The Empress, Erphia’s palace.

Bright sunlight entering through the large arched window illuminated the antique room.

The room, with all the maids dismissed, was as quiet as a mouse. The carpet made of golden fox fur gleamed like velvet.

Erphia lay on the long sofa in the center of the room, tapping the armrest with her hand.

Though it was long past the time he should have returned, Ben had not come back.

In over 20 years of silently guarding her side, Ben had never been this late.

‘Could something have gone wrong?’

Erphia nervously chewed her lower lip.

‘For Ben, giving poison to that mere woman should be nothing.’

Erphia knew Ben’s skills best.

He was one who had unwaveringly bloodied his hands on her behalf for a long time.

While standing by her side, Ben had never made a mistake.

Even though she thought nothing was wrong, she couldn’t understand why her mood was so uneasy today.

−How can you dislike that woman so much? Your Majesty the Empress is the mother of all people, how can you be so swayed by a mere girl?

Ileon’s words from before wouldn’t leave her mind.

Unlike herself, the noble Empress, that girl was nothing.

Possessing nothing but a pretty face.

However, since that one woman appeared in the palace, many things had changed.

Her relationship with her son Jeremy had become strained, and Dietrich, who she thought would harm that woman, was instead maintaining a close relationship with her.

‘Even Ileon.’

Erphia’s hand gripping the sofa armrest trembled.

If all she had was her looks, then those looks should be ruined.

The best way to damage a person’s worth was to drag their greatest strength through the mud.

Just then, angry footsteps were heard from beyond the closed corridor.

‘Is it Jeremy?’

As Erphia frowned, the closed door opened roughly with a bang!

“Mother!”

It was a desperate cry, unlike his usual voice.

But pleased to hear her son’s voice after so long, Erphia rose from the sofa with a gentle smile.

“You’ve come? Jeremy.”

Erphia’s face froze as she faced Jeremy head-on.

There stood a monster.

A man whose only resemblance to her son was his golden hair and purple eyes.

Jeremy’s face, with the skin completely melted off and his eyes, nose, and mouth grotesquely distorted, was too hideous to look at.

Erphia muttered in a trembling voice, as if unable to believe it.

“Is, is that really you, Jeremy? Your face, what on earth…”

Jeremy walked out from the doorway and approached Erphia.

Up close, his face was truly horrific beyond words.

Bones showed through gaps in his face, and with his eyes, nose, and mouth out of place, it was like facing a monster rather than a person.

Erphia’s legs gave out and she fell back onto the sofa.

“You should know best why I’ve become this way, Mother.”

The resentful voice flowing from the monster was indeed Jeremy’s.

Things had gone terribly wrong.

The poison meant for Celiya had been consumed by her son Jeremy instead.

“You sent that knight Ben to feed me this kind of poison? I drank the honeyed water you gave me without knowing, like a fool!”

Jeremy’s lips, attached to his left cheek, twisted.

Erphia felt as if everything was going dark before her eyes.

She cried out as if wailing.

“No, Jeremy! How could I ever do such a thing to you, my son!”

“Then where is your knight Ben right now, Mother?”

Erphia felt her heart drop.

Ben still had not come.

But Jeremy just said that Ben had fed him the poison.

It was a situation where anyone would see her as the culprit.

‘Could it be that Ben is trying to put me in a difficult position?’

How could someone who had served her well for over 20 years do this to her right before Jeremy was to take the throne?

Erphia’s eyes looked ready to pop out of her head.

‘Since when?’

Her head rang with the sense of betrayal. Erphia bit her lip until it bled.

Jeremy mocked Erphia, who was too shocked to say anything.

“Mother, why is that Ben fellow nowhere to be seen? You didn’t secretly send him away after ordering him to do this to me, did you?”

Erphia denied his words with her eyes wide open.

“What do you take this mother for! You know how much I love you!”

“The handwriting on the letter you sent, the honeyed water, everything was exactly the same! Are you still going to deny it wasn’t you, Mother!”

At Jeremy’s words, Erphia’s face turned deathly pale.

“Someone… someone must have imitated me. They did this to drive a wedge between us! Where is that letter now?”

“Your knight Ben must have it. I handed it to him as soon as I confirmed it was your handwriting, and then drank the honeyed water.”

Contempt flashed in Jeremy’s eyes.

“I’ll ask one last time. Where is your guard knight Ben right now, Mother?”

Erphia felt like she was going to suffocate.

Why had the loyal Ben disobeyed her order to poison Celiya and harmed Jeremy instead?

Everything fit together as if someone had scripted it.

There were too many strange points for Ben to have done this on his own.

Now, the only person who could help Erphia out of this situation was Ileon, from the same Gredrick ducal family.

Ileon, who had provided the poison that was the source of all this.

Ileon might know something.

“I, I need to see Duke Gredrick right away.”

Jeremy grabbed Erphia’s wrist crushingly as she tried to leave.

“Mother, I’m asking you right now.”

“Jeremy! Logically, how could a mother do such a thing to you!”

“Then look me in the eye and say it. Why won’t you look at my face?”

Displeased that she kept avoiding his gaze, Jeremy tightened his grip on her wrist.

“Huk! Jeremy, I’m your mother. I cherish you more than my own life, why would I do such a thing?”

Even as Erphia appealed for sympathy, Jeremy did not let go of her wrist.

“Mother, do you find me disgusting too? Is my face too horrible for you to bear looking at?”

Erphia looked at Jeremy’s face, breathing heavily.

In the distorted face, madness lurked in the purple eyes that were identical to her own.

Just that brief glance made Erphia’s insides churn.

Erphia covered her mouth with her free hand.

“Urk!”

Seeing this, Jeremy’s eyes lowered darkly.

Jeremy let go of Erphia’s wrist and said coldly.

“From today on, I have no mother.”

“Je-Jeremy?”

“When I take the throne, I’ll depose you first.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Jeremy turned away.

Though Erphia clung to his body and wailed, Jeremy coldly shook her off and left without looking back.

“Jeremy!”

Erphia’s anguished cry echoed loudly. Her nails dug into the carpet, trembling.

The imperial palace was so vast that it was not easy to remember the geography.

Celiya carefully retraced her memories and arrived near the mansion where Dietrich was.

She saw a few knights and ministers along the way, but perhaps because the news of Jeremy’s ruined face had spread, people seemed too preoccupied to pay attention to Celiya.

Dietrich’s mansion, made up of stone domes and pointed spires, was grand but gave an incongruous impression unlike the countless palaces made of gold and marble in the imperial palace.

‘The Emperor granted it, for sure.’

How odd to build a mansion in the imperial palace instead of giving a domain when granting the title of duke.

She thought it was in poor taste.

Even a baron, the lowest rank among the nobility, had their own barony, yet Dietrich the duke had no domain of his own.

‘To pity him. How ridiculous.’

Celiya laughed self-mockingly.

Who was pitying whom now?

Even if it was just an empty ducal title, he had risen to the position of Imperial Knight Commander by his own power.

‘What does Dietrich want to achieve by using me?’

Does he want to bring down Abelon, like herself?

If so, is that why he whispered at dawn that the three dukes who were its pillars were her real enemies?

‘If that’s the case, I’d be happy to be used.’

Having the same goal, and being the only person who could cure her terminally ill body, Celiya had no reason not to join hands with Dietrich.

‘I wonder what the scope of his healing ability is.’

When she held Dietrich’s hand, her anxious heart became calm, and when she kissed him, it felt like vitality flowed into her.

‘…A kiss.’

Recalling the kiss she’d given him out of distrust, she felt strange.

Celiya shook her head, shaking off the endless thoughts.

‘Just as Dietrich is using me, I can use him too. What’s a mere kiss?’

Lost in thought, Celiya found herself standing in front of Dietrich’s mansion.

In front of the mansion stood a man Celiya had seen in passing a few times, guarding the door with his back ramrod straight.

Judging by the gray hairs mixed in and the wrinkles around his eyes, he seemed to be about fifty years old.

‘Dietrich called him Anderson.’

Realizing he was Anderson, Dietrich’s right-hand man, Celiya approached him.

Anderson’s eyes widened at the sight of Celiya’s face.

It was understandable. While Celiya had seen Anderson standing outside the mansion through the window when she was staying there, Anderson had never properly seen Celiya as he was busy carrying out Dietrich’s orders.

After a moment of surprise, Anderson quickly returned to his duty.

“What brings you here?”

His brusque manner resembled Dietrich’s.

“I’ve come to see Duke Calypso.”

“The Duke is not in the mansion at the moment.”

Celiya frowned. She had expected him to be in the mansion, where could he have gone in this chaos?

“Could you tell me where he is? I have a message for him.”

“His Grace is…”

Anderson trailed off. At the same time, an outer garment was draped over Celiya’s shoulders.