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Chapter 80

Astelle was a little surprised.

It was the first time in her life that her well-behaved older brother treated their father like this.

“What, what? What did you just say?”

“I told you not to insult Astelle.”

“How dare you! To your father……”

Then I heard loud footsteps outside the door.

The footsteps were rapidly approaching from down the stairs.

knock knock.

The door opened with two knocks.

Behind the door were men in Imperial Knight uniforms.

Lyndon with the knights came in and greeted Astelle.

“Lady Astelle, I apologize for visiting you in the middle of the night.”

“It’s okay, Sir Lyndon. What’s going on?”

Lyndon glanced at the duke beside Astelle, then bowed his head politely.

“By Your Majesty’s orders, the knights will guard this mansion from today onwards.”

There was a heavier and longer silence than before.

“Why do they have to guard this mansion?”

A confused expression appeared on Lyndon’s serious face.

Astelle noticed what he was trying to say.

‘Lady Astelle is the one who received His Majesty’s proposal…… Of course, you need to be protected by the knights……’

That’s probably the reason.

Lyndon did not dare to be so frank but answered as euphemistically as possible,

“It’s His Majesty’s orders.”

There was no one who could not understand the meaning of those words.

“I am leaving tomorrow.”

“Are you leaving?”

“Are you leaving?”

The duke was more surprised than Lyndon.

“I have already obtained permission from His Majesty the Emperor.”

Of course, it was before I got proposed to at the ball.

“I am sorry, Lady Astelle. You cannot leave this mansion without His Majesty’s permission. I am really sorry.”

“What if I want to go out for a while?”

“You can go out as much as you want. But the knights will accompany you.”

“……”

I was about to leave the capital tomorrow, insisting that I have permission.

Considering that they even came at me straight away like this, I don’t think they would let me go so easily.

However, I didn’t know that I would be locked up in the mansion and monitored.

Astelle barely suppressed the rising anger.

“Am I imprisoned?”

I can not leave the mansion and return home, and I must be monitored by knights to go outside.

It was certainly confinement.

“Oh, it can’t be. We will protect Lady Astelle to the end. You can meet your family as much as you want. This is not confinement at all.”

Lyndon hurriedly denied it, but there was a deep sense of guilt in his innocent eyes.

He also seemed to agree with the word ‘imprisoned’ in his heart.

“Then I will place the knights and leave.”

Lyndon quickly saluted the three of them, then turned around and went outside.

Even after the door was closed, there was a heavy silence for a moment.

The emperor sent knights to protect Astelle. This was obviously his intention to make Astelle his empress.

In the past, she had spent close to ten years as the crown prince’s fiancee, but she had never been protected by the Imperial Knights.

The Duke and Fritz, as well as Astelle, were speechless.

Although Kaizen personally proposed at the ballroom, Astelle had no idea that he would want to marry her so strongly, though.

“Accept the proposal.”

It was the duke who broke the silence.

“You can’t refuse after what happened. I will meet the emperor tomorrow, apologize for what happened today, and accept the proposal—”

“No, I do not want to. I will never accept his marriage proposal.”

“If you marry the emperor, you will become the empress again!”

“A woman with a child became the empress. Then she would be ridiculed for the rest of her life.”

“Isn’t that better than being ridiculed as a princess who gave birth to an illegitimate child?”

The duke sneered coldly.

Astelle did not answer.

It was far better for her to live comfortably with Theor in the countryside than to enter the Imperial Palace and live next to Kaizen.

‘Become the Empress again……’

A conflict arose in her heart.

The reason that Astelle had thoroughly hidden Theor’s biological father was that the child would be taken away if it was discovered that he was the emperor’s son.

If Theor became prince and entered the palace, Astelle could not protect him.

Poor Theor will be oppressed by the children of the new empress and will die horribly.

But if Astelle herself becomes Empress again……

She no longer has to hide the truth of Theor’s birth.

She can enter the imperial palace and gain the power to protect Theor.

‘Would it be safe for me to become Empress again?’

Astelle thought fiercely in her mind and came to her senses by the duke’s sweet voice.

“I know you’ve been having a hard time. At that time, I was too harsh. I am so sorry.”

The Duke apologized to Astelle in the form of a benevolent father.

Then, he began to show his true intentions.

“But now, why not forget about the past and look at the reality? The emperor has publicly proposed to you. You have a chance to become the empress again. Are you really going to refuse it?”

“Yes, I am.”

Astelle answered without hesitation.

There was a conflict for a moment in her heart, but the moment she saw her father, a decision was quickly made.

Astelle could not be the empress again.

When Theor’s true identity is revealed and Astelle becomes empress, her father, the Duke of Reston, will do another dangerous act to make his grandson the emperor.

Not only Astelle but Theor’s life will also be threatened.

“So you won’t listen to me?”

“Ever since I was little, I lived only what you told me to do. I obeyed your orders and grew up to be the daughter you wanted me to be.”

When she was young she wanted to be a daughter to be proud of. She hoped that she would become a wonderful daughter who was loved by her father and would brighten up her family name. But in the end, she couldn’t.

By the time she was twenty, she perfectly accomplished everything her father wanted. But all her efforts for twenty years came to nothing because of one decision she made of her own free will—the decision to accept the divorce request from Kaizen.

From that day on, Astelle became the duke’s failure and was expelled from the family.

“I think I have fulfilled my duty to my father and my family.”

“So you will refuse the emperor’s proposal and go back to the East?”

“Yes.”

The duke stared at Astelle for a while and then laughed coldly.

“I’m very curious about how you plan to go back.”

Astelle did not answer.

It was just as her father thought.

She was imprisoned in this mansion.

She was now in a situation where she could not leave at will.

***

From the night of the charity ball, Astelle’s confinement life begins.

Her life did not change much.

Astelle was still treated with great hospitality in this luxurious mansion.

Inside the mansion were numerous servants and maids.

They gave Astelle whatever she wanted.

She was also free to do whatever she wanted.

She could go anywhere in the mansion she wanted to go.

If she wants, she can even go to the top of each roof of the mansion.

Only the gate of the mansion she could not cross.

In fact, it was the most luxurious confinement in the world.

But confinement, whether luxurious or extravagant, was still confinement.

“Sir Lyndon, how long do I have to stay here?”

Astelle went out to the garden and met Lyndon.

Lyndon repeated the answer he had repeated countless times with a perplexed face.

“I am sorry, Lady Astelle.”

“His Majesty has not said anything yet?”

Lyndon nodded his head.

Astelle managed to withstand her rising anger.

She was going to pack up and leave as soon as the ball was over, but things went awry.

Kaizen imprisoned Astelle in the mansion under the pretext of guarding.

Several times she asked for an audience, but she never got an answer back.

She didn’t know what the hell she was doing.

“I see. When you see His Majesty, please tell him again that I request an audience.”

“Yes, Lady Astelle. I will definitely tell His Majesty.”

Astelle turned and headed towards the end of the garden.

In the mansion as well as in the garden, there were knights of the imperial palace.

The knights showed respect with modest movements whenever Astelle passed by, but they could not completely hide their curious eyes.

‘It’s understandable that they’re curious.’

Rumors about Astelle are spreading like wildfire in the capital.

His Majesty the Emperor has brought the deposed empress back. He even publicly proposed to her.

It was a shocking fact.

A woman with a child becomes an empress.

Moreover, it was a woman who gave birth to an illegitimate child.

Thanks to this, Astelle’s existence itself is a subject of curiosity.

The empress was expelled after just one day of marriage.

A princess who disappeared for six years and then reappeared with her illegitimate child.

A woman who captured the emperor’s heart again.

Roughly speaking, those were what people were thinking.

“What are they saying about Theor?”

What bothered Astelle the most was what people were talking about Theor.

Since it has already been revealed that Astelle is his biological mother, will there be any doubts that Theor is the emperor’s son?

Hannah reassured Astelle.

“There seems to be no one suspicious of the Young Master’s birth. If he was His Majesty’s son, they would have thought that you would reveal it beforehand.”

After all, no one would ever imagine that the deposed empress hid a prince as her illegitimate child.