I Am The Villainess With A Maxed-Out Luck Stat - Chapter 137
Only Noblemtl
137. Visiting you is just an excuse, I came to interrogate you.
“Hello, Your Majesty the Empress.”
After breaking up with Seraphine.
I went straight to the palace and requested an audience.
I was worried that I might reject her sudden request, but the Empress readily accepted my audience.
I was guided to the inner chambers of the Empress’s Palace by the maids.
‘They called me straight to the Empress’s quarters, not to the reception room or the audience room.’
Although embarrassed, the Empress, who was clearly ill, seemed to have difficulty moving, let alone receiving a formal audience.
‘So that’s why you called me straight to the room.’
I bowed my head to the Empress who was lying in her sickbed.
“It’s been a while. I should have come to see you sooner, and I’m sorry I couldn’t.”
“Thank you for coming. The necklace you gave me is also very beautiful.”
The empress barely turned her head towards me. A faint smile spread across her lips.
“I am ashamed to present such a worthless thing to Your Majesty.”
I couldn’t come empty-handed, so I brought a magic stone necklace as a tribute.
The Empress gladly accepted my gift.
“So, what brings you here? You’re not here just to present the necklace, are you?”
“With all due respect, Your Majesty, I have requested an audience because I have something to ask you.”
“I like that you’re honest. What do you want to ask me?”
“That is… … .”
“Talk to me comfortably.”
“I would like to know about the fire incident that occurred a long time ago involving the Blaine family.”
Then, the smile disappeared from the Empress’s lips, which had been smiling the whole time.
‘Did I ask too directly?’
It would have been nice to lighten the mood by chatting with the Empress, but there was no way to know when her health would deteriorate.
I didn’t have the luxury of wasting time.
“I never thought that incident would be mentioned by the princess. How surprising.”
The empress dismissed her maids and servants with a wink.
It’s already been more than ten years.
No one in high society talked about it, and I would never have known about it if I hadn’t heard it from Seraphine.
“Yes, the princess may have become close friends with Countess Blaine, so she may be curious about things that happened long ago.”
“How do you… … .”
I heard he was pushed out of central politics and was bedridden for a while.
Are you saying that you know everything about my personal relationships?
“It is when I cannot move myself that the eyes and ears planted outside shine.”
The empress smiled gently.
After a moment of thought, she brought up an old story.
“What happened that day was a terrible tragedy. It was an accident that happened in a small orphanage, but it sent shockwaves throughout the empire.”
How many casualties were there due to the fire? The fire spread not only to the daycare center but also to nearby buildings.
There were suspicions that someone had set the fire intentionally, but it was ultimately concluded that it was an accident of unknown cause.
“Still, there were quite a few victims, so we have no choice but to hold Viscount Blaine strictly responsible.”
“I heard that among the children caught in the fire was a child of noble birth. Who is that child?”
“That’s difficult to say.”
“Why?”
“It is cruel to bring up the pain that has barely sunk below the surface.”
The empress spoke to him in a loving and soothing tone, but he still could not be convinced.
“Maybe it’s because the child is the Emperor’s illegitimate child?”
“… … !”
The air in the room turned cold at my question.
I was suspecting that the child of the noble family who was caught in the fire might not be Cayenne.
He was almost killed by the empress as soon as he was born, but survived for some reason.
There were several years of hiatus before he was experimented on in a laboratory.
I wonder if he was left at a daycare center and then got caught in a fire.
‘It was reported that he died in the fire, but in fact he did not die.’
It may be just speculation, but since the timing and location were somewhat similar, I couldn’t help but suspect it.
“I understand why the princess came to see me.”
At that moment, a bright light appeared in the Empress’s eyes, which had been dull and lifeless.
“If I had brought up such a thing in front of Your Majesty or Lady Shiloh, I would have lost my life.”
“Your Majesty the Empress… … .”
“Let’s pretend we didn’t hear that. It would be best not to bring up this kind of topic again.”
The moment she turned her back coldly, a system window appeared above her head.
【SYSTEM: You can check some of the ‘Empress’s Faded Memories’.】
[☞Go check it out now☜]
* * *
Roselia looked around calmly.
‘This time it’s the palace again.’
To be exact, it was an office in the emperor’s palace.
Just then, the palace physician knocked on the door of the office, and the emperor immediately invited the palace physician in.
“How about Lady Shiloh?”
“She has regained consciousness, but her fever has not gone down. It seems that being incarcerated right after giving birth has taken a toll on her health.”
The emperor’s complexion darkened.
Judging from their conversation, this memory seemed to have occurred shortly after Shiloh gave birth.
“Okay, I understand. I’ll do my best to take care of it, and if anything goes wrong, report it immediately.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The emperor summoned his courtiers and summoned his adjutants.
“Did you call, Your Majesty?”
“Sir Albert. I have an urgent favor to ask of you alone.”
The emperor lowered his voice.
“Give the order, Your Majesty.”
The adjutant bowed with a solemn expression.
“Send someone immediately to find the child.”
“Yes, yes? Your Majesty, what on earth do you mean… … .”
Adjutant Albert asked back with a shocked face.
“The child might still be alive. Jim didn’t even check the body himself.”
“I am afraid, Your Majesty. The baby has already passed away… … .”
“I don’t want to hear it!”
The emperor roared with a roar like a wall.
“your majesty.”
The adjutant tried to persuade the emperor in a desperate voice.
When the Empress thrust forth the paternity certificate, claiming that Shiloh’s child was not of the Emperor’s blood.
The indignant emperor ordered Shiloh to be imprisoned immediately and the child banished from the palace.
However, soon someone raised doubts about the paternity certificate, and the temple also confessed that they had falsified the paternity certificate under pressure from the empress.
The emperor, who was in despair, ordered the child to be brought back, but instead of the child, only tattered clothes and a corpse remained.
So there was no chance that the child could be alive, the adjutant said, but then stopped talking as he tried to convince the emperor.
The Emperor’s hands were trembling anxiously. His eyes were bloodshot and he was breathing heavily, as if he had been up all night for several days.
The emperor was no longer of sound mind.
“Search the empire closely, both inside and outside, to find the child. No matter how cruel the empress was, she would not have left my child to die. She could have sent him into exile, abandoned him in a slum, or abandoned him in a forest or border area with few people.”
“your majesty…….”
Dependent on drinking, he held onto the hope that his child might be alive.
If I didn’t think that way, I felt like I couldn’t live a single day due to the guilt and despair.
“I will obey your command.”
The adjutant felt sorry for the emperor who was caught up in vain hopes.
Instead of revealing the cruel reality, he accepted the emperor’s orders.
One day, several years later.
“The tea has been found, Your Majesty!”
“What? You found it?”
“A child believed to be Your Majesty’s baby has been discovered!”
“Is that true?”
A color came to the emperor’s face.
“Yes. We’ve searched orphanages across the empire and found a child who was abandoned around the same time as you disappeared. He looks very similar to you.”
“Oh, oh, oh… … . Bring that kid here right now!”
“Understood, Your Majesty.”
After a long search, a boy who miraculously resembled the child was found.
But hope soon turned to despair.
“What? Your Majesty is looking for a child?”
The empress, having received the maid’s report, jumped up from her seat.
“Yes, Your Majesty the Empress. I understand that His Majesty the Emperor is currently investigating all orphanages and foster care facilities throughout the Empire.”
“… … .”
A look of weariness that could not be hidden crossed the Empress’s face.
The cold war with the Emperor over this matter has been going on for several years now.
The maid watched the empress’s expression.
“Should I leave it to Marquis Balton this time too?”
“That’s right. He started it, so I’ll leave it to him to finish it too.”
As the empress gave the order to the maids to evacuate, Roselia’s vision flashed white.
* * *
“… …Madam? Your Majesty?”
“yes yes?”
When I suddenly came to my senses, I was already back in the inner chambers of the Empress’s Palace.
When they came in, the Empress’s maids were surrounding the bed.
“Her Majesty the Empress is not feeling well. I think it would be best for her to leave now.”
A little while ago, the maid who was reporting to the empress in my memory smiled gently at me.