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Chapter 01
“I will be leaving in a week.”
At Evelyn’s words, Mikhail looked up from the documents he had been reviewing.
Seeing that she looked no different than usual, he lowered his gaze back to the paperwork and spoke.
“Wasn’t the contract supposed to be renewed? You never said anything, so I assumed that was the case.”
Evelyn slowly lowered her clasped hands and raised the head she had kept bowed.
“Because it would be a waste of time.”
Mikhail looked at her once more. Somehow, she seemed filled with quiet sorrow.
Letting out a long sigh, he tapped the desk lightly with the hand that wasn’t holding his pen.
What brought on this sudden change of heart?
The terms and duration of Mikhail and Evelyn’s contract had always remained the same.
Evelyn Vivace shall renew her contract with Mikhail Prime Haorua every year until he finds Ji Eunsoo.
At each renewal, Evelyn Vivace may present Mikhail Prime with new conditions for extending the contract, and every condition shall be accompanied by a strict confidentiality clause.
Well, I suppose she’d be anxious. Eunsoo has returned, after all.
Nodding as though he completely understood, Mikhail looked straight at Evelyn.
“Do not worry, Evelyn. Even if Eunsoo becomes Empress again, you will not have to leave the Imperial Palace. You can become an Imperial Consort.”
“…Why would I?”
Her voice was filled with genuine confusion. Her widened eyes reflected the same bewilderment.
Is she dissatisfied with becoming an Imperial Consort?
As though soothing her, Mikhail continued.
“Eunsoo merely lost her way for a while before returning. She was originally the first Empress I took as my wife, and now that she has returned, it is only right that she reclaim the position of Empress.”
“Returning the position of Empress to Lady Eunsoo is only natural.”
What?
Mikhail’s eyes widened in surprise.
With the expressionless face of a lifeless doll, Evelyn continued.
“What I wish to ask is why I must become an Imperial Consort.”
Mikhail began to wonder how he should interpret her words.
Did she truly wish to leave?
Or did she already know she couldn’t stay and was merely trying to stir his guilt to squeeze a little more out of him?
Only thirty minutes before Evelyn had come to see him, Countess Retel—the head lady-in-waiting of the Empress’s Palace—had visited him.
Lady Evelyn seemed terrified that she would be driven out of the position of Empress.
Countess Retel had served as head lady-in-waiting ever since Evelyn became Empress.
She had helped Evelyn carry out the duties expected of an Empress while simultaneously keeping watch over her.
If someone who had observed Evelyn for so long believed that was how she felt, then it was probably close to the truth.
More importantly, Evelyn had spent all this time desperately trying to win the favor of the Emperor.
Why, then, would a woman like that refuse the chance to remain in the Imperial Palace?
The thought puzzled him, but there was no need to dwell on it.
After all, the fact that she was still trying to resemble Eunsoo was proof enough.
“You have served as Empress until now. I cannot allow someone who once held that position to remain in the palace without any title. Nor can I simply cast you out.”
Evelyn tilted her head.
“Why not?”
With a quiet sigh, Mikhail rose from his seat.
“It is certainly unusual for a former Empress to become an Imperial Consort, but it is not a bad position. You would no longer be the Mother of the Nation, yet you would still possess the authority to oversee the affairs of the Imperial Palace…”
He quietly studied Evelyn.
She remained perfectly still, meeting his gaze with calm eyes that silently conveyed she was listening attentively.
“If you understand what I’ve said, begin preparing to move into the Imperial Consort’s Palace immediately.”
The moment he finished speaking, Evelyn answered.
“I do not wish to.”
Her curt refusal caused Mikhail’s face, which had been about to dismiss her, to harden.
Is she trying to challenge me?
He decided it would be best to crush her spirit in advance—for Eunsoo’s sake.
“Very well. Then you may leave. You said you could depart the palace in a week, did you not?”
“No. I can leave even sooner than that.”
“Do you have somewhere to go?”
At his casual question, Evelyn answered,
“I can go anywhere.”
Mikhail narrowed his eyes as he looked at her.
Her eyelids were half lowered, her gaze fixed on the floor.
Does she really intend to leave?
After a brief moment of thought, he shook his head.
Impossible.
“Very well. Then I’ll make the necessary arrangements for you to leave the palace in one week’s time. During that period, we can proceed with the divorce.”
Mikhail had no doubt that if he showed no reaction over the next week, Evelyn would eventually come running back, begging to remain in the palace even if only as an Imperial Consort.
Smiling faintly, he picked up his pen once more.
Then Evelyn’s emotionless voice reached him.
“Your Majesty, forgive me, but it should not be a divorce. It should be an annulment.”
His head snapped up.
“What?”
“We never held a wedding ceremony. We merely signed documents to fulfill the terms of our contract. Furthermore, we have never once consummated our marriage. Therefore, an annulment is appropriate.”
Mikhail flared with anger.
“Are you asking the Emperor himself to endure such humiliation and agree to an annulment—for your own future?”
“Your Majesty already has a son. As long as the reason for the annulment is never revealed, society will naturally assume that the problem lies with me.”
Before Eunsoo disappeared, she and Mikhail had already had a son together.
No noble would dare suggest that an Emperor who had already fathered a child suffered from any physical deficiency.
“Besides, if you tell Empress Eunsoo that our relationship existed only on paper, she will surely be delighted to know that Your Majesty remained faithful to her.”
She was right.
Not only Eunsoo, but even the citizens of the Empire would praise him as a man of unwavering devotion—a true romantic.
Yet all of that would work only in his favor.
Evelyn, on the other hand, would simply be seen as a woman rejected by the Emperor.
“That’s…”
Just as Mikhail’s lips parted to speak, Evelyn interrupted him firmly.
“You need not worry about me. From the very beginning, I never had even the slightest feelings for Your Majesty. This was nothing more than a contract.”
She spoke with remarkable sincerity.
“I understand. Then I shall honor your wishes. I will never forget everything you have done for me.”
Only then did Evelyn smile gently.
“No. From afar, I will simply pray in the name of the Goddess Deriosa that Your Majesty and Empress Eunsoo enjoy a long and happy life together.”
“And I shall pray in the name of the Goddess Deriosa that you too find peace.”
Evelyn took two or three steps backward before turning and quietly leaving the room.
According to the original story… this is how it was supposed to go.
So why was he acting like this?
No matter how much I thought about it, the Emperor’s reaction was strange.
“Must you really leave?”
His violet eyes, usually so full of imperial dignity, now shimmered with tears like violets glistening beneath the morning dew. Every blink sent his delicate eyelashes fluttering with the elegance of a butterfly’s wings.
The man looking at me with such sorrowful desperation was undoubtedly the male lead of this world—the Emperor, Mikhail Prime Haorua, Creras III.
The greatest romantic of this era, who loved only the heroine, Eunsoo, with unwavering devotion.
No matter how I looked at him, he was definitely the right person.
So why was he reacting like this?
Could it be that Creras is suffering from a labor shortage?
I had lived in the Creras Empire for three years.
I would admit that I had done my job well.
But was that really enough for him to try to keep me?
If he did, misunderstandings could arise and spark a nasty love triangle.
For the past three years, Mikhail had searched tirelessly for his vanished Empress.
I had merely been the contract Empress who occupied her place in the meantime.
Now that the woman he had searched for so desperately had finally returned, I should have been nothing more than an unnecessary existence—
No, someone who absolutely had to disappear.
What country could possibly have two Empresses?
Getting rid of me quickly should have been the best way to avoid causing misunderstandings with the woman he loved so dearly.
The Emperor wasn’t someone who would fail to realize that.
As I looked at him suspiciously, Mikhail walked toward me.
“Lin, I beg you… don’t leave.”
Without warning, he bent one knee as though proposing to the woman he adored and took my hand.
Something was definitely wrong.
The Emperor and I were nothing more than contractual partners.
Well… perhaps comrades who had endured difficult times together.
Three years wasn’t exactly a short period.
But there was still no reason for him to cling to me like this.
“Your Majesty.”
“Yes, Lin. I’m here. Tell me.”
Still holding my hand, he gazed up at me.
“Did… something happen? Why are you treating me…”
I stopped myself before finishing the sentence with …like you’re worried about me.
The Emperor looked at me with pity and tightened his grip on my hand.
“They told me you don’t have much time left to live.”
“What?”
My eyes flew open.
His distorted expression was overflowing with sympathy.
“You sacrificed yourself for me and for the Empire these past three years. The truth is, everything you did for me was more than even the Empress herself had ever done. And now they tell me you have only a short time left to live…”
Something felt terribly wrong, so I hurriedly interrupted him.
“W-Wait a minute. Why would I be dying? I’m perfectly healthy!”
The Emperor sadly shook his head.
“You don’t have to hide it anymore. I know you’re trying to leave because you don’t want to become a burden to me or to the Empire.”
“N-No, Your Majesty. I’m healthy.”
He stubbornly shook his head again.
“A healthy person does not cough up blood. Someone witnessed you coughing up blood.”
Coughing up blood?
Could he be talking about when I vomited blood because of mana backlash?
“And I also received a report about the diagnosis you were given after secretly visiting a physician. They said… at most, you have six months left to live.”
“What? Me?”
My thoughts spun in circles as I desperately tried to figure out exactly where everything had gone so horribly wrong.
