What Became of the Tyrant After the Pregnant Empress Left - Chapter 33
“Are you really okay?”
“Yes. Thank you for today, ma’am. And you too, Duke. Please return home safely.”
Ysaris, who had returned to the imperial palace, sent Duke and Duchess Blake away stiffly. She felt sorry for their concern, but she could not trust the emperor’s loyal subjects.
What if they were pretending from the beginning to make Ysaris let her guard down? Their master hates her so much.
Even the emperor allowing the Duke to accompany Ysaris outside might have been a tactic to lower her guard.
While a part of her mind thought it was excessive suspicion, her heart pounding with anxiety could not be calmed.
“Stay outside until I call you.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Ysaris dismissed the maid who had been with her constantly and shut herself in her room alone. She closed the curtains darkly and sank into deep thoughts.
He said he would rather kill Ysaris than see her produce an heir.
The image of her husband showing clear contempt echoed in her mind. Cold sweat broke out, and she shivered as if she had faced his murderous intent directly.
If he hated Ysaris that much, he shouldn’t have shared a bed with her. He kept spilling his seed inside her, only to show such an attitude now.
She already has a child inside her.
“Hypocrite…”
Her heart was painted with blotches of anger, fear, and betrayal. The result of being forced into her husband’s arms until now was this.
A plot to kill her rather than let her bear an heir to Tennilath with her blood.
Ysaris ground her teeth. It was not just her own life that was threatened, but the fact that the child’s life was at stake made her heart grow cold.
At first, she even doubted whether the emperor was really talking about her. When she had asked, hadn’t he responded as if he would just mistreat the child if it was born? So don’t even dream about it.
But the word “empress” that she had constantly heard and the person he could say such things to pointed only to her. There were only two wives in Kazhan who had declared they wouldn’t accept another consort, and since he loved Runellia, the arrow could only point at her.
“Filthy dog in heat.”
Today, Ysaris exceeded the limits of curses she could utter. For the first time in her life, she spat out foul words, and her eyes grew wet with gloomy anger and helplessness.
Bastard. Irresponsible bastard. Murderer.
Is it not enough that he killed her fiancé? Now you target her life and her child’s?
Ysaris bit her lip and glared at her wedding ring. She squeezed it tightly, as if she would tear it off right away in resentment.
She wanted to throw it off her body, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
She still had things to protect…
<Because of you, the people are constantly complaining about the emperor’s fickleness. If you married into a good place, you should cater to your husband’s whims. How can you neglect your duties and harm your homeland?>
People she needed to protect…
<You selfish thing. Just have a child quickly and be of some help to Pyrein. Don’t enjoy luxury in the empire alone.>
Someone she could count on, even a little…
<No one will welcome the empress giving birth to a royal heir. Myself included.>
<Pretending to love, pretending to be in a passionate relationship. If only you hadn’t gotten engaged under false pretenses, everything would have been much better. Oh, but your status has risen, so perhaps it’s all good for you?>
<As before, just quietly offer your body. That’s all you’re useful for.>
…A reason to endure, anything…
Was there anything left?
Ysaris stood blankly, staring into space with unfocused eyes. She heard a ringing in her ears, like someone blowing a whistle close by. Her body showed symptoms of distress from overwhelming disgust.
“Ugh… Ugh, ugh!”
As soon as she ran to the bathroom, Ysaris retched violently, breathing heavily and harshly. The pain from overeating twisted her intestines as if they were being knotted.
A new wave of anxiety swept over her with the delayed stomach ache. Clutching her abdomen with one arm, she murmured softly.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. I’ll protect you…”
Child.
Ysaris realized. All she had left was herself and the child in her womb.
But as things stood, she would lose both herself and the child.
So to survive, she had no choice but to escape.
* * *
“The Empress has shut herself in her room again?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. She hasn’t taken a single step out since the last outing.”
Kazhan furrowed his brow. He had sent her out to refresh herself, but she returned in an even worse state.
“Summon Duke Blake.”
Temisian, once summoned, shook his head.
“Well, we had a pleasant and peaceful meal… but her expression became stiff as soon as we returned to the imperial palace.”
It wasn’t a lie, though he omitted the part about their visit to the marketplace.
Kazhan, who hadn’t assigned any other watchdogs, had no choice but to interpret it differently.
So, Ysaris had really wanted to go out. He had thought it would be fine to keep her confined since she wasn’t very active, but she had been quietly wasting away.
Kazhan was troubled by Ysaris’s increasing melancholy and frailty. If this continued, he might have to follow Viscount Lafaro’s advice and send her to some resort.
Losing her forever was certainly not what he wanted.
