spoilers?????

The previous empress, his supposed to be mom hated him and tortured him because he wasn't her real child. I think he was the son born by the king and a lowly maid. So yeah and the empress adopted him because she couldn't bear any children. One day the empress called for him. When he arrived he saw a woman tied in a chair with her head inside a sack. The empress commanded him to kill the unknown person if he wants to make her proud and so he did cause yeah he's a kid and he wants his "so-called" mother to love him. Of course he hesitated but he still killed the person then the empress laughed and told him that he just killed his real mother. He was shock and after he found out that the person he just killed was his mother, he cried so bad and screamed while hugging the dead body.

So yeah because of all the beatings and torture he received from the previous empress plus the fact that he killed his own mother, our king was traumatized and he is suffering from a mental illness which he describes as a curse

Basically after that he thinks rosemund is some god who is there to save him from his past full of bs and he ends up falling for the image he created and once he finds out that rosemund chose the Fl to be the empress because she was barren herself, the emperor realizes that he was a bitch and was doing exactly what his father did to him and his mother.
With the help of the dukes wife, the FL ruins rosemund's reputation as the duchess divorces the duke and without his wife, the duke is nothing. Since rosemund was depending on the duke a lot, when he loses power she becomes nathing and has barely any social backing. Therefore, the FL gains more political power slowly and the emperor in the meantime is trying to make up with the empress because he did sth terrible.
they end up having a happy ending

Oh thanks! but the duke is actually helping rosemund because she has some dirt of him right? "the reason why the emperor is like that is because of you duke" is what rosemund said... I think... what did the duke actually do?

I'm not sure as to why the emperor would hate the duke but as to why the duchess would hate him is that the title of duke was originally the duchess's and the blood of the original duke family flows with her but the duke basically rapes her and gets her pregnant and she has no choice but to marry him. As for the emperor hating the duke when he finds out, it's probably related to how his mother (the maid) died. i forgot TwT

OH OH one more thing. The fact that the FL is barren isn't true. In fact she can have babies.

Yeah, and it so happens that it was the ml's birthday, that boast that traumatizing experience. Imagine, what could have a child like him at that time have had felt knowing that he just killed his biological mother without knowing it was actually his real mom?

Hooooow did you know? Spoil me please, I haven't read the special chapters in the novel.

someone else told me too so I dunno more, but apparently, the doctor lied to Rosemund when they said she was barren.

Oooooh. I also had a feeling like that when I was reading the novel. Like, maybe the doctor got too much pressure from Rosemund and had no choice but to choose among the ladies (even though no one was actually barren among them) and he happens to pick the fl.

Well if that happens, then that's great too! At least the MC's have a chance to have a family. I also want the ml to experience having one since his childhood is so saaad. Though it's still great that he loved the fl even knowing that she was barren

ikr and to top it off I also heard that they end up having two kids. She spends the night with him or sth and she gets nauseous later but refuses to go to the doctor bc she thought she was barren but once she finally does shes pregnant!!