DO NOT READ WITHOUT READING THE RECENT CHAPTERS OF THE MANHWA (UNTIL CHAPTER 47)People hate Lucio too much but he really isn't a bad person. Except for making Patrizia queen because she's infertile, everything else was Rosemond's doing. Petronilla was executed because of Rosemond and Lucio didn't even know she did it until evidence proved otherwise. He's a great emperor despite his emotional disposition. Unless you read the novel, you probably won't be able to realize that.
Also let me point out that Lucio in the previous timeline was an affection-craving fool but in this timeline, he is more self-aware and in denial because he knows Rosemond doesn't love him. Although he didn't show it at the beginning, he was actually having doubts about her. This is because Rosemond also has memories of the past and her self-awareness of her past mistakes altered her personality. I'm quite sure she truly loved Lucio despite manipulating him in the past timeline but in the present, she's so focused on becoming queen that it became her downfall in the end.
(LUCIO)
The previous emperor (Lucio's father) was married to Alisa, the daughter of the most powerful Duke in the kingdom. But Alisa was infertile and at the same time the emperor's concubine, Janet, gave birth to an heir. As a queen who could not give birth, Alisa was basically useless so she decides to take Janet's son as her own. But the truth was that she just wanted to fuse her jealousy and abuse the kid; physically, emotionally, and sometimes sexually as well. Lucio grew up believing Alisa was his mother and didn't understand why she treated him like that. Days before his birthday, Alisa called Lucio to the courtyard telling him she had a gift for him (Lucio never once celebrated his birthday so he was excited). When Lucio arrived, Alisa threatened him to kill a person hidden underneath a white veil. He refused but then she began to beat him up until he gave in. With a sword she gave him, he stabbed the person under the veil multiple times. Alisa, laughing crazily, then reveals that she wasn't his real mother and that the person Lucio killed was Janet, his biological mother. At that time the emperor was away from the palace so when he came back, Alisa was dethroned from her status as queen and Lucio was never the same again.
(ROSEMOND - warning mention of sexual assault)
Rosemond is the daughter of a prostitute and a Baron. When she was 10, her biological mother was killed by the Baroness then the Baron took her in. She was treated like a maid and abused in the estate. At one point, her half-brother began to see her as a woman and so he raped her. Rosemond wanted to become queen in order to not only destroy the Baron's household but to also eliminate anyone who judged her for her commoner background. That's when Rosemond decided to "coincidentally" meet the emperor and share her painful story with him. Because of that, Lucio sympathized with her, and her plot to becoming queen began.
(DUKE EPHRENY)
(by order of nobility: duke, marquis, count, viscount, baron)
Duchess Ephreny was the daughter of a Marquis and Duke Ephreny was the son of a Baron. When they were younger, he seduced her, spiked her drink, and raped her. When she became pregnant, she decided to marry him because she had no memories of the rape and was convinced she loved him. Keep in mind though, that Duchess Ephreny is a blood descendent of the Ephrenys so she has a general claim of all rights and wealth while her husband is only powerful because of his wife's last name. Soon after the Duchess bore a son and her husband went from Marquis to Duke. The reason he was able to gain such a high title was because he manipulated the previous empress Alisa. Because of him, Alisa began to hate Janet (Lucio's biological mother) which ultimately lead to her forcing Lucio to kill his own mother. Rosemond knows about this because of her past memories, so she uses it to blackmail Duke Ephreny.
There are 3 pillars in the kingdom. The chancellor of the three was the Dukedom of Oswins (empress Alisa's house). But because Ephreny manipulated the previous empress Alisa into committing treason, Duke Oswins secluded himself. This gave way for the Dukedom of Ephreny to climb to the top. Thus, Rose being adopted makes her a high-status woman of the empire, second only to Patrizia. Rosemond's plan is to become Princess of Ephreny, announce that Patrizia is infertile, and work to becoming queen dowager. She basically plans to become a widowed queen where she gets rid of Lucio after bearing his child in order to gain an immediate legal claim of the throne, through giving birth to the heir.
Patrizia and Lucio grow increasingly close especially when she sees Lucio hurting himself due to a psychological attack in the next chapter of the manhwa (chapter 48). They also keep coincidentally seeing each other in the garden at night, which is also where Lucio tells Patrizia about his past. This all happens while Rosemond went away to her parent's house so when she came back Lucio began to reject her because he started to side with Patrizia. Everyone who knew about his past would avoid or judge him, but Patrizia pitied him and didn't understand why he was so used to pain. He then falls for her kind and genuine personality as well as her capabilities as queen.
On the evening of the Nation's Founding, Rosemond is officially adopted as Duke Ephreny's daughter. Lucio and Patrizia are both close but awkward with each other, mainly because Lucio is starting to subtly act on his feelings by always being around Patrizia and constantly asking if she's tired or not (yes he's really falling in love with her and infinitely dumping that bimbo) but Patrizia doesn't know how to react to him. But while she's alone, Rosemond appears and suddenly talks about rumors of how Patrizia hadn't slept with Lucio yet. She then asks why Patrizia isn't pregnant yet and claims Patrizia could be infertile which makes Patrizia incredibly furious because infertility is a great taboo (see what happened to late empress Alisa) among the public. And with their culture (especially considering she's the queen) it defines her dignity as a woman as well. Patrizia slaps Rosemond a couple of times out of anger after she proposes they both have a fertility test to find out the truth. After the fight, Lucio pulls Rosemond away to talk. They argue and break up after Rose admits she was only making use of his trauma and that Patrizia would never love a man who killed his own mother.
Because of Rosemond's scandalous actions, the Council decides to have the fertility test but Patrizia refuses to take it. Lucio keeps desperately urging her to, but Patrizia doesn't listen because she was positive she isn't sterile. That's when she realizes why Lucio was acting strangely desperate. She connects the dots and finds out about Lucio's plan with Rosemond of getting a queen who couldn't give birth. Patrizia feels devastated and betrayed while asking him "How are you any different from empress Alisa?!" then leaves him alone. After returning to her palace, she orders her maids to find a perfume called stereen (?) and gift it to Rosemond. When Rosemond received it, she started using it a lot, thinking it was Patrizia's way of licking her shoes for mercy.
One evening, Rosemond enters Lucio's bedroom and makes Lucio drink an aphrodisiac in order to force him to sleep with her. At this point, Lucio is completely in love with Patrizia even though she absolutely hates him. So he leaves the room to restrain himself because Rosemond wasn't going to leave. By coincidence, he meets Patrizia outside. Seeing his state, Patrizia suggested he slept with Rosemond/maid/any woman in the palace but he didn't want to. So Patrizia decides to help him and they have their first night together.
Petronilla actually has memories of the previous timeline. Patrizia finds this out during Lucio's birthday banquet. Rosemond had changed the traditional birthday flowers to sage - empress Alisa's favorite flowers that by the scent and appearance, could give Lucio severe psychological attacks because of his PTSD. But Petronilla was able to change the flowers to amaryllis and exposes her past memories to Patrizia. Because of that, Patrizia finds confidence in finding a way to kill Rosemond. She was depressed knowing her efforts were wasted because she's infertile, but it became her strength because she realized that she finally had nothing else to lose.
Petronilla has an important role in helping Patrizia expose Rosemond. Because of her, the truth about January (Duke Ephreny's mistress) conspiring with Rosemond will be revealed. In the end, she manages to steal the letters Rosemond sent to January in order to provide them as evidence in court.
Patrizia is confused with her feelings after sleeping with Lucio, so she goes to her parent's home for a visit. On her way back to the palace, she's ambushed by assassins. Patrizia had purposely exposed the fact that she was leaving for her parents' home so she already expected the assassination to happen. And according to the plan, Patrizia has the royal guards save her while she purposely slices her arms and legs with a knife for better effect and to cause an uproar among the people about someone trying to harm the queen. When she returns to the palace, Lucio says it was Rosemond's plan because he heard her talking about the assassination with her maid. Rosemond is again sentenced to execution and Lucio whole-heartedly agrees with it. She tries to get Duke Ephreny to save her but Patrizia and Petronilla had compiled Rosemond's letters to January and sent them to Duchess Ephreny.
The Duchess's son with the Duke had died because of the illness so the Duchess was mentally unstable. And after returning to the empire and reading through the letters about her husband raping her, she kicks January and the Duke out of the mansion. So Rosemond then has no one to save her from execution. Days before her death, Patrizia confronts Rosemond about what she did to Duke Ephreny, January, and basically all her crimes. Rosemond claims she would survive because apparently, she was pregnant with Lucio's child. Patrizia then exposes that the perfume she gave Rosemond as a "gift" before had contained chemicals that could make her infertile. So Rosemond ultimately became infertile as well. After that, Rosemond is killed without delay.
Patrizia tells Lucio that she wants to step down from being queen. Lucio panics and begs her to stay. He always felt like he was alone in the palace but having Patrizia there made him feel like he wasn't (it was a very dramatic and emotional scene ngl. you could practically smell his mental state crumbling) In the end, Patrizia stays in the palace because (1) Lucio, as emperor, wouldn't let her, and (2) it wasn't that simple to just stop being queen.
In an effort to appease her, Lucio asks Petronilla about things Patrizia liked. Because Patrizia liked sweets/chocolate, Lucio asks the chef to teach him how to bake. He then keeps sending sweets to Patrizia that he baked on his own.
Petronilla tells Patrizia to stop staying in the past because her mission to save her family is complete. Petronilla admits that she did love Lucio (in the previous timeline) but it shouldn't stop Patrizia from loving him in the present because Lucio loved Patrizia and she wanted Patrizia to finally live happily. This is when Patrizia decides to accept her feelings for Lucio. Coincidentally that night, Lucio had another psychological attack. Patrizia goes into his room to comfort him and tell him she accepted his feelings. They slept together for the second time, but as lovers.
Anything after that is very fluffy husband-wife moments with Lucio still baking sweets for Patrizia from time to time. There's a scene during Patrizia's birthday banquet where she sees Lucio being seduced by a woman who wanted to be queen but he harshly rejects her. When he realized Patrizia saw him with the woman, he adorably tries to explain the situation frantically. They end up dancing on the balcony, having a steamy kiss, and also watching the fireworks together. Patrizia then, for the first time, tells Lucio that she loved him.
The last chapter of the original story is about Petronilla and Rothesay's wedding. Lucio and Patrizia are attending but in disguise. Other side stories after the main story are about (1) a coup de tat in the previous timeline after Petronilla died, (2) Rothesay's POV when he met Petronilla, and (3) Lucio and Patrizia's family life.
Patrizia and Lucio's family life is about Lucio being forced to choose a concubine in order to produce an heir because Patrizia was "infertile". Patrizia agreed to it but Lucio knew she was hurt and always cried a lot because the one thing she wanted was to have a child with the man she loved. Lucio promised she would be his one and only queen. When Patricia went to do charity, she met this old guy claiming he knew her and asked to see her later. During the concubine selection, Patrizia chose Lady Petunia among the candidates but she turns out to be another bitch that belongs to the street who openly insults Patrizia in front of everyone. Lucio then defends his wife and puts the bitch right where she belongs. Before Patrizia reselects another candidate, the old man from before arrived and exposed himself as the physician who conducted her health documents during the queen selection. Apparently, he heard Rosemond's plan in choosing the queen, so to save his daughter who was one of the candidates, he messed up Patrizia's fertility results.
Patrizia and Lucio then do the deed a lot of times (づ￣ ³￣)づ in order to make babies. Lucio joked about having 10 kids but Patrizia laughed saying it was impossible for her to give birth for 10 straight years. Lucio suggests they keep having twins to limit it to 5 years lol. One month later Patrizia is confirmed to be pregnant. Lucio kept feeding her berries and they kept being lovey-dovey.
Time skip 7 years later their first son Dylan wants to sleep with his mom. Lucio says you only sleep with someone you marry so Dylan says he wants to marry Patrizia. Lucio gets annoyed (cute) so Patrizia tells Dylan to sleep early and get tall because she likes tall people. Lucio has the AUDACITY to feel proud because he thinks he's pretty tall lmao. The three of them end up sleeping beside each other. Dylan then asks how babies were made and Lucio tells him if he wants a brother he should let him and Patrizia "hold hands alone". After that night Dylan keeps giving them time alone (⌒▽⌒)
Another time skip, Dylan has triplets as younger sisters; Regina, Ressie, and Raine. Lucio by this time is already in his 40s but Patrizia still describes her heart beating fast when she's with him despite them being together for 20 years already. Patrizia says none of the emperors throughout history have been as good to their queens as Lucio was to her. But maybe Dylan would break the record and Patrizia was really proud to have him as her son. Lucio also gets jealous since none of their children wanted to marry him, including his triplet daughters. All of them wanted to marry their mom.
The next night it's Patrizia's birthday and she's surprised with gifts. After opening them, the children tell Lucio and Patrizia to kiss. They kissed and lived happily ever after. The END
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. The spoilers here are only the main events in the novel so I skipped out on the minor details that didn't affect the plot drastically.
2021-01-30 16:35 marked
Novel SPOILERS