ICM Chapter 138

He knew only one Lady Majes. A woman who had become his consort by his own choice but was driven out by the Empress Dowager—the deposed Empress Clemen Majes, whom he thought he would never see again in his lifetime.

 

Reading his thoughts, Ashika continued.

 

“It is indeed the person Your Majesty is thinking of. It was also she who brought all these truths to light.”

 

Following surprise, a complex expression appeared on the Emperor’s face.

 

“Cle… no, Lady Majes is here in the palace?”

 

“I had to conceal her name, fearing she might be stopped at the entrance. Please forgive me.”

 

There was no one working in the imperial palace who didn’t know Lady Majes’s name. The tragic deposed Empress who had been driven out twenty years ago. A woman who had once occupied the most noble position but was now forgotten, her very existence unknown.

 

“Ha…”

 

“There are two people who wish to see Your Majesty. I vouch for their identity with Igraine’s name. Will you meet them?”

 

“Not one, but two?”

 

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

 

A smooth and calm voice. There was not the slightest tremor in Ashika’s response.

 

A heavy silence descended. Clemen’s existence was the greatest stain in the Emperor’s lifetime. Evidence of his defeat in the struggle against the Empress Dowager, a symbol of his incompetence.

 

While the Emperor remained silent, Ashika waited. Holding her breath and accepting the gaze that was weighing her, praying that her journey here alone would not be in vain.

 

When the Emperor finally called for an attendant and gave his orders, Ashika quietly exhaled in relief.

 

Until the attendant who had received the command returned, a tense silence settled over the audience chamber. The Emperor endured the silence that felt unusually long, pushing away the questions that arose.

 

When the attendant finally returned, the Emperor’s gaze, which had been rigid all along, stiffly turned toward the door.

 

“I pay my respects to His Majesty, the Sun of the Empire. Clemen of the House of Majes greets you.”

 

“You are…”

 

The Emperor’s eyes widened in astonishment the moment she entered. It was because he discovered the person who followed right behind her.

 

The moment confusion arose on the Emperor’s face, even Ashika, who had known the facts, was surprised and her mouth fell open. She thought she understood why the Emperor’s face seemed familiar.

 

Nile entered the audience chamber without making even the sound of footsteps. For a brief moment, Nile forgot even to observe propriety and stopped. The two people were remarkably similar. The same blue-gray eyes, thin facial features, and even small build.

 

“…That person? Who is that person?”

 

Shock and confusion swept across the aged face like a whirlwind.

 

However, Nile’s expression was difficult to read. It was too cold to call calm, and too undisturbed to consider painful.

 

“I pay my respects to the Sun of the Empire. Brenile of the House of Nedrov greets you.”

 

“Nedrov? House Nedrov…”

 

The confused eyes shook aimlessly. Searching somewhere in his memory, trying to find what he had missed.

 

But he couldn’t remember. The trivial information that a woman who had once been the deposed Empress’s maid had married the eldest son of Nedrov was not in his memory.

 

“Clear the audience chamber.”

 

The Emperor gestured to the attendant waiting behind. However, the attendant couldn’t respond immediately and hesitated.

 

The originally planned private audience was only with Ashika. That too was possible because her identity was certain, but Clemen and Nile were faces he was seeing for the first time.

 

“Your Majesty.”

 

“Did I not tell you to leave!”

 

A thunderous roar came down. The attendant who had hesitated for a moment glanced sideways at Nile and quietly withdrew.

 

Now only the Emperor and Ashika’s party remained in the audience chamber. The Emperor collapsed and leaned back in his chair.

 

“…It’s been twenty years.”

 

The words were directed at Clemen. The weight contained in those few words was so heavy that Ashika quietly lowered her gaze. However, Clemen’s tone in response was calm.

 

“Yes. It has not been a short time, Your Majesty.”

 

“What have I missed?”

 

Clemen knew that his gaze still remained on Nile. No, it would be more accurate to say he couldn’t take his eyes away.

 

How could he not be surprised to see hair the same color as Clemen’s, eyes the same color as the Emperor’s, and a face that resembled his so closely?

 

“If you put it that way, the answer becomes difficult. Please directly ask what you are curious about.”

 

Clemen smoothly deflected the question. So that the Emperor would be the first to speak of that matter, rather than herself.

 

Strength entered the Emperor’s hand gripping the chair’s armrest. Though deposed, Clemen had once been the Empire’s Empress. She was not someone to be indulged in mere sentimentality.

 

“You said there were two people who wished to meet me. You must have a purpose.”

 

“Then, will you now listen to what I have to say?”

 

At Clemen’s counter-question, the Emperor’s expression hardened firmly. Because twenty years ago, the Empress Dowager had not been the only one who made things difficult for her.

 

When Clemen became Empress, the Empress Dowager, who should have long since withdrawn from politics, was still suppressing her son while wielding power. Clemen tried somehow to stop the Empress Dowager, and that was the beginning of their discord.

 

The Empress Dowager regarded her, who was not docile, as a thorn in her eye and repeatedly engaged in malicious acts and slander. Clemen, who had no political foundation, was no match for the Empress Dowager, and it was ultimately Clemen who withdrew.

 

Even after that, the harassment continued, claiming she was an unsuitable consort for the Emperor, and Clemen requested help from the Emperor several times.

 

However, the Emperor did not want to intervene in the conflict between his mother and wife. He always stepped back, saying his mother had an illness and could not be fought against. Until Clemen finally gave up speaking, the Emperor turned away, and it was the same even when she was ultimately driven from the palace.

 

So Clemen’s question was both a request for permission and a reproach for the past.

 

The Emperor’s gaze moved back and forth between Clemen and Nile. Except for his initial greeting, Nile had not opened his mouth even once. As if he had nothing to say, he simply kept his head lowered in respect.

 

“Let me ask just one thing.”

 

After a long silence, the Emperor spoke.

 

“Please ask.”

 

“Did you know? The secret that Mother had been hiding?”

 

Clemen’s expression darkened with complexity. Now, finally, there was an opportunity to speak of the fact she had been so anxious about twenty years ago. Now that everyone in the Empire knew.

 

“Yes, Your Majesty. The same goes for the other secrets.”

 

“Ha…”

 

A long sigh like a lament escaped.

 

Clemen had not merely been victimized in her conflict with the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager persecuted her openly, while Clemen sought to expand her influence from behind. After focusing on the Empress Dowager for several years, she naturally came to know the secret.

 

The fact that the Empress Dowager was of Maiheller blood and that there were documents hidden in a place no one knew about. Clemen had already sensed her fate then. She realized it would be difficult to remain safe even knowing all these facts, so she stole the documents.

 

“The evidence of treason committed by the Grand Duke of Arkpella was a forged document created directly by Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, Your Majesty.”

 

“Ha, haha.”

 

He no longer had the energy left to be surprised. Only bitter laughter flowed from the Emperor’s mouth.

 

Clemen took out a small folded document from the inner pocket of her dress.

 

“May I hand it to you?”

 

“What is that?”

 

With the Emperor’s permission, Clemen carefully unfolded and handed over the document. The Emperor’s face contorted as he examined the papers.

 

“This is the document that Her Majesty the Empress Dowager claimed to have taken from Grand Duke Arkpella’s secret vault and submitted as evidence of treason.”

 

Clemen continued her explanation quietly.

 

“The imperial record room contains official documents exchanged with the Grand Duke’s house for generations. Just by finding and comparing those, you can immediately confirm that this is a forgery.”

 

It was a document submitted as evidence and confirmed with the imperial seal. There could be no more certain proof than this. Evidence that the Empress Dowager had forged evidence and that the previous Emperor had condoned false evidence. It was a truth that had been covered up because not a single person remained to raise the issue.

 

That’s why the Empress Dowager kept these documents separately. If left in the record room, someone might notice and cause trouble, but they were too valuable as evidence to discard. Evidence that could be a weakness for both the Emperor and Maiheller.

 

“Is this the only evidence?”

 

Shrewdly, the Emperor first thought of how to handle this. However, Clemen was not so easily dealt with.

 

“The rest I have entrusted to the main castle of Talion territory.”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me…”

 

He was about to say, but closed his mouth. He was angry at the events that had unfolded without his knowledge, and angry that they were now returning like a boomerang to strike him.

 

“What were you planning to do with this? Were you going to expose Mother? Was that it?”

 

“For me, that was a lifeline, Your Majesty.”

 

The Empress Dowager’s weakness became the only means to save Clemen in return. She stole and hid the documents, using them as leverage to attempt a deal with the Empress Dowager.

 

“Her Majesty the Empress Dowager did not want me to bear a child of imperial blood. That was why–I left to protect Your Majesty’s child.”

 

The safety of Clemen and the House of Majes. Receiving only that promise, she left the palace of her own accord.

 

It was evidence that could serve as a threat but could not actually be used. Who would dare accuse the Empire’s mother? Knowing this, Clemen remained silent. Looking at Nile growing day by day, she prayed that at least the current peace could be maintained.

 

However, she had not expected that Nile would notice this fact and become lost. For the first time, she felt guilt about depriving her son of his birth and rights.

 

“So that person before me is…”

 

The Emperor couldn’t continue his words. He had to accept the fact that this person, who showed not the slightest disturbance upon seeing him, was his son. He would have liked to deny it, but their too-similar appearance made that impossible.

 

“Why didn’t you just bury it for life? Why are you trying to dig up the past now?”

 

It was a conspiracy created by none other than the previous Emperor and the Empress Dowager. A secret that should be kept even if it meant executing everyone present. What flowed from the Emperor’s mouth was not an apology but resentment.

 

Because this was not surprising, Clemen closed her eyes sadly.

 

“Your Majesty, these pieces of evidence must not come to light.”

 

It was Ashika who stepped forward instead of Clemen.

 

“Ha. Talion knows and Igraine knows. You come with evidence and witnesses, yet have no intention of making it public?”

 

“Did I not say from the beginning? Behind all of this is the House of Maiheller.”

 

The Emperor, who was about to become angry, closed his mouth. Looking at Ashika, who kept her head quietly lowered, he gauged the reason this meeting had been arranged.

 

‘Clever thing.’

 

She had cast a net so large and tight that there was no escape, and said she would let everyone go. Except for one.

 

“The root of all this trouble is Maiheller. May I present the evidence?”

 

This time, Ashika offered the documents she had prepared.

 

“What is this now?”

 

“These are the orders that Maiheller exchanged while raising private soldiers for several years. This is not the only evidence, Your Majesty.”

 

The Emperor’s brow furrowed thinly.

 

On one side was the forged document created by the Empress Dowager forty years ago, and on the other side was evidence of the treason committed by Maiheller.

 

‘Is this real?’

 

Such doubt arose on the Emperor’s face. Just because they had made forged documents forty years ago didn’t mean they couldn’t make them now.

 

Ashika’s expression was cold and calm. She showed no pleading for belief or any possible gaps.

 

‘The evidence isn’t what’s important.’

 

This was a demand. A demand that had to be accepted unconditionally, regardless of the authenticity of the evidence.

 

The false evidence created by the Empress Dowager was a kind of shackle. Shackles that proved her secrets and crimes. If he wanted to cover that up, he would have to accept other evidence that might also be false. This was a deal containing such a demand.