Until The Real One Shows Up​

“But even so, I have no intention of dethroning the Empress.”

At Wilhelm’s words, the bewildered eyes of everyone in the conference room turned to him.

But Wilhelm looked at Lyell with an expressionless face and nailed his words.

“Let’s make this clear and move on to the next story, High Priest.”

“Your Majesty, what…”

“As the High Priest just said.”

Wilhelm looked around the nobility with bewildered expressions and continued.

“There was an error in the oracle. The woman of the oracle is not the current Empress, but the daughter of Count Hazel.”

Wilhelm spoke up and was silent for a moment. Surprised aristocrats began to roar.

“But even so, I have no intention of changing the Empress.”

“Your Majesty, you are saying no.”

Immediately, Lyell’s bewildered voice was heard.

“Are you saying you want to go against the oracle? For a peaceful future of the Empire, we must change the Empress.”

“Even if Anastasia is not the woman of the oracle, she is my wife.”

With those words, Wilhelm turned to Anastasia.

 As his eyes suddenly turned to her, Anastasia met his with her bewildered look.

He kept his piercing gaze, and he spoke in a piercing tone.

“I can’t throw her away.”

“Your Majesty, that is…!”

“So.”

At that moment, another voice intervened between the two of them. It was Duke Barantes with a confused expression.

“Are you saying that now, the High Priest’s argument is we should dethrone Empress Anastasia and make the real oracle woman, Lady Hazel, Empress?”

“Yes, Duke Barantes.”

“Show me the evidence.”

Duke Barantes demanded in a voice of disbelief.

“The proof that Lady Hazel is the real oracle woman.”

“Of course there is evidence. Hazel, please come forward.”

Shortly after Lyell’s words were finished, someone entered the conference hall with the sound of a dress being pulled gently.

Anastasia looked at the pink-haired woman who had appeared in front of her with a nervous expression.

With her still lovely face, she smiled and bowed her head in a pink dress that was half cut across her shoulders as well as her back.

“I greet you formally. This is Count Hazel’s daughter, Avelin Hazel.”

“Lady Hazel, would you please turn around for a moment?”

“Of course.”

Avelin was willing to do so.

Immediately, all the rose-shaped dots clearly engraved on her shoulder appeared in front of her.

The nobles, who had already seen her rose dot at the time Anastasia received the oracle, all groaned embarrassed at the same pattern as then appeared.

“Comparing it with Her Majesty’s one, you can tell, that it is undoubtedly a sign of the goddess.”

Lyell added to avoid any misunderstanding.

“She has already been diagnosed by the doctor that it is an obvious part of the body, not something like a tattoo.”

Then, she showed her the medical certificate she had brought, and added her words.

“If you still don’t believe it, we can call the palace doctor to prove it.”

“Isn’t that sign already possessed by Her Majesty the Empress?”

The Duke of Barantes raised the objection in a bewildered voice.

“To deny the trust of the past by that alone…!”

“Of course, it’s not just that. It has been confirmed by our priests that Lady Hazel can also use divine power, a proof of grace.”

“Is it divine power? Then why didn’t she work as a priest in the Bodhar Empire?”

“Lady Hazel is not a body endowed with divine power from birth. However, after the last debut ball, she suffered a severe fever and came to the temple saying she could use it. The next day the oracle came out.”

Lyell continued speaking.

“It is speculated in the temple that the Goddess bestowed divine power on Lady Hazel at the right time. To prove that Lady Hazel is the real woman of the oracle.”

Although rare, the acquired manifestation of divine power was also not impossible.

Occasionally, like Avelin, after suffering a severe fever, the divine power was manifested and they became a priest later.

“Anyway, I’ll show you the evidence that Lady  Hazel can use divine power.”

Lyell immediately glanced at the priest behind him, and the priest raised the rose he had brought so that everyone could see it.

It had been a long time since the stem had already been broken, and the petals and even the leaves had withered.

“She will bring this flower back to life in the same condition as when Lady Hazel first picked it.”

Avelin took the rose from the priest, and then a pure white light began to emanate from her hand.

Among the nobles, many people had already seen it, and the audience became quiet at the sight of it demonstrating divine power.

After a while.

“Do you all believe me now?”

The withered rose had been completely revived.

The drooping petals maintained their upright shape, and the dried leaves that had dried inward returned to a moist state.

Everyone looked at the rose in amazement at the clear signs of divine power.

“Lady Hazel is undoubtedly the true oracle woman.”

“But, then, why was the Empress born with the Goddess’ mark on her shoulders? Lady Hazel, for what reason did she hide the fact that she was born with a sign of the Goddess?”

“She was born in the Bodard Empire, not the Rosenberg Empire, and lived there until last year. So she didn’t even have access to the oracle, which she had placed in Rosenberg three years ago.”

Avelin began to explain in a calm voice.

“I lost my parents in a carriage accident last year and was adopted by my distant relative, Earl Hazel, until then, I didn’t wear a dress that showed off her shoulders, so others didn’t even know I existed. So I didn’t take it too seriously.”

In fact, it was the beginning of last fall that Avelin came to Rosenberg, so considering the season, she was a fitting description.

“My father was aware of this fact, but he did not have to disclose it to the outside world because the Empress was already there. Is this enough to explain?”

“No matter how important it is, how can such a serious problem…!”

“Stop it, Duke Barantes.”

At that moment, Duke Barantes looked at her, startled by the sudden interruption of his daughter’s voice.

Anastasia, who had been silent until then, got up from her seat with an expressionless face and opened her mouth.

“Lady Hazel Young Ae is the woman of the  oracle. There is nothing wrong with it.”

“Your Majesty, however, there are certainly signs of the Goddess even on your shoulders …!”

However, Duke Barantes’ words did not continue. Because she took off her shawl that Anastasia was wearing and turned her back.

All the nobles became silent as if they were dead, having confirmed their white shoulders where there should have been a spot where they should have been.

“… It’s been a while since this happened.”

Anastasia took the hand of her maids and put her shawl back on.

“It seems that the Goddess recognized her mistake and took my sign from me. I decided to think so.”

“Your Majesty the Empress…!”

“So, according to the oracle, I think Lady Hazel should sit here. For the sake of a peaceful future for this country.”

After finishing her words, Anastasia looked at Wilhelm.

He made eye contact with her with a confused expression.

“…”

Anastasia closed her eyes once, then opened them, then opened her mouths again.

“Your Majesty the Emperor.”

Her voice calling out to him seemed to tremble a little.

She was silent again, clearing her voice, and then opening her mouth.

“I am asking for a divorce.”

“…”

“Depose me, and make the real oracle woman the new Empress to restore the peace of the empire…”

“Stop.”

Before she could finish her words, Wilhelm, raising his hand, firmly intercepted Anastasia.

Anastasia looked at Wilhelm with a bewildered expression, and he was staring at her with some resentment.

Anastasia was greatly embarrassed by his unexpected expression.

‘Why do you look like that…’

At that moment, Wilhelm turned his head away from Anastasia and headed towards his left. And he opened his mouth quickly.

“I believe everyone has understood the situation to some extent.”

Anastasia, naturally deprived of her right to speak, looked at him with her brows narrowed.

Although he must have sensed her gaze, Wilhelm finally made his point without looking back at her.

“Once again, let me be clear. My intentions are the same as the first time.”

After uttering those words, Wilhelm’s gaze finally turned back to Anastasia.

Looking intently at Anastasia with a confused expression on her face, Wilhelm emphasized with strength in his voice.

“I am not divorcing my wife. She is Rosenberg’s Empress until her death.”