The Former Empress Roughly Hides Her Abilities - Chapter 115

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

【Chapter 115】

On the way back, she encountered Rupert.

“Just when I thought you’d finally come home, you come out after driving a nail into another man’s father’s heart.”

He had been waiting outside the Duke’s office with his arms crossed, and he led Rianel to an empty room.

“Does Her Majesty the Empress have no intention of saying anything to Father?”

Rianel followed where he led, then spoke up once they reached a place where only the two of them remained.

“Did you notice?”

“When someone has changed this much, it would be stranger not to notice.”

Of course, there was the exception of the Duke, but he decided to exclude that case.

Rianel recalled the Duchess’s letter.

-Please be kind to Callen. He knows nothing.

Somehow Rupert’s name had been omitted from that.

‘Did that mean this guy knows?’

“How did you find out?”

“Who do you think gave you the key to the villa?”

“Ah.”

Then he would have at least seen the envelope of the letter.

Rianel understood and realized at the same time.

“Was mentioning Mart Orphanage intentional?”

Mart Orphanage was one of the routes through which the Temple had indirectly received payment for selling Sacred Flowers.

Among all the many places he could have mentioned, Rupert’s deliberate choice of that location seemed to be for testing her.

Rupert affirmed with his silence.

“Aren’t you uncomfortable with this?”

It would be natural for anyone to feel disturbed by the very fact that another soul could enter someone else’s body.

Especially if that body belonged to someone they knew well, the revulsion would be even stronger.

‘Though it’s not my place to say, shouldn’t you be outraged about what happened to the body’s owner?’

“It doesn’t matter.”

Surprisingly, Rupert was calm.

“You didn’t deliberately take over that body, did you?”

“That’s true, but still.”

“I’m not immature enough to confuse the target of my resentment.”

He had wanted to treat Rianel well, and he thought it was regrettable that the child had ended her life alone somewhere he didn’t know about.

But that resentment should be directed at himself and his father for carelessly being played by Vanessa, not at the soul that had taken over Rianel’s body.

“Mother said that no matter what you do, you’re family.”

Though he wasn’t sure if that included souls being switched.

[Just because different blood flows doesn’t mean she’s not your sister, so take care of that child.]

“Since Mother did this, there must be a reason.”

Because he believed there was a reason she had entrusted him with the villa and the letter, Rupert decided not to doubt.

“So what are you planning to do now?”

Rupert harbored expectations inwardly.

If the reason Rianel wasn’t coming home was to hide her identity, then now that everything was revealed, he wanted to tell her to come back.

‘Honestly, I’m starting to wonder if there’s any point in hiding it anymore…’

However, Rianel’s answer completely defied his expectations.

“Duke Novantium is waiting in the reception room.”

“Duke Novantium?”

Rupert’s brow furrowed.

He had heard rumors recently that the two were courting.

‘Better than the Emperor, but still.’

That sly face was equally unwelcome.

‘That guy is waiting in the reception room?’

“Wait. I’ll go with you.”

Rupert went downstairs with Rianel.

The man who saw Rianel slowly raised his body that had been leaning loosely against the sofa’s backrest.

“Did your conversation with your family members conclude smoothly?”

Asil seemed completely unconscious of Rupert’s presence there. He pulled Rianel’s hand toward him and kissed the back of her hand.

‘What a smooth operator, really smooth.’

Rupert frowned at the flowing succession of moves.

“Is that important?”

“If it didn’t go well, I thought you might rely on me more since you’d be lonely.”

He smiled while threading his fingers between Rianel’s fingers to interlock them.

“You seem too honest.”

“I suppose it’s because I’m a lowly bastard.”

He leaned in and whispered in Rianel’s ear.

“Because I want your heart to be entirely mine.”

Looking like the very image of a skilled playboy to anyone watching, Rupert was outraged.

“I have something to say.”

He picked up a dart that had been placed in the reception room for entertainment.

“You are still Rianel.”

Mother would have told me to protect you as well.

“Then you are indeed my family.”

Therefore.

“Get away from her right now!”

The dart flew through the air toward Asil.

Well, it didn’t particularly mean anything.

“Oh my, how scary.”

“You think I don’t know you deliberately moved your hand toward the dart just now-“

Whether Rupert glared or not.

Asil acted coquettishly in front of Rianel, putting on a show of being hurt.

“Please tend to me. I got scratched here.”

“What’s with a grown man being so disgusting!”

“If you’re jealous, just say you’re jealous, brother-in-law. Then I’ll teach you how to get hurt without it showing.”

“What nonsense! I don’t need that!”

Rupert was pretending not to be interested, but his Adam’s apple kept bobbing restlessly.

He kept glancing at Rianel bandaging Asil’s hand, then soon clenched his fists.

Witnessing Rupert’s mysterious defeat, Rianel shook her head alone.

‘What a complete mess.’

However, the real mess was elsewhere.

The next day, Rianel was summoned to the Emperor’s office.

“We plan to promote a charity event to raise donations for the Empress Dowager’s charitable foundation, and I would like the Princess to take charge of this.”

While Princess Tiren’s scholarship foundation was gaining great popularity, now they wanted to raise donations again through the Empress Dowager’s foundation.

‘What is this? Is this a roundabout way of saying exploitation?’

“The Empress Dowager has also agreed to this.”

“Is that so?”

Rianel understood.

This wasn’t just the Emperor’s problem.

Seeing messes breaking out everywhere, it seemed the Empire’s soil contamination problem was serious.

* * *

“Unlike the Temple’s corruption, I want to show that the Imperial Family’s events are clean.”

Just as everyone has plans, the Emperor had his plans too.

To separate himself from the recent subsidy corruption scandal, he decided to put the Empress Dowager’s charitable foundation at the forefront.

This was because suspicions about who had approved the subsidies were spreading even to the Emperor, who was the Saint’s lover.

Since the most efficient way to respond to controversy was not to refute it head-on but to present a different agenda, the Emperor thought his mother’s scholarship foundation would be a good move.

‘It would also help improve the Imperial Family’s reputation.’

There was also the Princess’s scholarship foundation, but the better that foundation did, the more it only improved the Former Empress’s image, which brought no real benefit to the Emperor.

He had another plan as well.

‘I need to take this opportunity to separate that Duke bastard from Rianel.’

Now that the Saint was confined to the Temple under the name of self-reflection, this was his chance to approach Rianel.

The Emperor suspected that Asil would dislike him.

He was someone who had harbored unrequited love for his wife, and since that person had died in the Imperial Palace, he would naturally hold resentment.

It was only natural that Rianel, who had been close to such a person, would harbor ill feelings toward the Emperor.

‘The way she subtly avoids me suggests that Duke bastard has been filling her head with nonsense.’

Then shouldn’t he clear up the misunderstanding?

And while he was at it, close the emotional distance as well.

‘It’s only natural for someone to develop favorable feelings toward a person who helps them in a crisis.’

His assignment of Rianel as the person in charge of the charity auction was quite intentional.

Since it was a major event hosted by the Imperial Family, everything from arranging attendee seating, selecting famous people to invite, calculating hall decoration costs and various supply expenses, to producing promotional flyers was all Rianel’s responsibility.

Naturally, he thought she couldn’t handle it alone.

‘If I approach her under the pretext of helping when the Princess is struggling with overtime work, I could leave a good impression.’

A savior stands out more the more they appear in moments of crisis.

The Emperor chose an evening when Rianel would be suffering from heavy workload and went to find her, but.

“…?”

For some reason, what greeted the Emperor was only an empty seat.

“Where is the person in charge?”

Don’t tell me she fled?

Then when he heard the full story, he was shocked.

“She already left work?!”

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