Chapter 196

“As both sides are now locked in fierce bickering, I think I have to tell you that you should come prepared for the summons.”

“…Got it. Thank you.”

When I expressed gratitude, he stood up with a worried expression. After seeing him off, who looked back over and over again as if he wasn’t relieved, I went to bed with a heavy heart.

Two days after the marquee visited my house, I received two letters. One was a summons to attend the cabinet meeting in the afternoon, and the other one was sent by the emperor, asking me to stay at home instead of coming to the palace because he would handle the matter.

I spent time pacing up and down in my house in the morning. If I were to attend the meeting now, it was clear that they would put an end to the long controversy over the vacant position of the empress.

It was the moment I had been waiting for, but when its resolution was around the corner, I had a lot on my mind. At the same time, I was scared because there would be a fierce collision between the two rival factions in the process of making the conclusion.

I opened the blue-colored letter from the emperor once again with my cold hand. He obviously asked me not to come because he would solve the matter somehow. The fact that he sent me the letter suggested that the noble faction’s offensive was very strong.

However, I couldn’t avoid it, so I bit my lips to pull myself together. Even if I was faced with some difficulties and trials, I had to end this controversy that had been going on for almost six years.

“Lina, bring me the formal dress and the crest brooch. ”

Ignoring her who looked at me with a worried expression, I wore a new black dress.

After stroking the brooch on the collar once, I headed for the Imperial Palace, holding the cufflinks my father gave me.

“The Sun of the Empire, His Excellency, is entering.”

As soon as I raised my head, my eyes met his navy blue eyes. His cold look seemed to ask me why I attended the meeting. When I turned my eyes with an awkward smile, Earl Hamel said, as if he was waiting for the moment, “Although the Monique family has been silent on this issue until now, I hope you can express your opinion, Lady Monique. I think it’s time to put an end to this controversy. I can’t understand why your family can be so disloyal as the most loyal family in this empire.”

“Earl Hamel, watch your language!”

“Well, I would like to speak out today. To be honest, isn’t it an agenda we don’t have to discuss? Lady Jena has demonstrated her qualities as the next empress for the past six months while Lady Monique was absent. On the other hand, despite her position as the emperor’s fiancee, Lady Monique has joined the knights, or she has been attending this meeting in her capacity as the head of her family, which is very strange. She is acting as if she is more interested in being the successor of her family. If you have given up the goal of being the next empress, why are you wielding the sword and learning military strategy or tactics instead of learning to quietly help His Excellency the Emperor?”

“He is right. It is clear that she has already given up, realizing she doesn’t have the qualifications.”

I closed my lips because I had nothing to say. It is true that he thought I would seek to be the successor of my family, and that I was refusing the position of the empress.

When both me and the pro-emperor faction kept silent, Earl Hamel said with a triumphant air, “I would like to hear Lady Monique’s opinion at this point. Please tell us whether you have given up on the position of the empress on your own or if you have any other reason.”

Regardless of the noble faction or the pro-emperor faction, they turned their eyes toward me

The future of their faction would depend on what kind of position I would take.

The moment I closed and opened my eyes, my eyes met his, who was looking at me quietly. As if he read my mind, I saw his blue eyes trembling a bit.

“I am…”

When I just opened my mouth, suddenly someone interrupted, saying coldly, “Well, I think I have to take issue with something before she answers.”

They looked away from me and focused on the man at the head table. Looking around as if he was very displeased, the emperor said coldly, “Earl Hamel, you mentioned something about the qualifications of the empress. What about Lady Jena? It has been almost a year since she suddenly appeared in the empire. Has she ever shown better qualities than Lady Monique? Let me remind you that Lady Jena was never recognized by the late emperor.”

The noble faction remained silent at his cold rebuke. They knew it was Lady Jena’s big weakness that the late emperor didn’t call her at the moment of his death.

‘Did he stop me from speaking on purpose?’

I looked up at him blankly as that question came to my mind. He must know that his intervention on my behalf would only add to the confusion. I knew when I expressed my opinion, the pro-emperor faction would end their division and come up with a unified position.

“That’s right. If Lady Monique, who has proven her qualities well, is lacking in the qualifications, Lady Jena doesn’t have the qualifications either because she didn’t show her ability to surpass Lady Monique.”

“I agree. Above all, Lady Jena has the disqualification that she was not recognized by the late emperor, right?”

“You mentioned disqualification? Oh my. As for disqualification for the empress, Lady Monique has much more, doesn’t she?”

The noble faction suddenly remained silent at Earl Hamel’s counterattack.

Looking at him, I tilted my head a bit.

What the heck is the decisive reason for my disqualification? I don’t think they regard my efforts to be the successor of my family as the decisive reason. If so, …

At that moment, one thing splashed through my mind. When I looked at him, guessing his motivation, Earl Hamel said, looking at me with a ridiculous expression, “What is the most important duty as the empress, regardless of one’s qualities, personality and family background? It is giving birth to the emperor’s successor. I feel sorry for her, but I can’t support her as the next empress because her fertility is doubtful.”

“That’s right! The emperor’s successor should be delivered by the empress to avoid any rumors. What if internal fighting broke out because Lady Monique could not give birth to a baby as the empress?”

“I agree. How can we support an infertile woman as the next empress? Never, ever!”

I immediately looked around. I saw the noble faction laughing triumphantly and the pro-emperor faction shunning my gaze. It looked as if the pro-emperor faction were hit hard from behind.

I was getting more and more nervous. I smirked.

‘Oh, you guys have been thinking that way.’

Even though I took the noble faction’s reaction as granted, I expected the pro-emperor faction would take my side. Given the atmosphere, however, I felt they would also dump me.

I felt an unbearable sense of betrayal.

Did they have to show me their betrayal in this official meeting? Their silence meant that they would officially recognize that I was an infertile woman. Regardless of when I could be pregnant or not, I was already stigmatized as an infertile woman.

“Oh my God!’

To these people, not only I but also my unborn baby was nothing but a pawn in chess. What else do I ask them for? Then even treat the emperor as a stallion. They already abandoned me in the past. Even though I did my best for the interests of the pro-emperor faction, they dumped me. There was no possibility for them to defend me now, even though I made the case for myself, arguing with the noble faction over every little thing?

I shrugged my shoulder to hold back a bursting laugh.

Come to think of it, I was no more than an awful nuisance to these members of the pro-emperor faction. I was a woman who couldn’t be with anyone or even deserve that.

I felt like I was being drawn into a swamp. I felt I heard them shouting at each other and talking about me among them, but all of it just let in one ear and out the other. I was spaced out while I was at the meeting.

How much time passed?

I came to my senses when someone shook my shoulder strongly. When I blinked my eyes slowly, I saw a man with red hair.