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“I don’t like it. I don’t like you being alone with Count Dietrian.”
“……!”
Iana stared blankly at Charles’s honest words.
He said he didn’t like it, but it sounded like a heartfelt request.
Only then did Iana realize that she had been mistaken.
She had only thought that Charles was worried about her meeting Carrion, but she hadn’t considered that he would dislike it.
When she didn’t say anything, Charles spoke again in his usual serious voice.
“So, what I mean is……”
Then she spoke, as if throwing the words out.
“I won’t.”
“Pardon?”
“If Your Highness dislikes it that much, I will make sure that I don’t meet with Count Dietrian alone.”
Charles roughly swept back his gray hair, as if embarrassed by Iana’s ready answer.
Seeing that, she felt mischievous, just as Charles had.
“So don’t be angry.”
Iana deliberately mumbled in a small voice.
“I’m not angry. I’m just……”
Charles quickly softened his expression, flustered, and continued soothingly.
Iana watched him rambling incoherently, suppressing a smile that was about to burst out.
Charles seemed to sense something, stopped talking abruptly, and glared at her.
“Are you perhaps making fun of me right now?”
“……I can’t say that I’m not.”
Iana nodded.
“I will go first. It seems that rational conversation is impossible with you.”
This time, Charles followed Iana’s words from earlier in the day and walked towards the main building.
She followed him, pouting.
“Your Highness, I can’t sleep right now, so I’m going to take a walk around the castle walls. Would you like to come with me?”
“I don’t want to.”
Charles answered firmly as he walked.
“I’m scared to go to the castle walls alone……”
“Liar.”
“That’s right. I’m lying.”
Charles was so dumbfounded that he stopped walking.
Iana looked around warily and held out her hand.
“Give me your hand.”
As she gestured with her eyes, Charles shook his head as if he couldn’t help it and took her small hand.
The two headed towards the castle walls.
They took Khan, who was on the castle walls, and slowly looked around the entire wall.
Countless stars twinkled in the night sky as if they were about to fall. It was beautiful enough to make one wonder if this was really a place where war would break out.
Iana looked at the stars and spoke calmly.
“I don’t like it.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t like the way Your Highness takes sacrifice for granted. Because there is no one in this world whose sacrifice is natural.”
“That’s……”
Charles was about to say something, but stopped and answered readily.
Just like Iana had.
“I will not take my sacrifice for granted in the future.”
“I hope tomorrow night will be as peaceful as tonight.”
She murmured softly, filled with hope.
On a night where the stars twinkled.
The two were enduring the fear and anguish of the upcoming war together.
✦ ✦ ✦
At that moment, Marcel was also looking at the night sky from the window of his office.
At that moment, Duke Havel’s words from the Magic Tower came to mind.
“I have a pressing need for Riel.”
“Riel?”
“Hand over all the information you have gathered about Riel to me.”
‘He must have offered me the position of Archmage in exchange for handing over the information.’
It was a tempting offer for Marcel.
It was realistically impossible for him to become an Archmage with his weak magical power.
However, he couldn’t blindly take Duke Havel’s hand.
If he broke his promise with Iana, she could reveal that his father had used black magic, and more than anything, he didn’t know how Grand Duke Ervin would move.
Charles, as he had experienced, was not just a fallen member of the Imperial Family.
He was a quick-witted man skilled in strategy.
Promise and betrayal.
Marcel was torn between two choices.
He got up from his seat and headed to the basement room of the annex where the informants resided.
As Marcel came down, the informants guarding the front bowed sharply.
Creak-.
When the heavy iron door of the basement room opened, a man was seen collapsed on the floor, his hands and feet tied.
His face and body were covered with cuts and bruises from being beaten.
“Is this the shadow merchant who acted as a contact for Riel?”
Marcel asked, looking down at the man, and the informant standing next to him said.
“Yes, that’s right, Marquess. This man also informed Riel that we were investigating this time.”
The man remained silent about Riel until the end. However, he confessed to the events that had transpired due to the continued beatings.
Marcel knelt down in front of the man and asked.
“I heard you’re a friend of the sculptor Riel killed? And Seulanka wasn’t dead, but you saved him for Riel.”
The man spoke fiercely with bloodshot eyes.
“That bastard threatened and harassed poor Riel first.”
“Riel is pitiful? I think you’re more pitiful for being used.”
Marcel sneered. He then struck the man with a wooden club that was next to him.
Thud!
The man couldn’t even let out a groan and collapsed.
Marcel wiped the sweat from his forehead and gave an order.
“Send someone to Ervin tomorrow.”
“……”
“Tell them that on the day Grand Duke Ervin and Iana come to the capital, we will execute Riel with this man as a witness.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Time passed quickly, and the day of the Crown Prince’s memorial service dawned.
Riel woke up early in the morning.
Swish-.
Outside the window, rain fell from a sky covered with dark storm clouds.
She finished her bath with the help of the maids and sat in front of the dressing table.
“I will brush your hair.”
While another maid prepared her clothes, another maid slowly brushed Riel’s bobbed hair.
Riel was lost in thought as she looked at her face reflected in the dressing table mirror.
‘Today is finally the day. The day I either die at the Emperor’s hands or am chosen……’
A woman from the Estina family appeared on the day of the Crown Prince’s memorial service.
The possibilities were half and half.
Now, she had no choice but to leave it to fate.
The moment Riel turned her head to look at the sky.
The fingernail of the maid holding the hairbrush scratched Riel’s forehead.
“Ah!”
Riel cried out without realizing it.
It wasn’t a deep wound, but a nail mark remained red on her forehead.
“I, I’m sorry. I have committed a crime worthy of death.”
The surprised maid knelt down on the spot and begged for forgiveness.
Riel was angry, but she was about to face a big event, so she was going to let it go quietly.
Creak-.
At that moment, the door opened without a knock, and Duke Havel entered with a whip in his hand.
“What’s all the commotion?”
“I was brushing her hair and accidentally scratched the young lady’s face……”
Duke Havel cut off the maid’s words sharply.
“Riel, you stand aside.”
As Riel moved away towards the window, Duke Havel mercilessly lashed the maid with his whip.
The maid seemed used to the situation and endured the beating silently, without even groaning.
‘His Grace, Duke Havel, is doing that on purpose. To show me.’
Riel smiled wryly.
“Take her away.”
A moment later, when Duke Havel finished the beating, the other maids supported the beaten maid and quickly left.
Duke Havel approached and examined Riel’s forehead, speaking slowly.
“Don’t make any mistakes today.”
“……”
“Your mistakes will not end with a few whippings……”
Riel looked at Duke Havel for a moment and said with a smile.
“It seems that Your Grace is more nervous than I am.”
“What?”
“You should be more generous when you have a big event ahead of you. Because this is just a mark that will disappear soon.”
In the dressing table mirror, the red mark on Riel’s forehead had almost disappeared.
Duke Havel rolled up his whip and said.
“A small problem has arisen.”
“……?”
Riel, who was looking in the mirror, turned her head towards Duke Havel.
“It seems that Alisa begged His Majesty the Emperor to come to the memorial service with her today. Then that Alisa will try to somehow catch His Majesty the Emperor’s attention.”
At Duke Havel’s words, a good idea came to Riel’s mind.
“Didn’t Your Grace say that you wanted me to be pitiful?”
“Yes.”
“I was reminded of it when I saw the maid being beaten earlier.”
“……”
“Wouldn’t I be even more pitiful if Alisa beat me?”
Riel smiled meaningfully.
“That’s a good idea.”
A moment later, after Duke Havel left, Riel changed her clothes.
A pure white, simple dress and worn but clean leather shoes.
In one hand, she held a simple bouquet of wildflowers.
The appearance of a woman from a slave background who was as polite as possible.
If she hadn’t been from a family of traitors, this dramatic situation wouldn’t have been necessary.
If she could do odd jobs in the Imperial Palace, she could run into the Emperor by feigning coincidence.
However, people from traitorous families were forbidden from entering the Imperial Palace. Only possible with the Emperor’s permission.
Riel thought as she smelled the fresh scent of wildflowers.
‘His Majesty the Emperor, I will see you soon.’
Rumble, crash!
Fierce thunder and lightning struck outside the window.
“……!”
Iana stared blankly at Charles’s honest words.
He said he didn’t like it, but it sounded like a heartfelt request.
Only then did Iana realize that she had been mistaken.
She had only thought that Charles was worried about her meeting Carrion, but she hadn’t considered that he would dislike it.
When she didn’t say anything, Charles spoke again in his usual serious voice.
“So, what I mean is……”
Then she spoke, as if throwing the words out.
“I won’t.”
“Pardon?”
“If Your Highness dislikes it that much, I will make sure that I don’t meet with Count Dietrian alone.”
Charles roughly swept back his gray hair, as if embarrassed by Iana’s ready answer.
Seeing that, she felt mischievous, just as Charles had.
“So don’t be angry.”
Iana deliberately mumbled in a small voice.
“I’m not angry. I’m just……”
Charles quickly softened his expression, flustered, and continued soothingly.
Iana watched him rambling incoherently, suppressing a smile that was about to burst out.
Charles seemed to sense something, stopped talking abruptly, and glared at her.
“Are you perhaps making fun of me right now?”
“……I can’t say that I’m not.”
Iana nodded.
“I will go first. It seems that rational conversation is impossible with you.”
This time, Charles followed Iana’s words from earlier in the day and walked towards the main building.
She followed him, pouting.
“Your Highness, I can’t sleep right now, so I’m going to take a walk around the castle walls. Would you like to come with me?”
“I don’t want to.”
Charles answered firmly as he walked.
“I’m scared to go to the castle walls alone……”
“Liar.”
“That’s right. I’m lying.”
Charles was so dumbfounded that he stopped walking.
Iana looked around warily and held out her hand.
“Give me your hand.”
As she gestured with her eyes, Charles shook his head as if he couldn’t help it and took her small hand.
The two headed towards the castle walls.
They took Khan, who was on the castle walls, and slowly looked around the entire wall.
Countless stars twinkled in the night sky as if they were about to fall. It was beautiful enough to make one wonder if this was really a place where war would break out.
Iana looked at the stars and spoke calmly.
“I don’t like it.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t like the way Your Highness takes sacrifice for granted. Because there is no one in this world whose sacrifice is natural.”
“That’s……”
Charles was about to say something, but stopped and answered readily.
Just like Iana had.
“I will not take my sacrifice for granted in the future.”
“I hope tomorrow night will be as peaceful as tonight.”
She murmured softly, filled with hope.
On a night where the stars twinkled.
The two were enduring the fear and anguish of the upcoming war together.
✦ ✦ ✦
At that moment, Marcel was also looking at the night sky from the window of his office.
At that moment, Duke Havel’s words from the Magic Tower came to mind.
“I have a pressing need for Riel.”
“Riel?”
“Hand over all the information you have gathered about Riel to me.”
‘He must have offered me the position of Archmage in exchange for handing over the information.’
It was a tempting offer for Marcel.
It was realistically impossible for him to become an Archmage with his weak magical power.
However, he couldn’t blindly take Duke Havel’s hand.
If he broke his promise with Iana, she could reveal that his father had used black magic, and more than anything, he didn’t know how Grand Duke Ervin would move.
Charles, as he had experienced, was not just a fallen member of the Imperial Family.
He was a quick-witted man skilled in strategy.
Promise and betrayal.
Marcel was torn between two choices.
He got up from his seat and headed to the basement room of the annex where the informants resided.
As Marcel came down, the informants guarding the front bowed sharply.
Creak-.
When the heavy iron door of the basement room opened, a man was seen collapsed on the floor, his hands and feet tied.
His face and body were covered with cuts and bruises from being beaten.
“Is this the shadow merchant who acted as a contact for Riel?”
Marcel asked, looking down at the man, and the informant standing next to him said.
“Yes, that’s right, Marquess. This man also informed Riel that we were investigating this time.”
The man remained silent about Riel until the end. However, he confessed to the events that had transpired due to the continued beatings.
Marcel knelt down in front of the man and asked.
“I heard you’re a friend of the sculptor Riel killed? And Seulanka wasn’t dead, but you saved him for Riel.”
The man spoke fiercely with bloodshot eyes.
“That bastard threatened and harassed poor Riel first.”
“Riel is pitiful? I think you’re more pitiful for being used.”
Marcel sneered. He then struck the man with a wooden club that was next to him.
Thud!
The man couldn’t even let out a groan and collapsed.
Marcel wiped the sweat from his forehead and gave an order.
“Send someone to Ervin tomorrow.”
“……”
“Tell them that on the day Grand Duke Ervin and Iana come to the capital, we will execute Riel with this man as a witness.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Time passed quickly, and the day of the Crown Prince’s memorial service dawned.
Riel woke up early in the morning.
Swish-.
Outside the window, rain fell from a sky covered with dark storm clouds.
She finished her bath with the help of the maids and sat in front of the dressing table.
“I will brush your hair.”
While another maid prepared her clothes, another maid slowly brushed Riel’s bobbed hair.
Riel was lost in thought as she looked at her face reflected in the dressing table mirror.
‘Today is finally the day. The day I either die at the Emperor’s hands or am chosen……’
A woman from the Estina family appeared on the day of the Crown Prince’s memorial service.
The possibilities were half and half.
Now, she had no choice but to leave it to fate.
The moment Riel turned her head to look at the sky.
The fingernail of the maid holding the hairbrush scratched Riel’s forehead.
“Ah!”
Riel cried out without realizing it.
It wasn’t a deep wound, but a nail mark remained red on her forehead.
“I, I’m sorry. I have committed a crime worthy of death.”
The surprised maid knelt down on the spot and begged for forgiveness.
Riel was angry, but she was about to face a big event, so she was going to let it go quietly.
Creak-.
At that moment, the door opened without a knock, and Duke Havel entered with a whip in his hand.
“What’s all the commotion?”
“I was brushing her hair and accidentally scratched the young lady’s face……”
Duke Havel cut off the maid’s words sharply.
“Riel, you stand aside.”
As Riel moved away towards the window, Duke Havel mercilessly lashed the maid with his whip.
The maid seemed used to the situation and endured the beating silently, without even groaning.
‘His Grace, Duke Havel, is doing that on purpose. To show me.’
Riel smiled wryly.
“Take her away.”
A moment later, when Duke Havel finished the beating, the other maids supported the beaten maid and quickly left.
Duke Havel approached and examined Riel’s forehead, speaking slowly.
“Don’t make any mistakes today.”
“……”
“Your mistakes will not end with a few whippings……”
Riel looked at Duke Havel for a moment and said with a smile.
“It seems that Your Grace is more nervous than I am.”
“What?”
“You should be more generous when you have a big event ahead of you. Because this is just a mark that will disappear soon.”
In the dressing table mirror, the red mark on Riel’s forehead had almost disappeared.
Duke Havel rolled up his whip and said.
“A small problem has arisen.”
“……?”
Riel, who was looking in the mirror, turned her head towards Duke Havel.
“It seems that Alisa begged His Majesty the Emperor to come to the memorial service with her today. Then that Alisa will try to somehow catch His Majesty the Emperor’s attention.”
At Duke Havel’s words, a good idea came to Riel’s mind.
“Didn’t Your Grace say that you wanted me to be pitiful?”
“Yes.”
“I was reminded of it when I saw the maid being beaten earlier.”
“……”
“Wouldn’t I be even more pitiful if Alisa beat me?”
Riel smiled meaningfully.
“That’s a good idea.”
A moment later, after Duke Havel left, Riel changed her clothes.
A pure white, simple dress and worn but clean leather shoes.
In one hand, she held a simple bouquet of wildflowers.
The appearance of a woman from a slave background who was as polite as possible.
If she hadn’t been from a family of traitors, this dramatic situation wouldn’t have been necessary.
If she could do odd jobs in the Imperial Palace, she could run into the Emperor by feigning coincidence.
However, people from traitorous families were forbidden from entering the Imperial Palace. Only possible with the Emperor’s permission.
Riel thought as she smelled the fresh scent of wildflowers.
‘His Majesty the Emperor, I will see you soon.’
Rumble, crash!
Fierce thunder and lightning struck outside the window.
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