There's a Snake in the Empress' Bedroom (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 3
“How was it?”
Terrion hurried after Cassius.
They’d barely entered the banquet hall before storming back out again, striding away without even a backward glance.
He couldn’t help but wonder what had happened inside.
“Sir Cassius!”
“The Emperor’s gone mad.”
Cassius ground out through clenched teeth.
Veins stood out along his thick neck.
The formal uniform he’d donned to comply with imperial etiquette looked unbearably constricting on him.
His heaving chest seemed ready to burst the buttons off his tunic.
Cassius suddenly halted and whipped his head around.
They were still close enough to see the flickering lights of the banquet hall.
“Has the Emperor only just gone mad today? Sir Cassius, did you at least receive what was promised?”
Terrion stepped directly into Cassius’s line of sight, frustration evident in his stance.
“At this rate, all our hard work will have been for nothing! Will the Emperor actually honor his promise?”
No matter how much Terrion ranted, only one person remained in Cassius’s thoughts.
The Empress.
A woman who, even in that situation, had smiled with a deadened expression.
Yet she was also a remarkable woman whose eyes would suddenly blaze with fury and hatred.
Though clearly delicate and small-framed—seemingly too weak to resist the Emperor’s will—she carried an overwhelming presence that weighed heavily upon Cassius.
Cassius could see it clearly: everything carefully contained within her.
She was far too precious for the mad Emperor to waste.
“Sir Cassius! What on earth are you thinking about?”
Terrion raised his voice in exasperation.
“…What was the Empress’s name again?”
“Huh? Why ask that all of a sudden? If it’s the Empress… isn’t it Renisha Rotera?”
“Rotera?”
Cassius lowered his gaze to Terrion.
He knew the name Rotera well.
Before Cassius had even joined this war, two knights from House Rotera had unjustly lost their lives.
It had been a battle they never should have entered—ambush confirmed, their own forces vastly outnumbered.
From the start, it had been the Emperor who’d launched this absurd war.
He’d pushed the Duke of Rotera to reclaim Chorpa Plain, land once belonging to Hilstein.
There had been no support from the Imperial House.
The Duke of Rotera had been forced to assemble a new knightly order with only his own family’s knights.
Only thanks to several nobles who backed House Rotera had they even managed to deploy.
The war, centered around Chorpa Plain of the Pericen Kingdom, had now dragged on for eight years.
That was more than enough time to turn a boy into a man.
Cassius himself had grown up on the battlefield, eating meals prepared by attendant knights.
Eventually, he earned distinction and was granted a personal audience with the Duke of Rotera.
‘…I hear you performed great deeds in the recent battle. No—perhaps I should address you as “Sir” now. Sir Cassius.’
Wrinkles at the corners of the Duke’s eyes bore the marks of time and hardship.
Yet his gaze held a beautiful, unyielding defiance.
Just as the knights always claimed, the Duke of Rotera truly was no different from a noble black panther.
Cassius had idolized him.
On the day the Duke of Rotera died, Cassius had rudely barged into his tent to stop him.
Even the knights trying to hold him back couldn’t restrain Cassius, who charged like a bull.
‘If you go, you’ll die! Even the children running errands here know that! Don’t you realize the Emperor shoved you into a death trap? Better to strike the Emperor down with that sword of yours!’
Cassius’s golden eyes dimmed.
Memories of that day flooded back—the sulfurous stench of the battlefield, the sharp metallic tang of blood and iron.
‘There are things in this world one must not do, even if one can, Sir Cassius.’
‘But why? Do you still serve the Emperor…?’
‘My daughter.’
The Duke of Rotera cut Cassius off.
‘My daughter is held captive by the Emperor. Should I beg for my life at the cost of hers? Surely you, too, have someone you wish to protect.’
Cassius opened his mouth but could do nothing but exhale.
The Duke’s hand, patting his shoulder, was soaked in unspeakable sorrow.
‘…If you ever see my daughter, tell her this: I never blame her. This isn’t her fault… Tell her I love her. I should have been kinder to her more often. You wouldn’t know how lovely her smile is. And I doubt I’ll ever see it again. Hah…’
That truly was the last time Cassius saw the Duke of Rotera.
He remembered vividly the final moments of that forsaken hero—
for he had watched until the very end as the Duke and Duchess walked away.
Cassius had grown up following in the Duke of Rotera’s footsteps,
from the day at age eighteen he escaped his life as a slave gladiator and enlisted in the Duke’s army.
He had lived under the Duke’s protection and benefited from his generosity.
“Rotera.”
“Yes, that Rotera.”
Terrion, too, knew the weight of that name, and his expression turned solemn.
Terrion sighed.
“Did you see Empress Renisha? What did she look like?”
All the knights who had followed Rotera knew Renisha well.
Suddenly recalling a long-buried memory, Cassius finally understood why his eyes had been drawn so strongly to her.
Renisha had the exact same eyes as the Duke of Rotera.
“…She’s alive.”
Cassius murmured, his gaze fixed on the Imperial Palace.
“She was alive.”
“Sir Cassius?”
Perhaps he could deliver the Duke’s final words after all.
Cassius ran his hands through his hair, darkened by the night.
“My lord? So Empress Renisha is unharmed? Then what’s the problem? Surely the Emperor isn’t refusing to give us anything! Didn’t he promise land and a title if we reclaimed Chorpa Plain?”
Cassius pushed Terrion aside and stared heavily at the Imperial Palace.
Renisha Rotera.
She was absolutely not a woman suited for the Emperor.
Standing beside the Empress, the Emperor looked worse than a mange-ridden donkey.
“He told us to wait—like obedient dogs.”
“What?”
“Well, at least he hasn’t forgotten us. We’ll survive this winter under a roof, at least.”
“Wait again? Good heavens! Let’s go together, Sir Cassius!”
Cassius lengthened his stride, putting distance between himself and the Imperial Palace.
Renisha hadn’t looked particularly happy today.
After all, the Duke and Duchess of Rotera had sacrificed themselves to protect their daughter’s life.
A bitter taste filled his mouth.
He wanted to crush the Emperor’s despicable face.
His idol had died for a ridiculous reason, while the Emperor remained perfectly composed, leisurely enjoying himself at the banquet.
Renisha’s misery surely stemmed from the Emperor as well.
The Duke had never called her “Empress.”
He’d said she was “held captive.”
Perhaps the Duke of Rotera had already known how Renisha was being treated.
When he’d spoken those words, his face had darkened beyond description.
“If the Emperor refuses to give us anything, what will you do?”
Terrion couldn’t hold back any longer and pressed Cassius urgently.
Cassius snapped back, eyes blazing fiercely.
“The Emperor will pay that price.”
Dark red scales flared along his neck, then faded.
The maidservants carefully removed Renisha’s hair ornaments one by one.
“Your Majesty, are you all right?”
“I’m fine. No need to worry.”
Renisha gave a slight nod and stared at her reflection in the mirror.
Her elaborately made-up face held no expression whatsoever.
She looked as emotionless as a finely crafted doll gazing at itself in the glass.
Renisha touched her own face.
The glamorous woman in the mirror felt like a stranger, not herself at all.
The maids, meanwhile, wore expressions of tightly suppressed anger and sorrow.
Renisha let out a dry laugh.
She mulled over once more the thought she’d gleaned from Rexus.
He intended to send her to Cassius.
Since he couldn’t bring himself to kill his own wife, he’d discard her in the most wretched, humiliating way possible.
Staring at her own lifeless expression, Cassius suddenly came to mind—
that man who burned like a brilliant flame.
‘Cassius…’
Renisha silently rolled the name on her tongue.
There was likely no one who didn’t know of Cassius.
And she was no exception.
Cassius was a knight who’d risen from slavery in the arena.
Though the details of his past were unknown, he’d clawed his way up from nothing to claim a hero’s place.
His vivid golden eyes, burning with vitality, were seared into her memory.
Renisha raised her right hand.
“That’s enough.”
“Your Majesty?”
“Prepare my bath. I need no attendants.”
“But, Your Majesty…!”
The maids and servants hesitated.
Their faces showed fear that Renisha might make a rash decision.
Renisha gave a faint, wry smile.
When she first heard of the Duke and Duchess of Rotera’s deaths, she’d made an extreme choice.
Even now, she wore layers of ornate bracelets to conceal the red scars left behind.
Thanks to the maids’ swift intervention that day, the matter had been resolved without the Emperor ever finding out.
They must be remembering that day now.
“I won’t do anything foolish anymore. I must find and protect those who are still alive.”
Renisha slowly rose to her feet.
She simply wanted to soak in hot water, alone, and sort through this situation.
Her mind was in turmoil.
How should she interpret this new piece—Cassius—now entering her life?
She needed to consider whether she could use Cassius to reshape the game entirely.
The maids quickly undressed her.
Once the attendants left the steam-filled bath chamber—so hazy it blurred her vision—
Renisha sank into the tub.
‘I still need to watch and wait.’
Running away, abandoning everything, was an option.
But in this case, she truly had to start from the very bottom and claw her way up to confront Rexus.
Renisha had no intention of giving up and fleeing.
She had to appease the restless spirits of the Duke and Duchess, who’d died unjustly.
‘Where will Rexus grant Cassius his lands? If only…’
Renisha lowered her eyes.
Rexus would surely assign Cassius the harshest, most barren territory—
or perhaps even abandoned wasteland.
‘If he truly is a Hilosha…’
There’s a chance.
Renisha’s eyes snapped open.
Into her once-lifeless pink irises, something fierce had taken hold.
After lingering long in the water, Renisha rose.
She rang the bell the maids had left behind, and attendants quickly gathered.
Seeing Renisha unharmed, the maids exhaled in relief.
“Tell the head steward I wish to see him immediately.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
For some reason, she felt hopeful.
Male lead says he’s pregnant — and it’s female lead’s child
Something seems a bit off about this world.
Wang Zhao thought as she watched a pregnant man walking towards her…
Intro
Female lead finds herself in a world where the men who possess the ability to bear children.
As she navigates this unfamiliar reality, she is caught off guard by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend, who reveals that he is pregnant.
Is this truly her boyfriend?
Why can’t she recall any details about their time together?
She begins to doubt whether the child her boyfriend is carrying is even hers.
Is there a hidden reason behind her amnesia, or could it be a side effect of her sudden arrival in this strange new world?
Just when it seems the protagonist’s life couldn’t become any more entangled, her ex-boyfriend makes an unexpected appearance, raising questions about the protagonist’s past.
__________
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The king must be thinking he made a smart move. Sorry honey you wrongg
What a tattle,snobbish women. Tha one who doesn’t conceive
Such a twisted, insecure and desirable man. Leave renisha alone