The Search for the Duchess’s Husband - Chapter 178

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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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In Search of the Duke’s Husband – Episode 178

‘My child.’
My beloved and pitiful Arsen.
Even if the entire world denies you, I will protect you for the rest of my life.
That was why the Empress lived.
Arsen opened his mouth as he gazed upon eyes filled with a blind devotion that the Empress had never witnessed even five hundred years ago when she possessed the entire world.
“I wish for Killian von Orpheus to become Emperor.”
“…!”
In that instant, the Empress’s face, which had been brimming with anticipation, contorted.
Arsen spoke once more to the Empress, whose expression twisted as though her throat were being strangled.
“Please make Killian von Orpheus the Emperor. Even tomorrow, immediately.”
Tears streamed down the Empress’s eyes.
Killian von Orpheus had taken the Emperor’s expectations and the people’s respect, but the throne itself belongs to you!
To Arsen von Orpheus, the first imperial prince of this Empire!
Yet the Empress could only nod, unable to voice those words.
If it was what Arsen desired, she would grant it even if it meant killing everyone in the world.
It was the love of a mother for her suffering child.

That night, the Empress sought out the Emperor.
Though kept strictly secret from the outside world, the Emperor’s condition was visibly deteriorating.
Perhaps that was why.
The cold man who suited no one welcomed the Empress in an uncharacteristic manner.
“You’ve come.”
“I shall prepare your tea.”
Though their marriage was not a happy one, the Empress fulfilled her duties as a wife with absolute dedication.
Attending to the Emperor’s tea and meals each day was among those duties.
There was not a single light word exchanged between them, yet there existed the familiarity of a couple who had lived together for over twenty years.
The Empress’s voice broke the quiet stillness.
“It has been twenty-eight years since we were married this year.”

The marriage was hastily arranged to end the war between the two nations.
When Felicity first heard the news of her marriage, she cried out in terror.
“The Orpheus Empire is a hostile nation we’ve been fighting for decades. How am I supposed to live there alone? I’m frightened. I don’t want to go, Mother.”
Yet the King and Queen’s response was merciless.
“Stop talking nonsense. You’ve lived as you pleased until now—it’s time you fulfilled your duty as a princess.”
In the end, Felicity was dragged to the Empire like a beast being sold off.
Even as she donned the white wedding dress, her face was consumed by fear alone.
Unfamiliar places, unfamiliar scents, unfamiliar people.
Their gazes were sharp enough to devour her at the slightest opening.
Then the Emperor appeared.
The young man with black hair and golden eyes was remarkably handsome.
Enough to dispel her fear, if only for a moment.
Yet the first words the Emperor spoke to the entranced Felicity were utterly cold.
“Do your utmost in fulfilling the Empress’s duties.”
Perform your role properly.
His stern voice carried not a single trace of warmth.
It was the moment when even the faintest glimmer of hope vanished.
The Emperor lived buried in his work. All he demanded of the Empress was that she fulfill her obligations.
Felicity found him frightening and resented him, yet she spent every night weeping while steadfastly performing her duties.
For only by doing so could she survive in this lion’s den of an Imperial Palace.
Then came the child.
Felicity was overjoyed.
‘In this vast Imperial Palace surrounded by enemies, I’m finally gaining someone who is completely on my side!’
Felicity cared for herself as though carrying a treasure in her womb, cautious of every small thing.
The maids even gossiped that she was being excessive.
One day, while strolling through the Garden, she nearly stumbled and fell.
The maids with her were relieved that she hadn’t fallen, but Felicity clutched her abdomen with a pale face.
“My belly, it hurts…!”
The Imperial Palace Doctor rushed over and examined the Empress.
They said there was nothing seriously wrong and she need not worry.
Yet Felicity’s expression did not ease.
‘Not a single one of them truly cares about me.’
The resentment toward the foreign Empress remained intense.
Though infinitely courteous to her face, behind closed doors they uttered dark and hostile words about her.
Felicity’s distrust, already sensitive by nature, had reached its peak.
As Felicity gripped her belly with a contorted expression, the Emperor appeared.
At the Emperor’s sudden arrival, the maids and Doctors in the room startled and bowed hastily.
Felicity too opened her eyes wide and looked at the Emperor.
For this was the first time he had come to her like this without any particular business.
What the Emperor said next was all the more shocking.
“Is the child well?”
“…!”
I never imagined that man, cold as ice itself, would ask such a thing.
Felicity nodded, her face flushing slightly.
“Yes, he is.”
“That is fortunate.”
“….”
The Emperor spoke to his attendants.
“Increase the Empress’s maids. Ensure the Doctor accompanies her at all times. Should such an unseemly incident occur again, I will hold every person present accountable.”
The attendants bowed their heads in fearful agreement at the Emperor’s stern words.
For the first time, my thoughts of the Emperor shifted.
‘He is my husband, and he is this child’s father.’
Perhaps we could become a family after all.
One that cherished and protected one another.
But that innocent hope shattered the moment Arsen was born.
Through the haze of unbearable labor, I saw it clearly.
The Emperor’s expression as he gazed upon the infant—limp, barely breathing.
Those piercing eyes held no warmth of a father beholding his child.
They were the eyes of one regarding something contemptible and vile.
‘That man is not on my side, nor on my child’s.’
In this vast palace, my only ally was this small infant.
From my weakened body, I screamed at the Doctor.
“If my child dies, I will kill every last one of you! So do whatever it takes to save him!”
Perhaps a mother’s desperate prayer reached him.
The child crossed the threshold of death countless times, yet clung to life.
The Emperor never came to see the child again.
He made no official announcement of the prince’s birth.
As though he had never been born at all.
As though he might die at any moment.
In that cruel reality, I devoted myself entirely to caring for my child.
Fighting illness day after day, I could not bear to entrust him to anyone—not for a single moment did I let him leave my arms.
That day was no different.
I had dozed off while cradling my hundred-day-old child when a sound stirred me awake.
The Emperor stood in the dimly lit chamber.
‘Has he come because he is worried about our child?’
Such foolish hope arose only because I desperately wished it to be true.
I was so exhausted, and I needed someone with whom to share this agony.
But the words the Emperor spoke to his broken, depleted wife were unutterably cruel.
“Bear another child.”
“…?”
Felicity couldn’t comprehend his words and remained silent.
Only after a long while did she open her eyes wide and pull the infant close to her chest.
“Arsen is alive!”
“Alive, yes. For now.”
The Doctors spoke in unison—his condition was such that it would be no surprise if he ceased breathing at any moment.
Even if he miraculously survived, he would never be in a normal state.
“I need an heir whose body and mind are both sound. That child is defective.”
Felicity’s face contorted as she covered the infant’s tiny ears.
As if to shield him from such horrific words.
Then, with tears pooling in her eyes, she glared at the Emperor and spoke in a low voice.
“I will bear no more children. Arsen is your only heir.”
“If you continue to be stubborn, I’ll have no choice. I’ll have to separate that child from you.”
“…!”
The Empress felt as though her entire body was being torn asunder.
“You’ve been excessively attached to that child since giving birth. I permitted it because I believed you would fulfill your duties as Empress properly. But if you abandon those duties because of that child, I have no choice.”
I must eliminate the obstacle.
Felicity’s face drained of all color.
A fierce hatred that transcended betrayal.
Yet the Emperor, as if he felt nothing from her, continued speaking with an unwavering voice.
“I’ll have the Maid send you the date of our union. I will return then.”
With those words, the Emperor left the chamber.

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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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