Chapter 78. A Way to Shut Their Mouths
2023.11.17.
“Why on earth did you do this?”
These were the first words Yvan spoke upon visiting the Empress Dowager’s palace after hearing the rumor in question.
Katrina’s hand, holding the teacup, paused.
“If you had just stayed quiet, I would have become Emperor anyway, and you would have become the most noble woman in the empire. Why on earth?”
“Your Majesty.”
“Did you covet the position of Empress that much?”
It was an attitude that concluded Katrina was responsible for the incident, as if there was no need to even listen.
If it were anyone else, she would have splashed tea in their face. She would have raged, asking how they dared to insult her over such a petty rumor.
But the other person was none other than Yvan.
The son she loved most in the world. My proud Emperor.
The child who, even if the whole world pointed fingers, she alone had to believe in and support.
And now, the only being she could rely on, and the person who had to protect her.
Such a son had immediately suspected her from the start.
Katrina bit her trembling lips and asked back.
“…Do you believe that rumor?”
*Because the mother I know is more than capable of such a thing.* Yvan barely swallowed the words that had risen to his throat.
To him, it had already been an established fact long ago, not just a rumor. Ever since that incident happened ten years ago.
He believed without a doubt that his greedy mother had ultimately killed Esmeralda.
His mother was the type of person who had to have whatever she coveted to be satisfied, and she had always lusted after the position of Empress.
However, he had never brought up that story in front of anyone. Because keeping his mouth shut was much more helpful to him.
But to think that matter would now come back to hold him back.
“I didn’t kill that woman. Really.”
Katrina appealed to her son as if she was truly wronged, but Yvan didn’t even pretend to listen to her words and moved on to the next question.
“Why did you try to kill Blair?”
“Yvan! What kind of person do you see me as? That child is my daughter and your sister. I’ve never tried to kill her.”
“Then you admit to kidnapping her?”
“That is…!”
“Because of that damn rumor! The prestige of the imperial family, and my dignity, is going to fall to the ground. Mother.”
“…….”
“I thought it had quieted down since then, ha….”
Katrina stared at Yvan without being able to say anything more.
To her son, the imperial family and his own dignity seemed more important than his mother’s well-being.
Looking at Katrina, who appeared hurt, Yvan spoke in a softened voice.
“Tell me everything truthfully without hiding anything from me. That’s the only way I can help you.”
At first glance, it sounded like he was comforting her, but it was practically a command.
Katrina smiled bitterly at her own situation.
Since facing Yvan until now, she had continued to speak the truth he demanded.
I didn’t kill that woman.
I didn’t try to kill Blair either.
But no matter how much I say it, you neither listen nor believe me. Does the truth even hold any meaning?
“…If I tell you, will you believe me?”
Katrina’s expression contorted sorrowfully as she said that.
Yvan swallowed his rising annoyance at Katrina’s appearance.
His mother, who was always confident in front of others, acted so miserably and pitifully in front of him. She was doing it knowing it would weaken her son’s heart.
Facing her like that made him feel dirty, as if he had become an unfilial son.
Yvan let out a sigh and stood up from his seat.
“Don’t do anything else. I will clean up this matter myself.”
He left the drawing-room as if fleeing from her.
Whether Katrina’s words were true or false was not important. To protect the authority of the imperial family and his dignity, this rumor had to remain just that—a rumor.
However, Delmark, who had been asserting Esmeralda’s unjust death his entire life, would surely think of this as an opportunity.
‘How can I make them shut their mouths?’
Yvan, walking down the corridor with steps as fast as his anxious mind, suddenly stopped. It was because he recalled the appearance of Herdin that he had seen once before.
‘The Madam is Her Majesty’s only sister before she is the lady of Delmark, and a royal of noble imperial bloodline.’
The figure of Herdin urging severe punishment for Wesley and Rachel.
Yvan’s eyes took on a peculiar light as he recalled that memory.
‘I don’t know if Blair is truly worth that much to him, but…’
It was still a possibility worth trying at least once.
Yvan commanded the chamberlain waiting beside him after he stopped walking.
“Go to the Duke of Delmark and tell him I wish to see him tomorrow afternoon.”
* * *
The rumor that spread throughout the capital had even stirred up Delmark’s vassals.
Not long after the rumor spread, elders from some of the most influential vassal families of Delmark suddenly visited the Delmark ducal mansion without notice.
Unable to turn away the loyal retainers they had known since their grandfathers’ generation, Herdin let them into the drawing-room, and their first words were…
“Take this opportunity to divorce the Princess.”
It was exactly what Herdin had expected.
“She was not fit to be Your Grace’s partner from the start. Taking the daughter of the enemy who killed the late Empress Her Majesty as the lady of Delmark…”
“Exactly. It was an absurd notion from the beginning. How unjustly treated would Her Majesty the Empress, buried underground, feel?”
They spoke under the premise that Esmeralda’s death was Katrina’s doing. It had been that way even before this incident happened, but the rumor was like pouring oil on a fire.
As their voices gradually rose, Ruth, who had been quietly listening from the side, carefully interjected.
“Excuse me for interrupting your conversation, but there is something I would like you all to know.”
The elders, perhaps thinking that Ruth, a loyalist, would become their ally, readily included him in the conversation.
“Right, you say a word too.”
“Yes, as an adjutant, you have the right to speak.”
Ruth hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“I also agree with the four of you, but the Madam is at odds with Her Majesty the Empress Dowager. She is trying to recover her memories of the Empress’s palace fire incident ten years ago. This is a fact, not a rumor.”
While his head agreed with their words, his heart was uneasy because their remarks somehow revealed hostility toward Blair.
However, when Ruth, whom they assumed would naturally be on their side, expressed a different opinion, the elders clicked their tongues in displeasure.
“That’s what any person who knows gratitude should do! She was someone who even cherished the daughter of her enemy. If you’re just going to say such things, stay out of it.”
“Anyway, it’s a relief that it’s not too late. What would have happened if she had conceived the Delmark bloodline?”
Herdin chuckled as he listened to their words.
A relief, huh…
Is it really a relief?
He asked himself that and cut his cigar to put it in his mouth. He could hear an elder with weak respiratory organs coughing from the smoke, but he didn’t care.
Ruth secretly observed Herdin’s mood.
Herdin was listening without stopping the elders who were running their mouths, but Ruth knew from years of experience.
That when Herdin kept his mouth shut like that, he was usually preparing a lethal verbal strike.
“Your Grace, use this incident as an excuse to request a divorce from His Majesty. And this time, bring a chaste and wise woman as the lady of the house to establish Delmark’s prestige.”
Herdin let the elders’ words go in one ear and newly realized,
There was no one on Blair’s side anywhere.
The imperial family’s inner circle was screaming that she had lost her mind over a man and framed her mother and brother, while Delmark’s vassals were anxious to drag down the enemy’s daughter.
Whoever spread the rumor, they had targeted Blair accurately and cunningly.
So that whether she stood on the imperial family’s side or Delmark’s side, she would inevitably become the scapegoat.
Only then did he realize.
I expected a mere eleven-year-old child to endure this. I wanted her to make enemies of everyone and fight for me.
Even now, at twenty-one, you are still so small and weak.
I now realize that the hatred I held for you in my childhood was merely my own forced rationalization.
And the fact that the hatred was actually directed at myself, who was powerless and could do nothing.
“Your Grace! Are you listening?”
His reverie was ended by the voices of the elders that pierced through his thoughts.
Herdin extinguished his cigar and opened his mouth with a voice dripping with boredom.
“So what you’re saying is, I should use my wife only until the unjust death of the late Empress Her Majesty is resolved, and then send her back to the imperial family?”
“You can’t very well keep the daughter of your enemy as the lady of the house.”
“And how she’ll be treated by her family afterwards—since your granddaughters need to become the lady of Delmark, that’s none of your concern, right?”
Herdin’s voice as he spoke was extremely dry, but his words, sarcastically hitting the nail on the head, were sharp.
“Ahem, if you disparage our loyalty like that…”
“Loyalty, I’m not so sure about. But I know well your love for your granddaughters.”
Herdin stood up from his seat, his face openly showing boredom.
“Go back now. Be warned, if you come unannounced like this one more time, I’ll leave you standing outside.”
While the elders were left speechless, their mouths just opening and closing, Herdin turned around and left the drawing-room. At the same time, he ran into Blair passing through the corridor.