Blair’s eyes shook violently when she saw that face.

“…Marina?”

She was a maid of the Empress’s palace who usually played card games and laughed together with Esmeralda.

Why…?

Blair wanted to ask, but the maid who had lost her balance hit her head on the sofa armrest and fell. Red blood flowed from her head where it had hit the corner.

“Ah… Ah…”

Blair looked at the candlestick in her hand and the bleeding Marina with trembling eyes.

The eleven-year-old princess was too young to know what death was. Not knowing the weight of death, she had only learned that murder was simply bad, without knowing how heavy the sin was.

But at that moment, it struck her with cruel clarity. What it meant to take a life.

‘But Marina was going to… to Her Majesty the Empress…’

Blair stepped back, her body swaying as if about to collapse at any moment, trying to justify herself.

She wanted to run away from this hell right now, but her body wouldn’t listen. The acrid smoke choked her breath.

Then suddenly, she remembered that she had to save Esmeralda.

Blair climbed onto the table and approached Esmeralda, who was hanging from the ceiling.

“…Your Majesty.”

Even when called, she didn’t move.

Tears fell from Blair’s blank eyes as she looked up at her.

“No. No…”

She wanted to untie the cloth wrapped around Esmeralda’s neck right away, but the ceiling was too high for a child.

“Help… Please, someone…”

Blair hugged Esmeralda’s legs in the flames and wept loudly.

She had killed someone to save Esmeralda. If she could hug her and tell her it was okay, that it wasn’t her fault, everything would be alright.

But Esmeralda was dead, and Blair was trapped alone in this hell.

‘If only I had woken up a little earlier. If only I had come out of the closet a little faster…’

Could she have saved Her Majesty the Empress then?

‘My hesitation, my fear… is what failed to save Her Majesty.’

Because I was weak.

Because I was a powerless child.

Because I couldn’t save Her Majesty…

“Ha, ugh…”

Blair, who had been crying, stopped.

She could no longer breathe. Her lungs burned as if she had inhaled the flames, and once she exhaled, she couldn’t inhale again.

Gradually, her consciousness became hazy and strength left her body. Blair slumped down on the table. In the midst of the raging inferno that seemed about to devour everything, Blair blinked blankly.

‘Can’t breathe…’

At that moment, an instinct more urgent than anything else moved the child.

Blair clung to her fading consciousness and came out into the corridor. There too, it was already filled with thick smoke.

She walked down the corridor, squeezing out the last breath left in her lungs. The corridor, which was already long and winding, felt like an infinite orbit.

“Haa…”

Finally, Blair exhaled her last breath and collapsed in the corridor. Her consciousness gradually faded and her heavy eyelids drooped.

As Blair closed her eyes, she prayed.

Please, let it be a dream.

When she woke up, may everything from this night have never happened…

* * *

The Duke’s mansion was turned upside down.

The Duchess, who had hurriedly left for the Imperial Palace in the early morning, was suddenly kidnapped and returned in Herdin’s arms.

In a terrible state, with blood on her head and soot all over her body.

After laying Blair on the bed, Herdin watched the maids busily cleaning her and changing her clothes, then went out into the corridor.

The family doctor, who had just arrived, hurriedly greeted Herdin and entered Blair’s room.

The noise, everything that made up this situation, somehow felt distant.

As he leaned against the wall, closing his eyes in irritation at the throbbing headache, he felt someone approaching.

“Your Grace. Are you not injured?”

It was Mason.

Somehow, it seemed funny that he would inquire about his well-being first in this situation.

“As you can see.”

“The Madam… will be fine.”

It was a careful statement that Mason made after a long consideration. Herdin remained silent for a moment, then gave a meaningless answer.

“…I suppose so.”

She has to be.

As Mason silently stood by Herdin’s side, hurried footsteps approached.

It was Luth, who had gone to the temple to fetch a priest, and Miela following behind him.

Herdin’s eyes grew cold when he saw her.

“Hello, Your Grace.”

The woman greeted him with her characteristic innocent face, as if she had completely forgotten their previous conversation. Even though that conversation couldn’t have been very pleasant for her either.

Of all the many priests in the temple, it had to be this woman. What a ridiculous coincidence.

“I heard the Duchess was badly hurt. May I take a look at her condition?”

But there was no time to wait for another priest to be brought.

Herdin entered Blair’s bedroom with Miela.

Blair, with all the soot and blood cleaned off, looked so peaceful that she might have seemed to be just sleeping, but he couldn’t be at ease.

While holy power can perfectly heal external wounds, it cannot cure diseases.

Simple burns could be treated with holy power, but if her lungs were already damaged and had contracted an illness, it would be impossible to treat.

Already, the woman had suffered severe damage to her respiratory system from an accident ten years ago.

If there was another problem with her lungs this time, it might really endanger her life.

Miela approached Blair first and used her holy power. However, for some reason, the healing of the wounds was very slow.

‘What’s this?’

At the moment when a faint magic circle appeared around Blair’s collarbone, the doctor waiting behind dropped his medical bag.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Because of this, Miela missed seeing the magic circle, and Blair’s wounds were healed.

Miela stepped back after finishing the treatment. From here on, it was the domain of medical science.

“May I take a closer look at the Duchess’s condition after waiting? There might still be some burns left.”

Herdin nodded slightly in permission to Miela’s suggestion as she stepped away from Blair.

Shortly after, the doctor finished his examination and reported Blair’s condition.

“Fortunately, the head injury seems to be just a mild concussion. It would be good for her to rest for a few days.”

“What about her respiratory system?”

“It doesn’t seem to have taken a big hit either, so you can breathe a sigh of relief.”

The doctor bowed to Herdin and quietly left the room.

Only the sleeping Blair, Herdin, and Miela remained in the room.

Herdin recalled Miela’s words from earlier and turned to look at her. He met her worried eyes that were looking at him.

“Are you alright, Your Grace?”

Herdin sneered at this.

If someone else had asked, it might have sounded like simple concern or worry, but knowing this woman’s meddlesome nature, it didn’t sound particularly good.

“Isn’t it a priority to treat the critical patient first?”

“But, the Duchess has already received urgent treatment, so now you should take care of yourself—”

“Priestess.”

Herdin cut her off before Miela could finish. His voice was tinged with undisguised irritation.

“Treat my wife first. Everything else comes after.”

At Herdin’s firm attitude, Miela reluctantly approached Blair’s side and examined her body.

“Fortunately, there don’t seem to be any remaining burns.”

“I’ll make sure to compensate you for coming in a hurry. Whether you want it sent to the temple or to you personally, whichever you prefer.”

“No, I’m just carrying out the will of the divine on their behalf.”

Miela waved her hands, saying no compensation was necessary.

Just as Herdin was about to judge her as a truly faithful servant of the divine, Miela asked.

“By the way… how did the Duchess end up like this?”

The woman crossed the line with an innocent face.

Whether it was truly innocent or a cunning disguised as innocence, he wasn’t sure, but either way, it was an unwelcome curiosity to him.

Herdin chuckled. But it was fleeting. The smile disappeared from his face as if it had never been there, leaving only a cold gaze.

“Priestess.”

He leaned his upper body slightly towards Miela, matching her gaze. The closeness of that gaze felt more chilling than exciting to Miela.

“Have you never heard the saying that what you see and hear in someone else’s house should not be spoken of outside?”

His voice that followed was also threatening.

“You probably learned it. During your time as an apprentice priest.”

Even though he wasn’t raising his voice, even though his words weren’t overtly threatening, her body involuntarily shrank under the pressure.

Herdin, who had been staring at her like that, raised his head again to look down at her and said.

“You must be busy, you can go now.”

Miela looked at him with frightened eyes, then lowered her gaze and said.

“…I have committed an indiscretion.”

After saying her farewell, Miela immediately left the bedroom. Finally, only Herdin and Blair remained in the room.

Herdin erased his sharp demeanor from earlier and approached the sleeping Blair, sitting in a chair beside the bed. Only then did a deep sigh escape as the tension released.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but Blair’s expression seemed more peaceful than before.

He couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of her being the only one at peace after turning the Duke’s mansion upside down. Then, suddenly remembering what had happened earlier at the forest villa, anger welled up.

When he arrived at the villa following Blair’s traces.

The moment he saw the villa engulfed in flames, his mind stopped. His head was filled with nothing but that face.

The face that couldn’t escape from the past memories summoned by hypnosis, choosing to die trapped in the closet.

The image of her dying of cold, unable to light the lighter until the end.

Your face that lit up like a child’s over a simple roasted marshmallow.

…It was maddening.

Even knowing that Blair might have already escaped from the villa and fled, he rushed into the villa.

He couldn’t remember what happened next. He couldn’t recall with what state of mind, or how he had found Blair in the burning villa.

His senses returned only when he faced her in the midst of the flames.