If You Dare to Violate the Saintess - Chapter 12

Rosalyn stepped inside. Thanks, perhaps, to the Empress Dowager’s thoughtful arrangements, the newly redecorated palace exuded an elegant, intimate warmth. It felt like the perfect place to spend her newlywed life.

“First, let me help you out of your ceremonial gown.”

Anna, together with Nancy, eased the heavy garment from Rosalyn’s shoulders. Only then could she finally breathe.

“Phew… Wearing that all day. I could never do it twice.”

“Please bathe first, then change into your nightgown and rest. Then His Majesty the Emperor will arrive.”

According to Orbien imperial custom, the bride was to wear nothing but a white nightgown on the wedding night.

But when Rosalyn actually saw it, the thing was little more than a scrap of translucent fabric. Its purpose is made brazenly unmistakable.

“Your Majesty? Come, let us draw your bath first. I’ll attend to you.”

Shaken from her thoughts by Anna’s voice, Rosalyn sank into the tub. Anna began gently scrubbing her fine skin with a soft sponge.

“With skin this lovely, His Majesty will fall for you in no time.”

Rosalyn’s cheeks flushed. In just a few hours, she would become Lucian’s woman. That fact would never change for the rest of her life.

“Without a doubt, I am going to bear His Majesty a strong, healthy son.”

“Indeed you must.”

Rosalyn was a princess who had received a thoroughly conventional bridal education. She believed the finest life consisted of devotedly supporting one’s husband, obeying him, and bearing him many children.

“Your Majesty is young and beautiful, so His Majesty is certain to be captivated in no time.”

Anna’s whispered encouragement made Rosalyn’s heart swell.

But neither she nor Anna had any inkling of the tragedy about to befall them.

* * *

Lucian kept downing champagne, his mind drifting ceaselessly back to Asteria. She must have heard the celebratory cannon fire today. The thought stirred an unexpected turmoil in him.

“Your Majesty, congratulations on forging a marital bond with the Bellotien royal house.”

The continuing stream of congratulatory remarks brought him no joy. The Kingdom of Bellotien was wealthy and a faithful ally, but Rosalyn herself had left no particular impression on him.

“Her Majesty the Empress is beautiful and seems of fine character. It is truly a blessing for the Orbien Empire.”

Lucian could scarcely recall Rosalyn’s face. He vaguely remembered golden hair and blue eyes, but everything else felt veiled behind a haze of fog.

“True beauty is not something like that.”

The words escaped his lips unbidden, words that unmistakably concerned Asteria. Fortunately, no one noticed save Ezra, his closest friend and knight.

It was Asteria who occupied his thoughts. When he recalled her refined elegance and mysterious air, the new Empress felt no more remarkable than a pebble on the roadside.

Mmph…

The memory of coming inside Asteria’s mouth surfaced. The mere thought sent tension flooding through his lower body. That pleasure felt as though it would be unforgettable for a lifetime, as if he had violated the holiest thing in the world. That transgression had awakened an entirely new desire in him.

“Your Majesty, it is midnight.”

The head chamberlain whispered discreetly, but Lucian showed no inclination to rise.

He tossed back another glass and waved the man away. And so the reception carried on until dawn.

* * *

Rosalyn had not been able to sit still since midnight. Yet there was no sign of Lucian. She realized something had gone terribly wrong only when the first light of dawn crept across the sky.

“This… can’t be…”

After such a grand wedding, the sun was rising with the marriage still unconsummated.

She had never imagined such a thing.

“Anna, something is wrong. Find out immediately where His Majesty is—”

“Your Majesty, please compose yourself. The wedding night has not taken place, therefore you cannot be the one to seek the Emperor first.”

Imperial protocol in the Orbien dynasty was ironclad.

Rosalyn bit her lip hard. The moment the sun fully rose, the rumor that they had not consummated their marriage would be laid bare. There would be no saving face as Empress.

“How… how could this have happened?”

At last, Rosalyn broke into tears. But those tears served no purpose at all.