How to Safely Divorce An Obsessive Emperor

Ryan couldn’t bear it anymore and poked Decan’s side.

 

“What did you say? Huh?”

 

“Ah… I said I could ask the Knights of St. Malik for advice.”

 

“Hmm? Does that make sense?”

 

At first, Ryan blinked her eyes as if she was dumbfounded.

 

“They are the ones who obviously did that? If you ask for advice, it will come and flutter… No, if you do it well, it might work.”

 

Decan nodded.

 

“That’s right. You may be able to find evidence in reverse through consultation. As long as they officially belong to the temple, there is no justification for rejecting His Majesty’s call.”

 

“That’s right. Wow, Phoenix knew all about this? It’s amazing.”

 

“Beep.”

 

To be exact, Pipi didn’t even know that, and just wondered if there were people who knew about ancient magic.

 

“Call them in right now.”

 

Ryan responded to Lescal’s words.

 

“Yes, Your Majesty! If you allow me, I will go myself.”

 

“So be it. Bring plenty of royal guards.”

 

“All right.”

 

If Ryan went, there would be no lack of force. Those Malik guys will have no choice but to be dragged in. Lescal took off the jewel pendant that symbolized his name and threw it to Ryan. She politely accepted the pendant with both hands.

 

“Take that with you instead of the document.”

 

“Hey, I’ll give it back to you. Then let’s go now… Oh, before that, may I ask you something?”

 

“Briefly.”

 

Ryan rolled his eyes and quickly asked.

 

“What are you going to give to the imperial chef?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

“Hmm? Why is that so?”

 

“I heard the Empress said it was delicious to eat once.”

 

“Ah… I guess too much is bad. Then let’s go right away.”

 

After answering his question, Ryan quickly turned around. In fact, she had been concerned about this ever since she had Lescal make different types of ginger dishes. No matter how amazing the imperial chef’s cooking skills were, if he added a single ingredient so obsessively, his appetite was bound to whet.

 

‘When I get back, I’ll stop by the Empress’ palace and ask what food you really like.’

 

So she thought she would let him know. Ryan firmly believed that the Empress had become a new person. Considering that she even prevented Serven from being disciplined, it was impossible to think that she was the same person as the previous vicious and cruel Empress. The snake heads were a bit annoying right now, but once they resolved the minor issues, the Emperor and Empress would become a picture-perfect pair. Lescal would fully subjugate his blood before his thirtieth birthday and will remain a great Emperor of the empire for a long time. It was truly an ending she was hoping for.

 

“…?”

 

But it was already too early to dream such a thing. Decan, whose expression suddenly changed, folded his hands and began muttering something. It was an order. After a while, Decan took out a letter from inside his loose sleeve.

 

“Contact… I’m here, Your Majesty.”

 

The fact that the letter came from Decan’s sleeve meant that he had intercepted it through magic.

 

“That’s the temple’s seal!”

 

Ryan shouted after checking the envelope of the letter. In other words, the letter sent from the temple to the imperial palace was received in advance by understanding it as a spell that Decan had cast in advance. Lescal received the letter and roughly tore the seal.

 

“…What do you say?”

 

Ryan asked, swallowing her saliva.

 

For some reason, she didn’t have a good feeling. The temple moved in time as if it was looking into what was going on in the Emperor’s office.

 

“…late.”

 

“Yes?”

 

Tuk!

 

Lescal threw away the letter he had read. The veins on his temples were standing up.

 

“The accusation is that she committed a total of seventeen murders over the past four years to conceal the fact that the Empress had lost her mark. They say you have to check the sign at the temple.”

 

 

“…yes? I beg your pardon?”

 

When she heard that the Empress had suffered from amnesia, Ryan thought it would be the most outrageous thing she had heard all year. But no. It was even more absurd now.

 

* * *

 

It was not only the imperial family that sent letters accusing the Empress of Harios. She sent it to the five ducal houses and to all the nobles belonging to the Grand Noble Order. The matter had become too big for the imperial family to handle it quietly. A formal complaint written in the name of the High Priest was formally submitted to trial through the Grand Noble Council and the Supreme Court. It was like being possessed by a ghost. Before the imperial family could do anything, everyone went crazy and set the trial date and jury. Since the establishment of the Eliadan Empire, there has probably never been an indictment brought to formal trial so quickly.

 

“Beep! beep!”

 

Pipi flapped her wings wildly and flew around her room frantically. Eight-half of her curses were directed at Lescal, and this half were curses directed at the temple and the heads of snakes. She understood their feeling angry, but as she continued to listen, her heart became heavy. The contents of the complaint were probably true.

 

“Beep! Beep!”

 

“Pipi, stop and come here.”

 

Lasilia held out her palm to Pipi. Pipi flew over and buried her head in her palm, wheezing at her.

 

“Beep. beep?”

 

“…No, I know you’re angry, but don’t say things like you’re going to kill all the priests.”

 

“Beep!”

 

“There is no such thing as someone you can kill. And I already killed seventeen people, so I can’t add more murders to that.”

 

“Peeeeeet.”

 

“It’s the same whether you kill me or I kill you. If you think about it that way, I didn’t kill the courtiers either.”

 

“Phee…”

 

Pipi said he was feeling weak and flopped his wings. Yvette, who was next to him, cautiously opened her mouth.

 

“Isn’t Her Majesty angry?”

 

“Should I?”

 

“Yes. They’re  making ridiculous excuses. They are going to accuse you for the crime of killing the palace servant. That doesn’t happen even to a single noble. In what temple do nobles report the crime of punishing the servants of their houses? That really makes no sense.”

 

It was bittersweet, but that was the status. The reason Yvette said this was not because she had become a noblewoman and the lives of the courtiers had become ridiculous. This was because the absurdity and discrimination that comes with social status was so natural.

 

“So this is just my opinion, but the issue at stake is not the palace servant’s life. This is the part where they say the mark has disappeared.”

 

It will be so. The temple would not have attacked without knowing the law. What was important was the mark. The temple wanted to reveal that Lasilia was a fake. This was where her thoughts became complicated.

 

‘No matter how much you think about it, the one the temple is targeting is the Empress.’

 

The Emperor had nothing to lose if it turned out that she was a fake empress. Since it was her empress who hid her secret, all the emperor had to do was punish her and find her real companion.

 

‘Although the temple does not have a close relationship with the imperial family… The intention may be to prevent the emperor from transforming into a demon. If the Empress continues to keep quiet, the one who will suffer the most serious damage is the Emperor. And everyone in the empire will pay the price for the emperor’s mutation. The temple may be trying to protect the empire in this way.’

 

So the problem was only herself. Although she has the face of an Empress, she was not the real Empress, but rather the Prophet of dell’Arta.

 

“If what the temple says is true… What happens to me?”

 

“Ah… Your Majesty the Empress.”

 

Yvette held both of her hands tightly with a pitiful look on her face.

 

“I think… If you lose the trial, you will be dethroned.”

 

“Dethronement?”

 

It was unexpected. Lasilia naturally thought that the Empress would die.

 

“Yes… In Eliadan, the empress is the Emperor’s companion.”

 

“What happens when she is dethroned?”

 

“That… Uh, I’m not sure… Maybe she’ll end up as a Duke? Of course, I’ll have to talk to Duke Piellion. Perhaps Duke Piellion will also be punished for this incident. If the mark had disappeared, Duke Piellion might also have participated in the cover-up.”

 

Yvette was implicitly assuming that the mark might have disappeared. Well, it was impossible for someone as clever as Yvette to not know. The Empress refused to sleep with her for four years and was very careful not to let anyone see her bare body when she entered her bathroom. It was something she wouldn’t do if she didn’t have a reason to.

 

“It’s called dethronement…”

 

It wasn’t an execution. After she was dethroned, if the Duke did not accept her, she would be penniless and have nowhere to go, but for Lasilia, that was not a very bad ending.

 

‘Then I can go back.’

 

She felt like the answer came from an unexpected place.

 

‘I don’t know if it’s the right answer.’

 

Her prophecy, as Lasilia saw it, was of Lescal looking at her dying self. She confessed her love to Lescal, but Lescal rejected it. In the prophecy, Lescal was only cold-hearted. He felt no emotion.

 

‘When he realized that the mark was gone, did his feelings disappear in an instant? Is he just angry that he was deceived?’

 

So was he trying to kill her after being dethroned? But there was something about it that didn’t fit her taste.

 

‘If that were now… It’s a little strange.’

 

It was true that her feelings of rejection towards the Emperor had been greatly diluted. However, when he tried to kill himself, she was so consumed with betrayal and resentment that she did not seem to shout out that she was his true destiny and that she loved him.

 

‘I don’t think now is the right time.’

 

Maybe it would be much later. After her emotions got out of control. When she forgot that she was a fake and got used to the life of an Empress. One day, she had no doubt that he loved her.

 

‘Good. Then I’ll give it a try.’

 

Before that, she will become Empress and leave the imperial palace. It was necessary to be confident that the outcome of the trial would be dethronement. If that was guaranteed, he could plead guilty and skip the process of proving the mark in front of the priests at the trial.

 

“Your Majesty the Empress… Is there anything I can be of help with?”

 

Yvette asked, looking at Lasilia’s expression, which was becoming more serious. It was Yvette who looked like she was going crazy with worry.

 

“Just say anything. I will do whatever I can. I can testify as you ask.”

 

What Yvette means was probably false testimony. However, telling a lie under the temple oath was fatal. She had never seen it in the case of Eliadan, but in dell’Arta a curse from God was given. The same would be true here.

 

“No. You just have to say what you hear and see. But you will not be asked to testify.”

 

“Why? I am the first maid in the Empress’s palace, Your Majesty.”

 

“It will happen… Ah, but there is something else I can do for you besides testify.”

 

“Just say the word, Your Majesty.”

 

What Lasilia wanted was someone who could handle priests, judges, and the Great Noble Association. And she was very close to that figure.

 

“I need to meet Duke Piellion. What’s the fastest way?”

 

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Translator Note: