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chapter 26
In a dark, gloomy room, a woman sat alone, her legs trembling incessantly.
Karina swept her anxious gaze around the pitch-black space.
Her beautiful, glossy red hair was now disheveled like that of a madwoman, and her nails were torn and ragged.
Even so, she paid it no mind and continued biting her nails nervously.
An eternity-like amount of time passed.
No way. No way….
They’re not going to kill me, right?
Having already been imprisoned in darkness for a long time, her mind was utterly worn down. With a crazed smile, she muttered to herself.
“I’m Alice’s mother. There’s no way they’d kill me.”
But her smile soon crumbled and twisted.
Duke Esteban had not kept her by his side out of love.
There was someone else he truly wanted near him.
To be precise, he was not satisfied with his current power and desired a tool that would elevate his family to absolute, unquestioned authority.
With a tense expression, Karina resumed biting her nails.
Bang!
At that moment, the door suddenly flew open, and the darkness was instantly flooded with light.
Upon recognizing who had entered, she let go of her chewed nails and burst into tears.
“Dietrich!”
Karina clung to Duke Esteban’s feet, sobbing as she poured out her grievances.
“I– I don’t know anything! I don’t know what kind of letter you received, but I know nothing about it!”
Duke Esteban brushed her off his leg as though she were nothing more than an annoyance.
“I’ll say this just once.”
He slowly met the eyes of the woman collapsed on the floor and spoke.
“If you don’t want to die, you’d better keep your mouth shut at the tribunal.”
“I– I don’t even know what you’re telling me not to say! I really haven’t committed any crime!”
“Are you stupid, or are you just pretending to be?”
The duke’s gaze turned icy.
“Behave yourself and simply admit to the charges.”
At his words, Karina stammered out her injustice.
“But… you knew that child was your own, and you still locked me up!”
His eyebrow twitched.
“I don’t recall ever saying out loud that I knew all of that.”
“…!”
“And the charge against you isn’t unlawful confinement—it’s ‘the murder of a noble.’”
This meant the trial was not about punishing her for Edwin’s incident, but for poisoning and killing the former duchess.
The faint trace of color left in Karina’s face drained away completely.
Despair and terror filled her expression.
Not just murder, but the murder of a noble!
That meant she would be judged as a commoner who killed a noble.
“I– I’m a duchess. This can’t be happening.”
“But at the time of the murder, you were a commoner.”
There wasn’t the slightest trace of emotion on the duke’s face as he stated the facts.
Karina’s entire body began to tremble.
There had never been a single person who escaped execution after being convicted of murdering a noble.
She had grown up watching how criminals were executed at the gallows.
The terrified screams, severed heads, and blood that gushed like a fountain, staining the execution grounds.
As those memories surfaced, Karina’s face twisted in sheer horror.
“Please… please spare me. Dietrich, Your Grace, Duke!”
She babbled incoherently, begging for her life.
“So you want to live, even after killing someone.”
The duke sneered. Karina paid it no mind and clung to him desperately. Grasping at straws, she hurriedly continued.
“That’s right! Alice— I’m Alice’s mother! So please, for Alice’s sake—”
A cold smile flickered briefly across the duke’s face.
To think that someone who had even fed poisoned cake to her own daughter would now try to use that same daughter as a bargaining chip to survive.
Poisoning Alice Garnet was an unforgivable act of recklessness, but it also proved that things were unfolding exactly as he had anticipated—so he was satisfied.
After all, the most effective way to control people was through their lives.
And she was demonstrating that perfectly, with her own body.
Even if the person in question was his own daughter, Alice Garnet.
As if delivering a final ultimatum, he spoke.
“I don’t like repeating myself, but this time I’ll say it again.”
He slowly stepped away from her.
“At the tribunal, keep your mouth shut about everything else and admit only to the murder charge. If you do, your life will be spared.”
At the words your life will be spared, Karina had no choice but to nod.
It was the dead of night, so deep that not even the sound of insects could be heard.
Will Evan believe me?
Without evidence, he wouldn’t just trust her words and run away blindly. Alice lay awake, unable to sleep from worry. Should she have gathered more proof and tried harder to persuade Evan?
She lay staring at the ceiling, her eyes wide open, hair in disarray.
Then—
Bang!
A loud noise came from the door, startling her. It sounded as if someone had kicked it hard.
“Ugh, again.”
She let out a deep sigh as she looked toward the door.
It was a sound that repeated every night. At first, the unfamiliar noise had woken her several times, and she’d even been frightened, thinking it might be a ghost.
But now she knew exactly what it was.
The source of the noise wasn’t a ghost—it was a person.
Every night, servants were kicking the door to Alice’s room.
Perhaps not just one person, either.
They’re certainly diligent at this hour.
The servants who had once been Karina’s hands and feet had been moved to the annex—essentially demoted.
As a result, the main residence was now staffed by those who had been disliked by Karina.
For some reason, however, Alice was still staying in the same room in the main residence.
After Karina completely lost her standing in the ducal household, the servants shifted their target to Alice.
It had already been three days since they began kicking her door in retaliation.
“They could at least move me to the annex.”
She muttered with a displeased expression. At this point, she almost wanted to ask the duke what on earth he was plotting.
Or maybe he’s not thinking about it at all.
If the duke were to suddenly notice her and ask, “Since when were you staying in the main residence?” it would probably just make her angrier.
For that reason, Alice chose not to make a request, for the sake of her own peace of mind.
“Ah, seriously…”
Her sleep was completely gone.
And it wasn’t like the kicking only happened once a night. Even if she fell asleep, she’d be woken up again.
If she were to wake up every thirty minutes, it would be more exhausting than staying awake.
“Picking on a kid—how childish.”
Their persistence only made her stubborn.
She wanted to sleep soundly, wake up refreshed, and greet them with a smile.
Seeing grown adults vent their anger on a child didn’t even deserve a scoff.
Alice buried her face back into the blanket, lost in thought.
A distant memory surfaced—her time at the orphanage.
It wasn’t much different from here.
The adults there were busy lining their own pockets with donations and neglected the children entirely.
As a result, conflicts among the children intensified. With limited snacks, stealing from one another became commonplace.
Eventually, it escalated into physical fights, and some children ended up hospitalized.
She remembered the director yelling at her, blaming her for not keeping the children in line after being stuck with the medical bills.
At least here, I don’t have to fight over snacks.
Even when dull thuds echoed in her room, recalling those days made her feel that things were far better now.
“Good morning.”
Alice greeted Edwin with a bright smile as he came by again today to say good morning.
Ever since the incident where Alice had left the ducal castle, he had come to check on her every morning.
Was it really that big of a deal?
She had thought nothing of it and smiled awkwardly.
Edwin’s red eyes carefully scanned her condition. Fortunately, it didn’t look like she had gone out anywhere.
His lips pressed together tightly.
His gaze dropped to her feet.
He felt uneasy—afraid she might disappear without a word again, just like last time.
If he chained her here, she wouldn’t be able to run away, right?
Just like how he himself had been unable to escape the tower.
Edwin brushed away the thought as Alice spoke.
“What are you thinking about?”
Her eyes, looking at him, were filled with goodwill. Edwin wondered if she would still like him even if he locked her up here.
He didn’t voice that thought and changed the subject instead.
“You look tired. Did you not sleep well?”
Beneath his long, dark lashes, ruby-red eyes gently studied hers. Alice felt shy under his intense attention.
“I had a bit of a nightmare.”
“What kind of nightmare?”
At Edwin’s question, Alice hesitated for a moment before answering. She hadn’t expected him to be interested in the contents of her dream.
“…Um, just a dream where someone hated me.”
If only that were really just a dream.
Alice felt a pang of bitterness at the harsh reality.
The red eyes watching her filled with puzzlement.
“Why would they hate you?”
He looked genuinely unable to understand. Alice was momentarily at a loss for words at his innocent question.
“Maybe… my existence bothers them?”
Since it wasn’t actually a nightmare, it was probably better to brush it off.
But Edwin still looked as though he couldn’t quite grasp what she meant.
