It Turned Out She Wasn't a Favored Concubine - Episode 79

“I greet Your Majesty. But… why is someone who should be in Arlin Palace here in my palace?”

Rosadel no longer greeted me with her usual elegant smile. Erich stepped forward and looked down at her.

“You know the reason well, don’t you? I was foolish to be toyed with by a woman like you, even briefly. Now it’s time to pay the price.”

“What do you mean by that? I…”

Erich waved his hand dismissively, clearly unwilling to hear more. It was the same gesture he often used with Rosadel and Xenia when he was with me—like swatting away an annoying fly. Rosadel’s graceful brow furrowed.

“How could Your Majesty treat me this way? You keep a woman who consorted with another man by your side, yet punish me for trying to uphold the honor of the imperial family?”

“Still haven’t grasped the situation? I heard you brought the palace librarian named Rean here. Summon him immediately.”

Rosadel’s expression hardened.

“The librarian? Why are you suddenly looking for him?”

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t?”

Rosadel couldn’t answer. As she remained silent, Erich ordered the knights who had followed him to find Rean.

The knights pushed aside the maids of Rosadel Palace who tried to stop them and began a thorough search.

The once elegant palace, reflecting its mistress, was quickly turned into chaos. Tapestries were torn, ornaments shattered on the floor, and refined maids screamed and collapsed.

From one corner of the now-chaotic palace, a knight shouted loudly.

“He’s here!”

I ran toward the voice, with Erich close behind. The hallway echoed with the pounding of running knights.

Panting, I reached the door the knight had called from. It was locked from the outside. Thankfully, it wasn’t a dungeon with iron bars and the stench of blood. But the purpose of the locked door was clear.

“Rean! Are you in there?”

In a shabby corner of the room, a child sat with knees drawn up and head buried. I called again. Finally, the child looked up.

“Lady Arne?”

“Rean!”

Rean ran to me. I embraced him and checked his body. Thankfully, he didn’t seem injured.

“Rean! Are you really okay? They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

“No. I was just locked up.”

“Thank goodness. I was so worried something might happen to you.”

I reached out to stroke Rean’s hair again, but someone grabbed my arm.

“Arne, we’ve secured the witness. That’s enough.”

Erich glared sharply at Rean. Rean recognized him and quickly bowed his head.

“This is the librarian named Rean?”

“Yes. He suffered because of me last time, and I was worried he might get hurt again. I’m relieved.”

Erich stared intently at Rean, then stood me beside him and asked Rean how he ended up imprisoned.

Nervous before the emperor, Rean’s words came out haltingly, but his situation was much as I had expected.

“So the First Concubine forced you to give false testimony, and when you refused, she imprisoned you in Rosadel Palace.”

“N-no, Your Majesty!”

Rosadel, who had arrived late, shouted loudly. Her hair, always elegantly styled, was now disheveled. She didn’t bother hiding the contempt in her eyes and pointed at me.

“The Third Concubine committed misconduct in the imperial library. That fact hasn’t changed!”

She swung her pointed finger at me.

“False testimony? Yes, I did instruct some librarians to exaggerate. It was to help Your Majesty make a swift decision!”

Rosadel panted heavily but continued to accuse me.

“But the fact remains—Arne had a secret rendezvous with Perlo in the imperial library. Didn’t I present the Motus found in the restricted archives to Your Majesty? The one crafted by Perlo, connected to his lab?”

She clenched her fist as she looked at Rean.

“That child is just a foolish boy bewitched by the Third Concubine. I only detained him to prevent his nonsense from clouding Your Majesty’s judgment. Ignore him and sentence the Third Concubine to death for adultery.”

Without a word, Erich walked up to Rosadel and struck her. She collapsed to the floor without even screaming.

“The death sentence applies to you and your entire family. How dare you utter such nonsense in front of Arne. Even execution is too lenient for you.”

Blood trickled from Rosadel’s lips. The maids screamed. Rosadel shouted in a voice filled with rage.

“No matter how favored she is, the fact remains—she consorted with another man! If you protect her and cast me aside, you’ll lose the clean hands you’ve maintained since your days as a prince!”

“That won’t happen. The crime you reported was confessed by the Fourth Concubine.”

Erich smirked as he relayed Marian’s confession. Rosadel’s mouth fell open in disbelief.

“No way. Why would the princess of Jaren Kingdom…? Suddenly…?”

Even Rosadel couldn’t claim Marian had lied. My relationship with Marian was publicly hostile.

One was the princess of a defeated kingdom, the other the sister of the commander who defeated it. Our few interactions couldn’t erase that enmity.

That surface-level hostility made Marian’s confession even more credible.

If it weren’t true, Marian would have no reason to help me.

“With the Fourth Concubine’s confession, your false accusation against Arne is confirmed. And since you imprisoned the librarian, we’ll thoroughly investigate your attempt to manipulate a witness. Including your father, the Marquis of Parmati.”

It was over. The affair between Perlo and Marian, and Perlo’s breach of the palace’s teleportation barrier, weren’t even mentioned. They weren’t targets to be torn apart.

Just as Marian predicted.

“This can’t be… It can’t end like this.”

Rosadel staggered to her feet. She wiped the blood from her chin and glared at Erich with bloodshot eyes.

“You’re really going to abandon us? Our family supported you when you had nothing and helped you ascend to the throne. Even if you eliminated your brothers, you wouldn’t have become emperor so easily without us!”

I glanced at Erich in shock. Rosadel’s words directly touched on the past I had secretly suspected.

But Erich responded coldly.

“Have you gone mad?”

Rosadel’s desperate cries were dismissed as the ravings of a lunatic. Erich’s face showed no guilt or sympathy.

“Hahaha… You haven’t changed since childhood, Your Majesty! That cold indifference toward people made you easy to use. And now you treat me and my family with the same coldness.”

Rosadel laughed hollowly. Then she pointed at me.

“Only her. Only that woman was the exception.”

Erich frowned and stepped in front of me, shielding me from her gaze. Rosadel twisted her lips.

“You were indifferent to everyone, but you clung to her blindly. My father said you were using the young lady of Edelheit to keep us in check, but I knew.”

Her smile twisted unnaturally.

“She was the only one special in your indifferent eyes! Regardless of her brother’s status as a war hero, it was only her…”

Rosadel laughed and cried at the same time. Always noble and elegant, she now trembled like a tragic heroine.

Perhaps Rosadel truly had feelings for Erich beyond her family’s interests.

Her contemptuous gaze toward me may not have been just hatred for Arne’s arrogance, but jealousy and anger toward a rival in love.

Beyond her family, Rosadel was also a woman. I felt a fleeting sympathy—but it vanished with her next words.

“So you threw the Marquis of Edelheit into the dungeon! Because you lost your reason over my accusation against her!”

“W-wait, Giscal—my brother is in prison?”

“Yes, because of you. He dared to defy the emperor’s decree to prevent your exile. Since when were you such a devoted pair of siblings?”

Rosadel didn’t even use polite speech toward me. It didn’t matter. My mind was consumed by Giscal.

Still badly injured from the wolf attack, he couldn’t possibly receive proper treatment in prison. That place wasn’t fit for anyone, let alone someone so wounded.

“Enough. Should I order the knights to silence you?”

“What do I have to fear now? Me, my father, my family—we’re all doomed by your hand!”

Rosadel raised her voice defiantly.

“Arne, you too. That emotionless man’s obsessive affection will lead to a fate worse than ours. That much I guarantee!”

At Erich’s signal, the knights rushed in and gagged Rosadel, who laughed like a madwoman. Even with her mouth covered, she kept laughing. I felt a flicker of pity—but my priority was Giscal’s rescue.

“Please, save Giscal first. Can he even get proper treatment in prison?”

“I’ve heard his wounds have worsened, and he’s unable to move.”

Erich spoke with complete indifference. I snapped.

“What? You should’ve made sure he was treated properly!”

Erich tilted his head, looking at me as if I were a stranger.

“You’re worried about Giscal?”

His voice was chilling, but I was too focused on Giscal to notice Erich’s strange tone.

“Of course! He was hurt because of me… It’s a serious injury. He needs proper care immediately.”

“Oh, I do admire him for saving you. Quite unexpected. But even if you’re concerned, it’s best to leave him be.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If his wounds worsen and he dies, your wish will come true, won’t it?”

Only then did I notice

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