122. The True Woman of the Bloodline

At Roselia’s bold declaration, the hall erupted in murmurs.

Not only the nobles gathered in the hall but also the members of the imperial family on the platform looked visibly shaken.

The lost daughter of the House of Euciliod?

If what she claimed was true, she was a noblewoman of a pedigree far more distinguished than Nora, whose origins were uncertain.

Amid the astonished nobles, Grand Duke Rubelio’s expression darkened.

He had assumed she was merely a distant branch of the bloodline. To think that she was actually the daughter of the Marquess of Euciliod…

His face twisted with uncharacteristic distress, as if he had failed to anticipate this turn of events.

Sensing the shift in the atmosphere, Rubelio’s gaze flicked toward Alphonse.

Alphonse, infuriated by this absurd development, looked as though he was ready to tear Marquess Balken apart.

Under Alphonse’s murderous glare, Balken swallowed hard before shouting in a panic.

“This is nonsense! The daughter of the Marquess of Euciliod died twenty years ago!”

At Balken’s outburst, Johannes, who had remained silent, stepped forward to stand beside Roselia in the center of the hall.

Then, with eyes colder than ice, he fixed Balken with a piercing glare.

“And how, Marquess Balken, can you be so certain that my sister died twenty years ago?”

As Roselia stood there with her silken black hair cascading over her shoulders, her green eyes gleaming, Johannes—equally dark-haired and emerald-eyed—stood beside her.

There was no room for doubt.

The two of them were unmistakably siblings.

Even their emerald eyes, a defining trait of the House of Euciliod, were eerily identical.

With Roselia and Johannes standing boldly together, Balken clenched his teeth in frustration.

If he said the wrong thing here, it could expose the truth—that it was they who had orchestrated the attack on the Marquess’s wife and daughter.

As Balken stood there trembling, at a loss for words, Alphonse abruptly stood up.

“You just said yourself that you are Viscount Bernas,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “What exactly do you mean by that?”

It was a desperate attempt to disrupt the shifting tide.

Roselia met Alphonse’s gaze steadily and answered in a calm voice.

“Exactly what I said. The guest at the Marquess’s estate whom Marquess Balken referred to as ‘Viscount Bernas’—that was me.”

Alphonse had seen Viscount Bernas at banquets before.

The realization that he had actually been a she was baffling—and infuriating.

He had been deceived.

Grinding his teeth, Alphonse twisted his lips into a smirk.

“So, you’ve been disguising yourself as a man all this time?”

Though his words dripped with sarcasm, Roselia simply held his gaze.

“And why do you think I had to disguise myself?”

Her tone was almost provocative.

Alphonse’s expression hardened.

Her words struck directly at the heart of the concubine faction.

Her question was an unspoken accusation—one that suggested the very people who had targeted the Marquess’s wife and child were those within the concubine faction itself.

Alphonse, his face stiff with tension, twisted his lips into a mocking smirk.

“If you truly are Viscount Bernas, then that means you are a noble of Rugbeljet. Are you unaware that foreign nobles who have not been formally invited are not allowed to participate in this assembly?”

At his words, Alphonse gestured, and a few imperial knights entered the hall.

Hearing the knights’ approaching footsteps behind Roselia, Johannes, who had been standing quietly, sharply raised his gaze and glared at them.

“Viscount Bernas—no, Roselia—is the only direct bloodline heir of the House of Euciliod. As the rightful daughter of the Marquess, I believe she has every right to be present in this hall.”

Johannes then looked up at the Emperor and asked firmly, “Do you not agree, Your Majesty?”

The Emperor, who had been stroking his beard thoughtfully, met Johannes’ unwavering gaze and gave a slow nod.

“If she is of the Euciliod bloodline, then she is entitled to voting rights.”

At the Emperor’s declaration, the hall buzzed with murmurs once again.

The nobles were quick to compare Roselia and Nora, weighing their respective legitimacy.

A woman of uncertain parentage versus the long-lost daughter of the noble House of Euciliod, which had upheld the imperial lineage for generations.

Both were being called “women of the bloodline,” but there was no real comparison.

However, some nobles still harbored doubts about Roselia’s origins.

As the murmurs of discussion grew louder, Empress Gwenhella, unable to bear it any longer, stood up.

“Your Majesty, we cannot simply take this woman’s word as truth. Even if she is indeed the daughter of the House of Euciliod, she has spent more years in Rugbeljet than in Raphelios. How do we know she has not been brainwashed into becoming a spy? How can we trust her and acknowledge her as a true woman of the bloodline?”

At her words, the Emperor fell silent, deep in thought.

At that moment, Marquis Bellog, seated among the foreign delegations representing the Kingdom of Mule, stood up.

“If Raphelios refuses to recognize her as one of its own, then it will be making a grave mistake. I guarantee that as a representative of Mule.”

At Bellog’s unexpected support, Roselia turned to him with a look of surprise.

The marquis responded with a playful wink.

In contrast, Empress Gwenhella’s expression twisted into a scowl.

To have a mere representative of a small border kingdom challenge her opinion was beyond infuriating.

And then, another voice joined in.

Prince Asif of Benuve, seated beside Bellog, also rose from his chair.

“Benuve, too, will support the claim that she is a rightful daughter of the House of Euciliod.”

His sharp gaze landed on Roselia.

His expression carried a mix of scrutiny and curiosity, as if he intended to interrogate her later but, for now, was choosing to stand by her.

As the situation grew more and more unpredictable, Grand Duke Rubelio, who had been silently observing, began to look visibly uneasy.

Then, from the far corner of the hall, someone abruptly raised their hand.

“Zelos will also cast a vote in her favor.”

Roselia turned in surprise toward the source of the voice.

It was then that she recognized him—he was the Zelosian runaway she had met at the hotel.

Her eyes widened.

It seemed he had been telling the truth about being an envoy of Zelos all along.

As Roselia stood in momentary shock, another wave of murmurs swept through the hall.

Even a representative from Zelos, a nation with nearly no diplomatic ties to Raphelios, had chosen to support her?

The gathered nobles whispered among themselves, awed by the gravity of the situation.

“So this is the power of a true bloodline woman…”

As whispers of admiration spread, the nobles of the concubine faction could no longer remain silent.

“We object!” one of them shouted, rising from his seat.

“How can we trust someone who spent years deceiving everyone by dressing as a man? She is a fraud!”

A heavy silence followed.

Then, amidst the rising tension, a lone figure stood up from the shadows.

It was Klaus.

The mere act of him rising from his seat was enough to silence the entire hall.

No noble in Raphelios was ignorant of who he was.

A man who controlled the empire’s finances, a figure so influential that he had been personally invited by the Emperor despite not being an official delegate.

As Klaus stepped forward, even the concubine faction nobles who had been shouting moments ago fell into stunned silence.

He slowly scanned the room, then finally spoke.

“The House of Valtazar will vouch for this woman’s identity. If there are any doubts, direct your questions to me.”

His words left the concubine faction nobles gaping in disbelief.

Roselia turned her gaze toward Klaus.

He was looking directly at her.

His expression was unwavering.

Roselia, unable to hold his gaze for long, averted her eyes.

Just then, the Emperor’s dignified voice resonated through the silent hall.

“I understand your positions well,” the Emperor declared.

“With the delegation representatives speaking in her favor, it will be difficult to dismiss the daughter of House Euciliod. Let us proceed immediately with the voting.”

At the Emperor’s words, the murmuring hall fell silent in an instant.

“All those in favor of Prince Aaron’s coronation, raise your hands.”

Standing confidently at the center of the hall, Roselia and Johannes raised their hands first.

Their action was followed by the nobles of the Empress’s faction, and then by Asif, Bellog, and even the Zelosian envoy.

Finally, Klaus slowly raised his hand.

As if waiting for his signal, a vast number of nobles began to follow.

It was no exaggeration to say that nearly everyone except the concubine faction had voted in favor.

Looking down at the overwhelming majority in support, Prince Alphonse clenched his fists, his body trembling with anger.

Empress Gwenhella, not bothering to see the result through to the end, stood abruptly and stormed out.

The Emperor glanced at her departing figure briefly before shifting his gaze back to the assembly, his expression unreadable.

A steward approached him and whispered the final count.

Not that it was necessary—anyone with eyes could see that the vote was overwhelmingly in favor.

“The majority has voted in favor of the coronation. In accordance with the results, the official succession ceremony for Crown Prince Aaron Livius von Raphelios will proceed as planned.”

At the Emperor’s proclamation, the nobles of the Empress’s faction rose to their feet, applauding.

Their eyes were on Roselia and Johannes.

As the Empress’s faction celebrated with broad smiles, even the neutral nobles began to clap for the two standing in the center of the hall.

Watching the scene with discontent, Grand Duke Rubelio quietly slipped away into the crowd.

Amidst the shower of applause, Roselia searched for Klaus.

She knew it must have felt like a betrayal to him, but she had made the best choice she could.

Revealing herself as the daughter of House Euciliod meant she would no longer be tied to Klaus. It was better this way.

Or so she told herself.

Yet deep inside, an uneasy feeling crept up—guilt for deceiving him.

And then, she found him.

Klaus stood behind the celebrating crowd, silently watching her.

His gaze was piercing.

Unintentionally, Roselia found herself staring back at him, frozen.

“You did well, Roselia.”

Johannes’s gentle voice pulled her back to her senses, and she turned away.

Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Nora slipping out of the hall.

“Excuse me.”

Telling Johannes she would step away for a moment, Roselia quickly followed.

She didn’t give him a chance to stop her.

Rushing through the corridor, she spotted Nora walking briskly ahead and ran to catch up.

When Roselia grabbed her arm, Nora turned with wide eyes, her expression darkening as soon as she saw who it was.

“Nora! Please, talk to me.”

“……”

Avoiding Roselia’s gaze, Nora pressed her lips together tightly.

Roselia held onto her hand firmly.

“Whatever Prince Alphonse told you, you can’t believe them. It’s not too late. If you come to House Euciliod—”

“…It could have been me.”

“What?”

“I could have been Empress! But you ruined everything!”

Nora suddenly shrieked, shoving Roselia’s hand away.

Roselia froze, startled.

Nora glared at her, her face contorted with rage.

“You were playing with people? Was it fun?” she hissed.

“And to think—I even felt guilty for choosing the Prince over you! What a joke!”

“Nora… they don’t see you as the true woman of the bloodline. To them, you’re just a pawn to be used and discarded.”

At Roselia’s words, Nora’s face twisted even further.

“Oh? And I suppose you are the real bloodline woman now?”

“It’s not like that—”

Roselia realized just how unreachable Nora had become.

But if she left her alone, she would be discarded by Alphonse the moment she lost her usefulness.

Just like Roselia in the past…

She reached for Nora’s hand again, desperation in her movements.

Nora’s eyes widened in fury, and she suddenly raised her other hand.

“It’s all your fault!”

Roselia never expected the woman who had once trembled in fear, thanking her in the back alleys, to strike her.

She stood frozen.

But before Nora’s hand could make contact—

Smack!

A large shadow moved in an instant.

Klaus’s grip closed around Nora’s delicate wrist, his gaze cold and razor-sharp.

“You were treated like a noble bloodline woman, and now you think you can do whatever you want?” he growled.

TL/N: Should I sing? A MAN A MAN A MA – MA – MAN or Would you hold it out baby if I gave you a chance need the reassurance baby not a silly romance
Atp just kill me cuz idk lyrics but they just popped in my head tiktok ruined me