One day, Bahmal suddenly sold all his possessions to help the poor and became the attendant of the Second Prince. It was an unusual move that stirred up the capital for quite some time.

I had heard he was deeply knowledgeable in medicine, but I didn’t know he had been Iris’s doctor.

Moreover, while I’m not sure about the doctor before me, the Second Prince had been exiled.

Talia didn’t know what wrongdoing the Second Prince had committed, but she thought that was probably why Bahmal Sirt had given up his title. He must have tried to cover up his master’s mistake somehow.

So the Second Prince must have gone abroad, keeping his wealth and limbs intact despite being exiled.

Tanel opened his mouth, seemingly to add an explanation.

“It was quite a long time ago. Before he became the Second Prince’s attendant…”

As she was more eager to leave the palace quickly than to dig into her not-so-close mother’s affairs, Talia waved her hand.

“That’s enough. I’m not interested in someone who’s not even in the country now. Rather, if you’re overseeing all the doctors in the Empress’s palace, you must be very busy.”

“It’s not exactly leisurely.”

“Then it would be too much to ask of you… Just pick one capable student from among your disciples and give them to me.”

Of course, to take someone from the Empress’s palace, she should have originally spoken to Iris.

But it was an exception for this man to send an additional disciple under him elsewhere in his capacity as a teacher. It was a teacher’s right to determine the placement of their direct disciples.

No matter how poor her relationship with the Empress’s palace was, no one would refuse a request from a direct imperial family member, so the man bowed deeply.

“I will do as you say.”

“Good. I won’t forget this favor.”

Leaving those words behind, Talia turned around. With this, she might have incurred a debt to Iris’s doctor, but it could balance out her relationship with Duke Aglante.

Her steps, having finished all the bothersome business, were without hesitation.

Rahelica stood in the garden, looking down at the ground.

A maid, noticing she was alone, quickly came and opened an umbrella for her. A shadow fell on the green grass.

Standing still in that spot, Rahelica thought. This time, it’s my mistake.

Yes, this time she had made a mistake. Rahelica repeated to herself. There was no need to go that far. I provoked too much.

I should have just not shown my face.

Talia already disliked her. It was because of what she had done when that child was young.

After that day, their relationship, which was originally unbalanced, completely cracked. Although the fault clearly lay with Rahelica, it wasn’t her who was punished.

But even that was all for that child’s sake.

No, choosing that option then was her mistake. Rahelica corrected her thoughts. There must have been a better way, but she was too young and foolish then to make a choice that just covered up the immediate crisis.

Not knowing it was a way of cutting into her own flesh.

Even though it was her choice and she had no right to blame others, Rahelica sometimes wanted to scream.

I was young too back then. Isn’t this much patience enough? How long do I have to live like this? It’s not like I did it for my own good… The habit of biting her lips might have come from this. Those terribly selfish words always knocked against the roof of her mouth.

The wrist holding the fan tingled. Rahelica lowered her arm. As the fan fell to the ground, someone quickly picked it up.

Rahelica stepped out of the umbrella’s shadow without checking who it was.

Under the bright white summer sunlight, the face below her eyes that she had been hiding all along was revealed. It was a face with bruise-like marks that couldn’t be covered even with makeup. It was a trace of Iris’s mistake.

Of all times, while the doctor who usually prescribed sedatives was away in Aglante, Iris became a bit unstable. She had always suffered from some neurosis and was made to take sedatives regularly, but this time the medicine didn’t work well.

“Rahel, my daughter, how could you bring up ‘that’ in front of His Majesty? I told you not to think of His Majesty as an ordinary father.”

And it was her who stimulated the already anxious Iris, so if we were to argue, this would be her fault.

“If something happens to you, how am I supposed to live?”

Her head throbbed. Rahelica, who had stopped, frowned. The sunlight was so bright that her vision blurred.

If only the day were cloudy. She thought unconsciously. The sunshine that felt almost painfully honest created a sense of dissonance.

“Let’s leave, rather leave this palace and live just the two of us. Then you wouldn’t make such foolish mistakes.”

You know what, Mother. I really want to leave too.

Rahelica slowly raised her head. The wall of the Empress’s palace was in front of her. Although high, it was a height that could be climbed over with some help.

But after crossing that wall, she would have to cross the wall surrounding the imperial palace. And then the city walls enclosing the imperial capital. Even after leaving the imperial capital, she couldn’t be sure of becoming free.

How far would she have to run to escape? Looking at the wall slightly taller than herself, Rahelica tried to gauge.

The world was wide for her two younger siblings. They could go wherever their feet could take them. While Rahelica thought they didn’t need to live like her, sometimes she was crazy with envy.

Unlike those impudent, cruel, irritating, yet sometimes disgustingly lovable children, she was rooted here.

If Iris in her right mind was Rahelica’s shackle, the shackle of her mad mother was Rahelica herself.

“You should persuade Iris well not to leave the palace. How shocked would Helena be if she knew this, a child who cherishes her family so dearly?”

“I hear Talia has established diplomatic relations with Tesendot this time? We should take this opportunity to hold a banquet inviting nobles from Tesendot. Of course, it would only be possible if Iris is in a good mood…”

“Your Highness, the Empress is again…!”

“Rahel! Rahelica! My daughter! Pack your belongings right now! We’re leaving just the two of us, we don’t need attendants! We can’t trust anyone!”

What does that have to do with me at all?

If she could, she would have screamed like that, but she couldn’t even do that. Even when Iris lost her reason, she didn’t lose her position. She was the Empress before being a mad person.

If she got angry and ordered someone’s head to be cut off right away, there was no one who dared to resist.

No one except the Imperial Princess, whose head wouldn’t be cut off until the Emperor’s order.

But if it came to this, she’d rather hang herself on that wall.

Rahelica, who had been staring at the wall that looked distant beyond the summer air, turned her back.

It was better not to keep one’s eyes on things one couldn’t have for too long. For her own sake, and for the sake of the balance she was maintaining.

The castle Idren left was surprisingly quiet. Salode said it was because the elders were watching each other.

“Someone will start moving soon, so it might not be bad for you to rest a bit before that.”

Ophelia somewhat agreed with the man’s words, who was much more respectful to her than in her previous life. Once, she thought there was nothing as quiet as the world. It was natural as she always wished for rest.

But strangely, her heart wasn’t quite at ease. When she looked at the empty space beside her before sleeping, Ophelia seemed to know the reason, but couldn’t find grounds to explain it.

Loneliness?

How could she feel such a thing?

Idren’s appearance in her life wasn’t that long ago. The period they were close was even shorter.

Ophelia didn’t think that someone she had been close to for just a few months could change her life.

So this must be emptiness, not loneliness.

The two were strictly different. While one doesn’t get used to loneliness, one becomes numb to emptiness.

Loneliness can’t be filled without a specific object, but emptiness washes away with time.

So, this is emptiness.

Lying on the bed where the weight of the few months together wasn’t felt at all, deliberately looking at the wall, Ophelia repeated this to herself several times. As if the essence of the situation would become different from what she knew if she didn’t.

Except for that emptiness, the days flowed quite well. She was a bit tired from not sleeping well, but there were no major hiccups anyway.

Salode treated her as he did his king, and Dahel had become much more knowledgeable than in her previous life. To the point of stimulating a corner of guilt in her heart.

About a week after Idren left, Ophelia thought. Maybe the waiting time won’t be that long. The time until next year seemed likely to flow more smoothly and monotonously than expected.

It was a comfortable thought she had, not knowing what would happen that night.

On the seventh night of sleeping alone, Ophelia dreamed of her first fiancé’s head being cut off.