In the far northeast of the Crania Empire, even in Lusenford, at the very edge of the northeast, where the territory of the evil dragon that should never be crossed and the border intersected, there was an abandoned tower where sinners were exiled. Inside it, the Grand Duchess of Lusenford lay. She, who was only twenty-five, was waiting for death with her hair falling off, and body that’s only skin and bones.
It was cold. And it was so painful.
When was the last time food came in? She couldn’t eat anything, and it was hard to think with her muddled head. She melted the snow and drank water, but now that’s the limit.
Kaela, the traitor of the North, the frontman of the Emperor’s faction, the cunning witch, and the Grand Duchess of Lusenford, who was given such nicknames, will end up starving to death in a tower that only lets in drafts but can’t actually get out.
Her husband, the Grand Duke of Lusenford, put her in this tower himself, so the food that used to come in had probably stopped on her husband’s orders.
‘What did I do wrong?’
Starvation is a terrible pain, and her head and stomach hurt so much that it was hard to think, but Kaela kept asking herself. Because she doesn’t know what she did wrong. Then, it seems that her existence itself is wrong. As the Grand Duchess of Lusenford, she struggled to overcome the severe prejudice of the northern people, and she came this far, gasping, only looking at the back of her husband who loves another woman.
Her crime was said to be leaking information about Lusenford, a military operation area and border outpost, to the emperor and playing both sides between the duke and the emperor. The emperor did hate the Grand Duke of Lusenford, her husband, but Kaela had no such memory. So, it seems that Kaela was completely framed.
By whom?
‘…Who even here liked me.’
Kaela didn’t know. She was so thoroughly isolated that she had no information about who had framed her.
Throughout her married life, she, a woman from the south, was treated as a foreigner and ostracized here. No matter how much her father, the emperor’s half-brother, was killed by the emperor, Kaela was still the emperor’s niece.
The people of Lusenford had to fight against the harsh climate, the rampaging evil dragon, and the immigrants who would attack at any moment, and they had to rely on the supplies sent by the emperor each time. And they hated the emperor very much, who held and shook those supplies and bullied them in all sorts of ways. So, how much would they have hated Kaela, who came here instead of the original duchess?
The Grand Duke of Lusenford, Hyperion Sabrand Ferraro, who lived miserably being exiled to the border and hated by the emperor all his life as the illegitimate child of the empress, and even failed to marry his lover, hated having the name of Kaela de Chaser engraved next to his name.
Hyperion Sabrand Ferraro. To Kaela, that name was still clear even now when her consciousness was faint at the end of unbearable pain. It’s hard to forget the name of a man you’ve liked since you were very young.
‘There will be a war.’
Kaela’s death, who was not even treated as a niece by the emperor who kept watching and doubting Peon, will be a good excuse. How dare you kill the emperor’s niece and break the marriage arranged by the emperor, you fatherless bastard, you mongrel, even if you look at the empress’s face, you were allowed to join the royal family and enter the imperial family! In this way, various sins could be added at once.
Anyway, the relationship between Peon, the illegitimate child born between the empress and an unknown man, and the emperor was the worst from the beginning. For his mother, the empress, who was imprisoned by the emperor, Peon will eventually fight a full-scale war with the emperor.
Even in the midst of this, she was worried about her husband who would jump into the war, foolish. She was powerless, had no strength, and nothing worked no matter how hard she tried, and she liked a good man, someone else’s man, because her ideals were too high.
‘…Ah. I did one thing wrong.’
If Kaela did one thing wrong, it was that she couldn’t give up a man who had only seen one woman all his life. Hyperion, no, Peon oppa, who she first met when she was very young, cherished and loved Beatrice Ravalley, a childhood friend, and Duke Monde’s daughter.
Peon, who was in a relationship with Beatrice, was tightly held by the emperor for that reason alone, but he loved Beatrice passionately all his life and kept Kaela away. That love was strange and blind. It’s like, although it’s hard to compare, Peon’s stepfather, the emperor’s obsession with the empress, and his blindness were similar.
Peon served it as a faith, not a lifelong belief, that he should not betray Beatrice. Of course, such a man treated Kaela as a non-existent person and eventually hated her. But she kept liking him over the line, isn’t this a sin?
She didn’t know. Now it’s no use at all, everything is so painful that she just wanted to die quickly. Her mother passed away when she was young, and her father was tragically killed by the emperor, his half-brother. She was forced to marry, sold as if all of her father’s titles were taken away, and eventually she was driven to death as a traitor, it was a miserable and unhappy life.
In Lusenford, Kaela did her best and tried her hardest, but she received no reward. In the end, death came as if it was only natural, or perhaps as a form of comfort.
Ah, everything is pitch black. The cold and hunger were so harsh that they were rather welcome. She wished to die quickly. Sooner, faster. She wished for this pain to end.
Then, a creaking noise was heard, and the heavy door that had been firmly closed opened.
“Shall we check?”
A voice was heard. Kaela, lying on the filthy stench and accumulated filth, couldn’t even turn her head towards it. She, who was left with only bones and skin, had no strength left to move. Although she was the granddaughter of the previous emperor and the niece of the current emperor, her end was this miserable.
The sound of women’s boots hitting the floor was heard.
“Oh dear. This is troublesome.”
The foul smell was swept away through the opened door. In Kaela’s blurry vision, a woman leaning towards her was visible.
‘Beatrice?’
“You’re still alive, Kaela. You can still see who I am.”
Kaela continued her blank thoughts while looking at the woman who was speaking mockingly.
Why is this woman here? Did Peon call her? After all, since his wife became a criminal and was exiled to the tower, the marital relationship between Peon and Kaela is over. He must have thought that he could call the one love he had longed for. They should be happy.
But, wasn’t Beatrice held hostage by the emperor? How did she get here? Ah, I don’t know.
Kaela, who was suffering from illness, hunger, and pain as death approached, had no strength left to think.
“Pitiful. To become so pitiful. But you’re still alive.”
Beatrice muttered clearly in a mocking tone. As the daughter of Duke Monde, she always felt inferior to the precious Kaela, the Princess of Ostein.
“Troublesome.”
It seemed as if Kaela shouldn’t still be alive.
“You know, Kaela. The last organ to close before death is the ear, shall I tell you an interesting story? And then you eat this and just die completely.”
Beatrice Ravalley laughed and took out a small bottle from her bosom. Kaela, who was suffering from severe cold and all sorts of complications, couldn’t even resist.
“Do you hate dying?”
Hate it? The pain was so severe that death was rather a relief. Kaela wanted to die. In fact, she had wanted to die for a long time. Maybe, she had wanted to die even before she came to this tower.
“But there’s no choice. Innocent Kaela de Chaser has to die for the noble and righteous Grand Duke of Lusenford to become a criminal.”
Beatrice was very happy and chattered arbitrarily.
‘I was fooled.’
Kaela had a hunch. She was fooled, and her husband was fooled. They were all played by Beatrice.
But it was too late. Kaela could only watch as Beatrice opened the cap of the poison bottle and dropped the poison drop by drop into her parched lips. Rather than being angry at the thought of being fooled, the poison flowing down her esophagus was welcomed. She was so hungry that she could even drink the poison greedily. It would be nice if this pain ended a little faster. She could meet her father and mother. She was already out of her mind.
“It’ll be over soon. I’ll tell you an interesting story until it’s over.”
While death was flowing down her esophagus that hadn’t passed anything for days, Beatrice, that lovely woman, spoke as if singing.
“Poor, poor young Kaela. The noble granddaughter of the previous emperor and the daughter of a bastard, Princess of Ostein. Do you know? Duke of Ostein, your father.”
Was the pain numbed by the cold? Why can she still hear the words of that woman, who she could never catch up with no matter how hard she tried in her short life, so clearly now?
“He died because of my love, His Majesty the Emperor. Our Vincent shot your father with a gun, didn’t he?”
The woman who was entirely dependent on her husband, called the emperor, her husband’s stepfather, ‘my love’. She had already lost her hearing, could she have heard it wrong? But Beatrice kept speaking in a dreamy voice.
“Do you know why Vincent was handling a gun when he was with your father that day?”
The official cause of death of Kaela’s father, the Duke of Ostein, who was loved by the previous emperor, was a gun accident. The emperor ‘accidentally’ killed his half-brother, the Duke of Ostein, while handling a gun.
Beatrice poured poison into the dying Kaela’s mouth and ears. Beatrice, reflected in Kaela’s blurry eyes, looked very happy.
“That gun, ‘your husband’ Peon brought it.”
Beatrice, who emphasized the words ‘your husband’, was satisfied to see the shock frosting in Kaela’s lost eyes. It was most delicious to see this annoying woman, who had always been of higher status than her, receive such a miserable shock.
“Well, it may not suit your taste, but as a good stepson, Lusenford must be peaceful, the noble empress must be safe, and my love must be safe.”
In the meantime, Beatrice spoke as if chewing on the title empress, and when referring to herself, she spoke as if mocking Peon.
“Your husband gave it to Vincent himself, knowing where to use it. Well, where would a good gun come from? It all came from this cold place.”
Lusenford was famous for weapon production. They were also famous for their intricate decorative guns.
“Since it started like that, well, shouldn’t the end be like this as well? You’ve worked pretty hard for four years? You’re so stupid that you don’t even know that everyone hates you.”
Beatrice laughed as if she was unbearably happy. The laughter echoed evilly.
“Idiot. It was so easy that it wasn’t even fun. The more you tried to do your duty as a grand duchess and tried to use your authority, the more you were suspected, how could you be caught so vainly?”
Ah. Kaela was listening with her almost stationary brain, at least she knew who had framed her. Beatrice was behind it all, and she’s dying because of her.
“Well, Peon is on my side, so there’s nothing I can do. He’s been my servant since he was young. I brainwashed him like that. He can’t run away. You two are a pair of fools. Well, I made you stupid.”
Beatrice looked down at Kaela, swaggering.
“Poor Kaela. Marrying a man who killed your father, not receiving any love, and dying unjustly?”
Kaela couldn’t refute her words. As it was, a welcome sleep came.
It’s death.
She was happy that the fatigue and pain were over.
****
so horrible..