Her husband entered her room unannounced but he stopped in his tracks once he saw how distraught she was. It was clear from the streaks her tears left on her cheeks that she had been crying profusely.

At the sight of him, her heart soon hardened and her tears became dry. She was thankful for this because she'd rather die than give him the satisfaction of seeing her broken. She hated showing him any sign of weakness so much that she quickly stood up and wiped her tears away with her handkerchief.

Not that he knows the true reason why I am crying, she thought to herself with a hint of satisfaction. He more than likely thinks I'm shedding tears because he is no longer my husband or because I am no longer an empress. Little does he know that I am mourning not marrying King Heinrey, the true love of my life.

Her assumption seemed correct. Once she was done wiping away her tears, her former husband walked over to her and rubbed her back in an effort to comfort her. He then told her gently, "Navier, I need to speak with you."

"I see you cannot even be bothered to knock nowadays," she stated coldly before she slapped his hand off her shoulder. "How very uncouth of you. Perhaps you learned this improper behavior from your mistress?"

He gritted his teeth in anger but said nothing in retaliation for her snide remarks. "I apologize for interrupting you but it's very important-"

"I have nothing left to say to you, Sovieshu," Navier interrupted him, coldly turning her back on him to face the wall and walking away from him. She opted not to refer to him as "His Majesty" since he did not deserve an ounce of her respect nor any more of her time.

She had no idea what he wanted, but she did not care since she did not want to give him anything else he desired. After all, he had already stolen most of her life and her title with his lies. What more could he possibly ask of her?

"Navier, listen to me!" Sovieshu snapped, his tone suggesting it was more an order than a request. He grabbed her shoulders aggressively, spun her around, and forced her to look at him. "I am sorry for making you cry. I know this must be hard for you to endure after all we've been through together. That's why I want you to stay here at my side. You could be my mistress-"

"Mistress?" She repeated before letting out a forced laugh. "You cannot be serious."

"Yes, I am," he replied with absolute conviction. The hope shining in his gray eyes showed he truly believed she would agree to his request. "After a year, we can then get remar-"

"Pardon my language," she interrupted before removing his hands from her shoulders once again and gritting her teeth, "but no way in hell would I agree to your request. You do not deserve my love."

"What about all the years we spent together?" He asked sorrowfully, his voice cracking as his eyes began to water. "Are you truly willing to just throw it all away?"

She could feel the anger building up in her chest but rather than try to calm herself down as she had done many times today, she let the fury consume her. It was YOU who threw it all away! How dare you play the victim, especially now that you made me lose everything dear to me?!

Navier shoved Sovieshu hard toward her bedroom door, no longer wanting him in her presence. "Do not act as if I was the one that threw away what we had together. Do not forget, it was YOU who had an affair in MY OWN HOME and ruined everything we had ever achieved by giving her everything that was mine-my lady-in-waiting, your respect for me, and my position as empress! It was YOU who drove me away with every insult and every untrue accusation you threw at me day in and day out since Rashta came into your life. But, most importantly, it was YOU who requested a divorce and disowned me as your wife in front of the world. Now I have no further obligation to love you."

"I did it all because I love you!" He shouted at her as he grabbed her wrists, the rage clear in his tone. He lunged for her and pulled her into a desperate hug. "Please, let me explain-"

At his retort, Navier genuinely laughed and pushed him away harshly before he could kiss her. "No, I won't hear any more of your excuses. You say you love me, but that is a blatant lie. You're incapable of loving anyone but yourself, even for just one second. You have no one to blame but yourself for how our marriage ended."

For a moment, he was speechless. Then she could see the fury in his eyes spark too. "You're a cold-hearted woman! You deserved everything that happened to you!" He hissed back at her before swinging open her bedroom door. "You're the one to blame for how this turned out, not me! Had you actually loved me, even just a little bit, our marriage would have worked!"

And now he shows his true colors, she thought amusedly. Now that I won't give him my love, which he so desires, he wants to hurt me.

Well, I won't let him.

"It is rather humorous that everything you just said about me describes how I feel about you perfectly," Navier retorted. "Stop projecting all your flaws and insecurities onto me."

Once again, she rendered him speechless. Rather than continue to embarrass himself further, he left and slammed her bedroom doors shut.

Navier let out an exasperated sigh, glad he was gone. All the anger and energy she previously had left her body and she was left feeling depressed. She slumped with her back to the door and sobbed until she couldn't shed any more tears and her voice was hoarse.

Then, she started to plot her next plan of action now that she was no longer empress.

Note:

If you read the previous chapter I had posted, please go back and reread it since I am fixing the errors it had as well as expanding on it.

Also, please note that this is a FANFICTION and thus is in no way official. It may not completely be accurate to the webtoon or webnovel because I have taken some creative liberties with this. I hope you can understand.