I Possessed The Immoral Empress

As the laughter filled the ballroom, Valliere felt her mind emptying, her reality seemingly unfathomable.

Then, Leopold, with a gaze of undue kindness, gently covered Valliere’s ears.

“I dislike ignorance as much as I do a crowd laughing at one individual.”

“??”

Was he offering a remedy after causing the ailment? Valliere, unable to fathom Leopold’s contradictory behavior, scowled and glared at him in disbelief.

“Everyone makes mistakes. If you can understand your position and behave accordingly, perhaps we could be friends again.”

With those words and a breathtakingly serene smile, Leopold turned and left the ballroom, aiming to catch up with Ermedeline who had already slipped away amidst the commotion.

Amidst this whirlwind of disgrace and contempt, Valliere realized that she had heard similar advice before.

‘Behave according to your station.’

Yes, these were the very words Henry had once told her.

‘My station? My station?’

Back then, she was the emperor’s mistress, and now… now she was nothing.

She had become utterly insignificant, and it was Leopold who had painfully reminded her of this reality. While feeling a mix of hatred and resentment towards him, she became more fixated on him.

‘Me, nothing? Am I not the protagonist? Isn’t it supposed to end with me becoming the empress?’

She was determined to return to prominence as the main character of this story, and Leopold’s role in that was crucial.

‘Behave submissively… Smile at insults and hold back my words even when right, is that it?’

In her previous life as a corporate heiress, Valliere had always been the one enforcing others’ awareness of their place, never the one adjusting her own behavior.

Desperate and briefly contemplating the unthinkable due to her downfall, she quickly dismissed such thoughts.

‘Go ahead, laugh it all out now.’

She couldn’t afford to die yet; there was too much left to repay.

‘Act submissive? If that’s what it takes, I’ll do it, even if I have to crawl beneath them to crush their smirking faces.’

With a resolve hardened by humiliation, Valliere’s trembling finally ceased.

She walked through the cruel jeers and mockery without a hint of shame, her demeanor unflinchingly poised.

Approaching the hesitating orchestra, she smiled elegantly.

“What are you all doing? Go on, play.”

The musicians exchanged uneasy glances but reluctantly resumed their performance, as if nothing had happened.

“Now, let’s continue the ball despite the little disturbance.”

As the nobles who had expected Valliere to physically lash out at Ermedeline or even slap Leopold found her reaction boring, they quickly lost interest.

“It’s so trivial.”

“What? There was hardly anything to see.”

They began leaving Valliere’s mansion one by one, moving to the lively beats of a waltz.

Eventually, only Valliere and Countess Brienta remained in the now empty mansion.

Despite the empty hall, Valliere maintained her composed smile and calm demeanor.

Observing this, Countess Brienta secretly smirked with a cold smile.

“Just as I thought. Prince Leopold could never have been serious about such a bastard. Now, things will be easier. With the Duke Batistian’s magic circle being genuine, I can complete an even more powerful curse.”

For a moment, a faint purple glow appeared and vanished in her ashen eyes.

Though not officially a member of the Francoise Duchy on paper, the blood of the Francoise ran through her veins.

Due to being a descendant not from her father but from her maternal grandmother, her official status followed her father and husband’s, but undoubtedly, the talent for curse magic inherited from her mother’s line existed within her.

She always felt inferior because she was talented but not acknowledged as a member of the Francoise Duchy.

Her father and husband considered her abilities ominous, so she had hidden them all her life.

But now, the moment to act as a member of her bloodline had arrived.

She knew that beneath Valliere’s thin veneer of composure lay a soul on the verge of completely rotting away.

“Yes. Despair more, rage more. That will make you a better ingredient.”

Countess Brienta approached Valliere with a compassionate smile while barely maintaining her composure.

“You needn’t worry about people’s reactions. This ball was more beautiful than any I have ever seen. This time it was disrupted because of the sudden appearance of Her Majesty the Empress, but next time, we will host the perfect ball.”

“Next time?”

“Yes. Having witnessed such a splendid sight, the nobles will surely respond to the next invitation. Of course, next time, we’ll make sure not to send an invitation to Her Majesty the Empress.”

“Yes, if only that woman hadn’t appeared, it wouldn’t have come to this…”

Valliere began planning the next ball while listening to Countess Brienta’s comforting words.

“Today, I’ll show those who ignored me what a real party is.”

***

Meanwhile, Leopold ran frantically around the alleys near the mansion.

He soon caught up with Ermedeline, who had not taken a carriage and hadn’t gotten far.

“Your Majesty the Empress. Huff… Huff…”

Leopold was so out of breath from running that he had to support himself on his knees.

Unsure they’d achieve their goal after the unexpected disturbance, Ermedeline signaled Felio and Arvian with her eyes.

The two positioned themselves at the end of the alley to keep watch.

Felio, whose silver eyes sharpened, had previously clashed with Langen, who only returned his gaze with a relaxed smile.

“I was hoping to meet you anyway, so this worked out well.”

Leopold’s demeanor straightened instantly as color returned to his face at Ermedeline’s words.

“Really?”

“Yes. I have something urgent to discuss with you.”

“Please, speak! Say anything!”

Pleased, Leopold placed a hand over his heart and bowed respectfully to Ermedeline. However, her next words plunged his spirits back to the ground.

“Our relationship has already ended.”

“!”

“Please do whatever it takes for Ferdant. But do not do it for me.”

“What do you mean…?”

“Wasn’t our connection severed seven years ago…?”

“Is it because of that guy?”

Leopold pointed to Felio standing at the end of the alley, cutting off Ermedeline’s words.

Ermedeline, with a determined look, firmly denied any desire to drag Felio or anyone else into her dreadful fate.

“I’m tired. Tired of living for others, tired of being used by others. I just want to live as Ermedeline, not as someone’s tool.”

“There’s no need for that! I can, I can be your Leopold. My soul and body are already yours!”

Ermedeline’s heart ached as she saw Leopold’s sharp, glamorous eyes moisten and droop, but she steeled her heart, knowing how unkind it was to leave any hope lingering.

“Even if you become the Emperor of Trivian, I will never be the Empress again.”

“Emperor? Empress? Do you think I came back for such trivial reasons?”

“Well, I haven’t seen you in seven years. How could I possibly know what you’re thinking?”

Seeing Ermedeline’s icy gaze, Leopold almost stumbled into despair but quickly regained his balance. He had been fooled by this lie once before, seven years ago.

“There’s no need to try to understand my intentions. You will see my sincerity soon enough. If you wish, I can conquer not only Trivian but the entire continent and lay it at your feet.”

‘What?’

Ermedeline intuitively felt something was off as she looked down at Leopold, who suddenly knelt and swore to give her Trivian.

“No, I mean… I don’t need Trivian or the empire. Just to live safely with Ferdant would be…”

“Henry alone.”

“?

Leopold interrupted Ermedeline, lifting his beautiful eyes filled with passion and longing.

“If we remove Henry, who intends to use and discard Your Majesty, you can live that way. If you don’t want Trivian, we can just give it to someone else who does, right?”

“What?”

Leopold made this astonishing declaration with a refreshingly cheerful smile.

For a moment, Ermedeline found his smile so enchanting that she almost reached out to caress his cheek.

‘Ack! Snap out of it! Why are all the men here so handsome? It’s enough to spark feelings that weren’t even there before!’

“No, that is… I mean… for me… to go to such lengths…”

Caught off guard by Leopold’s flirtatious advance, Ermedeline stammered as Leopold took her hand and gently kissed the back of it.

“For you, I would not spare even my life. You deserve that much. This time, I will not give up. I will definitely protect you and Ferdant.”

Having finished his declaration, Leopold looked up at Ermedeline with eyes full of regret and kissed the back of her hand once more before rising and leaving the spot.

Ermedeline stood in the alley, utterly lost as the encounter ended quite opposite to her intentions, unable to even think of pulling back her hand that Leopold’s lips had touched.

“Phew. It’s good that it ended with just twice. If he had kissed my hand one more time, the entire alley would have been ablaze.”

Arvian, watching Felio approach Ermedeline with a deadly glare as if he was about to kill anyone he caught, shook his head.

“What the hell is this? What did that guy say? Why is he kneeling before the Empress and kissing her hand?!”

Felio, forgetting they were outside, approached loudly, causing Ermedeline to snap back to reality.

“Ah, well, that’s…”

“What in the world is going on here… ugh!”

“Should we advertise in the newsletter that Her Majesty the Empress is here?”

Arvian quickly covered Felio’s mouth, helping him realize that he had been too loud.

Arvian knew that Leopold was Ferdant’s father and that currently, he had no romantic relationship with Ermedeline, so the situation didn’t really affect him. However, to Felio, unaware of these details, it seemed like a formidable rival had appeared.

“Phew.”

Felio sighed deeply after removing Arvian’s hand.

Although he could not pinpoint why Leopold suddenly seemed so fixated on Ermedeline, having no apparent connection with her, a man’s instinct had sent alarm bells ringing through him at that moment.

That look, the infinitely wistful face Leopold made while looking up at Ermedeline, was certainly not the look of a half-brother or a man towards his enemy’s wife.

Felio, barely controlling his shaking body, asked, “What is the relationship between you two?”