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Chapter : 17
“Mom…”
Anna hugged her mother’s nightgown on the bed and buried her face in it. After taking a few deep breaths, she seemed to calm down. She blinked a few times and soon fell asleep.
“You there.”
Edward stuck out his lips and got up from the bed. He wandered around the room out of boredom and stopped in front of the desk. There were papers, a quill, and books neatly arranged on top. Edward glanced over everything and opened a drawer without thinking.
There were lots of random things inside. He rummaged through a few, but nothing caught his interest, so he was about to close the drawer when he noticed a bit of purple velvet sticking out.
“What’s this?”
He pulled it out without thinking. As he tugged, the cloth pulled tight, and something in the top of the drawer rattled.
‘This is the first drawer, so…’
He guessed there was something hidden between the desk top and the drawer. He bent down to look and found a faint seam.
He reached into the gap and felt a box a little bigger than his palm. Soon, his fingers found a small button. Edward pressed it without hesitation.
With a soft click, a small box hanging in the top of the drawer fell down. He opened the lid. Inside, there was a piece of purple velvet cloth and a small glass bottle on top.
‘What’s this…’
He carefully picked up the bottle. Underneath was a folded piece of paper. He left the paper for now and looked at the bottle. Inside was a sticky, pale purple liquid that moved slowly.
Wondering what it was for, he pulled out the small piece of paper and unfolded it. As he expected, it looked like instructions.
‘If you drink it all at once, you’ll fall asleep and die immediately. If you drink half, you’ll fall asleep and die in about two weeks. If you drink a few drops every day for a long time, you’ll slowly go insane and die within a few months…?’
Edward stared at the innocent-looking liquid, surprised it was such a deadly poison.
Then he noticed some small writing he had missed. He brought the paper close to his face and slowly read.
“There’s enough for two uses…”
Before he finished reading, he suddenly felt someone behind him—so close he could feel their breath.
“What are you doing?”
Startled, he turned around. It was Anna, hugging her mother’s nightgown with swollen, red eyes. Edward felt his heart pound and let out a shaky breath. He was really startled.
Anna frowned and pointed at the bottle and the instructions.
“Everything here belongs to my mother. Don’t touch it.”
“Ah, okay.”
Edward snapped out of it and turned away. Then he thought,
‘She doesn’t know what it is?’
It made sense—there was no way she read the instructions that fast, and it was unlikely her mother would show her such a dangerous bottle.
Edward pretended to put everything back as Anna watched. Satisfied, she went back to the bed and lay down.
While she was distracted, Edward quickly hid the bottle in his pocket.
The purple poison was about half gone compared to when he first found it. The sunset shining through the window made it glow. Edward stared at the bottle and thought,
‘Luckily, Anna doesn’t seem to remember anything from back then…’
A cold smile appeared on his face.
‘She doesn’t know how useful this is.’
His mouth tasted bitter. If he hadn’t spilled almost half of it by accident while trying to feed it to his brother as a child, it would be even more useful.
Just then, he heard a horse neigh outside. Edward went to the window and looked out. Under the lanterns lining the road to the garden, he saw his beautifully dressed mother getting into a carriage with the help of the butler.
As the carriage left, Edward rolled the bottle in his hand and quietly muttered,
“Should I really just kill her…?”
“Organize the storage room?”
Lucy looked confused at Anna’s sudden order. Anna nodded as she looked around at the portraits, paintings, and statues in the gallery.
“I want to sort out things we can sell.”
“Huh? You’re not thinking of selling them, are you?”
Lucy was shocked. The Evercline family’s gallery and storage were full of priceless art, some dating back to the early days of the empire. Museums still sent requests two or three times a year to borrow their artifacts for display.
“Anything with historical value, I’m thinking of renting for money.”
But for that, she needed to update the old inventory list.
‘Father might have already sold some things while I wasn’t looking…’
Her chest hurt suddenly. Anna paused and pressed her hand to her chest. It happened often—ever since she realized her father had betrayed her before Raiden returned, and since she realized there was no one left to love her. It was as if her heart kept warning her not to forget she was alone.
‘Still, it’s not so bad.’
Anna smiled bitterly. Philosophers from ancient times to now all agreed: people are alone. Don’t expect too much from others.
When she was a child, she heard about people ruined by being too sentimental in her tutor’s lessons and thought they were foolish.
‘But I was that person.’
She had waited for Raiden for five years with no news. She couldn’t completely let go of her father, even after he betrayed her. All she did was cut off his money and put someone to watch him.
‘Even now, I’m thinking that if Raiden pays off my debts, I’ll send Father somewhere far away and quiet to live.’
She knew she should cut him off completely, but her heart wouldn’t follow her head. She was still trapped in the time when her father loved her.
“Um, miss.”
Anna was lost in sad thoughts when Lucy called her softly.
“Shouldn’t you talk to him first?”
“Him? Who?”
Anna looked confused. She’d always been taught that everything in Evercline belonged to her, even her father John. He had always said he was happy with his allowance and trust fund, and until recently, he’d kept his promise not to touch her things.
“Marquis Marcus.”
“Raiden? Why?”
Lucy frowned a little at Anna’s puzzled face.
“You said if you can’t find the estate manager and Marquis Marcus pays off the debt for you, you’d pay him back no matter what.”
“I did say that.”
“So, I thought… what if he wants to use these things as collateral? Not that I doubt him, but even I can see he only cares about you. But in most cases, wouldn’t there be some kind of deal?”
Suddenly, Anna understood.
“Oh…”
She looked around the gallery with new eyes. Every piece of art was valuable, both in money and history.
“You’re right. I should discuss it with Raiden.”
“Yes.”
Lucy gave her a worried look and left the gallery. Left alone, Anna touched a bronze statue by the famous sculptor Fistro, trying to hide her bitter feelings.
‘I need his permission to sell these things…’
It was her fault for being careless. Anna sighed and stood up straight, trying to think positively.
‘You were lucky. Not long ago, you almost lost everything.’
She felt better, thinking it was a relief she still had these things. As she checked the inventory, the butler entered the gallery.
“There you are, miss.”
“What is it?”
He was holding a silver tray with several envelopes on it. Anna tilted her head.
“Are these invitations?”
“Yes.”
The butler looked proud as he lifted his chin.
“There were so many left, even after I got rid of the useless ones.”
He meant the ones that matched their family’s status and would be helpful to Anna. She asked in surprise,
“So many?”
After rumors of the Evercline family’s bankruptcy, no invitations had come. The only one left had been the tea party of Countess Haimel, and that had ended badly…
Suddenly, Anna had an idea.
‘I can use this chance to break off the engagement.’
She’d already warned Edward at the opera, so all they had to do was pick a date.
Anna felt a huge relief, like a sore tooth had been pulled. She looked over the invitations one by one.
“Hm? This one…”
It was an invitation from the Banfield family. Anna looked at it with a troubled face, and the butler looked puzzled.
“Is there a problem?”
“No, not really…”
The Banfield family had three daughters. The first and second were about Anna’s age—and both were interested in Edward.
