Evelina thought it strange to see the water in her bucket clear noticeably.
Come to think of it, she remembered the accident when she went boating with Kaiden. She had a wound in her side and shed a lot of blood in Lake Heliben. The lake had gotten cleaner after that, and fish came and started to live there.
At that moment, Evelina, who had a headache, frowned unconsciously.
‘Why do you need my blood?’
‘This will save a lot of people.’
Marquis Logias, who was smiling with a strange expression, came to mind.
“What?”
“Are you okay? You hurt your hand.”
“Oh, yes. Thank you for your concern. It’s all right.”
Evelina quickly smiled casually and pretended not to know. The water, which was a little murky, turned clean like first-class water, but it was also something you wouldn’t know unless you looked into the bucket.
“You live at Ross’ house, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll take you. You can’t hold anything with that hand.”
“I’ll do it, then.”
At that moment, Hecate appeared.
“Ah…”
“Can I do it, Lena? You’re our guest.”
Before she could answer anything, Evelina said while looking at him walking ahead with a bucket.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it”
She broke out in a cold sweat as she watched him check the bucket as he walked.
“You seem to have hurt your hand a lot.”
“It’s all right. It’s just a little cut.”
Evelina said casually and pretended not to know. He wouldn’t have seen the bucket water change.
She laughed at the thought.
~~~~
“Tell me the truth, Usher.”
It was dawn now. Evelina was asleep.
Usher and Hecate were alone in the woods.
“What are you talking about?”
Then Usher yawned and looked at Hecate as if he was sleepy.
“No matter how much I work at the security forces in the outskirts, I wouldn’t not know the face of Her Majesty the Empress. I’ve only seen such a pretty woman twice in the world. The time of the Founding Festival and now.”
“…”
“She was the daughter of the Marquis of Logias.”
“I didn’t want to kill you.”
Usher held the sword. Hecate sighed and said, as if he had expected him to act like this.
“I was going to pretend I didn’t know you brought Her Majesty.”
“Then you should have pretended not to know. Don’t rush me like this.”
Usher was holding a sword to his neck. Hecate didn’t have any weapons.
“Let’s tell your wife you met a bear.”
“Listen to me. It’s an important story.”
Usher was looking at him leisurely because he knew he was far below him.
“I know how Marquis Logias managed the waterway to make so much money and maintain his reputation.”
“It must have been because he had a lot of money. Goodbye, Hecate.”
It was the moment Usher held his sword high and was about to cut his throat.
“It’s been purified by the blood of the Queen!”
“…what?”
Usher’s sword jibbed beside Hecate’s neck. It stopped suddenly, but he tore the skin of Hecate’s neck, and blood soon flowed lightly from his neck.
“I saw it! When the queen’s blood fell into the water, the water was purified!”
“Does that make sense? It’s human blood.”
Usher thought he was desperate to live. But it was strange to think that way. Hecate didn’t have the slightest hint of fear on his face, as if he were really asserting.
“Really. I was skeptical at first too, but everything fits.”
“…”
“The Marquis of Logias has stepped down from the management of the waterway since Her Majesty became Queen.”
“…”
“The waterworks have not changed.”
Hecate said, looking straight at Usher, who was suspicious.
“But why did the water quality suddenly run out? Why has it fallen to the point where you could die if you don’t boil water and drink it?”
“…”
“You already know the answer, don’t you?” Right?”
Hecate wondered if Usher Fronen didn’t understand because he said it in a difficult way. Hecate had no idea he was from the Tenesi royal family. He thought he was luckier than he was, who barely won a knighthood with a similar level of education to him.
“Try it if you don’t believe it.”
“By what means?”
“I’ll get water from the well. You purify it with the blood of your lady. By now, the new water will be filled up and it will be good to test it.”
Usher sighed at the words. He wondered if it was right to give the person who he was going to kill without hesitation a chance to run away. As soon as he said something, he would lose his voice* as soon as he returned to the imperial family.
*TN: wider his tongue will be cut out or his head will be decapitated
But this was a mountain village.
Hecate in front of him had a wife. Then all he had to do was take hostage of his wife. Usher thought so and sighed and said.
“Get me some water.”
“Yes.”
So Hecate went to get some water.
Usher went to find the bloodstained cloth he was cleaning when he was treating Evelina.
~~~~
At that time.
Evelina was dreaming.
“Did you take my blood last time, too?”
No more blood was drawn with needles. He cut her wrist as if he were drawing blood and was receiving blood in a bucket of water.
When Evelina saw the shocking scene, her previous memories were dimly recalled.
“Didn’t you take medicine, Lina?”
Marquis Logias smiled kindly and looked at Evelina.
“…yes.”
There was a time when she deliberately skipped medicine. It was when she was sixteen. Once, she was so tired of taking medicine.
“If you don’t take medicine, you’ll have a fantasy like last time.”
“What kind of fantasy?”
“The fantasy of drawing blood.”
She couldn’t understand the contradiction and stared at the marquis.
“You’re still drawing blood.”
“For your health now. I’m just pulling it out because the doctor said I needed your blood.”
Evelina doubted the truth of the story, but decided to believe it.
She didn’t remember most of it. All she had left was happy memories. So she couldn’t doubt the Marquis. Because she only remembered the good things the Marquise couple did for her.
“I’m sorry to be mean.”
She held her arms so gently. Soon after extracting a lot of blood, she had to fall asleep as if she had fainted.
– Rustle.
Evelina was awakened by the rustling of something in her sleep.
“Kaiden?”
She forced her sleepy eyes open and called him. Usher then came near her and said.
“I’m going to the bathroom. I’m sorry, and it’s Usher.”
“You promised to talk comfortably.”
“Lena doesn’t do it comfortably either.”
Evelina peeped at the remark and went back to sleep.
Oddly, perhaps because she missed the time when Kaiden held her and put her to sleep, she unconsciously rolled up the blanket and hugged it. Then, feeling relieved again, she fell asleep.
~~~~
“You got some blood.”
“Do you think that’s possible? And I don’t believe you yet.”
Hecate, who had brought water, had also prepared a torch.
Usher frowned at the water of the well, which was even dirty to look at. He was looking up at the strange parasite living in the well water coming up along the torch. At dawn, new water filled up, so maybe that’s why it was always like this when it came up around this time.
Evelina’s bloodstained cloth was put into it and then taken out.
Usher, who saw the water dripping, sighed, wondering what he was doing.
“Oh, my God.”
He opened his eyes wide to see the water change cleanly. It was clear enough to know even in the dark.
“Look, what did I say?”
“We didn’t even boil the water we drank at the meal this time.”
“…”
“But all four of us are okay, right?”
Usher frowned on whether this could happen in reality.
But if this were true.
“We’re rich now.”
Hecate said so and laughed.
If this was true, can only rich people become rich? Like the Marquis of Logias, he could become the duke of the great Abelard Empire.
“Hahaha.”
Until now, he was cut out even though he knew he was a member of the Tenesi royal family. He had no choice but to become a knight because of the influence of the imperial family. It was all because there was no money.
But what if he made money using Evelina as Marquis Logias did? If so, he may be able to touch money like the enormous wealth the Marquis had.
Usher felt at that moment that she had forgotten the inferiority complex of birth, which was pressing him.
~~~~
Kaiden had become a man of rapture. He looked at the ministers with empty eyes, as if he had really lost all will in life, but couldn’t contain anything.
“In the case of the Vyaten Bridge…”
“Now that it turned out to be embezzlement…”
“What do you think should the public affairs do?”
“To confine the Dowager Empress to Lesis Island….”
“Then, the position of Dowager Empress should also be abolished…”
When Kaiden looked at them blankly, he sighed and said, “Ruskun.”
“Your Majesty, please give us your insight into this matter.”
“Everyone out. The paperwork is enough.”
At the Emperor’s words, the ministers looked around and soon bowed their heads.
“I will also post additional documents, Your Majesty.”
At Kaiden’s words, everyone except Ruskun Weimar went out. Kaiden stared blankly at Ruskun, who didn’t go out.
“You too, Weimar.”
“I can’t go out. Your Majesty is in this state.”
Ruskun Weimar sighed and handed the document to Kaiden.
“Let’s take a rest.”
Kaiden did not rest. He had been working nonstop since he lost Evelina. It was harder to rest, and he wanted to die if he rested. He wanted to die because he thought he would be able to meet Evelina if he died.
He was pushed to the limit.
“I can’t rest. I want to die if I rest.”
Kaiden spoke frankly and looked at the document again with empty eyes. Kaiden, who was checking the documents posted by the ministers, moved to the office, thinking that he should go to work, not the audience room.
He was in agony again when he moved.
‘Touch me, Kaiden.’
He remembered Evelina leaning her head on his thigh and talking. Her red cheeks, her shy wet eyes, and those beautiful purple eyes that only contained him.
“Your Majesty.”
Kaiden looked at Ruskun, who followed him expressionlessly.
“…”
Then he looked at the handkerchief he handed him. Then, he realized that he was crying and laughed despondently.
“Will I be able to see you again if I die?”
He said so as if he really wished for it.
“When you die, everything is over, Your Majesty.”
But Ruskun, who was really afraid that the Emperor would do it, quickly stopped him by saying so.
