About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 194

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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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Side Story 4. Strengthening the Foundation of the Empire
In other words, I had no idea how long Baekbeon’s lifespan would be.
Hearing such words filled me with pity.
“When I only saw her as a clownfish, I didn’t think much of it, but now that I’ve seen Baekbeon transform into a human like this, it seems I’ll need to raise her after all. And I suppose I should give her a proper name too…”
My head nodded of its own accord.
Since she was a fish, I had numbered them in the order they laid eggs and hatched. “Baekbeon” was far too impersonal for a young girl’s name.
At those words, the child stopped in her tracks and looked up at Sir Jester.
“Papa, then give me a new name.”
“So we’ll consider Baekbeon as just a temporary name…”
Sir Jester turned to look at me.
“Would you like to give her a name, Priscilla?”
“Me?”
“It would be an honor. If people know that you gave her a name, the world’s perception of the child will surely be nothing but favorable.”
Luderne Sellen nodded in agreement.
I gazed at the child intently, then drew inspiration from her sapphire-blue hair.
“How about Sapina? Sapina Jester.”
“I like it! Sapina!”
The child who spoke first bounced with delight.
At the sight, Luderne Sellen smiled warmly, and pride filled Sir Jester’s face.
“Thank you, Priscilla.”
Then a savory aroma of abalone wafted through the house.
As if my morning sickness had never been, my stomach growled with hunger.
“It seems the meal is nearly ready.”
As I tried to stand, Luderne Sellen pressed me back down and rolled up his sleeves.
“I’ll set the table.”
Luderne Sellen adjusted the heat of the magical induction cooker and let it simmer, and soon a large abalone over rice appeared on the table.
I separated the abalone meat from its shell with a spoon.
“Oh my.”
Round pearls tumbled onto the rice.
No matter how I looked at them, they were pearls.
Pearls rolled out from the other abalones as well. Each one gleamed with luster, perfectly round in shape, and remarkably large.
Luderne Sellen and Sir Jester laughed in astonishment at the sight.
“Since no one catches abalones, the pearls have accumulated.”
It seemed no one knew that pearls could form in abalones, just as Luderne Sellen said.
The reason no one caught abalones was simple: the people of this world did not eat them.
They were only listed in the encyclopedia as information about sea creatures. Rather like amphipods, one might say.
But now the information about abalones had changed.
Like an underwater vein of ore.
“It seems the child wanted to give us a gift.”
I agreed with Luderne Sellen’s words.
Though I had suffered greatly from morning sickness, the moment I ate the abalone, the symptoms vanished as if they had never existed.
With my stomach settled, I found myself incredibly proud of my firstborn for gifting jewel resources to his parents.
My gaze then turned toward Sapina Jester.
Though I couldn’t predict the future, the white clownfish I had seen in my prophetic dream resembled Sapina Jester.
A sense of anticipation bloomed within me.
The white clownfish that had perched atop the black panther’s head.
They said her magical talent was also exceptional, so I wondered if she might become friends with our child.
* * *
“Oh, Divine One. All things unfold according to Your will.”
Those were the final words the Mage from the frontier spoke to me in the Audience Chamber.
After witnessing the miracle of gold coins overflowing from the tip of my ring, the Mage bowed deeply.
As he left the Audience Chamber, he did not forget to greet Sir Jester standing to one side—or rather, Duke Jester now, having been granted the ducal title by Emperor Luderne Sellen in recognition of his great deeds.
“Your Grace, should you ever require magical power, please feel free to contact me at any time.”
Once the Mage had completely departed, the Secretary beside me, who had been diligently wielding his pen, spoke.
“Your Majesty the Emperor, Your Majesty the Empress, the one who just left was the last.”
He meant the final Mage among those who had protested Duke Jester’s regression.
“You’ve worked hard.”
At Luderne Sellen’s gesture, the Secretary bowed respectfully and withdrew.
Now only Luderne Sellen, Duke Jester, and I remained in the Audience Chamber.
“Wow, there were so many times when I owed magical power to so many people that I wondered if I’d have to hide for the rest of my life.”
Duke Jester stretched both arms toward the sky with a relieved expression.
“It’s truly all been resolved now.”
His words drew an embarrassed laugh from me.
“Thank you, Duke Jester.”
Duke Jester responded to my greeting with respectful formality.
“Rather, I am the one who should be grateful, Your Majesty the Empress.”
He smiled happily as he looked at Luderne Sellen and me.
“For I am infinitely happy to be able to see the two of you like this.”
As he smiled, our happiness deepened as well.
Soon Baron Jeanne Leplin, dressed in formal attire, entered and bowed respectfully to us.
In recognition of her past achievements, Luderne Sellen had granted her a new title and the Leplin Territory as her fief.
Though it was some distance from the Empire’s capital, Jeanne Leplin and her parents were quite pleased with the territory.
Jeanne Leplin’s parents were managing the fief by proxy and spending their remaining years in comfort.
“Your Majesty the Emperor, Your Majesty the Empress, the preparations for the birthday party of the young princes are now complete.”
It was already two o’clock in the afternoon.
“Let’s go.”
Luderne Sellen rose from his seat.
We changed into prepared formal robes of pale gold and made our way to the party venue arranged in the garden.
As I walked, the past six years came to mind.
Arsen, the black panther from my prophetic dream, had come to us like a miracle in the final month of the curse.
It was a tremendous relief that Sir Jester no longer needed to strain himself using regression magic.
Though I suffered from unexpected morning sickness, things improved after Sapina Jester arrived along with the reversal.
Yet despite this, we did not leave Heril Island.
I wanted to quietly nurture the child in a peaceful environment without any threats, and then hold my baby in my arms.
Our son, born this way, had black hair and emerald-green eyes. He resembled Luderne Sellen, and felt exactly like the black panther from my prophetic dream.
A hundred days after our first child was born, major events began to shift rapidly.
First, Luderne Sellen’s coronation ceremony was held with great splendor.
He was the Emperor of the Doorban Empire and the King of the Arde Kingdom.
Our wedding ceremony came after that, and there were three in total.
One modest ceremony just the two of us on Heril Island, one at the Grand Temple of the Doorban Empire, and one at the Grand Temple of the Arde Kingdom.
The wedding on Heril Island was a humble affair with close acquaintances and islanders, truly a vow to become husband and wife.
Everything after that was merely a procedure to formalize my official position.
The Emperor received an Empress in the Doorban Empire and a Queen in the Arde Kingdom.
Thus, with the wedding ceremony, I became the Empress of the Doorban Empire and the Queen of the Arde Kingdom.
The national merger followed after that.
The territories of the Doorban Empire and the Arde Kingdom were unified into one. The nation’s name changed to the Wintem Empire.
The ceremony for conferring titles took place afterward.
Sir Jester and Brissel Mohr became Dukes, and Walter became a Marquess of the Border.
Madame Laber received the rank of Countess, and Jeanne received the rank of Baroness.
Others who had contributed to the cause also received titles, lands, or appropriate rewards.
Since everything was a major undertaking, it took a full six years from when my curse was lifted until everything was organized like this.
During this process, I thought Luderne Sellen must be incredibly busy.
But that was my misunderstanding.
Luderne Sellen had extensive experience building systems so that his enterprises ran smoothly even in his absence.
That experience was directly applied to state affairs. The government began to operate swiftly with a systematic framework.
So we two had quite a bit of time to spend affectionately together.
Meanwhile, the nobles who took on the empire’s major duties became extremely busy.
But as they worked tirelessly, it seemed they felt something had to change. Or perhaps they harbored their own ambitions for power.
“Your Majesty, though I speak with great trepidation, if state affairs are so numerous, surely the Empress, as the mistress of the household, must be suffering greatly.”
“It appears the empire’s internal affairs require women to assist the Empress.”
In other words, they were asking for concubines to be brought into the palace.
Luderne Sellen responded indifferently to this.
“I have arranged the empire’s affairs so that they run of their own accord even without my Empress’s labor. Thus, there is no need for the Empress to work. Why then would I need concubines to work?”
Then they pressed the matter of heirs.
“Let us solidify the empire’s foundation further.”
“Considering the Empress’s health, would it not be somewhat difficult for her to bear another heir?”
“Prince Arsen’s arrival was fraught with many trials and tribulations, as I understand.”
Honestly, this became somewhat of a valid point.
Though we spent considerable time together in intimate moments, there was no news of a second child.
But could this be the will of heaven?
That night, after the nobles persistently pestered us about producing an heir, Luderne Sellen and I shared the same prophetic dream once more.
A golden lion with blazing crimson eyes and a black wolf stood beside us, roaring toward the world with passionate fury.

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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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