There's a Snake in the Empress' Bedroom (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 16
“They asked me to tell Your Majesty that they absolutely do not blame you. They said this wasn’t your fault either… and asked me to say they love you. They regretted not being kinder to you before, if only they’d known it would come to this. They said your smile is so beautiful, and that they missed it dearly.”
These were words he had repeated dozens of times.
It was also a story he was determined to deliver to Renisha if he ever met her.
The final words of Duke Rotera, which he alone had carried within him, for Renisha.
When Cassius finished speaking his solemn words, he witnessed something utterly unimaginable.
Plop.
Quietly, Renisha was crying like a still life.
Her face, pale as snow, remained expressionless, yet her red lips trembled thinly.
Her ever-composed pink eyes, usually brimming with calm, now drooped downward, heavy with tears.
A tear traced her porcelain cheek, slid down her chin, and dropped with a soft tap.
Cassius watched this scene—repeated again and again—holding his breath.
Renisha was the Empress.
She stood far above Cassius, distant and unreachable.
He had thought her as inscrutable as the Emperor himself.
He had even believed she might remain composed in the face of Duke Rotera’s death.
He’d expected her to respond in her usual manner: “I see. Thank you, Lord Cassius.” Just some bland, predictable reply.
This was truly beyond anything he could have imagined.
Renisha, crying while staring blankly at Cassius.
“Tell me more… please, tell me more.”
Renisha pleaded like a child.
“What did Father say? What did Mother say? Tell me everything… I want to know their final moments.”
Renisha pressed closer to Cassius as she spoke, her voice urgent.
Cassius bit down hard on his lip.
Even in this moment, like trash, his mind wandered elsewhere.
Renisha’s exposed shoulder unsettled him.
His chest swelled—he’d drawn in a deep breath without realizing.
Cassius continued in a hoarse voice.
“…They passed peacefully. Though they knew death was coming, they remained calm. They said nothing was too precious to give for Your Majesty. That as long as they could protect you, that was enough.”
Renisha parted her trembling lips and let out a long sigh.
Eight years had passed since she last saw her parents.
She hadn’t been there for their final moments, nor properly tended to their remains.
Under the Emperor’s pressure, she could only watch helplessly from afar as they passed away in vain.
Renisha clutched Cassius’s arm.
She didn’t even realize what she was holding onto.
‘Mother…! Father…!’
They had willingly gone to save Renisha. They said nothing was too precious to lose.
If only Renisha hadn’t, out of foolish pity, brought that monster Rexus into their mansion, none of this would have happened.
Renisha herself had caused it all.
Elevating the fleeing prince to Emperor had been an unavoidable choice.
The assassins chasing him had seen where he entered.
The prince’s enemies believed Rotera had chosen him.
Renisha’s mistake had driven Rotera straight into Rexus’s hands.
She would regret that day until her dying breath.
“Huh….”
A sob escaped her.
Renisha’s body crumpled forward.
Overwhelmed by crushing guilt, she swayed and collapsed into Cassius’s arms.
Cassius stared down at the small woman in his embrace, eyes wide.
Renisha’s shoulders were smaller than he’d imagined—small enough to fit snugly within his arms.
She leaned her head against his chest.
The desperate strength in her grip, clinging like a lifeline, was pitiful.
Cassius, unsure what to do, raised and lowered his hands awkwardly.
“I’m sorry, Father….”
Her voice was so faint he wouldn’t have heard it had he not been close.
“I was wrong, Mother… I was wrong….”
Renisha murmured, her voice thick with tears, followed by another sob.
It should have been Renisha who died, not them.
Perhaps the Duke had made Renisha Empress because he recognized Rexus’s madness.
To save Renisha, at least.
Back then, Renisha had been steeped in arrogance.
Born the noble daughter of House Rotera, she’d never lost a thing in her life.
She’d treated the matter of sheltering the prince lightly.
That arrogant, naive girl had been intoxicated by the idea of saving someone’s life.
She’d felt like an omnipotent deity.
And with one choice, Renisha had lost everything.
While Renisha lived here, eating fine food and wearing soft clothes, the Duke and Duchess of Rotera had spent eight years on battlefields, teetering between life and death.
“Huu… Mother, Father… Please… it’s my fault… I was wrong… Come back… please…!”
Her long-suppressed truths burst out incoherently.
Every night, she’d prayed to feel that warm embrace just once more.
She’d hoped the mad Emperor would regain his senses and rescue her parents from hell.
But they never returned—they were gone.
Leaving only Renisha behind.
Cassius let Renisha cry, silent, like a young beast releasing its tears.
‘…You held on well.’
It was emotion deep enough to reach even Cassius.
His hesitant hand finally rested atop Renisha’s head.
For some reason, his nose stung.
Cassius felt the same.
Helpless before Hientry’s invasion, Hisham had disguised Cassius as a cadet royal and sent him away.
Cassius had survived by fleeing while Hisham held the line with his whole body.
Cassius turned his head aside—the emotions of that day seemed to resurface.
Gently, gently, he stroked Renisha’s hair.
It was the clumsiest comfort imaginable.
He’d thought telling Renisha these words would lighten his heart a little—but instead, it grew heavier.
Perhaps it was because of Renisha’s head resting against his chest.
Visiting Renisha’s greenhouse had been impulsive.
Canaria had told him Renisha got along remarkably well with Cassius.
She’d even mentioned the dress code and how Cassius couldn’t take his eyes off Renisha.
Hearing that Cassius had been left alone with her was what finally made him stand and come here.
He didn’t even understand why he’d abruptly left his seat at that moment.
Rexus’s heavy gaze fixed on the greenhouse.
As he drew closer, the interior became clearer. No one was around the greenhouse.
Rexus’s eyes widened.
He saw Renisha nestled in Cassius’s arms.
“Ha!”
Rexus exhaled a sharp breath through parted lips.
“So you’re no different from any other woman after all!”
A cutting accusation followed.
Renisha, who had always looked down on Rexus with contempt, was now wrapped in Cassius’s embrace.
But wasn’t Renisha just as guilty as he was for falling for Cassius!
She’d strutted about with her nose in the air, acting so aloof—but she was just human, like everyone else.
Rexus curled his lips into a bitter smirk.
Rage, crawling up from his core, dyed his vision red.
His heart pounded violently in his clenched fist.
Had Renisha ever once been so docile—so willingly soft?
All he remembered were her hands pushing him away.
“What’s so great about that slave bastard! Your taste really is refined, isn’t it!”
He wanted to tear Cassius and Renisha apart.
If he buried that pristine-looking Cassius in the mud, surely Renisha would pull away from his arms.
But…
“That won’t do.”
Rexus let out a mad laugh.
Wasn’t this exactly what he’d wanted all along!
Rexus turned away, suppressing every emotion, his face twisted into a mess.
Like a child who’d just had something precious and hidden stolen from them.
After leaning against him for a long while, Renisha finally lifted her head.
Her face, eyes reddened from crying, was far too close.
Close enough to make Cassius’s heart sink.
Her flushed cheeks—unlike her usual self—and her quickened breath stirred something in him.
Cassius averted his eyes from hers.
“…I made a scene.”
Blushing, Renisha pulled away from Cassius and rose to her feet.
Everything bottled inside had spilled out like a burst dam, and strangely, her heart felt lighter.
Renisha paced in place.
“…Thank you. For telling me my parents’ final words. For letting me know how they truly ended.”
Those were the words she finally spoke after a long silence.
Cassius looked at Renisha.
With the light behind her, she wore a faint smile.
“If not for you, I’d have suffered nightmares much longer.”
“Nightmares?”
“…Yes, nightmares. Ever since they passed, I’ve dreamed every night. In my dreams, my parents die blaming me. I beg them not to go, confessing my fault, until I wake.”
Renisha took a deep breath.
“Thank you, truly. Even though I knew my parents weren’t like that, my guilt twisted them into nightmares.”
“…Do you think you’ll be able to sleep tonight?”
Cassius asked quietly.
So that was why Renisha had been so pale and thin.
Nightmares. Of course—she couldn’t sleep properly.
Cassius understood Renisha, who seemed barely half his size.
If she could finally sleep well at night, perhaps she’d regain some healthy color and a bit of weight.
Duke Rotera would have wished for that too.
“Perhaps. I think I might sleep soundly for the first time in ages.”
Renisha gave a soft smile, her eyes still red.
With the light behind her, her pale smile seemed almost ethereal, and Cassius stared at it for a long time.
Renisha seemed crafted from light itself—as if she’d scatter at a touch.
The woman he’d always seen as untouchably distant had now stepped down beside him.
Where had gone the imposing presence she’d held that day, pressing her hand to his chest?
His heart fluttered.
He couldn’t understand why Rexus hated and mistreated this small, fragile woman so much.
‘Mad bastard.’
Cassius cursed inwardly at Rexus.
An impulse surged—to rescue Renisha from that beast, worse than an animal.
To steal her away from this vast imperial palace.
She was the Renisha whom the Duke and Duchess of Rotera had given their lives to save.
Cassius believed he could make Renisha happier than Rexus ever could.
At that thought, Cassius jolted in surprise.
‘You’ve gone mad too, Cassius.’
He must have caught rabies from Rexus.
Cassius clicked his tongue softly.
As he tried to compose himself, Renisha spoke again.
“My lord… I’m truly fortunate to have met you.”
Damn it. You bastard.
He must have definitely caught rabies from Rexus.
Otherwise, his heart wouldn’t race and his blood wouldn’t boil just because Renisha said those words.
This was exactly why you shouldn’t linger near madmen.
Cassius kept gazing at Renisha for a long while.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
Why suddenly you want to hold her. Doesn’t it you the one who want to give her to Cassius
Who want to have a mad person as a husband. Everyone will run away if they could
So Cassius still have plan on reviving his clan. Terrion is part of his clan?