"How was the tea?" she asked her majesty. 

Selena gives a swift smile. "It's very different. Did you brew this yourself, my lady?"

"Yes, I have been learning tea since I left my husband's side, so I am glad you revel in it."

Selena carefully glanced at her and she shifted. "My lady, I came here to hear your own story and the reason for your insistence on a divorce."

The grin adorning Stella's visage gradually dissipates. The notion of the empress taking an interest in this particular matter had never crossed her mind—indeed, it seemed as though no one else cared about it either. She had heard whispers that the empress was prone to fits of madness, and so she remained unsure whether or not her concern was genuine.

Despite the empire's condemnation, she perseveres in her earnest efforts to improve it. The empress has recently suffered the tragic loss of her child and may be unwell as a result, which has led to her being despised by the empire.

Maybe if she didn't induce too much trouble, that is. 

"Err, well, are you sure? This might be a dark story to tell."

Selena smiled and nodded. "Do not worry, it is fine with me."

"To be honest, I do not know where to start, but I will summarize it so you can understand, your majesty."

A story so vile it will start from the very beginning, ‘where her mistake was made?’

“Initially, my father was opposed to my union with Brandon, the eldest son of a count whom I had fallen deeply in love with. Upon learning about his family's background, he fiercely strove to keep us apart. However, ultimately recognizing that he could not alter my convictions, he relinquished his resistance and granted us his blessing.”

It would have been easy to fix the issue, but Stella's father saw her happiness flashing in his eyes and he agreed with her marriage. 

"The initial years of our matrimony were not the most trying, yet I had developed a proclivity for consuming alcoholic beverages which made me less restrained in the presence of other men. In an effort to amend my ways, I relinquished this habit for the sake of my husband and have since abides by this rule.."

Selena blinked. Her ears found the loophole, but she wasn't too sure until everything was uncovered. Drinking without a care is one small loophole and it can be used against her case. 

He could use the drinking obsession to his advantages by acting so pitiful. 

"My husband underwent a transformation one year later, as we frequently quarreled over trivial matters. He began to reveal his true nature, transitioning from verbal abuse to physical violence against me. At that point, I had no option but to tremble in fear. Concurrently, during the same year, I discovered his infidelity with another woman at a seedy alley brothel.."

Abuses? She thought. If this world has advanced technology to determine bruises and record them, they can use this as evidence and it is more compelling than adultery. 

"Last year, I told him about his actions and I desperately wished him to stop but he went mad at me until he suffocate me by the neck, I thought I was going to die so I ran away from home and went to hide in the capital for few days before I agreed to file my first complaint."

That's a serious allegation but looking at how her hand trembles and how she was trembling at the memory she had, this is not a case of truth or lies but it is evidence of the actual pain that was caused by her husband’s abuse.

She's frightened not just by fear but also by being incapable of doing anything. The body of a human is an evidence if one is lying or not, and she's not just a writer, she also learns how to see points of each body’s movement and learn them. 

One famous language is their stiff posture. A storyteller is trying to hide their lies by the flow of their body, so if they are telling the truth, they have a natural reaction and they are comfortable when sharing with the one they have become comfortable with.

That is the reason she converse with her in the middle of their small talk, before she told her about the case and her intentions. When she becomes comfortable with her, Stella talks to her at more ease.

Besides, the main point of her visit is to hear her side of the story. She's not a lawyer, but a judge. She needed more information about the case before she foresaw her judgment.

"Was there any evidence in the documents you have submitted?"

The lady shook his head in silence. 

"How about fresh bruises?"

"Nothing, your majesty, all of my wounds have healed."

She looks at her, and then she gives a long silence. It’s true that she accused her husband of abuse, but there's no evidence to support her accusations. If there's evidence, she can have a higher chance of winning the trial but her chances are neither as of the moment.

Besides, abuse? Evidence of abuse is very unlikely in this era. The only evidence that can support her claim is through witnesses and other objects seen or used against her. Scars are acceptable, but wounds heal faster.

Images? That is impossible, since science was not active here. Although there are projectors and magic devices designed by magicians themselves, it does not show any images to support her claim. 

Selena carefully nodded after her slow consideration. "May I know the reason you have settled in such a place? I heard that the Grand Duke loves you, his only daughter. I am sure he’s willing to take you back."

Lady Stella looked down. "It would have been the case, but I cannot go back unless my divorce succeeded. I am not allowed, even if my father is pleased to take me back. There are things I must follow to go back, and that is to be unmarried."

Right, the marriage system is so different in the Alvadiz Empire. It's more strict than the rules set to discipline the Imperial Knights. The former empress approved this set of rules for marriage and it stated that a woman who will marry below her family rank can’t go back unless she divorces her husband.

A husband with a wife can't take another woman as a lover, and a concubine is repealed in this empire. That is why the emperor must divorce his wife if he wants to marry another.

Not only that. Women are required to serve their husband, and a man cannot leave his wife unchecked for it may cause infidelity. A single woman is granted, but a married woman is forbidden in so many things. 

The rules were strictly targeting infidelity and abuse. 

She had overlooked this rule then, and that is why the emperor can't even take any lovers, though he didn't love his wife. 

Selena's neck shifted at the painting on display at the wall just beside her. "You have a unique taste," she said.

The lady looked at her majesty and then she followed where she was staring. "It's expensive, indeed," she said, and she chuckled.

"No," she mumbled and smiled. "This is an original piece by Alexder Vecenter. The greatest artist, legend of his own making, a man who paints landscapes of an extraordinary type."

The painting was not wide, and it’s carried out in a landscape size so it almost took an entire wall for it to fit. The painting, an old style oil type of painting, with a detail so unique that the technique looks more like a counterfeit than an original painting.

"How did you know?" the lady asked her majesty.

"He is famous, but what makes his piece different is because he loves making fake counterfeits to hide the hidden message in each of his strokes. Also, it is recognisable because the style of each stroke and pattern has its unique fulfillment when seeing it with your own eyes."

She can also recognize it because of the signature on the painting itself. 

Lady Stella gave a long silence as she was looking at the painting, she seemed somewhat impressed that she can recognize it by simply looking at the painting for a few seconds. 

Not everyone could notice this painting, not even Stella’s father, who often visits. 

She turns around and looks at her majesty. "Indeed, you are talented, your majesty, despite being known for being vile and wicked. Ah! no offense, but you differ from the stories about her majesty’s vile tale."

'That is right.' She can see something others have not seen. The empress is calculative and clever. She could tell by the looks when she was telling her the true story of her married life, her eyes were analyzing her every movement and so she told her the story as she can't simply lie about it.

The empress, on the contrary, has a dilapidated reputation, which is not a good dignity for an empress. Her subjects saw her as grungy, and uneducated empress in name only. However, despite that, she seems to have become different as of late.

Of course, in contrast with the empress' reputation, she was not originally bad. The empress before was a crown princess who lived her life away from her family and kingdom.

She was a foreign princess after all, and many people of the Alvadiz Empire were amazed by her abilities. She was talented, and she learn politics at the young age. Not only that, she’s also known as the empire’s great strategic who has learned ten of the most strenuous language in Baltonia.

Her ability helped hundreds of people and suggested a new law that helps govern the land with more proficiency. She did not just suggest a new law; she could also judge crimes as a court watcher. 

It was ignorance to say the least, but the lady—despite being a foreigner and alone in a land she was not familiar with, she did her best in order to serve the country.