Empress of Self-Ruin

Chapter 10: You Think You Have a Say?

Arsen put me down on my bed carefully and ordered everyone to leave the room. He didn't even let the royal physician check on his bleeding hand, saying that it wasn't a deep wound. He was so stubborn about it that they couldn't help but comply.

The door closed with a quiet click. "Everyone's left. You can open your eyes now."

I sighed and snapped my eyes open. It wasn't like I expected him to buy my acting since he must have noticed how I had tried to see the situation through my half-closed eyelid.

It didn't take long for me to leap to my feet and the next second, I swung my hand and slapped Arsen straight across his face, resulting in a loud sound from the impact.

"Calypso?" Arsen held a hand against his cheek, stunned.

I couldn't have hurt him too much. After all his years of training, he would have gotten used to bigger and more powerful blows. But he looked kind of dumb with his eyes wide open and a half-open frown on his face, too shocked to even blink.

The silence between us didn't last long. The anger that had welled up in my chest was finally exploding, and all the courtesy and manners I usually upheld when speaking to him were gone. "You stupid egotistical moron! How could you do something so undignified and degrading in front of the court just to defend that... that woman? Are you out of your mind?"

I was so enraged that I was tempted to twist his neck. No, not only that! His foolishness also made me lose my rationality for a second and did something equally dumb and reckless.

If only he hadn't acted so foolishly in front of the court, then I wouldn't have had the impulse to tell the truth and get caught up in this bloody mess.

Now I needed to do damage control quickly before rumors about a suicidal empress spread throughout the empire. It certainly won't do any good for my current image and project.

Luckily, the court was on my side. I doubted they would do anything that could damage my reputation. I didn't think they believed I tried to kill myself anyway—probably thought it was just my excuse to defend Phoebe. And if Constantine tried to spread rumors about my attempted suicide, he would just end up looking like he was trying to cover up for Phoebe, so I was sure he wouldn't be foolish enough to do that either.

He sighed and pinched his nose. "So the reason for your outburst is just because I tried to defend a wrongly accused woman in front of the stupid court?"

"Just because you tried to defend a wrongly accused woman in front of the stupid court?" I wanted to tear my own hair in frustration. "Don't you have pride? Or do I really need to remind you that you, Arsenio Arcturus, are the bloody emperor? You're the face of this empire. Everybody in this nation, me included, is on your shoulders. So you shouldn't—you can't do something so humiliating!"

"Humiliating, huh? It always comes down to pride for you, doesn't it?" His expression was dark. "Look at you, the great Calypso Berenice. So high in your high horse. Always above everyone and everything. Do people's lives matter less to you than your stupid pride?"

I blinked. What?

He caught my facial tick. "What? Like this is news to you? Calypso, since you came into this palace as an empress, you've changed. You don't care about anyone or anything unless it's related to your duties as empress."

"No..." I found myself shaking my head in denial. "That's not true—"

"Yes, it is! Did you even notice that we've hardly spent any time together since we got married? We used to talk to each other about everything and see each other practically every day. But now—you don't even call me by my name even when we're alone. So hasn't the clever and great Calypso figured it out? I'll tell you!" He stepped forward and thrust an accusing finger at me. "Because you don't care anymore, you don't care about us. We've known each other since we were kids, but this version of you, I barely know you anymore."