Apollonia bit her lips to the point where they started to bleed. She couldn’t think of another way to stop herself from screaming after witnessing her mother’s death. She still couldn’t move for a while after Gaius left the room. Her mother’s final moments were on loop inside her mind. The way Elenia had mouthed at her to run away after noticing her presence was still vivid.

Now, she would never open her eyes again. Apollonia couldn’t bear to go near her body.

“Grandfather…”

She suddenly had another terrifying thought as she trembled in fear.

“That doesn’t mean you and your father can escape death.”

Her father’s words were still as clear as day. Apollonia forced herself to move as her legs trembled and headed straight for the emperor’s palace. She didn’t see any servants as she left the princess’ palace, which helped her leave without anyone noticing, but she wasn’t a bit happy about it. That only meant that there was no one nearby to call a physician when the princess collapsed. It was obvious that her father had been planning this for a long time.

‘I have to stop him.’

Her mother’s death and her father’s betrayal were both so terribly shocking to her that she couldn’t even stand still, but her legs moved on their own.

Apollonia was the next empress, born and raised in the imperial family, and she was one of them no matter if she lived or died. She never put any meaning into her father’s blood flowing in her own body.

‘I have to tell Grandfather to punish that traitor.’

She kept running as she left the princess’ palace and the beautiful garden, which she didn’t care to look at today, passing the flowers and trees as she scrambled towards the emperor’s palace.

“Grandfather!”

She ran with all her might to reach the emperor’s bedchamber, however…

“Cough!”

…when she arrived, she saw Pascal III throwing up blood just as her mother did.

“I’ll call a physician!”

“I-it’s too late, I wasn’t careful enough.”

The emperor gestured to Apollonia, signaling her to come over to him like he already knew what had happened. Her father really seemed to have planned and waited for that very day seeing as there was no one guarding the door.

Apollonia slowly went over to her grandfather as he died and held his hand. He had once fought and led an army with those same hands, but they were now weak and shaking.

“Listen carefully… the throne is definitely… cough!”

He tried to continue his sentence as he held Apollonia’s pale hand, but the flames in his dull golden-red eyes were barely burning as they died out. Undeterred, he pulled her close and whispered in her ear.

“In the most… perilous… out of reach… or suspect… of anyone—gasp—I concealed a piece of the empire… at its heart… cough!”

Apollonia started tearing up. Her grandfather was testing her until the very end.

“The throne… Wait-wait for the opportunity…”

“Grandfather!”

He took a deep breath. While he could barely open his eyes, he used the last of his strength to say his final words.

“…Reclaim it.”

“N-no! Grandfather!”

Pascal III was getting weaker by the second no matter how much she cried out. He looked at her sadly with his eyes half-closed and eventually took his final breath.

“Gr-grandfather……”

Pascal III didn’t answer, and he would never be able to answer again. Apollonia bit her lip again as she tried not to cry. Pascal III hated those who were weak after all. She carefully let go of his hand and closed his hollow eyes.

“The throne… Wait-wait for the opportunity…”

His voice kept echoing in her head as she quietly left the former emperor’s bedchamber.

“Reclaim it.”

The emperor’s last words were engraved in her mind.

* * *

Seven years later.

“Say hello.”

Having followed Perris into the banquet hall, the sixteen-year-old Apollonia was called to greet five women who looked only slightly older than her.

“They will stay in imperial court from now on, so pay your respects.”

Gaius Liepherr had refused to eat anything and cried in grief at the funeral of Pascal III and Elenia seven years ago. Everyone was worried about his health, but they also talked about how he and the princess were so happy together.

“I heard they met in the Liepherr estate. It was like fate.”

“It was love at first sight, but she met him in secret in case His Majesty would lose his temper. It is said that she returned to the palace after a long time ,even after givig birth to Prince Perris. Such a romantic story.”

“She was worried for nothing. After all, His Majesty cared for his son-in-law.”

“It’s really a shame. Now that His Majesty and her Highness passed together, what are we going to do about the son-in-law and his children?”

The emperor had thought of Gaius as his own son and cared for him as much as his daughter loved him. Gaius was the head of an ordinary family of warriors, but achieved countless feats in war and became a trustworthy commander. He and Elenia made a happy family, and that happiness lasted until she and the emperor died of a mysterious disease.

“Oh dear, he hasn’t eaten for days and is still crying!”

People felt pity for Gaius as he kept wearing black and cried out Elenia’s name. When they saw the strong soldier with beautiful golden eyes cave in because of love, it was enough for him to win the hearts of the entire nation. However, things started to flow in a strange direction after the funeral.

“As the only adult in the palace, I shall protect the empire.”

As soon as the funeral was over, Gaius took the throne himself with the reason that his children were still too young. Nobody thought it was too strange since it was only temporary. It was true that there weren’t many other choices until a direct heir came of age.

However, Gaius quickly got over his sadness and quickly reconstructed the empire to his own tastes, rebuilding the palace and replacing all the people in important posts. After seven years passed and his people filled up all major posts, he did something that surprised everyone.

“An emperor cannot be alone.”

He brought in a concubine.

Monogamy was the law in the Samara Empire, but the emperor was allowed to have concubines. That was allowed in order to build better relationships with other kingdoms through political marriage.

However, being not of imperial descent and being only a temporary emperor, this was supposed to be totally irrelevant to Gaius.

Who could possibly imagine that the he, who ascended to the throne as the prince consort, would bring another woman to be by his side?

Contrary to everyone’s expectations, however, Gaius ignored the objections from the vassals and brought in five concubines at once. He even gave all five of them an unbelievable number of dresses, gold, and jewels as gifts to welcome them into the palace.

“How could you bring these women in to be with you when you’re not of imperial descent, Your Majesty?”

“Could those concubines really be considered part of the imperial family?”

The vassals and citizens alike opposed the idea and even some of kings of nearby kingdoms looked like they were going to declare war using that as an excuse. However, Gaius didn’t even bat an eyelid. He killed or suppressed those who defied him and made his family take their places. Now, there was no one in the palace to defy him, so he held a banquet to welcome the five beautiful women.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty!” exclaimed the emperor’s brother-in-law, Duke Louis Liepherr as he raised his glass in the air.

He was just a plain viscount, but after he married Gaius’s younger sister, Petra Liepherr, he threw away his family name and became head of his in-law’s family.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty!”

All of the other guests shouted out with him and enjoyed the banquet as they ate and drank.

Apollonia wore a plain dark-blue dress that didn’t stand out and was planning to hide in a corner of the hall with an atttendant, only leaving once she had been there for as long as she needed. That was until she met one of the imperial concubines, who came to get some wine.

“Oh my! Please be careful!”

Catherine Roenheim tossed her bright reddish-brown hair and called out to Apollonia in a flustered voice.

“I almost got wine on my dress.”

She was a low-class noble, and the first woman whom Gaius proposed to. That made her even more arrogant, and she was quietly trying to keep all of the other imperial concubines in check so she could have a prominent position in the long run.

‘Wouldn’t the first imperial concubine be the mistress of the palace if there is no empress consort?’

It had been ten days since she came to the palace and all the other concubines seemed to have understood the situation and took a steps back. So, Catherine Roenheim was looking for her next victim to enforce her status on.

Since she was now of high status, she wanted someone worth winning over, but someone who was also easy to deal with so she could do anything she wanted, preferably another woman. That was exactly whom she was looking for.

“Princess Nia.”

That was when Apollonia, the young, nonexistent princess that had fallen behind her brother and was ignored by the emperor, caught her eye. She always looked plain when she could look beautiful if she put makeup on, and she was so timid and weak because of her ambiguous status.

That was just perfect.