“Lina. I mean….”
Evelina, seeing Ianathas unable to keep speaking, could not come to terms with this fact. He seemed to obscure his words because of the knights around him guarding the door.
But she couldn’t believe it that much.
She grabbed Ianathas’ hand and dragged him into the room. Then it shut down completely. In the meantime, forgetting that she tried not to be misunderstood like this.
Evelina, who was pushed to the limit, could not be a cold person at all unlike usual.
“Tell me the truth, please.”
Ianathas looked at Evelina. He thought Evelina’s face was more miserable than him who dug up a pile of dirt. Her face was so wet from crying. Maybe she kept chewing her lips, because her lips were swollen more than usual.
And how red her cheeks were, she looked quite different from her pale face when she was cold. The tears that made her eyes sparkle didn’t look beautiful. Closer to grief than beauty.
Ianathas shut his mouth when he saw Evelina.
“What about my father and mother? Are they safe?”
“…Lina.”
“Tell me they are safe, please.”
When Evelina spoke imploringly, he closed his eyes and said.
“Dead. The body… Only part of it was found.”
“What? No. That can’t be… That can’t be!”
Evelina pushed Ianathas by grabbing him by the arm. She was looking at Ianathas and denying reality. His white uniform was stained with dirt and blackened in places. He was very wet, perhaps because he rushed over riding a horse in the rain.
“It’s true, Lina.”
“Ah…”
Evelina was going crazy.
“Lina. Instead I… I’ll take responsibility. Like your parents, I will do my best. So…”
When Ianathas cried, Evelina became rather cold.
“I’m pregnant.”
Then Ianathas opened his eyes wide and hardened.
“The Emperor will abandon me now.”
“Lina, that’s…”
Ianathas looked at Evelina’s calmness and thought it strange that he was the one crying. The voice was calm. With resignation.
When she heard everything from Ianathas, things began to feel useless.
It was already over. There was no reason to live any more.
“You still don’t understand why the Emperor took me?”
Evelina said self-deprecatingly and let go of the hand that grabbed Ianathas.
“Leave me now. Forget about me in your life.”
She wished Ianathas well for the rest of his life. The naturalization of her adoptive parents, which she most hoped for, was over. Because they were dead.
All that was left was the child and her. And a life where she couldn’t die.
The Emperor would abandon her now. If he got tired of her, he would keep her in a tower somewhere like the former Empress.
The Queen who had no favors and no affection. He* shouldn’t be attached to such a Queen.
*TN: Ianathas
Ianathas was still young, and he was a man of no fault. He was a person who didn’t have to be punished for her.
“Run away with me, Lina.”
As he cried and spoke, Evelina pretended to laugh at him and said.
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Come with me. Run away from the palace with me… Let’s just go anywhere.”
“I told you not to talk nonsense.”
Evelina stepped back, shaking off his attempt to hold her hand.
“If the Emperor abandons you…”
“He won’t throw me away.”
Evelina said so as if to retract what she had said earlier. Because he didn’t miss what she said just because his heart was breaking.
“You are very pathetic, Ian.”
“…Lina.”
“I hate pathetic people like you the most. What? Run away? Do you think I can live like a commoner with you?”
“…”
“Even if I die, I will die in the palace. I… I can never give up what I enjoy now.”
She was speaking harshly, but she bit her lip.
For a moment, Ianathas looked at her and said with a crying expression as if he had known her habit when lying.
“You need time to think. I got it.”
“I don’t need that!”
She didn’t want to live. But she didn’t want to drive Ianathas to death because she wanted to die.
“Get out.”
When Evelina stepped back and commanded him, Ianathas dropped his head and cried.
“I can wait. Until you’re done thinking.”
Then he turned and opened the door and went out.
Evelina felt strange, like he was smiling. It must also be an illusion created by medicine.
~~~~
Kaiden arrived at the Imperial Palace later than Ianathas.
“It’s weird.”
Duke Ruskun said, clinging to Kaiden’s side.
The two were walking together to the bedroom of the Imperial Palace. The Duke of Ruskun came running to give Kaiden an urgent report. After that, the aide also bowed his head.
“The Marquis of Logias is really… Are you sure he’s dead?”
“The body was found.”
“You said it was only part of it.”
“…There are dozens of people who saw rocks fall onto the carriage of the Marquis of Logias.”
“Then why is there only a part of the body? I heard that it wasn’t attached to the clothes.”
“….”
“It’s strange.”
Duke Ruskun spoke as if it was sinister. But Kaiden was now in a state of limbo.
“… Keep quiet about the news of the Marquis of Logias’ death. Let no one speak.”
“Why is that? Is it because of Her Majesty?”
“…Yeah. Lina just got pregnant. I don’t want to shock her.”
The Duke of Ruskun sighed as he saw his expression soften every time Kaiden talked about Evelina.
“She’ll find out one day anyway.”
“That one day doesn’t have to be today. Only until her body stabilizes… Just wait until then.”
Kaiden stood still, wiping his face. Then Duke Weimar went on.
“Why do you do that?”
“Lina has just begun to detoxify. It’s only a month. When the detox is over and all the memories come back… Then it’s not too late to say it then.”
“Will she really hate the Marquis of Logias when her memories return?”
Ruskun Weimar himself expressed the emperor his doubts. Then Kaiden looked at his behavior and said as if he was relieved to point out the rational part.
“Yes.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I can be sure.”
At Kaiden’s words, Ruskun stepped down, saying he understood. Then, as the Emperor intended, he moved not to inform the Queen.
~~~~
Kaiden was in front of the Imperial Palace’s bedroom. He pondered for a long time whether to knock or not. Perhaps because he was standing, the two knights standing next to him couldn’t even breathe.
It wasn’t long before he knocked on the door after pondering for half an hour.
“Lina.”
The door burst open.
Evelina gave up a lot while waiting for him.
Already, she waited for the fortune-teller, and she was about to let go of everything through the confirmation given by the fortune-teller. And then the pregnancy.
From the beginning, the Emperor had no intention of keeping her adoptive parents alive.
She played into it and gave him her all. How ridiculous it must be to be pregnant as he wished.
She couldn’t hide her expression, so she said with a desperate smile.
“Are my parents okay?”
On the other hand, Kaiden couldn’t tell the truth more because of her expression. She was only two weeks pregnant. It was not like she was in a stable phase.
During his time at the Imperial Palace, he has seen numerous dark battles.
It was dangerous to shock someone who could not even enter a stable period. Evelina was already weak. Her heart was weaker than the average person. There had been poisoning from a very early age.
Even if she doesn’t know for herself.
“Yes.”
Evelina completely resigned herself to Kaiden’s lies.
It was as if she had been convinced that she was right.
~~~~
Since then, Kaiden has been very nice to Evelina. Originally he was really nice to her, but Evelina couldn’t afford to notice it.
“Did you forget that I told you not to come to my room?”
Evelina had completely changed.
She’s lost her will to live, and she was on the verge of going crazy to the point where she wanted to forget about the child growing up in her stomach.
“Lina, but we’d better share a bedroom…”
“Get out!”
Evelina didn’t come out of her bedroom at the Empress’ Palace. Kaiden had to come every time to see her like that.
“Lina, if you’re angry with me, please tell me.”
Kaiden thought she didn’t know about the Marquis of Logias because he had thoroughly shut up those around her.
“I don’t want to see your face.”
“What’s the reason?”
“I just hate it. I’m tired of seeing it every day. It is terrifying to look at.”
She said it like someone who was completely fed up with him.
But Kaiden waited for her every time even with her words. He was trying to get rid of her anger.
“I’ll try to wear a mask.”
“Would a mask work? I find your big body gross, too.”
“…I’ll try to lose weight.”
When he spoke imploringly to Evelina, Evelina grabbed him by the arm. Then she dragged him out of the room and said.
“Don’t come back.”
Seeing her expression, Kaiden was worried that maybe she knew that the Marquis of Logias had already died.
“Lina, I lied to you. Is that why you’re angry….”
“Do you think so? I just hate the very existence of you.”
Evelina said that and closed the door roughly.
Kaiden thought it was reasonable for Evelina to hate him, but he had to wait silently because he didn’t know what to do.
~~~~
“I heard that there is a poison in Tenesi that kills without pain.”
Evelina called Usher Fronen to her room and said so.
“The rumor seems to have been misrepresented. There is no such poison.”
“Then what did I hear?”
Evelina seemed unable to live any longer. The suffocating Imperial Palace, and the servants who tried to hide everything from her. And even Kaiden, who deceived and laughed at her.
“Your Majesty, do you want to die?”
Evelina did not respond to Usher’s comments. But Usher Fronen said, realizing that she was not denying what he was saying. However, he said as he watched her cover her belly involuntarily.
“May I help you?”
