What Became of the Tyrant After the Pregnant Empress Left - Chapter 9
Runellia Logiten.
When she joined hands with Kazhan, she believed she had seized an incredible opportunity.
An opportunity to catch the Emperor’s eye. A chance to oust the useless Empress and take her place. A chance to stand at the pinnacle of power and rule the empire as she pleased.
It was inevitable, given the contract she had made to deliberately undermine the Empress. It was only natural to suspect that the relationship between the Emperor and Empress would sour as a result.
But now that she thought about it, it was quite perplexing.
Instead of diminishing, the Emperor’s obsession with the Empress seemed to have intensified.
Perhaps she had only come to realize this now that she was closer to the situation.
“What’s the real deal here?”
Runellia sat down on the bed, feeling frustrated. She had dressed quite provocatively in Negligee to tempt Kazhan when he arrived here, but she knew it wouldn’t work at all.
If he had any intention of turning his gaze towards her, he would have done so long ago.
After several days of repeated failures, Runellia began to feel discouraged. Anger also stirred within her crumpled pride.
Known as the rose of society, the most beautiful flower in the empire, the first love of every nobleman… These titles all belonged to her and her alone. Runellia wasn’t a woman to be ignored like this.
“Is it because of that woman?”
Her mouth was sealed by the words that inadvertently popped out, and she glanced around before finishing with a fake cough. Although no one was present, the knowledge that the palace walls had ears made her feel unnecessarily deflated.
She had underestimated Kazhan, known as the blood-crazed tyrant. Runellia sighed deeply in frustration. The man who would soon be her husband was ruthless enough to not be trifled with, no matter how much she denied it.
<Be careful what you say. If today’s conversation were to leak outside…>
The day she made the contract with Kazhan. Runellia realized for the first time how chillingly devoid of emotion a blank expression could be.
<The next rebellious house will be the House of Logiten.>
It meant they would fabricate charges of rebellion and wipe them all out, just as they had done several times before. Threatening to wipe out the entire lineage of the marquisate as if swatting a single bug was a mere amusement for the puppeteer. They were a small number of high-ranking nobles.
Runellia’s rebellious spirit rose, but fear prevailed over it. Instead of daring to confront him, she obediently bowed her head and followed along.
It could be considered humiliating, but she was confident. No matter how high and mighty of an emperor he was, he was ultimately a man driven by instinct. Even if their relationship was like this for now, she believed without a doubt that if she could tempt him and ensnare him with the hem of her dress, and his reign of tyrannous politics would become hers.
…She realized it was a massive delusion from the very first night they spent together.
Thunk.
“Runellia.”
“Have you arrived, Your Majesty?”
“Yes. I hurried as much as I could because I missed you, but time seems to have flown by. Am I very late?”
“No way. You arrived just on time.”
Runellia laughed and clung to Kazhan.
One, two, three.
As the thick door closed, she counted to three inside before stepping back before she was pushed away. The memory of stumbling and falling flat on the ground while trying to cross the line without realizing it was still vivid in her mind.
This lunatic. Even if it’s just a show of a relationship, does he have to drag the future wife around like this?
While cursing inwardly, Runellia asked with a bright smile,
“Shall we start right away?”
“Yes.”
As Kazhan casually replied and moved towards the table, Runellia watched him with her eyes. She watched him with lingering reluctance until he took out documents from the bag he had brought under the pretext of gifts and started working, then she went back to the bed.
Now there was only one thing she had to do.
Pretending to spend a passionate night with Kazhan, but actually delaying being alone in bed.
“Ah, Your Majesty! There… Ah!”
“…”
The sound of shuffling papers was heard. Runellia, writhing alone in bed, peeked at the source with eerie, trembling eyes.
The large, rugged hands of a stern examiner. Thick forearms and broad shoulders. Sharp jawline and prominent nose. Deep eyes and a straight forehead, with slicked-back black hair…
It wasn’t just his meticulously crafted appearance that made him seem like a creation of the gods. No matter what was happening around him, there was a cold man standing there, looking at the documents with an unwavering posture, without a hint of disturbance.
Kazhan Tennilath. A man who started from nothing and rose to become the most powerful figure on the current continent.
Undeniably, he was Runellia’s ideal type.
Was she the only one? Because of his position as emperor and his cruel nature, many noblewomen dreamed of being by his side, unable to speak out.
Even though he may be crooked in some ways, his purity in only looking at one woman was one of the factors that made him desirable.
In a society where it’s common for nobles to have multiple partners, having an emperor who only pays attention to one wife, openly, is quite something.
If it were Runellia, she’d turn to him. If it were Runellia, she’d willingly accept any obsession. If it were Runellia, she’d act cute, cuddle with him, and build a happy home.
What’s so special about some princess from a small country?
Runellia moaned as her hand was over her lower body, voice mixing it with a whimper as she called the name of the man who would soon be her husband.
“Ahh… Kazhan…!”
His eyes narrowed in annoyance as the woman writhed on her own, but instead, she returned a smile filled with joy.
