“We will conclude the meeting today.”

The Cabinet meeting was over.

Herden leisurely stood up from his seat and left the conference room with Ruth. The first thing that caught their eyes upon leaving the room was the window in the corridor.

The sky was cloudy. Judging by the unusual appearance of the clouds, it seemed like rain was imminent.

Ruth, noticing his gaze, remarked, “The weather seems to be clearing up a bit; perhaps spring rain is on the way.”

Herden looked out at the view of the palace beyond the window. Although not visible due to the trees, beyond them, there should be the Empress’s palace. And perhaps Blair would be there by now.

“A person came from the Countess Loreleine’s place, and yesterday someone from the palace visited the countess. Today, Her Majesty the Empress has called for the lady.”

Until before their marriage, he thought that Katrina cherished her daughter terribly.

Her daughter always wore expensive clothes, adorned herself with precious jewelry, and laughed brightly among those who praised her.

He didn’t know at that time that appearances could be deceiving.

The sight of Blair during the first dinner after their marriage with Ivan and Katrina and the scenes at Katrina’s birthday party.

The reality of the mother-daughter relationship that he witnessed up close was different from what he had imagined.

Only then did he realize the strangeness in Katrina’s attitude towards her daughter. And likewise, Blair’s attitude towards her.
Judging the entire relationship based solely on those brief and fragmented glimpses is not possible, but it was evident that their relationship was not typical mother-daughter interaction.

Suddenly, the image of Blair at the dinner came to mind.

The way she fidgeted with her hands under the table, speaking hesitantly.

“…….”

Lost in thought, Herden walking down the corridor noticed something and halted his steps.

Suddenly, it was raining.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Blair, who had finished her conversation with Katrina and left the Empress’s palace, encountered an unexpected variable.

It was spring rain.

Blair stopped abruptly in front of the sudden rain. A servant from the Empress’s palace, who had seen her, immediately rushed into the rain to call for a carriage.

As she had hastily left after finishing the conversation with Katrina, there was no chance to have a carriage waiting. Therefore, Blair had to stand idly by the entrance, waiting for the carriage in the rain.

Observing Blair in this situation, a servant from the Empress’s palace cautiously spoke.

“Madam, it’s still quite chilly. Please wait inside.”

“It’s okay. It will be here soon anyway. The air is refreshing, so I’ll stay like this.”

Rejecting the servant’s advice, Blair stood in the drizzling rain, gazing blankly as she waited for the carriage.

“Now that you’ve uncovered that, what will change? The fact that the dead woman might come back to life?”

Katrina was refusing to approach the truth of the incident that happened ten years ago, even fearing it.
If what she said is the truth about the incident, there is nothing for her to fear.

In that moment of seeing her, I finally confronted the possibility that had been ignored for the past ten years.

Perhaps my mother used me.

Maybe even for that accident on that day, perhaps even for my life.

At the same time, the face of my mother, similar to mine, became eerie.

How could that be?

How could my mother do that to me?

Of course, it’s all just a possibility. It might not be the truth. It might just be my unfounded suspicion.

But even this could be my rationalization to avoid being abandoned by my mother.

I thought I only needed Asiel. And that thought hasn’t changed.

But what is this emptiness that fills me?

This feeling of being left alone in the world.

‘…Asiel.’

Blair recalled the face of the child who giggled at her while gently touching her now-empty stomach.

My baby.

In this world that has returned to the past, there is no trace of that child anywhere, and even the womb that held that child is now empty.

But the thin belly that can’t touch anything except my own body only amplified the emptiness.

If I meet Asiel again, if I hold that child, the only family connected by my blood… it seemed like this growing emptiness would disappear, as if it would swallow me up. The emotions of this moment would become nothing.
Believing in only him, breathing, and looking at that bright-smiling child made it feel like I could overcome anything.

So, now that the child is not here, it was unbearable.

In the moment when the landscape, wet from the rain, filled Blair’s empty violet eyes, a carriage stopped in front of the Queen’s Palace.

The family crest with the wings of a mythical creature, the emblem of the Delmarque Duchy, the same one Blair came riding with, but this time it wasn’t her carriage.

The carriage door opened, and a familiar face descended.

Heradin wore an umbrella and approached Blair. Blair stared blankly at him as he came towards her.

They had disagreements.