Chapter 9
Chara stared at the Empress in disbelief.
“Your Majesty, I haven’t even given birth to a legitimate heir. How can you allow new women get into the castle already?”
The Empress gave her a cold glance.
“I’ve given you time, but what have you accomplished? Nothing, I can’t wait forever. This isn’t just your problem–it’s a matter of Starhold family’s continuity.”
When the banquet ended, news spread quickly: Kael’s wife was pregnant, the Crown Princess had lost composure, and the Empress had granted the Crown Prince two new companions, who would move into the Starlight Palace the following month.
Radiance City buzzed with excitement.
On the day the new companions were to move in, nobles from across Radiance City filled the Crown Prince’s castle. Kael and I used my pregnancy as an excuse not to attend
The next day, I heard something dramatic had happened during the welcoming banquet.
As the secondary consorts were e
entering, Chara suddenly collapsed. A physician examined her–and declared her pregnant.
The crowd congratulated the Crown Prince, but he turned pale. He threw cold water on Chara’s face to wake her and drew his sword, pressing it to her throat
“Say it! Whose bastard child is this?”
Chara wailed, “Your Highness, how could you say that? This is your child! How could you slander me like this?”
He sneered.
“I haven’t set foot in your chambers in months. Where did this child come from?
Chara’s face went ghostly white. She marmured, “No… that night, the fifth of last month. You sent me warm milk, then came into my room. We spent the night together–that’s how this child came to be. Have you forgotten?*
His voice thundered.
“On the fifth? 1 never returned to the Starlight Palace that night. I was at the knight training camp outside Radiance City, I was never in your chambers.”
It was immediately obvious to everyone: the Crown Prince had been betrayed. Chara was pregnant, but the child wasn’t his.
The joyous occasion turned into chaos. Chara was thrown into the dungeon, the Starlight Palace was sealed, and a thorough investigation began.
The final truth shocked everyone.
Alice, the Knight Commander’s daughter, had only been made a companion. But she was discontent–her noble birth made her believe she deserved more, and she resented being beneath Chara
She uribed palace maids to lace Chara’s milk with an aphrodisiac. Then, while the Crown Prince was away, she had a man smuggled into the palace. In her haze, Chara was violated–and truly believed the child was the prince’s
Though she had been tricked, the fact remained: she carried another man’s child. Her innocence was gone. She could no longer serve as consort.
The decree stripping her of her title arrived the next day, along with a bowl of rue tea
The Crown Prince said coldly, “Once you’ve miscarried and recovered, you’ll go serve the gods at the Temple of Light. That will be the end of your life in the coun”
That night, Chura drank the rue tea and lost the child.
But the next day, Alice collapsed in pain. Someone had poisoned her water.
It was Chara She stood unmoving outside the door, watching as the Crown Prince rushed in. She gave a faint, bitter smile
“Your Highness, I once believed we were destined to be together. That we would live and die side by side. But you changed. You loved Anna because she rejected you. You loved others because you hate my humble origin.”
*II I’d known your heart was so cold, I would’ve married a commoner. I never would’ve chosen you.”
She collapsed, black blood on her lips. She had taken polson earlier. She died before the Crown Prince’s eyes.
2465%
Alice, clutching her belly, screamed for help.
“Your Highness, please save me! I only schemed against the Princess because you told me to–please!
The Crown Prince kicked her aside.
* allowed rivalry and competition. But I never permitted you to betray me and disgrace me like this. You deserve what’s coming.”
Alice convulsed, and her life slipped away.
What happened in the Starlight Palace could no longer be hidden.
When the Starbold Emperor learned of it, he was furious.
He condemned the Crown Prince for moral failure and even plotting against his own wife.
Petitions from the Crystal Temple had long pled at the foot of the emperor’s throne, and under pressure from the elder council, the Moonlight Decree was issued
The former Crown Prince was stripped of his title as Moming Star heir and banished to the border territory of Silvermist. He was forbidden from returning to Everglow or Radiance City without imperial summons.
Kael, due to his outstanding abilities, had been managing state affairs on the emperor’s behalf for the past year. His wisdom and grace earned the admiration of court and people alike
The elder council praised him as “a perfect embodiment of the Moon Goddess’s chosen.”
By year’s end, I gave birth to a son–the emperor’s first grandson. The emperor was overjoyed and personally named him Sylas.
The following year, Kael was named Crown Prince, and I was his Crown Princess
When we moved into the Starlight Palace, I stood at its grand gates, remembering how I had once died so tragically in a past life. Kael held me close. I clutched our child tightly and climbed those long steps, one by one.