Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 65

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 65
“Yes, you’re saying you’re that barbarian mongrel?”
Upon Sherkan’s return, the Previous Grand Duchess was seized by fury and cried out.
“A base bastard has come to this? Ha, haha! How utterly cursed! How utterly cursed!”
Sherkan said nothing.
But the Grand Duchess could not conceal the rage that burned within her.
She felt as though she were losing her mind.
The bastard had returned in a form so perfect it was maddening.
Impossibly, devastatingly perfect.
A demon fallen from heaven wearing an angel’s face—such things existed after all.
The Grand Duchess understood then: her son would never be heir.
She developed a wasting illness.
Her husband, the Grand Duke, gave it no thought. He was already drowned in drink, in a state far worse than death itself.
Sherkan soon gathered the meager possessions and people he could claim and departed for the Subjugation Territory.
In less than a year, the name Sherkan of Gonet rose like a meteor.
So much so that the Grand Duke of Gonet wrote a personal letter naming Sherkan his heir.
Everyone was intoxicated by Sherkan’s glory and forgot the shadows of the past.
But Asran knew.
“Your Highness! Your Highness, please come back!”
Sherkan had gained the shell of a human, but in doing so, he had gained something far more terrible—a profound sickness of the mind.
Asran could only watch helplessly as Sherkan ignored his pleas and threw himself deeper into the Subjugation Territory.
The priests and the Gaiard Knights fell into chaos, desperately calling after him, but he never once looked back.
Asran fought back the burning at his eyes and screamed silently.
‘It’s all because of the Grand Duchess! Why do you torment him so? Why!’
* * *
Meanwhile, in the Imperial Palace of Gaiard.
Within the Empress Dowager’s Palace—the most beautiful chamber in all the palace, adorned with exquisite elegance—a refined voice rang out.
“Has the Grand Duke and Duchess of Gonet confirmed their attendance?”
“Yes, Empress Dowager.”
Evelyn, the Empress Dowager, tilted her teacup with perfect precision, then set it down without a sound.
Not the slightest ripple disturbed the surface of the tea.
That impeccable grace was enough to leave the attendants who had served her for over a decade breathless.
“Then I shall soon see Briget as well.”
“The head attendant must miss the Empress Dowager greatly as well.”
“Due to our agreement with the Previous Grand Duke’s House, I was forced to send one of my most precious attendants to Gonet. But the time draws near its end—I shall arrange for her to return to me.”
Evelyn gazed at her nails, lacquered gold.
Her youth was long past now; wrinkles creased the backs of her hands. Yet for all that, the shape of her hands remained as graceful as ever.
Suddenly, Evelyn’s brow furrowed.
“Now that I think of it, the Emperor has also invited the Holy Maiden to the Imperial Banquet, has he not?”
“Yes. Given the need to consider relations with the Temple of Ministers, it seems to have been unavoidable.”
“I find the Holy Maiden distasteful!”
The attendants remained silent and kept their places. Evelyn spoke with a note of lamentation.
“I have always held my son—no, the Emperor—in high regard for his discernment. When so many kings and princes, even the Crown Prince of Fasang, lost their wits to that seductress, the Emperor was different. He showered the legitimate daughter of House Larund with endless proposals.”
The Empress Dowager had never ceased her work of instilling refinement into her own son, the Emperor.
And look at the result!
Instead of that wretched temptress who toyed with countless men, he had set his heart on the legitimate daughter of House Larund!
“But what a pity that her body was so fragile. They said she could not see past twenty years of age. Had it been otherwise, how could the legitimate daughter of House Larund have ever become the queen of that fool of a King of the Northern Kingdom?”
Now she was the one and only Empress Dowager of the continent, yet in those days, Evelyn had been merely a queen consort.
“As for that Holy Maiden—there is nothing more to say about her.…. Why, among all those men, did she choose the King of the Northern Kingdom to father her child? She would not even enter the harem as a concubine in shame, yet she shredded the queen’s heart. What possible reason could there be!”
As the Empress Dowager struck the table in fury, her attendants hastened to kneel.
“Compose yourself, Empress Dowager.”
“Compose yourself!”
Evelyn gave a bitter, weary laugh.
“And tell me—in whose territory does that Holy Maiden’s daughter currently reside?”
An elderly attendant rose and poured her tea with steady composure.
“The Holy Maiden is currently staying in the lands of Duke Baetan.”
The Empress Dowager let out a short, scoffing laugh.
“Indeed, the nature of illicit union never changes! Like mother, like daughter! The rumors that Duke Baetan is engaged in an affair with the Holy Maiden are most rife.”
The attendant immediately whispered softly.
“Empress Dowager…. It seems the Duchess of Baetan will not endure much longer.”
“Is it true that the Duke of Baetan holds such deep favor toward the Holy Maiden?”
“Yes. According to information we’ve gathered with difficulty, the Duchess of Baetan is currently with child, but she’s deliberately keeping it hidden.”
“She carries a child yet cannot dispose of a single concubine of her husband’s? The Duchess of Baetan proves herself a poor instrument indeed.”
Evelyn, the Empress Dowager, let slip a scornful laugh. Her eyes gleamed with malice.
“Since when has it become the law of the realm that a rightful wife is eclipsed by a concubine? As long as I draw breath in this palace, such a thing shall never be tolerated!”
“Your words are most just.”
Indeed, from her days as Queen, she had embodied that ruthless authority—tossing aside concubines who dared seduce the King without knowing their station, flinging them living into pig pens.
Evelyn had poisoned in the womb the children of countless concubines and ensured that no one would ever dare cast eyes upon her son’s position.
She was a legend in Gaiad’s treacherous palace—a veritable calamity upon the harem, having killed dozens of concubines through methods beyond imagination.
Though the enraged late King had subjected her to torture as a result, leaving one of her eyes dimmed, Evelyn harbored not a shred of regret.
“Bring it to me.”
At the Empress Dowager’s gesture, a lady-in-waiting approached quietly and handed over a layout diagram.
For this Imperial Banquet, every noble of Gaiad had received an invitation, and so nearly all of the vast Imperial Palace had been hastily refurbished.
Few nobles were aware of the power struggles and upheavals unfolding within the Duke of Baetan’s house.
Only because the Empress Dowager concerned herself with the Holy Maiden’s whereabouts could she know even this much.
“Have the Holy Maiden’s quarters moved to the left of my palace, and the Duchess of Baetan’s quarters to the right of my palace. And see that both of them pay their respects to me without fail, every single day.”
Whether the Holy Maiden was some treasure of the Temple of Ministers or anything else, for now she was a guest staying within the Duke of Baetan’s house.
If one wished to remain in Gaiad, one naturally had to follow Gaiad’s laws.
Even the Holy Nation could find no fault with this much.
“I shall provide you all with a most amusing spectacle of scandal.”
The Empress Dowager, grinning wickedly, drank her tea with evident pleasure.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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