Belinda stammered as she began to speak.

“So, as I mentioned before……”

‘What was I about to do?’

She had almost put her uncle in a difficult position. She knew that in the royal palace, even walls had ears and eyes.

Belinda clasped her hands in front of her and mercilessly stabbed the heart of her friend who had lost his mother just days ago.

“There is nothing between His Highness and me.”

“……I see. I made a mistake, my lady. Thank you for coming to my mother’s funeral.”

Mikhail said this with a smile.

Because he didn’t cry, Belinda cried secretly in his place.

A few weeks later, her birthday came, but the gloomy mood wouldn’t easily dissipate.

Even the pile of presents stacked high by her bedside couldn’t make her smile.

Mikhail’s smiling face kept coming to mind.

Belinda changed her clothes dejectedly and went down to the banquet hall for breakfast. And then…

“Bell, happy birthday.”

“Uncle?”

“Why does today’s protagonist have such a sullen face?”

“Even big brother… What about your classes?”

Not only was her uncle there, but Sybel, who should have been at the academy, was also present.

“Well, I thought it would be fine to, ahem, play hooky for just one day.”

“I also thought it would be fine to, ahem, spend just one day with you, Bell.”

A meal too extravagant for breakfast was laid out, and gifts from Sybel and her uncle were placed on the table.

Sybel’s gift was the toy tiara that Belinda’s gaze had lingered on the longest when they were sightseeing at the festival.

It wasn’t a crude and rough iron model, but one finished with silver and adorned with real jewels, looking fit for a queen of a country to wear.

In contrast, her uncle’s gift, which seemed modest, was a ruby pendant.

“I got it because it resembles the color of your hair.”

Her uncle’s gaze briefly turned towards the tiara.

The tiara, catching the sunlight, shone as brightly as a light source.

Belinda wore the tiara askew and examined her uncle’s gift.

As she fiddled with the engraving on the back that read ‘To my precious Bell’, the pendant’s seam opened, revealing it to be like a locket.

Looking inside, Belinda was left speechless.

“……”

“Even though it looks like that, it’s the work of Mr. Servator, the kingdom’s finest jeweler. The portrait inside was commissioned with great difficulty from a court painter I managed to contact……”

Uncle hurriedly added, perhaps anxious after seeing Belinda’s reaction.

Inside the locket were portraits of her father and mother.

Not with the overbearing expressions from the portraits decorating the mansion’s corridors, but with gentle smiles as if they might call out “Bell” at any moment.

Uncle said he chose the ruby because it resembled her hair color, but upon reflection, none of them had hair that wasn’t red.

That’s why she liked it even more.

As if the jewel proved the bond and immortality of this relationship.

“I chose my family over Mikha, and there’s no reason for Mikha to apologize for that choice.”

So, this is the reward for my choice. It was this sweet.

“I love it.”

For the first time, Mikhail’s smile became blurry in her mind.

Belinda tightly clutched the ruby pendant as if it were precious.

Eventually, along with a ringing in her ears, her vision gradually darkened, and then…

 A system window appeared on the pitch-black screen.

* * *

Clunk.

The carriage shook greatly, as if the wheel had hit a bump.

With that jolt, I opened my eyes, and Leo in my arms also stirred slightly.

I could feel the soft material of the ribbon rustling in my hand.

As if tidying the child’s disheveled hair, meaning to sleep more, I stroked it gently before turning my gaze to the window.

In the distance, the brightly lit Blanche mansion floated alone in the darkness like a lighthouse on a remote island.

The Blanche mansion, which was merely a stopover for me, looked so comfortable probably because of Belinda’s memory I had just seen.

It’s as if the image of young Belinda smiling as she celebrated her birthday with her new family is etched on the inside of my eyelids.

Every time I blink, that afterimage appears, making even me, who is not Belinda, feel as happy as if I owned the whole world.

Yet reality is so harsh and sharp as a dagger.

‘It was Uncle who gifted the seal stone.’

My heart ached at the terrible truth.

‘I mustn’t be swayed by Belinda’s memories.’

I tightly closed my eyes to erase the lingering images of the memory.

“Lady Belinda…?”

Leo, who had somehow slipped out of my arms, and Sir Penadel across from me were both looking at me.

Only then did I realize I was gripping the pendant tightly as if strangling myself.

“Lady Belinda… don’t you want to return to the mansion?”

Leo asked cautiously.

‘Why such a question….’

Looking at the child’s eyes trembling with anxiety and worry, I suddenly realized.

Leo knew.

Who had attempted to kidnap him.

My heart sank, knowing I’d exposed this child to the world’s darker side.

It’s not enough to show the image of a loving, caring family.

I opened my mouth self-deprecatingly, as if talking to the dry-faced Belinda reflected in the window.

“We can’t choose our family, you know. That’s why sometimes… there are families worse than having none at all.”

Both Belinda and I were just unlucky.

Yes, just unlucky.

“It’s quite cold today.”

Despite my earlier boast about adaptability to Sir Penadel, I gestured to Leo, using the cold as an excuse.

“They say a child’s body temperature is higher than an adult’s. Come here, Ratchet.”

With a face that looked like he might cry at any moment, Leo carefully snuggled into my arms.

It’s as if I’m holding a small sun.

The little warmth in my arms completely filled the pit I felt in my chest.

As I patted the child’s back, I turned my gaze back to the window.

A night with thick dark clouds.

It was indeed a perfect night for monsters to run wild.

* * *

Crash.

The crystal glass thrown against the wall shattered into pieces.

Although several hundred years’ worth of heirlooms decorating the family head’s office were all soaked in strong liquor, Sybel didn’t stop there and swept everything on the office desk onto the floor.

Even so, his anger wasn’t quelled at all.

“Those pig-like bastards. After all the money Father has fed them, they’re backing out now!”

He had been carefully bribing high-ranking officials to secure a position in the judiciary, following in his father’s footsteps.

Belinda’s political marriage was one of those bribes.

Maintaining a moderate level of friendship with the families who contacted him in pursuit of Belinda’s dowry and giving them some leeway.

There was a lot to be gained from that alone.

 And at the right time, he would kill Belinda and embezzle the dowry to a welfare business under the prince’s name and give half of it to the prince.

As the young prince grew older, the full-scale fight for the throne was accelerating.

In the future, a lot of money would be needed to make the prince king, and he planned to fill it with Belinda’s dowry.

He had already asked the queen to meet him privately and finished talking about it!

“Viscount, is that rumor true? Forming ties with Baluasten.”

“Ahem, I’m sorry, but we’ll consider that previous deal as if it never happened. You should blame yourself for trying to hide such an important decision until the end.”

“How thick-skinned. Just how long were you planning to keep it a secret?”

With Belinda’s confession, Sybel’s grand plan had all become a sandcastle swept away by the waves.

Far from securing a high-ranking position for future plans, even obtaining an entry-level seat right now became uncertain.

‘To think she would consider forming ties with the North.’

This wasn’t like Belinda.

Walking into that barren North of her own accord.

“Unless she’s gone mad, that woman wouldn’t make such a choice.”

Is this how it feels to discover that the chess piece you thought you held in your hand had slipped away without you noticing?

Moreover, when he came to his senses, he found that the pawn, who was merely a foot soldier, had somehow become a queen, daring to threaten his own camp.

What Sybel couldn’t understand was what had changed Belinda, who was merely a pawn.

When did she change?

As Sybel puffed on his strong lit cigar, recollecting his memories for a while, his eyes suddenly gleamed maliciously.

“Right, it’s been a while since we took in that brat.”

But as it turned out, that boy wasn’t just a mere weakness.

He was the detonator that could grip and shake everything about Belinda.

“Ha.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at her dullness.

To think she would create something precious with her own hands once again.

“Well, she always did like playing house since before.”

Sybel straightened his back and roughly stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray.

A rough plan formed in his mind.

Trying to kidnap Belinda’s servant was a kind of warning and threat, just like when they sent the crow.

‘Those fools, even with the guards I provided, they couldn’t manage to kidnap a single child properly.’

Next time, they had to properly kidnap Belinda’s servant to gain leverage over her.

Sybel was just rising from his seat to call for his aide when—

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The calm knocking sound broke the frosty silence of midwinter.

Sybel turned irritably towards the door.

However, the sound wasn’t coming from the door.

Sybel’s head slowly turned towards the window.

In front of the glass window of his office, located on the third floor of the mansion, sat a raven with blood-red eyes, as silent and ominous as the beginning of a sinister tale.