Chapter 230 - Chapter 115 (2) - Instead of Being the Empress, I Will Become the Dowager Empress

[Side Story: The Seventh Episode]

“You must have already heard from your Father, my Lady, but please stay out of sight as much as possible tomorrow. Our side must not be harmed in any way during the process of usurping the Imperial throne.”

“Of course, Lady Lorraine. By the way, naturally, my Lady will be taking part in the party tomorrow, right?”

“…No. I will be at the residence of the Duke.”

“Oh my, why is that?”

-…Why do you think?- Lorraine sneered silently. It was to avoid an unforeseen casualty, such as her own death! But if she said that without any filter, she was not sure what would happen, so Lorraine settled for making up a decent excuse, “Because I am feeling so sick from yesterday. The meeting with Lady Philomina today was something I barely managed to attend.”

“Oh my goodness!” Philomina asked, kicking up a fuss, “Are you alright, Lady Lorraine?”

“Yes. I am fine. I have overdone it a little by pushing myself too much the past few days, so I am thinking I just caught a light case of body aches.” The truth was that she was more than fine. Lorraine began putting an end to the conversation, “Shall we take our leave now? The physician told me to make sure that I do not overdo it.”

—–

Lorraine did not attend the banquet the next day, as she had planned. And as scheduled, she received a letter from her father later in the afternoon, stating that he had taken control of the Imperial Palace safely.

“Finally!”

“Congratulations, Lady Lorraine.”

The household was in a festive mood. Since it had been previously discussed with the Grand Duke regarding the successor to the throne, he had promised to accept the Duke of Witherford’s daughter as the Empress, and so it was obvious that she would soon be wearing the crown of the Empress.

“My daughter!” Late that night, Duke Witherford returned to his residence. It seemed that it had taken some time to take care of the situation and process things accordingly.

Lorraine greeted him with a bright smile, “Congratulations, Father. You have finally accomplished your wish.”

“This is just the beginning.”

With a strange smile, the Duke of Witherford asked the maid for two cups of tea, and the two chatted over the rosemary tea brought over by the maid.

“What will happen in the future?”

“It will go according to the official way. The dethroned Emperor will soon be put to death, and Grand Duke Calinicos will sit on the Imperial throne.”

“…”

“The nobles who supported the Emperor will also be purged on a massive scale… When all of that is done, you become the Empress. What do you think? It is quite simple right?”

“Indeed, it seems so,” Lorraine answered as she drew a small smile.

The Duke of Witherford spoke to her with a pleased expression,

“You have nothing to worry about, Lo. All you need to do is just wait for me to bring over the crown of the Empress to you. How simple is that?”

“I want to help with anything that I can, though.”

“What you did thus far is already enough. You even worked as a maid in the Empress Palace for that dethroned Empress, did you not?”

As the Duke of Witherford burst into a fit of laughter, Lorraine asked, “How was the end of the dethroned Emperor?”

To his adopted daughter’s question, the Duke of Witherford paused for a moment before he proceeded to reply in a casual manner, “He might have already been predicting his fate, or as the rumors say, he has completely lost his will to live after the dethroned Empress was executed.”

“…”

“He acquiesced and handed over the throne to me. We were actually taken aback because it was much easier than we had predicted.”

“That is not fun at all.”

“Oh, my word, Lo. Thinking about having fun when everything is riding on the coup d’etat! Anyway, as long as we achieved victory, is it not better for it to have been so easy to win and take the throne?”

“That is correct,” Lorraine agreed.

“Were you hoping for something huge to happen?”

“I did not expect the dethroned Emperor to give up so easily. I thought he would fight back, at least somewhat.”

“That was an unexpected development for us, too. At the end of it, he smiled as if he had given up on everything. We were all surprised.”

“I guess he really has lost his senses,” Lorraine murmured, and ended the conversation in a dry voice, “Let us stop talking about this, Father. What is the point in further discussing the loser’s story?”

“Sure. That would be for the best.” The Duke of Witherford showed a content smile as he stroked Lorraine’s head and told her “Go to sleep early. You will get very busy starting tomorrow.”

—–

It was a life that had been unfortunate from the beginning, and one that now seemed to just start to get better.

-If we had been with a child a little earlier, would everything have turned out differently?-

In the end, the reason why she had fallen to the abyss to this extent was that there had been no child. If she had been able to give birth to a child early on, there would have been no way that Lucio would have brought in another woman as the Empress in her stead, nor would she who had finally become the Empress be dethroned on the grounds for something so absurd.

-If only I could go back in time… I would become the Empress Dowager and not the Empress.- The love from the Emperor was not permanent. When she grew old and ugly, it was but a fleeting thought. But what about the Empress Dowager? If she had managed to give birth to the Crown Prince, no matter how much the Emperor hated her, he would not be able to throw her away so easily. Why? Because she would be the Queen Mother of the Imperial Prince who would succeed the throne as the next great Emperor!

-If I was to be born again, then surely I would…- Rosemond cherished a hope that could not be fulfilled, and closed her eyes in that way.

—–

“…Mmm,” Rosemond awakened while making a low sound. -Is this heaven? Or is it hell?- Rosemond rose quietly. She had opened her eyes to some kind of room. -Maybe purgatory?-

She was thinking about this when someone opened the door and came in. It was a familiar face. Rosemond muttered with an expression of disbelief, “Your Majesty…?”

“Rose.” It was Lucio. He was looking at her with a gaze overflowing with love.

Rosemond asked while stuttering, “This… How did this happen…”

“How did this happen? Was it not a good time for you last night? That you cannot even remember?”

“What are you talking about…” At that time, Rosemond’s gaze inadvertently landed on herself. She could see that she was completely naked. She asked him with an expression of utter disbelief, “Right now… When is the date?”

“You are asking when is the date for right now?”

“I mean, how long has it been since Your Majesty has been enthroned?”

“To ask something such as that,” He answered her, his look showing that he could not fully comprehend her, “I was crowned six months ago, Rose. You were there at the coronation as well. Have you already forgotten?”

“That cannot be…”

As Rosemond mumbled in a soulless voice, Lucio approached her and sat on the bed. He hugged her rather cold body to warm her up, and asked her tenderly, “Did you sleep well?”

So this meant that she had gone back in time to when only six months had passed since Lucio had ascended to the Imperial throne! -To a time when he had not even brought in an Empress!- Rosemond hugged him tightly, her expression revealing how touched she was. -Surely God must have not abandoned me after all!- Rosemond whispered, “I love you, Your Majesty.”

“I love you too, Rose.”

As Lucio heard the sweet words she was whispering into his ear, Rosemond vowed to herself, -This time, I will surely become the Empress, the Dowager Empress! The tragic ending of my previous life will not happen again!-

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Translated by Haeli

Edited by RED