Chapter 31
News that Lia and Kartian would consummate their marriage spread through the Imperial Palace. Because of that, the people of the palace became busy preparing for it.
However, there was not much for them to prepare. The procedures for the consummation had been reduced to the minimum, and in truth, it was not a real consummation but only an act. Because of that, Kartian greatly reduced the number of maids required for the night.
Even so, since this was the first consummation since the Emperor had lost his memories, the people of the palace held a strange sense of expectation.
The situation was not good for the concubine Freya when she heard the news.
After the death of her favored maid, Lina, Freya had been placed under confinement and was unable to step even once outside her room. Hearing news of the Emperor and Empress’s consummation in such a state was like a bolt from the blue.
There had been times before when the Emperor had consummated his marriage with the Empress, but she had never felt as uneasy or displeased as she did now.
Back then, she knew that even if the Emperor consummated the marriage with the Empress, it was nothing more than a formality. She knew her own position would not be shaken by it.
But this time was different.
She was already in a dangerous position because of the Emperor’s change of heart. If, in a situation like this, the Empress became pregnant because of the consummation, Freya’s fate was obvious even without seeing it.
Because of that anxiety, Freya could not calm herself.
She needed some way to prevent the Emperor and Empress from consummating their marriage.
If Lina were still alive, she would not have needed to step in herself. With just a single hint, Lina could have guided the situation in the direction Freya wanted.
Freya was not sad about Lina’s death.
She only felt disappointment.
In front of the Emperor and Empress, she had acted as if she were wounded and grieving over the death of a maid. But to Freya, Lina had been nothing more than a tool—a means to an end.
If things had succeeded properly back then, it could have become an opportunity to drive a wedge between the two.
The Emperor trusting the Empress too much, and the maid’s clumsy actions, had both been beyond Freya’s expectations.
Now, Freya no longer had many means she could use. Still, she had no intention of doing nothing.
Although she had lost most of the maids and noble ladies who had supported her, they were not all she had.
The position she had built up until now would not collapse over something so small.
If possible, she would have liked to completely remove the Empress, that thorn in her eye—but that was too much to hope for.
She was a woman who was irritating just by existing. Even if the Empress had not done anything harmful to her, the mere fact that she occupied the Empress’s position was enough to displease Freya. That was why she had hidden her true feelings and subtly provoked her, trying to draw a reaction from her.
And until the Emperor lost his memories, it had been extremely effective.
Everything had gone exactly as Freya wanted.
The foolish Emperor knew nothing. He always took Freya’s side and tightened his grip around the Empress even more.
Without knowing that all of it had been Freya’s doing.
Of course, it could not have been otherwise. She had made him that way.
The Emperor did not know it, but Freya had constantly manipulated him. She had prevented him from making proper judgments.
“I really can’t stand it.”
Freya bit down hard on her lip.
How much effort had she put into winning the Emperor’s heart? What had she done to reach that position?
She disliked the Empress’s changed attitude, and she disliked her image as well. As time passed, the Empress’s reputation was steadily improving.
At this rate, it felt as if all the effort Freya had put in until now would turn to nothing.
“I will take it back,” she muttered. “I will never retreat like this.”
