Winter Bud - Chapter 55

“Do you have any orders?”

It was a rather respectful greeting for a woman who’d been kicked out and demoted to a concubine. It felt even more polite than when she was Empress Consort.

Nanna stared at the man with his head bowed and said, “…Please ask His Majesty if he has time this evening.”

“Yes. I’ll do that.”

The man gave a silent bow, as if he’d been waiting, then turned around. Slan looked at Nanna with worried eyes. She held out her arms toward her son. Slan hesitated at first, then slowly got up and came to her side. Stella, who’d been watching, quickly ran over and clung tightly to her left side.

“Does His Majesty bother you a lot, Slan?”

“…No.”

“You don’t have to lie.”

“He’s really good to me.”

Slan looked up at her and spoke. It didn’t sound like a lie. Slan couldn’t meet her eyes when he lied. Nanna pressed her lips together and stroked her young son’s black hair.

Suddenly, Stella said with a sulky tone, “It’s true. Mom. Not long ago, His Majesty gave Oppa a ride on his horse.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He even took him hunting and taught him how to swim.”

“Taught him to swim too?”

Stella chattered on. Nanna quietly looked down at her daughter. Stella, snuggling into her soft chest with her slender waist hugged, nodded. Stella often said her father invited her to the dinner table and shared his food.

It wasn’t common. The food served to the Emperor was different even from what was served to the Empress, and unless it was a favored wife or child, he rarely shared his meals or spent dinner time together.

“I see.”

“Yeah. And recently, he even gave me Ruby.”

“Ruby?”

“It’s a kitten. Its fur is snow-white, and one eye is sky-blue like yours, and the other is amber like mine.”

Stella smiled brightly. It seemed Orestes had gifted Stella a kitten. While holding her, Stella kept chattering about the kitten named Ruby. She said the fluffy white ball was so cute and pretty, and the way it batted a small ball with its front paws was like an angel. But Alexis kept bothering Ruby, so it always ran away to a high place where he couldn’t reach. Nanna calmly listened while stroking her daughter’s black hair.

But her mind was filled with noisy thoughts about the Emperor. These days, she truly had no idea what he was thinking. Maybe he really did feel sorry for his children being separated from their birth mother. Maybe it was because Thea couldn’t bond with the siblings at all… so he was taking more care of them.

Maybe his paternal instincts were kicking in because Nanna’s children had been officially registered as Thea’s. Either way, it was a good thing. Whatever his reasons, it wasn’t bad. But….

“Congratulations, Your Majesty.”

The elderly court physician, who had been observing Nanna, turned to the Emperor with a faint smile. Nanna, who’d been watching the physician anxiously, shifted her gaze and looked at the man. The Emperor, who’d said Nanna was speaking nonsense due to pregnancy, showed not even a hint of a smile on his face.

His dry gaze was fixed on Nanna’s lower belly. The physician said it was a great blessing for the imperial palace to hear a baby’s cry once again. But the Emperor didn’t look particularly pleased. He looked like he’d heard something completely expected. Still, at the words ‘a baby’s cry,’ it did seem like he let out a small chuckle.

Nanna felt like she was watching a ridiculous play. She had no idea when exactly the baby was conceived. But it couldn’t be called something sudden. After all, Orestes embraced Nanna consistently. Even when he scolded and hated her, even when he looked at her with eyes layered thick with disgust, the number of times they engaged in intercourse was extremely frequent.

Orestes was that kind of virile man, and he was someone who, no matter how much he hated Nanna, fulfilled his duties as a ruler with zeal. And Nanna was a woman who entered the imperial palace to bear his child.

“Having many sons and daughters” was a virtue for the Emperor and Empress. Besides, Falcomere was still in its founding period. The more princes and princesses, the better.

“Please let me know if there is anything uncomfortable.”

The physician, who had advised that special care was needed during early pregnancy, stood up. The Emperor turned his head to look at Nanna. She looked at him with a flushed face, then turned away. She was afraid he might ask again if she wanted to go back. Nanna didn’t want to go back.

She didn’t want to be pregnant again either.

“I hope it’s a daughter.”

“….”

“Don’t you miss her?”

At the monotonous low voice, Nanna bit her lip. Her pulse seemed to quicken at the thought of Freya. Blinking back the tears from a reality she couldn’t accept, Nanna quietly clenched her fists. The Emperor sat at the edge of the bed and pulled her thin body into his arms. Nanna’s expression twisted faintly in embarrassment.

“Don’t like it?”

“I….”

“A princess would be nice, wouldn’t it? Stella would also like a little sister.”

Nanna quietly stared at the Emperor. With no strength to push him away, she remained in his arms, and he seemed pleased. Whether he was happy about the pregnancy or because Nanna wasn’t squirming, she couldn’t tell. He tucked her fallen hair behind her ear and opened his mouth.

“Whatever relationship you had with the Duke, it doesn’t matter to me. It’s not like I didn’t know anything.”

“….”

“Alexis is my son. He was born that way, so he should live that way.”

“….”

“Do you understand what I mean?”

His firm, low voice was sharp. Nanna stared blankly at him and nodded. The Emperor, looking satisfied, held her tightly, then brought his lips to the nape of her neck like he was breathing there. Nanna stiffened and bit her lip.

“…Do you like me?”

Curled up in his solid arms, Nanna cautiously asked, her lips trembling. Since being confined to the Western Palace, she’d felt the Emperor was trying to get closer to her. He came to eat with her, or like now, tried to embrace her at every opportunity.

He’d often hold her like this and press his lips to her nape, even try to kiss her. Nanna, trying to push away his chest, would then remember she couldn’t escape him or reject his touch, and she’d stop resisting.

“Why do you ask such a thing?”

“When Her Majesty the Empress is there….”

“Is it strange for a man to cherish his concubine?”

“That’s not what I meant….”

Nanna lowered her eyes. She hadn’t expected him to answer so readily. The Emperor loved Thea. Conversely, she thought he hated Nanna. It seemed he shunned her as much as he loved Thea. She thought the reason he never showed even the smallest kindness was because of that.

Because while serving Thea, she’d failed to protect her and survived alone. Nanna had been unconscious for a while, and when she woke, the Emperor glared at her with terrifying eyes. Those fierce eyes still lingered vividly in her mind….

So it was all too sudden. Even during the few years she’d stayed as Empress Consort, he found her unbearable. Perhaps he thought their union was unclean. He treated even embracing her as if it were a sin.

The one who suffered was Nanna. She couldn’t put into words the guilt of sharing a bed with her master’s man while her mistress’s life was still uncertain. Orestes didn’t just treat her harshly; he tormented her. He’d call her a whore as she stood naked before him.

Even though he was the one rutting like a beast, thrusting into that whore’s body. And after all the insults, he’d still grab her breasts and finish inside her. It was hard for Nanna to endure all of that. Shedding tears and bursting out moans was truly excruciating.

But now, all of a sudden….

“You hate me. So….”

“I do hate you.”

“….”

“But mistreating a woman carrying my child isn’t the right thing to do. Don’t you think so? You are a concubine, and I am your master. And you have my baby. It’s not strange to kiss you with affection.”

“H-Her Majesty the Empress….”

“Stop talking about Thea.”

His tender tone hardened in an instant. Nanna tightly closed her lips in fear. Her legs went weak at the thought that the Emperor’s hand gently stroking her messy hair might grab her hair at any moment. The Emperor, gazing at her intently, pressed a kiss to her cheek. Thea surged and filled up in her head. It was uncomfortable like a thorn got stuck in her throat.