Chapter 70 - HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?

Patrizia visited the Central Palace first. Lucio made a pained expression at the news that she was dropping by, as he pretty much knew the reason for her visit. It was unlikely that the news would not have entered her ear. Unless the Empress was deaf. No, even if she was deaf.

“Her Majesty has arrived.”

“… Escort her in.”

Patrizia quietly stepped into the room where he was. She was still, but Lucio knew. How calm the sea was before the storm. He closed his eyes, and then opened his eyes. A mistake he made in the past caught hold of his ankle in this way. But was it a mistake? Lucio thought about it. No, this was just his own mistake. It was not a mistake in name only.

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes, Empress.”

“There was an insistence to formally bring in a concubine. From the Duke of Efreni, at that.”

“Yes.”

“No, more than that.”

Patrizia let out a bitter laugh.

“That I am infertile.”

“… It is just a claim for a test, Empress.”

“Lady Efreni is not a fool.”

Patrizia finally became angry, and approached him.

“Please tell me, Your Majesty. There is something I do not know. Right? Is that so?”

“… Empress.”

“Am I infertile?”

“…”

“How… How would you know!”

Patrizia asked with a trembling voice.

“How do you know? I have never had such a test… Ah!”

Patrizia instantly recalled the screening of that day. It was part of the third task of the Queeness competition…

“Physical examination.”

Patrizia muttered with an expression showing all was in vain, as if she finally knew now. Lucio closed his eyes with a miserable look on his face.

“Ha, ha ha ha!”

Patrizia laughed like a crazy person. That was why, that was why these people, to her…!

“So, that was why, Your Majesty? That was why!”

Patrizia both cried and shouted.

“So that was why it was me! You made a body that could not even bear a child as the Empress.”

“…”

He couldn’t say anything. All of her words were true. Patrizia was extremely shocked as she took Lucio’s silence as acquiescence. She muttered without her knowledge.

“You…”

“…”

“How could you do this to me…”

It was much too cliché of a line, but nothing was better suited for that very moment. Patrizia cried. With a bizarre look on her face.

“How can you be so cruel to me…”

He ruined a person’s life, and someone who loved that person came back to the past, and all he did was repeat the same pain and unhappiness. Patrizia was unable to forgive this man, the man that was in front of her. Patrizia thought it was just impossible, and then spoke to him.

“I hate myself for having even the slightest bit of compassion for you.”

“… Empress.”

“Do not call out to me.”

Patrizia spoke in a voice full of hate.

“Do not place me in that dirty mouth.”

“…”

“I hate you, and hate myself. I want to kill Rosemond, that woman.”

For the first time, Patrizia showed all of her heart in front of Lucio. That was the amount of shock that was proportional to the impact that Patrizia had received. Patrizia cried out to him in a voice filled with sorrow.

“What makes you different from Alyssa?”

“…”

“You are no different from Alyssa for me. You dropped my life into the abyss, why…”

“…”

“Why do you not say anything? If you have anything to say, say it. Say sorry, that you were wrong, if you have a mouth say it!”

“… I… Do you think I have the right to do that.”

“… So you do know then.”

Patrizia shed tears and uttered her last words of resentment to him.

“You are truly the worst.”

“… .”

“As much as the amount of suffering you gave to me, no, I will pray that you will receive that in double the amount.”

Patrizia left these words, turned around, and left the room. BANG. The door closed tightly, and Lucio who was left alone, slumped down to the floor. Kneeling towards the woman that could not be seen, he quietly wept.

“Greetings to Your Majesty, the Empress.”

Patrizia saw Rosemond again after a week had passed since she was recognized as the Emperor’s official concubine, and received the title of Marchioness Ethyller, as the daughter of the Duke of Efreni. The Lady Vashi had laid down her title as a Queeness, and left to another country to get married, so the only one left that could take the position was Rosemond. So, there was no choice in the first place. Patrizia looked at Rosemond, the Marchioness of Ethyller, greeting her, thinking that none of it mattered.

“Yes, your face looks good. His Majesty must visit you often these days?”

“…”

It was known to almost everyone that Lucio was no longer visiting Vain Palace after that day’s events. Rosemond, who had to know of this fact, grinded her teeth, but soon responded.

“Your Majesty also looks good these days.”

“Myself, you mean.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Patrizia responded with a cold smile to Rosemond’s meaningless greeting. Patrizia did not show a response to anything after the encounter with Lucio, and she gave him the ultimatum, “If you want to bring in a concubine even if it means diminishing my dignity, then do as you please.” She did not test for her infertility, and did not challenge the issue at the time of the council’s voting.

Patrizia acted as if she had lost all of her life’s motivation for a while. She obviously looked at the documents for the Inner Palace, read books, and took walks as usual, but the people around her felt that she became more empty than before. This was a distinct change that even Petronilla felt.

“Thanks to you, I am having a ve-ry comfortable day.”

Patrizia said with sarcasm, but Rosemond was unfazed and replied.

“I am also having a comfortable day due to earning the favor of His Majesty.”

“That is quite a relief.”

Patrizia smiled brightly as she replied, and slowly brought up another topic.

“But the story I heard does not seem like that.”

“Yes? What does that mean…”

“I am talking about your birth parents.”

Patrizia changed the subject casually.

“I heard some terrible news yesterday. Well, they said that Baron Darrow’s estate was all burned down by a massive fire.”

“…”

“Of course, right now your parents are the Duke and Duchess of Efreni… Anyways, they are still the birth parents who gave birth and raised you. I heard that all even your birth parents all burned to death from the turmoil of that time.”

“….”

“Unfortunately, that is what I heard happened.”

“Yes. It really is a pity. In addition to that, the family of Viscount Per that your older brother married into also went bankrupt during this time? If one possessed pride as a noble, it would be a difficult shame to bear…”

Patrizia said this, and passed by Rosemond. Before passing her completely, Patrizia whispered into Rosemond’s ear.

“To kill your own blood, how far are you planning to go, Rosemond? I guess you are not afraid of divine retribution from the Heavens.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Your Majesty.”

Rosemond whispered with a smile into Patrizia’s ear.

“For me, my only relatives are the Duke and Duchess of Efreni and their children.”

“… Sure. If that is what you wish for.”

Patrizia left only those words and stepped away, as she felt Rosemond shooting daggers at the back. She smirked, and muttered strange words.

“If so, maybe I should dare to become the Heavens?”

“You returned, Empress Majesty.”

As soon as Patrizia entered the Empress Palace, Mirya politely greeted her, and Patrizia smiled nonchalantly as she sat at her desk and turned over the documents. Soon after, she asked Mirya.

“Petronilla is late. What is going on?”

“The Lady said there was something going on in the market today. She asked me to deliver the message that she might be a little late.”

“Oh dear. I seem to be pestering her too much.”

She felt bad. Mirya felt a bit creeped out by Patrizia who was laughing and muttering to herself today. She had never had this feeling before. Even when she came back alive from the threshold of death during the hunting competition, this feeling…

“Mirya.”

At that time, the voice of Patrizia brough Mirya out of her thoughts. She replied quickly.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Do you know sterin by any chance?”

“Sterin?”

Mirya shook her head in response to Patrizia’s question. She had never heard of this word before. She then asked.

“What is that?”

“A very… good scent. It is said that to be called by another name in a country in the East… Anyways, the scent is so fragrant that it is used to light incense a lot in the East.”

“Incense?”

“It is similar to perfume. It is said that when you light incense, it leaves a nice scent as it gets on your body.”

Patrizia laughed in an enchanting manner.

“I was indifferent. It is sure something to congratulate the new daughter of a Duke. And now to receive a Marchioness title on top of that. It is not the way to stay still.”

“Yes…?”

For a moment, Mirya was puzzled by her attitude that was different from usual, and Patrizia smiled and gestured to Mirya. Mirya got close to Patrizia, and Patrizia took something from the shelf and handed it to Mirya. It was a small box. Mirya asked with a puzzled look.

“This… What is it, Your Majesty.”

“In the West, the concept of incense burners is unfamiliar and not used well. Instead, I made it into a perfume, so please take it over to Vain Palace.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

Mirya left the room after neatly receiving the box from Patrizia. A faint smile rose to Patrizia’s mouth as she stared at Mirya’s back, and it soon disappeared. After a while, she sat back at her desk as if nothing had happened, and began to focus on her work again.