The Dead Villainess Had A Child With The Male Lead

Chapter 27 Unlucky Thing

“Yay!”

Veronia gripped the reins tightly and spurred her horse on.

The feeling of riding through the night air, leaving the burning hut behind, was exhilarating.

Of course, there was also fear.

She had read the original story so many times that she knew the plot inside and out, but the path she was about to take would take her completely off the beaten path.

‘Perhaps it would have been wiser to change my fate within the original.’

But Veronia had chosen to escape, and the die was cast.

She didn’t know how to turn back time.

The future was unknown, but it felt good. That’s enough, Veronia thought.

For now, she decided to concentrate on her good mood and trust her choice.

‘I have a good feeling about this.’

Her eyes sparkled with life as she stared straight ahead.

***

At the same time, the Knights and scouts of the Alliance, led by Killion, were scouring the capital.

Hotels, restaurants, cafes, wardrobes and trinket shops, everywhere, but there was no sign of Veronia.

‘Your Highness, where are you? Please… must be safe!’

Killion’s face grew more and more earthy.

Every now and then it would flare up, hot, but he’d squeeze it back down.

There was no time to sit around and cry.

Right now, he had to move on, to check out one more place.

He scanned the old inn around the corner. A knight lunged at Killion.

Killion’s face crumpled.

He had a bad feeling about this.

“Your Excellency!”

“What’s the matter?”

“We’ve received reports of a fire at the mouth of a village on the eastern outskirts of the capital.”

“A fire?”

“Yes. We’ve extinguished the fire, but it’s…”

“Get me there now.”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

Killion leapt to his horse and spurred it on.

Thump, thump, thump, his heart fluttered dizzily.

‘Please… please!’

The sharp night wind whipped his forehead ferociously, but he squinted and looked straight ahead.

He shouldn’t collapse yet.

No tears yet.

He couldn’t do anything until he saw with his own two eyes that Veronia was safe.

‘Not yet…!’

Killion gritted his teeth and ran.

***

The fire had been extinguished.

What had once been a hut was completely reduced to ashes. A grave-faced Killion staggered to the scene of the accident.

He shouted over and over again.

‘No. Her Majesty would not die in such vain, not in such a remote place! No, she would not. It won’t be…’

Killion’s tightly clenched fists trembled.

The knights stopped what they were doing and bowed politely to Killion.

“You have come, Your Excellency.”

“Yes, a body has been found?”

“Yes. Here.”

The knight pointed to the body on the stretcher.

Just as the hut had lost its shape, so had the body on the stretcher.

“…This!”

The body had been burned to a crisp, but the glittering jewelry remained untouched, only slightly scorched, and Killion recognised it instantly.

It was Veronia’s trinket.

The ornate necklace and earrings, adorned with diamonds and rubies, were unmistakably hers.

The very ones she had worn at the last banquet.

“Hah… Your Highness…!”

Killion let out a long sigh and shook himself. A thick teardrop fell to the dirt floor.

His chest ached with a sickening pain.

It was hard to take in.

Only a few days ago, we had sat together under an awning, sheltering from the pouring rain.

Only a few days ago, he had run with her slender body in his arms.

Killion reached for the body, but dared not touch it. He was afraid of crushing the barely intact body.

‘No, no, no! It can’t be her, Your Highness! We can’t confirm anything yet. Not yet!’

Maybe that necklace and earrings are fake. Imitations, made in Veronia’s likeness.

So, no, not yet. It’s too soon to be sure.

Killion wiped the back of his hand haphazardly over his eyes and stood up, shouting.

“Take the body to the palace. Find out where the jewelry came from, and scour the scene for anything that might be evidence, and continue the search!”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

***

But the last glimmer of hope that had sustained Killion was soon gone.

The jeweler, who had scrutinized the necklace and earrings with their distinctive scorch marks, craned his neck and said.

“These are indeed the necklace and earrings that belonged to the Empress, forged by me three years ago at the behest of the Imperial Court.”

The Imperial courtier who had seen the burnt body also spoke up.

“I can’t say for sure, but there are no signs of burning.”

If not murder, then suicide? Killion’s eyes sharpened at once.

The Imperial physician’s shoulders shook as he continued.

“The truth is, the Princess has been suffering from severe depression and insomnia for the past year, and without her medication, she finds it difficult to sleep and perform simple daily tasks.”

“Depression…”

Killion had never heard of it before.

The state of the Imperial family’s health is the most highly classified of secrets. It would have been a tightly guarded secret.

But it wasn’t out of the ordinary. After all, Veronia herself had told them.

The source of the poison she drank at her birthday celebration, and how the Imperial Court was treating her.

‘If she had been treated that way for twenty years, it would have been impossible for her to remain sane.’

His heart aches at the thought of her miserable, horrible years.

“But recently, she’s been in remission, sleeping well without medication and having no difficulty with her daily life, so we’ve reduced the amount of medicine she takes to less than half…”

The Imperial physician could not finish his sentence. The wrinkled hands clasped together trembled.

He was afraid that he might be punished for driving the Princess to her death.

It was then.

The sound of clunky hooves rang out, and the knights rushed into the investigation room.

“Your Excellency, we have a report.”

“What is it?”

“There are reports of sightings of a blond noblewoman, dressed in lavish attire, in the vicinity of the fire. They thought it was strange, as it’s not an area where nobles are often seen.”

“…I see.”

Killion closed his mouth tightly, lost in thought. All the circumstances pointed to Veronia’s death.

With nowhere to run, she had no choice but to admit it.

‘You’ve been planning this for months. Why?What was so hard for you?’

Killion swiped at his face.

Exhaustion washed over him.

Suddenly, the door to the study opened again, and this time the Emperor and Empress stepped inside.

Everyone in the room bowed, including Killion.

“Greetings, Emperor and Empress.”

“I couldn’t wait for the report to be submitted, so I’ve come. I understand you found the body at the scene of the fire?”

“Yes, we did, Your Majesty.”

Killion explained the details of his investigation, from the testimony of the jeweler and the Imperial physician to the eyewitness accounts he had just been briefed on.

The Empress’s face grew grim as she listened. Her breathing became ragged. She was furious.

Killion didn’t understand.

‘The Princess is dead, and instead of grieving, she’s angry? What is this…?’

The Empress glanced at the simple coffin on the table in the examination room and stalked away.

“Ugh… you crazy thing, even if you don’t have any bad luck, you still stab me in the back like this, you wretched!”

The Empress screamed at the top of her lungs, causing all the knights, including Killion, to freeze in their tracks.

Such harsh words coming out of the Empress’s mouth, directed at the Princess!

Even with their own eyes and ears, they could hardly believe it.

“What a disgrace for the imperial family, what a loss for the imperial family, what a loss for the imperial family, you wretch, you wretch!”

The Empress’s tirade continued.

She suddenly raised her tightly curled fist and raised it into the air. It looked as if it would strike the body at any moment.

It had to be stopped.

It was already wrecked beyond recognition, but she couldn’t allow it to be further wrecked here.

Killion rushed forward and grabbed the Empress’s wrist just in time.

The Empress sharply glared at Killion, who blocked her fist, and screamed.

“What are you doing, grabbing my wrist, Lord Killion, are you out of your mind?”

“Your Imperial Majesty, only the body…”

Instead of Killion, the Emperor took over.

“That’s enough, Empress, there’s no need to get your hands dirty. What’s the point of blaming a dead child?”

“Your Majesty…….”

The Empress suddenly came to her senses, lowered her hands and looked around.

The bewildered gazes of many knights, jewelers, and imperial physicians were directed at her.

For a moment, she felt ashamed that she had failed to maintain her dignity as Empress and had shown an ugly side.

She bit her lip in frustration, thinking that Veronia was to blame for this. Inwardly, she cursed Veronia over and over again.

“Then I’ll leave you to clean up the mess, Lord Killion. Take care.”

“At your service, Your Majesty’s.”

The Emperor and Empress left the investigation room immediately.

The Empress was still agitated, stomping her feet loudly, and the Emperor soothed her.

As soon as they were out of sight, Killion sank to the floor like a broken man. He broke out in a cold sweat, his stomach churned, and he felt nauseous.

‘Her daughter died in vain, and yet she shows no sign of grief, nay, she angrily curse her, and call her death a shame and loss to the imperial family!’

The Empress’s words still echoed dizzily in her head.

He was furious and angry.

‘Has the Princess been treated like this all this time? How difficult it must have been for her…’

Why didn’t I know, why didn’t I try to find out, why, why! Killion felt so pathetic for himself, he couldn’t stand it.

And he was sad.

The thought of Veronia no longer existing anywhere in the world made his heart ache.

‘Why do I only realise how precious it all was after I’ve lost it all? Like a fool. Like an idiot. Like an idiot!’

It was the same with losing Aaron.

He hated him for not keeping his promises, for always being in a hurry, and he lashed out at him.

It wasn’t until he lost him that he realized he loved him a lot.

It was a late realization.

It was the same with Veronia.

For a long time, he had been annoyed by Veronia, feeling uncomfortable in her presence.

He felt attracted to her, but he didn’t know exactly what it was. He was confused.

Only now, after losing Veronia, did he realize that he loved her very much.

It was a realization that came too late.

“Huuu… huuu!”

The tears he was holding back burst forth in a torrent.