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Chapter – 13
Absolutely Not That Man
“That is absolutely out of the question.”
Henrius rejected her firmly. Josephine frowned.
“So you’re saying you’ll just keep him with you and torment him? Beat him to your heart’s content and then send him to the west tower to die, just like you said earlier?”
“What’s it to you? No one cares anyway. Norden abandoned him a long time ago.”
“That’s exactly why I have to take him. I can’t let you ruin things at a critical time like this for such a petty reason.”
Josephine came out so confidently that Henrius, utterly taken aback, couldn’t speak for a while.
“Are you out of your mind? Empress, do you have any idea what disgusting rumors will spread if you take a hostage into your care?”
“And humiliating him in public and tormenting him the way you have isn’t disgusting?”
Josephine finally lost her patience and snapped at him.
Then what, you being glued to Elisabeth in the new administration isn’t disgusting?
Even though you knew she was my friend—yet you still took her to your bed.
But Henrius only scoffed and clicked his tongue, as if even more dumbfounded.
“You’re pitying him now? That creature less than a beast, instead of me?”
“I’m doing this for you. You’ve always been terribly insensitive about matters like this.”
Josephine tried to soothe him with a gentle tone, though in truth her voice was dry as brittle leaves.
“Even if it’s only symbolic, Norden sends envoys twice a year to inquire about the prince’s wellbeing. If they learn about what happened today, what were you planning to tell them?”
“Say whatever you want, but I will never allow you to take him.”
So Josephine went for the strongest move she had.
“Then go right now and say that to my father, the Duke of Artois.”
“What?”
Henrius was so shocked he was momentarily speechless.
An empress using her natal family’s power to pressure the emperor—
It was something he had never imagined from Josephine.
“In just four days, the Norden delegation will arrive for the year’s first conference about the mining rights. Are you planning to render my father speechless before the talks even begin?”
Josephine knew she was threatening him by invoking her family’s power.
But she couldn’t back down now.
There was only one way left to stop Henrius, who was becoming more reckless by the day.
To strike at his most fundamental vulnerability—his legitimacy as emperor.
“If he learns you’ve done this to Siegfried, my father would say exactly what I’m saying now. That he can no longer leave Siegfried in your hands.”
Josephine maintained her composure as she countered him calmly.
“That was such an important matter to you?”
“It is. And it’s an important diplomatic issue for you as the emperor.”
Henrius remained arrogant, but Josephine no longer responded to such behavior.
“If they ask about the prince’s condition when he looks like this, word of what happened today will certainly reach them.”
Henrius seemed to have fallen into deep contemplation.
Though Josephine was merely a noblewoman by birth, she was still formally registered under the Artois household.
He had to consider carefully whose voice her words truly represented—
Josephine’s alone, or the Duke of Artois behind her.
“Fine. If the empress’s will is so unyielding, have it your way.”
At last, Henrius made up his mind. With a vicious twist of his lips, he threw the whip in his hand aside.
“Let’s see then. Let’s see how well the empress can coax him, and how the conference ends in four days.”
“Very well. If the conference collapses in any way, it will all be my responsibility. Was that the answer you wanted?”
Josephine didn’t bother hiding the sarcasm.
As if she didn’t know he planned to use this as an excuse to suppress Artois, her own family and his greatest source of support.
“You’ve changed.”
Henrius strode toward her and grabbed her wrist.
“Since when?”
His grip tightened gradually.
“What do you mean?”
“Since when have you known him? You’ve never interfered with anything I’ve done, so why suddenly now?”
“Let go.”
“Or did he suddenly become so precious to you? Because I made him like that?”
Henrius’s face looked more wretched than ever.
That beautiful face—trembling and crumbling in fear.
Terrified that something he cherished might be taken away.
It was a strange sight.
She had always been the one afraid of being discarded by him.
Oh. So that’s what it was.
Josephine had a sudden realization. She thought he had finally come to his senses. She was wrong.
“How can you worry about him instead of me? How could that thing catch your attention?”
To him, she was still nothing more than a pretty ornament—
Something nice to keep nearby, yet absolutely not something to be taken away.
An adorable doll he treasured, now showing interest in another man—
and that man happened to be someone he despised. No wonder he was beside himself.
“Don’t delude yourself.”
Josephine glared coldly at Henrius.
“What?”
Startled by the chill in her voice, Henrius involuntarily let go of her wrist.
“I mean, don’t you dare liken me to you, Henry.”
Josephine took the chance to yank her hand away.
Henrius felt like he had been struck hard over the head.
“You’re… you’re serious?”
“I am. And everything else I’m about to say is serious too.”
Josephine stepped closer and grasped his shoulders.
“The reason I never interfered before wasn’t because I didn’t know anything.”
Her hands tightened over his shoulders.
“But because whoever you played with in the palace no longer had anything to do with me. Not since you brought Cici into your bed.”
Speaking the nickname “Cici”—Elisabeth’s pet name—made her lip sting as if reopening an old wound.
“So don’t bother guessing what I know or don’t know about you. Unless you want to disgrace yourself even more.”
Finishing her warning, Josephine looked him straight in the eye.
Henrius seemed genuinely rattled.
She’s changed.
Even Elisabeth, watching from the side, realized the same.
But Josephine didn’t care. She simply noted the confusion on Henrius’s face and stepped back, satisfied.
“Bring Siegfried to my palace.”
She ordered the two knights restraining Siegfried.
“Yes, Your Majesty the Empress.”
The knights in the crimson uniform of the Imperial Guard obeyed at once.
“We return.”
At her heavy command, the court attendants fell into orderly formation behind her.
Leaving behind the devastated tea party—and Henrius and Elisabeth—
Josephine departed the Emperor’s Palace.
The long morning finally came to an end.
Josephine had given Siegfried the bed in the most secluded guest room.
Since arriving at the palace, Siegfried had been unconscious the entire time.
Curled on his side, the massive man looked as peaceful as a newborn drifting in its amniotic sac.
“He is alive… isn’t he?”
Sitting in the chair beside the bed, Josephine muttered absently.
Since bringing him here, she had neither seen him breathe audibly nor heard a groan.
Had the wounds lacerating his back worsened?
She had already been sitting here for four hours, afraid he might die the moment she looked away.
“The imperial physician examined him earlier. He said there’s no immediate threat to his life. Only that we don’t know when he’ll wake.”
Harber answered cautiously, watching Josephine’s expression.
He clearly disliked the entire situation—having Siegfried here, on top of everything else that had already gone wrong.
“Your Majesty, is this really right? Keeping Siegfried here may only make His Majesty’s anger worse.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Josephine looked at Harber with pale, tired eyes.
Eventually, Harber said the one thing he shouldn’t have said.
“…Perhaps it would be better to pretend to treat him and simply leave him. Let his survival or death depend on his own fate.”
