Chapter 94 – Is It Impossible? (1)
Viscount Roteschu’s son was Alan.
Alan Roteschu.
Rashta bit her lip. He was the man Rashta once loved, the man who then abandoned her, and…
Was the father of her baby.
“This isn’t what you promised!”
Rashta’s anger burst out of her. Viscount Roteschu had said he’d keep all the figures in the past secret, and she had no choice but to doubt his intentions. Viscount Roteschu clicked his tongue.
“Not what I promised? When did I promise to keep the baby locked up?”
“I didn’t ask that.”
“Well, we don’t need to reveal the baby to society.”
“What about Alan or Rivetti? Will they stay at your mansion when they get here? What if your children talk about Rashta in society?!”
“They don’t even know you’re the Emperor’s concubine.”
“For how long?”
“If they do find out, I can keep them disciplined.”
Despite his reassurances, Rashta felt uneasy.
“Don’t worry. Alan is the father of your child, isn’t he?”
“!”
“He will keep his mouth shut for the sake of his baby.”
Rashta still could not calm. There was no way she would believe a man who already broke his promise once.
“It can’t be helped. Alan is better at caring for Ahn than I expected, so we can’t keep him out.”
“Ahn?”
“The name of your son.”
Rashta’s eyes trembled as he spoke of her child. Viscount Roteschu continued without missing a beat.
“How about this—do you want to meet your son?”
Rashta gave a surprising answer.
“No.”
She spoke without hesitation, but her expression said otherwise. At the ensuing silence, Viscount Roteschu gave a low chuckle, then left the room.
Rashta started pacing the room back and forth, her lips pursed in confusion. She carried the baby for ten months, and loved him with all her heart. As soon as she recovered from the shattering pain of labor, her baby was killed. The shock of it had driven her mad, and she had lived in a state of pain and distress for months, until she decided to run away from Viscount Roteschu’s estate, determined to die.
But now Viscount Roteschu claimed the baby was alive, and now the enemy and the lover who abandoned her was raising that baby. Viscount Roteschu had said the child was dead to drive her to insanity, and now he said the child was alive to drive her to insanity. Rashta was tired of being manipulated by something she had never seen. It was like her child caught her ankle and dragged her deeper. However, she couldn’t help but worry over him at the same time.
Rashta stopped circling the room and collapsed into tears.
***
“How does it feel to have a baby?”
The room turned quiet, and I took my eyes off my book and looked around. The ladies-in-waiting were looking at each other with stiffened expressions.
‘Ah…’
I must have caused a misunderstanding, so I quickly laughed and pointed at my book.
“It’s about this story.”
The preparations for the banquet were almost complete. Because of that, I had less work than usual and had been able to spend my time more leisurely. My words had caused the ladies-in-waiting to freeze.
“Would you like to have a baby, Your Majesty?”
Countess Eliza spoke to me cautiously, and I shook my head as I laughed.
“I didn’t mean that.”
Just because I didn’t mean it, however, it didn’t mean that my thoughts weren’t entirely devoid of the topic of babies. Now that Rashta was pregnant, I thought I should have a baby soon as well, in case of mishaps that may occur in the future if our babies had a large age gap. The law decreed that Rashta’s child did not have the right to succession, but the law was not always followed. But having a baby now would be difficult between me and Sovieshu…
‘My god.’
But no matter how much I denied it, the awkward atmosphere in the room did not abate.
“I’m going to give Miss Rashta’s baby a present. Do you all have something prepared?”
I quickly brought up another topic to distract the ladies. It was not a pleasant one, but the awkward atmosphere dissolved away. The ladies grumbled, but no one said “Why would you give Miss Rashta’s baby a present?” When one celebrated the birth of the Emperor’s baby, one should present a gift.
“I prepared clothes. Something that can save my face, but nothing that requires too much effort.”
“I haven’t decided what to prepare.”
“I’ve chosen baby trinkets…I’m still thinking about it, but I might change it.”
As I listened to the conversation, Countess Eliza turned to me cautiously.
“Have you thought about what gift to give, Your Majesty?”
The ladies stopped talking and looked at me. I answered with a nod.
“I’m going to give the baby a decorative sword.”
“A sword? You’re going to give that to the baby?”
Laura jumped up angrily as if she didn’t like the answer.
“Why would you give such a precious gift? You should just give a knitted hat, Your Majesty.”
“Laura, that would make her a laughingstock.”
“Why? Isn’t more strange to be considerate?”
“Laura.”
The countess shook her head firmly at Laura, who was heavily breathing through her nose. I wanted to say that I had a purpose, but I kept my mouth closed. I didn’t want my words to leak out the same way it did with the dress incident. It was unclear whether the leak was intentional, but it was still better to take caution.
“Lady Laura, I’ll tell you the details later.”