Chapter 217 - I Appoint You the New Empress of the Marvinus Empire

[Side Story: First Episode]

The life of the dead is in the memory of the living.

Rosemond Mary La Phelps was spending her time in a dream-like state these days.

The dethroned Empress Petronilla, her greatest rival in love and political opponent, was executed not too long ago. If the nobles maintained their sanity, they would not dare to bring in a new candidate to become the Empress when Rosemond was already right there. So, unless something unexpected occurred, she would be next in line to become the Empress of the Marvinus Empire.

The coronation to become the Empress was Rosemond’s long, in fact lifelong, aspiration. She had even been caught up in the contemplation of whether all the pain of the past had happened and existed for the happiness to come in the future.

“I wonder when His Majesty is going to make the proclamation on who will become the new Empress? The position of Empress should not be left empty for a long time, and there should probably be an announcement about it soon, right Glara?”

“Of course, Lady Phelps.”

Upon hearing Glara’s answer, Rosemond glared at her with an extremely dissatisfied expression, and corrected the words that had been used to address her, “Glara, should you not have to call me ‘Your Majesty’ by now? If you cannot fix that habit, then your tongue will be of no use to anyone. Would it be better if I just cut it out altogether?”

“So, sorry, La…no I mean, Your Majesty. It is because I am so ignorant… please forgive me,” Glara pleaded in fear, and knelt down to beg for forgiveness for her mistake.

Rosemond felt better right away after that, and with an exceedingly haughty expression made a huffing sound as she pressed on the bridge of her nose, speaking as if she was granting clemency, “Good. In the future, you have to be careful with your words, Glara. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. There will be no doubt about this, as your wish is my command.”

“Alright. As it should be.” Only then was Rosemond satisfied. Fiddling with her nails with a complacent expression, she said to Glara, “It seems I am already missing His Majesty? Shall we go over to the Central Palace for a visit?”

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However, once Rosemond had arrived at the Central Palace, she had to face some unpleasant news.

“You are telling me that I cannot go in; what do you mean by those words?”

“His Majesty has just retired to his chamber and fallen asleep.”

“But it is currently daytime right now.”

“His Majesty said that he was feeling tired today, and would therefore be taking a nap. Lady Phelps, I am sorry, but it was His Majesty’s Imperial Order not to allow anyone to enter his quarters.”

“What?” Rosemond asked the Chief Maid of the Central Palace in an unpleasant voice, as if she was going to argue. This was a situation that was absolutely impossible should not be taking place.

“I will soon become His Majesty’s Empress. And yet, you will not allow someone like myself to enter?”

“Even if that is so, I do not dare to violate an Imperial Order. I am sorry, Lady Phelps.”

“…Agggghh!”

At that time, a familiar sound came from inside of the Emperor’s room. The Chief Maid’s face twisted into a distorted expression, while Rosemond’s expression was the one that brightened. It was time for her to step forward and shine. Rosemond blatantly stared at the Chief Maid, as if egging her on what she would do next, the Chief Maid just looked like she was at a complete loss. Rosemond somehow looked pleased as a result, and reflected that in her voice as she said, “It seems His Majesty is having another nightmare again.”

“…Please go on in.” When something like this happened, the Chief Maid had no choice but to enlist her help. It was unavoidable based on the current circumstances. In this Marvinus Empire, there was only one person who could calm the madness of the Supreme Ruler, and that was Rosemond.

Rosemond walked up to the door with a confident stride and opened it without any hesitation. She walked inside the room only after she had firmly told the Chief Maid not to let anyone else in. She called out to Lucio in a soft voice, “Your Majesty…”

She laughed at the troubled form of Lucio sleeping before her eyes and sauntered gracefully over to him. ‘You probably do not know how happy I am about the fact that I am the only one that knows, the only one that can see this, and am the only one who can fix you.’ Rosemond broke into a bright smile as she took a seat by his bed.

“Ugghh…” He was having a nightmare. He had not awoken as of yet. His face was greatly contorted, as if he was having a truly terrible dream.

Unfortunately, Rosemond did not empathize with any of the pain he was experiencing. No, she could not empathize with what he was going through at all.

“Your Majesty, My Majesty,” Rosemond whispered sweetly, brushing the side of Lucio’s cheek. “What kind of dreams do you have that make you suffer so much like this?”

“Eugh…”

“Are you dreaming of the death of the dethroned Empress Alyssa again? If not that, then…”

“Haaa, Emp…”

“…”

“Empress…”

As she heard the one word of just two syllables from Lucio’s mouth, Rosemond’s smiling face hardened instantly. Lucio had never once called out to Alyssa with the title “Empress Majesty,” when he was having a nightmare. Alyssa had always been ‘Mother’ to him. She concentrated on the voice coming out of his mouth with an expression full of rage.

“Please… Please do not do…”

“Ha!” Rosemond released an empty laugh at the absurdity of the situation. ‘So it is like that, then? You were not dreaming a nightmare about Alyssa, but a dream about Petronilla, then? A dream regarding your dethroned Empress?’

Rosemond continued to glare at Lucio with chilly eyes. Her previously good mood had soured quickly. Why did he have to be dreaming about that woman, of all people?

“I would rather you continue to have nightmares about Alyssa… Why are you dreaming about the woman that you had killed?”

“Haaaaggh!” At that precise moment, Lucio let out a grotesque scream and suddenly opened his eyes.

Rosemond watched Lucio’s behavior, her face drained of emotion, before she soothing him serenely, “Your Majesty, please calm down.”

“…Rose?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” One might have wondered where the coldness from before had gone, as only a brutal smile remained on Rosemond’s face. She whispered in a nonchalant demeanor, “Shh, Your Majesty. You had a bad dream. You can rest assured, now that you know I am next to Your Majesty. It will all be alright.”

“…”

“Was it an immensely bad dream? The complexion on Your Majesty’s face appears very bad.”

“…It was a dream about the dethroned Empress.”

She knew that he was providing an honest answer. Even though she knew this, it did nothing to make her feel better when she heard it straight from his mouth. She barely managed to force herself to prevent her face from exposing her true thoughts as she continued with her question to Lucio, “Oh dear, a dream about the dethroned Empress? What was it about?”

“…Just,” he responded in an ambiguous manner, “it was nothing much.”

“…” -Ah, this response feels even worse. There is a secret he is keeping from me now.- Rosemond hoped there would be no secrets between the two of them. Of course, she was actually hiding more than one or two skeletons in the cupboard from him, but she had hoped that at least he would have nothing to hide from her.

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Translated by Haeli

Edited by RED