He thought he had made her mistake everything she had done to rely on him entirely for love, but in fact, it was he who was mistaken.

Ruans bid a brief farewell to Benedict and headed to the Pol Heredian estate in the Isuter Empire.

When Teishar saw Lorencia coming out of the parlor, he ran to her, hugged her tightly, and asked,

“Is it okay to let Emperor Ruans go like this?”

“Yes. It’s enough for now.”

“It’s not enough for me.”

“Please bear with it for a while. The time will come soon when it will be enough.”

Lorencia leaned against Teishar’s chest and raised the corners of her mouth.

Late at night, Illina headed towards the tower where Lorencia had been imprisoned, holding a candle lantern. She felt her heart pounding and looked around once.

Illina entered the tower and looked up. At the very top was the room where Lorencia had been imprisoned. Illina took a deep breath and started climbing the stairs quickly.

Her gently swaying hair tickled her face, and rough breaths came out involuntarily. But Illina couldn’t stop climbing the stairs.

If she couldn’t become Ruans’ empress or concubine, she had to find her family’s seal and become the head of the Pol Heredian family. No, she had to.

The flower of high society. The seat next to Ruans. Her parents’ position. She had lost everything.

Now the only position left was the head of the Pol Heredian family.

Arriving at the room at the top of the tower, Illina brought the candle lantern close to the door to open it. And she felt something strange. The locks that had been locking the door were all broken or open, lying on the floor.

As if someone had been there.

An uneasy feeling swept through her mind like the wind. She opened the door and entered the room.

“They said they hid it near the bed…”

Recalling Brant’s diary, she approached the bed. But no matter how much she searched the area, nothing came out.

“Where on earth did you hide it?”

Illina nervously bit her nails. And she looked again. And while looking, she saw a small mouse hole near the head of the bed. With a doubtful feeling, Illina shone the lantern on the mouse hole.

“You didn’t put it in that hole, did you?”

She felt repulsed by putting her hand in the mouse hole, but now was not the time to be picky. After much deliberation, Illina had no choice but to put her hand in the mouse hole and groped around. When she put her hand in, she felt a warm furball. Feeling strange, she pulled out her hand and a mouse popped out.

“Eek!”

Illina was so startled that she fell on her bottom. Her face was contorted with pain. The pain was momentary, but when she saw the mouse that had come out of the hole, her body froze.

“What is this?”

Illina began to cry from the pain and shock. But soon she stopped crying and tried to put her hand back in the mouse hole, but hesitated, fearing that another mouse might pop out. In the end, judging that she couldn’t find the seal on her own, Illina returned to the mansion and asked for the help of the butler, Aden.

But the seal did not come out from anywhere in the room.

So Illina read Brant’s diary again carefully to find the hidden seal.

−The seal is hidden somewhere related to Lorencia.

“If it’s a place related to Lorencia, it would be either the room at the top of the tower where she was imprisoned or the room she used when she was registered as the Count’s daughter.”

They tore apart all the rooms Lorencia had stayed in, but the seal did not come out. They even tore apart the bathroom, shower room, and the corridor she had walked in, but it did not come out. The frustration went up to the top of her head.

And Ruans came to visit.

“Did you know?”

“What are you talking about, Your Majesty?”

Ruans pushed Illina against the wall. There was a thud. Illina’s shoulders flinched. Ruans grabbed her chin and lifted it up to make her look at him.

“You really don’t know? Or are you pretending not to know? Even though we broke up, you betrayed me like this?”

“I don’t really understand what you’re saying, Your Majesty.”

Illina trembled.

“It’s not too late, even now. You knew about Brant’s hidden motive, didn’t you?”

“Hidden motive?”

Illina’s heart sank for a moment. If Ruans found out about the diary and found the family seal first, Lorencia would become a concubine. That was something that could never happen.

“I thought Lady Illina was a clever woman.”

Ruans smiled faintly. As the bones on the back of his hand holding her chin stood out and the tendons bulged, Illina began to feel pain.

“Tell me.”

Ruans pushed Illina’s chin with all his might, still holding it in his grip. Illina let out a groan of pain. Ruans continued to be angry. As if he was taking out his anger on her.

Tears welled up in Illina’s eyes and flowed down her cheeks.

“I don’t really know what you want me to say, Your Majesty.”

“Count Brant gave the head position to Lorencia.”

Illina was so shocked by what he said that her trembling body and flowing tears stopped.

“Father gave the head position to whom?”

“Pretending not to know…”

“I’m not pretending, I really don’t know about this, Your Majesty.”

“If it was a ploy to deceive me, you succeeded. Congratulations, Illina.”

What Ruans told her was like opening a box filled with unbelievable facts.

“Father couldn’t have done that. Have you confirmed our family’s seal, Your Majesty?”

Ruans had not confirmed the Pol Heredian family seal that Lorencia supposedly had. No, he didn’t want to confirm it. The Pol Heredian family seal she had might be real. If he tried to confirm it and the seal Lorencia had was stamped on the concubine acceptance letter he had brought, and it turned out to be fake… Just thinking about it, there would be no greater shame than that.

“I’m telling you she had the will and the seal! Are you asking again because you don’t believe what I’m saying? Lady Illina.”

Illina closed her mouth tightly. When Ruans saw the tears that had stopped flowing down her cheeks again, he was only filled with irritation.

“Count Brant personally wrote the will and handed the family seal to Lorencia. Making a bastard the head of the family?”

It is a unique issue that even the emperor cannot interfere with, no matter who the head of a family hands over the head position to.

“It doesn’t make sense for a bastard to sit in the head position.”

However, it is not uncommon for a bastard to succeed a family and become the head.

“It doesn’t make sense.”

Illina wiped the flowing tears with the back of her hand. Lorencia was not even a bastard. She was just a dirty girl born to a woman Brant had brought from outside. Ruans’ words that Brant had handed over the will and the family seal to such a girl were unbelievable. What did Ruans want? Did he know?

That Lorencia was not a bastard of the Pol Heredian family.

“So, Illina.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Before Count Brant committed suicide, why he gave the will and the family seal to that monster… Go and confirm if that seal is real and come back.”

“There’s no way Lorencia has Father’s will and seal. I don’t think there’s even a need to confirm it, Your Majesty.”

Ruans looked down at Illina. He carefully brushed her disheveled blonde hair aside and raised his thumb to caress her tear-stained eyes.

“Illina.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Who am I?”

“You are the Emperor of the Isuter Empire.”

“Yes. How should I treat you when you talk back to me, the Emperor?”

“I apologize, Your Majesty. I was short-sighted.”

Illina’s lower lip trembled and she bowed her head. Ruans let out a big sigh.

“You should be the one to become the head of the Pol Heredian family. Isn’t that right, Illina?”

“You are right, Your Majesty.”

Ruans bent down and whispered in Illina’s ear.

“Then if the seal Lorencia has is real… You know what to do, right?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. If it’s real, I will bring back the seal.”

After Ruans left, Illina called for Aden.

“Young Lady.”

“Aden. His Majesty said something strange.”

“Something strange, please tell me slowly.”

“He said Father gave the family seal and will to Lorencia.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Even if she’s not a bastard, giving the head position to such a monster when Lady Illina is here.”

Aden was dumbfounded. No matter how much Ruans looked down on the Pol Heredian family, this was too much.

He was angry that Ruans had told Illina something impossible, mentioning a dead person.

He couldn’t help but say that if only he wasn’t the Emperor.

“I wanted to shout at His Majesty Ruans that Lorencia is not even a bastard. That she doesn’t have a single drop of our family’s blood, so even if he gives me the head position, she can’t even become a concubine. But I held it in.”

“You did well to hold it in, Lady Illina.”

“What should I do from now on? I thought the seal would be in the space where Lorencia stayed, but it was with Lorencia… How should I accept this fact? How does that monster have the family seal? She’s not in the Isuter Empire! How did Father manage the seal?”

Illina bowed her head and began to cry, feeling suffocated. Where did her life go wrong? If only she could turn everything back… How nice would that be?

One thing was clear, she didn’t want to live a life of regret anymore.