The night was deep. The heavy velvet curtains had long been drawn, and the windows were shut tight.
The commotion outside was gradually fading. The sounds of children chasing and playing in the square dissipated as bedtime arrived.
The lively cries of street vendors became sparser.
When the clock struck midnight and everything grew quiet.
Only the faint clinking of glass bottles from the distant industrial district could be heard.
Workers who had just finished their night shifts gathered in cheap taverns, numbing the day’s toil with low-quality ale.
Helena felt even colder. She subconsciously hugged her arms, and her legs, wrapped in transparent white silk pantyhose, pressed tightly together under the table.
Her knees rubbed against each other, making a slight rustling sound, trying to retain the last bit of body heat.
Helena spoke softly, as if murmuring to the air.
“After all… I love him.”
“We’ve come this far, endured so many hardships, crossed the chasm of status—it’s not something we can just fall out over lightly. But…” She closed her eyes in pain.
“I hate his evasiveness… No matter how many times I ask, no matter how much I beg and cry, he always only gives that one cold sentence—’I had no choice.’ But he never tells me the reason. At that time, I was still pregnant with you. For the sake of the child in my belly, I wanted to avoid too many negative emotions as much as possible. I tried to force myself to believe him.”
Lucia listened, her foot in white silk high heels tapping lightly under the table.
“And after I was born? Wasn’t it because he was worried about upsetting you while you were pregnant?”
Helena shook her head, the corner of her mouth twitching.
“No… Even after giving birth to you, he maintained that same attitude. And the more I asked, the more he wouldn’t even answer, leaving only silence. What was I supposed to do? As a former Saintess, as a girl who grew up with those people by her side, it really hurt.”
Helena smiled bitterly and gently touched the wedding ring on her ring finger.
The huge diamond, symbol of the royal family’s honor, now seemed like a heavy shackle in her eyes.
“Then… our relationship grew colder and colder. I just wanted him to give me an explanation. Even if he couldn’t do that, at least apologize, right? If the Emperor couldn’t apologize openly, at least he could make some compensation in private… But he did nothing.”
Helena’s fingers twisted the ring forcefully, turning the base of her finger red.
“I became more and more resentful, more hateful toward him. Ian wasn’t like this before.”
She looked up, her eyes full of confusion and struggle.
“Actually, now… overall, he is a reasonable person. He’s gentle and considerate of the people. But that one time, he acted like a tyrant… I don’t know what to do.”
Helena sighed. Under the table, her white silk-stockinged feet shifted uneasily, the heel of her high heel digging a shallow pit into the carpet.
“So, is that the whole story of your falling out with the Emperor?” Lucia nodded. “Mm… Besides the time you nearly killed me, I think I understand now. My crime… you probably know the rest.”
“Yes…” Helena lowered her eyelids.
“Before I nearly killed you by mistake and we completely broke down, I kept trying to talk to him, but he always gave that same answer, or else silence. What was I supposed to do? And… the hatred just continued in another form…”
Lucia caught the deeper meaning in her words.
“I suppose it’s the remnants of the Duchy from back then, or other conquered kingdoms—though they were eliminated, a new group emerged who were dissatisfied with the Emperor’s overly violent actions?”
Helena cast an approving glance at her daughter, but there was more anxiety in her eyes.
“Very clever… As expected of my Lucia.”
“That’s why I begged him at the time to only deal with that group of restorationists, so the Empire would have a justification. But what he did later to Bulaien’s friends, I couldn’t understand. As his wife in the Church, how was I supposed to defend him? He wouldn’t even tell me the answer.”
“I… I think I understand.”
Lucia took a deep breath and reexamined Helena before her.
“If you don’t believe my side of the story, if you suspect that asking the Emperor would only get his self-serving version—everything I said tonight, except for when I increased the output of Light Magic to treat you and nearly killed you, you have ways to investigate. I can only say I have a clear conscience.”
Lucia was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked.
“So, Your Highness the Empress, do you have to do this? Don’t you love the Empire anymore?”
Helena looked around, although Mia had already cleared the area nearby—the building and this street were within the Church’s sphere of influence.
“But you said so much tonight?”
“Oh dear, it’s better not to bring these things up voluntarily. What if walls have ears? What if evidence is caught?” Helena raised an eyebrow, the toe of her white silk-stockinged foot lightly kicking the table leg.
“What’s wrong with saying that much?”
Helena suddenly straightened her back, her gray eyes flashing with defiance. She was no longer the little woman who begged the Emperor fruitlessly; she had returned to being the Saintess who dared to confront imperial power.
“I have a clear conscience!”
Helena’s voice was firm and resolute.
“Even if Ian himself were sitting here right now, it wouldn’t matter if he heard all this! After all—”
Helena’s white high heels stomped heavily on the floor, making a crisp sound.
“If he has the ability, let him answer me right now why he did it back then! I’d really like him to hear it again!”
‘So complicated…’
Lucia roughly understood.
For the first time, she fully grasped the side story to her favorite childhood fairy tale.
‘So that’s how it was…’
‘It really did sound like the Emperor was in the wrong.’
‘Besides, Helena was pregnant back then, and he still provoked her. What happened to the promises of love?’
Of course, Lucia wouldn’t believe everything at face value. Over the next period, she would instruct Mary to investigate.
But Lucia was already convinced, from Helena’s demeanor, that the facts were largely correct, with maybe some incomplete parts.
‘Hatred and happiness.’
‘The individual and the group.’
‘Sacrifice and preservation.’
‘…Ah.’
‘No… something seemed missing. What was it?’
‘I remember now.’
Lucia’s gaze shifted from the empty teacup to Mia, who sat quietly like a doll, then back to Helena.
“Your Highness the Empress, you’ve said so much. What about Mia? Surely tonight’s conversation wasn’t almost entirely about Imperial affairs, mother-daughter matters, and your marital issues. That has nothing to do with Mia, does it? Did you simply keep Mia as a pet?”