Chapter 96

Rosemary had been begging with her head against the floor as if something bad would happen if she left the imperial palace now. She approached as if she was about to grab Medea’s skirt, but the quick-witted maids quickly blocked her.

Medea was now with the Emperor’s child. If she was startled, Lyle would not hesitate to cut off the maids’ head.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. It is Marquess Bermon’s fault. ……I don’t want to see you any more.”

As she continued to talk, the maid bowed deeply.

“I’ll send her out right away, your Majesty.”

The maids surrounded Rosemary, who was mortified. She wanted to plead to Medea again, but the maids’ eyes were sharp. If she made any more of a fuss, the maids, not the Empress, were going to get angry.

Medea turned around, not watching Rosemary follow the maid. She pretended to be calm, but she was in turmoil inside.

‘Why? Why has Rosemary appeared? Didn’t the conspiracy begin because Medea was dead?’

***

Lyle was frowning, deeply irritated.

He didn’t want to admit it, but the previous Medea was a pretty good buffer for Lyle.

That was the case, when people tried to stuff women next to him.

If someone wanted to introduce a woman to him, the old Medea wouldn’t stay still. Whether openly or secretly, she had always retaliated and harmed them.

People gossiped about the Empress’s surly fury so his Majesty couldn’t even chase women. It was a welcome rumor for Lyle, who disliked women.

He didn’t want Medea to pester him, but she was good excuse to dodge women thrown at him.

But….

“Your Majesty, how do you feel?”

Lyle looked at Duke Lance, who poured alcohol and hinted at him, with a smooth face.

He knew what the current rumors were about. The Emperor finally put a leash on the fierce Empress. It was rumored that the Emperor conquered the Empress in the bedroom so the now tamed gentle-as-a-lamb Empress followed the Emperor’s words.

Well, yes, it is true that I embrace Medea a little too much, but…….

‘Gentle lamb?’

Recently, the rumor caught on widely because Medea did not attend any ball for fear of revealing her memory loss. The number of balls hosted at the Imperial Palace was reduced to less than half, and Lyle only briefly made appearances.

‘Even if that’s the case, you dare to do this trick…….’

Lyle clenched his teeth as he watched the dancer dancing gracefully in the middle of the banquet hall.

Medea’s vigilance had become lax, so this was a masterful attempt to try and capture his heart. Whether it’s a concubine or a mistress, they wanted to win his favor.

Their designs were obvious, but this time the strategy was too outrageous.

The dancer had an uncanny resemblance to the person Lyle misses most.

She looked like Empress Grace, his mother. The unfortunate Empress who lost her life while being imprisoned in the tower.

The dancer resembling Lyle’s mother, raised the excitement and anticipation in the banquet hall.

‘Did you think I wouldn’t reject a woman that looked like my mother?’

It is true that he grieved and missed his mother his whole life. However, he didn’t want her memory to be ridiculed in this way.

He has a wife named Medea, and he also has a child with her.

My mother suffered because of the plentiful woman in the former Emperor’s harem all her life. Do you think I’ll take that woman in and make Medea suffer just because her appearance resembles her? Why—do you think it’s hard to do it all the time because she’s with child?

“Are you enjoying the dance?”

The Duke asked with a subtle smile. He was so confident that Lyle had taken a liking to her and that she was to his taste. He was infuriated by that.

Slam!

When the glass of wine loudly banged against the table, the hall became silent. The musicians stopped playing and the dancer Camilla also ceased dancing and looked up at the Emperor and Duke Lance.

“Vulgar.”

“What?”

“How dare you use a woman who looks like my mother as a laughingstock for a drinking party…. Are you trying to insult me?”

At the Emperor’s cold words, Duke Lance panicked. The Duke knew that Lyle hung a portrait of Empress Grace in the hallway leading to his bedroom and occasionally stared at it—he didn’t know his gesture would be interpreted like this.

“No, it’s not! That’s… I just thought your Majesty would like Camilla’s dance.….”

The Duke of Lance’s head remembered Marquess Bermon advice: His Majesty has a noble taste, so it would be better to introduce a woman as a supporter than to introduce him to a dancer at a banquet.

However, Duke Lance, who knew that the nobles who were introduced as a supporter in similar ways were rejected one after another, and could not consider that tactic.

Rumors were circulating that the ascetic Emperor had recently discovered the joy of a married couple with the Empress. The Empress’s giggles and moans were so loud that it crossed and echoed in the hallways of the palace.

That’s why he had ignored Marquess Bermon’s insistence and invited the Emperor to the banquet.