Chapter 2
Even after losing her sight, nothing seemed to change. In fact, Alicia visited her more frequently now, to keep her company since Diana could no longer attend social gatherings and often felt lonely.
Alicia had always been Diana’s closest friend—she was the one who saved Diana when she gave birth to Catherine.
And now, it was thanks to Alicia’s knowledge that Catherine had been saved once again.
Diana was deeply grateful to her childhood friend, this angelic woman who had always been by her side.
Alicia asked gently, looking worriedly at Diana, who now wore a thin cloth over her eyes.
“Are your eyes… alright?”
“Yes. Other than not being able to see, I’m fine.”
Diana smiled in the direction of Alicia’s voice. She couldn’t see her face, but the concern and care in her voice was clear. As always, Alicia was such a kind and thoughtful woman.
“Thank you, really, Alicia.”
Or so she thought.
Until the moment she walked past the study, while helping prepare for Catherine’s debutante ball, and heard the voices of her husband and that woman.
“I love you, I love you… Calypso!”
“And I, you…”
In that instant, Diana’s world crumbled.
Her trembling hand turned the doorknob. In the solitude of her darkness, she waved her arms desperately.
“No… no, this can’t be… Tell me I misheard! Please! My love! Alicia!”
Her cries spilled out in sobs.
And then, Alicia’s laughter echoed in her ears. Not the calm, composed voice she knew—but a high, shrill giggle.
“Pfft… what an idiot.”
“Alicia…?”
“I dropped so many hints. What a stupid woman you are.”
“My love…!”
Calypso only laughed at his wife, just as coldly. He offered no defense—just wrapped his arm around Alicia’s waist and left the study with her.
It was unbelievable. A nightmare—one she desperately wanted to wake from.
Diana’s head spun. She couldn’t even stay standing.
Her legs wobbling, she barely managed to stumble out into the hallway.
“Someone, please! Please help me! Is anyone there?!”
She screamed, hoping someone—anyone—would come. But not a single maid appeared.
Instead, what approached her were Calypso’s personal guards.
They grabbed her by both arms with brute force.
“What are you doing?! Let me go!”
Blind in her darkness, all she could do was scream.
The knights dragged her outside, through the estate.
They took her to a small cabin at the farthest edge of the estate—the one where the old forest caretaker used to live.
“Farewell, former Grand Duchess.”
With mocking voices, they threw her into the cabin. The door slammed shut with a loud bang.
From that day on, Diana was completely imprisoned in that cabin.
No one came. Not even a drop of water or a single piece of bread was offered to her.
She ached to see Catherine. She missed her desperately.
‘Does my daughter even know?’
Did Catherine know that her mother was slowly dying here, all alone?
Diana, unable to do anything on her own, gradually withered away. With her blindness, she couldn’t even find her way from the cabin back to the estate.
Just as she sat, limp like a dried-up stick of wood, she sensed someone’s presence.
“…Who’s there?”
Her parched lips slowly parted.
She heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Then, something was tossed in front of her, and the person walked away. Diana groped at the ground. It was a piece of dry bread.
‘So at least one person in this estate still cares about me.’
Tears welled in Diana’s blind eyes.
It was hard and dry, and she had to chew for a long time. But her starving body begged her to eat it.
Diana bit into the tear-soaked bread, thinking: ‘I want to live.’
It was miserable—utterly wretched.
‘What did I do to deserve this?’
No matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t understand.
Still, whenever hunger gnawed at her again, someone would come and drop off food.
Diana grew increasingly curious about who it might be.
‘Could it be Catherine? Maybe she’s sneaking out here, too afraid to confront her father directly.’
That day too, she heard the familiar sound of bread dropping onto the floor.
Diana called out in desperation.
“Catherine… is that you…?”
But no answer came.
* * *
As she spent yet another meaningless day, Diana heard heavy, ungraceful footsteps approach the cabin.
Someone was definitely coming.
Was it that same person who always brought her food?
She forced her frail body upright.
‘This time, I want to grab them—ask them. Who are you? Why are you being kind to me?’
Finally, the door creaked open.
“…Still not dead?”
But the voice she heard—it was one she had longed to hear, yet never expected like this.
“C-Catherine…?”
‘No… I must’ve heard wrong.’
Diana shook her head. There was no way her sweet, flower-like daughter—her beautiful Catherine—would speak such venomous words.
“You’re still alive, Mother.”
‘Who is she talking to?’ Diana strained to listen.
She heard the click of heels. Someone else had entered the cabin.
“At this rate, I really thought you’d have starved to death by now.”
“…Alicia!”
Diana lunged toward the direction of Alicia’s voice. But she effortlessly sidestepped her, then burst into laughter like it was all so amusing.
“You foolish Diana.”
“…What…?”
“You still think Catherine is your daughter? Even after Calypso locked you up here, and she didn’t visit you even once?”
It didn’t make sense. The words falling from Alicia’s mouth—what did they even mean?
“Catherine isn’t your daughter.”
Alicia’s voice was laced with glee.
“What… What are you saying?!”
Diana screamed, now fueled only by raw fury.
The graceful, gentle woman she once was had been stripped away—only rage remained.
“I swapped your daughter with mine, you idiotic woman.”
“Mom, stop. She’s not going to understand anyway.”
Catherine, arms crossed beside Alicia, openly sneered at Diana.
Then she added:
“She’s the kind of woman who gave her eyes to me, thinking I was her own daughter.”
Goosebumps erupted across Diana’s body.
If Catherine wasn’t her daughter—then where was her real child?
“Catherine… isn’t… my daughter?”
“That’s right.”
“Then… where’s my real daughter…?”
“Oh, your daughter?”
Alicia gestured toward the knight who had accompanied her. Diana heard muffled voices, then a heavy thud against the ground.
She reached out with trembling hands and felt a sack-like object. Her fingers scrambled to find the opening—inside was something cold and rigid. It felt like… a corpse.
“She’s dead. For the crime of bringing food to you against the orders of the estate’s new mistress—me.”
So… the one who had been bringing her those pieces of dry bread all along… was her own daughter.
“How did she know, I wonder? I guess blood can’t lie. Even after living her whole life as a lowly maid.”
With hands shaking violently, Diana gripped her daughter’s lifeless hand tightly. No warmth remained. The rough, calloused hands told her how hard the girl had lived—and it made her heart ache even more.
From Diana’s blind eyes, bloody tears streamed down—an agonizing mix of grief for her daughter, and hatred for those who had betrayed her.
“Oh, shall I tell you something else?”
Catherine’s violet eyes—so much like Calypso’s—gleamed as she sneered.
“My eyes… were never injured.”
“…What?”
“Pfft! Look at that dumb expression, Mother!”
She pointed and laughed cruelly at Diana, who stood there stunned, mouth agape.
“Catherine’s right,” Alicia added with a smug smile curling her lips.
“She was never hurt. You were simply tricked. You gave up your sight to us, for nothing.”
Diana could say nothing. She hugged her trembling body tightly.
Everything—everything—had been a lie. Only one thing was ever real: her nameless daughter, the one who died bringing her bread.
“We’ll be merciful to you.”
“Mercy…?”
“Go on, die with your daughter. Oh, your real daughter, of course.”
Diana let out a bitter laugh. If she had the strength, she would have torn their mouths open. Unconsciously, she bit down hard on her lips. Blood dripped from the crushed flesh.
Alicia smiled at the sight.
“Soon, the poison powder will be released into the cabin. So please, die quietly, okay?”
“Goodbye, Mother.”
With that, Alicia and Catherine slammed the door shut, laughing.
Now, only two remained inside: Diana and the corpse of her real daughter.
‘Why didn’t I notice?’
Surely there had been signs. Alicia’s relationship with her husband. That Catherine wasn’t her real child.
But who was to blame?
Only herself—for trusting everyone so blindly.
Diana, overcome with grief, beat her chest with clenched fists, gasping for air.
Then it hit her—an acrid stench. The poison. Just as Alicia had said, it was filling the cabin.
Diana clutched her daughter’s body and wept.
‘What was your name? What did your face look like? How did you live all this time…?’
So many things she wanted to ask.
But the poison was merciless. It began to choke her, inch by inch.
Struggling for breath, Diana collapsed over her daughter’s corpse. Sobs wracked her body. Her shoulders trembled.
‘If only… if only I had one more chance… just once… I would never be fooled again.’
‘I’d take revenge on those who mocked me. On those who killed my daughter.’
Her fingernails scraped the floor with a sharp screech.
“If… there is such a thing as a next life…
Please… grant me again…”
As her breathing slowed, Diana’s eyelids began to fall shut. With the last of her strength, she reached out and grasped her daughter’s hand.
And even in death, she whispered softly:
“This time, I’ll never fail to recognize you. Please…”
Her voice faded into the air, growing fainter and fainter.
A quiet death came to Diana.
And from her closed eyes, one last tear slipped down.
That was how Diana’s life ended.
