The Abandoned Empress Will Not Return

“As per the conclusion to the nobles’ council meeting, I have come to punish the sinner, Rodelia Florence.”

 

Ferna opened the rolled up scroll and slowly read the contents.
He had an unusually dignified voice.

 

“The guilty Rodelia Florence helped the Marquis of Florence poison the emperor.
Though she deserves to give up her life due to such a crime so grave, we will bestow lenience in consideration of her achievements and hard work as the empress.
As a conclusion of the 12 nobles’ council meeting, we unanimously order that Rodelia Florence be dethroned from her position as Empress, stripped of all her titles, and be demoted to commoner.”

 

Dethronement.

 

The shock rang in her ears.
She had expected it to a certain extent, hence she had steeled her heart tightly, but imagining it was different from actually hearing it.

 

Her kneeling was for naught.
In the end, it still resulted in this.

 

Ferna was staring at Rodelia’s trembling hands, then said sarcastically.

 

“You are very fortunate that you did not go to trial.
Ah, since you’re a commoner now, I don’t need to be respectful.
I will also inform you of the verdict on Marquis Florence, seeing your special affection.”

 

She closed her eyes tightly.
She was already anticipating what would come out of his mouth.
Ferna spoke the words in a cheery tone.

 

“You will never see him again in your life.”

 

 *

 

The Marquis of Florence has disappeared.

 

The imperial palace was turned upside down.  The news reached Rodelia’s ears as she was about to be deposed.

 

Kane, who had never visited her since that day, finally took a step and looked around the narrow room that smelled of musty mold.
He then coldly stared at Rodelia, who was hunched over, waiting for the day she would be kicked out of the palace.

 

“You must know where the Marquis of Florence has gone.”

 

No decent food was given to the criminal who dared to murder the emperor.
The meals were given just enough to prolong life.  Even that was just a loaf of rotten bread and a glass of water.

 

This meant that she had no strength left.

 

“…..I do not know.”

 

Rodelia struggled to open her mouth.
The cracked voice scratched Kane’s ears and made him frown.

 

“You’re lying to me until the end.”

 

[T/N: she learned from the best, she kneeled]

 

Rodelia was also curious.
How in the world did the Marquis escape through the fortress-like security? And where did he go?

 

It was something she really didn’t know.
If he was going to run away, she should have taken her too.

 

But Rodelia vaguely knew.
That he discarded her without regret because he had no need to carry a useless pawn.

 

But Kane didn’t believe it.

 

That was nothing new.
For a while now, he heard everything she said as lies therefore he would do it even more now that she was a sinner.

 

Rodelia didn’t respond, keeping her eyes on the floor, so he continued his words with a cold face.

 

“Alright, if you’re not going to tell me until the end, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

 

Kane took a step forward, bent over and whispered softly.

 

“As a last gift, I will tell you a fun fact.”

 

“…….”

 

“Do you know why you couldn’t bear a child?”

 

He grabbed Rodelia’s chin roughly.
Only then did the green eyes he longed for so much stared at him.

 

A subtle emotion swept over Rodelia’s indifferent face.
Her darkly sunken eyes twitched violently.

 

Kane resorted to saying such provocative words and the green eyes that captured him, reminiscent of new leaves, stared at him as if he was disgusting.  That made him want to hurt her even more.

 

So, he looked straight into Rodelia’s eyes and said,

 

“I……”

 

“…….”

 

“I absolutely have no desire to see a child from you.”

 

As if she was contemplating what she had heard, her eyes simply blinked for a long time, then became colored with shock.  Small tears filled the corners of her eyes.

 

Kane hoped that her noble face would be further distorted by grief and shock.
But his wish did not come true.  She ended up holding back her tears.

 

It was annoying.
Kane uttered more hurtful words as his hand gripped Rodelia’s chin even tighter.

 

“I never loved you, that’s right.
I just used you.”

 

“……”

 

“How can I accept Florence’s blood as my child? Even if you think about it, doesn’t it really make no sense?”

 

At Kane’s cold words, Rodelia bit her lip.
She wanted to hold back the tears she had been enduring for so long.

 

All of the words she heard from him hurt and shocked her but his last words struck her the most.
Kane had never loved her for a moment.
It was just that he had been using her thoroughly from the beginning.

 

“How about it, isn’t it a very nice last present?”

 

Rodelia mashed her lips until they bled.
Why didn’t she realize it?

 

It was as if she had been hit in the back of the head.
Looking back on her old memories, he sometimes treated her like an object.
At that time, she was utterly clueless as she was blinded by her love.

 

“Are you even listening to me?”

 

Although he continued to speak hurtful words, her mind was remarkably calm.
She didn’t know if this was resignation or something else.

 

“Why are you so absent-minded? What happened to your head?”

 

However, she could not just be beaten like this after being dethroned.
It seemed that she would have less regrets if she is able to exact at least a small revenge on such a low-level man.

 

 

She suddenly remembered what she joked about with Cerdian.
Without a second thought, Rodelia spat in Kane’s face.

 

“Ack!”

 

[T/N: *applause*, thank you for relieving 0,0001% of our anger.]

 

After her spit hit Kane squarely in the face, he slammed Rodelia’s face away.
He frowned and wiped the saliva with the sleeve of his clothes.

 

If Cerdian had witnessed this scene, he would have laughed loudly.
Laughter leaked out from her too.

 

“Rodelia, have you finally lost your mind?”

 

An angry voice filled the small room.
She was glad that she had upset him.
Rodelia could no longer hold back and burst into laughter.

 

“Definitely insane.
I certainly am crazy.”

 

Kane glared at Rodelia for a long time before leaving the room.

 

 *

 

“This is where the dethroned empress lives, right?”

 

“You mean that wicked woman who dared to poison His Majesty?”

 

“She pretended to be a benevolent empress, she fooled everyone and who would have known that she had such a scary plan for him.
So shameless.”

 

“They say that Princess Aizen will soon become the new empress?”

 

The sound of them talking was so loud that they could be heard up to the second floor, perhaps purposely intending to be heard.
They didn’t dare to harm her because of the guards at the front of the house, but it wasn’t all about using force.

 

People’s thorny words pricked Rodelia.
She quickly closed the old curtains by the window to hide herself.

 

‘I can’t escape this place.’

 

Kane didn’t put any restrictions on her movements but she was afraid of people’s eyes.

 

As some kind of compensation, Kane sent her newspapers and food ingredients daily.
After saying something so hurtful.
She didn’t know if this was him caring or what.
It didn’t come across very warm.

 

“I don’t understand.”

 

With a sigh, Rodelia ran down the creaky stairs and picked up today’s newspaper lying on the floor of her front door.
A large headline was printed on the front of the newspaper.

 

 

According to the article, Sola contributed greatly to detoxifying Kane’s poison and was to be raised as the empress.

 

Rodelia let out a self-mocking laugh.

 

The fact that Sola would become the next empress was something she had predicted to some extent.
But she never thought that she’d take the throne this soon, as if they’d been waiting.
Rodelia sat still and flipped through the newspaper.

 

 

After blinking her eyes a few times, Rodelia looked back at the article.
All kinds of vulgar words about her filled one side.
Apparently, rumors had reached the capital now.
It was probably Kane’s work.

 

His intention must’ve been to justify his actions by trampling on the honor of the deposed empress.
And the plan seemed to have been somewhat successful.
The newspapers were filled with articles of accusations about Rodelia Florence.

 

She pitied Cerdian who became involved with her like this.

 

‘Does he know about this….?’

 

Since it was the dethronement of the empress, there was a high possibility that he knew about it.
And even if he didn’t know, they’d be making a lot of noise here and there for a while, so he would find out soon.

 

She will never see Cerdian again.
That fact made Rodelia very sad.

 

‘Come to think of it, I couldn’t even keep his coat safe…….’

 

Bitter laughter leaked out.
It might be shameless to say it in this situation, but……

 

I miss Cerdian.