Episode 2 – Exile
“Divorce…”
Celeia swallowed hard.
Even with her husband glaring at her with murderous eyes, her mind felt hazy, clouded with exhaustion and fear.
‘It was never a marriage I wanted anyway.’
The empress had arranged the marriage only to keep Hendrick, the 4th prince, in check.
Because he was born from the emperor’s favored consort, Hendrick was always a threat to the crown prince.
To make sure he didn’t grow more powerful with the backing of his wife’s family, Hendrick was paired with Celeia, whose family branch was weak and declining.
“The empress must’ve gone mad! A girl from a ruined side branch?!”
Hendrick’s mother, Queen Leticia, had screamed and raged when Celeia was chosen.
But in the end, she had no choice but to accept her—for Hendrick’s sake.
“Listen carefully, Lady Tran. I already have someone I love.”
From his youth, Hendrick had loved only one woman: Kastin, the daughter of a palace gardener.
“Don’t expect affection from me. And don’t you dare threaten Kastin. As long as you remember that, you can keep your place as princess consort.”
His black eyes had been cold and harsh when he gave the warning.
Celeia never wanted his heart, or even her position, but she agreed.
She’d never had a choice to begin with.
‘And yet, it’s come to this anyway.’
So when he declared divorce, Celeia only went a little pale.
She wasn’t shocked—maybe just too tired to care anymore.
“That’s right, of course it should be this way!”
A booming voice came from the doorway.
A middle-aged man strode in, agreeing with Hendrick’s words as if it were a great joke.
Celeia recognized him instantly—Guillaume Conrad, Hendrick’s uncle.
Elaine, waiting outside, looked stricken, unable to stop him from barging in.
“Now that His Majesty is emperor, he needs an empress of proper standing at his side.”
Celeia gasped and covered her mouth.
She had guessed it the moment Hendrick walked into the palace alive and in bloodstained armor, but hearing it said aloud confirmed it—Hendrick’s rebellion had succeeded.
The 4th prince, Hendrick Myers Bertan, was now emperor.
“…What about the child?” Celeia asked in a trembling voice.
She had promised Kastin to protect the baby.
‘If she were raised as Hendrick and my official daughter, she could live free of the shame of being illegitimate… That’s all Kastin ever wanted.’
But Hendrick just pushed his bloodstained hair back with a cold sneer.
“That thing that killed its mother is no child of mine. Be glad I don’t strangle it here and now. Get it out of my sight.”
“…What did you just say?” Celeia couldn’t hide her shock.
Grief was one thing—but to deny his own child?
“Your Majesty, she’s still your—”
“Enough! He’s not a prince anymore, but the emperor! Address him properly, Lady Tran!”
Guillaume barked harshly, cutting her off. He even used her maiden name, stripping away her title as if she were already divorced.
Hendrick glanced at her one last time, then swept out of the room without hesitation.
“Hendrick!”
Celeia tried to chase him while holding the baby, but soldiers grabbed her roughly.
She stumbled, curling her body around the infant to protect her.
Elaine rushed in and wrapped her arms around them both.
“Lady Celeia!”
“Tch. Pathetic.”
Guillaume clicked his tongue, glaring at them with contempt.
His snake-like eyes were just like his sister, Queen Leticia’s.
“Best to finalize the divorce before the coronation. As for the child…”
His gaze narrowed, falling on the baby.
Celeia clutched her tighter.
‘They don’t want her. She was born from the wrong womb, and she’ll never be welcome to the new empress either.’
“…Then let me take her, my lord,” Celeia said, voice shaking.
It was the first time she had ever asked for anything since becoming princess consort.
“I’ll raise her as my daughter, not as the emperor’s child. She’ll never claim royal rights.”
“And why should I trust you? That child is a danger simply by existing.”
Celeia’s face hardened.
Guillaume raised his eyebrow at her sudden steel.
“Then what? Will you kill her?” Celeia demanded, covering the baby’s tiny ears with cloth.
She couldn’t let even a whisper of this reach her.
“She’s Kastin’s daughter—the woman His Majesty loved most.
Right now, he may cast her aside out of grief, but if he changes his mind later, and finds out you were the one who killed her… how do you think he’ll look at you then?”
Guillaume grimaced.
He knew his nephew’s volatile, cruel temper too well—even Leticia herself, ruthless as she was, often yielded before Hendrick’s rage.
“…Fine. We’ll do it with a written contract. You’ll get your settlement as well,” he said gruffly, as if tossing her a bone.
“But if you ever go back on your word—”
“Don’t waste your breath.” Celeia cut him off sharply.
Her cold green eyes froze even the hardened marquis in place.
“I don’t want to stay married to a man like that any longer anyway.”
She held the baby tighter. So small, so warm, so fragile in her arms.
Year 682 of the Roengrin Calendar.
While the empire’s armies were sent to fight the Teian Kingdom at the border, rebellion erupted in the capital.
The emperor died, and the crown prince, along with the 2nd and 3rd princes, were slain.
Hendrick Myers Bertan, the 4th prince, butchered his brothers and took the throne as the 23rd emperor of the Tropez Empire.
Princess consort Celeia Bertan, knowing her own weakness, stepped down before she could be crowned empress.
The new emperor “graciously” accepted her request, giving her the borderlands of Cheringen—a barren, useless territory—as her divorce settlement.
Five years later. Year 687.
In Cheringen, the winds began to change.
“The wind’s too strong today,” Celeia muttered seriously.
Elaine, setting down steaming tea on the desk, only shrugged with a wry smile.
“At this rate, every potato sprout will snap the moment it grows.”
“There’s nothing we can do, my lady. The wind is what Cheringen is known for—you can’t stop it.”
Celeia sighed deeply.
Cheringen, the land Hendrick had given her, was barren and hopeless.
Wheat couldn’t even grow there.
Mountains cut it off from other lands, leaving it poor and isolated.
“My lady, you should just accept it. This wasn’t a settlement—it was revenge.”
“…Yes. But there’s something else to worry about.”
Celeia’s eyes dropped to the newspaper on her desk.
The front page blared a single headline:
[Imperial Celebration! Empress Johanna Pregnant After Five Years!]
“So the empress is finally with child. The Duke of Piel must be overjoyed.”
The Duke of Piel, father of the empress, had been Hendrick’s greatest supporter in the rebellion.
He was also the one who had erased every trace of Celeia from the records.
Thanks to him, almost no one remembered that the current lady of Cheringen had once been the emperor’s wife.
Elaine scowled at the paper filled with praise for the imperial family.
“With things like this, Lady Lotte may be in danger. Not many know of her existence—but the most dangerous ones do.”
“The Duke of Piel, Marquis Conrad, and the Dowager Empress Leticia,” Celeia said grimly.
Elaine let out a heavy sigh.
