Chapter 152 - Test The Waters (2) (1/2)

“Very well. Let’s keep the plant here for a while.”

“Ah…yes, Your Highness.”

The maid looked slightly taken aback, but she gave a look to the servant, who placed the large pot on the table. The luxurious atmosphere of the room seemed to lift with the placement of the single plant.

Before the maid left, she turned to Elena to speak.

“Please call me when you want to move the plant to your room.”

Elena nodded in reply, and the maid scuttled away with a friendly smile.

Kkiig, tak!

As soon as the maid gone, the nanny immediately stood up from her seat and began to throw open all the windows. Elena looked questioningly at the nanny’s urgent behavior.

“The weather has been getting warmer lately, but wouldn’t it still be cold if you open all the windows?”

“I won’t catch a chill, My Lady. But this plant’s fragrance…I have a feeling that keeping it around will be bad for you.”

“…What?”

The nanny returned to Elena’s side again and opened her mouth to explain.

“I’ve never seen it with my own eyes, but I’ve heard that some fragrant plants from Sibena have a detrimental effect on the body.”

“Detrimental? What do you mean?”

“If a woman inhales the fragrance over an extended period of time…she may find it difficult to get pregnant.”

“…!”

Elena was stunned. Pregnancy was not something that she thought relevant to herself at the moment, as she and Carlisle would not sleep together until he became emperor in the first place. However, that didn’t mean she wasn’t angry. The gift from the Empress was truly wicked.

“…Ha.”

Elena gave a sharp laugh, but it was not one of joy. The palace was as terrifying as she expected.

‘I was too sure of my safety.’

Elena had been so reliant on her sword and her ability to defeat assassins that she thought it was not easy for someone to hurt her. However, imperial power was not necessarily wielded with physical force. The gift was a grim reminder of that.

“Thank you for warning me, nanny. The outcome would have been terrible if you didn’t know about it.”

“I’m not too confident, but I like to be careful. I have already said this to you, but ultimately it is a child that gives an imperial woman strength. The woman’s ambition must be focused on pregnancy. “

“…Yes.”

Although the nanny was thinking far into the future, the truth was that Elena had never pondered on it deeply before. When the goal was to make Carlisle emperor, it was useless to worry about anything after that.

But her nanny was never wrong. Once an emperor’s attention was naturally drawn to other women and he had many concubines, the only thing left for the empress was to provide a successor. For this reason, if Elena failed to get pregnant, she had no choice but to step down as she grew older. The final victory of imperial women was to give birth to the next emperor.