Synopsis and Starting Chapter Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90 - Light And Shadow>
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112 - The Morning Comes>
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118 - After The Storm
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132 -
Chapter 133
Chapter 134 - Epilogue 1.3
Chapter 135 - Epilogue 2.1: Traces Of Life
Chapter 136
Chapter 137 - Epilogue 2.3
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141 - Epilogue 4.1: Ever After>
Chapter 142 - Epilogue 4.2
Chapter 143 - Epilogue 4.3
Chapter 144 - Epilogue 5.1>
Chapter 145 - Epilogue 5.2
Chapter 146 - The Most Romantic Weekend>
Chapter 147 - Short Stories 1.2
Chapter 148 -
Chapter 149 -
Chapter 150 -
Chapter 151 -
Chapter 152 -
Chapter 153 -
Chapter 154 - Short Stories 3.1: Unexpected Things Happen>
Chapter 155 - Short Stories 3.2>
Chapter 156 -
Chapter 157 -
Chapter 158 -
Chapter 159 -
Chapter 160 -
Chapter 161 - Short Stories 5.1: The Man Behind The Mask>
Chapter 162
Chapter 163
Chapter 164 -
Chapter 165 -
Chapter 166
Chapter 167 - Short Stories 6.2
Chapter 168 - Short Stories 6.3
Chapter 169
Chapter 170
Chapter 171
Chapter 172
Chapter 173
Chapter 174
Chapter 175
Chapter 176
Chapter 177
Chapter 178
Chapter 179
Chapter 180
Chapter 181
Chapter 182
Chapter 183
Chapter 184
Chapter 185
Chapter 186
Chapter 187
Chapter 188
Chapter 189 (End)
Categories Genre: All, Completed, Fantasy Status: Completed ______
Total Chapters in book: 189
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
______
LIST OF LAST 10 CHAPTERS:
Page No. 189 Page No. 188 Page No. 187 Page No. 186 Page No. 185 Page No. 184 Page No. 183 Page No. 182 Page No. 181 Page No. 180 Page No. 179 Chapter 44
Chapter 44:
Lisbeth’s hands trembled visibly. She couldn’t hide the fact that her eyes were quickly filling up with tears. The dowager empress was watching the emperor and I with annoyance when she noticed Lisbeth.
The dowager empress looked at her with interest.
Then suddenly, a commotion was heard from outside the reception room.
Crash!
I heard something breaking sharply.
What’s happening?
The noise became louder.
“Nooooo! My Cuuup!”
“… a!”
“Plea…. calm d…!”
“The dowa… is…!”
I couldn’t hear clearly, but I did hear a young child crying.
“No!”
The emperor and I looked at each other in confusion. When I turned around, I noticed the dowager empress’ face crumpling in anger and frustration.
“M, mother!”
The child outside was crying out desperately. It was clear the dowager empress’s daughter was outside.
What I found most disturbing was the fact that her own child was crying out for her, yet the dowager empress looked annoyed.
It was such a cruel expression I almost screamed in shock.
The dowager empress ordered sharply, “What are the maids and the nannies doing!? Can’t they even take care of one child!?”
At her anger, the maids bowed apologetically. None of the maids seemed surprised at how the dowager empress was reacting to her own child’s distress.
The dowager empress said coldly, “Make it go away!”
I could still hear the child crying. Any mother would feel heartbroken hearing a child’s suffering, but not the dowager empress.
“Yes, your highness.”
One of the maids bowed and quickly walked towards the door. When she opened it, something unexpected happened.
A small girl about seven or eight stormed in before anyone could stop her. Her hair was beautifully red, just like her mother’s.
When she entered the room, the child looked around and brightened after spotting the dowager empress. She ran towards her mother.
The little girl grabbed onto the dowager empress’s yellow dress and looked up with tear-filled eyes.
“Mother!” The child explained, “I brought a cup of raspberry juice for you… But I dropped it and broke the cup. It was so delicious…! I brought it for you because sis said you like raspberries!”
The child’s hopeful face clearly wanted to be either praised or consoled by her mother, but when she saw the dowager empress’s face, she became pale with fear.
I felt cold. The maids were watching nervously at the mother and the daughter.
The dowager empress was looking down at her own child as if she was looking at an annoying bug. She looked resentful at her daughter.
The dowager empress raised her hand. And…
SLAP!
She pushed her daughter away angrily.
The little girl fell backward on her butt. She looked up at her mother and finally started to cry.
The dowager empress didn’t even blink an eye. She ordered her maids again.
“Get her out of here. Punish the maids and the nannies responsible for this shenanigan.”
“Yes, your highness.”
When the principle maid in waiting waved, the maids from the outside ran inside.
A middle-aged woman who looked like the child’s nanny tried to lift the girl, but the young princess wasn’t quite done yet. As soon as she realized what was happening, the princess stood up quickly and grabbed onto the dowager empress’s dress again.
“MOTHER!”
“Princess!”
“Princess Roselia!”
The maids exclaimed anxiously. The dowager empress looked like she was about to lose it.
This was the first time I had ever seen the dowager empress showing such a strong emotion. She looked hysterical.
She screamed uncontrollably, “Let it go!”
She raised her hand.
Was she going to hit a child? Her own daughter?
Without thinking, my body moved.
The dowager empress’ hand never reached the princess.
“What do you think you are doing, Lady Bina?!”
“…”
I was grabbing onto the dowager empress’ hand in midair. When she screamed at me, I let her hand go slowly and backed away.
Thankfully, the dowager empress didn’t try to slap her daughter again, but unfortunately, her anger was now directed at me.
She looked like she wanted to kill me. I felt goosebumps. I started to sweat in fear.
Perhaps I made a huge mistake.
She accused me in a distant voice.
“Answer me! What do you mean by this?! Who gave you the right to stop me when I am about to reprimand my own daughter?”
The dowager empress couldn’t seem to calm down.
It was a little strange. This woman has always been collected. She had never shown such an outright emotion before. This was an over-the-top reaction.
This must have been personal. She was yelling at me, but I could see her original source of anger came from her daughter Princess Roselia.
I couldn’t believe it. How could you hate your own daughter so much?
I tried to think of a good answer. I knew that my 21st-century logic wouldn’t work. No one here would understand if I claimed it was wrong to hit a child.
Even in modern Korea, it was difficult to intervene when someone hit his or her own child or spouse.
I had to come up with another reason.
“Please, you need to calm down. It is bad for your health.”
“… What?”
“Extreme anger is not good for your body. And most of all… It may hurt your highness’s baby. Please calm down.”
I tried to look calm. I even smiled. The dowager empress became speechless. She continued to glare at me angrily, but my logic couldn’t be denied.
Thank god!
I smiled again and stepped back. I returned to my husband’s side, who had been acting useless this whole time.
When I glanced at him, he grinned at me. He looked at me like I was his hunting dog who brought him a prey. I hated this guy!
I leaned against him and secretly pinched him hard. His shoulder flinched, but it was of such small movement no one noticed.
I was feeling grateful the dowager empress seemed to be calming down when another red-haired girl ran into the room. The dowager empress frowned again.
“Rose!”
This time, the girl was in her mid-teens. She looked beautiful and resembled the dowager empress greatly except for her eyes.
So the girls I saw on my first day at the castle were here in this room.
The older sister Liliana grabbed her younger sister, who was still sitting on the floor in shock.
“Rose! I told you not to be like this…!”
Princess Liliana couldn’t finish her sentence, because the dowager empress’s sharp words cut her off. It wasn’t directed at me, but it still gave me chills.
“Liliana!”
Princess Liliana trembled as she turned towards the dowager empress. I could see she was genuinely fearful of her own mother. I became speechless at the tragedy of it.
It wasn’t the first time I saw bad mother-daughter relationships. In Korea, I had seen it a few times, but I didn’t expect to see it here.
I was naïve in thinking that. This world valued men over women overtly. Things like this must have happened all the time here. I realized I made a wrong assumption because of what I saw at Aeal. There, Duke and the Duchess treated their only daughter like a treasure.
The dowager empress was abusive towards her eldest daughter. Her shrill voice filled the room.
“How many times have I told you to watch Roselia? You and your sister have shamed me in front of the emperor and his wife!”
“I, I apologize… M… mother…”
“Take her away from here immediately. I will punish you later.”
“Yes, mother…”
Punishment? Really?
I couldn’t believe it.
Liliana bowed to me and the emperor shakily and took her sister out.
“I’m sorry, your highness.”
After the girls left, the dowager empress quickly returned to being herself.
She looked calm and elegant as she apologized, “I’m sorry for my daughters’ rudeness.”
Her smile was scaring me very badly. She patted her belly lovingly.
“…”
“…”
Total Chapters in book: 189
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
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