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CHAPTER 01
A sudden surge.
Melina stared in shock at her hands, now smeared with dark red blood.
A searing pain that began at her throat and spread down into her innards twisted her face violently.
“Hah… hah.”
She couldn’t breathe properly, as if her lungs were shrinking.
What is happening? Why is this happening?
Still confused, Melina soon understood the situation when she saw the person sitting in front of her.
The one watching her with sparkling, amused eyes was her husband—the Emperor of the Orbes Empire.
How can you do this to me?
Barely holding herself upright as her body began to tilt, she glared at the source of it all.
“That expression is new. You were always like a docile lamb—it was getting boring.”
Seeing the Emperor’s mocking tone made her insides twist even more.
It was their consort night, and she had been drinking wine with him. As always, he hadn’t even so much as touched her.
And yet she was now vomiting blood.
“Th—is… i—s…”
She couldn’t speak any longer. No matter how she tried, her tongue wouldn’t move.
“Don’t bother trying to speak. Your tongue is already starting to go numb.”
Even as Melina suffered, the Emperor remained calm. No—there was amusement in his blue eyes.
Despite her confusion, Melina desperately tried to think. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t understand why he would do this to her.
“You look quite curious. Well, I suppose you would be.”
He stroked his chin as if measuring something.
“Still, you’ve lived as my wife and as the Empress. I should at least show you some courtesy.”
Even as her entire body felt like it was being torn apart, Melina clutched her stomach and forced herself to look at him.
“The reason is simple. You’re no longer needed. So it’s time for you to step down. That position was originally meant for my beloved Nora.”
Nora?
A name surfaced in her mind.
Nora Salavit.
Was there any connection between her and the Emperor? Why was he speaking of her as if she were his lover?
“You are quite naive compared to Duke Leno Tor. Still, that’s exactly why you were more suitable—for my use.”
At his sneering words, Melina glared at him.
“How interesting. If you had shown your emotions like that sooner, I might have let you live a bit longer.”
Being treated like a toy, Melina’s blue eyes turned icy cold.
“You know why I married you, don’t you?”
Yes. Of course she did.
Because the former Emperor demanded it.
To solidify the Crown Prince’s position, they needed the power of a ducal house—and among the only two ducal families in the empire, Melina was the only unmarried daughter.
So she had been chosen as Crown Princess.
“It is true the marriage followed my father’s will, but I didn’t choose it against my wishes. I wanted it too.”
At that, Melina’s eyes widened slightly.
“I had to become Emperor.”
Of course. To him, she had always been nothing more than a political tool. What had she expected?
Had she wanted to hear even a shred of affection?
She felt pathetic. Utterly pathetic.
“Nora and I have loved each other since before your marriage to me. We simply waited until I became Emperor. To be together.”
That phrase—my beloved—kept bothering her.
He, who had always been cold and indifferent to her, kept repeating “love,” and it cut like a blade.
“The woman who should be by my side is her alone. So you should step down.”
She had never once known rage or hatred in her life. Or perhaps she had simply avoided it unconsciously.
Because showing it meant death.
But in this moment, something hot surged from deep within her heart at his betrayal and deception.
So this is what anger feels like.
“You were merely a means and a shield for me to become Emperor and place Nora as Empress. I appreciate that you knew your place and behaved.”
Appreciate?
A hollow laugh escaped her.
Would things really go the way he wanted?
If her father knew of this, would he remain silent?
She couldn’t understand what he was relying on to carry out something like this so confidently.
“I can see what you’re thinking,” the Emperor said. “Don’t worry. Your father has already agreed to this.”
Her father… agreed?
To what?
In an instant, the heat in her head turned icy cold, as if doused with freezing water.
Don’t tell me… he agreed to my death? Why? I’m still useful to him…
Something flashed through her mind.
“You will be known as having been poisoned by a faction trying to sow discord between me and the Duke.”
No. That can’t be it. It can’t be that.
Shaking her head, Melina silently pleaded for another reason.
“I will bring your younger sister into the position of Imperial Consort to console the Duke and show that we do not yield to our enemies.”
Everything she had desperately hoped was not true became reality through the Emperor’s words.
“When the Duke first proposed this plan, I was quite surprised. But for me, who was already planning to dispose of you, there was no reason to refuse.”
Yes… my father is exactly the kind of man who would do this.
She felt foolish for ever believing she would be kept just because she held the Empress position.
Knowing it. Knowing it all along.
“How you and the Duke became estranged is none of my concern, but I am curious. How did you end up abandoned by him?”
The Emperor looked at her with curiosity.
Melina, barely holding on, leaned her head against the table as the pain intensified and closed her eyes.
The Duke had taken a maid to produce an heir when he and his wife could not conceive. From that union, Melina was born.
The maid disappeared without a trace, and Melina was publicly recorded as the daughter of the Duchess.
She learned the truth at age four, after the Duchess miraculously gave birth to a daughter of her own.
“You filthy illegitimate child. Get away from my daughter at once!”
The Duchess believed Melina had stolen the Crown Princess position meant for her daughter Leila and despised her even more.
Melina had already been engaged to the Crown Prince from birth, so revealing her illegitimacy later was impossible.
“Know your place and stay quiet. Don’t interfere with Leila’s path.”
Even now, she could not forget the Duchess’s contemptuous gaze.
“Still, isn’t this a perfect scenario?”
The Emperor hummed, pleased with the situation.
Melina no longer wanted to hear his voice.
She curled up as the pain grew worse, clenching her teeth just to endure it.
“Isn’t it better to be pitied by the people for being wrongly poisoned than to be dethroned for failing to produce an heir?”
So this was the Emperor’s brilliant logic.
For five years of marriage, whose fault was it that there had been no heir?
He had never once touched her after their wedding night. Instead, he had continuously given her what she was told was tea—actually contraceptives.
And she had never once protested.
Because she could not fall out of his favor. Because maintaining the Empress position was the only way to prove her value to her father.
Now it was all meaningless.
“Well then, I’ve said everything I needed to say. Shall we begin properly?”
His eyes sparkled like a child about to start something fun.
Then he immediately changed expression and urgently called for his attendants.
What followed was a perfectly staged performance.
Screaming maids. Knights rushing in, startled.
And the Emperor issuing commands with a furious expression.
Watching the well-rehearsed play unfold, Melina lost consciousness.
How long had passed?
Even after she awoke, she could not open her eyes or move a single finger.
All she could tell was that the surroundings had gone silent.
Left alone in that stillness, emotions she hadn’t even realized she had came flooding in.
It’s unfair. I only tried to be a good person. Why do I have to die?
I want to live.
At that moment, a warmth that should not have existed touched her forehead.
Startled, she forced her eyes open—and saw a woman she did not recognize.
“Who are you?”
Melina widened her eyes as her voice, which she thought would never come out again, slipped from her lips.
“I temporarily lifted your paralysis with magic. But if you are not fully cured, it will return.”
The woman was unfamiliar. She removed her black hood, and snow-white hair cascaded down like falling snow.
“Who are you?”
Melina asked again.
“I am a mage who once received a favor from your mother. I promised her I would help you when you were in danger.”
It was the first time she had ever heard such a story.
Am I dreaming?
But whether it was a dream or not didn’t matter.
If she could live, she would accept anything.
“Please save me. I want to live.”
“I can remove the poison as much as needed. But… are you sure about this?”
Unable to understand the woman’s intent, Melina only blinked.
“You don’t look happy. There is no one beside you who worries or grieves for you.”
Hearing the reality she had long avoided laid bare so precisely made her heart ache painfully.
“Your mother wished for your happiness. Desperately.”
Melina closed her eyes tightly, tears welling up. A clear drop rolled down her cheek.
Happiness.
As a child, she had once dreamed of it. But after learning the truth of her birth, happiness became a luxury she was not allowed.
“I can give you a chance. A chance to live differently.”
At those unexpected words, Melina’s eyes snapped open.
“A chance?”
“Yes. Of course, whether you become happy depends on your choices and effort.”
She could not tell if the woman was telling the truth.
But…
Right now, all she wanted was to escape her father and the Emperor’s grasp.
“If it means I can live, I don’t care about anything else. Please give me that chance.”
The woman quietly nodded, then gently closed Melina’s eyes.
