The Abandoned Empress Will Not Return

It was the tenth day since the empress position was taken from her and she was demoted to a commoner.

 

Her days have been a boring routine.
These days she would wake up early, open the window to ventilate the house, read the newspaper from her front door and then start her morning with a proper meal.

 

It had been ten days since she was imprisoned in the house; the boring daily life was hard to bear.
In the past, Rodelia had been tasked with managing the imperial family’s finances every day as well as discussing politics with Kane.

 

“She’s like a poisonous witch.
How could she think of poisoning His Majesty the Emperor?”

 

“That’s what I mean.
It makes me feel ashamed of the past, treating a woman like that as the empress.”

 

As the sun rose and the streets became brighter, voices mocking Rodelia could be heard from outside.
But it was fine.
Because everything they were saying wasn’t true.

 

‘I can be proud…..’

 

Rodelia closed the open window to avoid hearing their gossip.
Using the sun shining through the glass as a lamp, she sat down in an armchair and opened the newspaper.

 

The smell of the new paper that permeated her nostrils was pleasant.
However, the content itself was not quite.
The front page of the newspaper was still bombarded with negative stories about hers.

 

 

As it is everywhere, there are no absolutes.  Not all of the people swore and pointed fingers at her.
But Kane, as if he couldn’t allow any such positive public opinion, deliberately published malicious articles, making it impossible to defend Rodelia Florence.

 

Her hand, which held the newspaper, turned white.

 

‘Kane intends to kill me.’

 

Whether it be physically or socially.

 

The time she stayed beside him wasn’t short at all.
Which was why Rodelia knew quite a bit about Kane.

 

He mercilessly discarded pawns that have served its usefulness.
He never forgave a traitor.

 

She didn’t betray Kane, of course, but the problem was that he believed so.
The proof of this was the newspaper articles that listed all sorts of crimes she hadn’t committed.

 

Her calm head throbbed.
Gnashing her teeth, Rodelia crumpled the newspaper in her hand.

 

Though she may have given up to be by his side, she was still once his companion who looked over the same place, how could she be treated like this?

 

Tax embezzlement and squandering the imperial budget on her own luxuries were mostly what dominated the articles.
In addition, absurd contents occupied the newspaper in small detail but were written quite plausibly, so those who did not know any better could easily believe them.

 

All sorts of feelings of betrayal weighed on her but she had no way of expressing her powerlessness.
She can only hope that the people who read the article would not be outraged.

 

But it was just an absurd wish.
It wasn’t long before the aftermath of the newspaper articles came.

 

“Hey, Rodelia Florence!”

 

 *

 

It was a sleepless night due to the article Kane maliciously spread.

 

The surroundings were exceptionally quiet unlike during the day.
On such a quiet night, she couldn’t even hear the chatter of the guards outside the door.

 

It all felt strange as Rodelia tossed and turned, then she heard the faint sound of the front door’s doorknob being turned.
Curling up under the blanket, her body trembled.

 

‘No way…….’

 

The nerves of her whole body focused beyond the door, passed under the stairs, and concentrated on the front door on the first floor.
The door clattered several times and the creaking of hinges was heard.  Then came the sound of footsteps thumping on the floor.

 

‘It’s not just one…….’

 

At least three? She didn’t know.
It didn’t matter how many intruders there were now.

 

A suffocating fear crept in.
The unknown intruders stomped their feet even louder, as if they had no intention of hiding their presence or even as if they were showing off.

 

Rodelia gulped, feeling goosebumps crawling up her spine.

 

[T/N: she honestly doesn’t deserve this]

 

Clearly there was no commotion outside.
So either someone bribed the guards to murder her or they led the way….
It must have been one of the two.

 

She quickly shook her head.

 

She didn’t have time to think about this or that.
It didn’t matter who they were or what purpose they had.

 

As she looked around collecting her thoughts, she grabbed a fountain pen that was on the bedside table, gripped it, hoping to be able to stab in the vitals.  She then hid behind a closet, holding her breath.
Meanwhile, the gruff voice grew closer.

 

“What did I tell you! She probably committed other crimes, right? She is such a dark-hearted woman that she planned to poison His Majesty the Emperor.
Who knows what else she could have done?”

 

“Hey, can you hear me? Sinner Rodelia Florence! There is no one to help you, so try hiding!”

 

Then came ravenous laughter.
What stopped the laugh was another man’s voice, which sounded a little child-like.

 

“No, I don’t want to do this…….”

 

His voice was shaking violently, seemingly uncomfortable.

 

“What are you talking about? Think about her hurting innocent people.
She pretended to be a benevolent empress in front of us but was a hypocrite all along.
We didn’t even know that and just smiled at her for being a good person.
How ridiculous we must have looked.”

 

“I hear you but… in the end, it’s also true that she helped us when no one was paying attention.”

 

“You id*ot.
It was all for fame and to ease her conscience.
Think carefully! Everyone will turn a blind eye to this.
The people allowed her to be punished!  We’re going to be heroes now.
Rare heroes who condemned former Empress Rodelia Florence for mocking the people!”

 

“Quiet, we’re almost there, so stop fighting.
It’s the room at the end of the hall, right?”

 

The sound of talking right in front of the door leaked inside.

 

Seeing that they knew her bedroom, it seemed that the guards were also in sync with them.
Besides, it’s something everyone turned a blind eye to.
Perhaps most of the capital’s residents were accomplices.

 

The hand holding the fountain pen was damp with sweat and turned pale.

 

Then she heard a voice from somewhere. 

 

BANG! 

 

The door opened.

 

The dark room became brighter and all kinds of furniture fell here and there with a loud thud.
It was an instant thing.
The bedroom was a mess and Rodelia was captured before she could resist.  Having lived in an environment where she had never learned self-defense, it was next to impossible for her to overpower adult men, not just one, but three of them.

 

The fountain pen in Rodelia’s hand as she was forced to kneel, fell helplessly to the floor.
The fountain pen, which had rolled over, came to a stop at the man’s feet.
Rodelia looked at it, then raised her head to see the three faces.

 

She once said that she wasn’t very good at remembering people’s faces but they were strangely familiar.
After pondering for a long time, Rodelia opened her eyes wide when she recognized them.

 

“You’re…..!”

 

They were residents of a slum located in a very remote corner of the capital.
The people who have always received a lot of help from Rodelia and who she even took care of at her own expense.

 

“D-Don’t blame us too much.
It’s all your karma.”

 

They seemed to shrink upon facing Rodelia.
The hand that held the blunt weapon trembled.

 

“Why…?”

 

“G-Get rid of that heinous act.
Come with us, your duplicity at mocking the poor makes me shudder.”

 

Seeing Rodelia’s figure, the only one who couldn’t speak was the youngest man, who was trembling in the corner.
He couldn’t look directly at Rodelia and kept his head down.

 

He was probably the owner of the child-like voice.

 

“The citizens of the capital have turned a blind eye to this.
So it would be useless to resist.”

 

Rodelia, sensing that she could not get away from these three by force, began to think of a way to convince them.

 

First of all, she had to stay calm.
After briefly thinking, she was able to speak calmly.

 

“First, calm down.
I know very well what misunderstanding you have.
You saw the newspaper articles didn’t you?”

 

“…..”

 

“You may not believe it, but the articles are not true.
I felt a sense of responsibility for the people more than anyone else.”

 

It wasn’t too difficult to calm them down.  Rodelia called them by name and met their eyes.

 

“Hans, Vector, Winston.
I’m not sure if you will believe me…….”

 

“Y-You remember our names…?”

 

Their cloudy pupils began to quiver violently.
They were shaken by an unexpected fact.

 

Rodelia did not miss that subtle change.  She quickly answered his question.

 

“Of course.
You are the people I directly sponsored.”