress.”

At the elderly priest’s instructions, the maids attending to Helene shed exaggerated tears.

“Oh my, if only Her Majesty the Empress had paid a little more attention, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“That’s right! This was a matter of life and death. The Holy Maiden should protest about this.”

At that, Helene smiled weakly as if she might crumble at any moment.

“No. It’s not like Her Majesty the Empress did it on purpose. What can I do if I suddenly developed an allergy.”

“Still! How can you be so kind, really.”

Amid the maids’ fuss, Helene secretly smiled with satisfaction.

But outwardly, she only appeared desolate.

After hanging her head for a moment and taking a deep breath, Helene eventually let a teardrop roll down.

“Oh my goodness, why are you crying? What did Her Majesty the Empress say to you?”

“Don’t cry. Your pretty eyes will get swollen.”

The maids clung around Helene, bringing her cold water and fanning her. It was only after a long time that Helene slowly opened her mouth.

“Actually, you know… I said I would help, and, and even though it hurt, I told her that. But… But she told me to know my place.”

“Whaaat?”

“You know I prepared hard. I had such high hopes…”

“No matter if it’s Her Majesty the Empress, to say such harsh words!”

These maids belonged to the Imperial Palace, not the temple.

The court ladies may keep their mouths shut, but the maids, well.

They might spread what they heard here to various places.

Helene had never once asked the maids to keep their mouths shut.

“I have never once coveted the position of Empress. But she misunderstood me like that. I tried to clear up the misunderstanding… But now I’m too afraid to go to the Empress Palace.”

Transparent, bead-like tears dripped down, wetting the bedding.

The sight of her saying those words while trembling her delicate shoulders was pitifully like a small bird caught in the rain.

The maids began to tear up as if they had been insulted themselves.

That’s when it happened.

“Everyone, leave.”

A low voice coldly cut through the room.

The startled maids didn’t dare raise their heads and hurriedly left the bedroom.

Only Helene and Enrique remained.

“Enri!”

When no one was around, Helene didn’t use honorifics with the Emperor. When it was just the two of them, Enrique was just Enrique.

Helene loved these moments when the crown or the glossy cape surrounding him became utterly useless in front of her.

The moment she could casually call this beautiful man ‘Enri’.

“I heard you developed a peach allergy. Let me see.”

“Mm-hmm. It’s healed now with holy power. Looks like I can’t eat peaches anymore.”

Helene hurriedly pretended to wipe her tears. She also didn’t forget to make each and every one of those movements cute.

Because Enrique liked cute women.

“What was all that talk just now?”

“Y-you heard?”

She said it for him to hear, though.

Helene had very precisely calculated the time it would take for Enrique to hear the news and visit Lily Palace.

He wouldn’t come right away, but if he rushed through urgent matters, she knew he would arrive around this time.

Helene widened her eyes and pretended to be flustered.

“It’s nothing. You don’t need to worry about it, Enri.”

“Tell me. You’ve always had a habit of swallowing your words. That must be how you got sick.”

“Just… It just seems like she dislikes me a bit for being from Quid. Ah, but maybe that’s just how I feel!”

Helene hurriedly added a remark.

The Empress never even uttered the word ‘Quid’, but if she threw it out there like this, Enrique would surely get angry.

It didn’t matter if later the Empress said she never said such a thing.

After all, the biggest group that disliked her for being from Quid and called her lowly was the aristocratic faction.

“I brought everything I had prepared for the banquet. But it seems the Empress had other ideas. She didn’t even look at it properly. I did leave it there, but…”

Biting her lip slightly and trailing off, Helene mumbled to Enrique, who had come to sit close beside her.

“Everyone liked the banquets I held. So I gained confidence, but I guess someone like me shouldn’t do that.”

“Someone like you?”

Enrique’s voice became even chillier. At that, Helene immediately hiccupped.

“Ah, sorry…! I was, hic, startled.”

Hic. Hic!

As the hiccups wouldn’t stop, Helene covered her mouth with both hands and glanced at him.

“I forgot that you’re delicate. I’m sorry.”

Sighing softly, Enrique immediately apologized and grasped Helene’s hand. Helene intertwined her fingers one by one with his large hand and muttered dejectedly.

“I want to help with something too. Even if it’s something very small. I guess I can’t… I’ll have to endure it. If I take the initiative to do this and that, I’ll end up fighting with the Empress. I don’t want that.”

Helene never stated what she wanted directly. She only beat around the bush.

Then Enrique would always think about what she wanted and place it in her hands.

“I’ll go and find out if there’s anything you can help with.”

“Really? Then won’t she hate me more?”

“If you talk, she’ll listen.”

As she stared at the side of Enrique’s face while he replied indifferently, Helene smiled brightly.

“Yeah. You’re right, Enri is the Emperor now. Everyone must listen to the Emperor’s words!”

“I’ll ask, so wait without crying and hurting yourself.”

“Thank you. But don’t overdo it, Enri.”

Actually, she wished he would try harder.

She wanted the Emperor to fight the aristocratic faction only for her sake.

‘But if he really does that, I might be disappointed. Because I like Enri as the perfect Emperor. I like even his slightly cold side.’

Enrique must have been busy with work as he soon returned to the Imperial Palace.

Helene dismissed all the maids and moped alone, but while her outward appearance was like that, her mind was busily turning.

‘But earlier, Enri didn’t really react much to the word peach, did he?’

There was once a woman Enrique had loved.

And that woman’s favorite fruit was none other than peaches.

Helene unconsciously bit her nails.

‘Of course, I should have nothing in common with that woman, and I need to overwrite all memories related to her with myself.’

What that woman liked, she disliked, and what was okay for that woman became dangerous for her.

Now that considerable time had passed and Enrique was about to forget that woman, it seemed okay to do that.

‘The Empress is not a threat at all. Because the one who shook Enrique the most was that woman.’

A height that could rival male knights. A magnificent physique.

A demoness with long, pitch-black hair that absorbed light and who wore antiquated clothes that looked like they were made centuries ago.

She had no intention of hiding her identity.

Finding that woman back then was a great stroke of luck for Helene.

It was a time when her position within the temple was gradually becoming unstable.

The demon she discovered by chance was the best prey for Helene.

Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman

When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…

One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.

Synopsis

During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.

Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.

Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”

Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.

Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”

With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.

Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?

He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”

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