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Chapter : 20
“Frisia, it’s been a long time.”
It was Bloë, smiling brightly. She was still beautiful. Pure and delicate, like a lily of the valley that had just bloomed. In terms of appearance alone, she was the perfect image of the original story’s female lead. Frisia looked at her brown hair.
On her head sat a crown studded densely with blue sapphires and small diamonds. It had originally belonged to Rocherin. A one-of-a-kind crown made especially for Rocherin. And now Bloë was wearing it.
“Does it bother you?”
“……”
As if she had noticed Frisia’s gaze, Bloë said this while touching the crown. Frisia quickly looked away. Without realizing it, she had been staring fixedly at Bloë’s head. Smiling, Frisia lightly shook her head from side to side.
“It suits you better than I expected.”
“Better than you expected?”
“Yes. Since it was a crown made to match my late mother’s aura, I thought it wouldn’t suit a stepmother.”
“……”
At Frisia’s words, Bloë’s gaze changed. It was only for a moment—but the gentle, innocent smile in her eyes hardened.
“You’re quite bold, Frisia.”
“I’m sorry. If I offended you, I apologize.”
Frisia quickly bowed her head. There was nothing to gain by irritating Bloë the moment they met.
“You’ve changed.”
“……”
“Since when did you start talking back so readily?”
“……”
Her tone was arrogant, her voice sharp and cold. Bloë was even more haughty now than when she had driven Frisia out of the imperial palace.
“Impudent girl.”
“……”
The words were far harsher than Frisia had expected, and she was slightly taken aback. Bloë spat out the words and sat down on a sofa placed at one side of the room.
“I hear you got engaged to the son of the Swichard family.”
“Yes.”
“Break it off.”
“……”
“That position isn’t yours.”
“……”
Sitting on the sofa with her chin lifted proudly, Bloë looked down at Frisia. Frisia said nothing. She simply stared back at the woman before her.
The one who changed isn’t me. Bloë seemed like a completely different person—so much so that Frisia doubted her own eyes. Until she had entered this room, Bloë’s face had been bright and clear. Now it was rapidly changing, as though darkness were enveloping her entire body.
Was she always this kind of woman? A chill ran down Frisia’s spine. Bloë was glaring at her with eyes full of venom.
Why had it come to this? What was the reason…?
“So, did you try to kill me?”
“Kill you?”
“Were you dissatisfied that I became the Swichard family’s fiancée? Enough to want me dead?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Her voice was utterly indifferent, as if she truly knew nothing. Bloë smiled faintly, the corners of her lips lifting. Frisia looked straight at her and spoke.
“Then I suppose I’ll have to ask Father.”
“What?”
“If Mother doesn’t know, then it must have been Father who tried to kill me. I need to confirm it.”
For a moment, silence fell. Only the crackling of burning candles could be heard. Bloë’s gaze grew colder as she stared at Frisia, and Frisia met her eyes without flinching.
“All this time you pretended to be so meek, and now you do something this despicable.”
“……”
“Yes, I tried to kill you. You survived quite well in that sea of flames without a single escort knight. …Persistent thing. So, did you call me here to resent me?”
A sea of flames? Frisia clenched her fist out of sight.
Then the mansion burning down hadn’t been a simple accident—it had been arson?
From the very beginning. The moment I left the imperial palace, she tried to kill me.
“You’re foolish. How dare you summon me just to say such nonsense.”
“……”
Seeing Frisia’s silence, Bloë began to fiddle with her ring. She looked uneasy. Though her expression didn’t change, the longer Frisia remained silent, the faster her fingers moved.
Bloë’s fingers had started moving the moment the word “Father” left Frisia’s mouth. She seemed anxious about the emperor speaking with Frisia.
What had happened? It wasn’t as if Father even liked me—so what was there to worry about?
Frisia thought it wouldn’t be a big deal even if the emperor found out that Bloë had tried to kill her. After all, her father had also tried to kill her at first. Slightly frowning at Bloë’s incomprehensible behavior, Frisia quickly masked her expression. What mattered now wasn’t the relationship between Father and this woman.
Frisia slowly took a step toward her.
Thud.
“Please… spare me.”
“……?”
Frisia dropped to her knees before Bloë. It was deliberate. She had to look as though she were collapsing.
“How could I dare resent my stepmother? I wouldn’t do that. I can’t… Stepmother, I came to beg you to spare my life.”
Frisia crawled toward Bloë. It was a pitiful sight—the former imperial princess reduced to this.
Her pale, slender fingers clutched the hem of Bloë’s golden dress.
“What are you doing all of a sudden?”
“Please spare me… please. I want to live. I’m terrified every day, wondering when you might send another assassin…”
“Let go of this!”
Bloë kicked Frisia’s arm with her sharp high heel, but Frisia ignored it and grabbed the hem of her skirt again.
“You took everything from me. My father, my mother, my property… you took everything I had.”
“So?”
“You already have everything now. Is it still not enough, even after taking everything from me? Please—can’t you spare my life?”
“……”
“I really want to live… please…”
Bloë listened to Frisia’s trembling voice without saying a word. And then—
Smack!
“Ah!”
Bloë struck Frisia’s cheek coldly. Already kneeling, Frisia collapsed completely onto the floor. The slap landed while she was defenseless, sharp and painful.
“Poor Frisia. Listen carefully.”
“……”
“I will definitely kill you. Because you look exactly like Rocherin.”
A shiver ran through her. The moment her mother’s name left Bloë’s mouth, Frisia felt as though her blood were rushing backward. She wanted to jump up immediately, but she forced herself to endure it.
“…Why do you hate my mother so much?”
“Do you really not know?”
“Because my mother mistreated you? Because she hurt you? Because she tried to kill you?”
“Heh.”
“……”
What? Did she just laugh? That was unmistakably a laugh. Frisia slowly turned her head to look at her. Bloë was smiling.
“Frisia. You’re truly foolish. Poor Rocherin. To die alone, misunderstood even by her own daughter.”
What… does that mean?
“All those rumors were fake.”
“…What?”
“Oh, right. At first, there was that one—that I was beaten by Rocherin. That part is true.”
“……”
“I provoked her a little. She raised her hand in front of a crowd without a shred of shame. I must have really annoyed her.”
Frisia’s eyes wavered.
What is this woman saying?
“Heh. How stupid.”
Bloë scoffed again mid-sentence.
“After that, the rumors spread widely, didn’t they? That she threw burning charcoal at me and burned me, released venomous snakes in my room, tried to poison me… what else was there? But all of it was lies.”
“That’s… what are you saying…?”
“People are so foolish. To believe such unverified rumors as truth.”
What on earth…?
“Once a real rumor spreads, even false ones start to become real.”
“……”
“I simply stayed silent, and everyone believed it so readily.”
Frisia shut her mouth. Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes. She felt as though she couldn’t breathe.
Lies…? Everything about her mother being condemned as a villain… all of it… just rumors?
She stared blankly at Bloë with eyes full of tears. Bloë pressed down firmly on Frisia’s dress with the heel of her shoe.
“Watching her grow more and more ruined, trapped by rumors, was rather amusing.”
“……”
“I hated Rocherin for a long time. The one Tail liked was me—but she took him away. Do you know why? Because she had everything.”
“…That was Father’s choice.”
Frisia forced the words out. Bloë shook her head.
“No, no. Rocherin made it that way. Because Rocherin said she liked Tail, everything turned out like that. If it weren’t for Rocherin, Tail would have chosen me from the start.”
“No! Father married Mother out of greed. Even if my mother hadn’t liked him, he would have married her anyway! Because he needed her family!”
Frisia’s voice rose as she shouted at Bloë, who was consumed by jealousy toward Rocherin. She was glaring at her now. Bloë lifted her foot from Frisia’s dress and spoke calmly.
“I hate that. Why did Rocherin have everything?”
“……”
“The beautiful one was me.”
“……”
“I truly despised it. My inadequate family. All the men who told me I was beautiful ultimately wanted marriages with good families. And Rocherin was always there. Everyone said I was beautiful, yet when it came to marriage, they chose Rocherin.”
“……”
Bloë smiled.
“That’s why I endured and endured for all those years—to reach this position.”
“…Was it not because you loved Father?”
“Love?”
“You didn’t endure out of love… but out of hatred for my mother…?”
“Do you really think it’s possible to sincerely love and wait for a man who once abandoned you for that long? How innocent. I simply wanted to take everything Rocherin had.”
“Then…”
“Pretending to love is something you can do as much as you like.”
Frisia could no longer hold on and lowered her head. The dress Bloë had trampled was stained pitch-black. When she squeezed her eyes shut, the tears that had pooled fell drop by drop.
This woman… is nothing but a mass of inferiority. Not love, but an inferiority complex toward Mother—that’s what she lived for. And in the end, she killed everyone just to satisfy her vanity and desire. Not only Mother, but countless others as well. All erased for such absurd reasons. The duke had been right. Father used Bloë, and Bloë used Father in return.
“Frisia, you are an ember. One Rocherin left behind.”
“Is that the only reason you hate me?”
“Of course. You especially look exactly like Rocherin’s eyes.”
“I never did anything to you. And you still hate me?”
“You’re hateful just by existing. The very fact that you breathe, that you’re alive, is repulsive. It’s like Rocherin is still alive.”
“……”
Frisia stood up. She wiped away the tears that had flowed down her cheek, brushed aside the droplets clinging to her lashes. She straightened her disheveled wig with her hand and lifted her head proudly. Bloë was smiling at her—an utterly disgusting liar.
Clap, clap! Frisia dusted off her hands and smiled back at her. Slowly, she raised her right hand and struck Bloë’s face with all her strength.
Smack!
“Aah!”
Unable even to scream properly, Bloë collapsed onto the sofa. The crown that had come loose from the impact rolled across the floor. Bloë glared at Frisia with a crumpled face full of rage.
“You crazy bitch! How dare you lay your hands on me?!”
Thud! As she tried to stand, Frisia shoved her shoulder hard once more. Forced back down onto the sofa, Bloë stared at her in disbelief.
“Stepmother… no, let’s stop using such a title now. Bloë.”
“W-What?!”
“I wasn’t enduring you. I was showing consideration—for myself, and for you. But I’m done now. You’ll regret it. Even if you cry and beg, I won’t spare you.”
“Let go of me! Let go, I said!”
“I won’t.”
Frisia gripped Bloë’s shoulders tightly with both hands as she thrashed about.
“I am the empress of this empire! Who do you think you are, touching me as you please?!”
“You are?”
“…What?”
“Did you even know who our mother was, when you did all that?”
“Ha…!”
Frisia leaned closer and whispered into Bloë’s ear.
“You’d better be careful every single day. The water you drink, the tea, the food—I might poison any of it. Be careful even when washing your face or bathing. Unless you want to lose that pretty skin of yours forever.”
