RYEHCE | Ch 11

Episode 11

“Why aren’t you asleep?”

“I heard someone arriving.”

Lotte stood in front of the door, fidgeting with her fingers.

Under her frilly lace pajamas, her little feet were bare.

“Mom, you need to go greet the guest, don’t you?”

Celeia wasn’t sure how much her daughter really understood about the situation.

But she knew one thing: whenever a carriage showed up this late at night, there was only one thing Lotte was supposed to do.

“Yes, Lotte. I’ll take you to Vera.”

Celeia smiled like it was nothing and reached out her hand.

Lotte hesitated for a moment, then slowly placed her small, warm hand in her mother’s.

Holding her daughter close, Celeia began walking.

“My lady.”

Just then, Vera came toward them—she too had woken up because of the visitor’s arrival.

“Vera, take care of Lotte.”

“Yes, don’t worry.”

Leaving Lotte in Vera’s care, Celeia headed to the front hall with Elaine.

Someone was already there, waiting.

“…”

It was Haider.

Without sparing Celeia or Elaine even a glance, he pushed open the front doors.

Elaine glared at him with open hostility, but it was pointless.

“You lot still live so miserably,” he muttered. Still, no one could stop the guest who had arrived.

“…Greetings to His Imperial Majesty.”

Celeia, Elaine, and Haider all bowed deeply.

The Emperor, Hendrick, glanced at them with a bored expression and walked straight inside as if he owned the place.

He headed naturally toward the drawing room, like he’d done it many times before.

As Celeia moved to follow, someone shoved a gift box in front of her.

“His Majesty has bestowed this upon you.”

A hooded man murmured.

Before Celeia could even take it, Elaine snatched it away.

“I’ll take care of this.”

The hooded man looked ready to argue, but Hendrick’s sharp voice cut him off.

“Why are you dawdling? Hurry up and follow me.”

Celeia had no choice but to go quickly, leaving the man behind.

He looked displeased but didn’t stop her—no one could approach Hendrick when he was here except Celeia.

“It’s been four months, hasn’t it? Since I spent the winter at the villa.”

Hendrick dropped himself onto a one-seater sofa, legs crossed.

Was it a year since she had come down to Cheringen? Or even earlier? Either way, he had started visiting regularly.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Celeia answered politely.

As usual, it was just the two of them in the room.

“Every time I go, the villa feels duller. I should probably look for a new place.”

Hendrick muttered lazily, then gestured with his hand.

Celeia instantly understood and poured wine into his glass.

He accepted it, swirling the red liquid slowly, while his eyes lingered on her with a strange expression.

“Have you heard? Johanna is pregnant.”

Johanna Piel Bertan—the daughter of Duke Piel, Hendrick’s second wife, and now the Empress.

“I read it in the papers. Congratulations, Your Majesty.”

Celeia replied smoothly, not showing even a flicker of emotion.

“I thought she was barren. Finally, after all these years… I endured it because she’s the Duke’s daughter.”

His voice carried irritation, but after drinking a sip, the tension in his brows eased.

“To celebrate, I gave the Duke a gift.”

Celeia looked at him with faint puzzlement.

Hendrick smirked at her innocence.

“The Brett family.”

“…The Bretts?”

She recalled faintly—they were the family stripped of their title and lands after being blamed for the attack on the Teian Kingdom envoy.

“The Duke always wanted their land in the Rhineland. Good for vineyards, they say.”

‘So he caused all those deaths… just for wine?’

If Teian demanded retribution, the Empire would have no excuse.

Hendrick knew that. He had taken the gamble anyway.

Celeia bit the inside of her lip to stop herself from sighing.

Her silence must not have been the reaction Hendrick wanted, because his eyes narrowed.

Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist tightly.

The force was like claws. She barely kept herself from gasping.

“Be honest. As someone raising a child who isn’t legitimate royalty—do you really feel happy about the Empress’s pregnancy?”

His eyes gleamed with cruelty as he searched her face.

Celeia met his gaze squarely and answered without hesitation:

“Yes. I truly am. As a citizen of the Empire, it’s natural to celebrate the strengthening of its succession.”

“Liar.”

He sneered, releasing her wrist roughly.

She pulled her aching hand back quickly.

“How’s the child?”

There was only one child he could mean—Lotte.

At his question, Celeia’s calm mask faltered just slightly before returning to place.

“She’s well. Just an ordinary girl. A little slow to talk, and she’s not good with numbers.”

It was a lie. Lotte was far brighter than most children her age.

“Slow to talk? Pathetic. She must not take after me, then. Kastin was pretty but stupid, too.”

He sneered cruelly, mocking the woman he once wept over.

The man who once grieved for his lost love was gone.

Now, only a cold, arrogant tyrant sat before her.

Hendrick glanced at her again, unreadable as always, then set his glass down.

“It must be hard, raising her out here in this wasteland. If it’s too much, I can buy you a house in the capital. Just say the word.”

“….”

“You can leave a steward to manage this land.”

He leaned forward, speaking like he expected her to accept.

“No, thank you. I prefer it here. I’m used to it now.”

Her reply was calm, not cold—but his face instantly darkened with annoyance.

“Used to it? To this filthy, beggar’s life? You’ve really grown into it!”

He let out a bitter laugh, then exploded with rage, leaping to his feet.

“That’s why you were never fit to sit beside me! Your pathetic family was the same—trash! The fact I was ever tied to such scum is humiliating!”

His temper flared without warning. Celeia flinched, startled, as he snatched the wine bottle from her hands and drank straight from it.

“Damn it, there’s nothing in this world I like anymore…”

Wine dripped from his lips, which he wiped away roughly with the back of his hand.

His eyes were glazed now, drunken anger taking over.

“The only place I ever found comfort was in Kastin’s arms.”

Celeia stayed silent.

Hendrick suddenly grabbed both her shoulders.

“You—and that brat you saved—ruined everything! Do you hear me?”

“Ahh—!”

Compared to his size, her body was too small.

Even his slight push made her stumble, nearly collapsing.

Dizzy, she managed to steady herself and lifted her head—

Only to lock eyes through the crack of the slightly open door.

“…!”
Two startled gazes met in silence.

It was Raska.

Celeia instinctively shook her head at him.

For some reason, she thought he was about to storm in and pull Hendrick off her.

‘That can’t be…’

There was no reason for him to.

Yet, that was the feeling she couldn’t shake.