“……?”
Called out to the powder room for a moment, Liz couldn’t quite understand what Rene was saying.
“So… that woman is not Amelda Lafer?”
Barely coming to her senses, Liz asked.
“Yeah. No.”
While she understood this time, she couldn’t comprehend.
“How could that be…”
Liz, who had been looking around for a moment in embarrassment, suddenly looked at Rene with a suspicious gaze.
“…Could it be you?”
“…….”
“Is your eyesight bad?”
In the past, Rene might have responded aggressively to such words, but now she calmly tilted her head, as if understanding.
“I have good eyesight. And a good memory too. Amelda Lafer had a recitation at our house, so I know for sure. The woman on the stage over there is not her.”
“…….”
Rene was simple and intense, but she was not a woman who lied. Therefore… it was a fact.
“This can’t be… unbelievable.”
Unable to help but believe it, she couldn’t believe it. It was in the original work. It was definitely there…
“She had the same appearance. Flowing platinum hair, emerald-green eyes…”
“Looks like Rustella Clarendo. It’s just a look when you see it in print.”
Rene interjected.
“Rust… who?”
Liz asked with a dazed mind, and Rene explained again.
“Rustella Clarendo. The woman who was on stage just now. She was the one dominating the theater world until Amelda took over. It seems like she was hastily brought in because Amelda had to withdraw.”
With words that perfectly fit together, Liz finally snapped back to reality.
“Then… where is the real Amelda Lafer?”
“I found out when you were busy kissing your husband.”
“…….”
“Just before the performance started, that woman left a note in the waiting room and disappeared. Seemed like something urgent came up.”
“Ah…”
As Liz momentarily swayed, Rene quickly held her.
Rene Esmond was not usually a meticulous person, but now she had no choice.
There were only two people in the powder room, and Liz’s husband was waiting outside. If something went wrong with the unborn child, all suspicions might fall on her.
“What… how can this happen… how… I’ve been waiting for this day for so long.”
“I’ve been waiting for this day too. I thought I could clear the pent-up frustrations.”
But Rene knew that her disappointment was nothing compared to Liz’s.
She had only failed to fulfill a twisted desire, but Liz’s fate was at stake. A few people, or tens of thousands.
“I… I just don’t know. What went wrong? Did I get the date wrong? Ah… right. Maybe I did. They said there would be a meteor shower that day, but it happened on a completely different day.”
Liz wanted to believe that. That there was still hope.
“Unfortunately, it seems like it’s not a timing issue this time.”
“…….”
“Amelda has already left. She has the military secrets conveyed by the Grand Duke.”
Rene’s words were more desperate than any despairing situation so far. Liz wandered around the powder room for a moment with a pale, nauseous face.
Rene, tensing her body in case Liz wavered again, followed her.
She wanted to quickly hand her over to her husband outside, but,
“He should be an ordinary person.”
She was sure that she would be added to his surveillance list on that day when they were here together.
Anxious Rene urged Liz.
“For now, go out. Go back to the palace and think about the rest slowly. Anyway, there won’t be any answers by doing this, right? Your husband is outside, too.”
“…Husband?”
At the mention of a husband, Liz’s gaze calmly settled.
“In the end, I can only rely on him.”
She tried not to let it be so… But everything turned into nothing.
Suddenly, Liz said she had a headache and wanted to return to the palace, citing fatigue. Hershise, without suspicion, complied with her request.
The carriage that had been lurking revealed itself at the corner of the theater at Hershise’s signal.
It was a simple brown carriage detached from the imperial carriage. The cute coachman jumped down from the side seat and courteously bowed.
“Your Majesty… No, my lord. Should I escort you to the estate now?”
The temporary title seemed to stick awkwardly, as the coachman repeatedly presented a clumsy performance.
As Hershise nodded, the coachman opened the carriage door.
As Liz tried to move, she grabbed him. She thought if she was any later, she wouldn’t be able to intervene.
“Um, Hersh…! What that woman said earlier. It’s not Amelda Lafer.”
Hershise turned to Liz’s words.
“Is that so?”
He said with a face that said he didn’t know at all, but it didn’t matter.
“She acted well. That’s enough.”
‘I’m not okay.’
Liz firmly made up her mind and spoke again.
“I overheard it in the powder room a while ago… It seems like that woman committed some serious wrongdoing and ran away.”
“What wrongdoing?”
Hershise asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Um… It seemed like she stole something important from some noble house.”
“…”
“Like a valuable… something.”
Up to this point was the last line of lies that she could tell while looking him in the eye.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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