I Possessed The Immoral Empress - Chapter 43

Valliere was in high spirits.

From the moment Henry left, she didn’t know when the cheerful tunes would leave her lips.

As she hummed the songs she used to enjoy in her lifetime, she could feel the maids giving her curious glances, but Valliere didn’t pay any attention to such looks.

“I believe.”

With just that one word, she couldn’t understand why she felt so uplifted.

She now had confidence in handling the meeting scheduled for the afternoon with the nobles.

‘Hmm. I thought he was just a good-for-nothing with a handsome face, but he’s not just that, it seems.’

Suddenly, the beautiful face of Henry, who had been absentmindedly touching the ends of her own hair, came to her mind.

‘Well, since we’re in this together, it’s fortunate that my partner is so handsome.’

***

Ferdant was indeed staying not far from the palace.

It was not a particularly large estate, but it was a tidy mansion suitable for raising a child.

Even from an exterior perspective, it had already won Ermedeline’s heart.

Today, she planned to watch Ferdant playing in the garden from a distance.

Just thinking of his name made one side of her heartache persistently, but after all, he was a complete stranger, wasn’t he?

For her, who had never even married, let alone given birth, accepting a suddenly appearing son as her own was undoubtedly a challenge.

“Sigh.”

Even though she had planned to quietly observe from a distance, Ermedeline was so tense that her hands were sweating.

For no reason, she straightened her clothes, cleared her throat, and checked her voice.

‘I’m just going to watch from afar today!’

No matter how much she tried to organize her thoughts in her head, there was no helping the trembling heart.

Glancing behind her, she noticed that even Rooney and Margo, who weren’t her children, were equally nervous, swallowing hard as if to suppress their anxiety.

As Ermedeline hesitated, the sun had already tilted, and time was moving toward the middle of the afternoon.

Unable to delay any longer, Ermedeline took a deep breath and finally stepped inside the mansion.

Following the guidance of one of the servants working in the mansion, she was led into a corridor on the second floor with a view of the garden.

In the garden, a young boy was wielding a sword, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead.

‘Ah, the little one. He’s six years old now, right?’

It was so adorable how he confidently held the handle with his tiny fern-like hands. Ermedeline couldn’t help but smile brightly.

As she watched the child with parted lips for a while, Rooney quietly approached her and handed something over.

“??”

What she held in her hand was a handkerchief.

“Why did you…?”

‘Oh, was I crying?’

Lowering her head, the tears that had gathered on her chin fell with a soft patter.

“Yeah. Thank you.”

Even though she was smiling with delight as she looked at the child, tears flowed from her eyes, unrelated to her own feelings.

Ermedeline knew it immediately.

These tears were not a result of her will but tears that her heart was shedding.

There was a fact that Ermedeline knew very well.

Perhaps in this empire, there was no one who knew this fact as well as she did.

She felt nauseated just looking at how meticulously it was recorded in the diary.

Ermedeline knew all too well the boundless wickedness of the previous owner of this body, to the point where her body shuddered.

Yet, the demon-like woman, who seemed devoid of both blood and tears, shed tears upon seeing her son.

Now, as an empty shell without a soul, she shed tears solely based on memories etched in her heart.

Ermedeline’s heart grew heavy as tears fell incessantly.

She had come to understand the concept of motherhood for the first time through someone else’s body.

On the way back to the palace in the carriage, Ermedeline remained silent the entire time.

Rooney and Margo, suspecting that it was due to the emotions stirred by meeting her son after such a long time, chose to stay silent as well.

The small, fair face bore a striking resemblance to Ermedeline.

Now she understood why her child was called her “duplicate.”

An existence sharing both soul and heart.

And thus, even the soulless, emptied heart responded willingly, to such an existence.

She had been abandoned at a very young age herself.

In the cradle that held the infant, there was only a note with the name Yoon Hyeyoung, date of birth, and a plea to raise her well.

When Hyeyoung had grown to some extent, the headmistress had handed over the cradle and the note she had been keeping.

On that day, Hyeyoung had placed the cradle in a nearby clothing donation bin and torn up the note.

She had already discarded any futile hope that her mother would come looking for her someday.

In reality, no one had come to find Hyeyoung until the moment she left the orphanage.

‘How could it have happened?’

‘Did she not want to see me?’

“Perhaps, even just once in a while, did she come to look at me from a distance?’

Now, eternal questions without answers filled Ermedeline’s mind.

Tears started flowing from Ermedeline’s eyes as she leaned against the carriage.

If the tears a while ago were shed by Ermedeline’s heart, this time, it was her soul shedding tears.

Parents who were neither seen nor known, in her past life, Ermedeline had become an adult while pretending not to know the intangible wounds.

However, the wounds that resided in the heart of the abandoned child continued to scream a dreadful scream deep within Ermedeline’s soul, even as she faced death and started a new life.

Becoming an adult didn’t automatically heal the wounds, it seemed.

Suddenly, a very childish and deadly thought crossed Ermedeline’s mind.

‘You’re lucky. Your mother was a witch, but still, she loved you. She loved you.’

Jealous of a child who had just turned six at this age. Even she couldn’t believe it.

But since no one would peer into her heart, Ermedeline decided to envy Ferdant for just a brief moment.

After composing herself to some extent, Ermedeline went to find Henry to express her gratitude. However, she saw Valliere gesturing and explaining something with great enthusiasm.

‘Should I have gone later?’

However, as Ermedeline was about to turn away, Count Hallstein, the steward, noticed her and informed Henry of her presence.

“Oh, you’ve come. We were in the middle of discussing Foundation Day.”

“Yes, I see. I came to express my gratitude.”

For a brief moment, as Ermedeline inclined her head slightly, Valliere’s face showed a cold expression as icy as the ice, but it disappeared.

“You didn’t meet in person today?”

“No, I just saw him from a distance. He seemed to be doing well. Thank you for taking care of him.”

“You don’t need to. He’s still young, but I can’t even count how many praises he receives for being exceptionally talented.”

“Fortunately, it seems he didn’t take after me.”

Trying to break the awkward atmosphere with a joke, Ermedeline made Henry chuckle.

“Impossible, isn’t it? He must have inherited the brilliance of the Empire’s greatest sorceress, his mother. Not just in looks, but in words too.”

Valliere, who had been silently listening to the conversation, finally realized that the two were discussing Ferdant.

‘They’re laughing? Since when did they become so comfortable with each other and start teasing like this? They’re talking about the bastard child right now. These people!’

Ermedeline felt grateful to Henry for not treating the child as a foster child, and Henry, who had no ill feelings toward the child and saw Ermedeline as a useful ally, had no reason to discuss Ferdant’s story.

However, the natural conversation between the two of them was extremely unpleasant in Valliere’s eyes.

“Your Majesty the Emperor is truly generous. You take such good care of your wife’s bastard child.”

The word “bastard child” caused a slight crease in Ermedeline’s brow.

But Henry didn’t react at all. He didn’t show any anger or agreement.

“That child is not a bastard child. He was born within the confines of marriage. Didn’t I testify to that in the courtroom?”

A very matter-of-fact tone, listing the facts.

“Oh, is that so? They said he was born from a marriage with a stableman, didn’t you? I must have forgotten.”

Ermedeline replied casually, feigning forgetfulness.

Valliere had provocatively mentioned the term “stableman” to provoke Ermedeline, but both Henry and Ermedeline remained unresponsive.

“That’s right. He was born from a union with a stableman. So don’t use the word bastard child.'”

When neither Henry nor Ermedeline showed any emotional response, Valliere soon lost interest. While the term “bastard child” did bother her, since the child wasn’t actually hers, Ermedeline decided to calmly play the role of the generous Empress.

“I heard about yesterday’s incident. Is your body alright?”

Despite being annoyed by Valliere’s behavior, Ermedeline also felt a sense of pity for the young girl. She wondered how difficult her life must have been to make such an extreme choice.

Ermedeline’s voice, mixed with conflicting emotions, came across as both dry and pitiful.

“Are you genuinely worried about me right now?”

‘Who do you think made me resort to that extent?’

Valliere’s voice turned sharp as she believed that Ermedeline was solely responsible for the novel’s divergence from the original story.

‘Did I ask for your concern? Are you going to pour out more nonsense?’

As she anticipated another senseless retort, Henry intervened, stepping between Ermedeline and Valliere, and gently placing his hand on Valliere’s back.

“No need to worry. It was just a minor injury.”

“??”

Henry’s dry response caused both Ermedeline and Valliere’s eyes to widen as if tears were about to flow simultaneously.

‘Didn’t he clearly see that there’s blood on the floor?’

Ermedeline found herself subtly observing Valliere’s reaction.

As expected, Valliere’s gaze quickly turned icy, and she began to glare at Henry.

‘Why are they doing this again? Weren’t they having a decent conversation?’

Ermedeline truly didn’t want to get involved in the discord between the two, and she found this situation extremely awkward.

“Your Majesty, what did you just say? A minor injury?”

She deliberately tightened her wrist a bit more than she had in her previous life, and yet, it was just a minor injury?

In her past life, her previous parents and two older brothers called an ambulance even if a few drops of blood were spilled.

Valliere didn’t quite understand Henry’s words.

“Don’t I know your vein injuries better than you? There was some bleeding, but it wasn’t a severe injury. I just mentioned it as it was. I didn’t want to unnecessarily worry the Empress.”

“What are you talking about now?”

Henry’s response made Valliere feel like all the blood was draining from her head.

“So, I almost died, but what bothers you the most is the concern of the Empress?”

They were enemies, and spouses, and had a worse relationship than anyone else. In the end, one of them would inevitably kill the other.

But to see the Emperor calmly conversing with the person in front of him, and even more so, to be more concerned about Ermedeline’s feelings than her own, made Valliere want to cry.

‘What is this? She’s the villainess, right? The universally hated villainess! The villainess who burns to death in a fiery pit!’

“I worried about Empress more than you, is that what you said in front of me?”

Henry’s calm and composed gaze as he looked at her without even blinking made Valliere’s eyes well up with tears.

‘You’re supposed to love me! Not that woman! You should love me! You should be on my side!’

Overwhelmed by a mix of sadness and anger, Valliere eventually shed tears.

Ermedeline, taken aback by Valliere’s tears, unconsciously searched for a handkerchief in her embrace, but Henry, who should have been the one to wipe Valliere’s tears away, remained calm.

‘This feels a bit strange, doesn’t it? It wasn’t like this before?’

Ermedeline felt puzzled by Henry’s excessively composed reaction. While she had been preoccupied with plotting her survival, she hadn’t paid much attention to their relationship. However, such a change in just a few weeks was indeed surprising.

The relationship between Henry and Valliere had changed significantly from when they first met. Henry had become suspicious of Valliere’s behavior, unable to contain his overflowing emotions, while Valliere, seemingly oblivious to Henry’s intense feelings, considered them completely natural.

‘Could it be that the changes in the novel’s plot have also altered the relationship between these two? That can’t happen! It’s not allowed! I want to leave this palace!’

Ermedeline anxiously pulled Valliere closer to her as she contemplated the possible impact of the changes in the story on their relationship.

“Any injury, no matter how small, worried me deeply.”

Valliere, offended by the sudden embrace, squirmed to push Ermediline away, and Ermedeline tightened her arms around her.

“Cry, keep crying, thank me, apologize to the king, do you want it to end like this?”