Wyatt, too, found himself cornered like Lakrahan.

On the most scenic terrace in the imperial palace, Vercheria was having tea time with the empress.

After finishing the breakfast Gerald had invited her to, Vercheria caught the empress trying to return to her room.

Considering Kellita and Gerald had disappeared to have their conversation, now seemed the most appropriate time.

“It’s been quite a while for us.”

In response to Vercheria’s words, Lawrence smiled and nodded.

“Yes, Vercheria.”

‘As expected.’

As discussed with Lakrahan, the current empress seemed to be in a situation where only the shell remained.

To confirm this fact, Lakrahan deliberately brought up the story of an unfamiliar man just before to Lawrence.

In that situation, if it were the real Lawrence, he would have clearly defended himself.

But the empress, without uttering a word, just stared at Kellita with a vacant face.

‘Because the butterfly of parallelism was used, now only the shell remains.’

Vercheria knew Lawrence better than anyone else.

Meeting Lawrence every day, who brought dry bread, was one of the most important things to her.

“That was the last thing I saw from the tower. Don’t you remember?”

When using the butterfly of parallelism, if the real soul enters another person’s body, only the instinctive soul remains in the original body.

It meant that only the sincere feelings in the primitive state remained.

In normal cases, no one could notice this fact, but if they found out, they could hear all the desired answers.

If they could manipulate it well.

For someone like Vercheria, who had many questions to ask, it seemed like a rare opportunity had come again.

“The tower?”

Looking at Lawrence with a quizzical head tilt, Vercheria swallowed a sip of still-warm tea.

“Bring me, who was a baby, and build Vercheria’s tower and lock me inside it. Do you remember?”

In response to the seemingly obvious question, the empress rolled her eyes in a daze.

“If I lived outside, it would have been really hard for me.”

Vercheria raised her eyes to look at Lawrence.

“People hate me. Right, Mother?”

Lawrence’s eyes, which had widened in surprise, narrowed, and a smile spread across his lips.

“Yeah, that’s right. People hate you.”

Vercheria looked at Lawrence with sparkling golden eyes.
“I know too. So, I’m grateful to Mother.”

“Of course, you should be.”

“When I first came to the palace, I didn’t know anyone, and it was painful. But when I saw Mother’s face, I felt relieved.”

Lawrence raised an eyebrow and asked, “How do you know my face?”

Vercheria chuckled lightly. “I didn’t know your face. But there’s something called a feeling, you know? There’s no way I wouldn’t recognize you, Lawrence.”

The empress blinked her eyes, then opened her red lips and smiled. “That’s right. You’re correct.”

Vercheria pursed her lips, holding a bitter smile.

Now, is it okay to ask the necessary questions?

“Was Vercheria’s tower made by a god?”

She pushed a cookie toward Lawrence with her hand.

Lawrence naturally took the cookie, crisp and crunchy, and bit into it. “Yeah, that’s right. I can’t make something like that.”

“How long did you intend to keep me locked up?”

“As long as possible, ideally until death.”

Vercheria’s hand, which was about to put down the teacup, momentarily stiffened and then moved again.

“I see. Then why did you let me escape? You could have stopped me anytime.”

Lawrence suddenly looked around, wary, then leaned closer to Vercheria.

“This is a secret, so you mustn’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t say anything.”

“Even if you had run away, the god could never have stopped you anyway. The god can’t interfere with human will. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“The god would have known that it happened because of your will, but in reality, it wasn’t. It was what I planned.”

Lawrence shrugged his shoulders proudly.

Perhaps such actions were close to her instincts.

Explicit and shady.

Vercheria had to suppress the rising anger.

“Why did you make such a plan?”

Lawrence smiled, pulling his lips into a grin full of anticipation.

“I had to do that to have it.”

What in the world?

“Is that plan related to the woman who gave birth to me?”

“What?”

“Is that woman here in the palace?”

“…….”

“Mother. Please tell me now….”

Just as Vercheria was about to speak again, the sound of people chattering and gathering could be heard from somewhere.

Lawrence stood up and looked towards where people were gathering.

Unable to hear the next words yet, Vercheria followed Lawrence’s gaze with an impatient look.

However, the next moment, she, too, had no choice but to stand up.

The palace guards were dragging Wyatt from both sides as if he were a serious criminal.

Behind them, Kellita was trembling and watching the scene as if she had become a victim.

“What in the world is happening?”

Vercheria hurriedly rushed down towards Wyatt.

“When I told you to let go, did you understand?”

Wyatt was fiercely resisting.

He knew he had fallen into a trap, but that didn’t mean he could passively accept it.
“What did I do? I just went to ask something! I didn’t lay a finger on him!”

The palace guard who was holding him looked at Kellita, who was trembling behind with an incredulous expression.

She clutched the torn dress and looked at Wyatt with fearful eyes.

“Huh.”

Wyatt was not angry but rather bewildered.

Even though he had been guarding Kellita for over a year, back then, she didn’t have such a personality.

“What on earth happened to make her like this?”

When he turned around with irritation, there was someone blocking the way between the palace guard and Wyatt.

“Just a moment.”

A petite woman, with a calm demeanor, stopped them with a commanding presence, hanging her golden hair neatly over her ears.

Bercheria, without rudeness or coercion but with a gentle attitude, was precisely blocking their path.

“I’d like to hear an explanation of what happened.”

Everyone’s steps came to a halt in front of Bercheria.

“Who will explain?”