“Did you say you wanted to see me? How bold of you.”
Contrary to my expectations, the face before me was not Franz’s.
“Although you were nothing like your father, who originally knew how to bow properly.”
The face I had seen only once in a dream, but even then, it was now completely transformed—Marina. The knight, who had a perplexed expression, reluctantly took me somewhere.
My hopes of finally meeting Franz and talking with him shattered. The one waiting for me there was none other than Marina.
No one answered when I asked where Franz had gone.
“Well, what do you want to say by coming all the way here?”
She was a far cry from the earlier version of herself, who had struggled to speak while gasping for breath. Now, she seemed surprisingly at ease.
Standing upright without gasping or trembling her legs, she appeared to have changed significantly, yet her former spirit seemed intact.
“Please call His Grace the Grand Duke.”
“Do you think you have the right to make such demands? How amusing.”
Marina held an unidentified drink on a tray and smiled as she eyed her loyal aide. I could clearly feel that smile was mockery directed at me.
“Lady Marina, it might be time to stop drinking…”
As Marina took the drink from her aide, a man standing across from her urged her to stop. He seemed less like a mere aide and more like a knight or perhaps a close advisor.
Unlike the others who stood awkwardly staring at the air, he had a distinct attitude and manner of behavior.
“With everything you’ve longed for just within reach, do you intend to stop me?”
“If you drink more, it could seriously harm your body…”
“Enough. The moment Franz ascends the golden throne flashes before my eyes. What reason do I have to hesitate?”
It seemed that his dark magic had restored her vitality. Since it was not through normal means, side effects were certainly a concern.
I quietly watched as Marina ignored the man’s objections and downed the drink in her glass.
Franz ascending to the golden throne… This all sounded like a scheme to make her son the emperor.
If so, it meant she was willing to sacrifice Valerie to crown Franz. What could possibly be the means to obtain the throne through a sacrifice?
I understood that she intended to use dark magic to elevate Franz to emperor and had chosen Valerie as the sacrifice, but the clear connection between these two processes remained elusive.
“Hmm. I can feel the life force surging… It invigorates me.”
Could this be the appearance of a character in a movie who drinks an unidentified beverage and transforms into a monster? Marina’s previously bent waist slowly straightened, and her grotesquely twisted joints began to return to their original places.
Her skin, which seemed so dry it could crumble to dust with a touch, regained vitality. The power of magic struck me anew, sending shivers down my spine.
“Go ahead. Tell me. You plan to turn every person here into dust?”
Though she hadn’t completely regained her former self, the once-monster-like body was vaguely taking on a human shape again, giving a fleeting glimpse of Marina’s radiant past.
If she looks like this now, she must have been truly beautiful in the past—enough to shake the emperor in her hands.
“I’ve come to discuss the flawless sacrifice you mentioned.”
Did my tone sound arrogant? Marina’s gaze turned sharp as she looked back at me.
I recalled my time locked away in the Count’s estate, preparing for my wedding with Karl, and attending various noble classes. Hannah painstakingly taught me all the virtues I had forgotten, using memory loss as an excuse.
She wasn’t hesitant to invite teachers for subjects she couldn’t teach herself.
Etiquette and rhetoric, which a noblewoman ought to master, were the main classes, but there were rarer subjects too.
Political science and economics were among them, as Hannah focused on the fact that I wouldn’t simply live my life as a noblewoman but would eventually inherit the title of the Countess of Louisette.
“The most basic thing before negotiation is to break the opponent’s spirit.”
Who would’ve thought the negotiation techniques I learned back then would come to mind now?
“Choosing not just any sacrifice but specifically seeking a flawless child must be because the backlash from offering a flawed sacrifice is significantly greater.”
“You’re quite arrogant for one who’s been dragged here and tied up. Louisette.”
“Now I bear the Albrecht surname.”
It was easy to see Marina’s intent to belittle me by mentioning the name Louisette. In that case, I needed to make it clear that I was no longer someone she could treat carelessly.
“The imperial surname you desperately tried to pass on to your son but ultimately failed to obtain.”
“How dare you have such arrogance!”
“The one being arrogant here is you, Marina. How dare you look down on the Albrecht Dowager, after having received no title and being exiled from the imperial family?”
Heh. You don’t realize that your life is in my hands, you fool.”
“You think your life is intact because you touched me, you fool.”
“What?”
“You don’t think the Imperial Court is going to sit idly by and let this happen, do you? They’re going to be searching for the missing Grand Duchess and Princess as best they can. Finding them here will be a piece of cake. They’ll make you and your son pay for your sins.”
“My……, foolish Louisette. You were right when you said you’d lost your memory.”
Marina, who had seemed to be crushed by the momentum, burst into unexpected laughter.
The way she threw her head back and giggled, as if she found my demeanor and words too funny to bear, was exactly like her son. She said blood doesn’t fool me.
“But first, I’m going to kill you and every other insolent imperial thing in sight.”
“If you could do that, you would have done it a long time ago. Isn’t that why you’ve been hiding out here in such desperation?”
“Yes……, I wanted to kill Karl, but I couldn’t, I’ll admit that.”
“I’ll admit that. Does that mean I succeeded in killing someone other than Karl?
“Franz told me to keep you alive, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I can’t show mercy to a woman who doesn’t know her life-saver and is so ungrateful.”
The smile instantly vanished from Marina’s face. Her face grew frighteningly cold, almost venomous.
“Do you know what your father gave to save your life, Celeste?”
The Count Louisette had given his entire family fortune to save young Celeste from a fever that had nearly killed her. Marina, who had been speaking of Celeste’s father, slowly approached me.
Kneeling with my hands tied behind my back, I could not escape her touch.
Marina’s fingers brushed my cheek, and before I knew it, my eyes flashed open and a dull pain spread across my cheek. Marina raised her hand and slapped my cheek.
“You have given your soul to me.”
Ah, yes. The hypothesis I’d deduced from Franz’s sneering, life-threatening warning was true.
A father who had pledged his loyalty and given his daughter’s soul in exchange for her life. Was his love devoted or foolish? I tried to laugh in vain.
“So you will never defeat me, for I can kill you if you even try.”
“So what do you gain? Killing me will only bring you down. Because Archduke Albrecht will never stand still.”
Fool, Marina’s mouth burst into laughter once more.
“Alright. Let’s say that until now, I refrained from acting hastily out of concern. But that’s not the case anymore.”
“What… do you mean?”
While I couldn’t do so until now, I can do it now. Was it a coincidence that Valerie suddenly came to mind?
“Do you know why I needed a flawless and pure offering?”
“……”
“Why was dark magic forbidden? Why was I banished from the royal family, and why am I hiding here?”
“I understand that your appearance has touched on a taboo.”
“Yes. It’s because I used dark magic that I have transformed from that beautiful figure into this hideous form. But why did I keep repeating the same actions without stopping, leading me to this appearance?”
“To place Franz on the throne.”
“How? What dark magic did I need to use to elevate Franz to the throne? What did I do to bring this upon myself?”
Marina’s voice grew increasingly agitated, as if presenting an intriguing riddle.
“Could it be that the flawless offering was meant to eliminate competitors or obstacles through dark magic?”
I asked, hoping it wasn’t true.
If Marina had used dark magic to easily remove those who obstructed her and offered the souls of children as that sacrifice, then the sudden disappearance of the children, Marina’s hideous appearance, and the inexplicable deaths of the royals could all be explained.
But I hoped it wasn’t just that. I desperately awaited Marina’s answer, wishing that such beasts would not abandon their humanity to that extent.
