Previously
Sienna attempts to submit a legal petition to the council to change inheritance laws, but she is met with sexism and insults regarding her mother's treason. Later, the ailing Emperor unexpectedly visits her room, reveals he intercepted her petition, and threatens to exile her for her perceived greed.
How to Part with You Completely Chapter 18
Having neglected me all this time as if I were no child of his, he had now stormed into my quarters solely out of concern that his son’s position might be threatened. That hurt deeply. Naturally, the tone that tore out of me was far from gentle.
“Once Joseph ascends the throne, he will dispose of me first. Do not try to deny it. You know better than anyone how deeply your other children despise me, Your Majesty.”
Tears broke and spilled down my cheeks regardless of my will.
“Did you not bring every bit of this upon yourself in the first place?”
The feelings I had swallowed down for over a decade tumbled out in helpless fragments.
I cared nothing for someone else’s messy love affairs, but if one looked closely, the root of all this misery was my parents’ capricious romance.
It was he who had abandoned the woman devoted to him during his days as a prince along with their children, all to take the woman he had long adored as his Empress.
Even while everyone pleaded that her ambition would summon catastrophic ruin, he had stubbornly pressed his imperial seal upon the marriage documents. Because of that, the Emperor bore the blame for every consequence that followed.
Yet my resentment did not appear to reach him. The Emperor spoke, his face as devoid of emotion as ever.
“So long as you do not succumb to excessive greed, who would dare lay a hand on you? As long as I die as the Emperor of this nation, even your brother cannot touch you as he pleases. Just as you say, you are the empire’s sole princess, an existence recognized by all.”
‘…’
“Therefore, do not covet what lies beyond your station. That is the only way you will live an honorable life.”
The following morning, the Emperor issued an order confining me to my quarters.
Far beyond a mere command, he had the doors bolted so that no one could enter or leave my residence, and he stationed guards to monitor my every move.
The moment the order fell, heavy locks were fastened upon the doors of the beautiful annex that had once symbolized the Emperor’s favor.
Because the Emperor had always treated me with consistent indifference, such a sudden and harsh decree set everyone whispering. Yet none knew the true reason behind it.
Bizarre rumors began to sprout among the people, one after another.
Some claimed the princess had conceived an illegitimate child with an unknown man, while others insisted she had attempted to run off into the night with a court jester.
Every single claim was groundless, but with no one privy to the truth, neither was there anyone who could tell the lies apart.
Amid the flurry of rampant talk, only a few facts became crystal clear: that the Emperor had finally cast off the princess, and that Joseph’s ascension as the next emperor had grown all the more certain.
However isolated a place might be, no words failed to slip beyond the imperial palace walls. What was more, with the princess reduced to a snapped cord dangling into a well, there was no longer any need to watch one's tongue in her presence.
Only a handful of maids and Theodore Monches, serving as my personal knight, remained by my side in the annex.
The maids, unexpectedly locked up alongside the mistress they served, showed plain traces of resentment toward me, though they never dared reveal it openly.
That had less to do with any fear of a princess who had already lost her royal authority, and far more to do with their wariness of Theodore.
Theodore himself merely wondered about the reason behind our confinement; he held no grudge against me. On the contrary, he went so far as to comfort me with his trademark easygoing optimism.
“Do not be so disheartened, Your Highness. His Majesty will withdraw the order before long. Whatever took place, is he not rather generous to his own flesh and blood?”
Though I could find no comfort in his words, in the end, he turned out half right. One day, a little over a month after the annex doors had been locked, a messenger arrived from the Emperor’s quarters.
It was far earlier than I had anticipated.
“His Majesty has commanded that Her Highness the Princess’s confinement be lifted as of today.”
At those words, Theodore gave an ‘I told you so’ shrug from beside me, but I felt scarcely any stirring of emotion.
With all manner of vicious rumors already swirling about me outside, could having the confinement lifted truly be called a blessing? Casting my gaze back down upon my book, I replied dryly.
“Tell him I am deeply grateful.”
“He also said he has something to speak with Your Highness about privately, and asked that you come to his quarters tonight.”
Even at the words that followed, I did not bother looking up.
A month and a half. While short enough, it was ample time for the tight knots of emotion inside me to wear away completely. I no longer held any feeling toward my father. Love and hate, resentment, expectation—not a single one remained.
Only exhaustion lingered.
“I am not feeling particularly well. I fear I would only trouble him if we met like this, so tell him I shall pay my respects once my condition improves.”
I sent the attendant away with a suitable excuse. Theo directed a reproving look at me for kicking away the chance with my own two feet, but I did not revoke my decision.
After all, was it not obvious what I would hear if I were summoned? He merely intended to finish whatever scolding he had left unsaid last time.
The slander circulating inside and outside the castle walls was already humiliation enough. Besides, had he not personally come to pour out his fury to his heart's content already?
I had always believed there would be a next chance, and only after losing something at the end of such foolish thoughts did I realize things had gone wrong.
Not only had hopeless choices always been laid before me, but I possessed an exceptional talent for plucking out the very worst among them.
In all my life, there had never been an exception.
The Emperor did not survive the dawn of that night, and until the moment I took my own life, I never learned what it was my father had meant to leave me at the end.
* * *
It was a death everyone had seen coming.
As long as the Emperor had lain bedridden, discussions regarding the funeral had already been somewhat underway. Thanks to that, the rites concluded smoothly, but the real ambush lay elsewhere.
Immediately following the ceremony, the imperial family's legal representative announced the Emperor’s last will and testament before the royals gathered together for the first time in ages.
I, too, gathered alongside my half-siblings today, listening attentively to Baron Vermon, who served as the legal representative. Or at the very least, I pretended to.
The will was excessively long, and with Baron Vermon reciting it line by line as if determined not to omit a single syllable, it was impossible to stay focused.
Commending the loyalty of several nobles was tolerable enough to listen to, but when the clause emerged requesting that his body be buried beside the deceased Empress, I could not hold back a hollow laugh.
Fortunately, with a black veil draped over my face, no one would have seen it.
“Lastly, I shall address the distribution of the inheritance.”
When the baron finally turned to the last page, I straightened my posture at last.
The will was just as everyone had anticipated.
The throne passed to Joseph, while Marianne and Dahlia each inherited magnificent castles and estates.
Though they could not inherit titles under the laws of succession, they received a handsome share of the Emperor’s personal wealth, more than enough to live out their days in luxury.
And that was all.
Having sat with downcast eyes upon the parlor sofa the entire time, my gaze shot upward the instant the words “That concludes the reading” left the baron's mouth.
“Is that the end?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Even as he bowed respectfully, the baron’s face was taut with tension. Naturally, he seemed to have anticipated my reaction. After all, my name had not been mentioned in the will even once.
“Could there be something I missed?”
“We reviewed the contents of the will multiple times, but…”
The baron trailed off, watching my expression with unease. Then, in a voice shrinking to a murmur, he said,
“His Majesty left nothing specifically for Her Highness the Princess.”
“…Nothing, you say.”
A dry chuckle slipped from me.
“Are you joking with me right now?”
“I am truly only stating the facts as they are written…”
“Cut the nonsense! Even the baseborn bastards received their share of the inheritance, yet you claim nothing was left to me, his legitimate daughter?”
As my shrill voice cut him off, the baron gave a startled flinch and clamped his mouth shut. Seething with rage, I swept the veil back with a sharp flick of my hand and turned toward the nobles standing nearby.
“Do you truly believe this makes any sense?”
“Your Highness, His Majesty’s will has nothing whatsoever to do with our intentions.”
Despite the fury lacing my voice, the nobles maintained an utterly robotic demeanor.
“Furthermore, following the fall of the Ricata Duchy, all property belonging to the ducal house reverted to the imperial family, so there is nothing particularly amiss with the contents of the will.”
“I see how it is.”
I nodded, a sneer twisting my lips.
“If it was not your doing, then it must be someone else’s will.”
My icy glare fixed upon Joseph, who sat nearby. At my blatant suspicion, a smirk spread across his face.
“Perhaps because my sister spent so little time with Father, she does not seem to know him well. Was His Majesty ever the kind of man to heed the will of others?”
Unlike his gentle smile, the smooth cadence of his words was unmistakable mockery. As he poked at my long-standing insecurity, I bit down hard on my lower lip.
Being seized by the impulse to tear into that pretty face so reminiscent of our father was nothing new, yet it had never burned as fiercely as it did today.
“You ought to know best of all, Sienna. He was a man who ruthlessly eliminated even the mother you cherished so dearly the moment she became an obstacle to his power.”
“Of course I know. Just as I know that His Majesty never stripped me of my status, and that your deceitful mouth is not to be trusted…. You’ve been strutting about poking into every corner like you're already the next emperor, so things must not be looking too good for you right now, are they?”