#043
“Your Majesty the Empress?”
Claire approached Empress Rozella, who was trembling finely with her head lowered, and when she saw her face, she stepped back in surprise.
“Heh-heh… hahaha!”
Rozella, who had been stifling her laughter, straightened her back and burst out laughing loudly. Even as she wiped away the few tears that had leaked out with her fingers, she could not stop laughing for some time.
Claire simply watched Rozella in silence.
“I’m in such a good mood this morning.”
Rozella, still staggering slightly from her laughter, plopped herself down on the sofa. Her green eyes, brimming with tears, sparkled in the light.
Even though she had been up since dawn hurrying through her grooming, there was no sign of fatigue on her face. On the contrary, she looked radiant, her beauty even more striking.
“Of course. There’s no way Gredi could have fallen for that lowborn woman.”
Sprawled on the sofa, Rozella let out a deep breath and gazed up at the ceiling, looking relieved.
Ever since Gredi’s marriage, Rozella had spent her days walking on thin ice, constantly on edge. Every time she heard yet another rumor about Gredi and Eliana being affectionate, her chest burned with rage.
Even her husband, Emperor Mateo, had all his attention fixed on Eliana and Gredi.
Especially because Mateo, driven by desire for what he couldn’t have, had begun to treat Rozella coldly.
But now, thanks to Gredi’s unexpected “gift,” Mateo’s attention had returned to Rozella.
The maids serving her also looked brighter than they had in a long time, buoyed by her cheerful expression.
“What should we do about the painting?”
As she refilled Rozella’s empty teacup, Claire’s mind was entirely filled with thoughts of Gredi. Having loved him for so long, the quarrel between him and his wife felt like a ray of salvation.
“What should we do indeed.”
Her voice was lively, carrying her uplifted mood.
“Instead of sending out invitations, why not spread the rumor?”
“Rumor?”
Rozella, who had been about to send invitations to the noble ladies, brightened at Claire’s words. She looked intrigued.
“Rumors always grow bigger as they’re passed from mouth to mouth, don’t they?”
“True.”
Rozella, who knew better than anyone the power of rumors, nodded in agreement.
Claire folded her hands neatly in her lap, lowered her gaze, and continued.
“It would lower your dignity to invite them personally, Your Majesty.”
“Lower my dignity?”
Rozella’s voice rose at Claire’s arrogant remark.
“You’re not planning to sell it?”
“…”
The moment she saw Claire’s guileless face looking at her with questioning eyes, Rozella fell silent.
Her grip on the armrest of the chair tightened until her knuckles turned white. She could almost hear her pride shattering in her ears.
Claire’s face, pretending innocence, somehow looked as if it were mocking her.
As Rozella worked to suppress her boiling anger, Claire spoke again.
“If you’re going to put something on the market, you should raise its value first. That way, it will benefit the Marquisate as well, don’t you think?”
At Claire’s gesture, a maid stepped forward and set a silver tray in front of Rozella. Seeing it, Rozella squeezed her eyes shut.
“It’s from Baron Hate’s household. I asked my father about it, and it seems Marquis Faver borrowed money. I thought it might be related to that, so I set it aside in advance.”
“…”
“Isn’t it something better kept from others?”
Rozella glanced at the maid retreating cautiously, then reached out her hand. Her fingers trembled uncontrollably, and she tasted a trace of blood from biting her lip.
“There are many eyes watching, Your Majesty.”
At Claire’s calm tone, Rozella quickly drew back her hand from the letter.
“Everyone leave!”
At Rozella’s sharp command, the maids in the sitting room quickly moved out.
“You stay, Claire. I have something to say to you.”
Claire, who had been slowly turning away, froze at Rozella’s cutting words. Their gazes clashed sharply in the air.
But it was Rozella who looked away first.
Claire sighed quietly as the last maid closed the door.
“What are you playing at?”
Having taken a moment to compose herself, Rozella crossed her legs with an air of composure and asked.
“This will be a long conversation, Your Majesty.”
“…Sit.”
At Rozella’s order, Claire carefully took a seat.
Rozella, noting how unusually shadowed Claire’s face looked today, crossed her arms arrogantly and jerked her chin at her.
“I can’t wait any longer, Your Majesty.”
“I don’t know what you’ve been waiting for, or what you can’t wait for any longer, Claire.”
Claire’s eyes changed at Rozella’s provocation.
The Claire who had been blinded by her feelings for Gredi, seeing nothing else, was gone.
Although she was the daughter of the prestigious Marquis Raymond, she had willingly chosen to become Rozella’s lady-in-waiting—for Gredi’s sake alone.
“I hear a marriage proposal has come from the Kingdom of Kalstad.”
“…What?”
Though small compared to the Empire, Kalstad was not to be underestimated. Known for its beautiful lakes and jewels, it was a popular travel destination even among the Empire’s nobility.
And the King of Kalstad had only one son.
Rozella, quickly recalling that fact, swallowed dryly without realizing it—her reaction quite different from Claire’s calm demeanor.
“It’s soon. There’s not much time left, Claire. You heard what the knight said earlier.”
“You know just one word from you would make him divorce immediately.”
Claire’s flat voice unsettled Rozella.
She was the sharpest tool Rozella could wield—and would never dare to, if not for Claire’s blind love for Gredi.
“Claire, calm down. Don’t tell me you’re giving up on Gredi after coming this far?”
“I’m not giving up—you made it so, Rozella.”
For the first time since becoming Empress, Claire spoke Rozella’s name directly. She seemed as though she had resigned herself to everything.
When she had seen The Red Winter, delivered to Rozella yesterday, Claire had recalled a conversation she’d had with her father.
She had thought she could be content holding only an empty shell of him. But even that shell was out of reach.
“Claire! My dear friend, don’t do this. If you leave for that kingdom, what will I do?”
Rozella clasped Claire’s hands with a desperate expression.
“If you don’t want me to leave… then this time, you must give him to me, Rozella.”
Rozella nodded reluctantly, her expression sour.
While Rozella was still reeling from this unexpected confrontation, the carriage carrying Gredi and Eliana had just passed through the main gates of the Imperial Palace. Gredi looked perfectly composed, nothing like a man who had been drunk out of his mind until dawn.
“This place is truly suffocating.”
His hand brushed his hair back casually. At his calm tone, Eliana stared at him intently.
“…”
“What?”
“You seem far too composed, contrary to your words.”
Still tense, her body rigid, Eliana patted her own shoulder.
Since last night, the whirlwind of events had left her mind in chaos. She found it strange how unaffected Gredi seemed.
“You get used to cursed things.”
Gredi leaned his head against the wall of the carriage and closed his eyes. His seemingly calm demeanor began to feel less like composure and more like weary resignation.
“I’m sorry.”
After hesitating for a long time, Eliana’s apology made the corner of Gredi’s mouth lift faintly. His eyes stayed closed.
Sunlight streaming through the window passed over his face—half in light, half in shadow. It felt to Eliana as though she’d caught a glimpse of his hidden side, like the far side of the moon.
“For what?”
“Just…”
Eliana lowered her gaze, avoiding his eyes.
But he wasn’t as unbothered as he seemed—like her, he was tense. Though he had experienced such things many times before, some things could never be gotten used to.
He could escape any time, but the shackles binding him would never let him go.
In that swamp-like reality, where struggling only dragged him deeper, he had met Eliana just when he was ready to give in.
“I didn’t expect you to pity me. Is this your way of repaying my gift?”
Gredi’s face, which had been turned toward the window with boredom, suddenly came alive, making Eliana hesitate before hardening her expression.
“…A gift?”
“Still no thank-you? Should I wait longer?”
His gaze sparkled, almost like a large dog eager for praise.
But Eliana’s face only grew stiffer under that expectant look. She had already guessed that the “gift” he spoke of was Rodin.
“It’s a gift I never asked for.”
She tried to sound calm, but her voice came out colder than intended.
“So, are you going to throw him out?”
But Gredi didn’t seem to care about her mood at all.
He had already heard from the butler that she’d stayed by Rodin’s side until the doctor finished treating him and left the room. And that she had sent a maid that morning to ask if he’d woken up.
Quite a contrast to her complete silence about his absence from their bedroom all night.
And Gredi, though unaware of it himself, was feeling rather sulky about her behavior.
