Trigger warning: suicide
After it was revealed that Christine was missing, Count Lamont focused solely on finding his daughter.
But no matter how much they searched, they didn’t hear any news about Christine anywhere. If it had become clear that she was dead, they would have given up, but since no body was found anywhere, they were holding onto a hope that they couldn’t let go of.
Count and Countess Lamont frantically searched for their second daughter, unable to regain their composure as they were devastated by the unexpected confinement and intense torture. Meanwhile, the family was gradually being destroyed, and the family was gradually declining.
After several months passed, one day came.
“Mother.”
Pristin opened her mouth at the door in a quiet voice.
“I’m coming in.”
When Pristin opened the door and entered, she was faced with an unbelievable sight. Pristin’s eyes widened in shock as she discovered two pure white feet hanging in the air.
She took a step back, covering her mouth.
“Uh, ah…”
Pristin took a step back, making strange noises like a person who couldn’t speak.
And when her back finally reached the back of the door, Pristin collapsed on the spot. Pristin raised her trembling head and looked at Countess Lamont hanging in the air.
And after a while, she lost consciousness.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
When Pristin came to her senses again, she saw the worried faces of the servants. Everyone was wearing black clothes.
Pristin instinctively realized that the last sight she had seen was not a lie. Hot tears flowed down Pristin’s cheeks as she laid on the bed.
The fact that she understood her mother’s decision was very sad to her now. The torture of being dragged away without knowing why, the deathbed of a mother who could no longer hold on, and the daughter who disappeared as soon as she returned. Everything was an extremely harsh situation for the delicate Joanna.
So Pristin understood her but was extremely distressed. Pristin had one more misfortune added to all the misfortunes that Joanna had experienced: her mother’s suicide.
“Lady, the master…!”
And not long after, Pristin’s father also passed away. Pristin looked at her father lying in the coffin with eyes filled with despair. Her father, who had collapsed in front of her mother’s grave after drinking poison, looked happy.
Pristin sat down on the spot with her face covered with an expression as if she was about to collapse at any moment. After her mother, her father also left her.
Pristin was completely alone.
The family quickly fell. No, in fact, they had been showing signs of decline ever since she and her parents were taken to the imperial palace, but the decline was accelerated by their deaths.
There was no way that Pristin, now an adult, could prevent the collapse of the once-great family.
In the end, only Lamont Castle remained for Pristin.
However, Pristin disposed of the castle and moved to the countryside.
In her heart, she wanted to leave Limburg, where only terrible memories remained, and go to Perk, where her maternal family was. In fact, Countess Gremlyn also suggested doing the same.
But Pristin could not leave Limburg.
‘Christine.’
She might be alive. It may be a vain hope. But Pristin believed that she was definitely alive somewhere. And she believed that they would meet someday. That was why she had to remain in Limburg.
After asking Countess Gremlyn to help her search for Christine in the Perk Empire, Pristin used the money from the castle to put out a missing person’s leaflet looking for Christine.
Pristin spent almost all of her money on finding Christine. It was a problem because it didn’t return any results, but Pristin thought it wasn’t a waste of the money at all.
‘I lived like that and met the princess.’
Pristin, who was quietly reminiscing about the events of the past two years, looked at her parents’ gravesite with a sad face.
She knew. It wasn’t Jerald’s fault that her parents died.
Although everything started because of the ring he gave her, it wasn’t something he had planned, and it was just an accidental misfortune.
Nevertheless, the reason she could not accept Jerald carelessly was probably because of guilt. Even though she still loved him, she felt like if she admitted this feeling and lived happily with him, her parents, who tragically ended their lives, would continue to be trampled on in her heart.
Because she felt like she didn’t deserve to be happy. When she thought of her younger sister who was missing and whose fate she didn’t know, she didn’t think she should do that.
“Am I being too foolish, Mother?”
Pristin remembered Jerald’s face as he desperately searched for her after waking up. She also remembered the tragic childhood story she heard about from him not long ago.
Somehow… she couldn’t let him go. It seemed impossible to push away those tender, sorrowful hands so mercilessly.
“Ah…”
Pristin closed her eyes with a pained expression. She thought she would feel more calm and organized after seeing her parents, but instead, she only became more confused.
Tears welled up in Pristin’s eyes and began to fall.
Despite all the emotions that tormented her, she loved Jerald. Pristin finally had no choice but to admit it.
So much so that she thought that if she let him go like she first promised, the rest of her life would be unhappy.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Pristin immediately returned to the imperial palace.
By the time she arrived at the imperial palace after a day and night, the sun had already set and everything was dark. In the middle of the night, Pristin began walking silently through the dark imperial palace. It was very quiet around here, with no one around, so only her footsteps could be heard.
‘…My head hurts.’
Throughout the carriage ride, Pristin felt a headache as if someone was stabbing her head with a needle. It was because she couldn’t figure out what to do. It would be nice if someone could give a clear answer to her problem, but Pristin knew that in the end, she was the only one who could solve this problem.
It was when she was returning to Camer Palace, unable to hide her complicated expression.
“Ah…!”
Someone suddenly came from behind and covered her eyes. When Pristin’s vision was suddenly blocked, her bewildered body froze. It was when Pristin was thinking about what to do.
“Shh.”
At the sound of a small voice whispering behind her ear, Pristin’s tense body quickly relaxed. It was because she recognized whose voice it was.
Pristin slowly opened her lips and called out to the man.
“Your Majesty, what on earth is this…”
“Oh no. Did you realize?”
When he lowered his hand, she turned around and saw Jerald looking at her with a mischievous smile. The moment she saw that, her heart went numb again.
She always made herself sad. Even when she thought of her parents, and when she thought of him.
Pristin’s eyes quickly heated up. Thinking that it was so fortunate that it was night, Pristin swallowed dry saliva. She didn’t want him to know that she felt like she was going to cry at any moment.
“How did you know about this place?”
“I received a report that there was a carriage passing through the palace gates this late at night.”
Jerald said, looking at Pristin with affectionate eyes.
“I knew right away who it was. Unless it’s a thief, there’s only one person.”
Pristin was momentarily touched by his words. However, wanting to hide such emotions, she deliberately changed the subject.
“…Are you feeling okay?”
“Of course. Don’t you think you’re underestimating me?”
Jerald glanced at Pristin without annoyance, as if he was disappointed. Then, he asked her nonchalantly.
“Did you have a good meeting with your parents?”
It was a question that he had every right to ask, but it felt a bit awkward for Pristin. She flinched for a moment but soon answered nonchalantly.
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
As Pristin gazed at Jerald’s face, she didn’t want to imagine what expression he would have if he learned that all her tragedies began with the ring he gave her.
She planned to keep it a secret until her death. No matter what happened to her relationship with him in the future.
“Thank you for allowing the carriage.”
“Of course. They are your parents, after all. We should show the utmost respect.”
“…”
“Besides, I’ve taken care of your sister’s matters as well, so you don’t need to worry too much.”
“…Thank you.”
“It’s nothing. You must have had a tough journey. Go and rest now.”
Pristin was moved to tears without realizing it by the warm words. Pristin nodded, pulling up the corners of her mouth. Then, she slowly bowed down and turned her back on him.
As Pristin walked to Camer Palace, she came to a conclusion. Let’s not think about it painfully anymore. Just act as her emotions dictate, regardless of the outcome.
‘Maybe that’s the way to make the situation better.’
All she hoped for was that this decision would bring her some peace of mind.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
After that, time passed quickly, and summer was just around the corner.
“Will His Majesty go to Itidian this summer?”
“I hope so. I heard that Itidian’s summer palace is so pretty.”
“How cool would it be to spend the summer there? I heard there’s an ocean near the palace?”
The empress candidates were busy expressing their expectations for the coming summer.
The Limburg royal family visited the Itidian Summer Palace for summer vacation, and it was famous for its beautiful surroundings as well as the palace. As a result, the hunting competition held in Itidian every summer was one of the events that all nobles were looking forward to participating in.
“We’ll definitely go too, right?”
“Of course. We’re candidates for the empress.”
“But is the countess going too?”
Pristin, who was quietly drinking tea, was momentarily taken aback by the unexpected question. But soon she answered casually.
“I do not know. If Her Highness wishes, I may go, but I’m not sensitive to the heat, and I won’t have to go.”
“Come with us, Countess, what a beautiful place the summer palace of Itidian is.”
“That’s right. You should go to the sea and dip your toes at least once. Even three days and nights cannot describe how beautiful the sea of Itidian is.”
“I don’t even like water that much…”
“The forest is also a wonderful place. Do you think there will be a hunting competition there every summer?”
Pristin was momentarily taken aback by the unexpectedly friendly attitude shown by the empress candidates. Although she had been receiving friendly treatment from the empress candidates since she revealed Tanya’s evil deeds last time, she did not expect it to be to this extent.
She looked thoughtful for a moment and then answered with a faint smile.
“I think I’ll be bored if I’m left alone in the capital.”
“Right? So let’s go together. Her Highness will be sad, too.”
“Thanks for saying that. Actually, I think it’s inappropriate for me to go…”
“No way. On the contrary, there is someone else I don’t want to go.”
It was obvious who it was even if you didn’t call them by name.
