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Chapter 25
When a soul leaves for the afterlife, it is led by an archangel—either to heaven or to hell. If a person committed many sins during their life, they would go to hell. If they did good deeds and lived kindly, they would go to heaven.
Solia had always been a gentle child who didn’t know how to hurt others, so she would surely be in heaven.
He was sure of it, and let out a sigh of relief.
Just knowing that his precious Solia could finally rest in peace was enough for Alexei to regain his sanity. Without that, he would have lost his mind long ago.
“No archangel would ever send Solia anywhere but heaven.”
Next to him, Wolgwi made a rumbling sound, as if it had something to say, but Alexei ignored it.
‘Yes… My Ria has already found peace and left for the afterlife long ago.’
Alexei smiled a smile no one could understand, then turned away.
Now, it was time to meet the new Solia Rotten.
A girl he didn’t know at all.
Solia woke up late the next morning.
“Edel, please help me sit up.”
After a long sleep, Solia slowly got up with Edel’s support.
“I closed the window so you wouldn’t get cold. I’ll open it a little, just in case you feel stuffy.”
Edel gently let go and walked over to open the window.
Solia leaned her weak body against the headboard.
Click, clack…
When the butler called Edel away, she quietly left the room. Left alone, Solia fell into deep thought.
‘All I remember is the carriage accident. I’m sure it was a noble family’s carriage…’
It was frustrating. The more she tried to remember who caused five-year-old Solia’s death, the more her head ached.
She clutched her burning chest tightly.
‘They hit a five-year-old with their carriage and just left… If they had helped, maybe she could have survived.’
Even the carriage’s owner never got out. She even hurried the coachman to move along.
“What are you waiting for? Why aren’t we moving?”
“M-Madam… I think I just hit someone. It looked like a child… Shouldn’t we at least take her to a doctor?”
“The Empress is waiting for me—do you want me to be late for my appointment?”
“But… If we just leave, this child will surely die.”
“Do you know how much time we wasted coming all the way out to this country village? And we didn’t even find the starflower fruit for the Empress!”
The noblewoman actually got angry, blaming the child for getting in her way.
“It’s my fault! I should have slowed down… I was tired and had a drink…”
“Why don’t you tell all that to the guards? If it’s your fault, I’ll just find another carriage.”
“Madam…”
“Why waste more time? If compensation is needed, her parents will find us.”
That was the kind of conversation they had. The coachman’s voice shook like a goat, while the “Madam’s” voice was…
“They were nobles, for sure.”
Being called “Madam” meant she was married.
“She met the Empress often enough to keep her waiting…”
That noblewoman had come all the way to Solia’s village, Hetty, just to find a special fruit for the Empress.
But she didn’t even find it, so the trip was pointless.
‘On the way back to the capital, they hit Solia with their carriage. The coachman had been drinking and didn’t slow down.’
It wasn’t rare for a commoner to die after being hit by a noble’s carriage, but it was unusual for them not to at least take care of things after. Normally, the family would be paid off and everything handled quietly.
If the noble family’s carriage was found to have hit someone, they would be ruined in society. The only way back was if the family forgave them and sent a letter proving it.
‘Or they would pay the church to be forgiven.’
But if the offender was royalty or a very high-ranking noble, they just got a slap on the wrist.
‘It had to be a high noble… Or a lady with the Empress’s favor.’
That’s why she wasn’t afraid to leave. Guilt wasn’t the issue—she just couldn’t be bothered.
Solia mentally listed all the noblewomen favored by the Empress, narrowing it down from the Empress’s personal maids to the ladies-in-waiting.
There were only five personal maids, and fifteen including close ladies-in-waiting. Solia went through her memories one by one.
One woman came to mind.
A woman who did anything to rise up, becoming the Empress’s closest maid, even a personal maid at last.
“…Ah!”
Solia’s eyes widened with sudden realization.
“Cheryl Malone…”
She pressed her lips, thinking hard. Now that she thought about Cheryl, the voice even seemed to match.
‘There was an animal symbol on the carriage… If I can just remember which one it was!’
The Malone family’s symbol was a small green bird. But Solia couldn’t recall if that was the symbol she’d seen in her dream.
“I need proof that Cheryl Malone visited Hetty…”
It could be just a guess, so she needed evidence.
“Alexei came that winter. He left in the middle of summer, and I got the mirror three months before that…”
That would mean the carriage accident was around October or November.
‘If I check the records of nobles visiting Hetty village in October or November, twelve years ago, when Solia was five, I might find the answer.’
It wasn’t a merchant’s carriage, so there weren’t many possibilities to check.
“If I leave out merchant and freight carriages…”
And not many nobles visited such a remote village.
The lord who ruled Hetty was an old noble, already widowed and seriously ill. He wouldn’t invite guests except for priests or relatives to inherit his title.
“The place where Solia was hit was near the mountain road…”
The coachman didn’t know which way to go after the accident.
He was probably on that road for the first time, and he had been drinking, so he didn’t slow down.
“The problem is… I’d have to go all the way to Hetty’s guard post to investigate.”
But there was no time. She had to get married within a month.
‘Still, I can’t just let this go.’
She could ask a guild to investigate, but it would cost a lot of money.
“A good guild could find out in no time.”
She thought of Alexei Kansha—the son of the Mercenary King who ruled the western continent.
Ryan, the Lion King, was a legend twenty years ago for ending the mercenary wars and making the Red Lion Mercenaries the strongest guild.
No country in the west could ignore his influence.
“He retired a few years ago, and Alexei took over as Mercenary King…”
Solia sighed and looked out the window.
Rustle—
Outside, a purple lilac caught her eye.
The boy Alexei who used to pat little Solia’s hair…
‘That’s the lilac from my dream… Brought from the western continent, they said.’
His eyes, now as a grown man, probably looked like those lilac flowers—deep red, curling like a ribbon.
The second floor of the mansion, at the end of the hall, was Solia’s room.
Her bedroom was connected to a study and a dressing room, with a small room off the dressing room where Edel stayed.
Edel opened her door and blinked. Today was her day off.
“You’re up? It’s your day off. You should visit your younger brother, Edel.”
Edel had a younger brother, three years younger than her, named Ariel. He was nineteen and an adult now.
“My brother Ariel is really handsome, you know! He got into Yusu Academy right away, but he got sick and couldn’t stay long.”
Solia had seen a picture and knew Edel wasn’t exaggerating.
He had white, slightly wavy hair, and deep, dark blue eyes.
His eyelashes were very long, and he had a mysterious look—almost not human.
Edel had a calm and neat impression, while Ariel looked like all the world’s beauty had been gathered into one face. He was delicate and beautiful, but didn’t seem quite like a normal person—like a hyacinth in full bloom if it became human.
Edel laughed when Solia said so and said,
“The church wanted to make Ariel a sacred priest for his looks alone.”
To become a priest, you needed spiritual power or a famous family name.
But for sacred priests, the church only cared about looks. They didn’t care about power or bloodline, just about image.
Edel usually didn’t talk about herself much, but when it came to Ariel, she couldn’t help but brag.
Maybe she realized she was gushing, so she coughed and returned to her usual way of speaking.
“Thank you for caring, miss. You seem much healthier than two days ago.”
