I Possessed The Immoral Empress - Chapter 53

Félio had long departed, but Ermedeline still suffered from the lingering warmth he had left behind. 

It seemed like she might have caught some sort of infection, as her fever showed no sign of abating.

Still, the vision of dirty blood from the House de Françoise Duchy staining Félio’s neatly pressed white uniform came suddenly, startling her more than a few times.

This time, the image was so vivid that as she took deep breaths to calm herself, she noticed Rooney approaching quietly.

“Your Majesty, the Empress.”

“What’s the matter?”

“The soldiers working at the gate reported it.”

In Rooney’s hesitant hand, there was a small piece of paper.

“But?”

“I was asked to deliver this note to Your Majesty the Empress.”

“There must be more than just a note…”

“Yes, there are certainly quite a few notes like this. But it seems that the person who handed this note over is willing to pay an enormous sum for the errand. Of course, I’m not motivated by greed! It feels uncomfortable to simply discard something sent by someone willing to pay such a significant amount.”

In fact, the amount Rooney mentioned for this errand was quite substantial. It was enough to buy a well-trained warhorse.

“Give it to me.”

As Ermedeline received the note, a mischievous glint suddenly appeared on her face.

“So, if I read this, you get your share too?”

Ermedeline’s jest made Rooney jump up and clap her hands.

“No, not at all! I would never have such intentions…”

“Relax, I’m just joking. Just kidding.”

“Oh?”

“And even if you don’t have any ulterior motives, make sure to get your share. Not taking what’s rightfully yours is foolish. Well, if it still bothers you, you can treat me to a nice cup of coffee with that money.”

Rooney, relieved by Ermedeline’s words, stuck out her tongue mischievously.

“Just a cup of coffee? I’ll treat you to dessert as well!”

“Woah! That’s our Rooney!”

After receiving Ermedeline’s applause, Rooney left the parlor with a happy smile. Ermedeline carefully opened the note after Rooney’s departure.

Although it was a small note, it had a complex seal imprinted on the golden wax. It seemed to contain rather important information.

With a somewhat solemn expression, Ermedeline silently read the note, and her face gradually paled.

‘What on earth is this…’

The contents of the letter were as follows:

[My love, my destiny,

I heard the news that you are bearing and raising our child!

I believe that you could never erase the result of our love!

I will come to meet you and our child soon!

There is no doubt that we are destined to be together!

My beloved, be at peace until the day we meet again.

We will soon become one again!]

Although exclamation points punctuated the end of each sentence, giving it a passionate feel, the content itself appeared to be a rather ordinary love letter.

However, the phrase ‘our child’ didn’t sit well with her.

‘Could it be talking about Ferdant? But Ferdant’s father is already deceased, isn’t he? Is this some kind of letter from the depths of hell, perhaps?’

While it might have been dismissed as a wicked prank, the content of the letter bothered Ermedeline.

‘Who would spend so much money and send such a playful letter? Who on earth…’

As she contemplated the sincerity of the letter, a face came to her mind.

No, it was a gaze.

The golden eyes of the man she briefly locked eyes with during the Foundation Day parade.

Pure, perfect golden eyes that harbored a dangerous glint that could make a beast lose its sanity.

‘Ah, why is that suddenly coming to mind? There were so many people yesterday. It’s not like I only locked eyes with one or two people.’

But the racing of her heart made it difficult to just brush it off as a mere coincidence.

‘Oh, please, just one thing. Just one! It’s getting complicated to have a hidden child’s father involved!’

Ermedeline, forcing herself to shake off the ominous feeling, burned the letter with a candle.

***

“Delivered? Huh? Was it delivered?”

“Yes, I delivered it.”

“She read it? Huh? Did Ermedeline read it?”

The man, visibly annoyed by his owner’s fuss, turned his head in the opposite direction.

He had dark hair and deep amber eyes, exuding an overall sharp and edgy aura.

“Yes, she did. The witch… I mean, Her Majesty the Empress definitely received it in her hands, so she must have read it.”

“Good! There’s no way Ermedeline wouldn’t recognize my seal!”

The man, sending a rapturous gaze into the air, had fiery red hair and striking golden eyes. He was a magnificent, handsome man.

It was the very same man Ermedeline locked eyes with during Foundation Day.

“Yes. Even if she cast her lover away cruelly, she should recognize the seal, naturally… Ow! Why did you hit me?”

“Castaway cruelly? Ermedeline must have had a valid reason for doing so!!”

“When she, I mean, Her Majesty the Empress, played around with my pure passion, saying that meeting her was the greatest curse of my life?”

“Of course! She threatened to erase the child in her womb and pushed me away with terrifying words. I believed that at the time. But isn’t the child still alive? Our child, isn’t he alive!”

Rangen’s head spun as he watched his owner Leopold, overwhelmed with emotion, even shedding tears.

His homeland was the Eastern Empire of Ballius, famous for its golden mountains.

The Ballius Empire founded many hundreds of years before the Trivian Empire, was an immensely powerful nation. Leopold’s mother was the Emperor’s only daughter, his beloved and cherished princess.

This beloved daughter wanted to explore the world and venture out, creating the son who would become Leopold.

Although Leopold was the only son of the Emperor’s beloved daughter, the Emperor had many daughters, and he had numerous sons.

Naturally, Leopold was excluded from the line of succession in his homeland and couldn’t develop a strong bond with his motherland. He engaged in trade and roamed the world without forming any lasting attachments.

Eight years ago, he suddenly expressed a desire to visit the Trivian Empire, his father’s land, longing to see it. This happened when he was 21 years old.

In a foreign land with a name given to him only by the Emperor, Leopold naturally wasn’t warmly welcomed. He arrived at a time when the Trivian Empire was embroiled in a war among its royal offspring, being a foreign aristocrat.

His father, the Emperor, had naturally distanced himself from Leopold, leading to his isolation. Strangely, the one who reached out to him happened to be the House de Françoise, a family widely known as the most sinister in all of Trivian.

‘What on earth is appealing about such a witch? Sure, she’s pretty, but why would anyone find the allure in someone so cold and aloof?’

Rangen still got chills down his spine when he thought about his first encounter with Ermedeline. Her beautiful yet seemingly soulless face, leaning by the window as if she might throw herself down at any moment.

But when Leopold arrived at the House de Françoise, he fell for Ermedeline at first sight, and despite being persistently rejected, he ardently pursued her.

Thus, when things seemed to be finally falling into place, Ermedeline suddenly cast him aside. She expressed a desire to get rid of their child as well, using cruel words that bordered on cursing.

From that point on, Leopold lived like a dead man. He lived without any dreams or expectations as if he could die at any moment.

If it had gone according to the original story, where Ferdant’s existence remained a mystery, Leopold would have roamed the world aimlessly, leaving no more than a single line of his name in the novel.

However, with Ermedeline’s soul changing and Ferdant’s existence coming to light, the news about her hidden son reached Leopold’s ears.

People said he was the son of a servant, but the child’s age matched Ermedeline and Leopold’s separation so perfectly that it was hard to believe.

Back then, Ermedeline was a person of such a character that it would be unimaginable for her to have an affair, whether it was with a man or a woman.

From the moment Ferdant was convinced that he was his child, Leopold found his purpose in life. He set his sights on the Trivian Empire’s imperial power in order to find the family that rightfully should have been his.

Of course, it was a risky gamble, as rebellion could lead to death. However, Rangen thought that it was better for his owner to take risks and have a purpose in life rather than spend his days idly drinking and wasting away.

“My son exists in this world! My love has cherished that child all along! Shouldn’t I fulfill my duty as a father!”

His striking, colorful features immediately caught the eyes of those who beheld him, bearing a strong resemblance to the Emperor of the Trivian Empire.

Especially his red hair.

The blazing, fiery red hair served as compelling evidence that couldn’t deny Leopold’s bloodline.

Leopold’s golden eyes, the other half of his heritage, represented the Ballius Imperial bloodline and were unique even among that prestigious line.

Normally, he seemed disinterested in the world’s affairs, but right now, his once indifferent eyes were starting to emit a dangerous gleam.

***

Several days had passed since Foundation Day.

Ermedeline had that note, the contents of which remained a mystery to her, taking up a corner of her mind. But for now, she decided to focus on the pressing matters at hand.

‘After all, there was no contact after that incident. It was probably just a prank.’

She had burned the note as soon as she read it, and the seal was stored in the underground chamber, just in case. However, Ermedeline had more immediate problems to deal with.

“As expected, it’s starting to explode.”

Ermedeline had called upon Félio to discuss the improvements to the filthy sewers. However, she received news that someone who had returned from Foundation Day was showing signs of a contagious disease. Fortunately, there had been no secondary outbreak in the capital yet, but it appeared that a small-scale infection had occurred among the people gathered during Valliere’s procession.

“Weren’t the infected people returning to their villages?”

“Yes, those showing symptoms since yesterday have been immediately isolated, and the villages they returned to have been cut off from the outside.”

“Then, Your Grace, you must be quite busy. Is it okay for you to be here…”

“What could I possibly be busy with? I’m just an ordinary lawyer who only heard about it from my steward father.”

Félio replied with a firm tone and immediately focused on some documents.

At first, Ermedeline had disliked his way of speaking. His curt and detached manner made him seem unlikeable and impolite. However, strangely, at this moment, she didn’t find his firm tone unpleasant. In fact, it was as if she found his rough exterior cute, knowing that she was one of the few who could see his true self behind the mask.

Ermedeline found herself silently gazing at Félio’s profile as he immersed himself in the numbers without any expression on her face.

“Your Majesty.”

As Félio raised his head as if he had something to say, Ermedeline quickly averted her gaze to the documents she held in her hands.