Chapter 87
Translator: uly
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: The Final Confession
Calista was displeased.
The reason was simple. Even after Asherad returned from his inspection tour, he hadn't visited her. He had suddenly come back to the imperial palace, then left again in a hurry, and even after returning, he still hadn't come to see her.
Then, out of nowhere, he stationed knights at the Empress Dowager's palace.
‘Even if it's to protect me, this is too much.’
Something must have happened, without a doubt. He must have nearly been assassinated on his way out for the tour. Calista's imagination rivaled that of any writer. The knights restricted her movements with their stern gazes, but she interpreted that strictness as Asherad's love.
“You could share everything with me.”
She let out a sigh.
Now that she knew Asherad's feelings, the situation finally made sense. He was trying to protect her.
He was also trying to free her from the burdens of being Empress Dowager. That was why he had taken such actions without a word.
‘Calista, it suits you to be an innocent girl from Thalassa.’
Asherad had once said that to her. It had taken Calista quite a while to realize that love filled his voice whenever he called her name.
“If I could just see him, I'd tell him how I feel.”
The judgments of the world, their morals and ethics—none of it mattered anymore. Calista's body burned with desire. She thought of Asherad holding Daphne. That alluring, ecstatic sight...
“Ah, Asherad.”
He would embrace her again, sweetly calling her Calista. She didn't care if it was rough or gentle. Rough would mean his heart led the way; gentle would mean he cherished her.
“He has to hold me.”
Then she would hold Asherad tightly in return. She would free him from that twisted state. And once he found his place...
‘I’ll kill that wench.’
Calista pictured Daphne's face. How could she let that lowly woman, who had shared her body with her lover, live? She was intolerable, even as bait to draw out Asherad's intentions. Acting like she knew something and prattling on about love was sheer arrogance.
Sure, the lower classes might protest their innocence, claiming they didn't know how else to speak, but they should blame their parents for being born that way.
“By the way, why isn't she wearing that necklace?”
Calista grumbled. Daphne was proving slippery, hard to pin down.
In any case, once she turned Asherad's heart fully to herself, she would kill Daphne. The most painfully possible. Calista imagined Daphne's screams and smiled cruelly.
“Your Majesty!”
A lady-in-waiting rushed in breathlessly.
“What is it?”
So frivolous. For a moment, Calista considered slapping her or venting her irritation, but she held back. The ones who couldn't tolerate her temper had all returned to their homeland. This was the last one left, barely kept here at her mother's request to that family.
“It's... Your Majesty.”
“Why beat around the bush?”
Calista's irritation began to build. The lady-in-waiting seemed to steel herself before speaking.
“It's said that His Majesty has been... intimate with that woman all this time... Eek!”
Calista swung her hand hard, and the lady-in-waiting flinched, clutching her cheek in shock.
“What?! That runaway bitch?!”
“Th-they say His Majesty brought her back.”
Calista grabbed the lady-in-waiting by the hair and shoved her. The woman toppled over. The maidservants whispered as they watched her sprawl on the floor.
“Your Majesty.”
She whimpered, but Calista's anger didn't subside. Her mood soured further.
“Are you insane?!”
She shrieked sharply. Calista ground her teeth, thinking of Daphne, who had shattered all her assumptions. There was no other explanation for it.
One moment simpering that Asherad truly loved her, the next spreading her legs for him? Hadn't that wench fawned over Calista, the one who shared true love with him?
What was this? Had running away been just another ploy to attract Asherad's attention? Now that she thought about it, the bitch might have feared the emperor's favor turning elsewhere. That cunning thing might even have known Calista would kill her.
“So... when did His Majesty start... with her?”
“It's...”
As the lady-in-waiting trembled, Calista's eyes flashed cruelly. The woman thought she might be flogged in front of the maidservants and burst into tears.
“As soon as he returned... in His Imperial Majesty's bedchamber...”
She squeezed her eyes shut. But the expected pain didn't come. Maybe she'd be let off this time? As she dared to hope, Calista picked up a steaming teacup.
“Eek... Your Majesty, please...”
Hot tea splashed onto her thigh.
“Don't move.”
“Ah, aaaah! Mercy, please, mercy!”
The lady-in-waiting endured a humiliating punishment. All for the crime of bearing bad news! Under the maidservants' gazes, she groaned from shame and the burning pain on her thigh. Her temper was infamous even in Thalassa Kingdom, but after coming here and becoming Empress Dowager, Calista had grown even more capricious and cruel.
Several of the maidservants she had brought from her homeland had died, and the ladies-in-waiting, unable to bear such corporal punishments, had fled back to the kingdom. They were nobles too, and even if they complained to the king, who would challenge a foreign Empress Dowager?
That was why Calista tormented Thalassa's ladies-in-waiting at will. Cruelly, in front of the common maidservants.
The lady-in-waiting clutched her skirt tightly. The only reason she remained was that Thalassa's queen had threatened her family.
Her body trembled with rage. Though both nobles, this vulgar woman who showed no respect would soon face her reckoning. Clinging to that hope, she endured the pain, over and over.
* * *
Daphne was startled when Asherad appeared amid all this. His mere presence silenced everyone. She had thought he would be gentle with Calista again this time. But Asherad scanned the scene with blazing eyes and spoke in a suppressed voice.
“I asked what you think you're doing.”
“She insolently refused to greet me properly...”
Asherad reached out to Daphne. Her eyes widened. Why? He had never once defended her in front of others. When his gaze fell on her bloodied forehead, murderous intent flickered in his eyes.
Why that expression? And why reach for her hand? Seeing Daphne's wide eyes, Asherad's face twisted into something unreadable.
He let out a hollow laugh. Everyone knew it was the laugh of utter disbelief.
“I tried to let it slide, but stupidity always causes trouble.”
Calista thought he meant Daphne. But Asherad's gaze fixed directly on her eyes. Disgust and revulsion. He hid none of his negative emotions as he signaled the knights with a glance.
“What is the meaning of this!”
The knights approached and roughly seized her arms. Her eyes bulged. This couldn't be happening. How could he humiliate her like this!
Tears streamed from Calista's eyes. They were treating her like a criminal.
“Asherad, what's going on? It's embarrassing in front of the help. Let them go.”
Asherad ignored her, turning away without a word. Calista looked at him pleadingly. The moment he turned his back and reached for Daphne, she cried out in frustration.
“Can't you do something about that twisted personality of yours?!”
Her words turned the tense silence—already thick with held breaths—into dead stillness. The lady-in-waiting and maidservants behind Calista stared wide-eyed at their mistress's folly.
“Twisted personality?”
Asherad turned back.
“You don't need to treat that lowly woman so well. It'll taint your noble blood!”
At her screaming accusation, Asherad tilted his head slightly, as if to say, *Go on.* Enraged, Calista gnashed her teeth. She didn't notice he wasn't even smiling.
Daphne watched Calista with a hardened expression. Calista looked utterly exasperated. Yet no one stopped her; they all just watched warily. Overcome, Calista screamed at her twisted lover.
“You want me!”
As Calista shouted, Asherad's face filled with confusion. Even in his anger, he looked shocked by her wild flailing. The foolish woman had finally crossed the line. Mistaking his surprise for overwhelming joy, Calista drove the wedge deeper.
“You want me instead of that woman! Not her body, but mine—you want to hold me!”
At the explicit words, the knights hurriedly glanced around. Fortunately, no nobles were strolling in the imperial palace, so they relaxed.
“What vulgar nonsense is this?”
“Are you denying it?”
Calista let out a hollow laugh, then tears. She clearly thought Asherad was just pretending otherwise.
“Asherad.”
“Say no more...”
“I love you!”
Calista poured her heart out desperately to the man before her. If only he would drop the mask and reveal the truth! If only he would believe her!
If he worried about the onlookers, she could just kill them all.
If she was honest, he would be too. Calista clung to that hope. Watching her face, a smile tugged at Asherad's lips.
He met Calista's eyes squarely, then suddenly cupped the cheeks of Daphne—who stood there holding his hand—and kissed her deeply. At the embarrassing display, the maidservants and knights averted their gazes.
It was a sloppy, wet kiss. So intense and thick that even as they turned away, glimpses of thrusting tongues were visible.
A kiss fueled by lust. Daphne's body swayed unsteadily. Calista wanted to tear the bitch apart.
When the deep kiss finally ended, Asherad looked at Calista.
“I love this woman.”
“...”
“Thinking of kissing my mother like that makes me sick.”
“...”
“So please, confine yourself to your chambers.”
His fury-laced voice cut off sharply. Calista wailed as she was dragged away.