Chapter 102
“What nonsense is this now? And what is this talk about Aren!”
The Emperor shouted with a hardened expression, as if the whole matter gave him a headache.
“I will hear no more of a madwoman’s ravings. To think you would dare disgrace the imperial family. Guards, remove this creature from my sight at once!”
“Please wait, Your Majesty.”
Just as the attendants moved to drag Grizelle away, Euclid stepped forward. Placing a hand over his chest, he spoke with proper courtesy.
“Lady Willoughby’s words aren’t entirely false. She is the Second Prince’s mistress. She resides in the room next to Aren’s.”
“…Is this true?”
“How could I lie to Your Majesty? You may send an attendant to verify it.”
At Euclid’s words, the Emperor let out a groan. He had thought it would be simple to pass judgment, yet the matter was becoming increasingly tangled.
“Go at once and see whether Aren truly keeps a mistress, and whether it is this woman. And bring the Second Prince as well.”
The Emperor issued the order to the chief attendant. After he left, a heavy silence settled over the audience chamber. Grizelle’s intermittent sobbing only made the atmosphere colder.
“Empress, is it true that Aren has a mistress?”
As Grizelle’s crying grew louder, the Emperor asked in an irritated tone. Cressida shot Grizelle a sharp look, wearing a troubled expression.
“That is…”
“I was told Aren was so unable to forget Sylaria Rainier that he even lost sleep. Yet now a mistress? A prince keeping a mistress without the Emperor’s knowledge?”
“I-I had no idea—”
“But Your Majesty must have known.”
Euclid cut off Cressida’s feeble excuse. Sylaria also supported his point.
“I heard that Your Majesty the Empress personally took in Grizelle Willoughby. That must be why you met, just as shown in the projection stone. Otherwise, how could a mere noble lady meet the exalted Empress?”
“…That is!”
The Empress rose to her feet, her face flushed. Unlike the Emperor, who regularly received audiences, the Empress appeared only at official events.
A noble lady with no ties to the imperial family could only meet her by attending such a function. Yet even that required a personal invitation from the Empress, making it nearly impossible.
The ‘proof’ she had offered to claim innocence had instead trapped her.
“W-We met by coincidence in the palace.”
“That is strange as well. Grizelle Willoughby came as my guest, but as soon as the engagement ceremony ended, I prepared a carriage for her to return. And yet she remained in the palace long enough to meet Her Majesty the Empress? When she’s neither my family nor even a maidservant from my own household?”
At Sylaria’s logical rebuttal, Cressida’s face reddened further. The Emperor’s expression grew grim as he listened.
“Empress, did you take in Aren’s mistress without my permission?”
“That’s not true, Your Majesty. How could I dare!”
“Your Majesty, His Highness the Second Prince has arrived.”
Just as the Empress, flustered, tried to squeeze out another excuse, the doors of the audience chamber opened. The chief attendant entered with Arendtert.
* * *
“…Utterly disgraceful.”
The Emperor let out a hollow laugh. Veins bulged on the back of the hand gripping the armrest of his chair. He glared at his second son standing before him.
Arendtert bowed his head rigidly. While the chief attendant reported the situation in the Second Prince’s palace, he kept his eyes fixed on the floor.
“Worthless fool. A man who hasn’t even married bringing in a mistress first? And you still dare call yourself a prince of the Empire?”
“…My deepest apologies.”
Arendtert murmured faintly. Sylaria watched him face the Emperor’s wrath with a cold gaze.
In her past life, he had been the Emperor’s favored son. He had maintained a model marriage with Sylaria, earning praise even from the Noble Council.
A disgusting man who deceived Sylaria and everyone around him, though all he truly cared about were women.
His true face was now being laid bare.
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