They smiled through their tears and said, "Father said he was going to find Mother. So it’s our duty to take care of the empire until they co back."
From the adults around them, the children learned about the love their parents had shared—a love so strong it transcended death itself.
And they didn’t feel burdened by being left behind, because they knew their parents had truly loved them.
And that was enough.
---
’’[Epilogue - Years Later]’’
Solene and Caelan grew up to be wise and capable rulers, guided by the Duchess and Secretary Chen.
They ruled jointly when they ca of age, sharing power equally as their mother had taught them through her example.
The empire continued to flourish under their guidance.
Every year on the anniversary of their parents’ deaths, they would travel to the Rolik River and leave flowers on the water, watching them float downstream.
"Traveling with you, Mother and Father," they would say. "Through the whole empire, just as you wished."
And sotis, on quiet evenings, they swore they could feel their parents’ presence—watching over them, proud of what they’d beco.
The love story of Empress Heena and Emperor Consort Larus beca legend.
Songs were written about it. Stories were told. Artists painted scenes of their devotion.
And the empire never forgot the rulers who’d loved each other so completely that death itself couldn’t separate them.
.
.
.
ANOTHER INTERDINSION.
Soon, Heena opened her eyes in a new world.
She looked around, trying to get her bearings, then turned to look at her System and asked, "So, what is it this ti?"
Hearing that, for so unknown reason, the System didn’t et her eyes.
Seeing this avoidance, Heena had a really bad feeling forming in her gut.
She looked around more carefully at her surroundings, and you could say this place was completely old-fashioned and poor-looking.
The floors were made of rough cent—not polished or finished, just raw concrete that had been laid down and left to cure unevenly. This was a brick house, yes, and there was paint on the walls, but the paint was cheap and peeling in places. The ground was completely unfinished cent with visible brick patterns beneath, rough and scratched.
It looked like sowhere between a lower-class residence and a servant’s quarters.
*What the hell?*
Heena looked at the System more intensely and asked, "What is this place? What’s going on?"
Before the System could respond, suddenly sothing wet and dirty hit Heena directly in the face.
SLAP.
A wet mop had been thrown at her face.
Normally when Heena was talking to the System, ti would freeze around her—from an outside perspective, she would just appear to be standing in deep thought. But apparently, that protection didn’t extend to soone attacking her.
Heena turned around as the mop slid down her face, dripping dirty water onto her clothes.
Standing in front of her was a woman in her sixties—hard-faced, angry, with the weathered look of soone who’d spent decades doing manual labor.
"You damn woman!" the older woman shouted. "Is this why I pay you? Instead of doing work, what the hell are you doing standing there like a statue? Get cleaning!"
She pointed at the floor aggressively.
"And you, System, are hiding?" Heena thought desperately. "A little help here?"
But the System remained invisible to everyone except Heena, offering no assistance.
"I... yes, I’m doing the work," Heena stamred, because what else could she say? She had absolutely no idea what was going on here.
The woman looked at her with absolute contempt and continued her tirade: "You damn worthless girl! You do not stop wiping this floor until I can see my own face reflected in it! You understand? And until it’s done, you don’t get any food! Now GET TO WORK!"
Heena just nodded quickly. "Yes, yes, okay. I understand."
The woman finally turned and left, muttering angrily about lazy servants.
The mont she was gone, Heena’s expression changed completely. Her eyes snapped to where the System was hovering invisibly.
"What the ACTUAL FUCK is going on here?" she hissed under her breath.
Hearing that, the System flinched and scrambled backward slightly, his small form trembling.
"Well... you see... in the last world, you were always complaining that being an Empress ant too much workload, too much stress, too much responsibility—"
Heena’s eyes narrowed dangerously. "And?"
"And so in this world, I found a scenario where you wouldn’t have those problems..."
Heena looked at him with growing horror and said slowly, "Where exactly am I?"
The System’s voice beca very small. "You’re... a servant here."
Heena felt like the floor had been pulled out from beneath her.
"Excuse ? What did you just say?"
The System repeated miserably, "You are a maid here. A cleaning maid. The lowest rank of household servant."
"Oh my God," Heena said, her voice completely flat with shock.
"And it’s in this poor-looking house?" she continued, gesturing at the rough surroundings. "Why does a poor household even NEED maids? Why the hell did they hire ?"
Hearing that, the System said quickly, "Um, Host, please stop swearing. Also, it’s not a poor house—they’re actually the richest family in this entire region."
Hearing that, Heena paused completely. "Excuse ?"
"Let just... send you the story information," the System said desperately.
And with a ntal click, a rush of mories and narrative information flooded into Heena’s mind.
So the story was like any normal period drama romance.
In this world, Heena’s character was nad Seera. She was a cleaning maid—literally the lowest of the low in the household hierarchy.
And in the original story, she was a minor side character. Not even a villain. Just... a side character.
*What the hell? At least make her a villainess if you’re going to give a terrible role!*
According to the story, Seera was noted as being beautiful despite her low status. Eventually, she caught the eye of the Master of the household. Through deliberate seduction and manipulation tactics—using her looks and feminine wiles—she got into the Master’s bed and beca his concubine.
Heena paused in her ntal reading. "Are you fucking kidding —"
But the story continued: The Master’s original wife—the Mistress of the household—discovered the affair. In revenge, she secretly poisoned Seera with a substance that destroyed her uterus and reproductive system, causing Seera to die young from the internal damage.
But here’s the twist: the Master wasn’t the male lead. The Mistress wasn’t the female lead either.
No, the actual female lead was this Mistress character, and the male lead was a young scholarly man she would et later. They would fall in love, and together they would kill the Master (yes, murder the husband) and run away together to live happily ever after.
Heena raised her head after absorbing all this information.
"Wait, wait, WAIT," she said out loud. "What the ACTUAL—"
She stopped herself and looked at the System with absolute disbelief.
"So you an to tell that I—" she patted herself, looking down at her body that appeared to be in her early twenties and quite attractive despite the servant’s clothes, "—no matter the situation, I’m still young and apparently beautiful. And you expect to marry so old man in his FIFTIES?"
Her voice was rising with each word.
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