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Chapter 65
The first time Sophia heard news about Maybel was during the trial.
‘How on earth did he find out where I was?’
Seeing the telegram that had come directly to her—without passing through any intermediaries—Sophia bit down on her nails.
‘Zigmunt, you shouldn’t be looking for me in the first place. You’re my friend. You could’ve just yielded a few measly research papers to me.’
If he had known she had taken them, he should have quietly backed off and pursued other research instead.
Why did he insist on making things so unnecessarily exhausting?
‘I’m not even using the mark of subjugation on you, for your sake.’
Of course, to be precise, it was more that she couldn’t use it.
In any case, Sophia felt deeply wronged that Zigmunt kept tightening the noose around her without acknowledging her consideration.
And now, he had even sent a telegram so openly.
“How much more are you going to torment me before you’re satisfied, Zigmunt?!”
Sophia trembled with a sense of betrayal toward her childhood friend.
Even the contents of the telegram were unusual.
If she didn’t want her location exposed, she should take Maybel’s parental rights away from Kesare!
‘What on earth is going on?’
Sophia, who had been biting her nails until they bled, immediately headed into the city.
She lingered near a newspaper stand, trying to grasp the situation—
“That Ashilonia princess is supposedly a genius, isn’t she?”
“Exactly! That’s why the two families are fighting over her right now.”
At the murmurs of passersby, Sophia’s eyes widened.
‘Maybel… that child is still alive?’
The last image Sophia remembered of Maybel was when she had just started to walk.
Resenting the child—who had been the cause of her falling out with Kesare—she hadn’t even properly fed her milk.
And yet, somehow, the child had survived.
Not only that, she had stubbornly endured and grown strong enough to stand on her own two feet.
Despite having no one to properly care for her, the child had steadily grown.
Sophia found that horrifying.
That the child would one day walk, run, and even speak.
That she would become a full human being, forming her own identity.
That after completely ruining Sophia and Kesare’s lives, she would go on to live her own!
‘Disgusting!’
Nausea surged up, and she could no longer endure it.
Sophia hadn’t just run away from Kesare’s coldness—
She had run away from Maybel as well.
Still, before leaving, she had given the child a name.
‘If that child ends up buried someday, it would damage my dignity if she didn’t even have a name on her gravestone.’
Sophia had no intention of falling into ruin like this.
She planned to return in glory before Kesare and mock his belated regret.
And yet, the child she had named on a whim was still alive.
And now, that child was called a genius.
Hurriedly buying a newspaper to confirm, Sophia found that the rumors were true.
Zigmunt and Kesare were engaged in a legal battle over Maybel.
Seeing the headline splashed across the front page, Sophia’s lips twisted.
‘So that’s why you weren’t looking for me.’
Crack.
The newspaper crumpled in her hand, veins standing out sharply across the back of it.
Her hand trembled with cold fury.
Recently, Kesare’s search had loosened, making her uneasy.
Why? Had he given up on finding her?
That wouldn’t do—he needed to remain obsessed with her so she could mock him.
Being chased was exhausting—
But not being chased made her anxious in a different way.
And now, she understood why.
‘Ha…’
Kesare hadn’t been searching for Sophia out of regret.
What he had been after wasn’t his estranged wife—
But Zigmunt’s research that she possessed.
Then, upon learning that Maybel was a genius, he had shifted his target.
From Sophia—to Maybel, who would be easier to control.
Realizing this, Sophia immediately drafted a petition.
There wasn’t a single trace of concern for Maybel in it.
It contained nothing but her obsession with destroying Kesare.
Because of Sophia’s petition, Kesare lost the case completely.
It was a satisfying, exhilarating outcome.
But she had no time to savor her victory.
‘Zigmunt, you bastard!’
There had been a trap in the telegram.
It only said he wouldn’t expose her location—
Not that he wouldn’t track her.
It was a trick of words she had overlooked in her confusion over Maybel’s survival and Kesare’s betrayal.
While preparing to flee to the Hermetic State to present her research, Sophia was forced to move again.
But strangely, wherever she hid, suspicious figures began to appear.
Even stranger—
They looked far too rough to be knights of the Grand Ducal household.
Just as Sophia, her hood pulled low, tried to pass by like an ordinary pedestrian—
“Hey, we’ve been coming up empty. That wanted notice is real, right?”
“Of course. Grand Duke Esclid himself said it. That woman who plagiarized the research—he’ll make an example of her by executing her.”
At those words, Sophia felt her breath stop.
‘Execution… execution?!’
It wasn’t enough that her childhood friend had betrayed her—
Now he was trying to kill her?
‘What did I ever do to you…?’
The shock was too great.
Sophia collapsed on the spot.
How much time had passed since she lost consciousness?
Crackle… crackle…
The sound of firewood burning in a fireplace slowly brought her back to her senses.
‘Where am I…?’
Carefully lifting her eyelids, the ceiling she saw felt… familiar.
“Gasp—!”
Startled, Sophia bolted upright.
The sudden movement made her dizzy.
As her vision darkened and she staggered, someone caught her.
“Are you alright?”
A voice she could never forget.
A voice she had never once forgotten.
It was none other than Kesare.
“Why… why am I here…?”
Waking up in Kesare’s bed, Sophia couldn’t finish her sentence.
After everything—after escaping, after running away—
To return like this, so helplessly…
The despair was indescribable.
As Sophia bit down on her lower lip in miserable defeat, Kesare spoke quietly.
“Zigmunt is looking for you.”
She knew.
And you were looking for me too, weren’t you?
Not for me—but for Zigmunt’s research that I have!
Sophia’s eyes burned red with anger as she glared at Kesare.
But then—
Something about him was strange.
His single remaining blue eye was filled with tears.
“If this continues, Sophia… you’ll die.”
Kesare suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace.
His body trembled slightly—
As if he truly feared for the woman he loved.
Why…?
Sophia’s lips trembled in confusion.
After taking a moment to steady his breathing, Kesare held her shoulders and spoke.
“So, Sophia—just abandon Zigmunt’s research.”
“…What?”
Abandon it?
Wasn’t that what you were after too?
And now you’re telling me to throw it away?
Sophia couldn’t understand what he was saying.
“As long as you have that research, Zigmunt will keep chasing you. He’ll eventually kill you! I thought you didn’t know, so I wanted to tell you.”
“What are you…?”
“But recently, after Maybel went under him, he stopped chasing you. So I thought you were safe. I respected your decision and waited for you to come back on your own…”
Everything Kesare said was hard to believe.
And yet—
It was also exactly what Sophia had longed to hear.
“It was my decision to keep that child alive. It was painful to see her, but… I thought maybe you would come back someday…”
Tears streamed down Kesare’s face as he dropped to his knees before her.
“I’m begging you. Please come back. What does alchemy matter? What does the family matter? As long as I have you, Sophia—that’s all I need. From the very beginning, you were the only one for me.”
That night, Kesare begged her again and again.
Outside, snow had begun to fall.
In weather like this, if she left recklessly, she would be caught before getting far.
Sophia calmed the sobbing Kesare, saying she would think about it.
After sending him out, she sat alone in the bedroom, turning his words over in her mind.
It was an excuse too flimsy to require deep thought.
And yet, Sophia already knew—
She would end up staying in this mansion through the winter.
Perhaps even after the year turned…
Even when a new season came.
“As long as I have you, Sophia—that’s all I need. From the very beginning, you were the only one for me.”
Despite the long years of running and resentment—
Sophia still loved Kesare.
Foolish Sophia.
She should not have.
