Chapter 367

When I suddenly woke up, I heard some murmurs.

How long has it been since I fell asleep?

The voice was low and pleasant, but the things it said were a little strange.

Was I in the middle of some kind of sleep paralysis?

I don’t think so, since I could move my hands pretty well. I opened my eyes, weakly, and saw Heinley lying on my belly with a book in his hands.

Is he reading from the book out loud?

It was the first time that I had seen him do this. Was it a newly acquired habit?

As I gradually woke up, Heinley’s voice became clearer.

“King Oldrao took his spear and lunged at his enemy. He pierced his enemy with his spear, making a large hole in his chest, from which a lot of blood spurted out. Then, he withdrew the bloody spear and cut off his enemy’s head. He displayed it as if it were a trophy and exclaimed, ‘From now on, for every drop of our blood that is spilled, we will make them pay in kind; we will not tolerate any more persecution of our people…”

What’s that?

I couldn’t help but frown. Why is he reading that near my belly?

“Baby. You must have muscles and strong bones. It is better to have long arms to fight well…”

“Heinley?”

Finally, I couldn’t stand it and called out to him. Heinley was startled and stammered,

“Queen? My, my Queen!”

“What are you doing?”

When I asked him about his suspicious behavior, Heinley flinched and hugged the book against his chest tightly.

However, I could see the title of the book between his arms.

“The King of War? Oldrao’s War Memoirs?”

***

Duke Elgy left after making the shocking statement.

Sovieshu sat in a daze, deep in thought. The desk was littered with the papers left behind by Duke Elgy. He had said they were copies.

“It can’t be…”

Sovieshu let out a heavy sigh.

The sum of money Rashta had borrowed was so large that it made him curse, but he could still afford to pay using his personal wealth. There would be no need to touch the country’s funds.

However, the port was completely different.

It would be absurd to simply hand it over, but it would not be easy to refuse.

If Sovieshu did not want to hand over the port, he would have to prove that Rashta had never been fit to be empress, which would invalidate the document. He could also resort to other grounds to refuse, such as the fact that Rashta held the position due to special circumstances, her poor intellect, Duke Elgy’s infamous reputation, and so on.

Duke Elgy wouldn’t sit idly by. He would probably request arbitration from the Wol Continental Alliance.

The problem was that once arbitration was initiated, all the countries would find out.

What would happen next was obvious. The dignity of the Imperial Family of the Eastern Empire would fall to the ground, and everyone would mock him because he left the Empress Navier for a concubine who gave away a port.

The more he thought about it all, the more his anger grew.

Rashta could not conduct the duties of an empress, because she had grown up in a different environment. Sovieshu could understand that. But, couldn’t she avoid causing trouble?

All she had to do was to eat and sleep quietly for one year, and she could live surrounded by luxuries for the rest of her life. Was that so difficult to do? Was it so hard to loaf around for one year?

How could an Empress be so crazy that she would commit to cede a territory to the royal family of another country? Not even a fool would do it.

“It’s crazy.”

Sovieshu’s anger continued to grow.

Now, all he could do was to choose between losing the port and losing honor.

Of course, if it turned out that Duke Elgy tried to seduce the Empress to take advantage of her, then his reputation would suffer. However, his reputation had always been bad.

In contrast, the Imperial Family of the Eastern Empire had always been admired. Sovieshu stood to lose more in the end.

After a while, Sovieshu stood up and rang the little bell on the desk. When Marquis Karl entered, Sovieshu coldly ordered,

“Find Viscount Roteschu.”

***

As the sun’s rays broke through the clouds, the sky was tinged with a red light that slowly turned blue.

Viscount Roteschu wandered with a gloomy face through the streets as the traces of dawn faded.

‘A girl suddenly ran out as if she was being chased, and those walking around her stopped to look at her like ghosts. It was strange. It looked like a horror scene.’

Viscount Roteschu recalled the story a little boy had told him.

The little boy was so frightened that he went home immediately, so he didn’t know who the people were, nor what had happened next.

But the Viscount learned from a drunk that, on that same day, someone had offered everyone on the street free drink and food at a nearby bar. Supposedly, that person wanted to celebrate, so people ran to the bar and became intoxicated by the festive atmosphere.

Even little children who usually played in the alleys went to the bar with their parents and received sweets.

‘The streets were intentionally cleared of passerby that day. So how come there was a crowd staring at the running girl?’

Viscount Roteschu clenched his teeth. He was convinced that someone ordered an attack on Rivetti.

But he couldn’t guess who had done it. He didn’t know who would want to get rid of Rivetti at such a high cost. Although Rivetti was immature, she wasn’t the kind of person who would arouse such deep hatred.

However, he had to pause the investigation due to articles that appeared in that day’s newspaper.

The princess, the daughter to whom Rashta gave birth, was not the Emperor’s daughter. She was the daughter of the same man who fathered Rashta’s first child.

Upon hearing the news, most people would say, ‘Oh, my gosh! That’s crazy!’ But this was not the case for Viscount Roteschu, because Empress Rashta’s first child was his grandson!

That day, Viscount Roteschu saw multiple articles in the newspapers and felt like his head would explode. When he first went out to look for Rivetti, he feared that Alan would get into trouble. Now, his fears had become true.

People talked about it with excitement, but he felt overwhelmed and aged. He found it hard to even think.

As long as the father’s identity was unknown, only Rashta would be blamed for cheating the emperor with a fake daughter.

However, Viscount Roteschu could not believe that in this case his son had been identified as the father.

The fact that Rashta had a first child with Alan could be overlooked by the emperor, but he could not ignore that the princess also had Alan’s blood.

‘I never talked about Alan, not even when that damned asshole Koshar cut off my ear. Why did this come out now?’

Although Viscount Roteschu wanted to repeat the paternity test, he knew he did not have the power to do so, which made his headache worse.

He had built up many connections with the money he received from Rashta, but would these friends still be on his side in such a delicate situation? He was only the lord of a small territory with no influence. He wasn’t sure anyone would listen to him.

His fear only increased when he learned that the Emperor was looking for him.