If You Dare to Violate the Saintess - Chapter 11

After the imperial wedding, a grand reception was held. Lucian sat at the head table, draining one glass of champagne after another.

Beside him, Rosalyn sat shyly beside him, barely wetting her lips with champagne as her thoughts drifted to the wedding night ahead.

“Congratulations on your marriage.”

Several nobles approached the head table in a steady procession to offer their felicitations. Each time, Lucian acknowledged them with an indifferent nod.

“Your Majesty the Emperor, Your Majesty the Empress, congratulations on your union. I am an envoy from the Kingdom of Bellotien. This is a wedding gift sent by His Highness^[1] our King.”

At the envoy’s signal, an attendant brought forward a large chest. True to the wealth of the Bellotien royal house, it brimmed with gold and jewels. Lucian did not spare it a glance.

“Thank you. Please convey my gratitude to Father and Mother^[2].”

Rosalyn spoke, and the envoy bowed and withdrew.

“Head Chamberlain, have the gift sent to the Empress’s Palace. It came from Bellotien, therefore it is only fitting that the Empress make use of it.”

At that, Rosalyn smiled. The gesture struck her as rather generous.

In truth, the occasion had her nerves wound tight. In just a few hours, she would share the wedding night with him.

She had already learned in careful detail from her mother and her ladies-in-waiting what would happen that night.

‘Tonight, I will become a true woman.’

For Rosalyn, anticipation far outweighed fear. Seen up close again, Lucian was even more handsome and powerfully built than she remembered.

It was her first night, receiving him might be overwhelming. But the mere fact that she would be held by this man set her heart racing.

“Your Majesty the Empress, it is time for you to depart for the Empress’s Palace.”

The order of ceremonies for the imperial wedding was fixed. According to Orbien imperial tradition, the bride was to remain at the reception only briefly before excusing herself to the Empress’s Palace. There, she would cleanse herself and await the Emperor, who would arrive around midnight.

“Very well.”

Rosalyn rose from her seat, turned to face the Empress Dowager Isadora and then Lucian, and offered a graceful bow.

“I shall take my leave now.”

Lucian merely nodded, without a word. Isadora regarded the new Empress with warm eyes. Rosalyn was escorted from the banquet hall by her head lady-in-waiting, Anna.

“Your Majesty, a carriage awaits at the rear entrance.”

“Good.”

The title of Empress still felt unfamiliar, but she told herself it would feel natural soon enough.

Rosalyn was determined to give Lucian a strong, healthy son and solidify her position. Of course, the dream of a sweet honeymoon weighed just as heavily on her heart.

“Please watch your step.”

Anna was a lady-in-waiting who had accompanied Rosalyn from the Kingdom of Bellotien. She had looked after her since childhood.

“You were truly magnificent today. If only His Highness the King and Her Highness the Queen could have seen you, imagine how delighted they would have been.”

Rosalyn smiled.

It would scarcely be an exaggeration to say she had been raised for the sole purpose of becoming Lucian’s Empress. Although it nagged at her that she had not managed to properly resolve the matter of the Saintess beforehand, the imperial wedding had concluded without incident, and that brought some measure of relief.

“What time is it?”

“It is still eight o’clock.”

Four hours remained before Lucian would come. But there was no time to catch her breath.

“So this must be the Empress’s Palace.”

The carriage stopped, and an attendant opened the door. Anna alighted first and offered her hand to Rosalyn. Before the Empress’s Palace, attendants and ladies-in-waiting stood in neat rows.

“We greet Her Majesty the Empress.”

They bowed in unison. Rosalyn acknowledged them with a look of quiet satisfaction. Only now did the reality of having become Empress of the Orbien Empire truly begin to sink in.

“Your Majesty, I am Nancy, one of the young maids. A bath has been prepared for you in the bedchamber.”

Rosaline felt exhaustion wash over her, having been rushing about since dawn in preparation for the imperial wedding.

“Let us go.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Translation Notes

^[1] ↩

The envoy uses 국왕 전하, the formal address for a sovereign king. 전하 (Your/His Highness) is the standard honorific for royalty below imperial rank in this setting, distinguishing Bellotiens king from Orbiens emperor (폐하, Your Majesty).

^[2] ↩

“Father and Mother” — Rosalyn uses 아바마마 and 어마마마, archaic Korean court terms used exclusively by princes and princesses when referring to their royal parents. The register is far more elevated than ordinary “father/mother” and signals her upbringing as a princess of the blood. English has no precise equivalent.