Chapter 170
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 170
In an instant, the Empress's Palace froze over completely.
Even the spring sunlight, which had been pouring in through the wide-open windows, seemed to shrink back in the sudden chill.
Empress Carmi’s slender fingers went rigid, and the other maids fared no better.
In this frigid atmosphere where the very blood in one's veins seemed to turn to ice, only one person remained composed: Ferdinand, the Crown Prince.
His cold, crimson eyes flicked toward the massive, exquisite vanity tucked away in the inner chambers of the Empress’s bedroom.
“Rarely, I still find myself remembering. When my mother sat at her vanity to dress herself, Her Majesty the Empress would be standing quietly behind her.”
“…….”
“As a maid who smiled just as well as you do now.”
Empress Carmi’s fists turned white. She replied with a voice trembling with bone-deep fury.
“You speak of useless things, Crown Prince. Perhaps it is because you spent so much time rolling around on those lowly battlefields.”
Normally, Carmi would never have reacted this way.
She would have maintained her reputation by saying how much her heart ached at the mention of the late Empress Olivia, or how the gods were cruel to have taken such a noble and beautiful soul so soon.
But.
To receive such an insult to her face.
To be so blatantly mocked by none other than Empress Olivia’s own son.
How—how on earth was she supposed to spit out words of adoration and praise for Empress Olivia now?
“Is that all you have to say, Crown Prince?”
Ferdinand did not answer immediately.
He simply stared at her with those blood-red eyes that had made Carmi shudder her entire life.
“It is just that, as my body is still young, I found myself thinking of my childhood.”
“…….”
“Are they not memories that Her Majesty the Empress finds difficult to forget as well?”
As he asked this, the smile on Ferdinand’s face was terrifyingly identical to Empress Olivia’s.
For a moment, Carmi felt as if she were being strangled. She struggled to breathe, overwhelmed by an intangible presence she could not hope to withstand.
Even in death, Empress Olivia continued to weigh her down.
She had left behind this flesh and blood—a child she had fed with her own life—as if she couldn't wait to torment Carmi from beyond the grave.
That horrible woman.
That disgusting woman.
Acting all high and mighty on her own, only to lose her husband to me in the end…
And yet, she looked down on me with those cold eyes until the very last.
Empress Carmi slowly closed and opened her eyes. As if by magic, a smile bloomed on her frozen face. It was the very smile that suited her common epithet, the "Sunshine Empress."
As if she hadn't heard a word of what had just been said, she asked tenderly in a voice that felt almost pure.
“Crown Prince. I sent so many precious gifts to celebrate your return; is it right for you to act so stiffly?”
“Ah. You did send a great deal of White Tulip Dye. I came to offer my thanks for that as well.”
He didn't bother to mention that the value of those dyes was so immense that even the Crown Prince found it difficult to calculate.
He already knew exactly how the Empress had managed to send those dyes to his palace.
Strictly speaking, that gift had been sent to him by Tulia Frezier.
And she had done it by plundering the Empress’s own warehouse.
That was why he had laughed.
That was why he hadn't dared to use those precious dyes.
That was why he could do nothing but order them to be stored in the Crown Prince's Palace warehouse.
That was why…
Ferdinand took a moment to steady his breathing. He couldn't understand it, but whenever he thought of that young lady, his heart would occasionally skip a beat.
He still didn't know the reason.
His brief agitation was suppressed in an instant. Ferdinand’s eyes turned cold again as he looked back at Carmi.
“By the way, Your Majesty.”
“Speak, Crown Prince.”
“When you sent the Royal Designer to the Crown Prince's Palace, you also sent your own Chief Attendant to assist him.”
“Ah, yes. I did.”
Carmi’s voice remained tender, but a flash of cruelty flickered in her eyes for a split second.
“Are you not my son as well, Crown Prince? I sent my Chief Attendant specifically to help the designer complete the finest formal wear for you.”
“The finest formal wear.”
Ferdinand lowered his head and let out a weak laugh. He gave a slight tilt of his chin.
At the signal, the knight standing behind the Crown Prince handed over the garments he was carrying.
Without a second thought, Ferdinand hurled them onto the floor.
“……!”
In that instant, the Empress’s Head Maid raised her voice.
“Your Highness! You are being insolent to Her Majesty the Empress!”
But Ferdinand only spared the Head Maid a brief glance.
“Your Majesty.”
The red eyes glaring at her were no different from those of a venomous snake. At least, that was how they appeared to Carmi.
“Can you not stop these antics now?”
“These antics?”
Carmi trembled at the excessive insult.
“How dare you use such lowly language to me, the Empress…”
“Bring him in.”
Ferdinand’s voice cut her off mid-sentence. It happened in a heartbeat.
Two of the Crown Prince’s subordinates dragged in the blood-soaked Chief Attendant and threw him onto the floor.
“……!”
“……!”
Not only the maids, but even the Head Maid turned as pale as a sheet of paper.
Only Empress Carmi remained seated upright, her eyes fixed with forced intensity on the Chief Attendant’s hands.
Her confidant, the Chief Attendant of the Empress’s Palace, had lost every single one of his ten fingers.
“What… what is the meaning of this, Crown Prince?”
“He kept insisting on formal wear that I couldn't even wear. Does it look to Your Majesty like those oversized clothes would fit my body?”
“…….”
“Since he kept insisting on clothes that didn't fit, I debated whether to punish his eyes or his hands. In the end, I decided to cut off his fingers.”
Ferdinand didn't even blink as he spoke of such gruesome things. Only then did Carmi truly realize.
This boy, this cripple, this monster.
He was a terrifying beast who had survived that battlefield and returned with as many medals on his chest as the feathers of the national bird.
“To dare insult a member of the Imperial Family—is this not a punishment he deserved? Your Majesty.”
Ferdinand smiled with cold eyes as he continued.
“According to the supreme Imperial Law of the Brillant Empire.”
For the past ten years, Carmi had insulted Ferdinand in countless ways.
She had poured poison into his mouth, kept him under constant surveillance, beaten him, and never hesitated to throw him out into the freezing snow.
Because of that.
Carmi could tell.
This horrible monster was using the Chief Attendant to send her a warning.
A final warning that he would no longer preserve her own fingers or her tongue.
“…You, how dare you…”
“‘You’?”
Ferdinand smiled like a prince addressing his mother.
But only his lips curved into a soft arc. His eyes remained as cold as if they had swallowed a glacier.
“You should watch your words, Your Majesty.”
“…….”
“Were you not once a mere maid to my mother?”
“You…! How dare you…!”
Empress Carmi’s face turned the color of lead. Her entire body shook violently before she finally collapsed backward.
“H-Her Majesty!”
“The Imperial Physician! Call the Imperial Physician!”
“Your Majesty!”
The Empress’s Palace was thrown into total chaos.
However, Ferdinand’s eyes remained utterly void of emotion. He rose from his seat and walked straight out of the palace.
And barely ten minutes later.
Crash!
The sound of shattering porcelain echoed as Ferdinand’s head snapped to the side. His cheek swelled red in an instant.
A wheezing, furious voice pierced his ears.
“Have you finally lost your mind?!”