Remaried Empress

Lately I had the feeling that someone was following me. I knew exactly who it was.

It was Rashta. My husband's concubine.

"Very well. Then the concept of the ball will be a masquerade."

"It was very well-received in the previous emperor's reign, so we're sure everyone will enjoy themselves."

"But with everyone covering their faces, security has to be—"

I paused.

"Your Majesty? What is it?"

"—thorough."

The culture minister looked at me with a puzzled expression. I turned my head and apologized for my rudeness.

I had seen Rashta down the corridor. She was not looking at me, but I could see her talking to her maids.

"..."

This behavior had been going on for days. It was not harmful, but it subtly nagged at me. When I looked over to Rashta again, the minister stared at me and spoke carefully.

"Your Majesty, do you want to say something about Miss Rashta?"

"Wasn't she here yesterday?"

"Yes, she was."

He looked alternately between me and the other woman. I bit my lip. Yesterday, when I was working on another assignment, she was nearby. It was the same situation with another minister two days ago. In the eyes of the different ministers, it seemed like a brief encounter, but from my point of view it was no coincidence.

As soon as I continued to stare at her, the culture minister gave a laugh.

"I hear she's been about, but don't worry too much, Your Majesty. She is only a low-born concubine and doesn't know royal etiquette yet, but it will get better."

If I showed concern over someone stalking me, why did that make me the oversensitive one? I took offense at his attempt to soothe me, but I masked it.

"Go now."

The minister walked down the long corridor, still looking between me and Rashta. I waited for a few moments for him to finally disappear, then asked Sir Artina to bring Rashta to me. She continued to pretend to converse with her maids and looked at me in surprise when the knight approached her. After a moment's hesitation, she walked over to me.

"Wh-why are you calling for Rashta?"

Rashta approached with a frightened face, while her two maids flanked her sides. There was no need to waste time on idle conversation, so I simply went straight to the point.

"Why are you following me?"

"What?"

"Don't say that you haven't been. I've been seeing you around for the past several days."

"Ah..."

Rashta blushed and twisted her fingers. I couldn't see it, but I could guess she was wiggling her toes as well. Her maids looked around with frightened expressions, as if I would yell at the slightest provocation. I ordered the maids to go elsewhere as they were making the atmosphere uncomfortable, and they moved away hesitantly.

"Well..."

Rashta spoke in a careful voice.

"Duke Elgy says you are a typical empress."

"?"

"Rashta is not from the nobility, and there are many things I do not know about. Sometimes things don't make sense even when Baron Lant explains them to me..."

"So?"

"So I want to learn from you, Your Majesty."

"..."

Rashta looked up at me with imploring eyes.

"I want to be like Her Majesty the Empress. But...I don't think you'll want to teach me etiquette...so I wanted to learn from a distance."

Whether she realized it or not, she had said something correct. I wouldn't teach her etiquette.

"If you want to learn, tell the Emperor or ask Viscountess Verdi to teach you."

Rashta winced as the Viscountess Verdi's name was brought up. Although the viscountess was her lady-in-waiting, they did not seem on good terms at the moment.

"What I want to be is like you, Her Majesty. Duke Elgy said that you are the perfect empress."

"And so you want to follow me."

"I won't bother you, so why don't you pretend not to see me? I'll be at a distance and you won't notice me. Well?"

"I wouldn't have called you if I didn't notice you."

"I'll be more careful."

I suddenly remembered the time when Rashta imitated the way I spoke in front of Grand Duke Kapmen and the other guests at the New Year's special banquet. The memory of it chilled my spine. It was not morally wrong for her to try to watch and learn from me, and as a runaway slave she likely wanted to rush into the upper echelons. However, I hated the woman who took my husband and imitated my mannerisms.

"I don't know why you got that idea, Rashta."

"?"

"Sovieshu is in love with you, and you are completely different from me."

"!"

"You also have Duke Elgy's friendship. Why do you think you need to follow me?"

After forcing myself to be polite to her all this time, I had no more patience for civility.

"If you follow me without me noticing, then I will not be able to stop you. But if you see you with my own eyes, I will tell the knights to remove you. So do not come near me."

*

*

*

For the next few days, it was as if Rashta really was invisible. Although she cropped up from time to time, the frequency with which she did noticeably decreased. To an outsider, it may look like I was overreacting to her, but she wisely avoided me and there was no need to send a knight to remove her from my presence.

But I didn't feel any better.

Time wore on, and finally the day of the public ball arrived. It was a dance where all people, regardless of their social status, could attend. Commoners and nobles only met on few occasions. When the public perception of the nobles became low, the Imperial court held a ball to boost approval. While the mood was not bad under Sovieshu, it was still important to maintain goodwill, and what I selected to facilitate this was a masquerade ball.

I wore a dress entirely made of vivid red fabric and placed a plumed white mask on my face. My identity as empress wouldn't be hidden as I would be among my guards anyway, but I still wanted to dress in the spirit of the occasion.

"Everyone will be so amazed."

"I wish you wore this color all the time, Your Majesty. Your skin tone matches this shade of red very well."

"They won't be surprised. There will be all kinds of beautiful costumes at the masquerade ball."

"But it's hard to wear a color as strong as this, Your Majesty."

"Is that a compliment?"

"Hmm..."

I entered the ballroom exchanging light jokes with the ladies-in-waiting, but it soon turned out that their jokes were all too literal. Shortly after entering the ballroom, everyone was amazed at my clothes.

"Your Majesty..."

It wasn't just wasn't the kind of amazement the ladies-in-waiting expected.

I tried to keep my expression as straight as possible as the murmuring in the room grew louder. There was another woman wearing a dress almost identical to mine. I recognized her instantly from her unusual silver hair and delicate mouth.

"Oh my God."

Countess Eliza murmured in a shocked voice while the room swayed in front of my eyes. From the bright red dress to the shoes, necklace, earrings, and even the white plumed mask—the concept and arrangement were the same.

Rashta turned her head towards the direction of the crowd's interest, then gave a surprised "Oh?" when she saw me.

The room lapsed into silence. No one spoke, but their thoughts were clearly written on their faces. If they looked at my and Rashta's expressions, it was clear that neither of us planned this on purpose. Everyone held their breath in anxiety and interest.

I stood still and looked at Rashta. I had a lot to say to her, but I didn't approach her first. Whether if it was for an excuse or an apology, she was the one who had to come to me. I was taught that the empress didn't go to her inferiors to give excuses.

Rashta came up to me, looking genuinely surprised.

"Your Majesty, your costume...with Rashta..."

She hesitated.

"Did you intentionally wear something like Rashta?"

Countess Eliza had a burst of anger.

"That's rude, Miss Rashta."

An unpleasant feeling rose up to my neck, but I remained calm and gave her a light smile.

"I came here as myself. Weren't you the one that wanted to imitate everything about me?"

I smiled but I kept my voice as cold as possible, while Rashta looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"Why would I do that now? This time, Your Majesty, you're dressed like me, right?"

"Why you?"

"!"

"This will only make both of us a laughingstock, so there's no need for this. You should understand that from now on."

I deliberately told her, 'If you wear the same dress, we both lose, and I know that.' Anyone who heard this would know that I wouldn't go out of my way to make a fool of myself, other than those that didn't want to believe my words.

Rashta inhaled sharply with a stunned expression. As a politician I knew how to defend myself with calculating lines, while she defended herself with her face. As I brushed past her, she took off the mask she was wearing and tossed it to the floor. I walked straight to my prepared seat without looking back, and Countess Eliza and the other ladies-in-waiting settled near me.

Meanwhile a group of men moved in on Rashta to cheer her up. Don't cry, I heard them say. Among them seemed to be some common folk, who were looking alternately between me and Rashta with surprise and curiosity. Some people spoke in hushed tones, but they couldn't completely mute their conversation.

Sir Artina leaned over to me and spoke in a low voice.

"Should I take care of those saying rude things?"

"Leave it be."

I answered as nonchalantly as I could and leaned back against my seat. It was easy to wield power in public, but doing so could lead to great after effects. People liked the powerful, but they hated them using their power. If I tried to stop them from talking just because of my mood, it would inevitably lead to a fallout.

"The person who arrived first should be considered the first one to wear the dress."

"You mean the silver-haired noblewoman?"

"She looks innocent to me."

"Why would the Empress try to copy another person's clothing?"

"Oh, I heard the silver-haired woman is the Emperor's concubine. And she's not a noble, she came from the common people like us!"

"Really? So the Empress tried to sabotage her?"

I ignored the frustrating conversation and maintained my cool composure. It seemed as if those men were commoners, and they were completely possessed by the mysterious and innocent appearance of Rashta. They gazed at her as if she was a fairy from another world.

I hid my trembling feet. I heard others side with me and say that Rashta was the one that copied me, but it was the bad stories that affected me more. Rashta looked the same—despite people siding with her, her expression wasn't good.

I took my eyes off her and forced myself to think about something else. For instance, who gave the details of my outfit to Rashta? While I was angry with her at the moment, the most important thing wasn't her.

'Who was it that leaked the information to her?'

It was difficult to pinpoint the culprit, as the dress wasn't chosen in a day. There were many times, methods, and people who could communicate those words.

Once again it was Laura who spoke in open fury for me.

"Countess Eliza, is this how other concubines behave? I'm so angry!"

"Because concubines are legal, it's hard to touch them when they are favored. Many concubines have done worse, Lady Laura."

"How could it be worse?"

"If you look at the previous empresses—"

Countess Eliza suddenly paused, covering her mouth with her fan and looking at something over my shoulder. I turned my head and found Sovieshu entering the room. He had disregarded the dress code and dressed in a plain suit, while Rashta gleefully rushed to his side.

"Your Majesty!"

She called out to him in a sweet voice. Her eyes were red as she clung to Sovieshu and told him something, but I couldn't make it out from here. However, he glanced in my direction, and our eyes met. I smiled wanly at him and nodded. Rashta also looked at me as she hung to Sovieshu's arm, and I gave her a nonchalant smile as well, then deliberately turned away towards Countess Eliza. I could hear the chatter of the young men and women excited to see the Emperor and Rashta up close.

"Your Majesty."

Countess Eliza said my name anxiously. I gave her a reassuring smile and reached for my glass of wine. Once I touched it I immediately regretted it, but it was too late. I lifted my glass and took a sip. However, Countess Eliza kept trying to tell me something with her eyes. I looked to the side again, and saw Sovieshu was approaching. Oh...he must be coming here to sit next to me. Rashta still clung to his arm.

"Ha ha ha, I was so surprised when the Empress and Miss Rashta came in with the same dress!"

Even Grand Duke Liltiang partook in the gossip.

"Actually, Miss Rashta wore it first and then the Empress appeared."

"But it looks different because they each have a different atmosphere."

I smiled lightly and took another sip. Those who sided with Rashta were saying that I copied her. The people I disliked were here, and my heart clenched even more. However, my smile was wiped from my face at Sovieshu's next remark.

"Yes, it's incredible. I asked the Empress to come in a red dress."