“……Mother.”

This was the first thing Talia asked after silently letting her into the room.

Rahelica didn’t think the girl was really asking because she didn’t know the situation. It must be something too difficult to accept without hearing it from someone else’s mouth.

“She passed away.”

Iris didn’t make it out of the burning palace that day.

Rahelica thought she would die with her as well.

Until she met Talia’s husband, Resit Amaren.

Although it must have been an expected fact, Talia flinched.

“What about the others……”

“Father and Orien are dead too.”

“…… Ah, Orien is dead too.”

And Talia roughly rubbed her face. Rahelica knew her sister wasn’t doing this out of love for her elder brother. Rather, it must be shocking that even Orien, who had been receiving succession training, lost his life in this chaotic situation.

After covering her face with both hands for a moment, Talia spoke in a subdued voice.

“We need to let Helena know about this.”

“Lord Amaren went to send a letter.”

“…… Ah, you said you two were together.”

It seemed Resit had already reported to Talia beforehand.

After escaping the palace, Resit used Talia’s merchant network to find his wife.

All Rahelica had done during that time was follow him around. After all, once she left the palace, she was just a fool who didn’t know how to do anything.

“That makes sense. They’re close after all.”

Realizing from the cold words that Talia was misunderstanding the situation, Rahelica explained.

“Lord Amaren came looking for you and happened to meet me.”

After Serben finally obeyed her words and left with Talia, intruders soon broke in. They killed Iris first, then dragged her to the fountain in the palace garden. The place was already strewn with corpses.

Rahelica didn’t resist, as she had been wishing for death for quite some time. Fixing her gaze downward and sitting alone, Rahelica waited for the sword to fall upon her.

But what fell wasn’t a sword, but the neck of the intruder who had dragged her out.

“Where is my wife?”

Resit, who appeared after that, had his attire all disheveled as if he had rushed there in a hurry.

Talia waved her hand at Rahelica, who was moving her lips to convey the situation.

“Well, whatever.”

It was as if she didn’t care much about the truth either way.

Talia, who had composed herself with surprising speed that Rahelica could never achieve, asked.

“What do you plan to do now?”

“……What do you mean?”

“That bastard has declared himself emperor. Shouldn’t we come up with some kind of plan?”

“Plan…?”

And Rahelica realized that her question sounded incredibly stupid. Talia also let out a hollow laugh, as if dumbfounded. Ha.

“You don’t have any thoughts at all, do you?”

It was an outright sarcastic remark, but Rahelica couldn’t refute it. The things she knew – how to distinguish luxury goods and how to treat people according to etiquette and status – were of no use outside the palace. Although it hadn’t even been a week since she left the palace with Resit, Rahelica was already acutely aware of this fact.

After thinking for a moment with her forehead resting on her hand, Talia said.

“When Resit arrives, you go to Tesendot with him. You should be safe there.”

“What about you?”

It wasn’t her but Talia who should go to Tesendot with Resit. Talia was Resit’s spouse and the princess consort of Tesendot.

However, Talia shook her head.

“I’m going to Aglante. It’s the only place we can bring reinforcements from.”

“Lord Amaren will object.”

The Grand Duke of Aglante had killed many people recently. It hadn’t been long since he returned from finishing a war.

While Aglante was technically a duchy belonging to Egelbamot if you traced its roots, it was practically an independent country now in all but name.

On the surface, the alliance between the two countries was maintained, but it was uncertain how long that would last.

Even Orien had mentioned several times recently that they needed to pay attention to Aglante.

But Talia once again didn’t listen to her words.

“His opinion isn’t important.”

“Don’t make such an arbitrary decision.”

“Arbitrary? You’re lecturing me about being arbitrary? You’re the one who always does whatever you want!”

Surprised by the sudden accusation, Rahelica furrowed her brow sharply.

“What?”

“Since we were young, you’ve always made decisions on your own and thought it was enough to just inform others afterwards.”

But wasn’t she the one who had just been informed moments ago? Rahelica opened her mouth to refute the inconsistent statement. However, she could only freeze at the words that followed.

“……You should have saved Mother.”

Her trembling voice was wet with emotion.

Mother was so good to you! Compared to that, I…… I……

Talia, who had been muttering, spoke in a pained voice.

“If it were me, I would have saved Mother.”

“……You probably would have.”

And Rahelica felt something hot rising up inside her. It felt like tears, or perhaps anger.

She knew Talia didn’t like her. They had been tearing at each other like enemies all this time.

She also knew things wouldn’t get better in the future. Aside from the rapidly changing situation, Rahelica had now completely forgotten how to be kind to her sister. It was too late to learn again.

But wasn’t this resentment too much?

Rahelica poured out the words inside her to her sister, who was glaring at her with wet eyes.

“You would have wanted to save Mother. You, stupid and nasty as you are, loved Mother!”

Yes, Talia loved Mother. Even knowing that Iris didn’t love her.

And yet, she treated the one who actually loved her like a mortal enemy.

She thought she could brush off such treatment nonchalantly, having endured it so often, but today her emotions were particularly hard to control. Perhaps it was because she had wandered the streets for the first time in her life. Rahelica attributed all her capricious feelings to her tired body.

Without thick makeup to hide her expression or a fan to unfold at will, she was behaving unlike herself.

She hoped she wouldn’t cry, at least, but her vision was gradually blurring. Lowering her head, Rahelica muttered.

“But I didn’t……”

A single teardrop fell as if it had been waiting for the moment, wetting the dull toe of her hastily acquired shoe.

Although her appearance was incomparably shabbier than a week ago, Rahelica felt that her emotional state was even poorer than her unsightly attire.

Hastily wiping her face before it could get wetter, she said.

“Discuss the trip to Aglante with Lord Amaren before deciding. You should at least show courtesy to your husband.”

As the banquet was ending, Idren first kissed her cheek and whispered.

“I’ll go to the villa first. Please follow shortly after.”

Ophelia returned the kiss to her husband, who hadn’t stepped on her feet once while dancing, now all grown up.

“I’ll do as you say, so don’t worry.”

I wasn’t worried. There was tension in his voice as he unnecessarily explained.

In fact, Idren kept looking back several times until he left. It was a sight that could have been teased endlessly if she wanted to, but Ophelia just smiled and waved her hand.

Finally, when enough time seemed to have passed, Ophelia boarded the carriage she had prepared. The driver closed the carriage door as soon as she got in. Ophelia frowned at this hasty action, unlike usual.

Come to think of it, the person who helped her into the carriage seemed to be an unfamiliar face as well.

With an uneasy feeling, Ophelia was about to knock on the carriage wall.

“Ophelia.”

“……Mahanas?”

Ophelia frowned at the voice that shouldn’t be heard in Aglante, especially in Sigrasal Castle. She thought her ears must be mistaken, but Mahanas was really sitting inside the carriage.

When her elder brother grabbed her wrist, Ophelia kicked him and shouted towards the outside.

“There’s an intruder in this carriage! Open the door immediately!”

“Shh, be quiet!”

Mahanas whispered in a low voice, tightly covering her mouth and pulling her close. Ophelia bit down hard on the fingers that entered her mouth.

With a crunching sound, a tangy liquid filled her mouth. Mahanas screamed and let go of her. Ophelia spat the fallen flesh right back at him.

“You crazy bitch…!”

Anyone could see that the crazy one was the one trying to kidnap another country’s queen, but instead of pointing that out, Ophelia grabbed the carriage door handle. That’s when the carriage started to move.

Ophelia frowned as it became clear that the coachman was also in league with Mahanas. She wasn’t confident she could survive jumping out of a moving carriage. That’s when Mahanas pulled something out from his bosom.

“You really want to die that badly.”

When she realized it was a vial filled with a clear liquid, a rough hand grabbed the back of her head. By the time Ophelia realized that the drug Mahanas was forcibly pouring into her mouth seemed somehow familiar, she lost consciousness.