The moment Kai discovered the small white hand buried in the dirt pile, his eyes rolled back. A terrible pain that made breathing impossible pierced his heart. It felt like all the blood in his body was flowing backward.

“No. No…”

With trembling hands, Kai grabbed the hand sticking out while frantically digging the ground with his other hand.

He couldn’t let go of the hand for fear it might disappear back into the ground. The delicate fingers he touched felt too cold, and the hand he held showed no movement at all, causing Kai’s mind to repeatedly blank like a sheet of white paper.

Every breath tore at his chest. Self-loathing for letting her slip away right before his eyes and guilt for failing to protect her gnawed at Kai’s entire body every second.

Harman, who was digging beside him, also started digging frantically after seeing the white hand protruding from the soil.

Though his fingertips were scraped and wounded by the rough soil, he couldn’t feel the pain. He would gladly take a hundred, a thousand such wounds if only this scene unfolding before him would turn out to be a dream.

“Who could have! How could this happen…”

No matter how much he thought about it, Princess Stella couldn’t possibly be buried in the ground like this.

Harman dug frantically with both hands, not even thinking to wipe away his endless tears.

Being buried in the ground like this meant Princess Stella was already dead, so Harman felt everything going dark even as he kept digging.

He worried about how the emperor would change from now on, but his heartache for Princess Stella was no less.

The people digging with the two gradually stood up one by one, sensing the ominous atmosphere. An instinctive fear told them that staying near the emperor now could mean death.

Rudina and Milla, who had come down due to the unusual atmosphere in the garden, slowly approached where people gathered in a circle.

Then they collapsed on the spot upon glimpsing the white arm between people’s legs. The blue bracelet she had given as a birthday gift hung precariously on the thin wrist.

All strength instantly left their bodies, making it impossible to stand.

“No! Please… Please…”

Rudina crawled forward begging again and again, not even knowing who she was begging to.

As they got closer to the people, they could see the emperor frantically digging up the ground. The emperor digging madly with his bare hands without a shovel already seemed out of his mind.

“Your Majesty, let us…”

“Move aside. Before I kill you.”

People tried several times to make Kai stand up, but each time met with a deadly warning. In the end, no one but Kai and Harman could dig the ground.

Rudina sobbed while shaking her head at the unbelievable reality.

“This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening… This is too unfair.”

Milla, who had followed behind Rudina, lifted her sister up and held her tight. Rudina’s gaze wouldn’t leave Stella, who gradually emerged from the soil.

The more the lifeless white arm revealed itself, the more Rudina fell apart.

Now Princess Stella’s head started to show. Rudina collapsed wailing, and Milla held her sister tight while sobbing.

If only they could find out who did such a horrible thing, they would want to return the same, no, even greater pain to that person even at the risk of their own lives.

The Princess Stella that Milla knew had never once harmed or slandered others.

She simply loved farming despite it not befitting her status, enjoyed going to the market, and was a kind person who received abundant love from small and mysterious beings invisible to ordinary people’s eyes.

If someone had buried Princess Stella during the night, there should have been traces of digging in the garden. But she would swear there was nowhere in the garden that showed signs of being dug up or soil that was darker than other areas.

After all the hardships she had endured to come this far, just when she was finally about to start a happy life with the person she loved after enduring those harsh days, they couldn’t let the princess go in such a futile way.

Rudina and Milla prayed again and again that all this would turn out to be a nightmare.

“Sob sob, Princess! Princess Stella!”

“Oh my, what are we to do about this, our poor princess, what are we to do.”

“Ugh, uuugh.”

The sounds of Darren, Lianne, and Brynn who had run out from the castle wailing could be heard. Rudina, who had been crying in a daze, suddenly turned her body and ran into Verdura Castle.

In her hurry, she stepped on her dress hem and fell, but Rudina got up immediately after her palms touched the ground and ran frantically.

“Rudina!”

Milla chased after her sister who ran somewhere, seemingly losing her mind like the emperor. She felt she might never see her sister again if she let her go alone like this. James, who brushed past Milla, lifted Rudina up in his arms.

“What!”

Rudina, trapped in James’s arms against her will, shouted in an angry voice. Her whites appeared bloodshot with burst blood vessels from how much she had struggled and grieved.

“You’re going to the underground storage, right? I’ll take you there.”

As James answered, he jumped down the stairs all at once while holding Rudina. Having arrived at the storage in an instant thanks to James before she could even be surprised, Rudina flung open the underground door and went inside.

She had neither time nor presence of mind to thank James. James watched sadly as Rudina stumbled into the storage like someone who had lost her mind.

The cries of earth fairies echoed from all over Verdura Castle. Though it had been like heaven, joyful and happy until just yesterday, it seemed to have turned into hell overnight.

A fresh smell characteristic of crops wafted through the cool underground storage. Rudina frantically searched through the storage before spotting boxes stacked on one side and hurriedly running over to open the lid.

It was a box storing the Wisdom Herb. As soon as the box opened, the characteristic bitter smell of the Wisdom Herb spread through the storage.

Just from smelling the Wisdom Herb, Rudina felt strength returning to her legs. With this level of efficacy, she thought it might save the princess.

Rudina carried the heavy box out of the storage. James quickly approached and took the box Rudina was holding with one hand.

“I’ll carry it.”

James said in a heavily cracked voice while looking down at Rudina. Rudina nodded like someone in a daze before noticing Milla standing in front of the storage, panting. She seemed to have just arrived at the underground storage.

“Rudina.”

Milla’s face was a mess with tears. Rudina went to Milla and grabbed her hand tightly before speaking rapidly like a machine gun.

A fanatical hope gleamed in Rudina’s eyes that had been filled with only despair until just moments ago.

“Sister, we can save the princess with this. Let’s hurry up. Princess Stella can’t die like this. This absolutely can’t be. This shouldn’t happen.”

“Rudina.”

Though the Wisdom Herb could reattach severed limbs, it couldn’t bring back the dead. Just as she was thinking about how to persuade Rudina…

“Kyaaaaaah!”

“Aaaaagh!”

At the sudden screams, the three people started running up the stairs together. James, carrying the box, ran up in an instant and disappeared from sight.

Though Milla and Rudina ran up the stairs as fast as they could, whether because of the screams or what had happened that morning, they had no strength in their legs and couldn’t move as fast as they wanted.

The two people who barely made it to the garden stopped in their tracks, speechless at the scene unfolding before their eyes.

“What, what is that?”

A woman with a blood-covered face ran through the crowd of people, biting people to death indiscriminately.

The woman, thin as a scarecrow, somehow possessed incredible strength – anyone who bumped into her or was caught by her fell to the ground bloodied without even being able to resist.

In the sky, a flock of pigeons and a giant white eagle attacked the woman relentlessly. Earth spirits that had appeared from nowhere filled the garden and charged at Bella and the flock of pigeons as they descended to the ground.

Despite the relentless attacks, the woman seemed completely unaffected. Rather, Bella and the flock of pigeons attacking her gradually began losing strength and drooping.

Even in this chaos, the emperor didn’t stop digging, and the shadows formed a circle around him to protect him while slaughtering any earth spirits that approached.

As they looked around wondering who to help first, over ten earth spirits charged at Rudina and Milla at once.

Before the two could swing their swords at the earth spirits jumping up from the ground, James blocked their path and swept away over ten earth spirits at once with his arm before stomping on and biting the remaining ones.

James had already transformed to look more wolf than human.

James, who had already grown quite large, barely fit into Darren’s clothes, and as he transformed into a wolf and grew several times larger, his upper clothes tore to shreds.

“Grrrrrrrr!”

James raised his gray fur all over his body like a hedgehog while biting, striking with his arms, and crushing with his feet any earth spirits that charged at Rudina and Milla.

The earth spirits that had jumped up yelping flew in all directions, struck down mercilessly by James’s hands and feet.

Rudina stared blankly at James’s back as he firmly blocked her view before turning toward where the emperor was.

The emperor pulled Princess Stella, whose upper body was now exposed, out of the ground. Meanwhile, an earth spirit that the shadows failed to block leaped up and bit hard into the emperor’s shoulder.

But the emperor holding Stella only flinched momentarily without letting go of her in his arms. Harman, who was nearby, struck the earth spirit as hard as he could with the stick he was holding.

The earth spirit that had been biting the emperor’s shoulder with sharp teeth flew far away in an arc with clothes and flesh filling its mouth.

“Your Majesty!”

Harman was at a loss seeing Kai’s shoulder streaming with blood. But Kai’s eyes focused only on Stella.

Stella, just pulled from the ground, lay completely limp with no strength in her body.

“Stella, no! Please… Please open your eyes.”

They could see the emperor holding Princess Stella’s body tight and wailing.

Though screams filled the air and blood flew everywhere, Rudina walked slowly toward where the emperor held Princess Stella, seemingly detached from the chaos around her.

In her hand was a bundle of Wisdom Herb precariously held from the box.

As Rudina approached, the shadows fighting earth spirits nearby quickly brought her inside the circle they had formed.

She arrived without a hair on her head harmed, thanks to the werewolf who madly killed earth spirits along her path.

The shadows looked with awe at the werewolf who until just moments ago had been a handsome young man. The werewolf single-handedly did the work of ten shadows.

“Princess.”

Rudina called out to Stella as she collapsed in front of her lying limp with closed eyes. But Stella showed no movement at all. With even her lips turned blue, Stella appeared dead to anyone who saw her.

“…Your Majesty. Give this to the princess.”

Rudina held out the Wisdom Herb leaves she had brought in front of Kai. Her hand holding the Wisdom Herb trembled like someone standing alone in a winter field.

Kai, who had been crying with empty eyes while holding Stella, looked at the Wisdom Herb Rudina held out for a moment before taking it from her and stuffing it all into his mouth at once.

Rudina, who had brought the Wisdom Herb for the princess, felt angry at the emperor’s sudden action before realizing what he was trying to do and quietly waited.

Kai chewed the raw Wisdom Herb and pushed it into Stella’s mouth. Thanks to the Wisdom Herb, they could see the chunk of flesh torn from Kai’s shoulder rapidly healing.

Rudina felt hope that had almost disappeared creeping back up as she watched the scene that seemed impossible even while witnessing it. That’s when…

“Kai.”

A kind and friendly voice calling Kai sounded nearby.

Kai, who had been chewing the Wisdom Herb and pushing it into Stella’s mouth several times, passed Stella into Rudina’s arms before slowly standing up and turning his head. His eyes blazed with anger beyond words.

“Kai, my son.”

The woman who had been attacking people indiscriminately approached Kai with her arms spread wide. Though her face had clearly been covered in blood just moments ago, it now looked clean, like nothing had happened.

Even her eyes that had been streaming with blood now sparkled with clear pupils.

Shing!

Kai, who hadn’t drawn his sword while holding Stella, pulled out the longsword at his waist and pointed it at the approaching woman. The shadows also raised their swords toward her with tense expressions.

Though she was just a thin woman, the shadows unconsciously shrank back from the murderous intent and sinister energy she emanated.

Despite Kai and the shadows pointing their swords ready to attack at any moment, the woman’s expression remained peaceful, seemingly unconcerned. She approached Kai slowly with a leisurely smile on her face.

As the distance between Kai and the woman grew closer, the earth spirits suddenly stopped their frenzied attacks and vanished in an instant. They disappeared in the blink of an eye, suggesting they had deliberately caused the commotion for this moment.

Groans echoed here and there from people who had been attacked by earth spirits, shadows who were injured fighting them, and fallen earth fairies.

Those who weren’t injured quickly helped up their companions and carried the wounded earth fairies into Verdura Castle.

The tragedy that occurred in the imperial palace spread rapidly throughout the capital in just one day.

Crot, who had been absorbed in medicinal herb research thinking everything was going well, rushed into the imperial palace immediately upon hearing news of Princess Stella’s disappearance, abandoning what he was doing, and Prindella also remained at the palace anxiously.

Melissa, who had entered the palace with her subordinates after changing clothes, also rushed to Verdura Castle upon hearing the news.

As soon as she arrived at Verdura, Melissa ran into the garden and attacked the earth spirits indiscriminately, leaving her bewildered subordinates who couldn’t see anything behind.

“What is the Marchioness doing?”

“Y-yeah. But others are the same, aren’t they? Aren’t those the emperor’s shadows?”

“Are they all cursed or something?”

Melissa’s subordinates watched in shock as Melissa and the shadows fought invisible enemies with all their might while standing outside the castle. There were too many injured for it to be just fighting imaginary enemies.

Moreover, Melissa’s subordinates felt terrified watching flesh being torn off right before their eyes and seeing fallen people’s skin being ripped off in real time.

If they could at least see the enemy they could fight together, but no matter how hard they looked, they couldn’t see any enemies.

Melissa, who had been running toward Kai through the earth spirits, stopped her advance due to the suddenly vanished earth spirits and looked around. The garden overflowed with patients everywhere.

But what caught Melissa’s attention was a woman approaching Kai with dignity.

“Who is she?”

Though terribly thin and shabbily dressed, she looked somehow familiar. Melissa approached Kai and the woman slowly while watching her with unwavering vigilance.

Then she discovered Stella lying like a corpse covered in dirt inside the barrier made by the shadows.

Fire blazed in Melissa’s eyes.

“I’ll kill them all.”

Stella was her first female friend she had opened her heart to. Though she should have hated her to death, strangely she felt drawn to her. She was her lifesaver and someone she wanted to stay beside for a long time.

Stella was the first person to capture Melissa’s heart so quickly. Since even Kai wasn’t entirely likeable from the start, Stella couldn’t help but be special to Melissa.

Melissa carefully examined the woman approaching Kai with eyes rippling with anger. Though she wasn’t carrying any weapons, she seemed more dangerous than anyone here.

The murderous intent she emanated wasn’t something that could come from a human. Having faced various enemies on countless battlefields, Melissa felt certain she was a demon wearing human skin.

“Stop right there!”

Melissa shouted at the woman first. But the woman approaching Kai neither stopped walking nor turned her head toward Melissa.

“I said stop right there!”

Melissa swung her sword hard at the woman. Though she couldn’t tell exactly what kind of being she was, she seemed certain to endanger Kai, Stella, and everyone here.

Whoosh!

Melissa’s sword sliced through the woman’s hair. Though she had planned to cut her neck, the woman avoided it in the blink of an eye and also lightly dodged Melissa’s sword.

As the silky hair fell to the ground with a thud, only then did the woman slowly turn her head toward Melissa.

“Y-you are…”

Melissa recognized the woman instantly. After all, Melissa had seen the empress’s portraits almost as much as Kai had.

“Hello, Melissa.”

Lily greeted Melissa kindly.

“Who are you?”

Melissa could not forgive this woman who dared wear the face of the late empress. The emperor and Kai had suffered so much because of the suddenly disappeared empress…

Now it seemed these wretched earth spirits were behind that horrible incident.

At Melissa’s question, the woman gradually stretched her rounded lips longer before suddenly splitting her mouth up to her ears and lunging at Melissa with mouth wide open.

“Where do you think you’re biting!”

Melissa quickly dodged to the side, and the woman changed direction to lunge at her again. The shadows watching nearby surrounded Melissa and the woman in a circle, ready to attack at any moment.

Every time Melissa swung her sword, chunks of the woman’s hair and clothes were cut off.

“Kai! Help mother! Melissa is attacking me. I only came because I wanted to see you.”

The woman called out to Kai in an emotional voice while smiling brightly and dodging Melissa’s sword. Melissa felt rage threatening to overwhelm her.

“How dare you speak the emperor’s name with your filthy mouth!”

This woman was surely the one who had done that to Stella too. Melissa swung her sword with all her might at the woman pretending to be the empress. Melissa moved so fast the shadows could barely follow her with their eyes.

At this rate, it seemed only a matter of time before she would cut down this woman of unknown identity.

“Die!”

Melissa used a nearby wooden pillar as a foothold to run up before jumping with all her might. She could see Kai running over to help.

Melissa wanted to kill this woman with her own hands for Kai and Stella.

Melissa’s sword flashed in the sunlight. It happened so suddenly that it seemed no one could avoid it. Everyone nearby thought it was over. But…

“Ugh!”

The one lying bleeding was not the woman but Marchioness Melissa. Melissa rolled onto the ground with a hole in her abdomen.

The woman threw her head back and cackled like a child who had seen something amusing. The eardrum-scraping laughter sounded so creepy and horrible that everyone nearby covered their ears.

The woman who had been laughing convulsively for a moment suddenly stretched out her one remaining arm and grabbed Melissa’s neck tightly.

“Marchioness!”

“Melissa!”

That’s when Kai swung his sword and cut off the woman’s arm that was gripping Melissa’s neck. The withered arm fell ungracefully to the ground.

Not a single drop of blood fell from the severed arm.

The woman looked at the fallen arm in dismay before raising her head to look at Kai and speaking with great disappointment.

“Kai, my child. How could you do this to your mother? I came all this long way just to see you. I came with these horrible things just to see you alone.”

The woman with Lily’s face looked truly sad.

“Shut up.”

Kai pointed his sword at the woman.

“Kai. I didn’t mean to leave you like that. My poor child.”

The woman’s voice was emotional. Kai unconsciously took a step back. The woman with his mother’s face even had the exact same voice as his mother.

“I came like this to live with you. So forgive mother now. I never wanted to leave you. It was something I had to choose to save you.”

The woman drew closer and closer to Kai. The shadows who were ready to attack at any moment watched the emperor anxiously as he silently listened to the woman’s words.

Though anyone could see she wasn’t the empress, they couldn’t help but feel anxious seeing the emperor’s confused expression. But they couldn’t recklessly attack a woman wearing the dead empress’s face without the emperor’s orders.

“Kai, come here. Mother will stay by your side now. I won’t leave you no matter what anyone says.”

The woman approached Kai with her arms spread. The arm that Kai had cut off was already starting to crumble into pieces.

“Your Majesty!”

Harman’s urgent voice sounded from behind. But Kai only stared intently at the woman without swinging his sword anymore.

A satisfied smile gradually spread across the woman’s face. The unknown energy she emitted approached Kai like a heat haze.

The woman now stood close enough to touch Kai if she reached out her arm.

“My baby. You’ve grown up so well.”

Lily gently smiled and stroked Kai’s face. It was a tender touch like caressing a long-missed lover.

“Mother.”

Kai called out to his mother in a sad voice as he looked at the face he had longed for so long. The woman smiled with satisfaction and answered.

“Yes, my son. Mother is here now, so don’t worry.”

But in an instant, Kai’s expression turned cold.

“It was you.”

“What?”

Just as the woman sensed something was wrong and tried to step back. But she couldn’t move. Because Kai’s sword had pierced straight through her abdomen.

The woman looked down blankly at her stomach before looking up at Kai with a deeply hurt expression.

“How could you do this to your mother?”

Kai pulled out his sword and put it to the neck of the woman who was still pretending to be his mother. Though the sword had pierced through her abdomen, not a single drop of blood stained Kai’s sword.

Only rotted innards and withered flesh stuck to the sword like pieces of garbage.

“Shut up.”

Just as Kai was about to slash the woman’s throat…

“Huk!”

Kai suddenly gasped and dropped the sword he was holding. Kai’s face grew increasingly flushed, and blood vessels in his white pupils began bursting and turning red in real time.

“Your Majesty!”

The startled shadows rushed to attack the woman but like Kai, they dropped their swords one by one, unable to do anything, appearing choked by an invisible force.

The woman looked around with satisfaction and continued speaking with a smirk.

“You should have acted like a good son when I gave you the chance. Then Stella would have been in your arms at the right time.”

The woman smiled kindly and stroked Kai’s face.

“Though I want to tear your neck right now, I need something from you first. But before that, I should take that body.”

The woman’s gaze turned back to Stella surrounded by shadows. Stella’s face was still pale as she lay limp like a corpse.

As the woman slowly approached Stella, the shadows surrounding them were thrown outside, seemingly bound by something invisible.

The woman suddenly squatted in front of Stella like a girl admiring pretty flowers.

“No!”

Rudina rushed forward and pushed the woman hard but it had no effect. Rather, Rudina, who had touched the woman, was thrown far back. Rudina lost consciousness after hitting her head hard on a rock on the ground.

“Finally, I’ll have this body.”

Just as the woman brought her mouth close to Stella’s face, Stella, who had been lying limp, seemingly dead until then, suddenly opened her eyes and slashed the woman’s neck hard with the blood sword she had been holding.

Where the blood sword that glowed brightly like a pickaxe passed, a clean line appeared, cutting through her neck like a knife through soft bread.

At the same time, earth fairies that jumped up from all around forcefully separated the woman’s head from her body. The next moment, a small round light floated up from Stella’s palm. It was the gift that Uhu had left.

Stella grabbed the round light and pushed it into the severed woman’s mouth.