What Became of the Tyrant After the Pregnant Empress Left - Chapter 179

A brief silence lingered in the room. After mulling over Runellia’s words for a while, Ysaris let out a short sigh and said.

“When you’re so blatantly trying to tear relationships apart, you hardly expect me to believe the past you’ll reveal.”

Had she dressed up her purpose with something more plausible, it might have been different, but in this situation, she couldn’t trust the Imperial Consort’s words. Rather, she needed to be suspicious of the opposite of whatever she said.

“If you had at least pretended we were friends, I might have been inclined to listen…”

“What a horrible thing to say! The idea of Your Majesty and I being close is repulsive even to imagine. Why should I suffer for simply trying to show you the truth out of goodwill?”

Ysaris was struck speechless by such clear hostility. It was frustrating not knowing what had happened between them in the past to make her so disgusted.

“If you dislike me that much, you shouldn’t try to reveal the past information I want either.”

“Don’t you think I’m trying to tell you precisely because I despise Your Majesty that much? You’ll surely suffer when you learn the whole truth!”

While her tone seemed mocking, her volume actually decreased. It showed that the Imperial Consort wasn’t someone who acted without precautions.

That’s exactly why Ysaris couldn’t trust her more. In fact, she wasn’t even sure if digging up the past this way was right.

Of course, Ysaris wanted to know the hidden past too. That’s why she was momentarily tempted by the Imperial Consort’s words, and even now was constantly trying to discern the truth.
But she wanted Kazhan to tell her everything himself. That way…

“…Hah.”

Ysaris covered her troubled face with one hand. She felt breathless, unable to believe her own thoughts just now.

Waiting for Kazhan’s sincere confession and repentance? Wanting to live happily with him again?

What more could she trust when trust was already broken? Even limiting information from her, and not entrusting her with Empress duties might be ways of deceiving her.
He was a man who had said it would be better to live with her eyes and ears covered rather than knowing all of the past. Thinking of that, one thing among the Imperial Consort’s nonsense must be true.

Learning the whole truth would create an irreparable crack in her relationship with Kazhan.

That was precisely what aligned with Runellia’s goal.

“…But I still can’t trust you. Even if some of the past you reveal is true, it’s obvious you’ll exaggerate or add lies to achieve your goal of breaking up our relationship.”

It would have been nice if there were someone who could tell which of Runellia’s words were true or false, but Ysaris had no one she could truly trust in Uzephia. In this extreme place where people were either completely Kazhan’s or had turned their backs on him, Mikael was the only one she could hold onto.

“You’re quite suspicious. Without me, you’d hardly be able to grasp even a thread of the past. I guess it’s not as urgent as I thought?”

Ysaris couldn’t refute Runellia’s sarcastic words. It might be foolish to reject the Imperial Consort’s offer when, let alone Kazhan himself revealing everything as she unconsciously hoped, the day might never come when she’d hear it through others.

Yet she was afraid to listen to the past the Imperial Consort would reveal. It was too sudden, and she wasn’t mentally prepared.

Opening a long-buried box through someone else’s interference. Breaking the peace that had somehow been maintained despite its fragility. Being swept up in a past that might contain who knows what additional lies.

As Ysaris conflicted and hesitated to speak, Runellia, who had been watching her intently, raised the corner of her mouth.

“Well, I expected this, so it doesn’t matter. I never planned to tell the long story with my own mouth anyway.”

“What does that mean?”

When Ysaris asked with furrowed brows, Runellia pulled out something like a small bead from between her ample b*****s. Ysaris’s face subtly twisted at this storage method that seemed unimaginable for an Imperial Consort.

How vulgar.

Reading that look in her eyes, Runellia spoke in an irritated voice.

“Do you think I want to hide it here? I have to bring it somehow, but what else can I do when there’s no proper way to keep it hidden from others’ eyes?”

“What is it that makes you do this?”