For My Birthday, I Was Gifted Five Husbands - Chapter 179

Along with the title ‘the Empire’s first polygamous woman’, Eugenie had somehow picked up yet another completely unexpected distinction.

‘A warrant? One’s been issued for me?’

She wasn’t arrogant enough to claim she was a saint who could live without laws. But she had always prided herself on staying, at the very least, within legal boundaries. Had she done something without even realizing it?

‘Ah—wait!’

A sudden thought made Eugenie’s eyes widen.

“Peter? Did Peter finally turn up dead in the river?”

“Peter…? No. A warrant was issued for the Livingston family, and you were listed as a person of interest.”

“…What?”

She had been certain it was because her former fiancé’s body had been found somewhere. But now she understood.

“Ah. Because of Carter—the Livingston family.”

“Exactly.”

Alokes smiled faintly.

“When a crown prince already exists, meddling with imperial succession is a forbidden line. And when it’s done by a family that’s managed the temple for generations, the fallout is even worse.”

“Haaah…”

“Even if they had the Emperor’s permission to raise an illegitimate child, doing so behind the Empress’s back—especially one who bore the Crown Prince—gives them plenty of charges to work with.”

With Tristan effectively incapacitated, Sylvea had every reason to cut down any potential threat to the throne. Alokes recalled the words Richard Livingston had used while conditioning Carter.

‘He wanted to restore the old era—when the imperial family and the temple ruled together.’

If that had succeeded, imperial authority would have returned to a level far stronger than anything seen in the present age.

An era when the Emperor’s word was indistinguishable from the word of god.

The Schroder family, who monopolized magic stones, and anyone who even slightly displeased the Emperor would be branded heretics and burned alive. It would have been the birth of a tyrant—one who merely wore Arturian’s name.

…Alokes did not bother mentioning that he was the one who had informed Sylvea of all this. While Eugenie Norton’s ‘husbands’ and the Empress locked horns, his true goal had always been to reach Eugenie herself.

He tilted his head as he watched the woman biting down on her lower lip.

“Given Sylvea’s temperament, once she’s caught something like this, she’ll try to purge the temple for treason.”

“……”

“If you—Carter Livingston’s wife—are summoned even as a witness, it’ll weigh heavily on the succession.”

With Eugenie Norton’s power, it might be possible to overturn the situation through magic. But the risks afterward were far too great to choose that option lightly.

Meanwhile, Eugenie was silently but fiercely sorting through her thoughts.

‘Let’s figure out what actually matters first.’

There were too many urgent problems crowding her mind.

The tightening net of Empress Sylvea.

Carter and the Livingston family, who had tried to send her to the temple.

The secrets Alokes still hadn’t shown her, about Carter and Napier.

Her personal revenge against the Empress.

And yet, Eugenie pulled out something far more important than all of that.

“First, I need to contact the people in the Troys territory.”

If she vanished without warning from the Ducal castle, what would her ‘husbands’ think?

Unconventional as their situation was, they were still her family. If something was wrong with her whereabouts, they were the first ones who needed to know.

And lastly, Carter and Napier had been on the verge of fighting. Were they all right?

“I’ll teleport to Troys myself—”

“Can you do that with your current strength?”

“…Tch. Y-you—”

“For the record, my power isn’t enough for that kind of magic either.”

Alokes shrugged, then lifted his wrist—the one marked with the magic symbol.

“And even if you leave marks like this on me… Sylvea’s orders still take priority. If she demands I come to her side immediately, I’ll have no choice but to go.”

“Haa…”

Eugenie bit her lip at the painfully direct point.

Troys lay at the Empire’s northernmost edge. With her still-unstable control over magic, could she really make it there safely?

‘And if I do go… I’ll probably end up having frantic s*x with one of my husbands again.’

After everything she’d learned about Carter and Napier, that option felt unexpectedly repulsive. It was something she did out of necessity, because of her constitution. But suddenly it felt shameful, like something indecent.

‘…Mom. So this is why you couldn’t do it.’