What Became of the Tyrant After the Pregnant Empress Left - Chapter 17
“Why are you not by His Majesty the Emperor’s side… Ah, forgive me. Now, Her Majesty the Empress is with him, isn’t she?”
“Young Lady, how can you speak so carelessly, knowing such words might wound His Majesty?”
“I was thoughtless. Today’s ceremony left such a deep impression on me. What a perfectly matched couple they make. I can understand why Her Majesty the Empress might feel neglected.”
Do they really think such words would wound me?
Ysaris stifled a sigh as she faced the giggling women. She had clearly turned the doorknob in the opposite direction to indicate someone was inside, yet she hadn’t expected any noble to disregard this and follow her to pick a fight.
They were all familiar faces. From the moment she first appeared in the social circles of Uzephia, these were the ones who persistently revealed their malice, so it was impossible not to recognize them.
A small group formed around the high-nosed Marquis’s daughter. Most of them acted emotionally rather than logically, making it not too difficult to deal with them.
“Lady Bellane, if you are so inebriated that you cannot distinguish the direction of a doorknob, you should return to your room and rest, rather than linger on the terrace.”
“Are you treating me as a drunkard now?”
“Then you must be committing such rudeness while sober. If you didn’t realize it was improper, you should be re-educated, if only to avoid bringing disgrace to your family.”
“You…!”
Ysaris calmly watched the woman, who gripped her fan tightly, without a hint of disturbance.
Though she was not fully recognized as Empress, she was still not someone whom mere noble scions, who had not even inherited their family titles yet, could treat with such disrespect. Even Runellia hadn’t confronted her directly until her position as Consort was assured.
It seemed the woman before her failed to realize this and was overstepping her bounds.
“People can make mistakes. Your words are harsh over something so trivial. Can someone so narrow-minded truly call herself the mother of a great empire?”
The problem was that her companions were of a similar ilk.
“Lady Urens, can you take responsibility for what you just said?”
“Well…!”
“I asked if you can personally take responsibility for the crime of insulting the Empress of the Empire.”
“W-when did I ever insult Her Majesty the Empress?”
Seeing her back down immediately after stepping forward for her friend and being sternly corrected was amusing. Young and foolish suited them perfectly.
These were people not worth engaging with. That much was evident in Ysaris’s gaze.
This was why Bellane couldn’t help but grit her teeth.
“And even if that’s the case, what punishment could you possibly impose on us?”
Her words weren’t without basis. Indeed, Ysaris was an Empress in name only, devoid of any real power.
A woman left unprotected by the Emperor, no matter the insult, and thus an easy target for gossip and slander.
Having been sold as a s*x slave from a small frontier kingdom, she should have just kept her head down. Bellane despised Ysaris’s aloof demeanor. The fact that she occupied the Emperor’s side with nothing but her looks, and yet displayed constant disdain, grated on her nerves.
Who was Kazhan Tennilath? A man who appeared like a comet and seized control of the Empire in an instant. Though he walked a path of blood as a tyrant, many nobles had offered their daughters to this young and capable Emperor.
The same was true for Bellane’s own family, the Marquis of Bellane. They had gone to great lengths to get their youngest daughter considered as a candidate for Empress.
<When the time comes, she said she would welcome a bride herself.>
However, the Emperor showed no interest in women at all.
…But one day he suddenly made a wife. He kidnapped the Princess of the Kingdom of Pyrein, Ysaris Chernian, and made her Empress.
No noble in Uzephia agreed to this.
“The time for empty threats has long passed, yet you demand accountability when you cannot do anything.”
“Hmm?”
“Now that His Majesty the Emperor has acquired another wife, perhaps you should be even more careful in your actions? Unless you wish to be embarrassed.”
“Bellane, Lady…”
“Let it be. Did I say something wrong?”
One of her startled colleagues tried to restrain Bellane as her increasingly audacious remarks reached a climax, but she proudly stood her ground.
