“…… Mom?”
Mariela’s hand, which was placing a towel on Elysia’s forehead, stopped in midair.
“Elysia.”
Elysia opened her eyes.
“Mom.”
Mixed emotions shone in Elysia’s eyes as she looked at Mariela.
Mariela asked her daughter in a shaky voice.
“E…Elysia. I…… Do you know who I am?”
“Mom.”
Elysia scanned the unknown room and the ceiling.
“Where I am?”
“It is a villa that the Grand Duke has near the capital. He said that all traces were erased. It’s safe here.”
Elysia let out a long breath as if she had been holding her breath all this time.
“I want to go to the bathroom. I’m thirsty too.”
Mariela helped Elysia to stand up.
Elysia hadn’t eaten or drunk, so she helped her daughter, who got sick, took her to the bathroom, made warm water, and gave it to her to drink.
After that, Elysia came back with her eyes much clearer.
Elysia was very different from Mariela’s memories.
Perhaps…….
Mariela said very nervously.
“Elysia. Do you remember what happened?”
She nodded.
“There was an attack on the way to Grerosa.”
Sadness soon filled his purple eyes.
“Everybody was killed.…… Baron, Ahel, everyone.”
“Do you…… remember everything?”
“Yes. Unfortunately.”
A smirk crossed Elysia’s lips.
“How many days have passed? How did you find me? I didn’t know if I would survive.”
With that said, Elysia looked at Mariela for a moment.
“They put me in a barrel and threw me into the canyon. Maybe… It must have been Laurel Lake, downriver. They imprisoned me on a ship. I jumped into the lake to escape, but it was night and the lake was so big that I quickly got exhausted.”
“Elysia.”
Mariela called her in tears.
“Mom, have you been…… alright?”
“Sob.”
“I worried you a lot, right?”
“Sob. Elysia.”
Then, with a light knock, the door opened and Eleon entered.
His eyes widened when he saw Elysia awake.
“Elysia.”
Eleon was delighted and quickly walked over to the bed.
“You’re awake.”
He knelt by the bed and took Elysia’s hand.
“How are you feeling? Aren’t you tired?”
Elysia looked puzzled and nodded.
“I’m fine. But…… Who are you?”
* * * * *
The Imperial Palace was overturned with an unexpected shock.
“What if something goes wrong with our precious crown prince!”
Empress Seraphina yelled furiously.
“How come you can’t even figure out who the culprit is? Does it make sense? Your Majesty!”
“Stop. Enough, Empress.”
“Your Majesty. Aren’t you being too much? He is your only son.”
Crown Prince Sabiel was attacked at midnight a few days ago.
The court physician who examined Sabiel bowed his head.
「“This is… … It looks like a mark from a scabbard.”」
The only trace left on Sabiel’s body, who is said to have fainted after being hit hard by an assassin, was a long one that was supposed to be a sword scabbard, and he received a blow to the right arm and the back.
However, if he passed out from being hit on the back, not just the head, it meant he had been hit with tremendous force, so it didn’t even make sense.
Unfortunately, Empress Seraphina’s anger was even greater because Sabiel was found lying on the ground in a crumpled state.
“They must look down on the Crown Prince!”
Because she valued dignity, she found it difficult to bear it as if she had been insulted.
“There are assassins! What were the guards doing!”
“Stop talking. I completely understand your anger, Empress.”
“How can I live when I’m scared?”
So why don’t you leave the Imperial Palace?
Emperor Markis fought to suppress the urge coursing in his throat.
“I will increase security and do everything possible to catch the culprit. Calm down.”
“Calm down? Do I really need to calm down?”
Empress Seraphina fanned herself, unable to control the spreading heat.
“Anyway, I should proceed with the crown prince’s wedding as soon as possible.”
“Didn’t he say he wasn’t interested?”
“No. When I asked the Crown Prince about his intentions a while ago, it wasn’t that he wasn’t interested anymore, perhaps because he had gotten older.”
“Oh.”
“He said that he would be willing to marry if the bride is the daughter of the Duke of Yuter.”
“You mean Lady Elysia.”
Empress Seraphina was delighted when the girl’s name came out of the Emperor’s mouth.
“That’s right.”
She lowered her voice.
“Didn’t God’s representative also command that?”
“Hmm.”
Not long ago, a representative of God came to visit.
Their existence was an imperial secret passed down only to the emperor and empress of the Constance Empire.
An existence that informs of changes in the Constance Empire and future disasters.
Sometimes, by God’s will, they were told what was ‘necessary’.
He told me to announce Lady Elysia as a candidate for Crown Princess.
After the prince was attacked, the palace was in a mess and he was upset because he couldn’t follow God’s will right away.
Emperor Markis was grateful when the duke’s conversation came out of the mouth of Empress Seraphina, who was acting crazy. When the Empress was caught up in one thing, she could barely turn her eyes to something else, and it took a long time to ease her anger.
“Good. I thought it was right to proceed with the wedding when Princess Lev returned, but I won’t delay it any longer. I will speak with the Duke of Yuter and have Lady Elysia announced as a candidate for Crown Princess as soon as possible.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Empress Seraphina smiled widely at this moment as if her mood improved.
The Harringtons will be a little quieter with this.
There were many relationships that the Crown Prince took lightly.
But they aimed to become the crown princess after hitting the jackpot.
No matter how much money they had, it was in Sabiel’s best interest to establish a relationship with a bona fide ducal family rather than a politically inferior family of counts.
The new nobles are in favor of Sabiel. Considering that Sabiel would become emperor, it would be good to come up with a plan to win over the old nobles with that Sabiel had a weak support base.
However, the Harrington family continued to send self-interested gifts and letters to the Imperial Palace asking the Crown Prince to marry Karina.
And that concerned Seraphina.
I don’t know why I showed kindness to Lady Karina at her social debut.
She prevented the Count’s letters seeking an audience from reaching the Emperor.
It was obvious that the stern emperor would immediately seek marriage with the Count’s daughter, even tomorrow, when he read the nuanced letter, saying, ‘The Crown Prince summoned our naive daughter to Crystal Palace and played with her. He should take responsibility.’
“Then I will leave now.”
“Wait a minute.”
“Yes? Your Majesty.”
“Have you contacted Princess Lev?”
He had asked the empress to tell his sister, who had been touring abroad for several years, to return home.
Seraphina sighed when he brought up the subject of his sister.
“She is a free person, what can I do? Even if I find out where she is and try to locate her, she’s already gone. Please understand the hardship of this person, Your Majesty.”
“I see. Alright, you can go.”
As the Empress quietly withdrew, Emperor Markis put a hand to his forehead and sighed.
He was alone and lonely.
During the last few days, he found it difficult to breathe due to the endless pressure.
Markis looked up at the large mirror that hung to one side of the throne room.
He saw his own reflection, red eyes, and shiny black hair.
It was fake.
The ‘real’ Oder is a body blessed by God. Healthy and slow aging.
Usually, until death, the hair does not turn white and maintains its symbolic black hair.
His daily routine consisted of paying attention to whether he was showing gray hair. Occasionally, he dyed his hair black to keep his whitening hair from showing.
His eyes whose color was faked with red lenses.
He wondered how he ended up living like this.
Even Emperor Markis himself did not know why.
In his memory, even when he was very young, he played Oder with red-eyed lenses.
Only when he inherited the throne did he learn why the former emperor and empress made such a decision.
It was the will of God transmitted by the representative of God.
God, why do you command me to live a lie?
For what reason?
Emperor Markis did not know.
He wanted God to say something to him too, like when he whispered in the ear of the priests.
He prayed fervently every night. However, the god who made him live a life like a sand castle didn’t say anything to him.
What would have happened if Lev had become emperor?
The Oder designated by God was a ‘boy’.
Since Lev was a child, she was incapable of ascending to the position of emperor.
So what is the reason why an Oder boy was not born in his generation?
Unless it was God’s will to cut the imperial line.
“She can’t be the Crown Princess. She has to be announced as a candidate. So what will happen next?”
Is there a limit to human understanding of the profound will of God?
Even today, Emperor Markis struggled to comprehend the incomprehensible will of God.
* * * * *
Eleon watched as Elysia slowly walked towards the table.
Sitting upright, she brought her hands together and placed them in the middle of her chest.
Closing her eyes, she offered up an unspoken prayer, then raised her spoon.
Elysia’s demeanor when eating her soup was surprisingly classy and graceful.
Her face was almost expressionless as she ate quietly, and her purple eyes looked darker and deeper than usual.
Elysia got up after her meal, took her plates, and cleaned them under running water.
All of that was unknown to Eleon.
He couldn’t see ‘Rona’ in her, who worked as his servant, and was always bright and cheerful.
When she cleaned his room, her quick movements excited him and made him hum.
Even after learning that her identity was ‘Elysia’, she did not lose heart, did not waste a word, and had the energy to respond clearly in front of the Grand Duke.
As for her personality, she was on the cheerful side. No, it would be better to say that she was on the wild side.
Who is this woman now?
She said she doesn’t know him. However, it was surprising that the more he saw her, the more he was surprised that she didn’t seem to be the person he knew.
It was just amazing.
The fact that the person closest to him in an instant became someone he didn’t know.
“Brother.”
Elysia, who sat back down after tidying up, called out to him.
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
Eleon was choked up.
He had a mountain of things he wanted to say to her.
But he had nothing to say to her as a ‘brother’.
He didn’t want to admit it. He couldn’t believe it.
Elysia… you…… Why do you always make me unreliable?
Even though they were about to be engaged for the rest of their lives and live more honestly than anyone, she always put him to the test.
“Elysia. Tell me it’s a lie that you don’t remember me.”
Elysia responded calmly.
“It’s not a lie.”
He was waiting for the day when they would give themselves to each other as a couple, and would truly become one. As if souls were printed in pairs.
Eleon could not admit or accept that such deep feelings had disappeared as if they had evaporated.
“No. There’s no way.”
He denied her words.
“I know where your mother is.”
