CH 13

“Duke!”

Eventually, Raymond’s anger broke out and his scream echoed in the office.

“According to the law on marriage, which you yourself have adopted, there are already good reasons to file for divorce. We hope that the divorce proceedings will be completed without too much fuss.”

It was the imperial marriage law that Raymond changed himself.

Illegitimate child… Edmund.

Raymond recalled the clause of his marriage law and clenched his fists.

Because it seemed that he had fallen into his own trap.

And even before he knew it himself, he opened his mouth.

“No, not at all.”

“…?”

“I’m not going to make Edmund a prince.”

Raymond said it from the bottom of his heart.

And he shuddered inwardly.

The moment he felt that he could not avoid divorce, he left Lisa and the baby without the slightest hesitation.

To keep Ellie.

Raymond was embarrassed, but pretended to be calm.

Duke Croft gave Raymond an incomprehensible look.

The Duke expected that Raymond would not accept the divorce right away, but he didn’t think that he would go so far as to even be ready to leave Edmund.

Edmund was his own son.

The Duke gazed at Raymond, closed his eyes and sighed.

“Your Majesty, this is not just about Edmund.”

The Duke opened his eyes again, and there was a reproach in his purple eyes.

The Duke’s face hardened in Raymond’s eyes, the Emperor had never seen the Duke like this.

It felt like it was Ellie who was looking at him with her purple eyes.

We started wrong from the beginning.

When he imagined himself looking at her, his heart sank.

She didn’t ask for a divorce because of Edmund, but if so, then why?

Ellie has always loved him and will love him in the future.

“There is no other reason. There are no problems between me and the Empress.”

“If Your Majesty thinks so, then I have nothing more to say.”

The Duke silently looked at him and dropped his eyes. Raymond was embarrassed to read the reproach in his eyes clearly.

“Duke.”

“Divorce is solely the will of the empress. I’m not going to retreat while the Empress wants it.”

The Duke didn’t budge. There was no point in continuing the argument.

Raymond opened his mouth with great effort to say something right now.

“Okay, you can go…”

The Duke greeted him cordially and left the office.

Raymond rubbed his temples, listening to the silence of the study.

“Ha, divorce…”

I remembered the face of the duke, who seemed unlikely to change his mind. And the face of Ellie, who spoke to him as if she had abandoned everything.

Divorce between the emperor and empress was never easy.

In particular, it is more difficult for an empress to divorce if the emperor has no particular desire.

And Raymond needed Ellie.

It was only when she became Empress that she strengthened ties with Duke Croft and the imperial power grew stronger.

The Duke had a determined face that expressed that he would use all his power to help the Empress divorce him.

It would be difficult for him, the emperor, to continue to communicate with the duke as with his right hand.

Therefore, if we judge rationally, then it would be correct to satisfy the request of the empress.

Raymond couldn’t calm his seething anger so easily and sat deeply back on the couch.

* * *

I looked out the window and turned to the knock on the door.

“Your Majesty, this is Helen.”

“Come in.”

Helen came to me.

“Did you see anything?”

I asked the maid who had gone out for food to see if my father had been at the palace.

“Yes. The maid said Duke Croft had recently come to the Emperor’s office.”

A look of embarrassment flashed across Helen’s face.

“Duke Croft and His Majesty had a serious argument. They could be heard outside the door.”

“Oh my God.”

It was obvious that my father had mentioned the divorce.

Since I was imprisoned in the empress’s palace, my father couldn’t meet with me and went straight to the emperor.

But they argued loudly enough to be heard outside the office.

Well, it looks like we won’t be able to stop the rumors anytime soon.

If only there were rumors that the Emperor and I had a big fight, but these rumors touched my father and made him look bad in front of the public. To argue with the emperor…

A frost ran through my skin.

We must end this quickly.

“Helen.”

“Yes?”

“Please tell this to the knight guarding the Empress’s palace. Let him tell the Emperor that I wish to dine with His Majesty.”

At that moment, Helen’s eyes widened.

Looks like she didn’t expect me to turn to Raymond.

“Yes, I will do it right now.”

When Helen left the room, I looked at the emperor’s palace.

“…Raymond.”

I didn’t want to see him, but I decided to end with him like this.

A surefire way to break our ties.

I loved him… But he was also the one I despised the most.

So I decided to go to dinner with him.

“Your Majesty the Empress, they say His Majesty went to the dining room.”

When Helen returned, I left the room with a determined look.

When I entered the dining room, I saw that Raymond was already sitting at the table.

I slowly sat down in a curtsy.

“I Greet His Majesty.”

“Rise up, Empress.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Raymond didn’t take his eyes off me until the servant pulled back the chair and I sat down.

I never looked at him, but it seemed that my whole body was constrained, how persistent his gaze was.

Suddenly the table was filled with food, the servants worked very quickly.

Raymond’s glass was filled with red wine and, as usual, he ordered everyone to leave the dining room.

“Everyone get out.”

The sound of the door closing, which I have always heard, was especially loud today.

I looked at him slowly. As if he was waiting, my eyes met his black eyes.

“I didn’t expect you to go to the meeting first.”

“…I didn’t want to do it, but I changed my mind.”

“It’s good that you changed your mind. Don’t say the word ‘divorce’ anymore.”

It seems that he didn’t fully understand the situation.

I looked at him with a sneer.

This will be my last meal with him.

At least I finished our last supper and tried to speak, but I couldn’t.

I looked at him.

He looked at me with a softer expression than before.

“…”

I saw concern in his eyes.

“Ray, if I’m having dinner with you, it doesn’t mean I’m not divorcing you. I’m here to end this.”

Raymond sighed and put the wine glass on the table.

He looked at me with eyes full of rage and spoke in a voice like the roar of a beast.

“Ellie, I’m not going to divorce you.”

“I’ve already thought it over. Ray, I don’t want to argue with you.”

Raymond acted like he vomited arsenic when he heard me.

“Ha, you don’t want to argue? I don’t know how many times you’ll repeat it after you have already started doing it.”

He scratched his head roughly.

“I know. It’s my fault.”

“What?”

“I foolishly thought of you as a man named Raymond, not as emperor in the first place.”

I smiled bitterly, looking into his face.

“I never said that I was marrying you because you are the emperor.”

“…”

“It’s because it was you. You, not the emperor.”

His black eyes looked at me. He seemed to want to answer something, but he never said anything.

I was calm.

“I knew that you didn’t love me, but… I thought that everything would change over time, but those were just hopeless expectations.”

I stopped for a moment and looked at Raymond.

“I…”

He took advantage of the situation and tried to say something, but I interrupted him.

“Ray, I’m asking you. I don’t want to live unloved anymore. So let me go.”