“Ahhh!”
It was a sound that came naturally even when she tried to hold her lips closed.
It was the pain that felt so raw from the invisible underside. It was as if someone was tearing at her raw flesh with both hands.
As the Empress of the Empire of Emporium, this was a more sacred time than ever before, even if she had exposed herself to so many people as a woman.
That initial feeling of embarrassment and unfamiliarity seemed to have been forgotten somehow, and she just accepted the process nonchalantly.
There was no time to worry about anyone’s gaze, because the pain was much greater.
The stranger’s blade was pointed downward at her, but the pain coming from her stomach was so severe that even the blade only felt cooler.
Blood slowly oozed out of her mouth from the strong force she bit her lips.
The suffering that had lasted for more than a day had exhausted not only her, but also the doctors and attendants who had been by her side, as well as her precious child who was still in her belly.
“Empress, please try a little harder! It’s almost done.”
The maidservant beside her squeezed her sweaty hands and comforted her.
How much better it would have been if her husband had been the one who had held her anxious hand, soothed her worries, and told her to hang in there.
But her husband, the one she was looking for now, Emperor Edgar, was not present. No, not wanting to be with her would be a more accurate description.
“Ahhhh!”
With a scream, her upper body lifted, and the doctors and attendants next to her forced her belly to drop the fetus.
“Hair, I see hair! Your Majesty! Keep up the good work!”
It was he who had enjoyed all the pleasures while devouring her body, so why should she suffer like this? Much resentment has been poured on the emperor, but she could not afford to think of it now.
The pain of tearing raw flesh intensified, and all she needed now was her tenacity.
“It’s the last one!”
She squeezed her chapped lips and squeezed the last of her strength. With the feeling that something was coming off from underneath, she let go of her upper body that she had raised to the fullest at once.
“Your Majesty, it’s the prince! Congratulations!”
In response, the Empress Liv breathed a sigh of relief. The maidservant next to her was pressing her stomach to remove the clots of blood that were still in her belly………….
Somehow she couldn’t hear the baby’s clear and cheerful sound.
“The Prince is not breathing!”
At the sound of the midwife’s voice, the maids rushed over to the baby.
‘What does this mean? My baby is not breathing?’
Liv, forgetting her pain, turned her head to the right and tried to see the face of the child in the bed next to her.
Her baby, lying there with his eyes still closed.
“Breathe, breathe!”
With a word from the maid, the doctor next to her began to press on the heart of the tiny baby, no bigger than two hands.
But the baby’s heart didn’t beat.
“No! You have to put more pressure on it!”
The more the doctor tried to save the child by squeezing it, the more they sweated…
Even with repeated attempts, the baby seemed to have no intention of waking up. The doctor, the midwife, and the maidservants who were patting down her belly next to her all remained silent in unison.
Liv, who was staring only at the baby lying immovable in the distance to her right, gathered her strength and sat up, blood flowing from below.
“One more time. Please save him one more time.”
Liv looked at the doctor turning his back and shouted. But the doctor brutally covered the child with a white cloth.
“Your Majesty, I’m sorry to inform you that the Prince is dead…”
‘Dead……? Who died? My baby, who was alive until yesterday, how dare………’
Liv stood in front of the baby, forcing her wobbly body down from the bed barefoot.
“Your Majesty, no! You need to rest!”
Liv shook off the hands around her and stood in front of the white cloth. She hugged her baby, who was lying there with his eyes closed, not moving.
The baby she had missed and loved so much. She grasped his small, plump hand.
“Why, why are your hands so cold……….”
Liv gave the name Edmund for the baby that would be born in two months. However, the baby was born prematurely at 8 months…
When her water broke and blood flowed, she had to give birth in a hurry. She was reassured by the doctor’s words that this kind of thing happens a lot in the Imperial Family and that she would be fine. She was but not the baby….
Liv took a slow look at the child’s face. The child she had always drawn in her mind.
She wondered who he would look like most, but when she looked at him like this, his eyes, nose, and mouth all looked exactly like the Emperor’s.
In the eyes of Liv, who was looking down on the cold and frozen baby, the tears that she had struggled to bear flowed incessantly, wetting the baby’s cheeks.
“I’m sorry, this wicked mother gave birth to you. My beautiful angel, Edmund…”
She cried heavily, unable to put the baby’s cloth back. She grabbed only the baby’s tiny, ice-cold body and collapsed unconscious on the spot.
***
The empire and the imperial family didn’t allow Liv any time to grieve. She was the Empress of Emporium before she had a single child.
Before the baby’s simple funeral, Liv had greeted the guests in a black dress, unable to move.
The wives of the noblemen covered their mouths with fans when they saw what a cripple she was to their faces.
According to Her Highness the Empress Dowager, this was another stunt of Liv’s own making.
“Indeed, the Empress who got that post through numerous schemes would still remain.”
“Oh I suppose so! How dare she sacrifice her own child! How long have people been waiting for a baby in the Imperial Family!”
“Don’t worry. His Majesty will soon have a baby who will take over the royal family. If an imperial child comes out from under that creepy Empress………… Imagine how horrible it would be.”
The wives were whispering so much that the people gathered at the funeral listened to their gossip while the Empress was in agony.
The wind made their voices audible from time to time to Liv, who was sitting across from them.
Liv bit her lip at their words, but many people here must have believed that gossip more than her words.
If her husband had been in this seat, the situation would have been different nonetheless. He wasn’t present at the birth, the baby’s funeral, and still nowhere to be seen.
Liv’s father, Duke Dennis Edinburgh, who had been by Liv’s side, said with a worried look in his eyes,
“Your Majesty, please rest a little longer. I’m afraid that this will make your health worse.”
In response, Liv gave a painstakingly emaciated smile.
“I’m fine. I have to protect myself. Who will protect this place? Even thus, I must atone for my sins.”
With that to Liv, she reflected on why the happy future in the arms of the man she dreamed of had fallen apart.
It was two years ago, when she had loved only one man, pure and innocent.
The first time she met Edgar Del Quantil at a social party, he was a remarkable being.
He had emerald blue-green eyes and golden hair that shone as if it contained sunlight. He seemed to have dealt with a great many women, soft and sometimes rough.
At first she also adored him in her heart like any other woman. What woman would not have fallen in love with him, riding a white horse with a refined, cold, beautiful man’s face?
She was the Duke’s daughter, only a man that even the beautiful and haughty Liv could not dare to gaze upon. So when he made eye contact with her, she would only greet him lightly and pass him by.
One day, he saw her acting differently from normal women and seemed interested in her. Liv believed so. He discovered her hidden charms.
She believed it too when he suddenly called her to his secluded space with a letter after months of no contact. He eventually came back to her.
Liv made great contributions to persuading the nobles using her family to expel the existing emperor. So much love and nerve she was willing to do anything for him.
Finally, he became emperor, and Liv took a seat next to him. Even if rumors spread among the peasants that she was an evil woman who spent all her time scheming, she didn’t care.
Liv dreamed of a happy royal life with her beloved Edgar and her future baby.
Unfortunately, his demeanor, which was always pretentious and cold, had not changed much since their marriage. In fact, he had only made her more difficult within the framework of the imperial family.
Between the outbursts of the Empress Dowager, her mother-in-law and her husband who would only stand by and watch, Liv has lived a harsh life, relying only on the baby in her belly.
She thought that she could endure this harsh time with her precious angel.
Was it because of the excessive stress? Or was it the lemon cake she had for lunch that day? Numerous thoughts went through her mind.
Just then, as if to wake her from her pensive state, she heard someone walking towards her from a distance.
Startled by the sound of the footsteps, Duke Dennis jumped up from his seat.
He slowly turned his head to Liv. Her mother-in-law, the Dowager Empress Patricia Del Quantil, stood there in a rich black dress and veil.
The Empress Dowager stared coldly at Liv with less than a bug in her eyes, then said,
“How long do you intend to remain like this, Empress? The position of the Empress of the Emporium Empire is not so laid back, is it?”
With those disappointing words, tears came to Liv’s eyes again. Eventually, Liv said the words angrily.
“This is the Emperor’s and my first baby. How can you be so cold-hearted? It’s also the imperial baby we’ve been waiting for…………”
“More and more, I don’t see any education! How dare you be so brazenly angry in front of me, who is now the emperor’s own mother!”
Liv quickly hung her head at the cold gaze of the Empress Dowager, who looked at her and her father alternately.
“Forgive me if you heard that from me…”
Neither Liv nor her father were sinners here.
Immediately, the Empress Dowager looked around with cold eyes.
“That’s enough for the funeral. What are you bragging about? I told you to bury the baby’s grave. It’s an unlucky baby. Just let it flow into the sea.”
Liv could only stare at those brutal lips with an expression of disgust at the outrageous order.