If they couldn’t get out of here for a few more days, someone in the family would undoubtedly become seriously ill.

“Stop it, my lady. Lady Hwangbi has abandoned our family. If not, we wouldn’t have been trapped here for days knowing it clearly.”

Her husband, with a voice exhausted to the point of despair, muttered.

Even the once plump face of her husband in the past few days looked haggard.

“That’s right, Mother. Trusting only Lady Hwangbi will make us all starve to death.”

Even the daughter, lying in the corner, joined in her husband’s words.

“No need to hear such negative words.”

Lady Andini glared at her husband with a pathetic look, blocking her daughter’s ears.

Even the child shouldn’t lose hope like her husband did.

She had followed Hwangbi since before entering the social circle. She firmly believed that Hwangbi would become the future empress.

She thought that when Hwangbi became empress, her life serving her would also undergo a dramatic change.

But life didn’t go as planned.

The emperor chose another woman as empress, and the current Hwangbi seemed to be in a desperate situation.

However, even in the desperate situation, Lady Andini and Hwangbi’s quick execution were the result of Lady Andini’s clever brain and Hwangbi’s quick execution.

Hwangbi, who was so difficult to shape, was Lady Andini’s greatest achievement in her life.

To deny such a Hwangbi was like denying control over her own life.

“How did I come this far just to die so easily.”

Lady Andini muttered repeatedly as if chanting a spell.

When her husband turned his back on her, even her daughter, she satirically muttered, “I guess you’ve heard enough. Lady Hwangbi won’t ignore us.”

Lady Andini sneered at her husband.

“I, I lacked faith in Lady Hwangbi.”

Opening her eyes wide, Lady Andini, who had a cloudy gaze, quickly stood up and hastily checked her appearance.

Even her daughter, whose hair had become tangled as she lay in the corner, stood up swaying, combing down the disheveled strands with her fingers.

The Andini family, after preparing as much as possible to meet Hwangbi, stared beyond the iron bars.

Although they hadn’t eaten properly or washed for the past few days, their appearance was pitiful, but their eyes were as full of hope as ever.

Hwangbi had successfully resolved the matter, and they believed she would take them out of here.
However, the one who approached the iron bars was not Hwangbi. It was Milé, the wife of the Andini Marquis and Hwangbi’s maid.

“Oh my…”

Milé, the wife of the Marquis, opened her mouth wide as she witnessed the miserable situation of the Andini Marquis’s family.

The Andini Marquis’s wife grabbed the iron bars and asked her.

“How is the situation outside?”

Milé, pushing a wooden tray through a small gap, replied.

“I brought some food, so let’s fill our hunger first.”

On the wooden tray were three bowls of thin soup and bread.

“Hurry, we don’t have much time.”

Milé covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief and glanced toward the entrance.

Reacting to the scent of the savory bread and soup, the empty stomachs rumbled.

“All right. Let’s eat and hear the explanation.”

The daughter and husband, acting as if possessed, grabbed their share of bread and soup bowls while speaking.

Unable to resist, the Andini Marquis’s wife picked up her share of bread and tore off half, extending it to her daughter.

“What are you doing?”

The husband, drinking the soup from the bowl, looked at the Andini Marquis’s wife.

“This should be enough for me.”

It was the mother’s heart trying to feed her daughter a little more.

But the husband, without realizing it, eyed his daughter’s bread.

“It seems your share is a bit more, so let’s share.”

“…What?”

The daughter, making it clear that she disliked it, looked at the Andini Marquis’s wife.

At the moment when the husband was about to scold her, Milé, the wife of the Marquis, intervened.

“I barely persuaded them to allow a brief visit… I’m sorry for not being able to bring enough. Please understand.”

Usually, the Andini Marquis’s wife thought of Milé as inferior to her in terms of family and Hwangbi’s trust.

It was extremely embarrassing to reveal her family’s clumsy flaws in front of her.

But in the end, she resolved to fill her stomach first.

Because she needed strength to find out who had put her in this predicament and seek revenge.

The Andini Marquis’s wife was about to ask Milé if there was a spoon when she stopped.

Then, holding the bowl, she drank the soup without elegance.

There were no solid pieces, but the warm broth going down her throat didn’t feel bad.

It was the moment when she vowed never to forget today.

The iron bowl rolled noisily on the stone floor, creating an unpleasant sound.

“…?”

Her daughter clutched her throat, coughing violently, lips quivering.

“Why, why are you…!”

The Andini Marquis’s wife panicked and hurriedly approached her daughter. However, this time, her husband began to cough violently.

In that moment, a surge of nausea rose.

The Andini Marquis’s wife glared at Milé, the wife of the Marquis, vomiting blood disgustingly.

Milé, smiling with a twisted expression, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and made a remark.

“That’s why you should have been kinder in your heart.”