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Episode 1
“You said you loved me…….”
Salubia bit down hard on her pale lips. Her hands, tightly gripping the hem of her white dress, were trembling badly. Her whole body shook like a leaf from the unbearable feeling of betrayal.
Why?
Why, when you said you loved me, are you doing this……?
She desperately tried to hold back the tears rising in her eyes. But no matter how tightly she bit her lips, the tears kept falling.
With tears filling her eyes, Salubia looked at the man standing silently in front of her.
He was her husband, Emperor Jenaden, the man she loved, who had always looked at her with warm and gentle eyes.
But right now, he was looking at her coldly.
The man who had always looked at her with affection had disappeared long ago. The warm image of him that had once felt like sunlight in her memories now seemed like nothing more than a mirage.
This has to be a lie.
He was wearing a cold expression he had never shown her even once before.
With a blank face as cold as frost falling in the middle of summer, he looked at Salubia. After briefly furrowing his brows, he slowly opened his mouth.
“……Salubia Bronar, Empress of the Elsania Empire, is hereby deposed.”
So this is how it ends after all.
That shameless fox tried to ruin the country.
She could hear people whispering among themselves.
While everyone looked down on her and laughed at her, Salubia collapsed to the floor.
The price she had paid for loving him so much that she would have gladly given up her own life for him was a painfully cold betrayal and endless despair that felt like hell.
Salubia had always been proud of her thick, silver hair, but it had long since become dry and faded, like an old, withered tree.
Her lips were already cracked and dry, and they had turned blue, as if she could die at any moment.
Who would care about a deposed empress?
She had once been the empress of the empire, the happiest woman in the world.
But now, she was waiting for death in a small room in a corner of the palace where no one ever came to see her.
“Drink it…….”
A small glass bottle sat in front of Salubia.
She stared blankly at it with an empty expression.
Inside the small room, there were only two people, Salubia and Jenaden.
A quiet silence filled the room, so still that even their breathing could barely be heard.
“You’ll feel at peace once you drink it.”
“At peace……?”
She bit her lips tightly and raised her head to look at Jenaden.
Her blue eyes were filled with tears.
“You sure will feel at peace…….”
It won’t be me who feels at peace.
It will be you, won’t it?
Because if I die, you’ll be able to live happily with her for the rest of your life…….
Salubia could guess what was inside the little glass bottle.
It was obviously poison, something that would kill her instantly even in a small amount.
Now that she was no longer useful, there was nothing left for her.
It was all so empty.
In the end, this was how it would end.
With death.
Would he listen if she grabbed the hem of his pants right now and begged him to let her live?
Salubia suddenly wondered about that, but she knew that the man who had changed so much would never show her any kindness anymore.
Why did I live like such a fool?
How did my life end up like this?
She raised one hand and touched her neck.
Her fingers caught on the chain of a necklace.
It was the necklace Jenaden had given her as a birthday present.
Not long after receiving that gift, she was deposed.
When Salubia received the necklace, she was happier than anyone else in the world.
She thought that happiness would last forever.
A small, bitter laugh escaped her.
Stupid Salubia.
I had no idea this would happen…….
Salubia slowly picked up the glass bottle.
She was about to drink the liquid inside when she suddenly opened her mouth, as if she had just remembered something.
“Your Majesty…….”
“……What is it?”
“Did you really love me……?”
Jenaden gave her no answer.
He simply looked at her with an expressionless face.
Of course.
Salubia gave a self-mocking smile.
Without hesitating any longer, she swallowed the liquid in the bottle in one gulp.
Her throat felt like it was burning.
Suddenly, she vomited blood.
All the strength left her body, and she collapsed onto the floor.
Through her fading vision, she saw Jenaden’s eyes widen in what looked like shock.
Does it feel good now?
The metallic taste of blood filled Salubia’s mouth.
Her consciousness was slowly being swallowed by darkness.
As she closed her eyes for the last time, Salubia thought:
If I could go back, I would never love Jenaden again.
She prayed and prayed that all of this horrible despair was nothing more than a terrible dream.
Salubia’s eyes suddenly flew open.
She slowly sat up in bed.
She had definitely vomited blood and died.
Then where was she?
She got up and tightly clenched both hands.
The hands that had been trembling violently right before her death were perfectly fine now.
She raised her head and looked around the room where she had been lying.
A familiar chandelier caught her eye.
“That…….”
It was the chandelier in her room, the room she had stayed in until the day she was deposed.
Salubia’s pupils shook.
This place felt far too real to be the world after death.
Knock, knock.
“Um, Your Majesty, it’s almost time for breakfast with His Majesty the Emperor…….”
She heard someone carefully knocking on the door, followed by a soft, thin voice.
It sounded like Asta, her former attendant, so Salubia tilted her head in confusion.
There was no way she could be here.
Salubia got out of bed and walked toward the door.
She raised her hand to open it.
Her hand was trembling slightly.
Her fingertips had gone cold from nervousness.
Creak.
The door slowly opened.
Asta’s anxious face appeared in front of her.
She looked surprised when she saw that Salubia had not even gotten ready to meet His Majesty yet.
“Your Majesty! You’re supposed to leave soon. What are you doing still wearing your nightclothes?!”
“Well…….”
“Oh, come on! You’re going to be late!”
Asta’s scolding voice rang in her ears.
It was so vivid.
Could this really not be a dream……?
Her fingertips trembled.
This reality felt like a lie.
She had definitely drunk poison and died…….
Her heart ached.
One or two tears rolled down Salubia’s cheeks.
How long had she wanted to hear that voice again?
The Asta standing in front of her had been the last attendant who had tried to stay by her side until the very end.
When Salubia had been sitting there blankly, as if she had already given up on her entire life, Asta had looked at her with tear-filled eyes and asked if they could run away together.
Salubia shook her head.
Even if they escaped, wherever they went would surely become another kind of hell for her.
In the end, Asta had given up on Salubia and never appeared beside her again.
Salubia never found out what happened to her after that.
And now Asta was standing right in front of her.
Even though Salubia tried to stop her tears, her emotions had already burst like a waterfall.
She bit the corner of her lips and trembled all over as she cried.
“……Your Majesty……? What’s wrong……?”
“……Sob…….”
“Did you have a bad dream or something……?”
Asta was shocked to see Salubia suddenly crying so hard.
She looked visibly flustered and didn’t know what to do, nervously shifting her feet.
Salubia didn’t want to make Asta worry, so she tried desperately to stop crying.
But once her tears had started, she couldn’t calm herself down easily.
“I missed you…….”
It felt like she had just woken up from a long nightmare.
The longest and most painful nightmare of her life.
In the end, Salubia burst into tears in front of Asta like a little child.
“Um, Your Majesty. Even now, you could tell His Majesty the Emperor and rest…….”
Asta glanced around nervously before quietly speaking to Salubia.
It seemed that Salubia’s crying earlier had been bothering her.
After crying her eyes out, Salubia told the worried Asta that she was fine and quickly changed her clothes.
As Asta dressed her up while she sat in front of the mirror, she kept looking at Salubia with worried eyes because her eyes were slightly swollen.
“No, I’m fine.”
Knowing how worried Asta was, Salubia gave her a small smile to reassure her.
She still hadn’t fully gotten her emotions under control, so the corners of her lips trembled slightly, but Asta didn’t seem to notice.
When Salubia turned her head and looked to the side, she saw the familiar garden of the Empress’s Palace.
The sunlight that had just risen was warm, and the breeze was slightly cool, just enough to feel pleasant.
Salubia smiled, but her expression soon became stiff.
Her heart became complicated, as if it were trapped inside a maze.
Was dying while vomiting blood really a dream?
There was no way.
That had definitely not been a dream.
It had been far too vivid and painful to be called a dream.
Then…… could it be that her wish to go back, which she had desperately made right before dying, had finally come true?
Salubia bit her lips tightly.
This peaceful situation felt incredibly strange to her.
It felt as though she had been completely separated from the world by herself, only to suddenly be thrown back into it.
“Your Majesty, you really don’t look well.”
Stella, who was walking beside Asta, also spoke to Salubia.
Her eyes were full of concern too.
“I’m fine. I just had a bad dream…….”
Her steps toward the Central Palace, where the emperor was waiting, became heavier.
Breakfast with the emperor.
When Salubia was empress, she had breakfast with Emperor Jenaden every morning.
In the middle of the large banquet hall, the two of them would sit alone, chatting warmly as they ate together.
They had been happy times.
They were some of the few happy memories Salubia had.
But now that she already knew his true nature, those memories felt closer to misfortune than happiness.
It won’t happen that way this time.
Never.
I won’t let him play with me again.
Salubia repeated those words quietly to herself.
As they passed through the garden of the Empress’s Palace and got closer to the palace where Jenaden was, her heart began beating faster without her realizing it.
So fast that she could barely breathe.
Soon, she would meet the Jenaden from those days, the kind and gentle man he used to be.
Salubia’s face gradually darkened.
She was afraid.
She was afraid that the man she was about to meet would overlap with the man she had seen right before her death.
“Stella. Do I look okay?”
At Salubia’s question, Stella nodded.
“Yes. You look absolutely beautiful!”
Salubia’s beauty had always been as pure and lovely as a white lily in full bloom.
Stella looked at her beautiful mistress today as well and nodded with complete confidence.
Her words made Salubia’s expression relax a little.
Does Her Majesty always want to look beautiful for His Majesty, whom she sees almost every day?
Not knowing what Salubia was really thinking, Stella found the empress she served a little cute.
Far ahead, the Central Palace, surrounded by golden decorations, came into view.
It was the Central Palace that Salubia had entered every day from the moment she became empress until the day she was deposed.
Yet that familiar place suddenly felt strange to her.
The nobles who had laughed at her after she was deposed.
And Jenaden, who had looked at her with cold eyes.
Everything had happened inside the Central Palace.
As those memories came rushing back, a chill ran down her spine.
After passing through the magnificent palace, they stopped in front of the room where she would have breakfast with the emperor.
Seeing Salubia hesitate to enter, Asta tilted her head in confusion.
“Phew…….”
Salubia swallowed hard and took a deep breath.
Her fingertips had gone cold.
I have to stay calm.
What happened back then hasn’t happened yet.
She repeated those words over and over in her mind like a spell.
At Salubia’s signal, the attendants opened the doors.
Salubia lifted her head and slowly took one step after another into the room.
