When the Female Lead Went Off-Script, the Main Male Lead Became the Tyrant's Empress - Chapter 6.1
What Arden heard about most after returning from the brief imperial tour was Clary, Anaris’s daughter.
Clary’s extraordinary beauty and tragic story had become a topic of conversation not only throughout the imperial palace, but across every region of the Empire.
A girl who had suffered horrific abuse and lived as though she didn’t exist had made a dramatic escape and found freedom, only for it to be revealed that she was the Emperor’s granddaughter.
Such a sensational and heartrending story was exceedingly rare.
Newspapers and magazines competed to publish Clary’s story, and even public opinion was favorable toward her.
The tale of how she had blocked the Emperor’s path and revealed her identity was famous, but the incident most frequently discussed was how she had exposed her wounded body before everyone.
How wronged and grief-stricken must an adolescent girl who hadn’t even reached adulthood have been, especially the daughter of a noble family, to remove her clothes in a courtroom without hesitation?
A small minority pointed fingers at her and called her ruthless, but most people sympathized with Clary and hurled curses at Arthur.
It had been a kind of performance.
Arden had told his niece to do such a thing so that it would be entered into the official records, but what he truly wanted was public interest and popularity.
Clary was the product of a morganatic marriage.
Even though her mother had once been an Imperial Princess seated in the position of Crown Princess, her name had been removed from the imperial register long ago.
To enter Clary into the imperial register, they would have to posthumously restore Anaris’s status and recognize the late former Baron Lurie as a member of the imperial family.
If they did that, there would be quite a few people who objected.
Therefore, Clary had to be welcomed.
Arden’s prediction proved entirely correct.
Several nobles opposed the Emperor’s declaration that he would accept Clary as a member of the imperial family.
“There is no precedent anywhere in history of an imperial family member who entered a morganatic marriage returning to the imperial family!”
Arden frowned at the councilors asking the Emperor to reconsider.
‘Of course there isn’t. No one else in history except my sister was ever crazy enough to do something like that.’
Their rambling about laws whose origins no one even knew could be interpreted as follows.
‘Good heavens, what is this Empire coming to? Over my dead body will I allow the daughter of a disowned Imperial Princess and a mere Baron to be treated as a member of the imperial family.’
It was a scheme to seize political power by casting doubt upon the imperial grandchild’s legitimacy.
Clary’s popularity was high enough that only a few people objected. If Arden had failed to attract public attention, more than half of them would have raised an uproar.
If they ignored the opposition and entered her into the imperial register anyway, the nobles would use it as an excuse to engage in a power struggle…….
“Can’t we just sweep them all away though.”
However, instead of wielding absolute imperial authority, the Emperor sought stability by distributing an appropriate amount of power among the nobles and maintaining a balance.
It wasn’t a method that suited Arden’s temperament, but when considered over the long term, it was the correct answer.
A nation whose power was concentrated entirely on one side would become unstable and ultimately meet its ruin.
His imperial father was the Emperor.
He thought and acted entirely like an Emperor.
Even though he was currently doting on his suddenly acquired granddaughter as though he would give her his own liver, stubbornly insisting that she be recognized as an imperial grandchild.
In the end, even that was a calculated action.
A close imperial relative could always be used as a valuable piece.
That didn’t mean his imperial father didn’t love Arden, the Crown Prince, or Clary.
He simply loved them as an Emperor would.
“Still, he isn’t completely cold-blooded.”
Arden searched through his memories.
It had been when the Imperial Princess fell in love with a mere Baron, gave up her title, honor, and wealth, and left for the barony.
The Emperor immediately struck the Princess’s name from the imperial register and erased every trace of her that remained in the palace.
Whenever anyone tried to tell him how the Princess was doing, he flew into a rage.
Then, ten years later, what he heard was the news that Anaris and her entire family had died in an accident…
The Emperor had frowned when his daughter’s name was mentioned, but then he crumbled like an ancient, abandoned ruin.
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