Boloniko smiled lightly at the confusion mixed on Yuan’s face.

“There’s nothing to be surprised about, sister-in-law. I heard many praises about you from that mansion. That you’re a clever person.”

“Praises?”

“Since the emperor has no interest in state affairs, Boloniko is struggling. Because Boloniko is struggling, he gathers talented people to help with various tasks. Most of the proposals submitted to the council of ministers usually have to pass through this Boloniko to be approved.”

Someone from the mansion has been in contact with this prince.

‘Praises about me?’

Would they have only praised me?

Suddenly, Clard’s voice came to mind.

‘Don’t believe anything sent from the imperial palace.’

Looking at the beautiful prince’s face filled with confidence that he could do whatever he wanted with anything his eyes fell upon, Yuan thought that the reason Clard still didn’t open his heart to and remained wary of some people in the mansion might be because of this strange prince.

“What do you think? About escaping from that terrible mansion and running away to Boloniko?”

“I appreciate your words, Your Highness.”

Yuan straightened her posture, trying to stand even more upright on legs trembling with tension.

She made her expression as gentle as possible so as not to appear hostile to him.

“I’m just trying to be content with living like this.”

With those final words, Yuan bowed very politely, placed the wildflower bouquet she had brought at the tombstone of the late emperor and empress some distance away, and left the cemetery as if fleeing.

She felt the piercing gaze reaching even the back of her head.

It was very, very unsettling.

The carriage that was quickly returning to Central Roksenheart stopped midway on a forest path just after leaving the marquis’s territory.

There was a presence on the coachman’s seat of the carriage that had stopped for no reason, and then a masked, fat thug suddenly thrust his body into the carriage.

Yuan, who was about to scream, soon confirmed the face of the thug who had taken off his mask and frowned deeply.

“Yuan!”

It was her uncle.

His face was drenched in sweat, probably because it was quite hot inside the mask, and he leaned his upper body towards her with eyes full of urgency.

“Did you meet Boloniko, the First Prince? Huh? Did you meet him?”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I saw it!”

Her uncle panted on his own for a while, then soon peeked out the window repeatedly before pulling down all the curtains.

Yuan, who had been too shocked to even scream, soon remembered Mr. Mazarin and stood up abruptly.

“Sit down.”

“What did you do to the coachman?”

“The feeble coachman and useless guards are belatedly realizing the carriage was stolen and are rushing here. If you just listen to me properly, I’ll send you back nicely with no trouble.”

Yuan sat down with a sigh of relief, sitting as far away from her uncle as possible and crossing her arms.

Observing the dissatisfaction and wariness swimming in her eyes, her uncle wiped his soaked face with a handkerchief.

“Listen carefully, Yuan. You’ll die if you stay in that mansion.”

When Yuan turned her head away with a fed-up expression as if thinking ‘here we go again’, the count put his handkerchief in his pocket and clenched his two fists tightly on his knees.

“I won’t speak long as there are people chasing us. It’s clear that Boloniko, the First Prince, is targeting our family.”

“‘Our’ family? I’m not part of that house anymore. Let the Peliesse handle Peliesse affairs.”

“Your nose is bleeding, Yuan.”

Yuan, who had been quietly excited, quickly covered her nose with a handkerchief. Indeed, as he said, warm nosebleed filled the handkerchief.

Her uncle’s face stiffened.

“Since when has this been happening?”

“Are you going to examine me? When you don’t even know how to do it properly.”

“How insolent!”

Her uncle, who was about to hit her, roughly messed up his own oiled hair as if he had encountered an unexpected variable.

“This is really adding insult to injury. Looking closely, I see. Though you look polished on the outside from receiving care, the area under your eyes is dark and your face is pale. This sudden nosebleed isn’t your first time, is it?”

“Anyone can get a nosebleed occasionally when they’re tired.”

“I’ve never seen you bleed like this even when you were more tired and sick than this.”

If you knew I was tired and sick, why did you torment me like that every day?

Yuan expressed her dissatisfaction through her eyes while more firmly plugging her persistent nosebleed.

Although Yuan was the one with the nosebleed, her uncle rubbed his face dryly for a long time, looking as pale as if he had lost all his blood.

“That terrible family’s curse has manifested in you too, Yuan. And you still say you’re not a Peliesse?”

Taking advantage of Yuan’s hesitation, Gerret Peliesse raised his voice further.

“Have you forgotten why your elder sister died? Let’s say she died because her life was short as the imperial family claimed. But even if her life was short, there’s a reason she died. That damn hereditary disease! Your elder sister died slowly with that same face, those same symptoms, just like you. You should know better since you were close to her.”

“No. My sister and I are different.”

“What’s different about hereditary disease?!”

Her uncle shouted as if frustrated.

He roughly pulled open the collar of his black clothes as if his throat was parched and shouted.

“I didn’t come today to say this, but. I’m going to end just watching you now. You need to live first to be able to do anything! Damn, I’ve got one more thing to worry about.”

Her uncle beat his chest and said to Yuan’s frozen face.

The voices of the black mansion’s guards and Mr. Mazarin chasing after her could be heard in the distance.

“The only place that can prolong your life even a little is the Peliesse mansion. And this uncle is the one who knows best about this disease! Have you forgotten all the numerous studies we did together to save your elder sister? Many remarkable achievements in treating various diseases came out of those studies. How valuable is that?”

Her uncle whispered quickly.

“This is the last warning I’ll give nicely. Come back. As I promised last time, if you come back, I’ll prioritize your words over your cousin’s or aunt’s. The treatment will be different from before. It means I’ll recognize you as a full partner!”

“I’m not going to die.”

“That’s what I earnestly hope for too. But if by any chance that damned hereditary disease that killed your elder sister has manifested in you as well−.”

−Knock knock knock knock!

As the sound of people got closer, someone urgently knocked on the carriage door from outside.

Her uncle quickly put on his mask. Warning her with jet-black eyes peering through holes in the black cloth, he said:

“You’ll die soon too.”

After her uncle left, the guards and Mr. Mazarin who had been chasing the carriage appeared.

Mr. Mazarin looked inside the open carriage with a pale face, and upon discovering Yuan, he stroked his chest in relief.

“I briefly left my post thinking you would come out late, and for this to happen−. Madam, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere? Where did the people who took the carriage go? I must quickly send word to the Lev marquis’s house.”

“……”

“Madam? Why does your face look like that? It seems you had a severe nosebleed−.”

“They said they mistook it for my master’s carriage, so I’d like to return without making a big deal of this, Mr. Mazarin.”

“Ah. Yes, I understand.”

Mr. Mazarin observed Yuan’s atmosphere, which was different from usual, and closed the carriage door without further comment.

The voices of people inspecting the carriage for a while brushed Yuan’s ears, and soon the carriage began to move very slowly.

‘That terrible family’s curse has manifested in you too, Yuan. And you still say you’re not a Peliesse?’
‘Have you forgotten why your elder sister died? Let’s say she died because her life was short as the imperial family claimed. But even if her life was short, there’s a reason she died. That damn hereditary disease! Your elder sister died slowly with that same face, those same symptoms, just like you. You should know better since you were close to her.’

Yuan, who had been gritting her teeth and ruminating on her uncle’s words, finally couldn’t hold back her violently churning insides.

“Urgh−!!”

“Madam!”

When the door of the lightly running carriage burst open, commotion broke out in the small procession.

Her stomach, which had been queasy since morning due to motion sickness and Boloniko, completely turned over when her mind became uneasy.

Only bile came up since she hadn’t eaten anything.

Yuan roughly wiped her dirtied face with a wet handkerchief.

Standing in the middle of the forest where spring had arrived, she barely maintained her balance with spinning vision.

Yuan replied with a pale face to Mr. Mazarin’s worried voice as he patted her back.

“I’m fine.”

She was not fine at all.

‘You’ll die soon too.’

Her uncle’s voice remained in her ears like a curse, refusing to flow out.

“Not yet?”

As the servants were becoming increasingly anxious about the mistress who had not returned even until just before sunset.

Clard’s complexion darkened as he suddenly searched for Yuan’s whereabouts.

After Lancelot left, butler Gustav, who was examining the shiny cover of the latest version of in his hand, reassured Clard by saying that nothing would happen and that he would send out guards to greet her.

Clard leisurely wandered around the west annex, holding the thick book that was clearly new as lightly as if it were a sandwich.

The red outer wall, which had been cleaned of old stains, shone so brightly in the sunset that human figures could be seen reflected in it if looked at closely.

It was also the result of the servants wiping it frequently whenever they passed by.

The vines that had climbed up between those walls like human blood vessels had already occupied half of the annex as their territory.

The lush and huge cotyledons swayed easily even in the slightest breeze.

Clard, who had been killing time by carelessly tapping the leaves that asserted their presence by making rattling sounds every time they hit the wall, frowned at the darkness that was now creeping in.

The next day.

Early in the morning, while Yuan had gone out following the procession to fetch water, Eddie Lev burst into the mansion.