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Episode 2
She slowly walked into the banquet hall.
Jenaden had apparently not arrived yet, because the palace attendants were busy carrying food to the table.
When they saw Salubia, they bowed to her.
Salubia nodded once and immediately went to her seat.
There was so much delicious-looking food in front of her that it made her mouth water just by looking at it, but her mouth only felt dry and rough.
At this rate, she felt like she would get sick as soon as she ate anything.
“His Majesty the Emperor is coming.”
At the attendant’s words, Salubia stood up.
The door through which Jenaden would enter was right in front of her.
Slowly, the door opened.
Jenaden, dressed neatly in a black coat, appeared before Salubia’s eyes.
That pitch-black hair she had fallen in love with at first sight.
Those sky-blue eyes that had once made her laugh and ask if he was the emperor because his eyes were the same color as the sky.
And that smile, where he always slightly raised the corners of his lips whenever he looked at her.
Jenaden looked exactly as she remembered him as he walked toward her one step at a time.
When he noticed Salubia, he gave her a small smile.
Throb.
Salubia’s heart suddenly hurt as if a knife had stabbed straight through it.
Without realizing it, she gently placed a hand over her heart.
Memories flashed before Salubia’s eyes.
She saw an illusion of Jenaden coldly shaking her hand away.
‘To you, I was nothing more than a member of the Bronar ducal family, the family I hated more than anyone!’
As Salubia collapsed as if her body had crumbled onto the cold floor, Jenaden had shouted those cruel words at her.
‘I hated you…… You too…… Do you know how disgusting it was to pretend to love you every single day……?’
The words he whispered in the same gentle voice as before had become blades that pierced straight into her heart as she trembled and cried.
So cruelly…….
The memory suddenly came rushing back.
At that moment, everything in front of Salubia’s eyes seemed to flash black.
Her vision went dark.
Her body soon tilted to the side, and she collapsed heavily onto the floor.
“Salubia……?”
That was the last thing she heard before Jenaden’s voice faded away, and she lost consciousness.
“There really doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with her.”
“That can’t be…… Then why did she suddenly collapse?”
Salubia could hear people whispering.
She slowly opened her eyes among those voices.
The familiar ceiling she had seen that morning appeared before her once again.
“Your Majesty……!”
Asta noticed that Salubia had woken up and quickly approached the side of her bed.
Salubia slightly raised her right hand.
Asta immediately supported her with both hands and helped her sit up in bed.
Her head was still throbbing, and she felt like she was going to throw up.
“Are you all right……?”
Jenaden asked in a worried voice.
The sound of his hateful voice made Salubia’s stomach churn.
Hypocrite.
She swallowed the words she wanted to spit out.
“I…… I’m fine…….”
Salubia avoided his gaze slightly as she spoke.
“Empress, are you really all right? You don’t look well…….”
“My stomach was just feeling a little upset.”
Salubia pulled her trembling lips into a small smile.
“I’m sorry for making you worry, Your Majesty…….”
“What are you talking about……? Haven’t I always said that your health is the most important thing?”
In a gentle voice, Jenaden raised his hand and gently took Salubia’s hand.
When she looked up at him, he was giving her a warm gaze.
But Salubia knew the truth now.
Hidden beneath his kindness was a revenge more frightening and colder than anything else.
How much was he laughing at her weakness inside right now?
The thought alone made an unbearable wave of nausea rise in her stomach.
“Your Majesty, I’m sorry, but I don’t feel very well.”
“I’m sorry. You should probably get some rest for now…….”
Jenaden held her hand once before standing up.
He said goodbye to her and left the room.
Salubia let out a long sigh and lay back down on the bed.
Asta seemed to notice her mood and told her to call if anything happened before leaving the room.
Lying on the large bed, Salubia quietly stared at the ceiling.
Her confused thoughts from earlier had become a little clearer.
She didn’t want to admit it, but she had no choice.
She had really returned to the past.
She slowly closed her eyes.
Salubia knew exactly how this reality would end.
In the end, she, who had wanted nothing more than love, would be destroyed.
And the only people left happy would be Jenaden and his beloved lover, Elaine.
This time, it won’t happen like that.
She made a firm decision.
“What should I do now?”
The difference between the past and now was that she knew the future.
She knew Jenaden’s true feelings.
And she also knew about the evil things her father would do in the future.
Salubia thought of her father.
The father in her memories had always been a man with endless greed.
And because of that, he eventually disappeared at the hands of Jenaden, executed at the guillotine.
“I wish I had gone even further back, to before I became empress…….”
If she had, she would have run away before ever becoming empress.
No matter where she went or what she did, she would have been happier than she is now.
“I don’t want to be abandoned anymore.”
She had suffered enough.
It was so unfair and frustrating.
All she had wanted was his love, but what she received in return was destruction.
She would never let herself be abandoned like that again.
This time, before he could abandon her, she decided that she would be the one to abandon Jenaden first.
After Salubia collapsed like that, Jenaden pretended to worry about her and searched throughout the empire for precious medicinal herbs, sending them to her.
Whenever he did, Asta would make a huge fuss, saying things like,
“His Majesty really must love Her Majesty the Empress.”
But Salubia already knew exactly what he was really thinking.
So she simply played along with Asta’s words while secretly laughing at him inside.
He probably just wanted her to stay alive a little longer.
He needed her alive so he could throw her away after his revenge was complete.
Once Salubia’s health had improved considerably, she immediately sent word to Jenaden asking him to have tea with her.
Jenaden gladly accepted her invitation to have tea in the garden of the Empress’s Palace.
It was a warm, sunny day.
Summer was approaching, and red roses were blooming everywhere in the garden inside the Empress’s Palace.
“Empress, are you feeling all right now……?”
Jenaden, sitting across from her, glanced at Salubia and asked.
Salubia picked up the teacup in front of her and took a sip.
“Yes. It’s thanks to all the help you’ve given me, Your Majesty.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Silence settled between the two of them.
Jenaden sensed that something was strange about Salubia’s behavior.
Whenever they had tea together, Salubia was always the one who started the conversation first.
But today, she was strangely quiet.
“Your Majesty.”
Salubia called out to him in a slightly lower voice than usual.
“What is it?”
Jenaden looked at her with a gentle smile.
A smile like sunlight.
Salubia had once loved that smile more than anything.
Throb.
The area around her heart hurt again.
She bit her lips tightly.
She wouldn’t let him control her anymore.
She gave Jenaden a bright smile.
“……Please divorce me…….”
Crash!
Jenaden’s teacup struck the saucer with a sharp sound.
He stared at Salubia with shocked, trembling eyes.
His expression seemed to be asking what those words were supposed to mean.
Salubia lowered the corners of her smiling lips.
She looked at Jenaden coldly.
“Salubia, what are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“But I have a condition.”
“Forget the condition. What are you even talking about right now?”
Jenaden spoke angrily, as if she had said something completely ridiculous.
His expression, caught between getting angry and trying to reason with her, looked rather funny.
“I’m saying we should get divorced. The two of us…….”
“Salubia.”
“Your Majesty doesn’t love me.”
Her firm words made Jenaden’s shoulders flinch.
Had she hit the nail on the head?
His face filled with confusion.
“Empress, if my love wasn’t enough…….”
At his words, Salubia shook her head.
Love?
Did you ever give me love?
It was nothing but feelings covered in lies.
“The person Your Majesty loves isn’t me, is she?”
“What are you talking about……!”
“……She’s the daughter of the Costel family, who was supposed to have already disappeared.”
Jenaden’s expression hardened.
“How do you know that……?”
Salubia saw the coldness in Jenaden’s eyes.
That’s right.
Now your true feelings are finally showing.
Salubia forced the corners of her lips upward and gave him a cold smile.
“Take off that mask now.”
“Either way, I don’t want Your Majesty’s love anymore. I also know what you intend to do.”
“……What do you mean, my intentions?”
Salubia smiled sweetly.
The warm expression he had shown only moments ago was gone.
The expression on Jenaden’s face as he looked at her had become as cold as snow falling in the middle of winter.
So you’re finally showing your true colors.
Salubia remembered the cold expression on his face from right before her death.
She tightly clenched her slightly trembling hands.
“Don’t you want revenge against my father, Your Majesty? That’s why I want to follow your wishes.”
“……What?”
“I’ll help you bring my father down. And please divorce me.”
“Do you really think that makes any sense?”
“Yes, it does. And after that, marry her.”
“Empress, she is already…….”
“She’s alive.”
“Don’t lie to me!”
“I’m not lying, Your Majesty.”
Salubia quietly stared at Jenaden.
His eyes were trembling.
Elaine Costel.
She was Jenaden’s first love and his last love.
The woman he had loved desperately for his entire life.
“She really is alive……?”
His voice trembled.
“Yes. I know where she is.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I told you. I want to bring my father down together with Your Majesty.”
She looked at him with a charming smile, as if she were holding the fragrance of flowers.
“Salubia, aren’t you the daughter of Duke Bronar?”
“……Do you really think the man who sent his own daughter into this hell can truly be called a father?”
Her father had been despicable and foolish.
Even when he was about to disappear at the guillotine, all he did was rage.
He never admitted his own mistakes until the very end.
If only you had done your job properly, this wouldn’t have happened……!’
It was the last day Salubia had been able to see her father.
Her father had shouted at her through the iron bars with burning hatred in his eyes.
I curse you! You ungrateful wretch who doesn’t even appreciate everything I did raising you……!’
Salubia had trembled all over as she listened to every one of those angry words.
What did I do wrong?
I only lived like a puppet because of my father’s greed.
She couldn’t even say those words out loud.
With her trembling legs, she had fled the prison as if she were running away.
This time, she wouldn’t run away like that.
“Empress…….”
Jenaden’s voice reached her ears.
“Yes, go ahead.”
“……Give me some time.”
Seeing the confusion in his eyes, Salubia nodded.
Of course, she knew he would accept this proposal.
Helping her destroy her father together and then willingly stepping down from the position of empress.
When you looked at it carefully, there was nothing for him to lose.
“Then please give me your answer next time.”
Jenaden stood up.
Salubia didn’t bother to stand with him.
Just as Jenaden was about to turn around and leave, he suddenly turned his head as if he had remembered something and looked at Salubia.
“Empress, do you not love me anymore……?”
At Jenaden’s words, Salubia gave a small, mocking laugh.
“Love? What use is something like that?”
In the end, it only came back to me as betrayal.
She picked up the teacup in front of her and took another sip.
The fragrant smell of the tea made Salubia smile softly.
