To an outsider, it would sound like the words of a mother who cherished her daughter dearly.

How wonderful would it be if this were sincere?

Ariana was bewildered that there was still some futile hope left inside her.

How wonderful would it be if all of her mother’s tenderness and words were genuine?

How wonderful would it be if they could converse without doubting the blade hidden in every word, just like an ordinary mother and daughter?

How happy would they be if they could just say thanks for what they are grateful for and that they like what they like?

With hope scattering like sand, Ariana forced a bright smile, a lifeless smile etched onto her small, pretty face like a painting.

“It’s really beautiful, Mother. Can I really have something so precious?”

“Of course. I bought it because I thought it would suit our Ariana perfectly. Come here, let me put it on you.”

As Rachel personally took out the jewelry and adorned Ariana with it, the fleeting, sorrowful hope completely disappeared.

Rachel stood Ariana in front of the mirror.

A woman who looked like a merchant’s daughter, inappropriately adorned with overly flashy jewelry, was reflected in the mirror.

The makeup was too heavy, and the dress looked outdated and unfashionable.

Overall, she looked like a vulgar woman who might entice men on the streets.

But Ariana smiled brightly.

“It doesn’t look like me. It’s too pretty, Mother.”

“Yes, I knew it would suit you well. I’m glad you like it.”

“If I go to the party like this, Her Majesty the Empress will surely look favorably upon me, won’t she?”

“Of course. If you wear a dress to match, all the men will not be able to take their eyes off you.”

“I can’t wait to go to the capital. I’m really looking forward to the royal party.”

“Yes, I am too.”

With their eyes reflecting a cold aura, the two mother and daughter conversed sweetly and affectionately.

Rachel stroked Ariana’s hair and spoke.

“Oh, come to think of it… I have a favor to ask.”

“Yes, Mother.”

“You know the pergola by the pond in the middle of the forest?”

“Yes, I know.”

“I stopped there yesterday and left my necklace. I was going to have the maids fetch it, but some of them have been acting out lately… Could you get it for me?”

“Yes, Mother. I will.”

“It’s an expensive item, so you must fetch it yourself. Understand?”

“Yes.”

Ariana’s expression vanished from her face as she accepted Rachel’s request and left the room.

With her cold eyes fixed ahead, Ariana walked. Toward the hell that Rachel had prepared for her, she walked without hesitation.

+++

Rachel stopped in the corridor and looked out the window.
Seeing Ariana walk towards the forest without a doubt, guilt briefly seized her.

That child was simply born, without any fault.

But when recalling Ariana’s eyes that resembled Dongjehu, the piece of guilt that had risen disappeared completely.

The days in the eastern tomb, speckled with loneliness and sorrow, were still vivid.

The eastern tomb, to which she headed leaving behind her loving man and newborn daughter due to her father Seojehu’s orders, was beautiful and peaceful, but to Rachel, it felt as cold as frozen blood.

Dongjehu and his family, who cast suspicious glances at her for being Seojehu’s daughter, the atmosphere of the eastern tomb that she could never get used to.

Even when Rachel was pregnant, Dongjehu didn’t say a single kind word.

When she told him about the pregnancy, Dongjehu’s reaction was nothing but a cold exclamation.

“—Oh.”

His blue eyes, resembling the sky, shone sharply as if doubting even the fact of pregnancy was not a lie.

At that time, Rachel’s heart was very weak. If Dongjehu or his family had treated her warmly, perhaps the outcome might have been different.

‘It’s all in the past.’

After being certain that she was carrying an unwelcome child, Rachel felt the child inside her was like a parasite.

There was never a moment she thought of Ariana as her daughter. Even more so after she found that the child resembled Dongjehu, not her.

Not my daughter but Dongjehu’s daughter. The daughter of that cruel and indifferent man.

Rachel turned her eyes away from Ariana as she entered the forest.

That child’s sin was being born as Dongjehu’s daughter. That she tried so hard to kill while in her womb but in the end survived to see the light of the world.

‘No one welcomed you, Ariana. So you should not have entertained other thoughts. If you had continued to be obedient as before, I would have sent you to a good family when the time came.’

+++

Ariana walked the forest path.

Once, Ariana had loved this forest.

The smell of the earth, the smell of the trees, the shadows of the trees on the ground. The cracking sound with each step on the ground. The occasional sounds of birds and small wild animals scurrying around. The sound of brushing past grass.

Things that made her feel free.

But now, she dislikes everything in the Bronte family, no, in this western tomb.

Ariana walked, staring straight ahead. Clenching her small fist, emotionlessly, she just walked.

The pergola, large enough for about six people, was covered with white cloth.

Ariana pushed aside the white cloth.

On the table inside the pergola was a single teapot and two tea cups.

Steam was still rising from the tea cups, as if two people had just enjoyed tea together there.

And the faint fragrance of honey filled the pergola. The sound of small footsteps approaching from behind. The sound of pulling back the pergola’s cloth.

Ariana, clutching the dagger she had kept in her bosom, turned around.