The Abandoned Empress Will Not Return

“I don’t love you anymore.”

 

She never imagined that she would say this…………

 

She felt the freedom, as if she was completely free from him.

 

At Rodelia’s calm tone, who looked refreshed, Kane widened his eyes as if doubting his ears.

 

“It can’t be……! You’re lying because you’re angry at me, right? You said you loved me!”

 

“I did love you.”

 

“…”

 

“However, it was only small.”

 

Kane’s eyes, which had never been shaken under any circumstances, swayed like a stormy sea, but she didn’t feel guilty for hurting him because she had just given back exactly what she received.

 

“Don’t lie to me!”

 

“Don’t scream at me!”

 

She was no longer swayed by him.
That fact freed Rodelia completely.

 

Even to herself, only meaningless glances passed beyond the surprisingly cold voice, and the low, faint sound of shoes shattered the quiet stillness.

 

At the end of Kane’s gaze, a man walked slowly through the corridor filled with impermanent darkness and stood next to Rodelia.

 

As if to mock Kane, the man hugged her waist and smiled. 

 

“Rodelia, no way……..!”

 

Leaving behind Kane’s look of disbelief, Rodelia slowly shifted her gaze to the man next to her with a smile on her lips, as if she was looking at her beloved one.

 

“Kane, I don’t have any lingering feelings for you anymore.”

 

Kane’s expression began to distort indescribably at Rodelia’s attitude, which seemed to have no emotion.

 

“So….”

 

“…”

 

“I’ll never come back to you.” 

 

Rodelia smiled more brightly than anyone else and held the man’s big hand tightly.
Cerdian Eisen, the man of many rumors.

 

He was the only savior who took her out of the endless nightmares she was swimming in.

 

***

 

Rodelia Florence was the perfect empress and beloved wife.

 

She had always been, and she believed she always would be.
She had earned the love of Emperor Kane and the support of the people, so there were no common concubines that had plagued the previous Empresses.
All she had to do was produce a successor and all would be perfect.

 

She was sitting by the window of the Empress’s palace, which overlooked the capital of the Thebes Empire, drinking her tea leisurely.
It was her first day off in a long time, and she wanted to go out, but the maids desperately tried to stop her from catching a cold, so she had no choice but to agree to just enjoy the breeze.

 

Humming and nibbling on a cookie, Rodelia came up with a plan for her future child.

 

‘I hope my first child will be a daughter.’

 

Letting out a small laugh, she put down her teacup.
Just looking at her like this, she resembled the appearance of a noble lady of her age.

 

She had to hide herself behind her position as Empress, and when she had time to herself, she often showed this kind of free figure, a secret appearance she had never shown even to Kane.

 

Suddenly, she remembered that she hadn’t had many encounters with Kane lately.
Looking at the beautifully blooming pink cyclamen, Rodelia felt sad.

 

‘No matter how busy you are with work, you don’t pay much attention to me, do you?’

 

Deciding to go see Kane right away, she stood up from the window and adjusted her disheveled appearance.

 

‘No, I shouldn’t disturb him when he’s busy.
What if he can’t concentrate on his work because of me?’

 

However, Rodelia, thinking of Kane’s recently emaciated appearance, sat down by the window again, muttering.
It was the beginning of winter, so the breeze was cool, and the fallen leaves dancing between the winding streams was truly spectacular.

 

She was a little disappointed that she couldn’t see Kane on their third wedding anniversary, but other than that, it was a perfect day.

 

That was, until her head maid of honor, Viscountess Cohen, came out of the blue with the news.

 

When Rodelia put down her teacup, stretched, and went to her study to read, Viscountess Cohen came into her office with a serious look on her face.

 

“…… Empress.”

 

“Yes.”

 

The Viscountess was a woman with a stubborn expression.
But today, for some reason, there was a hint of anxiety on her face that was unlike her.

 

She tried hard to hide the signs like biting her lips and avoided eye contact with Rodelia, but she couldn’t hide the anxiety that leaked out.

 

What on earth could she be hesitating so much? Could it be that she was going to ask for a great favor?

 

The Viscountess moved her lips as if she was about to speak, but only looked at Rodelia.
She was very tense and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

 

Rodelia looked down at Viscountess Cohen, who was shorter than her, with a worried look in her eyes.

 

“You look so gloomy, is there something wrong?”

 

“….”

 

“I’m fine, so tell me.
I’ll help you if I can.”

 

“No………..
Your Majesty, it may be a false rumor………”

 

The Viscountess stopped again in mid-speech.

 

When Rodelia smiled gently at her as if she was okay, the Viscountess, who wiped off the cold sweat on her forehead with a chubby hand, took a deep breath and continued to talk.

 

“I don’t know what happened, but a rumor has spread throughout the palace that Princess Eisen has been coming and going from the Emperor’s bedchamber.”

 

After hearing the news, her neatly tidied eyebrows were distorted, and with a dumbfounded look on her face Rodelia asked as if she couldn’t believe her ears.

 

“What……?”

 

She believed that she must have heard it wrong.
She wanted the Viscountess to quickly answer that it wasn’t so.  But despite Rodelia’s earnest pleas, there was only a silence between them. 

 

Soon the low sigh of the Viscountess echoed throughout the room.

 

“I’m sorry to be the bearer of such news.
Your Majesty.”

 

Rodelia’s heart dropped.

 

The wind, which was blowing coolly and tickling her cheeks, quickly turned into a blade and stabbed her flesh, and she heard the Viscountess’s cautious voice in a determined tone, as if she was pronouncing a death sentence.

 

It was a perfect day, but it was only a kind of prelude to the tragedy.
A device to make the tragedy even more horrific, so to speak.

 

“Well, it’s just a rumor.
Right? The imperial palace is full of all sorts of ridiculous rumors.”

 

“Your M