The nanny, as if pretending not to know about what would happen in a week, continued to take care of her with an even brighter smile.

Thanks to this, a peaceful week slowly began to pass, with a knife hanging over Mercedes’ neck.

Time seemed both slow and fast.

While engrossed in preparations, searching for Gertrude’s escape route, preparing cash, and secretly organizing the inner court to erase traces of the nanny, thoughts of death occasionally crept in.

It was frightening, yet at times death felt welcome.

It was strange.

Was she happy because she could die, or did she want to live? Was she feeling wronged?

Even if she wanted to live, there was no reason to, as her life was already worse than a corpse.

“Your Highness! Would you like to eat?”

Whenever she found herself lost in thought, Gertrude’s cheerful voice would always flow in.

“Yes, please prepare it.”

Gertrude seemed to be trying to fill the little time left in her life with good memories, acting brightly.

Soon after, following Gertrude’s instructions, dinner was served, and the two sat side by side to begin their meal. Just like when she was young.

“Today we have turkey, which Your Highness likes! They say it’s the finest quality.”

“…I see.”

Though it was said to be the finest quality, she couldn’t taste it. Mercedes chewed mechanically. It felt like swallowing sand.

It had been like this for the past three days whenever she ate.

She picked up the wine glass to at least wet her throat. And as she filled her mouth and swallowed.

“…Ugh?!”

“Your Highness?”

Gertrude called out to her from close by. It was just a sip of wine, but her throat felt like it was on fire.

“H-huh… ugh!”

The wine that went down her throat began to churn inside Mercedes’ body. She realized in an instant.

‘This is the shadow of death.’

And instinctively, she reached out and grabbed Gertrude.

“N-nanny… P-palace… doctor.”

“Your Highness. I’m sorry. You’ve been so good to me.”

The response to her request for a doctor was strange. Mercedes looked at Gertrude through her hazy consciousness.

It was a gentle gaze. That same gentleness that had always been by her side.

“I had no choice.”

Gertrude smiled awkwardly. Mercedes suddenly coughed up blood.

Mercedes gripped Gertrude’s arm tightly.

‘This can’t be happening.’

She wasn’t this shocked even when she received the order to take her own life.

But this was different.

Gertrude couldn’t do this.

“W-who… who!”

Mercedes spat out the words, barely summoning all the strength in her body.

With all the blood vessels in her eyes burst and blood trickling from her mouth, her appearance was grotesque.

Gertrude gently cupped Mercedes’ cheek. Her face was calm despite the blood staining her clothes and hands.

“Hmm… I’ll tell you as a gift for your death journey. After all, you’ve been kind to me. From the beginning, it was all the Count’s work. Don’t you know that someone who’s so anxious about an illegitimate child being revealed would naturally keep a person nearby to properly monitor?”

“Gu… ack.”

“I did genuinely care at times. I felt so sorry for you, Your Highness. But Your Highness, I felt even sorrier for myself. At least you had money and never went hungry.”

The nanny murmured as if in a dream.

“Anyway, thank you, Your Highness. It hurt sometimes when I took beatings in your place, but… well, it was fine. The Count provided a healer.”

‘Was it all an act from the beginning?’

Gertrude was the only one Mercedes had opened her heart to. She even said she thought of her like a daughter.

‘Ah. So that’s why they always knew everything about me.’

Only in the face of death could she understand it all. The people of the Count’s family knew Mercedes’ every move. Even the tiniest details.

Even after she entered the palace.

She thought the planted person would be someone else, never imagining it would be her nanny.

She thought that even if the whole world turned its back on her, there was at least one person she could hold onto… But that person tried to poison her.

‘I… expected too much. There’s no way anyone would care for me.’

It felt like a sandstorm was raging in the dry desert of her heart. It was the sandstorm itself. Without a trace of moisture, it clawed at her chest.

“Hu… ugh.”

Gertrude’s face in Mercedes’ vision gradually blurred.

Death was approaching moment by moment.

The sensation of poison burning her throat. The shadow of darkness drawing near. The feeling of betrayal. Pain. The realization that she had never, not even once, breathed of her own will.

All of this pulled the trigger.

The ability that her mother had said should never be used.

Mercedes unknowingly used that ‘ability’ that had been dormant inside her.

The power that had been suppressed for a long time circulated through her body and then flowed out through her fingertips.

“Gu… ack?! Y-Your… Your Highness?!”

An ominous red light flowed from Mercedes’ fingertips and entwined around Gertrude’s arm. At the same time, Gertrude began to groan.

Gertrude’s voice became strange and her face turned pale.

On the other hand, Mercedes’ face, which had been coughing up blood from swallowing the poison in the wine, gradually became peaceful.

Meanwhile, Mercedes laughed. She laughed out loud, softly as usual.

“Nanny… Does it hurt?”

Mercedes rose and gently asked Gertrude, who had fallen to the floor, gasping for breath.

Gertrude’s eyes, full of confusion, darted back and forth. It was strange, she couldn’t have swallowed poison herself. Her breath was choked and strength was draining from her body. Terrible pain struck like lightning.

“Hu, ugh. Huk… Y-Your Highness… What, what is this.”

“When did I ever expect anything from anyone, to have expected something from you, nanny? I’m such a fool.”

Mercedes spoke as calmly as usual.

Not knowing what was happening, but realizing her life was in Mercedes’ hands, Gertrude clung to her and pleaded.

“S-save… Save me…!”

“How can you be so stupid? There’s no way anyone could love me.”

“Ah, kuk, no…!”

“Still, nanny. I don’t want to kill you. Violence and murder are bad things. You taught me that, remember?”

“Yes, he…! Huk! Please, save…!”

Mercedes moved her hand and gently blew a white light into Gertrude. Unlike the red light, the white light was gently absorbed.

Gertrude’s breath slowly began to return. Gertrude looked at Mercedes endlessly, tears flowing.

Her pale face seemed hardly human. Looking at her appearance that seemed barely alive, Mercedes dragged Gertrude to the bed post and tied her hands and feet.

“In this state, you should be able to barely speak, barely eat, and barely walk. You might die if you try to run away.”

“Huu…! Huu. It’s, it’s… It’s fine.”

Gertrude, stuttering and gasping, struggled to get as far away from Mercedes as possible.

She never wanted to experience that feeling of her life being sucked away at a mere touch again.

“Nanny. If you reveal what you saw today, or if you ever speak about today to anyone in the future, I can’t guarantee your life then. This power will follow you.”

The part about the power following her was a lie, but it was enough to convince Gertrude.

Because she was gripped by fear.

“The one who ordered you to poison me… was Father, right?”

Gertrude nodded.

“So you told Father that I had received an order to take my own life from His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Y-yes.”

It made sense.

The suicide of the Crown Princess would be a big problem, and if it happened because she had fallen out of favor with the Crown Prince, there would be no solution.

So the intention was to disguise it as an accident, sudden death, or sudden illness before the suicide, to protect the ‘Count’s family’s’ honor.

It wasn’t surprising.

“How ridiculous.”

Both her father and her husband regarded her life as a toy that could be broken if it became a nuisance.

Was she the crazy one? Now she felt like she could understand her father. How annoying she must have been. It would have been easier to kill her.

“Right, of course… Yes. Because I’m an unwanted illegitimate child.”

‘When everyone wants me dead this much, do I need to live?’

Mercedes didn’t look forward to her future life. Then really, did she have to live?

“Do you… want to live?”

Mercedes suddenly asked, looking at Gertrude who was pleading with tears and snot running down her face. Gertrude nodded with wide eyes.

“You were caught trying to kill me, and you don’t know what your life will be like from now on. But you still want to live?”

“Y-yes. If, if you just spare me.”

“Why do you want to live?”

Mercedes threw an unexpected question in the face of her fear. Gertrude stammered but answered.

“…It’s… natural, I think. For… for a person.”

‘Ah. I see.’

Mercedes realized. Perhaps no one loved her because she lacked the will to survive.

Unlike Gertrude, who had been earnest even in the face of death and when betraying her while pretending all along, she had been indifferent to any torment.

If so, she.

As someone worse than a corpse, she wanted to take revenge.

After gagging Gertrude, Mercedes left the room in her nightgown.

* * *

“Your Highness, Her Highness the Crown Princess is here to see you.”

“At this hour? Hmm… Let her in.”

Only three days had passed, yet she was already here.

She must have come to grovel and beg after reflecting thoroughly. After all, no one can be calm in the face of death.

Richard welcomed her, wondering how pitiful Mercedes’ face would look.

Mercedes entered the room.

Not properly dressed, with only an outer garment over her nightgown, Mercedes looked somewhat dazed.