Chapter 66: The Lost Son’s Keepsakes

When it came to Klaus, her deceased child, there were more mementos than just the shoes. Swaddling clothes, baby blankets, wraps, a mobile, and a cradle… yet none of them had ever been used.

Lara had stored them away in the attic instead of passing them on to Lorace. Each item had been handpicked and sewn by her own hands, and she couldn’t bring herself to discard them.

After losing her child, Lara would sometimes visit the attic when she had time. She would slowly caress the keepsakes, one by one, as if they were her baby. As if they were her lost son. And then one day, it happened.

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It was around the eighth month of Valeria’s pregnancy. When Lara went to rummage through the attic again, she found it completely empty.

Not understanding what had happened, she questioned the maid responsible for cleaning, who replied that she had cleared it out as part of the cleaning process.

At that moment, anger surged through Lara, and she slapped the maid across the face.

Though the maid trembled and bowed her head, Lara couldn’t calm down. She felt as if she had lost her child all over again. Overwhelmed with emotion, she collapsed, her whole body burning with rage, unable to think clearly.

It felt as if she were losing her child again. Though she tried to suppress her tears, they came anyway.

Lady Rossienne rushed over and demanded to know under whose orders the attic had been cleared. But the maid only stood there, trembling with a vacant expression.

For a moment, Lara thought of Valeria but quickly dismissed the suspicion. That woman wouldn’t do such a thing. There was no longer any reason for Valeria to act against her.

She was already pregnant, and Lara had no intention of harming her child.

Even if the child was Valeria’s, no matter how much she despised the woman, Lara was not so twisted as to harm an unborn child.

Above all, that child was Aelec’s.

Even if the child had been conceived in the nights Alec had spent with Valeria, it was still Alec’s blood. Lara felt no desire to harm it.

But still, still…

“She wouldn’t have done it,” Lara murmured, forcing herself to dismiss the thought.

She rose to her feet, deciding that the mishap was likely the result of the young maid’s inexperience. Lara apologized to the maid for her reaction.

Though the maid wiped away her tears, she glared at Lara with an expression devoid of remorse. She showed no signs of reflecting on her actions. Even so, Lara let her go without further reprimand.

That evening, Lara sent the maid a small piece of jewelry and some silver coins as an apology for having struck her.

But what she received in return was a vile rumor.

The maid spread twisted tales, claiming that the Empress had struck her and then tried to cover it up with gifts.

The rumor painted Lara as someone who, instead of showing fairness and compassion to her subordinates as an empress should, resorted to bribery to conceal her wrongdoings.

Lady Rossienne was furious, gritting her teeth and insisting they investigate the maid and punish her.

“We must inform His Majesty immediately!” the woman exclaimed, seething with rage.

Lara, however, was stunned into silence, her mind blank for a moment. Should she punish the maid as Lady Rossienne suggested? Should she inform Alec and ask him to clear her name?

But she didn’t want to.

She didn’t want to seek Alec’s help. He was no longer her husband. He was no longer the man who had vowed to protect her and Lorace. Lara was alone in this palace now.

If it was a matter she couldn’t handle on her own, then she wouldn’t seek help from anyone else.

She let the nobles talk, knowing they would tear her apart with their words as they always did. This was nothing new—it was just another cycle of the same.

No matter how flawlessly she behaved, Lara’s very existence would never be accepted by them.

“Don’t tell His Majesty anything,” Lara instructed.

“But, Your Majesty…”

“Even if he knew, nothing would change. I won’t burden someone so preoccupied with state affairs with the trivialities of the First Empress’s palace.”

“But…”

“Leave it be. You know this isn’t something we can set straight just by addressing it directly.”

“Even so, we must clarify…”

“Let it go.”

“You know, Lady Rossienne. People… they simply hate me. If it looks like my fault, they’ll seize any chance to tear me down. Even if I tried to explain, they wouldn’t listen. They despise me so much that even my mere breathing disgusts them.”

Lady Rossienne parted her lips as if to speak but stopped, her expression conflicted. Lara, on the other hand, wore a weary face, blinking her eyes as if drained of all energy.

However, even though Lady Rossienne didn’t relay the matter, Alec came to know of it.

He would not stand by while the source of the malicious rumor disrupted the palace’s discipline and insulted the imperial family.

The moment he heard about the rumors, he had the maid brought before him. Trembling, she bowed her head repeatedly. Unlike the tears she had shed in front of Lara, these were genuine tears of fear. She sobbed pitifully, bowing so low that her forehead hit the ground.

In the presence of the noble council and the ladies of the court, the maid begged for her life. But Alec was a man who showed no mercy, at least when it came to matters involving Lara.

Turning his cold gaze to the already battered maid—her fingernails torn off, her knees scraped raw, her head shaved to reveal her scalp—he asked her in a chilling tone, “You know it’s impossible to clear something from the palace on your own judgment.”

The maid nodded frantically.

“Then it means you acted under someone’s orders when you emptied the storage room.”

“Y-yes, Your Majesty. Please, spare my life, just my life!”

“Who was it?”

“I-I…”

The maid’s tearful eyes darted toward Valeria.

Valeria, by then heavily pregnant and struggling to move, sat quietly in the trial chamber, summoned there deliberately by the emperor along with her head maid, Gladys.

“Tie her up,” Alec ordered when the maid hesitated, casting nervous glances at Valeria. There was no hesitation in his command.

Guards immediately seized the maid, tying her hands above her head to a wooden post.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Please spare me!”

Stripped of her dignity, the maid’s arms were raised and bound high. As ropes bit into her wrists, executioners placed a brazier filled with hot coals beneath her feet. The heat began to scorch her soles, and she screamed in agony.

The post and the ceiling of the execution chamber seemed to tremble with her cries. Lara, watching the scene, felt her heart wrench. The sight of the young maid, already brutalized from days of torture, was unbearable.

The girl’s face, swollen and raw, her hair shaved so crudely her scalp was visible, bore the marks of relentless suffering. Though she had wronged Lara, seeing her reduced to this pitiful state—with dried blood and tears staining her face—stirred an uncomfortable pity in her heart.

Just as Lara was about to plead with Alec to stop, the maid screamed, “The Second Empress! The Second Empress ordered it!”

“It’s a lie!” the head maid of Valeria’s palace shouted, her face pale as she interjected.

Valeria herself, however, remained composed. Unlike Lara, who grimaced at the girl’s condition, Valeria wore her usual serene expression. Her calmness was unsettling, almost eerie, as if she were watching an unrelated affair.

“She’s lying under someone’s orders,” Valerie’s head maid continued.

“Under orders…” Alec muttered.

“Yes, under the Second Empress’s orders! Hic… Please, Your Majesty, spare me! Just spare me!”

The maid, desperate to escape the flames, flailed her legs, but the executioners held her firmly, ensuring she couldn’t bend her knees or lift her feet from the burning heat.

“Aaaaaah!” she screamed in unbearable pain.

The noblewomen, who had previously delighted in gossiping about Lara, turned pale at the horrific sight before them.

“Where is your proof?” Alec demanded coldly, his voice cutting through the chaos.

“What?”

“What proof do you have to claim it was an order?”

“Your Majesty. Your Majesty, don’t you know? The Second Empress is currently with child, carrying the heir who will succeed Your Majesty and lead this empire. To accuse Her Majesty of such a thing…”

“Prove your claim.”

“Your Majesty, what I mean to say is—”

“How could the Second Empress commit such a vile act?” interrupted another. “Her Majesty is carrying Your Majesty’s precious second son. How could she possibly stoop to such absurd schemes to tarnish the First Empress’s reputation through a foolish girl like this?”

Unable to remain silent any longer, a maid stepped forward. The head maid of the Second Empress’s palace cast her eyes downward under Alec’s sharp gaze, blinking nervously.

Alec glared at Valeria and her maids with eyes that could pierce through them, as though they were insects he wished to crush. Their audacity disgusted him, and he felt his blood run cold at the thought of these shameless women conspiring against his wife. He barely restrained himself from ordering their execution on the spot.

“It’s slander,” one of the maids said.

“Slander, is it?”

“It must be. Surely someone is behind this, aiming to tarnish the Second Empress’s honor and reputation.”

“And who do you think orchestrated this?”

“Well… it’s difficult to say outright in Your Majesty’s presence, but surely it would be someone who stands to gain from defaming the Second Empress.”

“Ah, someone who stands to gain…”

Alec let out a derisive laugh, his gaze fixed on Valeria. She remained poised, her face serene as always. With a mesmerizing grace, she stroked her rounded belly as though to flaunt that within it grew the emperor’s child.

The sight of her swollen belly made Lara’s blood run cold. No matter how many times she tried to convince herself to feel blessed for the child, she couldn’t. Nor could she fully see Alec as a stranger or sever her emotional ties to him as her husband.

This was why Lara dreaded facing Valeria. The sight of her belly filled her with fear and revulsion. Ever since Valerie became pregnant, she had looked down on Lara with an air of arrogant triumph, treating her like an inferior.

Despite Lara’s higher rank in the imperial hierarchy, Valeria acted as though she had surpassed her by virtue of her pregnancy. She seized every opportunity to take precedence in ceremonies and even claimed privileges meant exclusively for the First Empress.

The imperial customs reserved for the emperor’s first wife were, in Valeria’s mind, rightfully hers. Unable to outright usurp these privileges, she used her pregnancy as leverage to demand concessions. If Lara didn’t comply, Valerie would rally her circle of noblewomen to ostracize her, painting her as a petty and jealous woman.

Yet, Lara cared little for ceremonial privileges. What truly unnerved her was Valerie’s habit of flaunting her pregnancy in front of her. It was unbearable. To avoid encountering Valeria, Lara began skipping events where imperial honors were bestowed.

Valerie twisted this narrative, claiming that Lara’s absence was due to wounded pride over receiving lesser recognition. But the truth was, Lara found Valeria’s presence terrifying.

Even though she knew she ought to celebrate the birth of Alec’s child, the evidence of Alec’s intimacy with Valerie was too much to bear.

For this reason, Lara confined herself to the First Empress’s palace, focusing solely on her son, Loras. Alec, too, seemed unwilling to force Lara and Valeria to cross paths. He didn’t oppose Lara’s decision to skip official events and even excluded Valeria from religious ceremonies and annual celebrations. Using her pregnancy as an excuse, he kept her confined to the Second Empress’s palace.

But now, here they were, facing each other. Lara, unable to tear her gaze away from Valeria’s swollen belly, felt the weight of her dread.

“Anyone with common sense could figure out who stands to gain from this,” a maid said, shifting her gaze toward Lara.

Lara bit her lip, recoiling at the snake-like stare directed at her. Were they about to pin the blame on her? Accuse her of orchestrating this to tarnish Valerie’s reputation, claiming she had destroyed and burned the baby’s belongings herself?

“Lady Emma,” Lady Rossienne interjected coolly, “what is the meaning of that disrespectful gaze?”

The maid named Emma sneered faintly, her derision aimed squarely at Lara. It was clear that if this continued, Lara could be accused and unjustly bear the blame.