Gardenia of Blooming Desire

"Hurgh!"

"Your Majesty!"

The maids surrounded Empress Cecilia who suddenly vomited her last meal. She had been bedridden for a week and been forbidden to leave her room for two weeks after the spring festival.

She took the handkerchief handed by the maid and wiped her mouth. Her plumb body had thinned out tremendously for a week.

She had doctor checked her body, whether she fell into an illness, but the doctor only said, "Your Majesty Empress' body is healthy, but your mind isn't. This servant suggests Your Majesty to clear any stressful matter, and your body will be better."

What exactly made her stressful?

There was no specific problem that made her overly stressed. It was the series of misfortunes that dragged her health down.

Starting from the moment when she was forced to bully and humiliated her own nephew, she had to comply because her husband was angered to death when she tried to refuse.

She was saddened, of course. Aster was innocent, and had to undergo some harsh humiliation. He was always proud and unreachable in front of everyone, it must had been a huge blow for his self esteem.

'I repeatedly say sorry inside my heart whenever I punish him. I tried compensating him again and again, but it seems something preventing my gift to come to him.'

'Except for that guard medal...'

After that, many misfortunes kept troubling her. From the split up between Lord Gamasiel and Miss Claudia, ended the tight ties of economic support and slowly crumbled the economy stability for King of Rhea. It went too far, to the point that Empress had to give economical support to that kingdom.

Then her big fight with her son, Charles. Now, both of them weren't even talking to each other.

'I never have a chance to talk to him either. He shushed me...'

After that, her sister actually dared to kiss Aster and flirted with him. Not long after, there was an assassination attempt happened that targeted both her sister and Aster. The real culprit still hadn't been caught yet, but her sister blamed it on her with her personal guard medal as proof. Then directly cut both political and familial ties with her.

And last... the spring goddess accident. She ordered Rosalie to pick a noble girl as spring goddess, but Aster was the one who got picked. She already realized that this looked like she had enmity with Grand Duchy Stormhill and challenged their status. Another assassination attempt against the spring goddess two weeks ago just worsened the situation for her.

"Lisebette, do Charles and Rosalie answered to my summon?" Empress asked her closest maid.

The maid shook her head, "Pardon me Your Majesty, but Crown Prince and Golden Princess refused to comply to your summon. Should this servant called them again?"

"No, no need, they must have reasons not to visit me," Empress smiled bitterly. Yes, she knew that Charles wouldn't visit her during their cold war, but Rosalie...

'Maybe she couldn't visit because of Emperor's ban.'

The edict forbade her to communicate with anybody outside under any circumstances. It was surprising for Emperor to sentence ban to an Empress, and the court also wholly accepted it.

'I didn't even have a chance to ask why...'

"Your Majesty, did you quarrel with His Majesty Emperor? Pardon this servant's word, but Your Majesty has been trapped here for two weeks," Lisebette said sympathetically.

"As far as I remember, we don't have any fight--"

Grand Duchess halted her speech when she heard the door had been slammed. Her heart skipped, because when she saw the man who opened the door, she had premonition that something would go bad.

A tall man with dark green vest entered the room rudely. With his tall stature, he looked down on her and read a document in front of her.

"Due to the confession of the attacker from spring festival. Under the order of His Majesty Emperor, a private trial will be held in the trial chamber tomorrow morning. Her Majesty Empress is obliged to come."

"A private trial? Has the mastermind already been caught?" Empress asked.

"I don't have any obligation to answer your question," the man said coldly.

"How dare you addressing Her Majesty like that!" Lisebette pointed at the servant, but that servant just scoffed and turned his back.

"You! How dare you--"

"Lisebette, stop," Empress ordered.

"But... Your Majesty..."

"There is no use," Empress said solemnly. She looked at the back of that servant who got farther. She breathed the air deeply, took another breath, but she could feel the pace of her heartbeat only sped up even more.

***

"Your Majesty, are you sure you can go?" Lisebette asked worriedly.

Empress looked at her face in the mirror, she was thinned out, very pale, and looked very sickly. Even the powder and red tint she applied didn't help her at all.

"It is my obligation to attend private trial. Besides, I need to know who dared to scheme and made the palace a mess," Empress replied.

She walked to the trial chamber with few of her maids tailing behind. When she arrived in front of the chamber, the guards respectfully bowed down and escorted her inside.

When she entered the chamber, everyone involved seemed to be present. Emperor as judge, Charles and Rosalie sat side to side with Aster, who looked even paler.

'Poor boy, that second assassination attempt must be so hard for him,' Empress looked at him with pity. She intended to sit on her regular seat during any private trial, but this time, the guard escorted her to a special seat. A single seat facing the crowd of few important aristocrats, some of them had very close ties with her, such as her sister Lady Merse and Lord Gamasiel.

There were around thirty high-ranking nobles, including her children and Aster with his mother, Grand Duchess Camellia. They were all sitting solemnly. However, their face gazed at the Empress with hostility.

Empress Ceci's heart skipped, something was really wrong in this private trial.