“She truly resembles her mother and father. I’ve never seen such a lovely child before.”

A lady who had been fanning herself behind Tecla suddenly spoke up. Unlike Tecla, this woman was showing Valerie a genuine smile with eyes full of affection.

“Thank you. We’ll be going now.”

This was not the time for a long conversation. Concerned that Valerie might get tired if the outing went on too long, I wrapped things up at that point.

Before Tecla could respond, Count Louisette and the entourage of 15 left the place. The owner of the tea house guided us to the back, saying there was a special shopping area prepared for VIP guests.

“Count, you bought too many tea leaves.”

“Is it too much?”

“Tea leaves lose their aroma if kept for too long. If you buy too much at once, the fragrance will fade away while in storage.”

“Ah, I see. I’ll make sure to buy just the right amount next time.”

The shopping at the tea house was also finished. Valerie had already fallen asleep in the stroller.

Who was it that said children who sleep well in strollers when mothers go out are filial? Deeply agreeing with those words, I carefully pushed the stroller.

Until then, I had no idea. That there were several pairs of eyes following us.

A song unfitting for a place always shrouded in the dark shadow of death spread through the air. Marina picked up a comb for the first time in a long while, waiting for the desired news to arrive.

Since her body had grotesquely changed, she had ordered all mirrors and glass to be removed. Her once lustrous and lush hair had become coarse and dry, rotting like a broom, and her fingers had long been twisted in directions they shouldn’t bend. She couldn’t even remember when she last combed her hair.

Yet now, she had found a dusty comb from somewhere and, for the first time in a very, very long time, sat down and began combing her hair. The comb, which had been decaying without serving its purpose, failed to untangle the stiffly knotted hair and broke with a snap.

“Useless thing.”

A merciless curse burst from Marina’s lips as she was combing her hair in a rare good mood. The pleasant expression that had briefly settled on her face quickly disappeared, replaced by irritation.

Marina irritably threw away the broken comb and slowly moved to get up from her seat.

“Ugh……”

Even though it was just a few steps, her entire body screamed in protest. Marina stopped after barely taking two steps, feeling a dizzying pain with each foot touching the ground.

Take one step and regulate breathing three times, then another step……

She strained her ears towards the window, wondering if she might hear the sound of horse hooves. But the surroundings were just silent.

Marina hesitated, then raised her hand to push aside the curtain covering the window slightly. The sunlight that poured in through the gap, barely wide enough for one finger joint, was so piercingly bright that Marina hastily closed her eyes.

Her eyes, which had been immersed in darkness for so long, felt pain as if they would burn from just a handful of sunlight. When was the last time she had exposed herself to sunlight…

She had the illusion of hearing Emperor Alexander’s voice whispering endless sweet words in her ear.

At that time, Marina was a woman who had nothing to envy in the world. The supreme being called the sun of the empire, and the person sitting above that supreme being’s head looking down on everything. That was her.

With just one word from her, the emperor was ready to move mountains.

The afterimage of Emperor Alexander, who endlessly whispered flattering words saying he would give her everything she wanted if she wished, tickling inside her skirt, now lingered around Marina.

Liar. Trash who deceives people with sweet talk. Marina sneered.

Emperor Alexander, who loved her so much and said he would give her everything she wanted to have, never gave her the one thing Marina desperately wanted to have.

The son she bore, the child who inherited the emperor’s blood, Franz. Marina pleaded that she didn’t need anything else, only wanted Franz, the emperor’s son, to be placed in the position of crown prince, but Alexander did not grant her request.

Marina showed everything she could do, trying to coax him by saying that compared to the world he said he would give her, the position of crown prince was nothing, begging him to grant her request, yelling, threatening, and crying. Even so, Alexander did not grant her plea.

For just a fleeting moment, Marina saw her rotten skin on the back of her hand in the sunlight that had entered and disappeared from the room.

If only you had granted my request then, this wouldn’t have happened. Marina gritted her teeth.

She found the cause of this terrible result, the consequence of her wrong choice, her appearance, in Alexander. It was she who had recklessly dabbled in forbidden black magic, and it was her choice to commit terrible acts that shouldn’t have been done, staining her hands with blood, but she didn’t acknowledge any of it.

She just kept telling herself over and over that the reason she had become like this was because of Emperor Alexander. Because he didn’t make her son Franz the crown prince, that’s why this happened.

I wasn’t wrong.

Marina clenched her trembling hands. I didn’t do anything wrong, I wasn’t wrong. Her muttering appearance was similar to a street lunatic.

Just a little more, just a little more….. Now what she had been longing for was right in front of her. It felt like if she just went a little further, endured a little more, she could put Franz on the throne.

If she could see that child sitting on the imperial throne, she would want nothing more. Once my son becomes emperor, that’s all. Isn’t history written by the victors?

If Franz becomes emperor and rules the empire, all the things she has done so far will be packaged as a mother’s tearful efforts to create an emperor.

The numerous sacrifices made to bring that child to his current position were just the inevitable price that had to be paid to create a solid throne.

Shouldn’t they be grateful for using their insignificant lives to create the throne? Shamelessly, Marina had such thoughts about those she had carelessly harmed.

“Lady Marina.”

It’s Isaac. Marina turned around with her trembling body. Light briefly entered as the door opened and closed.

“How did it go?”

Had he brought the news she wanted? Marina’s eyes sparkled with hope. Without the clear and blue pupils of the past, Isaac’s figure was reflected in her murky and stained blood-red pupils.

“We found out about a chambermaid working at the Count’s residence. That maid’s cousin apparently used to serve Lady Marina before.”

“And?”

“According to what I heard, after Lord Franz visited the Count’s residence, Duke Albrecht stationed troops there to prevent even an ant from approaching.”

“Damn him, that bastard…… How dare he do this to our Franz.”

“Even if we can’t get in, if we know when they come out, we can encounter them. By sweet-talking that chambermaid, I found out Count Louisette’s schedule without raising suspicion. Those thorough bastards, they didn’t come out for a month. But we waited, thinking that as humans, they would have to come out sometime. And finally, we got news that Count Louisette was going out.”

“Well done. When did you say that was?”

“It’s today. I’ve sent spies to follow the Count’s party.”

“Just following them isn’t enough.”

“Of course not. Our goal is that child after all… If they just come out with the child, we can somehow divert their attention and extract the child. Taking the child will be easy.”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“The key is diverting the Count’s party’s attention elsewhere. If they’ve stationed troops at the mansion, they’ve surely attached tremendous security to the outing as well. We’ve placed several of our knights in preparation for that, but…”

“Use as many as needed, far more than necessary. Don’t be stingy with money on such things. We must bring that child by any means necessary.”

“Yes, I keep that in mind.”

Isaac bowed his head in greeting.