Drip. Drip.
Iana lay on her bed in the monastery, watching the water droplets falling from the ceiling.
Her face was pale, and her health visibly deteriorated. Her platinum blonde hair had lost its luster.
Her emerald eyes, once reminiscent of clear lakes, were now empty like those of a doll.
At one time, she was the daughter of the respected Archmage Marquis Retchels, and after marriage, she was the countess of the Dietrian family, a prestigious scholarly family.
But now she had lost everything and was reduced to a sick patient awaiting death.
All because of one person.
An unusually loud noise broke the gloomy silence of the convent.
'She's here.'
Iana's unfocused eyes suddenly became sharp.
Creeak-
After a moment, several footsteps echoed, and the locked iron door of the sickroom opened.
Blinding sunlight poured in as a lavishly dressed woman stepped inside.
Lustrous black hair. Mysteriously glowing golden eyes.
The smooth and pale skin revealed by the slender neckline and curved chest line gave off a seductive allure.
Riel Estina.
The new Empress of the Lubena Empire and the former mistress of Count Dietrian, Ianna's ex-husband.
She was from a fallen rebel family and was a close friend of Ianna's who took everything from her and used it as a stepping stone to her rise in status.
"Iana, how in the world..."
Riel seemed utterly shocked, unable to continue her sentence for a while.
“How could you take care of a patient so poorly that her condition keeps worsening? Are you neglecting her because the Ratchels family is a criminal family?”
As Riel scolded sternly, the rather plump abbess flusteredly made excuses.
“N-Neglect, Your Majesty? We have been caring for her with utmost devotion as per your gracious orders. But her illness is very severe...”
“Ha...!”
Straining to sit up, Iana let out a derisive laugh at Riel's despicable acting.
With her gaze fixed on Iana, Riel asked the abbess,
"Has Iana been saying strange things lately? That I tried to poison her?"
"Y-Yes. She’s crazy, but it’s exasperating how she doesn’t appreciate the grace of Her Majesty the Empress and speaks such nonsense.”
The abbess flattered, clicking his tongue.
"That must be due to her illness, not her true heart. I wish to speak with Iana alone for a moment."
"It's dangerous, Your Majesty! She is not of sound mind and may do something reckless."
Riel looked at Iana with sorrowful eyes and spoke.
"What could she possibly do with such a frail body? Even if she tried, she is still my dear friend, so it can't be helped."
At those words, the hesitant abbess and knight guards all left, leaving just Iana and Riel alone in the room.
“Your heinous acting is just as bad as my illness.” Iana gave a twisted smile.
Riel slowly walked toward the bed, whispering words out of context in a soft voice.
"Everyone pitied me when I fell into slavery. But not you."
"......"
"You, who were always frail, said you envied my health. I really liked that. How should I put it? Being around you made me feel less unhappy. That's why I started nursing you at that young age of 12."
Iana asked in a sharp voice, "What are you getting at?"
"I stayed by your side for my own sake, yet people praised me as a kind child for taking care of you. That's when I realized..."
"..."
"People don't see the truth; they see what they want to see."
"What?"
Riel stopped beside the bed.
"So now, I show people what they want to see. The benevolent empress who forgives her enemies."
Whap!
Iana flung a pillow at Riel in a frenzy, but it had little force.
"My father made you a commoner and took care of you when you were a slave. Yet how could you repay that kindness with enmity like this?"
Riel stroked Iana's disheveled hair with a languid motion as she spoke.
"That's why I let you live. The Retchels family did everything to prevent me from becoming empress, but I made sure you weren't executed."
"You were the one who schemed! You stole my husband and tried to poison me to become the countess."
"Then you should've died back then!"
Riel gripped Iana's hair tightly and hissed coldly,
"Ugh!"
"Why pointlessly cling to life and dig up others' pasts? Do you think you can remove me from the empress position by doing that?"
Cough cough. Cough cough.
Iana coughed violently as if she were about to pass out.
"Medicine, the medicine..."
Without the medicine, the spasms of coughing wouldn't stop. The unbearable pain made Iana writhe.
Riel, who had once been her caretaker, knew this better than anyone.
'Please.'
Iana desperately reached for the medicine on the bedside table.
The severe agony suffocating her made it feel like she would stop breathing any moment.
Just as her fingertips touched the medicine bag,
Riel defiantly snatched it and spilled the contents onto the floor.
The white powder scattered uselessly like dust.
"Iana, this is the end of your usefulness. People are starting to believe that nonsense about me trying to kill you."
"Ughh!"
Iana coughed up blood and collapsed off the bed. She gasped for air, her body convulsing.
Riel looked down at her dispassionately.
"Sa...save me..."
Writhing in agony, Iana let out anguished groans.
A life wretchedly abandoned and cruelly used.
And just like that, her short 24 years blinked out pathetically.
'Even in hell, I'll return this miserable life to you...'
After a long struggle, Iana's body went limp with a final gasp.
As Iana's breathing faded, Riel finally shouted loudly.
"Iana has collapsed. Quickly! Fetch the healer!"
Riel embraced Iana, shedding hypocritical tears like a benevolent empress mourning the loss of a dear friend.
* * *
"Iana! Wake up."
Iana slowly opened her eyes to the sound of someone calling her.
As her vision cleared, she saw a familiar marble ceiling and a man's face.
Damp black hair. A kind face with azure eyes. An intellectual yet sensual visage, soft yet cold.
"Iana, the only one I love is Riel."
He took her sister-like friend Riel as his mistress,
"Just looking at your frail form makes me depressed, you know?"
Then callously abandoned her,
"Enough talk, prepare for our divorce."
Her ex-husband, who was ultimately used by Riel and exiled from the empire.
It was Count Carrion Dietrian.
The man she never wanted to see again, even in dreams, was standing over her wearing only a bath robe.
‘Is this a nightmare? Or hell?’
“Iana, what kind of dream did you have to be crying in your sleep?”
Then Carrion looked at her with loving eyes and wiped the tears from her lashes.
The unsettling touch of her husband vividly sent shivers down her spine.
Startled, she pushed his hand away and sat upright.
"Carrion, why are you here?"
Letting out a deep sigh at her reaction, Carrion said,
"Iana, it's been a month since we married. Isn't it time you got used to your husband being in the bedroom?"
"What?"
"How can you still be surprised to see your husband in the bedroom?"
'A month since we married? But that was 4 years ago, how is this happening?'
The period right after their marriage was the happiest of Iana's life.
She was at her healthiest, and though it was a political marriage, they deeply believed they loved each other.
As Iana sat confused, lost in thought,
Smooch!
Carrion suddenly planted a kiss on her lips.
“Good morning.”
"...!"
The vivid sensation made Iana even more uncertain if this was an illusion or reality.
But one thing was clear.
She was utterly repulsed by her ex-husband who had cruelly abandoned her.
"Disgusting."
Reflexively, Iana roughly wiped her lips.
"What? Disgusting? How can you say that to your husband?"
Carrion looked at her, shocked. But he quickly recovered and started to untie his robe as he climbed onto the bed.
“I hate you so much!”
Iana exclaimed in disgust and jumped out of bed. But she didn’t get far before Carrion grabbed her from behind.
“Where did you hear such strange rumors?”
“What?”
Carrion whispered softly into her ear.
"Nothing at all happened between Lady Chloe and me. I just helped the drunken lady to her room, but people misunderstood."
How laughable.
As she later learned, Carrion was a notorious philanderer and most rumors about him were true.
"My Iana smells like a baby. A disobedient little baby."
Carrion nuzzled her shoulder with soft kisses.
His deepening breath crawled up her neck like an insect.
Iana tried desperately to push him away, but it was no use.
“No, I said I hate you!”
Knock, knock.
There was a timely knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Carrion asked irritably. But there was no answer from the other side.
Fuming, he stormed to the door without even tying his robe.
"Who dares knock on the master bedroom and just..."
The door burst open, and Carrion’s words dissipated into the air.
“It’s time for the lady to take her medicine.”
With her hair neatly tied back and wearing a simple cream-colored dress, Riel entered the room, carrying a tray with medicine and water.
Carrion stared at her in a daze, and Riel smiled brightly at him.
At that moment, Iana realized.
‘I’ve gone back to that day. The day Carrion and Riel first met.’
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