“Right now, please think only of the safety of Your Excellency and the young lady.”

The Imperial Prince Raphael, who had wrapped my body in a blanket, said.

“Master Sergei and Lord Joseph, who is absent… will somehow survive.”

There was regret in the voice of Imperial Prince Raphael, who did not know how powerful Joseph was.

I too, though I had a mouth, could not speak, so I couldn’t persuade the two of them.

In any case, Imperial Prince Raphael did his utmost to help Euphemina and me escape.

After leaving the castle using a secret passage, we stayed briefly in a hunter’s cabin located in the forest at the foot of the mountain.

And when the moon hanging in the sky became clear.

Imperial Prince Raphael had procured the things needed to escape from Daiern.

Along with a cart, it was said to be someone who ran a ranch nearby.

But from there, I felt that something was wrong.

He had eyes too sharp for someone who raised livestock.

Above all, as far as I remembered, there was no ranch owner with such a face in Daiern.

And.

My prediction was exactly right. He was one of the underworld gangs planted by Dorothea.

“Did you really think you could escape, petal?”

It was just as the cart had passed through Daiern Castle and turned onto a deserted road.

Those who had been waiting suddenly surrounded the cart like a swarm of locusts.

A battle broke out in the middle of the night. Naturally, the outcome was not very hopeful.

No matter how great Imperial Prince Raphael’s swordsmanship was, he was alone.

It was too much to face the men Dorothea had brought, who seemed to number well over a hundred. Especially while protecting two people who were of no help in combat.

“Our lovely petal, you shouldn’t betray this mother no matter what.”

Dorothea said, trampling on the head of the subdued Imperial Prince Raphael.

“I certainly kept my promise to you. Hasn’t that woman now become yours forever?”

“No, I didn’t want this. Mother, she doesn’t move or speak to me!”

“Oh my, was that so? Then you should have stated your conditions clearly. I thought you wouldn’t care what state she was in as long as she became your possession.”

Beneath her feet as she laughed, the bloodied Imperial Prince Raphael was groaning in pain.

The ground was getting soaked with liquid the same color as his hair.

“Anyway, this is clearly a mistake, petal. But I’m your mother, aren’t I? A mother inherently has the right to scold and punish her child for wrongdoings. So…”

“Ugh…!”

“You choose, petal.”

Dorothea, who had been crushing him by putting her weight on her heel, threw a dagger in front of Euphemina.

“The person who will receive the death penalty here in your place.”

The choices she offered were only three.

First, me. Second, Imperial Prince Raphael. And lastly, Euphemina herself.

“There’s no other way. If you don’t choose anything… well, there’s no help for it. I’ll just have to kill both of them.”

I knew. This was a trap.

Euphemina would never kill me. Nor would she think of killing herself.

In the end, there was only one choice Euphemina could make. The life of Imperial Prince Raphael.

But in this case, a huge problem arises.

Since Euphemina would have directly killed the Imperial Prince, Dorothea would have a hold over Euphemina. Thus, Euphemina would never be able to leave her.

She would be completely immersed in the criminal organization known as the underworld.

‘No, Euphi!’

I wanted to stop Euphemina somehow. But even if I stopped her, I didn’t have any clever way to resolve this situation.

If I could at least speak, I would try to negotiate with Dorothea.

The helpless time passed cruelly. After much deliberation, Euphemina finally made the choice I had feared.

“I didn’t want to hunt Your Highness.”

“Ah, please stab precisely at the nape of the neck. That’s the least painful.”

An inappropriate conversation took place for the situation.

After that, with a short groan, one person’s presence was completely erased.

Dorothea hugged Euphemina, praising her with a ripping laugh.

“As expected, our petal is a child perfectly suitable as my successor. This mother doesn’t know how proud she is of you.”

The body of Imperial Prince Raphael was left abandoned in the wilderness. I was tied up, blindfolded, and packed into a box like luggage.

“And petal, this is punishment. From now on, I will hide this wench you cherish in a secret place. If you behave well, I’ll let you see her once in a while.”

“No! This is different from our agreement!”

“Different? When did I ever say I would end the punishment with just that?”

“But…!”

“Shh, petal. Remember what mother just said? Be good and go home first in that cart.”

Euphemina immediately fell silent. And I was confined in complete darkness. Soon my body started shaking bumpy.

Even so, the ride was smoother than before.

It seemed I had been loaded onto the carriage Dorothea had come in.

…This is my current situation.

Of course.

Until the carriage carrying my body stopped somewhere, no solution came to me.

“Now, Landgritz wench. This is where you’ll be staying from now on.”

Unable to think of anything as if my mind had gone blank, I was finally brought down to an unfamiliar place.

My eyes, freed from the blindfold, scanned the surroundings. It was a dirty bedroom in a very poor environment.

No, perhaps it would be better to call it a prison?

In the narrow space without a single window, the only piece of furniture was a large bed.

In the corner was a fixture for handling bodily functions, and the door for entry and exit was an iron grate door used only in prisons.

‘This is definitely not Daiern Castle.’

Nevertheless, I seemed to understand the purpose of this space at once.

Also, that Dorothea had changed her plans for me.

“You know the situation has changed, right? Now that petal has become completely mine, you’re pretty much useless.”

I was grabbed by the hair and thrown onto the bed.

Immediately, thick ankle cuffs with strong iron chains were fastened to my ankles.

“I told you, didn’t I? That my subordinates were drooling at the sight of your face.”

She smiled fiercely, ostentatiously pushing the key that had locked the ankle cuffs between her breasts.

“I’m very excited to be able to give those children good news. Honestly, I wasn’t keen on starving the kids under the pretext of following those damn social etiquette rules or whatever.”

I’ll just let about ten of them in lightly for tonight.

Saying that, Dorothea knocked on the wall as if knocking on a door.

The sound of the signal being sent to her disgusting subordinates clearly reverberated in my eardrums as it passed to the other side of the room.

‘Ah, it’s over.’

Only then could I finally accept that there was nothing more I could do, nor anywhere to pin my hopes on.

Suddenly, I remembered Joseph’s words. He said that after countless times of turning back time, he had witnessed the deaths of me and the children every time.

Without fail, every single time.

‘As if I was born with a destiny that I must perish…’

His words now felt real.

Clearly, I thought everything was going well, that I had dealt with things wisely, but the result was different from what I expected.

In the end, I lost everything.

Daiern, the children’s lives, the children’s future, happiness…

I couldn’t even protect myself.

Perhaps in the face of some great flow of fate, my existence is infinitely powerless.

‘If what’s going to happen happens, and what’s going to unfold unfolds.’

Then it might be better to give up before it becomes more painful.

It might be easier on the mind to end everything.

“What?”

But…

It seemed oddly quiet, and there was no response from outside. What’s going on?

Thump thump. This time Dorothea clenched her fist and hit the wall.

“What are you doing? You scum, I said come in!”

Once again, this time a more distinct vibration passed through the entire room and went over the wall. But strangely.

No matter how long we waited, no one came into the room in response to her signal. By this point, even Dorothea seemed to sense something was amiss.

She tilted her head and approached the iron grate door, flinging it open. At that moment.

“Guheurkh!”

Clearly, she had been looking outside, but with a horrible cry, she rushed back into the room at an incredible speed.

No, she hadn’t rushed in. Looking again, Dorothea seemed to have been pushed back by some tremendous force. And…

“Kuk, kuhuk, wha, what is this…!”

That invisible force field seemed to be still choking her neck.

Pushed to the end of the wall, Dorothea groaned painfully, clawing at her own neck.

For a moment, a shiver ran through me. At the same time, all my senses detected someone’s presence entering through the open iron grate door.

Red hair so bright it hurt the eyes. And red skin and red eyes.

“Ha.”

It was a strange man. No, a strange yet familiar man.

With each step he took, droplets that smelled strongly of iron fell, creating a red puddle.