***
***
That night, Liv was lying in bed, putting Theodore to sleep. The slender hand was patting Theodore…
That night, Liv had Theodore lying on her bed. A frail hand would try to put Theodore to sleep.
She was tapping him lightly, but her mind was somewhere else.
‘Has the Duke ever looked at me like that, even once, before? Something different than before I regressed …’
Liv kept her eyes on Theodore and recalled the past. In the past, she knew that the reason Edgar had approached her was simply because of the power of her family.
But in a corner of her mind, she believed that Edgar had chosen her for other reasons as well.
Even though the nobles and the people called her “the most evil woman of all time,” she did everything in her power to help him bring down all those who interfered with him. Finally, she stood next to him as he became emperor.
However, as soon as Edgar became emperor, he treated her coldly, as if she was a stranger.
The attacks made her life in the imperial palace exhausting.
Still, she was happy. She kept the foolish idea that she was the only one who could stay by his side…
However, the only Princess of the Delta Kingdom, Brianne de Helle, was a completely different charmer than Liv.
Unlike Liv, who carried the weight of the empire as Empress, Brianne, whose imperial residence was private, only reigned over etiquette.
“The Emperor said he would come to my bedroom today as well. Send a message to see if there are any tasteless desserts waiting for you.” (Brianne)
Liv visited the Empress Dowager and Edgar to punish the rude Princess, but the response she received was always the same:
“The Empress must be patient. The current Princess is the one who is increasing the Emperor’s authority. She is from a different level of royalty than the Empress, who is considered a wicked woman.”
”Empress, I wonder how long you will be driven by jealousy towards the Princess. That’s unbecoming behavior. If you talk like this again, I won’t be able to stand by your side any longer.”
It was her husband who had never been on her side even once. Edgar, the man who looked at her sadly as if she had hurt him…
For a moment, Liv’s heart began to ache as if it were tearing because of the wounds that had yet to heal.
“Ugh!”
Liv covered her mouth as she grabbed her chest. She tried not to wake up the child who was sleeping soundly next to her.
But as she struggled with her pain, Theodore woke up at the faint groan.
The child sat up. Then, blinking his large eyes, he asked.
“Mother, are you hurt ………?”
Liv finally untangled her furrowed brow and ruffled Theodore’s hair.
‘’Prince, I woke you up…..”
“Mother, does it hurt here?”
Theodore reached out his hand toward Liv, who was covered with sweat. As the plump little hand was placed on her chest, a strange thing happened. She felt strange as if her pain was going away.
Wonder began to circulate in Liv’s eyes.
‘Does this make sense?’
Theodore opened his eyes wide as he poured energy into his hands. Then he closed his eyes and prayed.
“Please make my mother better.”
The child’s pupils turned from blue to purple. Liv’s mouth automatically opened at the strange sight.
“Purple eyes….”
These were the purple pupils of the Prince that had been the subject of so many rumors. It was also the decisive reason why the Prince was locked in the tower.
The moment when Liv was surprised by the mysterious situation, the earlier sharp pain subsided tremendously.
Soon, Theodore opened his eyes.
“Mother, how are you?”
Liv’s mouth finally opened in a panic and she smiled.
“I’m all better thanks to the Prince. Huh, what just happened….”
”Mother can’t be sick.”
Theodore smiled and hugged Liv. Liv’s body froze at the sight of such a child.
‘What’s happened…’
Liv managed to raise her hand and stroked the child’s head. And Theodore fell asleep again.
‘Could it be that the Prince really does have strange powers?’
She stroked the child’s hair all night, her head a jumbled mess, though of course her eyes, hard and round, were still on the child.
Liv couldn’t sleep all night.
***
Warm sunny morning.
The Empress’s palace was bustling with activity from early morning. This was because there was no time to spare in preparing to receive the envoys. Even while Liv had her full light purple dress on, she had to double-check with the maidservants again and again.
“You made the castle clean and tidy, right?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, I have prepared it as you ordered yesterday.”
“Have you also prepared the carriages for the vassals to ride in front of the grand banquet hall?”
“Yes, even the seats for the banquet were neatly arranged.”
“People in the Delta Kingdom are sensitive to the sense of smell, so prepare with more care than usual for scents.”
The maids swept Liv’s ivory colored hair up and placed the crown on top of it.
In the meantime, Liv recalled their culture, which she was exposed to before her regression, and renewed her resolve. She vowed to raise the status of Emporium in front of them and lead to favorable negotiations.
Shortly after, Jane approached and delivered a message from Count Duncan von Baxter.
“Your Majesty, the envoys that disembarked at the port have just entered Luperca. They’ll be entering the Imperial Palace in about an hour.”
“Okay.”
Liv stood in front of a mirror to check her appearance, then hurried out and boarded a carriage waiting in front of the palace, which took her to the Grand Conference Hall without delay.
The conference hall was situated on the highest point of the Palatni Hill, past the triumphal arch that supported the rainbow shaped piers, and the big thick golden roof.
As she entered the grand conference hall, Carius, sitting in the upper seat, entered her vision.
He was seated in a neat, wrinkle-free black uniform with a fluttering red cape and a golden insignia. Liv hurried over and sat down next to him.
Looking around, she saw the nobles and Edgar, in his clean white uniform, lined up in a row, waiting for the envoys.
At that moment, the cheerful voice of an aide was heard.
“The envoys, enter!”
Soon, the door decorated with golden eagles opened, and the procession followed endlessly into the hall.
The delegation stood among the knights holding the red flag high. They stood in front of Carius and politely bowed to him.
One of them relayed a message from the Delta King through Carius’ aide.
“The message came from the King, who wished to further deepen the relationship between the two countries through this agreement. Your Majesty!”
Carius opened the crisp, folded parchment document and carefully examined it with his eyes. Soon his commanding voice echoed through the hall.
“Say thank you to the King, keep in mind that the alliance between the two countries is up to him.”
It was at that moment when Carius was overwhelming the envoys with his stern gaze.
One of the envoys raised his head and shouted loudly.
“Your Majesty, I didn’t put it on the list of envoys, but an important person is here with us. Will it be okay if I introduce her?”
At the sudden words of the envoy, Carius looked at him suspiciously. The nobles all began to speak in hushed tones, their eyes busily moving from one to the other.
“Go ahead.”
A veiled woman walked through the open door at Carius’s order, the sound of her shoes rang through the hall.
White gloves and a white-feathered fan in her hand. A light blue velvet dress of fine fabric with a sleek sapphire tunic. He had an elegant appearance.
As soon as she appeared, Liv’s eyes grew larger.
‘No way.’
The woman standing in front of them slowly took off her veil, revealing her face.
White skin, golden irises and her eyes were slightly raised like a cat’s. Her rich brown wavy hair hung long on one side of her face.
She was like a perfect goddess herself that came out of a painting. She gently lifted her rich lashes towards Carius.
“Your Majesty, I am pleased to greet you. I am Brianne de Helle, Princess of the Delta Kingdom.”
She was the Princess of the Delta Kingdom, an old rival and nemesis of Liv, Brianne de Helle.
When she met her again, Liv closed her eyes.
It was another first time meeting in the same place like the past. It was nothing but raw pain for Liv. Carius got up from his seat and went down, his red cape fluttering. Then he kissed the back of Brianne’s hand.
Brianne seemed to be carefully looking at Carius’s face. Carius looked up and faced her, and Brianne smiled brighter than before.
“Iam honored, Your Majesty.”
He stared at Brianne with suspicious eyes.
“What brings you here, Princess?”
Brianne replied slowly with a smile.
“It’s an important negotiation, so the King sent me.”
Carius raised his eyebrows suspiciously and then quickly straightened his expression.
“I hope it will be of great help to the negotiation between the two countries as the Princess has come a long way.”
When Carius turned around, the fan in Brianne’s hand suddenly dropped. And Carius involuntarily lifted it and handed it to her.
With a smile on her lips, Brianne kissed Carius briefly on the cheek. She opened her cherry-red lips and whispered secretly.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Liv stood up from her seat, startled by the sight. She wondered if it was because of the memory of that day that came to her mind at that moment.
The moment when she had to capture the pain in her eyes unfamiliarly as if her heart was ripped and torn. It was a moment when she had to swallow her tears, unable to cry aloud.
The nightmare of that day was happening again.