To the Love Born in the Lowest Place-Chapter 169

"Miss Gentzen."

"Y-Yes?"

"What happened again with Miss Meisner?"

"Ah, Your Majesty, that..."

As soon as they left the banquet hall, Liv threw out a question. Elena, Maria, and Anne just bowed their heads and waited for Olivia’s answer. After a moment, Olivia slowly began to explain what had happened with Greta.

"Well... actually, the Head Maid, I mean, Miss Meisner had been making proposals to me for a while."

"Proposals?"

"Yes, she told me to take her side. That is... the side of influential nobles including the Marquis Meisner family."

At those words, Liv’s face contorted. She knew the Marquis Meisner family was forming factions, but she didn’t expect them to work so openly.

"She said if I took her side, she would help me gain Your Majesty’s trust, so I should pass on information about Your Majesty... Shaping the palace according to her will... Th-That’s what Miss Meisner wanted."

Though the words were jumbled, Liv could understand Olivia’s meaning well enough.

"So what did Miss Gentzen do?"

"I-I refused."

At those words, Anne looked at Olivia with slightly surprised eyes.

"Why?"

Olivia bit her lip hard, then looked up at Liv with determined eyes and answered.

"Be-Because, I’m Your Majesty’s person now."

At those words, Liv smiled slightly. She recalled when she interviewed Olivia to bring her in as a maid.

-Miss Gentzen. How can I trust you?

-Y-Yes?

-As you know, I have no reason to trust you.

-Y-Your Majesty, I... I’m sorry. I have nothing to say, but I was young then. I was so foolish and nasty... But even if you don’t make me your maid, I won’t act foolishly like in the past. I can promise you that much.

The look in Olivia’s eyes at that time played a big role in Liv choosing her as a maid. Olivia was looking at Liv as if she sincerely wanted to become a new person.

"Miss Gentzen."

"Y-Yes...!"

"Well done."

At those words, Olivia was too surprised to answer immediately, but all the maids present knew what those words meant. Liv had decided to completely forgive Olivia. At the same time, it was like permission thrown to the maids to get along well with Olivia from now on.

Olivia blinked blankly for a moment, then shouted loudly with slightly teary eyes.

"Yes, Your Majesty! Thank you!"

* * *

After that, Elena became the new Head Maid. Liv briefly considered whether it would be better to entrust the Head Maid position to someone with more power, but given Liv’s situation of suddenly ascending to the throne, it seemed appropriate for Elena, who was trustworthy and from a suitable titled family of viscounts, to sit in the Head Maid position. Among the four maids, Elena was also the best at her job.

"Now, these are letters sent by countries in the eastern part of the Ein continent to congratulate Your Majesty on your ascension. Let’s each write an appropriate reply and get Your Majesty’s approval."

Elena worked well coordinating the other maids, and the imperial palace was running smoothly, not feeling Greta’s absence at all. By Liv’s order, the Marquis Meisner family completely fell from grace, and the remaining nobles, including Marquis Hendel, now watched Liv’s reactions in government affairs meetings.

"Miss Gentzen, did you write that letter sincerely?"

"Why is Miss Wolfe picking a fight again?"

"Picking a fight? Look, this sentence is much better."

"Uh..."

"That’s an idiom not often used in the Eastern Ein continent."

Anne and Olivia still clashed, but now Anne didn’t seem to dislike Olivia. She tried to take care of Olivia even while grumbling.

"Your Majesty, I’ve prepared your bath."

When Elena said that as bedtime approached, Liv’s expression became subtle.

"Hmm... alright."

Elena looked worriedly at Liv, who was responding somewhat lukewarmly. Of course, Elena must have known that Liv had grown distant from Emmett recently. Liv would enter the bedroom reluctantly late at night and come out in the early morning with her clothes completely undisturbed.

However, she had no words of advice she could give to the Emperor, and Elena was just watching the situation between Emmett and Liv.

When Liv opened the bedroom door, no one was there. It seemed Liv had arrived before Emmett today. Liv covered herself with the blanket up to her chin, then tossed and turned trying to find a comfortable position before closing her eyes.

At that moment, she heard the sound of the door opening. Although she knew who that sound belonged to, Liv remained still without opening her eyes.

A moment later, she felt someone entering under the blanket, then gentle fingers slowly removed the hair stuck to Liv’s cheek. She felt a gaze that seemed to be observing her.

No matter how she thought about it, she was clearly being stupid. Honestly, she should normally be angry that Emmett had hidden everything like that, but feeling him by her side like this made her heart tickle for no reason.

"Liv."

Even feeling the affection for her in that voice made Liv feel strange.

"You’re not asleep yet."

"..."

"When you sleep, your face is a bit more smiling. Not this disgruntled face."

As he lightly poked Liv’s cheek, Liv finally opened her eyes. Liv’s eyes met Emmett’s as he was quietly looking down at her.

"...What is it."

"Are you still not over your anger?"

"Not really."

Liv tried to speak firmly in her own way, but her voice didn’t convey any of the Emperor’s dignity or a wife’s pride. Liv eventually turned on her side to look at Emmett. Silence fell between them for a moment as they looked at each other on the bed.

"Liv."

"Yes."

"After you were disappointed, I thought a lot. I realized how foolishly and stupidly I had acted."

"..."

"Actually, I’ve committed big mistakes towards you several times, and I thought you might be tired of me now."

"Do you know what your biggest mistake was?"

"Yes, I know now."

As Emmett raised himself up on the bed, Liv also sat up following him. As she was trying to wrap the constantly slipping blanket around her body, Emmett adjusted the blanket for her.

"There are many things I haven’t told you until now. I was afraid that if you... knew about them, you would run away."

"I wanted you to trust me completely."

"I’m sorry. I committed so many things under August in the past, and honestly, I thought anyone who knew about it would think of me as a terrible person, or be afraid of me."

"..."

"Even now, there are things I want to confess to you."

After that, Emmett began to recite his past in a calm tone. The names of innocent people he had killed on August’s orders, the cruel ways he had tortured rebels, watching August eliminate budgets meant for the empire’s people...

These were all things Liv didn’t know. She only knew that Emmett had ’committed evil deeds out of loyalty to August’, but no one had told her exactly what he had done.

After hearing that story, it didn’t seem strange that people feared Emmett. Emmett had committed enough wrongs.

At the truths Emmett confessed, Liv felt fear as Emmett had said. But it was a different kind of fear.

’I’m grateful that he’s telling me everything honestly... but isn’t he trying to give up on me?’

Emmett had committed many things for the tyrant August to the extent that it was understandable why he had tried to hide them.

But why did Emmett’s attitude suddenly change? Liv was afraid that he might have resolved to leave her. She was afraid that he might be telling all these things with a completely resigned attitude, thinking it was okay if Liv was disappointed, and that he might calmly accept it if Liv said she would leave. Liv wanted him to hold onto her. It was a contradictory desire even to herself. freёnovelkiss.com

After saying all these things, Emmett was silent for a moment as if giving Liv time to think. And only after some time passed did he open his mouth again.

"This is everything I’ve hidden from you."

"Ah..."

"It seems that creating secrets had become a kind of habit because I wasn’t proud of my past. I loved you, so I thought I shouldn’t tell you my story. Of course, it was a big mistake to make judgments and act on my own regarding the poison August used..."

As Liv didn’t respond and kept her mouth shut, he continued speaking with his eyes lowered.

"I think my past self was truly a cruel and foolish person. I pondered a lot about how to tell you all these things without disappointing you, Liv. But..."

At that moment, his gray eyes shone with gloom.

"Since the past can’t be undone, I decided to think of it as adding one more bad deed."

"What?"

"Liv, I’ve committed this many sins. To be honest, I think I wouldn’t mind committing more sins in the future if it’s to protect you. However, I don’t want to create secrets from you, and you will know all of my sins."

As Liv blinked, not grasping the intention of those words, he looked at Liv with intense eyes and said:

"Still, please don’t abandon me. This is my wish."