I Reincarnated As A Villainess, But Why Did I Become A Cat Butler Instead? - Chapter 293

Chapter 147.1

“Have a seat.”

I sat across from Iris with a small marble table between us.

The furniture adorned with white lace, an all-white marble floor, and the walls lined with white-painted lambri made her face appear radiant, like a reflection. Iris was a young and beautiful empress in her late twenties. She exuded a gentle atmosphere. But I knew that despite her seemingly gentle demeanor, she had a determined desire.

‘She only thinks about removing Elaine, who is high in the line of succession, and placing her young son on the throne so she can rule as regent.’

She was originally a princess of the Pelsian Kingdom, a land often described as vast and beautiful.

As soon as William conquered the Pelsian Kingdom and the surrounding nations, he took Iris as his wife as part of a marriage policy to prevent unity among the subjugated states.

…Though that was just an excuse.

The truth was that he had lost interest in the former empress and, captivated by the beauty and youth of the princess of Pelsian, was looking for a reason to discard the former empress. However, William soon grew indifferent to Iris as well, and whenever he had the chance, he would have affairs until he met Rowaine.

Iris harbored resentment towards William for that.

Of course, she couldn’t help but despise a husband who took her as a hostage and forced her to be his wife, only to lose interest and chase after other women. The reason she endured in this palace, leaving William to his own devices, was to secure the throne for her son.

‘Iris, who wanted to eliminate Elaine, and Rowaine, who disliked Elaine, found their interests aligned.’

Thus, a subtle relationship of cooperation between the two was formed.

Iris’s eyes glinted sharply as she looked at me.

“I was surprised to hear that you were suddenly married to the Duke of Blois. What happened?”

Then, as if it didn’t matter whether I answered, she waved her hand dismissively.

“Well, the Duchess wouldn’t want to remain only as the Emperor’s mistress with an uncertain future when she’s already of marriageable age. Everyone takes care of their own future, so I understand.”

“I appreciate your understanding.”

“What I want to know is whether the Duchess still shares the same intentions as I do.”

It was a question of whether I could help in driving Elaine out of the palace. As I thought, I feigned a bit of innocence to gauge the Empress’s reaction.

“As you know, Your Majesty, the Emperor has taken my sister as his new mistress. What can I possibly do in the imperial palace now?”

“Is it a problem that William has lost interest? If that’s the case, I don’t think we need to worry about it.”

“What…?”

“William still longs for the Duchess. It seemed like he was very jealous when he saw you being affectionate with Duke Blois at the party.”

Then she snorted, mocking the Emperor.

“Didn’t the Duchess notice, too? William was blinded by jealousy and played tricks with his dog shapeshifter.”

I didn’t expect to hear Cadis’s story from Iris’s mouth, so it was surprising.

‘…How did she know?’

Even if she could have found out about what happened to me involving Cadis in the imperial palace, how would she know that the Emperor did it because he was blinded by jealousy? Other people think that the philandering Emperor lost interest in Rowaine and chose Renée instead.

‘Is it just the Empress’s own speculation?’

I deliberately pretended to be indignant.

“I guess Her Majesty the Empress knew what happened that day? Ha! It was truly a vile experience. Was it really out of jealousy? It was so unpleasant that I would have torn my lips off if I could!”

“When a man is jealous, he can become quite childish. What wouldn’t he do to provoke Duke Blois?”

“Do you know what happened to that dog shapeshifter, Your Majesty? The Count of Heres said he won’t escape execution.”

Leaning my upper body forward, I grunted as if I were being emotionally agitated.

“That one has exceptional skills, even among the hunting dogs! He’s particularly favored by Princess Elaine.”

“Well. It seems they’re currently imprisoning and starving him, but they don’t plan to execute him right away. It seems William thinks it might provoke Rowaine even more.”

Iris shook her head in disbelief at the emperor’s obvious patheticness. Then, she whispered subtly.

“Since William is still so concerned about you, and the imprisoned hunting dog is, as you said, the one Princess Elaine covets, it doesn’t seem like Rowaine would be powerless in this situation…”

She brought up something that would have hurt the real Rowaine’s pride if she had heard it.