Are We Still In love?

In the deep of the night, when all the servants were asleep, Cecilia’s staggered footsteps led her toward the tall tower. As if driven by a sense of duty, she climbed the stairs barefoot, step by step. Finally, her steps stopped at the very top of the spire, where a bell hung.

Her dirty bare feet stood on the railing, which was lower than her waist. The gentle breeze seemed to urge her to reconsider her dangerous impulse, fluttering beneath her nightgown.

He is the one who killed me.

Holding only that single truth in her mind, Cecilia closed her eyes and leaned forward.

In the season when roses bloomed beautifully, a messenger arrived.

“Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress.”

Cecilia’s bewildered gaze swept across those who were sobbing beneath her. The maids and servants, everyone in the room, were shedding tears in sorrow.

“What are you saying?”

Her heart raced madly. It was an unbelievable story.

“Why, Your Majesty… why our family?”

Her throat ached as if it would tear from the unfamiliar tension. Her mouth was so dry that even swallowing felt like a painful ordeal.

“You must be mistaken.”

Cecilia’s trembling voice denied the reality. It was understandable. This was something she had never even imagined.

Eden Lobana Wyatt, the 14th Emperor of the Wyatt Empire, was her husband. She had been engaged to him when she was ten, and they had married when she turned twenty. It couldn’t be denied that their marriage was a political one. But Cecilia loved him.

“It can’t be true. The Emperor would never do such a thing to me…”

And Eden, too, would never…

“Look at the reality, Your Majesty. Everything is true.”

Had she ever loved him?

Countess Casper, the head maid, spoke calmly but with unwavering certainty. Unlike the others who were crying, her voice remained steady.

“The Emperor does not trust the Duke of Rain.”

Cecilia clasped her trembling hands. Her thin body shivered uncontrollably, as though she had been thrown out into a snowfield in midwinter.

“Though the Empress’s position is preserved, the Duke of Rain has been completely ruined.”

All the titles and lands owned by the Duke of Rain were seized. Furthermore, Curtis Rain, who had fled, was to be captured and executed.

The news was that Cecilia Rain, the noble daughter of the Duke of Rain, and Empress of the Wyatt Empire, would have her arms and legs cut off.

“The Duke of Rain did his best for His Majesty the Emperor,” someone said. “He made him Emperor, and helped him reach his position here…”

A family without titles was meaningless. This was something everyone with noble blood knew well.

“But in the end, it is considered a family that conspired to commit treason.”

And thus, the Duke of Rain became a fallen noble family, and Cecilia Rain became an Empress no different from a commoner.

He abandoned me!

The thunderous truth struck Cecilia’s mind like a lightning bolt. A scream, like the tearing of the earth, shook the world around her. Even if someone passing by had heard it, it would have been a tragic sound clear enough to make their hearts drop.

“Aah, aah…”

Cecilia, who had been swaying like a fragile flower stem, collapsed to the floor, her body still trembling. The world around her blurred into nothingness.

“His Majesty approaches!”

She realized, as the door opened and she saw the Emperor, that the tears she had been shedding unconsciously were the reason for her blurred vision.

Eden Lobana Wyatt. The beautiful man whom Cecilia adored so much. Her husband, whom she hadn’t seen properly in recent days due to his excuses of being busy.

“Everyone, leave.”

At Eden’s command, those who had been crying sadly left the room. Now, only Eden and Cecilia remained in her chamber.

Even through the haze of tears, the sharp presence of Eden tore at Cecilia’s heart. Even in such a dreadful situation, her heart raced toward him, and she hated herself for it.

“Cecilia.”

Eden slowly approached, gazing down at Cecilia, who sat on the floor, as if she had lost everything.

“Why are you crying so sorrowfully?”

His voice was strangely gentle, as if offering to listen to her story. His attitude in this moment was as if he didn’t even realize that it mocked her.

“…Why?” Cecilia finally asked.

“What?”

“You said our family was wronged! The rebellion isn’t true!”

Cecilia shouted sharply as Eden’s hand came close to her face. Eden briefly gazed at his hand suspended in the air before shifting his gaze back to her.

“Cecilia.”

“…”

“Do you really believe your father was wronged?”

His calm voice brushed past Cecilia’s ear. She couldn’t believe it. The betrayal, anger, and sorrow she was feeling, and his indifference, made no sense to her.

How? Why?

“Father already presented proof that we were wrongly involved.”

“Well, how many people do you think believe that?”

Eden asked softly. Cecilia knew well that few people believed it. Everything had already been decided, and Cecilia’s father, Curtis Rain, was being blamed by everyone.

He was a greedy villain who had squeezed the peasants dry to fill his own stomach. When his son-in-law, the Emperor, Eden, tried to stop him, Curtis had tried to take his life.

“If he truly had done nothing wrong, then why is he fleeing now?”

Eden, kneeling in front of Cecilia, asked quietly.

“If he’s caught, he will be executed. You gave the order.”

“He was already fleeing before the order was given.”

The calmness in his voice carried no emotion, as though he were merely talking about something trivial, like what he had eaten the night before.

Eden’s large hand reached out and gently cupped Cecilia’s right cheek. Cecilia, like a trapped animal, could not move and trembled violently. It was both sadness and, at the same time, rage.

“The Duke of Rain must pay the price for the wrongs Curtis Rain has committed.”

Eden stood up slowly, rising from the knee he had been kneeling on. Cecilia watched, her blurred vision following as his face gradually faded from her sight.

“Cecilia, no matter what you say…”

He did not continue, but Cecilia could already guess what would follow.

His decision would not change.

“My decision will not change.”

The calm tone he had maintained throughout suddenly snapped like a stone that had been thrown. The warmth he had once shown, and the feigned composure, vanished, leaving him as cold as the frost of midwinter.

“Yes. I understand how you view the Duke of Rain. A family of traitors, who exploited the poor and attempted treason, right?”

Cecilia trembled with unbearable shame and anger. She clenched her slender arms tightly around her body, gritting her teeth. The betrayal and fury in her eyes burned brightly as she glared at Eden.

“If that is the case, then take everything from me too.”

“…”

“As the Empress of a traitorous family, why do you spare me and leave me in this position?”

“You are my concubine, Cecilia.”

It seemed as if he had calmed down. The coldness he had shown earlier disappeared, and in its place, his usual composure and serenity returned. Eden pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and gently wiped Cecilia’s tear-streaked face as he whispered softly.

“And this position, it was meant for you.”

Of course, Cecilia had lived her life gladly as Eden’s empress. However, what truly formed the foundation of Cecilia was not the title of Empress, but the name of the Rain family. Her pride had been rooted in that name.

“Is this a position, devoid of any honor, carrying the shame of being a fallen noble, no different from a commoner?”

And yet, the Emperor himself had stripped away the title and lands of her family, leaving her, the Empress from a fallen house, to live as his concubine. Was this the position she had been given?

An overwhelming emotion rose within her. Tears fell, dripping onto the red carpet, as she tightened her grip on it. Her delicate fingers clenched the carpet as though to tear it apart, the soft fabric slipping through her fingers.

Eden’s indifferent gaze followed the crimson stain spreading on the carpet. It was a color that resembled her pain.

“You’ve lost your family. You’re no different from a commoner now. People will now ask, ‘What happened to the Duke of Rain?'”

She wanted to ask him, Is this what you wanted? Her voice was filled with resentment, but Eden merely blinked slowly, as if her emotions were imperceptible to him.

When had it been? When had she last seen him smile so warmly? It felt like it had been just yesterday, yet ironically, she couldn’t remember.

“I don’t want to appear like a fool to others! Just kill me already!”

But she had loved that about him. Above all, she had loved him.

Cecilia screamed and pushed Eden away. Yet, pitifully, it was Cecilia who was shoved back. No matter what she did, she was always pushed aside and hurt, just as it was now.

“Cecilia.”

“Just kill me.”

Eden, raised in the royal family, was no stranger to the weight of honor. Cecilia, the only daughter of the Duke of Rain, had taken great pride in it.

“Everything feels worse than death.”

Even now, her heart still raced with love for him, and the pain of that truth was unbearable. Cecilia grasped Eden’s arm and burst into tears once again.

This pain was enough. Please, stop everything here. Show me the respect that someone who once lived as your wife deserves.

“I wanted to kill you too.”

But Eden’s reply halted time.

“What… what did you just say?”

It was as if she had been struck in the head, the shock making it hard to breathe. Cecilia stared at Eden’s blue eyes, which, despite the situation, carried a faint smile.

Was this beautiful man, whom she loved, being sincere with her? Had she heard wrong?

“But right now, you must live, Cecilia.”

The undeniable sincerity shone clearly in his eyes.

You wanted to kill me, to the point of…

“Live.”

You hated me.