Come and Cry at My Funeral - Chapter 185
Irrevocable
From the lips of the miraculously found granddaughter came words so horrific they pierced the soul. Not only was the content of her story dreadful, but the detached tone in which she delivered it was like torture to the Emperor.
“On the night of the Antares family’s banquet, they gave me a lethal poison. Then, they dragged me to a storage room, claiming they wanted to check if I’d consummated my marriage. In the process, they had violated me.”
“What…?”
“After disgracing me so, they left me in the garden, creating a situation where it wouldn’t have been surprising if I were assaulted by drunk men.”
The Emperor clutched his chest, unable to breathe.
Those wretched Antares dogs had done such a thing to the last of his bloodline, the one barely hanging on…
And yet, the Emperor was reminded of his own words to Duke Antares,
〈Why don’t you invite that girl and her husband to one of your banquets sometime?〉
He had suspected something would happen at the Antares family’s banquet. No, it was his veiled suggestion—his intention to humiliate the ‘illegitimate girl’—that had made it so.
“Ah… ahhh…”
The Emperor’s complexion turned pale, then bluish, as he stared at his granddaughter. The joy of reclaiming a precious child had evaporated, replaced by the crushing weight of despair.
It was as if Adamant, the divine being, had sent his granddaughter as an instrument of punishment against him.
***
Freesia watched the dazed Emperor and allowed herself a faint smile.
〈It can all be set right.〉
He had said it so triumphantly.
But no.
It was far too late for the Emperor to make amends.
Even if her long-dead mother were posthumously declared an imperial consort, what comfort could that bring to a woman who had been disgraced and died in misery?
Even if the Empire now treated Freesia as its most noble woman, could it erase the wounds etched into her soul after countless humiliations?
‘No. Don’t make me laugh.’
The Emperor needed to understand, with bone-deep clarity, how his thirst for revenge had ruined the life of an innocent woman.
In this relationship, Freesia would never play the role of a doting granddaughter. This arrogant old man would spend the rest of his life groveling for her forgiveness.
It didn’t matter if her revelations twisted the Crown Prince’s face into an expression of discomfort. She could recount the humiliating details without hesitation.
Freesia stared blankly at the stunned Emperor, then slowly sank to the floor at his feet.
The Emperor sprang up, his hands trembling.
“Child…!”
“So tell me, Your Majesty, how could someone like me dare to claim the title of imperial princess?”
As she looked at the Emperor, who appeared cornered and helpless, she felt a strange certainty.
To someone who craved love and begged for forgiveness, the greatest punishment was not consistent coldness.
“Please punish those who have wronged me. Repay the humiliation I endured, Grandfather.”
To dangle the bait of affection as though she might someday return his love, only to withdraw it repeatedly—that was the fitting penalty for one who dared to speak of love.
***
It had been weeks since Duke Antares was dragged away under imperial order. The charge was deceiving the Emperor by using a woman who wasn’t of his blood for his schemes.
However, the Duke eventually received a pardon, and his wife was summoned to the palace to escort him back.
Though the Duchess complied with the summons, her lips were bitten and raw from holding in her fury.
‘How can they act as if this was solely our family’s fault?’
She was willing to admit to a youthful indiscretion. But surely, that alone shouldn’t condemn them to such disgrace.
‘No one even knows who that girl’s real father is!’
They had only followed the Emperor’s wishes. Yet the shameless Emperor had detained a man of the Duke’s status for this long.
‘After all the funds we’ve poured into the Imperial Palace and the temples over the years!’
The thought of losing influence in the capital and retreating to their estate for a prolonged period left her seething.
However, as she was being escorted, the Duchess suddenly paused to study the unfamiliar decorations lining the corridor.
‘Wait. Isn’t this…?’
The further they went, the more flowers and butterflies, delicately depicted in the decor, adorned the halls—very different from the spaces used to greet nobles.
It had been so long since the Duchess was last led to this part of the palace.
“Is this not the Hall of Pearls?”
The Hall of Pearls was traditionally managed by the imperial women and had been sealed off since the crown princess was killed by rebels.
Unless the emperor’s grandson married soon, the hall was to remain unused.
Yet, the attendants wordlessly guided her there.
At last, the silver doors adorned with pearls of varying sizes, true to the hall’s name, opened before her.
The Duchess of Antares gasped in a hushed voice as she saw a lone woman standing in the hall.
“You…!”
