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Chapter – 13
Awakening.
Emotions welled up. Blaming herself for showing tears in front of Alter, Yeshika walked hurriedly. Upon entering her room and closing the door, Alter was unable to follow her in.
‘I made a mistake.’
She couldn’t stop the tears from falling because memories of Alter from her previous life came to mind.
“If my lady gives me an order, that will suffice. Then I shall carry out that command.”
How much had she cried at those words from the loyal knight? The command she had given Alter was to dispose of the body of the First Prince, Salifé. To Yeshika, who couldn’t bring herself to utter those words, Alter had said that with a smile. He said he was glad he could receive his lady’s command. She had sullied the soul of a noble knight like that.
‘Alter.’
For a while, Yeshika couldn’t move away from the door. A feeling of guilt washed over her, making it difficult to think rationally. Mechanically sitting before the mirror in her room, she stared blankly at her reflection.
Blue eyes, lush blonde hair, a face anyone would call lovely. Red lips that shone as if stained with rose nectar, and the blush on her cheeks made her stand out even more.
“You’re good at it. Winning people over with your face. It’s for me, Yeshika.”
An auditory hallucination. She heard those dagger-like words Darten had said to her.
“No.”
“Use that face to enchant that Duke and bring the Duke’s power to me. That’s for me.”
After the Duke, who had sought out his mistress on the wedding night, died and Yeshika had taken the position of Duchess, Darten had made another demand of her.
“No!”
At the continuous auditory hallucinations, Yeshika swept away all the items on the dressing table with her hand. With a ‘crash’, the items fell to the floor. A loud noise echoed from Yeshika’s room, where she had never raised her voice before, and a startled Alter shouted from outside.
“Are you alright, my lady!”
“Do not come in!”
Yeshika shouted with a distorted face before the mirror. After one loud sound and then silence, Alter did not press further.
Just moments ago, Yeshika had been in tears, so worry took precedence, but Yeshika, his charge, was an unmarried noble lady. The only time one would enter her room without permission was if an assassin had broken in.
“I will not enter if you answer me again.”
“I am fine, Sir Alter.”
She really was fine. It was just that her emotions were out of control. Yeshika slowly took a deep breath. She had been too complacent. Her life had returned, but it hadn’t completely changed.
It wasn’t time to relax, thinking nothing had happened yet. Darten was already moving to get her in his grasp, and she was only now realizing it.
‘Was I such a fool?’
The more she thought, the angrier she became. To not notice such an obvious fact and be deceived for almost an entire lifetime. Deceived over and over, she put him on the imperial throne, only to be repaid with betrayal. A hidden mistress. It was absurd treatment. Compared to what she had done to put him on the throne, it was truly vulgar treatment.
Even that, Yeshika had accepted with a smile. And yet, she lost her life by his hand.
Her hand trembled violently. It was her right hand. That white, fine hand she had been proud of, calloused from paperwork, had been severed by Darten’s order and disappeared like that.
‘And even then, he wouldn’t let me die.’
After her hand was cut and she began to bleed, he called a priest to stop the bleeding. The reason was that she couldn’t die yet. Because her usefulness remained. She could only die in front of everyone, after all.
Now it was a perfectly fine hand.
But that hand trembled as if an aspen leaf was shaking. Yeshika gently held her right hand with her left. As the trembling subsided, her mind also calmed. The tremor transmitted to her left hand remained, but her mind had changed.
‘I won’t let it slide.’
Yeshika made up her mind once more. Now that she was back and had seen Darten’s face, hatred and animosity surged in. That flame became a fierce blaze that no one could extinguish.
Someone once said. The most intense flames burn blue. Yeshika’s blue eyes blazed with flame. Unlike her distorted face, a chilling fire existed within her blue eyes.
Running her hand through her disheveled hair to tidy it, Yeshika straightened her back. She lifted her chin, her gaze facing forward. A gentle smile graced the corners of her mouth, and she narrowed her eyes.
“Yeshika Vittären. Get a grip.”
This is the last time. Being foolishly swayed by emotions.
A dark room. A room with lavish tapestries hanging on the walls was extravagantly opulent. At a glance, this place, possessing splendor similar to the Emperor’s chambers, was the room of Darten Errt, the Third Prince of the Errt Empire.
Darten’s mother, the First Imperial Consort, was supported by the wealthiest merchant in the empire. When she, from a ducal lineage, took the position of First Consort, everyone in the ducal family opposed it, but she stepped forward.
“I may not have sat in the highest position, but my child will be different.”
Darten, born after much hardship, was born with a face as if sculpted by the gods. It was only natural that he received nothing but the best. His room contained bedding made from nengra, a silk said to be imported from the distant East, and a quill pen said to be made from the tail feathers of a Tephron, one of the rare birds second only to the phoenix.
They were all placed there to flaunt wealth. In truth, Darten had no interest in any of it. His interest was singular. Whether the imperial crown would come into his hands or not.
“Did word leak from somewhere?”
The speed of his fingers tapping ‘tok, tok’ on the desk increased. At that restless-sounding movement, his kneeling aide before him rolled his eyes left and right. When Darten’s mood was bad, objects could fly, so he had to be careful.
“How could that be, Your Highness? Women’s moods change day by day; it will be different tomorrow.”
“Something feels off.”
Unable to shake off the persistently uneasy feeling, his aide, Baron Vanaton Aron, spoke again.
“Shall we increase surveillance then?”
“Let’s observe the situation first and then decide.”
Darten was currently playing a game of chess. A game where he, as the King, would eliminate Salifé and ultimately aim for the throne. He did not want any problems in the strategy of that game.
Yeshika needed to become his important ‘Queen’ in that chess game. A ‘Queen’ who would fight desperately for him until the very end, swallowing up enemies. But a ‘Queen’ who would die a glorious death once her usefulness was spent.
‘I can’t possibly seat her as Empress.’
The Vittären Marquisate held the position of Frontier Count, but that was it. They weren’t particularly wealthy, nor did they have more power than the various nobles bustling about the capital.
He also didn’t like the fact that the First Prince, Salifé, and Marquis Vittären were on friendly terms, so Yeshika was merely a piece on the chessboard. Plans were already laid, and those plans were perfect.
If things went as they were, he would grasp the throne as he wished and place the Errt Empire beneath his feet.
“And the person planted in the Marquisate?”
“Still, no separate contact yet.”
Darten, who had instructed contact only when something special occurred, nodded. The planted person in the Vittären Marquisate would make contact only when the Marquis was away or when the First Prince visited the Marquisate.
“Have someone look into a maid named Daisy.”
“A maid?”
Vanaton was startled that Darten was paying attention to a mere maid. The Darten he knew was not someone who would be curious about people beneath his feet.
“Find out. Since she dared to insult me, I can’t just let it slide.”
“Understood, Your Highness.”
Upon hearing Darten’s order, Vanaton felt sorry for the maid named Daisy. Since Darten remembered even her name, he wouldn’t let her off easily.
Although one order was given, since Darten hadn’t yet told him to leave, Vanaton cautiously asked.
“Do you have any other orders, Your Highness?”
“…….”
Darten kept mulling over a strangely nagging detail. The reason he, the Third Prince born from an Imperial Consort, had risen to a position where he could covet the throne was because of this prudence.
He had maintained this position by eliminating everything that bothered him. And now, the person bothering him was Yeshika Vittären.
‘She’s still too valuable to kill just yet.’
He hadn’t found a ‘piece’ to replace Yeshika. The effort he had put into drawing her to his side was also indescribable. Having accurately identified Yeshika’s deficiencies, he made every effort to enter her heart.
He even went as far as sneaking out of the imperial palace to approach her, avoiding the Marquis’s eyes. For Darten, who valued face, it was an unthinkable act.
Once, his mother, the Consort, had even called him in and suggested taking Yeshika as a concubine, to the extent of Darten’s efforts toward her were extraordinary.
“I even acted out of character, being considerate to seduce her… I can’t just let her go this easily.”
Darten’s voice echoed coldly through the room. At his chilly aura, Vanaton trembled. Having made a decision, Darten gave an order to Vanaton.
“It seems I need to modify the plan a bit. Go and find out what Yeshika Vittären likes.”
“Huh? Is there really a need to go that far…?”
“Since it’s come to this, I’ll cater to her tastes. Let’s see if she can still refuse me after that.”
Yeshika Vittären was the ‘Queen’ prepared for his plans. Darten couldn’t accept the fact that she was trying to escape from him.
