‘Hold your breath’

Mother whispered quietly.

‘Charlotte. I must hide you, hide you again.’

‘From whom?’

‘From your father.’

‘Why?’

‘That man… will take you away.’

The words came out haltingly. It seemed like I had heard something, but it was from so long ago that the memory was hazy.

‘Even if it hurts, hold your breath. Stifle your voice too.’

‘…Mom?’

‘That’s how you survive.’

It was strange, these words left for a young daughter. A father who was often away from home.
A mother who stayed by my side until death, trying to protect me from such a father.

‘Then what about you, Mom?’

That answer never came.

“Young lady!”

Becky called out to Charlotte as if screaming.

“…My, my neck.”

“Yes?”

“Please take your arm off my neck.”

Charlotte blinked. It felt like she had a bad dream, but she couldn’t remember.

“Are you alright?”

Becky wrapped Charlotte’s neck with a handkerchief. Only then did it start to sting. In the mirror, clear fingernail marks were visible as if scratched.

“What were you thinking about that you didn’t hear me calling?”

“…Why?”

“Scratching your neck with your nails. What if it leaves a scar? Wait, I’ll go get some ointment.”

She felt dazed. Why had she scratched her neck?

“It’s fine. It’s fine, so please be quiet.”

“Our young lady… you’ve become so strange lately.”

Becky applied a generous amount of ointment and stamped her feet, looking upset.

“I, I’ll go see the master for a moment.”

Leandro, who had been summoned, came to the bedroom. Aster followed behind him.

Leandro looked down at Charlotte, and gestured for Aster to come out.

“Father, I think…”

Aster seemed to have the same thought as he closed the door and came out.

“Send word to the estate. We’re sending the child down.”

It seemed that separating that child from her birth father was the priority now, even though they had just started to get used to each other.

[This is the timeline separator]

The imperial palace gates opened discreetly.

The imperial physician hurried his trembling steps. The servants whispered among themselves as they cleared the way.

“Quickly, guide him inside.”

The head servant opened the door to the imperial chamber.

“Is he conscious?”

“No, Your Excellency.”

As the physician, he knew best that the emperor’s condition was worsening.

The emperor was sleeping more and more, and on days he couldn’t sleep, he suffered from madness.

“Your Majesty. The imperial physician is here. I’m coming in.”

As a subject, it was proper to announce his visit first, even if the emperor was unconscious.

The imperial physician laid down the convulsing emperor and quickly lit some medicinal herbs.

These herbs would fog the mind, a method to put patients to sleep with their unique smoke.

“Tsk. How long has he been like this?”

“Not long. We opened the door when we heard commotion inside…”

Though weak, his breathing continued.

“His Majesty is at his limit now.”

After that, the emperor never regained consciousness.

[This is the timeline separator]

Someone rushed across the main gate of Windsor.

A black horse raised a cloud of dust as it came to a stop, and the rider leapt off.

“Where is His Excellency?”

“He is waiting inside the mansion. Please go in.”

The butler hurriedly took the horse’s reins.

The mansion doors opened hastily, and the servants cleared the way.

Tension was evident on the stiff face. The butler swallowed dryly.

He seemed to know why the man had come all this way.

“Have you come?”

Leandro had already come out of his office and was waiting for the man.

“So it has come to this…”

His long white hair flowed down as Leandro whispered self-deprecatingly.

“It’s time for His Majesty to step down from his position. Call Charlotte. The rest of you, start preparing to send the child back to the estate. The child leaves for the estate today.”

The emperor had lost consciousness and fallen into a deep sleep.

His death was slowly approaching, and that meant prey was being released into the hunting grounds.

[This is the timeline separator]

Charlotte tapped her forearm with her fingertips. Her grandfather had called for her.

‘Young lady, the master is looking for you.’

Charlotte took a deep breath in front of the office door.

“You called for me, Grandfather.”

Leandro, who was at the head seat in the office, looked up. Her two uncles were also present.

Charlotte had a rough idea from this scene.

“Go down to the estate for a while.”

It was Leandro’s order.

“Right away… Get yourself to safety first.”

Leandro looked down at his granddaughter with his hands behind his back.

Children should be kept close. That feeling remained.

Even if she wasn’t a three-year-old child,

To Leandro, who was approaching his eighties, his granddaughter was still a child no matter what anyone said.

A trace left behind by his deceased daughter.

The presence of such a child could never be light to Leandro.

“His Majesty has not been well lately.”

“Is he ill?”

“It seems so. It appears his lifespan is coming to an end. We don’t know how much longer he’ll hold on. For now, you should take refuge and let’s watch the situation a bit more.”

The emperor’s lifespan is coming to an end. The period of chaos that would follow the end of this lifespan had been anticipated long ago.

“Even if you don’t like it…”

“When do I leave?”

Someone sighed. Charlotte rolled her eyes to see who it was.

Aster inhaled weakly and groaned.

Charlotte’s gaze fell there.

Something slightly.

Yes.

We didn’t intend for this, but everything around us seemed determined to separate us.

Leandro’s fingertips trembled. He clasped his wrinkled hands and hid his agitation.

“Today. Leave right away this afternoon.”

And so it was decided.

Charlotte looked down at her luggage bag in bewilderment. There wasn’t much to pack herself.

She only packed a few personal belongings.

The maid was going to pack the rest herself.

As she leaned against the bedroom window looking outside, a voice came from behind. It was Uncle Aster.

“Did you say goodbye to His Highness?”

Charlotte gave a faint smile.

“I didn’t get to see him.”

“Why not?”

“He seems busy. I’m leaving without seeing him.”

Benjamin’s visit last night seems to have been because he knew we wouldn’t see each other for a while.

“Have you packed everything?”

“Yes. The maids packed the heavy luggage separately, and I didn’t have anything to pack myself.”

“It’s called a recuperation with a grand name, but just think of it as a vacation.”

“I understand your feelings well, so don’t worry.”

This time too, it was grandfather’s advice to go down for a few days of recuperation.

‘I don’t want to lose you too, child.’

Charlotte smiled faintly.

“Only now do I realize how powerless I am. I didn’t know I would be this powerless.”

I thought I had changed after dying once, but nothing much has changed. From now on, I should change too.

“Even though I’ve left father’s hands, this is still my limit for now.”

“Don’t say such things.”

“…Everything will have changed when I come back.”

“You’re talking as if you’re going away for a long time. It’s just for a very short while.”

The intention was just to spend a few days apart. But it wasn’t just for a short while. Unfortunately.

“Take care.”

“What?”

“Stay healthy.”

Charlotte knew best that this parting would be prolonged.

[This is the timeline separator]

The emperor’s lifespan is coming to an end. The life thread of the emperor, who had been kept alive like a living corpse for long years, is running out.

“It will end soon.”

Benjamin visited the slums, predicting the end of the emperor. He had come to meet an old friend.

“It seems he doesn’t have many days left. Before dying, he revealed his location and requested to see Your Highness.”

“…So he hid in the slums.”

“Will you go in person?”

Instead of answering, Benjamin gestured somewhere.

“Guide me.”

The knights headed towards a dilapidated shack. An old man with white hair was lying down.

‘White hair?’

Wearing tattered rags and with white hair, but he had barely passed fifty.

“Did I come to the wrong place?”

“Please come inside for now.”

Soon, a thin voice was heard from inside.

“…Is it Your Highness?”

Even hearing that voice, one could tell it was hoarse.

“After running away, you hid in the slums…”

The man suddenly opened his eyes.

“You, who claimed to be my friend, my teacher, my limbs, and my person, stabbed me in the back and hid in mere slums?”

His pitch-black eyes and hair stood out even in the pitch-dark darkness.

“It’s quite a dull meeting after more than a decade. I heard you’ve been hiding for nearly 20 years, and you’ve managed to hide in such a shabby place.”

In the past, he was once his knight, his limbs, entrusted with his back, and like a guardian appointed by his birth mother.

Now he was a fugitive criminal and a turncoat, the executioner who personally dragged the empress to the execution ground and beheaded her.

“If you stabbed your lord in the back, shouldn’t you have lived well as a traitor instead of being buried here like a beggar? Did you tell me you were here to show me this state, to draw me in?”

The greeting exchanged after nearly 20 years was plain.

“What kind of life have you lived?”

“…”

“Was your past life peaceful?”

The man’s jaw trembled.

“There wasn’t a single day I was at peace. Every day was hell, I realized how fleeting this life is, and I understood how great my sin of betraying the two of you was. I realized my days of death were approaching, but I guess I wanted to see Your Highness here.”

Benjamin smiled, narrowing his eyes. He smiled harmlessly, but it was ambiguous whether this could be considered harmless. To call it harmless, everything surrounding him was harmful from the start.

“I am a sinner. Ah… I’m about to face death, and I’ve committed an unforgivable sin against Your Highness. I will pay for my sins before death…”

The man burst into tears as if something was overwhelming him. His hair had turned white, and his face was wrinkled.

His dark complexion looked like an old man facing his last days. Yet, this man had barely passed fifty.

“Please listen carefully to my story from now on. I… Even if you punish this sinner’s crimes, please listen to my story. Your Highness, be careful of the empress. There is something about her. I couldn’t defy her. I couldn’t resist.”

Benjamin narrowed his eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“The day I saw Her Majesty the Empress… I felt something entangling. Be careful. Please take care of yourself. It’s there. Your Highness, remember my words. There… there is something.”

Benjamin received a sword from Rosquella.

“Your Majesty the Empress, Your Majesty, please forgive me. I will pay for this sin with my life. I believed you would come to take this life someday.”

The man abruptly stopped speaking.

“Please kill me with your own hands, Your Highness. Please, ease my guilt with those hands. This too might be my selfishness, but.”

The man’s trembling lips moved.

“Forgiveness… Please, forgive this foolish man.”

Cut out the rotten flesh. Before the rotten flesh festers further.

Cut out the rotten bone. Before it crumbles away like this.

“Close your eyes.”

I don’t consider this man’s crime alone.

Incompetence is also a crime. At that time, he was incompetent and that is his own sin. The man’s head fell.

“Bury the body and tidy up the place.”

“Are you alright?”

“…Light incense and honor his death, even if only briefly.”

Benjamin’s eyes slowly dried up. His expression cracked like dry land splitting.

“Word has come that the young lady has left the island.”

Benjamin took a step, dragging the tip of the sword on the ground.