Betrayed by My Ex, Marked by His Alpha Emperor Brother

Chapter 217

Elara’s POV

The cafeteria was loud. Trays clattering. Chairs scraping. Voices overlapping in a dozen different conversations that blurred into white noise.

I sat at the end of the long table with my tray in front of me. Barely touched. A bread roll I’d torn in half. Soup going cold. I wasn’t hungry. My muscles still ached from morning drills, and my mind kept circling back to those dark gold eyes watching me from the shadows of the training hall.

I shoved the thought away. Picked up my spoon. Put it down again.

"You’re going to die before you hit thirty," Riley said flatly.

She wasn’t talking to me. She was staring at Jessica, who had just upended what looked like half a salt shaker over her plate of fries.

Jessica shrugged. Grabbed three fries at once and shoved them into her mouth. "Worth it," she said around the mouthful.

"Your arteries are going to revolt."

"My arteries love me."

"Your arteries are filing a formal complaint."

I almost smiled. Almost.

"Okay, but can we talk about something actually interesting?" Maya leaned forward on her elbows, dark eyes bright with mischief. She was one of the younger trainees. Couldn’t have been out of academy orientation for long. "Like—why hasn’t the Emperor announced an Empress yet?"

The table went quiet. Not silent—the cafeteria was still roaring around us—but our little pocket of space stilled.

My spoon froze halfway to my mouth.

"He’s got two kids," Maya continued, oblivious. "Two beautiful kids. Everyone’s seen them at the solstice parades. But no Luna. No wedding. No coronation. Don’t you think that’s weird?"

Sophie slammed both palms on the table. "Because it’s going to be Sylvia Vance." She said it like it was settled law. Like the decree had already been issued and the rest of the world just hadn’t caught up yet.

"Sophie—" Riley started.

"No, listen." Sophie held up a finger. "She brings him snacks. Personally. To his study. And last week? Last week someone saw her at his private residence playing with the children. Playing. With. The. Children." She punctuated each word with a tap on the table. "That’s not just ’doing her job.’ That’s wife behavior."

Something cold slithered through my chest. I set my spoon down carefully. Quietly.

"She’s his lady-in-waiting," Jessica said, still chewing. "That’s literally what they do. They manage things. Schedules. Household stuff."

"And she manages his children’s bedtime too?" Sophie raised an eyebrow. "Come on. Wake up."

"My cousin works in the palace kitchens," another trainee spoke up. A girl whose name I hadn’t caught yet—brown hair pulled back tight, serious eyes. "She told me the Emperor is actually already married. Secretly. Has been for a while."

The table erupted.

"Married?"

"To who?"

"That’s impossible. There would’ve been a ceremony—"

"Not if he didn’t want anyone to know."

Maya leaned back, arms crossed. A shadow crossed her face. "Then where is she?" Her voice dropped. "If he’s married... and she’s not here... maybe she left him."

The cold thing in my chest spread. Up through my throat. Behind my eyes.

"Maybe she ran away," Maya continued, speculative and casual, like she was discussing a character in a novel and not my life. "I mean—can you imagine being married to the Emperor and just... vanishing? Something must have gone really wrong."

I stared at my soup. The surface had gone still. Flat and gray.

"That’s all rumor," Riley said firmly. "We don’t know anything."

"But it makes sense!" Sophie insisted. "If she left, that’s exactly why Sylvia Vance is stepping in. Someone has to take care of those kids. Someone has to—"

"She’ll be Empress within a year." Sophie nodded to herself. "Mark my words."

A small voice spoke up. Quiet. Almost lost in the noise.

"I don’t think so."

Everyone turned. The speaker was a new trainee—barely eighteen by the look of her. Sitting at the far end of our section. She hadn’t said a word all meal. Her cheeks flushed pink under the sudden attention, but she didn’t look away.

"I—my family lives near the palace district. I’ve seen him. The Emperor. When he walks in the gardens with his children." She swallowed. "He doesn’t look at Sylvia Vance the way people look at someone they love. He looks... somewhere else. Like he’s thinking about someone who isn’t there."

A beat of silence.

Then her gaze flickered—just for an instant—to me.

Quick. Almost accidental. But I felt it like a needle.

"Ooh, romantic," Maya drawled. She turned sharply. "Ela. You’ve been sitting there like a ghost. What do you think?"

Every head swiveled toward me.

I looked up. Schooled my expression into something neutral. Bored. Unreadable.

"I think," I said carefully, "that the Emperor’s private life isn’t our business."

The table groaned.

"That’s the most boring answer in the history of boring answers," Sophie declared. She balled up a napkin and lobbed it at my head. It bounced off my shoulder. "Come on. Sylvia Vance or mystery wife? Pick a side."

"Leave Ela alone," Jessica said. She pointed a fry at Sophie. "Not everyone needs to have an opinion about royal gossip."

"It’s not gossip if it’s true!"

"It’s gossip because you don’t know if it’s true."

Riley leaned closer to me. Her brow creased. "You okay? You look pale."

"Just tired," I said. The lie came easily. "Morning drills hit hard today."

Riley studied me a moment longer. Then nodded. "Eat something. You need the calories if you’re going to keep throwing wolves around."

I picked up the bread roll. Tore off a piece. Put it in my mouth. Chewed. It tasted like nothing.

Around me, the conversation drifted. Sophie launched into another theory about palace dress codes and what Sylvia Vance’s wardrobe choices "clearly signified." Maya was demanding details from the girl with the kitchen cousin. Jessica was eating more salt-covered fries. Riley was shaking her head at all of them.

Normal. Easy. The comfortable chaos of women who had nothing to hide.

It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true. Sylvia Vance was his lady-in-waiting. His aide. Nothing more. But the image wouldn’t stop forming. Her in his study. Her playing with his children. My children. Filling the silence of those halls where my footsteps used to echo. The anxiety gnawed at me, amplifying the bitter self-doubt about my fractured relationship with Kaelen.

But I couldn’t focus anymore.

All I could hear was Sophie’s voice.

Sylvia Vance will obviously be Empress.