It Turned Out She Wasn't a Favored Concubine - Episode 101

“I have something to apologize for.”

At the sudden words, Arne looked directly at Erich.

“For what?”

“I ended up lying to you, though I didn’t mean to.”

As Arne quietly watched, Erich slowly parted his lips.

“I thought I had given up, but I hadn’t.”

Arne didn’t ask what he meant. She simply understood.

“I just didn’t struggle hard enough. The only time I truly could have let go was when he first called my name and asked for help.”

Erich added with a bitter smile.

“I was beside him when he fell from his horse. Thanks to that, I saw everything from beginning to end, clearly.”

Arne listened silently to Erich’s words. Erich chuckled to himself, then asked Arne in a slightly different tone.

“I heard the Marquis of Edelheit is ill.”

Arne raised her eyes.

“If…”

“Stop. Please don’t say any more.”

Though Arne rudely cut off the prince’s words, Erich merely smiled.

“If you marry the Lady of the Parmati family, you won’t have time for moments like this. So this will be my final farewell. I don’t care which of the three princes becomes the next emperor, but I’ll wish for your ascension.”

“Thank you. Then may I make a proposal?”

Arne tilted her head.

“If I become emperor, would you be my empress?”

“…”

Arne nearly blurted out something harsh but held her tongue with a sliver of reason.

“You don’t have to answer right away. I just want to know your thoughts.”

“I have much to say, but let me ask something first. Are you going to marry the Lady of Parmati?”

“She will follow my decision. I don’t need to follow hers.”

“To become emperor, you’ll need the power of the Parmati family.”

“If there’s only one option, then I won’t need it.”

Erich spoke meaningfully.

“As you said, unless the situation changes drastically, nothing will change. So I’ll have to change the situation myself. And you…”

This time, I waited quietly for him to finish. But Erich shook his head.

“No, I’ll just wait for your answer whenever you’re ready.”

With those final words, Erich slowly turned and disappeared into the bright light.

And a week later, a shocking incident shook the capital.

Count Zakar, Erich’s greatest supporter, was poisoned. Just hours later, the empress’s son was also poisoned, and the culprit was identified as the son of a concubine.

The empress stormed barefoot into the concubine’s quarters, pulling her hair and cursing her son loudly.

Faced with this unprecedented crisis, even the emperor had to rise from his heavy throne.

Between the empress’s desperate cries for justice and the concubine’s pleas of innocence, the emperor ordered a direct investigation.

The truth revealed was horrifying. The concubine’s son, driven by ambition, had murdered his own blood brother. Though the concubine pleaded repeatedly, her words no longer reached the emperor.

The concubine’s son was executed by hanging on the emperor’s orders, and the concubine was expelled from the palace.

At the pitiful funeral of her executed son, the empress laughed madly and eventually lost her mind. A woman who had lost her sanity could no longer fulfill her duties as empress. After much deliberation, the emperor confined her to the northern tower.

After the bloody storm passed, only the aging emperor remained in the palace.

Or so it seemed. One prince still remained.

Among the princes vying for succession, he had the least support and was nearly forgotten.

Despite the death of his greatest supporter, Count Zakar, he was no longer just a prince. He was the emperor’s only remaining son and heir. The factions that had supported the empress’s and concubine’s sons eventually knelt before Erich.

The aging emperor had no other choice. He appointed Erich Griezmann Zen Martania as crown prince.

When Erich stood on the high platform wearing the golden crown of the crown prince, the gossiping nobles called it a lucky break.

But those who knew understood: this was no coincidence. The one who benefited most from the poisonings and executions was none other than Erich.

Arne, attending the coronation in place of the ailing Marquis Edelheit, silently mocked those who spoke of luck as she watched Erich, now unreachable.

That day, Erich said he would change the situation. That he would narrow the choices to one. Arne couldn’t help but understand what he meant.

She was shocked, afraid, and impressed all at once. She had never cared so deeply for anyone outside her family. That much, she had to admit.

But that was the last time. Now that he was truly crown prince, Arne—rumored to be the wicked woman of the insignificant Edelheit family—could no longer be of interest to him. So she thought, as she slowly left the palace.

Indeed, Erich never sought Arne again. Even when they were in the same banquet hall, they stood worlds apart. Arne caused trouble not only at noble gatherings but throughout the capital.

More wildly, more recklessly.

Time was running out. The Marquis of Edelheit’s illness worsened, and he eventually summoned the son he hadn’t seen in years.

The day the marquis first called for Giscal von Edelheit, Arne raised a whip against the servants for the first time.

She was too angry to hold back. Though she lived in the same mansion, he had never once called for her. Yet now he summoned a brother who hadn’t shown his face in years.

Giskal returned sluggishly despite hearing of his father’s illness. And as if waiting for Giscal’s face, the marquis passed away shortly after his return.

Arne raged until the end. She couldn’t let him die like that. But God never granted her wishes.

Not this time either.

The marquis died without ever looking at Arne. His will didn’t mention her name even once. Arne was devastated.

While everyone attended the funeral, Arne entered her father’s empty room on a whim.

There, in an old drawer, she found his journal. In it were secrets she had wanted to know—or perhaps never wanted to know.

From that journal, Arne learned she might not be of Edelheit blood.

She let out a weak laugh and threw the journal into the fireplace. She stayed until every page turned to ash.

As she left the marquis’s room for the last time, she shed her final tears.

The emperor’s death and the new emperor’s coronation meant little to Arne.

But she was pleased that the new emperor ordered Giscal to the battlefield. Since the expensive detective agency failed, she had to use the family’s power.

To do so, she needed the family seal. She searched for it as soon as Giscal left for war, but it wasn’t easily found.

Arne summoned all the mansion’s servants and asked politely. No one answered.

With Giskal gone, Arne—being the closest blood relative—should have held the seal. Yet no one acknowledged this.

After pressuring the most talkative maid, she finally identified the maid who knew the seal’s whereabouts. At the same time, the detective agency finally delivered results.

So the seal was no longer needed. Arne turned away quickly. It was surprising that Giscal entrusted the seal to a foolish maid rather than the steward or head maid, but she no longer cared.

The real issue was the director of Kessiam, who knew Arne’s birth secret. The director demanded an outrageous price for the secret ledger. Still, Arne paid it and obtained the ledger.

And she learned the truth. Arne immediately burned down the orphanage where she had once stayed.

Watching her past go up in flames, Arne formed a single wish:

To burn away her entire past. To leave nothing behind when she departed. A foolish but sincere wish.

That wish grew more concrete with time. Around then, the new emperor sent her a secret letter. It contained a single sentence:

—I will wait for your answer, whenever it may come.

It was the last conversation they had shared. The timing was so perfect, it felt as if he had been watching her.

And she realized: the new emperor still had no empress.

Since Erich had changed the situation himself, he no longer needed to consider the Parmati family.

Giscal von Edelheit, having gone to war, achieved an unprecedented victory and was soon to return to the Edelheit mansion—a place that was his home, but not hers.

Arne had no desire to see Giscal again, who wasn’t even her real brother. She didn’t want to stay in the Edelheit mansion any longer. After some thought, she wrote her reply:

—I want to leave this mansion. If you will accept this proposal without seeking heirs from me and allow the Edelheit family to fall, then I accept. I do not need the heavy crown of empress.

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