Until The Real One Shows Up​

“Heuck…”

Anastasia was stunned by this unexpected act of his.

When she finally came to her senses, she tried to free herself from his arms, but a muffled voice came and said:

“Thank you.”

Hearing his voice choked with relief, Anastasia unconsciously paused.

Wilhelm tightened his hold on her and repeated:

“Thank you, Empress. Thanks to you…”

“…”

“Thanks to you…”

She felt like she knew what he was going to say.

Anastasia felt bitter but she remained still.

She wanted to reach out and hug him the same way, but she couldn’t.

“It was to restore my reputation.”

Instead, she quietly opened her mouth and comforted him with those words.

“Miss Lutent turned the blame on me anyway.”

It was the only time she was grateful to Melina.

Initially, the speculation about the Goddess being angry was because of the Emperor.

But with Melina ranting about her supposed infertility, Wilhelm became relatively free from the blame for this problem.

“So even if you couldn’t solve the problem, there wouldn’t be any unsavory rumors targeting you.”

If that happened, she would have turned the blame on her no matter what he did.*

*TN: She would’ve made the rumors about her so Wilhelm wouldn’t get the blame

Swallowing the words she couldn’t bear to say, Anastasia plainly concluded.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

He had already suffered from distasteful gossip since the beginning of his ascension.

Therefore, she knew how much he had suffered from the incident without hearing it.

“…you would have taken all the blame for me.”

It took a long time before Wilhelm released her and looked at her.

There was gratefulness in his eyes, but on the other hand, there was also remorse.

“You could have been deposed after being falsely accused of being the cause of the Goddess’ wrath.”

“…”

“Why are you so calm? When you were accused, and now…”

“I was confident that I could solve the problem.”

Anastasia casually replied with a faint smile on her face.

“I previously had the pleasure to read a book about gardening.”

“…”

“And I was lucky.”

When he heard that, Wilhelm stared at Anastasia, speechless.

When she looked at him like that, Wilhelm couldn’t bear seeing her treating herself as undeserving.

“…yes.”

After a long while, he opened his mouth but he couldn’t come up with anything else to say.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Anastasia answered brightly. Soon after, a mysterious smile appeared on her as she changed the subject.

“Well, since you’ve heard about the bet, do you know what I’m going to do?”

“I don’t know that much,” answered Wilhelm, a hint of interest in his voice.

“What kind of punishment will you give the young lady?”

“Well, rather than a punishment.”

Anastasia replied with a smile.

“Let’s make sure everyone knows that she’s wrong.”

~~~~

Melina Lutent had been keeping a low profile for days.

At first, she expected Wilhelm to release her.

Even if he had no good feelings for her, she thought he would deliberately subvert the order of the Empress to show his authority.

But her expectation was completely off the mark.

“His Majesty stated that you should pay the price for forgetting the first day’s warning.”

When she protested to Colton, whom she had barely met, that was the answer she received.

The first day’s warning. The words Melina couldn’t forget.

“Don’t you dare stand up to the Empress. It means not to tarnish the prestige of the Central Palace by walking around with a slap mark on your face.”

But in the end, she was slapped again that time.

“Damn it! Damn it!”

Anger broke out and she couldn’t control herself. Melina grabbed the glass vase in front of her and slammed it to the floor with all her might.

Clink! Clink! 

With a sharp sound, glass fragments scattered in all directions.

She could feel the maids next to her looking at her with alarm, but Melina just picked up another vase on the table and threw it on the floor.

Clink! Clink!

An unpleasant noise ensued. The flowers in the vase were crumpled.

The sight made her feel better.

‘That will soon be the Empress.’

Once the Goddess’ Garden perished, the temple and the nobles would find someone to blame.

Naturally, public opinion would point to the Empress.

“So you just have to wait a little longer.”

Melina gritted her teeth, absorbed in her desire to take revenge.

Rattle!

With the sound of the door opening, a group of people stormed into the room.

“Hello, Miss Lutent.”

It was Selene. Melina’s expression hardened when she saw that detestable face.

“You…?”

“I’m here to carry out Her Majesty’s orders.”

Stating her intention briefly, Selene winked at the maids following her.

In an instant, the maids surrounded Melina and took off her dress.

Melina, of course, resisted the sudden disaster.

“What are you doing? Who do you think I am? How dare you touch me!”

As she continued to rage, someone muzzled her mouth.

The noise abruptly diminished, but the resistance was still strong.

The maids who were with Selene managed to remove Melina’s dress and all the accessories she was wearing, leaving her in disarray and a degrading state.

With her movements being limited, Melina glared at Selene with bloodshot eyes.

But Selene approached Melina without caring.

‘I’m not scared anymore.’

At first, Selene was intimidated by everyone.

However, because Anastasia firmly educated her to be confident as the Empress’s maid, she overcame her bad memories of Melina slapping her. She unflinchingly placed something on Melina’s neck.

“It’s done. Let’s go.”

Melina was forcibly taken away by the maids of the Empress’ court. There was a gag in her mouth, so speaking was meaningless.

After a while, Selene eventually took out the gag from Melina’s mouth. Subsequently, she warned that Melina shouldn’t cause a scene.

“Now…what are you going to do?”

Thus, she just warily stared at Selene and protested quietly.

“What are you doing?”

Melina was tied tightly to a wooden stake in front of the castle gate with a wooden sign affixed to the front and back, which announced, “Crime of Slander Against the Imperial Family.”

Everyone passing by looked at Melina with interest.

When people started to gather around and the murmur grew louder, Melina was so humiliated that she wanted to bite her tongue and die.

She never imagined that she would be treated like this; she, who was born a noble.

“What does it say? Does anyone know the letters?”

“Hwang, the imperial family…crime of slander…I think it says slander.”

“You must have committed a terrible crime!”

People started chattering and speculating about what Melina had performed.

Squeak!

Suddenly, the heavily closed gate opened and someone came out.

It was Colton. He walked in front of the stake where Melina was tied up and stood upright.

Melina was taken aback to see a familiar face.

“Sir Colton…!”

“His Majesty’s order is to have all of the citizens of Rosenberg be aware of the sins of Lady Melina Lutent and rectify the false rumors that have been circulating.”

Colton declared and unfolded the Emperor’s edict and began to recite Melina’s sins.

“Melina Lutent actively spread rumors that the Goddess was angry because the Empress could not conceive an heir and was allegedly the cause of the insect infestation in the Goddess’ garden. Melina Lutent is publicly punished for contempt against the imperial family and slander, citing malicious claims against the Empress with the status of the court lady, and the fact that the contents of the slander were entirely false. Also, as of this moment, Melina Lutent is deprived of her position as lady-in-waiting.”

“Nonsense!”

Melina screamed, expressing that she was being falsely accused.

“Everyone is being fooled. If the Goddess is not angry with the Empress who can’t give birth, why is the garden of the goddess suddenly infested with bugs? How can you explain that!”

“But the bugs have completely disappeared since Her Majesty took care of them.”

Melina, who heard Colton’s response, looked as if she had been hit hard in the back.

“…what?”

“The Empress looked after the garden herself and came up with a solution. Thanks to her, the garden is completely back to its original state.”

“…Impossible.”

“If the Empress really brought the wrath of the Goddess, would the Goddess Rosenia let her solve the problem?”

Colton sneered, laughing at the dumbfounded Melina.

“The public punishment will be carried out until tonight. Then.”

Done with his duty, Colton turned around and entered the gate without hesitation. Afterward, Selene and the maids of the Empress who were watching soon followed Colton.

Meanwhile, Melina – who couldn’t accept the situation – was left on her own to suffer from public disgrace, muttering to herself that it couldn’t be.  

“Tsk tsk, you made a mistake with your own mouth. You should be embarrassed!”

“She’s a cruel woman. Wasn’t she the Empress’ childhood friend?”

“You wicked, filthy traitor!”

People began to spit at Melina, blaming her, and although soldiers were standing around her, they didn’t restrain the citizens.

In the first place, it was included in the public punishment to bear the criticism of the people of the Imperial.

She trembled for hours with anger and scorn as she was hit by a flying saliva.

Then, unable to get a grip on the overwhelming shame she was experiencing for the first time in her life, Melina eventually lost her mind.

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