I Am The Villainess With A Maxed-Out Luck Stat - Chapter 149



Only Noblemtl

149. The appearance of the half-brother

Thud, thud, thud.

The hem of her skirt swayed as she followed the Empress’s footsteps.

High chin, straight back and shoulders, unwavering gaze.

The sight of a dry tree branch about to fall apart was nowhere to be found.

She advanced before the emperor, maintaining the dignity befitting an empress.

To Roselia, that moment felt like an eternity.

As I was blankly staring at the sight, my gaze suddenly fell on the empress’s neck.

Along the elegant neckline that stretched out like a deer’s, a necklace inlaid with magic stones gave off a splendid light.

“… … .”

“… … .”

Among all the others who were frozen, the first to come to his senses was Marquis Balton.

“Oh, Your Majesty the Empress.”

Shiloh bit her lower lip as he quickly nodded.

“Why has Your Majesty the Empress appeared here?”

She pulled Cayenne towards her and asked, openly treating the Empress like an intruder.

“It’s none of your business where I appear.”

“… … .”

The empress answered in a feminine tone.

There was not even a shred of warmth in the gaze looking down on the Emperor’s government.

“empress.”

The frozen emperor glared at the empress.

The emperor’s anger grew more fierce at her intrusion.

“What on earth are you talking about? The princess did nothing wrong, but insulting the royal family is a serious crime.”

“No, Your Majesty. The princess simply could not bring herself to refuse my order.”

“… … !”

“what?”

Roselia and the Emperor looked at each other in surprise.

“I ordered the princess to hide His Majesty’s child.”

The Emperor, Marquis Balton, Shiloh, and Roselia were greatly shaken by that bombshell statement.

“What!”

“Your Majesty, what on earth do you mean by that?”

An excited Shiloh screamed.

In the midst of the tumultuous crowd, the only one who did not lose his composure was the empress.

“How could the princess have known of Your Majesty’s corruption? She simply took in a poor man as a servant at my command.”

Roselia opened her eyes wide.

The Empress was aware of the circumstances under which she had brought Cayenne here under the pretense of helping the poor.

The emperor slammed his armrest.

“Why on earth… … !”

“Now that I know that Your Majesty’s child is alive, I have to watch over the child from a place that is neither close nor far away.”

The empress’s eyes shone coldly.

“So if you want to blame me, ask me directly.”

The emperor was momentarily speechless at that confident attitude, and Marquis Balton was dumbfounded.

‘The Empress knew everything?’

Long ago, the Marquis of Balton abducted a child without anyone knowing.

After that, the child escaped from the lab and his whereabouts became unknown, and until he was recently found at the Duke’s house, he had no way of knowing the child’s whereabouts.

It would be understandable if the Empress had kept the child hidden during those few years.

but…….

‘Why have you kept the child alive until now?’

He is the emperor’s illegitimate child and will become the crown prince’s political enemy.

The one who most wanted to get rid of the child was the empress.

There’s no way I could keep the child alive for this long.

‘What on earth are you up to?’

It was clear that the Empress was lying to protect the Princess, or that there was some inside story she was unaware of.

Even the emperor had complicated thoughts.

He had a terrible headache that made his vision dizzy.

It’s surprising and shocking that the child buried in my heart has returned.

Behind this incident, there was a princess who had been chosen to be the crown princess. And she was in collusion with the empress.

‘No, no.’

It is impossible for the princess to have carried out such a huge undertaking alone. In fact, it would be more appropriate to say that the empress took the lead.

The Emperor only saw Roselia as a girl of her age. She had shown some intelligence recently, but that was all.

It is difficult to believe that Roselia, who had no relation to the matter, knew about the existence of the illegitimate child and planned everything.

‘If the Duke of Serteia had been involved, then maybe it would have been different.’

However, Duke Serteia had left for the north, his hands and feet tied. He must be on the battlefield right now, fighting for every second.

Rather, it would be more reasonable to assume that the Empress took advantage of the Duke’s absence to infiltrate the Princess.

‘Since when?’

The blade of suspicion shifted to the empress.

As I looked into the Empress’s ashen eyes, I was reminded of her when she was younger.

A woman who was once his companion, the one with whom he promised a future, and his closest friend and colleague.

Even though we’ve been together our whole lives, I couldn’t even fathom the path we’ve taken together throughout our lives.

But there was one thing I knew deep down: she was a vicious and ruthless woman.

A woman who will use anyone for her own purposes.

The emperor, who had been maintaining a heavy silence, opened his mouth.

“… … Everyone else, please leave. And your Majesty.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“You talk to me alone. You must have a lot to talk about.”

The Emperor and Empress’s eyes met in midair.

There was a sharp tension in their eyes as they looked at each other.

* * *

‘Did you get through it safely for now?’

As I left the meeting room, my legs started shaking.

The emperor issued an edict expelling all guests, but I was the only one who left the hall.

Shiloh refused to budge, and Marquis Balton pretended to stop her, but did not leave the meeting room.

[The princess goes out first.]

As soon as the emperor waved his hand, I quickly walked out of the hall.

I was curious about what kind of conversation was going on inside, but saving my life was the priority.

‘Why on earth did the Empress help me?’

Even if it means taking the blame instead.

It was at that time that unresolved questions lingered in my head.

“?”

The attendants standing at the door seemed to be fidgeting. Someone standing in the center of the crowd caught my eye.

“majesty?”

It was Perwin.

By now he should be waiting for me at the Crown Prince’s Palace.

“Your Majesty, why are you here―”

I was about to ask him why he was there, but I was speechless when I saw him frozen like a statue.

“Did you really know?”

“… … .”

A face filled with a mixture of shock and confusion.

He, who was arrogant but rarely cowered, looked at me with a wounded face.

The moment I saw that wounded face, I lost the will to even make excuses.

You heard everything.

I don’t know when it started, but it was clear that he had heard the story coming from inside.

The shock he would feel, having grown up his entire life as the emperor’s eldest son and the sole heir to the throne, was unimaginable.

“Answer me. Did you know that Your Majesty had an illegitimate child, and that I had a half-brother?”

He clenched his fist tightly.

So hard that your fingertips turn white.

“……yes.”

I answered with difficulty, as if I was spitting out thorns.

The blue eyes looking at me shook slightly.

“Why on earth were you hiding it? Why on earth—”

The emotion that came into his eyes was betrayal.

His breathing was ragged and his voice was trembling.

I felt sorry for him, swaying aimlessly in a whirlwind of emotions, so I held his hand.

“Your Majesty, let’s go somewhere quiet and talk.”

There were too many eyes watching me to vent my anxiety and confusion openly.

But Perwin shook off my touch.

“Stop pretending to care about me now.”

“… … .”

“It’s creepy how you know such a secret and pretend not to know.”

His eyes had become icy cold.

Disappointment and contempt.

It was a gaze that I had encountered so many times that I was sick of it.

It was a gaze I had seen so many times, but now that gaze felt excruciatingly painful.

“Your Majesty, I will explain everything. So just a moment—”

“No, there’s no need to explain.”

He cut me off in one stroke.

He frowned painfully and then staggered back in shock.

“majesty!”

I tried to grab him, but he slapped my hand away.

“Roselia, you are right.”

“… … .”

“We’re done here.”

He spoke coldly, turned his back on me, and walked away.

Only the sound of heavy footsteps echoed in the silent hallway.

* * *

“majesty!”

Perwin tried hard to ignore Roselia’s voice, which rang like tinnitus.

His footsteps as he walked down the hallway became faster and faster. He was running away from something, as if he was running away from a terrible nightmare.

My heart was pounding with confusion.

The emperor’s illegitimate child?

A foreign word that had never interfered with his life and should not interfere with it plagued his mind.

Roselia already knew about the existence that she herself was completely unaware of.

The shame of having the royal family’s corruption exposed, and the disappointment in Roselia for knowing the great secret but not even saying anything.

And the shock and betrayal of the Empress being involved in all of this.

My teeth chattered with resentment and anger that had nowhere to go.

A lot of confusing emotions burst out.

He knew that Roselia didn’t really like him, but he believed that she would at least have some trust and affection for him as his fiancée.

‘But why… … .’

The fact that he wasn’t even that good for her, the gap that he couldn’t narrow no matter how hard he tried, made him even more miserable.