Chapitre 3: THE TRAGEDY OF HOUSE ROCHESTER

THE DOWNFALL of House Rochester was a plot device used to make Duke Isaak Viotto discover Empress Veronica's evil schemes.

You see, the main problem of the novel began when Empress Veronica got 'pregnant.'

When the late Empress Liane Sulien died after giving birth to Runa, the nobles pressured Emperor Rino Sulien to remarry. They chose Veronica, the daughter of Duke Wilson– the noble household who had military power comparable to the Royal Family.

In the novel, Duke Wilson and the faction that he led abducted baby Runa and threatened the emperor. Thus, His Majesty was forced to marry Veronica in exchange for his daughter's freedom.

But of course, when baby Runa was on her way to the Royal Palace, the carriage was raided by the bandits. It was reported to His Majesty that baby Runa died then.

Of course, it was just a ploy fabricated by Veronica.

When Emperor Rino heard what happened to Runa, he literally fell sick because of grief. His heart was also heavy with guilt because he believed that the enemies would return his daughter if he married Veronica. Thus, he deteriorated quickly.

Veronica took advantage of that. When the emperor was high on his medication, she entered His Majesty's bedroom for the first time because the two used separate rooms. A few weeks later, the current empress declared that she was pregnant.

[Just like what the bitch Millicent Ashford did to Zoanne's father.]

Anyway, according to the novel, Veronica kept baby Runa hidden in one of Duke Wilson's villas in his territory. When the current empress gave birth to a baby girl, she brought her child to where baby Runa was confined.

Then, Veronica performed a black spell that helped her steal all the physical and spiritual traits that would prove that Runa was a Sulien. The evil empress transferred all those traits to Vera, her 'child.'

Thus, she was able to prove to the entire empire that Vera was Emperor Rino's daughter. Because of that, the emperor couldn't deny that the child was his, even though he knew in his heart that nothing happened to him and Veronica that night.

How could something happen between him and the current empress when Duke Isaak Viotto was there?

Unfortunately, Emperor Rino and Isaak didn't know that Veronica was a Black Witch. Moreover, the two brothers didn't know that the current empress could change a child's physical and spiritual traits that would match their 'parents.'

If she remembered it correctly, the process was called the 'Soul Bonding Test.'

[In the modern world, it is equivalent to a DNA or a paternity test. But instead of blood or other tissues, the people in this world use a child and their alleged parent's 'soul' to prove their relationship. Plus, there's a fixed rule in this novel when it comes to proving one's identity: the child would inherit their mother's hair color, and their father's eye color. Yeah, the scientists in the modern world would probably lose their mind if they heard that.]

And House Rochester played a big role in the novel as to how Duke Isaak Viotto discovered the trick that Empress Veronica used to make her child a Sulien.

In the story, Isaak Viotto went batshit crazy after that bitch Millicent humiliated him at a banquet. Then, the ghoul duke hunted their family down. When he was about to kill Millicent, that woman suddenly confessed that the child in her womb wasn't a Rochester.

["P-Please spare me, my lord! My baby i-isn't a Rochester! The truth is… is… I j-just want my child to be a Rochester and have a comfortable life!"]

["How do you plan to deceive Marquis Hendrix Rochester when your child is born?"] Isaak Viotto asked Millicent then. ["Don't you know that the marquis could request a Soul Bonding Test to see if the child is really his? You can get away with it even if the child has a different eye color from the marquis because sometimes, children inherit their maternal grandfather's eyes. But how do you plan to change the Soul Bonding Test result? I'm pretty certain that a lowly baron's daughter like you doesn't have the funds to bribe the Bureau of Soul Management."]

["H-Her Majesty Empress Veronica p-promised to help me! Her Majesty said that she could turn my child into a Rochester! A-And in r-return, she wants me to c-control Marquis Rochester. Her Majesty is eyeing the Rochester's wealth!"]

The duke ghoul smiled a creepy smile then as if saying 'I got you.' ["Everything has been well-recorded,"] he said. ["I have no use of you anymore."]

Then Isaak Viotto mercilessly killed Millicent.

Unfortunately, the ghoul duke also killed Zoanne and Hendrix Rochester– but not before claiming all the wealth of House Rochester as compensation for being humiliated by Millicent Ashmore.

Yes, it was too much of a compensation.

But seriously, who could stop Duke Isaak Viotto when he was in his 'crazy mode?'

Anyway, that was how House Rochester fell from grace in the novel 'Raised as a Tyrant Empress.'

***

[AH, MAYBE I shouldn't have revealed right away that I know that Milli-bitch's baby wasn't a real Rochester.]

That was why Zoe told Liane from the start that she speaks or acts without thinking.

It was too late to get mad at her big mouth, though.

After Milli-bitch yelled at her servants to grab her and lock her up in her room, the butlers approached her.

She just smirked and turned her back on them.

Then, suddenly, one butler grabbed her from behind. Of course, her reflex kicked in and her 'kill mode' was activated.

She dropped her lovely pastel pink knife on the table because she didn't want it to be sullied by human blood. Then she stomped her foot on the floor firmly as she grabbed the red wine bottle. After that, she smashed it on the table.

Then she gripped the neck of the bottle tightly with the broken shards protruding outwards, took a step forward, and kicked the butler in the stomach.

When she turned around to face her assailant, she stabbed him straight into the neck– to the side of the larynx (aka the Adam's apple or voice box). Just a pro tip: slashing a person's throat like in the movies doesn't always work in real life, especially if the knife isn't sharp enough.

[Just stab the neck with all your strength, okay?]

Anyway, after stabbing the guy, she yanked the broken bottle sideways, away from the larynx. She could tell that she successfully severed both the carotid artery and the jugular vein when her victim dropped on the floor, groaning in pain, blood spurting from his neck.

"I cut the carotid artery that supplies blood to his brain so he'll die shortly," Zoe said while casually looking at the butler coldly, then she raised her head to look at Milli-bitch. She laughed softly when she saw how scared the bitch was. "Don't worry, he's still alive. But he needs immediate help."

She turned to the other butlers who had tried to attack her earlier. The butlers' paleness told her that they didn't have the guts to follow Milli-bitch's orders. But she had to be sure.

"Hey, who's next?"

The two butlers immediately shook their heads, then they knelt and bowed to her while begging her for mercy.

"Well, whatever," she said, then she threw the broken bottle on the table.

Then, she turned to the trembling maids behind Milli-bitch. Hah! Those maids had the audacity to laugh at her earlier, but they couldn't meet her gaze now?

"You. Call the doctor if you want your colleague to live." Then, she turned to Milli-bitch who seemed to be frozen from fear. "It looks like the pregnant lady here needs help as well."

After saying that, she turned her back on them and picked up her lovely pastel pink knife.

When she raised her head again, she was surprised when she realized that she had an audience aside from Dal.

She must have been too engrossed in her assailant a while ago that she didn't realize that all the other servants and the knights of the family had arrived. Judging by everyone's shocked look, it seemed like they had witnessed her crazy moment.

[Shit. And here I thought that I'm already a changed woman. It seems like wherever I go, the fact that I'm a 'mafia princess' won't disappear, huh?]

Oh, well.

"It was self-defense," Zoe said brightly while smiling sweetly at the servants and the knights, then she discreetly hid her lovely pastel pink knife behind her. "Anyway, from now on, don't call me 'Lady Rochester,'" she announced to distract her people. "Just call me 'Lady Zoe.'"

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NOTE: Hi! Please consider ADDING 'I Won't Let The Ghoul Duke Go Hungry!' to your LIBRARY. Thank you! <3