Chapter 9
Princess Sylvia picked up the frame on the table.
“Chloe Langsher.”
The voice of a child echoed in the empty room. It was a strange room, a combination of a living room, library, and drawing room. If there was one thing they all had in common, it was the shield emblem of the vanished Langsher family appearing frequently among the items in the room.
The shield emblem of the Langsher family, now extinct.
Inside the frame, a woman wearing a cloak with the shield emblem engraved on it was smiling brightly while holding a young girl.
“And mother.”
The girl in the picture, who looked similar in age to the now 11-year-old Sylvia, had a modest gaze, while the woman wearing armor, which could be worn when appointed as a knight or coronation attire, was smiling, revealing her teeth.
[Lea and Chloe, Tevian Calendar Year 117]
Sylvia stared silently at her never-before-seen mother’s cheerful smile in the frame before placing it back on the table.
It was amusing that her daughter didn’t know that the Empress of the extinct Langsher family, who was now dead, could smile like this. After all, she was a woman who was searching for her niece until the last moment, not her own child.
– Chloe can’t. Not her…
Just before her execution, the last time she saw her, she whispered only those words tearfully. “Mom. Chloe Langsher is dead. With her family. Only her mother is left now.” Sylvia hugged herself tightly, holding back the words she couldn’t say.
– Your Highness. What about Chloe?
In her cruelty of not even calling Sylvia’s name until the last moment, Sylvia spat out harshly.
– She’s dead.
– Ahhh…!
Even the screams that had been shouting for a long time ceased, and in the silence-filled prison, the Empress finally turned to look at Sylvia. Sylvia, who looked desperate for even a hint of interest, leaned against the prison bars and whispered softly.
– Mom, Mother, I’m here. I’ll take revenge for you. I can do it…
So please hold my hand. Please call my name tenderly. It’s the last time.
– No, you can’t.
A hand extended through the bars roughly swept Sylvia’s cheek. The Empress’s hand passed her cheek and down to her neck. Sylvia stiffened at the hand gripping her neck.
– Damn Olfenster. You’re not qualified to take revenge.
Sylvia thought the Empress would strangle her. But the Empress didn’t.
Instead, she stared at Sylvia with eyes as empty as a corpse’s. She gently stroked Sylvia’s thick brown hair that she had passed on.
– Don’t seek revenge. Don’t hate anyone. Just… just live…
But my mother’s family is dead. Sylvia swallowed the words that rose to her throat. Instead, she spat out different words.
– That’s not something I can choose.
– No. You can. If someday Luke, that child, wants to kill you, Sylvia.
The Empress left words as if leaving a legacy.
– Find out why Chloe’s mother died.
– Then will he spare me?
– No. That child…
She still referred to Luke Olfenster, the young man who had sparked the rebellion, as a child.
“He must regret it. He’ll find Chloe. The girl who’s already dead.”
That was a strange thing to say. Sylvia didn’t understand their connection. Just like all the children born after Luke Olfenster fled the capital.
Seeing Sylvia’s expression of incomprehension, the Empress smiled. When Sylvia was distracted by her smile, the Empress whispered.
“You look like Chloe.”
“I look like Mother.”
Even though Sylvia reflexively retorted, she didn’t withdraw the hand that was stroking Sylvia’s head.
“I look like Chloe too. Luke, that child, if I smile at him, he’ll drink poison. Holding onto my skirt with those stupid eyes, repeating Chloe, Chloe.”
The Empress’s hand now reached Sylvia’s face. She wiped Sylvia’s lips.
“Smile often. Grow your hair longer, gain more weight. Dress up beautifully, wear makeup… walk gracefully, speak softly.”
“I’m not Chloe Langsher. And I never will be!”
“That’s right. You can’t be Chloe. Luke will know that too. But Chloe is gone now. She’s gone…”
The Empress began to cry again. Sylvia tightly held onto her hand as she cried. Even in the last meeting with her child, the Empress mourned for her niece’s death.
Did she ever consider herself as a mother to her? At least when her brother was alive—.
“Your Highness!”
Sylvia abruptly snapped out of her reverie at the loud voice. Turning her head, she saw a maid standing at the door, unable to enter. Behind her, a footman was being dragged away by the Emperor’s hand. Apart from the Emperor, Sylvia was the only one who could enter and exit this room, where most of the items from the Langsher family, mostly discarded, were gathered. The Emperor was quite obsessed with this room, and people treated it like the Emperor’s loot exhibition hall.
Sylvia knew that this room had more significance to Emperor than just a hobby, but she had never told anyone about it.
Who was she talking to in this palace?
Her foolish fiancé fifteen years older than her? The Emperor who killed her parents? The constantly changing maids?
“What’s the matter?”
“Lord Retentor’s envoy has arrived, Your Highness.”
“Tell them I’m busy.”
Sylvia turned back with a nonchalant expression. Several frames were placed on the table. She ran her fingertips over the table. It was always clean, but strangely, there was dust on her fingertips this time.
It was strange that dust began to accumulate in the room that had always been clean as soon as the Emperor left the palace.
“Did the real Emperor sweep and clean this place?”
Sylvia’s eyebrows twitched as she imagined the Emperor, with his arrogant and twisted face, picking up each frame and wiping them with a dry cloth…
Sylvia’s expression briefly looked like she might vomit, then she added another piece of information about the Emperor to her mind. <Emperor’s Hobby: Cleaning and polishing the belongings of the women he killed>.
He was the kind of person who would have preserved Chloe Langsher’s body if it hadn’t been burned.
Why did he leave her to die if he was going to live like that anyway?
“Your Highness. Even if you’re busy, can you spare a moment to see the envoy?”
“Then tell them I’m not here.”
“But…”
Sylvia snapped irritably at the disgruntled maid’s voice.
“If he wants to see me so badly, he can come in himself and drag me out!”
The maid, startled by her words, backed away. This was why she often found herself visiting this room. It was just perfect to be alone with the Emperor’s prestige.
Sylvia hesitantly touched her hair, which had grown to her chest. Her mother was right. The moment Sylvia met the Emperor’s gaze, she understood.
What better tool to wield against the Emperor than being told she resembled Chloe Langsher?
Whenever she wanted something, Sylvia would put on a glamorous dress, let her hair down, and lift the corners of her mouth. It was a habit she mainly used to taunt the Retentor envoy, but it always worked well with the Emperor.
The Emperor’s eyes, dead as corpses, were eerie, but Sylvia had learned to endure the fear.
After all, there was no one left to comfort her with tears now.
Sylvia Olfenster wanted to live. It was a natural desire as a human being.
—
Honestly, the outburst was justified.
“If anyone were loyal enough to protect, how angry would he get when I touch you?”
Luke Olfenster chewed on the words he had spoken just a few hours ago at the end of the year.
He had been annoyed since Gideon announced his retirement. Even if Gideon withdrew his retirement, his mood had already been foul, hovering somewhere deep and intensifying every day.
Even when nothing happened, Luke Olfenster’s mood was always foul, renewing its lowest point every day, and now he was even making sure to create an unpleasant “event”.
A loyal puppy.
Of all the women, why did he have to choose one like himself?
He pressed his tired eyes with his palm, remembering the expressionless face he had encountered a few hours ago. That slow voice lingered in his ears.
“Does Your Majesty hope for my husband to be angry?”
His sudden appearance momentarily unsettled her, but the woman quickly regained her composure, politely lowering her eyes without meeting his gaze. It meant she didn’t get angry or flustered at his rudeness, nor did she welcome the Emperor’s attention.
“Well then?”
“If Your Majesty wishes, I will obey whatever you ask of me, but my husband is unlikely to get angry over it…”
It was as if her voice, thick and persistent, still lingered in his mind, like an addictive lullaby. Maybe he should ask her to sing next time.
“Why is that? If you think your own worth is no more than that, Gideon would be saddened.”
“Well, whatever Your Majesty does to me, I have no intention of telling my husband about it. He has no reason to get angry if he doesn’t know anything.”
It wasn’t out of fear of Gideon’s reaction. Luke sensed the woman’s belief that Gideon would never abandon her, whatever happened. Yet she called it loyalty, not love.
His mood sank to an unusual level. The woman, who couldn’t see his emotional shift in the darkness, continued to whisper slowly.
“Why should I give my husband a reason to conflict with Your Majesty? Anyway…”
“Anyway, since she’s going to die soon?”
At his harsh question, the woman fell silent. It seemed like his words hit the mark.
He thought of the woman’s slender neck pulsating under his hand. Unlike her fragile neck that seemed like it could snap with just a little force, her pounding pulse didn’t seem like that of a dying woman.
As he tapped his calloused palm under his hand…
“Then let’s keep it a secret for once.”
Impulsively, he pulled the woman’s waist closer. Her exposed white neck, which had been resisting all along, revealed itself. When he pressed his lips against where her heart was, it felt like he was kissing her heart.
As he straightened up, her soft flesh tore. When he licked the blood dripping into his mouth with his tongue, her stiff body finally pushed him away.
As he backed away as she pushed, her eyes, which grew larger as he retreated, appeared. Suddenly amused by his inexplicable good mood, he laughed aloud, enjoying the look she gave him as if he were insane.
“So, if it’s all a secret… how will you explain this?”
The remaining bloodstains on the woman’s neck were quite clear even in the darkness.
“Did a passing dog ask about it?”
He couldn’t recall what expression the woman had at that remark.
