Since being trapped here, I could not tell how much time had passed.

The water in the basin had already been drunk dry. But vomiting only worsened my condition.

Then, just once, it rained briefly.

A few drops of rainwater fell through the hole in the roof, and I clung to life by catching them.

But even this, I could not know how much longer it would sustain me.

My mind was hazy, as if caught between dream and reality, my ears were deafened, and I could barely see.

“Is Mother still looking for me?”

Somewhere, flies began to buzz and cling to my body.

Lying on the floor, Isabella Rudo exhaled shallow breaths, slowly blinking her sunken eyes.

It was at that moment.

From downstairs, the sound of a door creaking open echoed, followed by someone’s footsteps slowly climbing the stairs.

Thud.

The heavy footsteps grew closer and stopped right in front of Isabella’s face.

Unable to move her body, she could only raise her eyes to see his face.

“…Your Majesty, the Emperor.”

Parnes looked down at Isabella with a cold expression, devoid of any human emotion.

Then he extended one hand to the escort knight behind him.

The escort knight handed him a water jug.

He opened the jug and poured all the water onto the floor.

Isabella’s eyes widened instantly as she struggled to move her stiff body, letting out grotesque moans while sticking out her tongue.

The small puddle of water barely touched her lips.

With a flushed face, Isabella frantically licked the floor, and Parnes watched her, stepping back.

“There are two choices.”

Parnes spoke in a dry voice.

“Die alone, bearing the sins of Duchess Rudo as well. Or expose her crimes one by one and die with her.”

“M-Mother is…”

Isabella, her mouth barely functioning, managed to speak.

“If you’re asking where Duchess Rudo is or what she’s doing, well, she’s probably resting comfortably at home.”

Isabella twitched her brows and lips, as if unable to comprehend.

As if to crush her last thread of hope, Parnes continued calmly.

“Duchess Rudo knows you’re trapped here. She hasn’t even tried to look for you.”

“What… does that mean?”

“In other words, she’s abandoned you. You’re no longer needed.”

The thought that her mother couldn’t possibly do this crossed her mind, along with something Duchess Rudo had once said.

“I have no need for a daughter who cannot become empress.”

The gentle smile, devoid of malice, on Duchess Rudo’s face as she said those words flickered in her mind.

Bloodshot veins stood out in Isabella’s eyes.

It was shocking. Grief and betrayal boiled up from deep within.

She had sacrificed everything for her mother.

Yet her mother stood by, indifferent to whether her only daughter drank filthy water and died.

Was the reason she stayed back and merely observed this time because she wanted an escape if things went wrong?

Even if she wasn’t her biological child, how could she do this?

“Ahh…!”

Isabella wailed like a wounded beast.

Parnes, looking down at her, knew she had already made her choice between the two options.

With a brief glance, Parnes signaled the escort knight to lift her and said,

“A wise choice, Isabella Rudo.”

The whisper of a demon.

Parnes’ voice, not unlike that of a vile tyrant, echoed coldly in the room.

“Come. I’ll give you what you want.”

Inside the carriage returning to the Kan Kingdom, only a bleak silence lingered.

Shallen and Rose sat far apart, not exchanging a single word.

Each struggled to find a way to breathe amidst their own grief and despair.

They briefly thought returning to the palace for rest might ease their self-loathing.

But after days of travel, arriving exhausted at the palace, an unexpected ordeal awaited Shallen.

“Mother?”

The name, called after so long, did not come out loudly but echoed softly in his mouth.

Shallen looked in confusion at a middle-aged woman sitting in his office.

His mother, Nivia Riche, had left the palace, unable to bear the shame of her husband’s humiliating death.

Only a few knew that Shallen’s father had died of a heart attack while buried in the skirts of his mistresses.

Most of the kingdom’s people believed he had passed from a chronic illness.

Even so, Nivia Riche felt deep shame that her husband had died, tarnishing the royal family’s honor.

Unable to endure it, she had left the kingdom to her only son and departed for the south.

In her eyes, Shallen, though young and lacking in many ways, was not one to neglect state affairs, so she trusted him and left.

But one day, shocking news arrived like a bolt from the blue.

Due to Shallen’s foolish actions, diplomatic ties with the Renel Empire had been completely severed.

Hearing that Emperor Parnes was furious, and even that was restrained, Nivia had no choice but to rush back to the capital.

The Renel Empire was that important to the Kan Kingdom.

Determined to scold her son as a mother the moment he returned, Nivia was stunned the instant she saw Shallen’s face.

“What in the world has happened to you?”

The Shallen she met after so long was so changed she doubted he was her son.

The refined, handsome young man who naturally drew women’s gazes wherever he went was barely holding onto his outward form.

Beneath it stood a stranger who seemed to have lost all purpose in life.

His jaw, once repulsed by anything unclean, now bore a dark stubble, his eyes were sunken, and their focus was blurry, making it impossible to tell what he was looking at.

“Mother. What brings you here so suddenly without notice?”

“What brings me here? Do you really not know why I’m asking? I entrusted the kingdom to my only son, and what’s this? The Renel Empire has declared an end to diplomatic ties? The late kings buried in the palace cemetery must be clutching their necks and lifting their coffin lids!”

As his mother’s shrill shouts, which he had heard endlessly since childhood, began again, Shallen closed his eyes wearily and touched his forehead.

“Mother. I’m sorry, but I’m too tired right now. Can we talk later?”

“No, we cannot. Come here right now. Pick up a pen and write a formal apology to Emperor Parnes.”

Nivia’s forceful hand pulled Shallen to the desk.

As she took paper from the drawer and dipped a pen in ink, Shallen’s eyes rolled back, and he pushed her away.

“If I’m to send an apology, I’d send it to Kasallin, not that emperor! Do you, Mother, so desperately want to see your only son grovel before a foreign monarch?”

“Your words are no different from declaring you’ll take no responsibility as the king of the Kan Kingdom. Face reality. With half our land a wasteland, what can we do without the Renel Empire’s support?”

“I’ll find a way! I, the king, will judge and give orders! It’s not for you, who’s already stepped back, to meddle and give commands!”

“For someone so responsible, did you betray Kasallin and bring in that immature woman as your queen, causing this mess?”

“…!”

Nivia’s furious hand pointed to Rose, who stood cowering in a corner of the room.

Compared to others, Shallen was by no means weak-willed.

But next to his mother, Nivia, he was little more than a puppy.

Rose had thought Shallen might defend her, even a little.

But Shallen, unable to refute his mother’s words, only trembled his lips silently.

He could not deny that all his misfortunes began the moment he betrayed Kasallin and cast her aside cruelly.

“Your Majesty should have made Kasallin your queen. I told you time and again that she was the perfect queen and the key to advancing our Kan Kingdom!”

“…”

Watching Shallen bow his head, unable to utter a sound, Rose was gripped by betrayal.

His demeanor seemed to say, “Mother, you’re absolutely right.”

Nivia sighed heavily, as if the ground would cave in, and naturally took a seat at the desk meant only for the king.

Then she began writing an apology letter, pouring as much sincerity as she could muster.

“As a mother who loves her son more than anyone, I’ll say this. Your Majesty is in a very confused state right now. You cannot possibly handle state affairs like this.”

“…And so?”

“At the next royal council, I will gather opinions from the ministers. Since Your Majesty is currently unwell, I will act as regent until you fully recover.”

Shallen only gazed wearily at his mother’s hand moving smoothly across the white paper, expressing no complaints.

He was still too shocked to think about such complex matters.

“Of course, Your Majesty has the right to object. But whether the noble ministers will follow you…”

Shallen didn’t listen to Nivia’s words to the end and turned to leave.

As if he no longer cared what happened.

Nivia glanced at her son’s retreating figure with disdain and placed a period at the end of the apology letter.

Of course, a single piece of paper wouldn’t sway the emperor’s heart, but for now, she had to grasp at even straws.