I Possessed The Immoral Empress

Three days after the incident, Ermedeline finally managed to open her eyes.

Her skin, which had been so badly burned that it was impossible to open her eyes, had healed, but the more serious issue was her internal injuries.

Ermedeline had some immunity to curse magic, but she had no resistance to natural magic, which is why her recovery was slow.

The flow of magic, which had been tangled due to the collision of spells, finally began to stabilize, allowing Ermedeline to regain consciousness.

‘Is this still a dream?’

Over the three days, Ermedeline had countless dreams.

So many that she couldn’t possibly count them all.

In her dreams, whenever she opened her eyes, Felio was always kneeling beside her bed, looking up at her with those sacred, moist eyes, just as he had done once in the Francoise Duchy.

Her first words in the dream were always the same.

“Let’s go. Let’s go far away. To the countryside, anywhere.”

Then, Felio, without answering, would quietly bury his face in Ermedeline’s hand and nod.

And then she would fall asleep again, only to wake up to the same dream repeated.

Realizing she was trapped in an endless dream, Ermedeline stopped saying they should leave.

After all, if it was just a dream, she wanted to take in the scene as much as possible.

Out of curiosity, she turned her head to check beside her, but Felio was not there.

Only Rooney, whose face had turned the color of dirt, was nodding off.

Seeing Rooney’s head bob up and down, Ermedeline finally realized she had woken from her long sleep.

A small smile.

The scene before her wasn’t what she had expected in her dreams, but it wasn’t too bad either.

Rooney, with her eyes swollen from crying and her lips cracked and bleeding, holding a wet towel in her hand.

At that moment, Ermedeline remembered that, besides Felio, there were other precious people she had to protect.

“Ah, ah, ah! Her Majesty the Empressssss!”

Crash!

Margo, who had come into Ermedeline’s bedroom with lukewarm water in a basin, was the first to notice Ermedeline had opened her eyes.

“What, what?”

Startled by Margo’s scream, Rooney quickly came to her senses.

“Ah! Her Majesty the Empress! Ahhhhh!”

Rooney let out a cry that was hard to tell whether it was one of joy or despair, shaking both hands.

Watching the two maids kneel by the bed and weep, Ermedeline quietly exerted strength in her hand.

She had no energy to move even her eyelids freely, but curiously, her hand moved as she willed it to.

She gently stroked Rooney and Margo’s hair in turn.

The soft hair of the girls always made her feel at ease.

Soon, Arvian and Louise burst into the bedroom.

“Her Majesty the Empress!”

Louise, too, apparently worried, screamed and collapsed on the spot.

‘Ugh. Why does everyone scream when they see me? Did I wake up too soon?’

Ermedeline grumbled inwardly while regaining her composure, only to see Arvian looking down at her with an expressionless face.

‘Ah, there’s someone who isn’t screaming! But why does he look so glum? Does he dislike that I’ve woken up?’

Ermedeline blinked deliberately, looking up at Arvian.

Seeing her gesture, Arvian pouted his lips, shook his head, and left the bedroom.

‘What’s with him? Everyone’s been screaming as if I’ve become some idol, but he just killed the mood.’

Ermedeline had seen Arvian’s eyes were swollen red, sparking another whimsical complaint.

Meanwhile, after making eye contact with Ermedeline and going to the living room, Arvian staggered and slumped into a chair.

‘What’s with her, really?’

It was incomprehensible to him.

Despite enduring such a terrible ordeal at the completion ceremony of the orphanage he had funded, Ermedeline’s soul shone with a gentle pink light throughout her dreams.

Arvian had expected her soul to be enveloped in dark hues of vengeance or hatred, but whatever dreams she had, her soul remained peaceful.

He thought it would be different when she woke up.

When the memories of that horrendous pain flooded back, he believed her soul would turn a deep, dark red.

But Ermedeline’s soul, even after waking up three days later, was the same as ever.

Just clear and white.

Seeing her so comfortable made Arvian, who was about to seek vengeance, feel empty.

He had spent the last three days thinking about how to torture the culprit. Yet, the victim herself was in such a calm state.

Arvian was simultaneously disillusioned and saddened by Ermedeline’s inexplicable condition.

Even as she spoke of wanting to live, she always kept the possibility of her death in mind.

She calmly accepted the situation where many hated and wanted to kill her for crimes she didn’t commit.

Sometimes, he felt foolish for getting angry on his own while listening to her stories.

‘Is this not originally my world?’

‘Am I not supposed to covet what isn’t mine?’

‘What? What kind of nonsense is that?’

Sitting quietly and thinking made Arvian’s temper flare again, and he suddenly stood up and opened the door to the bedroom.

“Who is it? Does anyone have any idea?”

“Uh?”

“Let’s take our revenge! Find out who it is! Let’s make them pay, even more terribly than what they did to us!!”

“Sigh.”

Ermedeline sighed softly, seeing the anger and frustration on Arvian’s small, white face.

“Please, calm down…”

“How can I be calm? Do you see what happened to Her Majesty? Why aren’t you angry! Why?!”

The maids and Louise were bewildered by Arvian’s sudden outburst, not understanding why he was so angry, but for Arvian, it was infuriating.

Even in such a situation, Ermedeline’s soul remained unchanged.

“I am angry. I am furious, but I don’t even have the energy to express it right now. So please, stop shouting and calm down.”

Ermedeline, wanting to stop Arvian before he completely lost his composure, struggled to lift her hand and waved it up and down.

It was a gesture for him to calm down.

“Huff!”

Finally aware that there were other people in the bedroom, Arvian let out a rough breath and slumped onto a nearby chair.

“Priest Arvian, please calm down. Her Majesty has just awakened; how could she possibly be in her right mind?”

‘Hmph. Of course, she’s out of her mind. She must be so disappointed after dreaming in pink hues all this time.’

It was clear what kind of dreams she had.

Who else would appear in those pink dreams?

Arvian’s anger was partly due to frustration with Ermedeline’s peaceful demeanor, but also because, amidst all this, it irked him that Ermedeline dreamed of Felio and those pink dreams rather than feelings of hatred or vengeance.

‘That pathetic man just sat there dumbly! And I was the one who poured my wealth into saving her!’

Arvian was caught in a somewhat childish jealousy, puffing in anger when Ermedeline’s thin voice reached him.

“Priest Arvian.”

“?”

Arvian didn’t respond but turned his head to look at Ermedeline.

With a smirk.

Making eye contact with Arvian, Ermedeline, after calling him, smiled without saying anything else.

Arvian recognized that smile. It wasn’t the manufactured smile of Empress Ermedeline but the genuine smile of human Yoon Hyeyoung.

‘Tch! Laughing now? Does she think everything’s resolved with a laugh?’

As Arvian pouted and grumbled to himself, Felio and Henry burst in together, having apparently heard the news and come together.

“Empress!!”

Contrary to Ermedeline’s expectation, it was Henry who screamed and rushed toward her.

“Have you awakened? Are you conscious?”

Nod, nod.

Seeing Ermedeline’s nods, Henry immediately looked at Priest Louise.

“How is she?”

“It seems her internal injuries have almost healed.”

“Phew. That’s good.”

From Henry’s perspective, losing Ermedeline now was unthinkable.

Whoever the assassin was, they chose the worst possible timing.

Ermedeline was supposed to die bearing all the responsibility for the food shortage caused by the polluted Brunnian Region, the disappearance cases, and the bastard wars.

With the accelerating food shortage causing unrest among the populace and Leopold’s political maneuvers causing even the nobles to waver, Ermedeline couldn’t die like this.

She couldn’t die as a victim at the completion ceremony of the orphanage she funded.

She was supposed to die bearing all responsibility, burned at the stake in front of all the capital’s populace in a lawful procedure.

After exchanging a few more words with Ermedeline, Henry left her bedroom.

Arvian observed the emperor’s retreating figure with a meaningful gaze.

Between the dark red of anger and hatred, glimpses of vivid purple fear and the dull gray of compassion were visible.

Henry thought to himself:

The empress, destined to die, fortunately, her death would be most advantageous for him.

The assassins, who dared to kill the empress in front of the emperor, would be hunted down for evidence, and, as before, a price would be exacted.

But deep inside Henry, there still lingered an unfathomable fear and a small amount of compassion, not for Ermedeline, but rather a self-directed compassion.

Henry steeled his heart against his own growing weakness.

An emperor must be iron-hearted, devoid of human emotion.

“I’ve decided on Valliere’s fate.”

Henry’s cold statement made Count Hallstein internally rejoice over the end of their long-standing connection, though outwardly he bowed respectfully.

“Will you issue the order directly?”

“Yes. Have her brought to my office.”

After the noisy earring theft incident, Henry had not sought out Valliere even once.

***

Valliere was curious about how the maids would be dealt with but couldn’t inquire, especially since a major incident like the attempt on the empress’s life had occurred.

Hearing the news, Valliere was annoyed that Ermedeline had survived again, but found solace in the maids’ tales of her immense suffering.

‘She keeps coming back only to suffer more. Could the original story’s ending change that easily?’

Valliere mechanically observed the new maids, imagining the maids who had called her a witch having their wrists cut off.

‘Yes. How dare they call me a witch? The real witch is that woman who was burnt black and thrown onto the streets!’

If there was one complaint, it was that she hadn’t heard Ermedeline’s agony-filled groans as she burned completely black.

‘No matter how kind she acts towards me, constructing orphanages, and doing sewer projects as a show, a villain remains a villain. It’s all a meaningless struggle. Your fate is to become a handful of ashes at the stake!’

Valliere was pleased that so many people wanted the witch dead without her having to lift a finger, patiently waiting for Henry’s summons.

After three days, the call from Henry finally came.

“His Majesty has ordered Marchioness Valliere to visit his office.”

‘Finally!’

Valliere sprang up, checked her appearance in the mirror, and adjusted her attire.

The three-quarter sleeves showing her scarred wrists and the square neckline emphasizing her slender neck.

With teary eyes added to the mix, Henry would surely be unable to hold back his anger.

‘Hehe. Maybe I’ll get to see those despicable maids executed in person? I should make sure to cry easily.’

Blissfully unaware of her impending fate, Valli