When she entered the empress’s bedroom, Iris was sitting on the bed. Her appearance was slightly more disheveled than usual.

Iris, who had been repeatedly stroking her face as if greatly startled, looked at Rahelika.

Her violet eyes, mirror-like to her eldest daughter’s, pierced through.

“Rahel, where have you been?”

Her questioning voice was sharp. Rahelika answered her on-edge mother, wondering how long she had been away.

“I was briefly called by elder brother, so I went for a walk in the rear garden.”

And she sat on the bed.

Putting down the fan she habitually carried on the nightstand, Rahelika reached out to tidy her mother’s disheveled hair.

“Did you have a bad dream?”

“Ah, my daughter…”

Iris sighed deeply and leaned into her embrace.

Rahelika comforted her mother, who seemed in need of consolation. It was indeed the role she had played for over twenty years.

Iris, who had been tightly gripping her daughter’s back for a moment, said:

“In my dream, the palace was burning.”

Perhaps she herself had set that fire. Thinking this, Rahelika nevertheless nodded.

“I see. You must have been shocked.”

“Yes, do you know how shocked this mother was? It was hot everywhere, and I tried to get you out quickly, but you were nowhere to be seen…”

Iris murmured in a cracked voice, sighing once more. Thank goodness it was just a dream.

Rahelika replied to her mother, who always harbored wishes opposite to her own. Yes, it’s fortunate.

“Still, if such a thing happens, you should evacuate first, Mother.”

If the palace were to burn, she would likely be the culprit, so trying to save her would be futile.

Even if it were an accidental fire, it would be right for Iris to evacuate first.

Considering palace protocol, and for her own peace of mind, it was so.

Rahelika wanted to be separated from her mother forever, not for her to die.

But in this palace, no one agreed with her words. Iris was no exception.

“Oh, my daughter. That cannot be.”

And Iris slightly pushed away the daughter she had been embracing.

Rahelika, with her upper arms gripped by her mother, faced her. Eyes identical in shape and color, like looking in a mirror, ensnared her.

Iris, gazing at her daughter with a gentle smile, spoke in an unbearably warm voice:

“At such times, you save your loved ones first.”

Iris fell asleep again not long after. Rahelika instructed to burn sleep-inducing incense. She wanted to be alone for a moment.

The sigh came only after the bedroom door closed.

As she was about to stroke her face once, Rahelika realized there was a ring on her finger.

As she irritably removed the sharp accessory, she saw a familiar figure in the distance. Talia was conversing with Tanel, the imperial physician.

Rahelika narrowed her eyes slightly at the sight of her sister, who rarely entered the palace.

Although her sister had lost her cuteness long ago, she still wanted to look closely at a face she hadn’t seen in a while.

But that almost-kind feeling disappeared when Talia turned and frowned at her.

She hadn’t said anything, yet her sister immediately showed hostility; it was only natural.

Habitually trying to cover her mouth, Rahelika realized she had left her fan in Iris’s bedroom.

She felt upset at making a mistake she rarely made. To hide her displeasure, Rahelika raised the corners of her mouth and approached her glaring sister.

“Don’t you know how to greet people when you see them?”

“We’re not on greeting terms, are we?”

Talia retorted irritably and gestured to Tanel. Let’s finish the rest of the conversation later, outside the palace. The physician bowed once and left.

“Are you trying to take away the imperial physician?”

“It’s none of your business, so stay out of it.”

“How can I not be concerned? I manage the imperial physicians.”

Surely you don’t claim not to know even that. As she added this without hiding her sarcastic tone, Talia’s already scrunched face wrinkled even more.

Her face, which was as striking as her father’s, showed her emotions even more clearly. Rahelika twisted her lips at the vivid contempt directed at her.

Talia disliked her.

It was strange. While it was Iris who was cold to both daughters, Talia disliked her the most.

The fact that she couldn’t even properly show hostility towards their mother was an added bonus.

And Rahelika soon corrected her thoughts.

No, in fact, Talia doesn’t dislike their mother. She loves her too much, but can’t bear that Iris doesn’t return that love.

Rahelika knew well what that emotion was like. Of course she did, having felt it so deeply herself.

And when she became aware of this fact, resentment rose towards the one who made her feel such emotions.

Rahelika spoke to her glaring sister:

“Ask nicely.”

“What?”

“If you want something, ask politely. You should know how to bow your head.”

Rahelika knew this wasn’t a helpful statement for improving their relationship.

But when facing Talia, she always lost her composure. She wanted to torment and hurt the sister who despised her.

Since Talia hurt her so casually, she wanted to do the same.

Even though doing so wouldn’t level this tilted ground.

Talia only needed to hate her. She was in a different position from the start compared to Rahelika, who was tied to the palace because of disobedient siblings.

Yet her sister didn’t know how to be grateful. She always acted as if she were the most hurt, not realizing how much of an advantage she had.

This time was no different. Ha. Talia let out a scornful laugh and said:

“You’re really annoying.”

“Yes, so are you.”

“Always like this…”

Talia didn’t finish her sentence and turned her head sideways as if holding something back.

Rahelika looked at her sister’s profile, filled with cynicism and irritation, and desperately wished for the fan that wasn’t in her hand.

She wasn’t sure what her own expression looked like, but it probably couldn’t hurt the viewer as much as that one, so she wanted to at least cover her face to leave room for imagination.

Then Talia said:

“I’d rather speak directly to Mother than bow my head to you.”

“Ah, Mother might allow it. But she’ll ask my opinion first, won’t she?”

To Iris, children other than the daughter who resembled her were just traces of her husband, so she would briefly complain to her eldest daughter and then pass on the decision.

Knowing full well that she would do as Talia wished when that time came, Rahelika still grinned and pretended otherwise.

It was a struggle to feel a little less miserable, since the result wouldn’t change anyway.

“I really don’t understand you.”

So far, Rahelika had tried to accommodate her sister as much as possible. She had especially put effort into Talia, more than Helena.

Isn’t the first of anything meaningful?

Talia was the first younger sibling she had.

Rahelika remembered her sister’s childhood appearance vividly. Back then, even those red eyes were full of goodwill and love.

“Sister, this is my…”

But that brightly smiling child was no more.

Rahelika knew that on the day her younger self had shattered her sister’s heart, that lovable sibling had died too.

They could never go back to that time.

So even while knowing it was her fault their relationship had been ruined, Rahelika blamed the other.

It’s all because of you. Because you looked at me with those eyes first, I can’t speak kindly either.

Because you’re not affectionate, I can’t be affectionate either.

It was a twisted behavior, but all she had seen and learned were such distorted things, so no other thoughts came to mind. Rahelika continued:

“Why do you insist on maintaining such petty pride?”

I’ve given up my entire life for you all.

But Rahelika didn’t say that.

Although it was contradictory considering her desire to maintain the upper hand, unnecessary pride wasn’t exclusive to Talia.

Rahelika said to her sister, who was glaring at her with bright red eyes:

“Take Tanel Marode’s apprentice instead.”

That older commoner was skilled. Whatever Talia was trying to do, he should be able to handle most things.

Moreover, while Tanel, a child of an influential family, would attract attention, the other wouldn’t.

Isn’t it better when things are quiet? Rahelika sighed and turned her back. She felt so tired she could almost cry.

People change when they get married.

Mother used to say that often. She usually meant they changed for the worse.

And Mother always added: So, my daughter, be careful when you marry.

Anika agreed with those words. Many people around her changed after marriage.

They say marriage is sacred, but in reality, it’s not quite so, with more cases of one person dying or living together unable to die.

However, among the people she knew, no one had changed as much as the king.

“Have you come?”

The man who had looked like burned-out ashes when she last saw him had become excessively radiant, having gone through who knows what.

His eyes were full of vitality, and his face was glowing.

People from the North are all fair-skinned, but that was closer to paleness.

It was rare to see someone with such a healthy glow, as if they were doing well.

“Let’s get to the point and finish quickly.”

…His attitude didn’t seem to have changed much, though.

Still, since he wasn’t the type to behead people with a smile, Anika could worry less about being executed.

Somewhat relieved, Anika sat across from him, and the king continued:

“The deceased southern lords were, coincidentally, all friends of your father. By now, I think even you would have realized they didn’t die of natural causes.”