I Possessed The Immoral Empress - Chapter 26

After retrieving Helen’s body from the temple and purifying the surroundings, they realized that the sun had already begun to set.

Everyone present there underwent questioning before heading back to the palace.

Due to unfinished business with Felio, Ermedeline decided to return with him.

Both the orphanage and the trial related to the murder case had a lot of stories to tell, but inside the carriage, a heavy silence prevailed.

This was because of the atmosphere of Ermedeline, which seemed to be sinking endlessly due to Helen’s death.

Even Rooney, who would normally make senseless chatter just to lighten Ermedeline’s mood, found herself lost in thought, unsure of what to say.

Helen, whose chubby cheeks still had adorable freckles, had yet to lose her innocence.

Ermedeline always watched Helen closely whenever she cleaned, as if her petite and frail body might be carried away by the wind at any moment.

Even during the curse, when her entire body was covered in an inky blackness, the features of her face and the patterns on the walls remained vivid.

The memory of those deep blue eyes, which gazed up at her with an earnest expression, as if there were words left unsaid, continued to haunt Ermedeline.

Due to the powerful curse, her body could not be returned to her family; it had been reduced to a handful of ashes.

‘Her mother and sibling are still held captive, right? First, I must rescue them. But how? I received the estate of the duke, but all the soldiers were confiscated by Henry. Should I hire mercenaries?’

Henry’s decision to spare the life of Duke de Françoise had political motives, but in truth, Ermedeline had also found some relief in the outcome. 

Though it was unclear if there were any deep emotions between the two, both with tainted blood, Ermedeline’s primary concern had been recovering the money she had lent to the duke. 

She felt that the Duke’s punishment was light, but she also felt that it was appropriate, partly because her accusations hadn’t resulted in the death of a blood relative.

At that time, she did not know.

She never imagined that a father would genuinely want to kill his daughter, even in the most villainous of families.

‘If only the duke had been executed back then…’

Suddenly, a frightening thought passed through Ermedeline’s mind. She shuddered at the terrifying idea, and Ermedeline instinctively wrapped her arms around herself.

“Your Majesty, are you cold? Do you have a fever, perhaps…?” Rooney, witnessing her distress, frantically searched for something to cover her with.

“No, it’s not that. I’m fine, so don’t worry,” Ermedeline replied in a somewhat subdued voice, her head bowed as she stared at the floor.

Upon hearing her response, Rooney made a momentarily disappointed expression, then took hold of Ermedeline’s shoulders and forcefully lifted her slightly slouched upper body.

“Are you really okay? You don’t look okay at all. Right, Your Excellency?” 

Felio, who had been sitting across from them and still seemed a bit stunned from the lightning strike, momentarily appeared puzzled but then nodded lightly in agreement, as if acknowledging Rooney’s words.

“Your father tried to kill you, how can you be okay? I can’t even imagine, but if my parents tried to kill me, I think it would be really sad,” Rooney continued.

‘Sad?’

Ermedeline slowly lifted her head and looked at Rooney’s face. In her tender brown eyes, tears had welled up unnoticed.

‘Oh, I’m sad. Right now.’

Finally, Ermedeline had figured out what this discomfort, this persistent ache in her heart, was all about.

‘Yeah, I think… I’m sad. My fantasy about having a family has been shattered, and the owner of this body is sad because her dad is really trying to kill her, so that’s why my heart hurts like this.’

While she was relieved to have found the answer, a new headache began to throb in her head. The pain caused wrinkles to form on Ermedeline’s forehead.

“That’s right. I think I’m sad right now,” she admitted in a very soft voice, almost like a whisper, acknowledging Rooney’s words.

Ermedeline felt an intense headache coming on, and she lost consciousness right there.

***

Henry was deeply troubled.

By this time, Valliere should have likely calmed her anger, run toward Henry with a tearful smile, and embraced him, but there was still no news.

‘She must have seen it for sure…’

Henry had a habit of engraving messages for his lover on the back of the jewelry he gave Valliere. Sometimes they were shy confessions, and other times, they were words of apology with a hint of humility.

And Valliere would always respond with the brightest smile, running to Henry and embracing him when she read those messages.

But this time, there was no sign of her, even after looking at the back of the earring.

‘Is she really this angry this time?’

Henry, growing tired of waiting for Valliere, ultimately decided to seek her out himself. He had been concerned since she looked quite disheartened in the morning.

“His Majesty has arrived!”

Upon the maids’ announcement, Valliere immediately put aside the dessert she had been eating and knelt before the new statues in her bedroom.

Thanks to good timing, when Henry entered the room, Valliere was already kneeling, ready to receive him.

“You’ve come?”

Valliere suddenly knelt down and then tried to stand up again, causing her to feel dizzy.

Seeing Valliere stagger for a moment, Henry immediately rushed forward and supported her.

“With your condition, what are you doing? Shouldn’t you be lying down?”

“No, even if I lie down, it’s just filled with unpleasant thoughts.”

Valliere, supported by Henry, was actually quite annoyed. She found it irritating that she had to kneel on the floor because of this unpredictable and foolish emperor, but now it was time to apologize for what had happened earlier in the morning.

‘Goodness, I haven’t done anything wrong, but apologizing feels like a death sentence.’

After Henry had left, Valliere rolled her head back and forth on the bed.

All she had was Henry’s affection. As a mere illegitimate child with no real status, there wasn’t much she could do.

‘No, don’t they usually bestow some title on a legitimate consort? How long do I have to live with the title of an illegitimate child? Plus, my family is slowly cutting off their support for me.’

Recently, she had managed to scrape together the money they had donated to the orphanage with great difficulty. Even then, the reply that came with the money was filled with condescending remarks about her situation.

‘There’s nothing I can do as I am now. I don’t even have money to use as I please, and I don’t have the authority to command people. I should start by addressing these two issues.’

In truth, Valliere had been considering asking Henry for a title and the associated territory today. So, she reluctantly practiced apologizing all day to help improve his mood.

“I, this morning…”

“It’s okay. It’s in the past, isn’t it? You don’t need to worry.”

“But still, I…”

“Did you see it?”

“Yes?”

Was he asking what she saw without even giving her a chance to apologize?

“Did you see it? The writing I engraved.”

Henry’s typically lordly and arrogant demeanor gave way to an excitement reminiscent of a teenager.

“…”

Valliere noticed the expectant look in Henry’s eyes, and it was clear to her that he was about to share something important. However, she couldn’t respond hastily since she didn’t know the exact content of what he was referring to.

Feeling frustrated by Valliere’s silence, Henry asked again.

“You mean you haven’t checked it yet?”

As Valliere rolled her head, she finally recalled the pair of earrings Henry had left behind that morning.

“My health hasn’t been good, so I haven’t had a chance to wear them. That’s why I haven’t checked.”

Valliere replied with a playful smile, but Henry’s expression noticeably began to grow colder.

“You haven’t checked it?”

Henry couldn’t readily accept her explanation. It had been a tradition between them for over a decade. Whenever she received jewelry, Valliere would eagerly anticipate the message engraved on the back more than the jewelry itself.

The woman before him, smiling awkwardly, was undoubtedly the lover he cherished, but strangely, her demeanor felt so unfamiliar to Henry.

It was difficult to describe, but an unsettling sense of disquiet passed through Henry’s entire body as he watched her.

“If you haven’t checked it yet, you must still be feeling quite unwell. Stop praying and go lie down in bed to rest.”

His lover, who seemed to know everything, now felt even closer to him when she wasn’t around.

Before his own emotions could waver any further, Henry decided to get up.

“Your Majesty!”

As Henry attempted to leave, Valliere clung to him with her entire body.

“To be honest, I think I made Your Majesty uncomfortable this morning, so I felt sick to my stomach and couldn’t focus on wearing the earrings. I’m sorry. My body is almost completely recovered now.”

Seeing her desperate demeanor, Henry felt a momentary wavering in his heart. 

“I, and now that I’m not feeling unwell anymore, from today…”

Although her words trailed off, it wasn’t difficult for Henry to read Valliere’s intentions, as she sent a blatantly strange glance his way.

In the past, he might have reacted physically to his lover’s bold temptation. However, strangely, very strangely, Henry felt a chilling coldness running through his entire body, as if sinking into dark and icy waters.

It was because Valliere’s eyes, despite her odd expression, seemed to exude a rather ominous aura with her amber-colored irises.

***

‘What the heck! Seriously, is that man insane?!’

If it weren’t because the walls have ears, Valliere would have surely screamed herself hoarse.

It was her last resort, devised to obtain the title and the territory. Even though the idea was still awkward, she had mustered the courage to suggest spending the night together, only to be met with rejection.

Henry left her bedroom without uttering a word in response to her proposal as if he were fleeing.

‘Why! Why are you doing this? Weren’t the two of us practically inseparable? The maids even said they were going to sleep here because it was getting late! Why are you rejecting me? Why!’

Valliere couldn’t accept the situation that lay before her.

Naturally, it was something she couldn’t comprehend.

Valliere had always seen Henry as a means to an end, a tool to achieve her goals, and never acknowledged the fact that he was a human with emotions.

To Valliere, Henry was nothing more and nothing less than a tool to make her Empress, a plot device for the protagonist. And this was where the problem arose.

Despite being a calculating, self-centered, and ruthless emperor, Henry’s feelings for his lover were genuine. She was the only human part left in him.

But Valliere, who even during her time as Yerim saw everyone around her as supporting characters for her own life, couldn’t possibly understand this fact.

It made her sick to her stomach.

The nauseating emotion she couldn’t accurately describe could perhaps be best described as a feeling of filth and discomfort. Valliere couldn’t understand why seeing her long-time lover’s strange smile made her feel this way, but it was undeniably the case.

Henry returned to his office with a complex mix of emotions, unsure whether he wanted to cry or get angry. As he entered, the courtier informed him urgently about Ermeline’s condition.

“Empress has collapsed again.”

Without suppressing his emotions, he rushed to the Empress’s bedroom, where he found Ermeline lying in bed with a pale face.

“What happened?” Henry asked.

In a heavy voice, Louise, who was examining Ermeline, replied, “There don’t seem to be any physical issues. It appears to be a malaise of the heart.”