Chapter 323 (1/2)

Eventually, I was barely able to pull myself together after a long time. I felt bad about her who didn’t leave any comforting words for me, but I comforted myself by thinking that she didn’t say anything to me because she trusted me. I reached out my trembling hand and closed her eyelids, which she could not close because of her concern about her husband and daughter, then strained my wobbly legs after letting out the royal guards trying to support me.

When I came out into the hallway, reflecting on her last request, I heard a child’s laughter somewhere. When I slowly turned, I saw the girl smiling happily, holding a doll her size.

<Ugh? Your Majesty?>

Oh my, you are driving me nuts…!

I pushed the baby girl running toward me with a thrill. I took it out on this little girl.

My dear marquise, were you so worried because of this little girl, who was laughing happily without even knowing her mother’s death? Why did you not leave any comforting word for me who regarded you as my mother? Which part of her made you think she was more valuable and greater than me?

All the resentment of her that I had accumulated since childhood exploded at once. I turned, staring at the child coldly, who was starting to cry after falling on her buttocks. I hated everything about her, including her golden eyes that linked her to her mother by blood.

<As for Lady Monique, she’s only twelve, but she is so excellent! She is quite good at not only etiquette but also learning. Indeed, she is perfect to be the spouse of the great emperor.>

I stared at Duke Veritas who was turning after closing the book. I was sick and tired of people around me extolling Lady Monique everywhere.

What did he say? She is perfect to be the spouse of the great emperor? What the heck are you talking about? No matter how hard I try, I can’t be a great emperor like my father. Why don’t you install her as the emperor instead of me? It would be much more efficient than you guys struggling to teach me.

Gnashing my teeth, I took off my jacket and threw it away recklessly. The more I reflected on it, the more annoyed I was.

<Well, since I have no recollection of my mother, I have no inconveniences or something like that simply because she was not around me.>

At a banquet where I left after dancing to the first tune, I went to see Lady Monique, thinking I was too mean to her, but was shocked to hear her saying that.

What did you say? Nothing inconvenient or uncomfortable even when you had no mother?

I was so dumbfounded that I could hardly say anything.

Well, you might not know how much your mother loved you, and how worried she was about you enough, so much so that she could not close her eyes at the last moment of her life.

You never know because you lost any memories of her. You don’t know you actually denied your mother’s love as well as even me who craved for it so much.

<Child of Gods’ prophecy? Isn’t it a cunning trick? Well, there might be no other way than using that method in order to promote that girl mixed with a commoner’s blood as the crown prince’s wife.>

I was even more enraged when I heard that from Duke Jena.

After all, you and I have commoner’s blood, right? How come you behaved like an arrogant noblewoman when you were in the same position as me?

I kept laughing in spite of myself. The more I thought about her, the more outrageous I felt.

Then why did you take everything from me when you were not better than me at all?

I twisted my mouth hard. The reason I felt jealous about her but couldn’t hate her was because I thought she deserved everything because she was born as a daughter of a prestigious noble family, unlike me, who had a commoner’s blood.

What did he say? Commoner’s blood in you? If so, what qualifications did you have to take everything from me? Who do you think you are?

I breathed hard in a fit of anger, then paused to think for a moment. Then, was the marquise a commoner? There was no possibility that Marquis Monique himself was a commoner, given the family’s long history and tradition in the empire’s history.