141. An Ominous Foreboding

“Understood.”

With a reluctant expression, Larael followed the Empress Dowager into the main palace’s reception room. Herwen, who had been at her side, did not follow. Perhaps he feared that Larael might mention Berser.

Once inside, with only the two of them left alone, the Empress Dowager dropped heavily onto the sofa and glared openly at Larael.

“What were you scheming behind my back again? Do you still have something left hidden?”

“Pardon?”

“You look as though you prepared quite a lot. Surely it doesn’t end with just this? If you’ve more, then lay it all out at once. Don’t slyly reveal things one by one.”

“Even if I do, why should I?”

“I see… You must be under the illusion that you’re clever. You’ll soon learn just how arrogant your thoughts have been. Watch carefully. You’ll come to understand the true power the name Anderman carries in this country.”

‘Your Majesty, it hardly seems like the right time to be saving the House of Anderman…’

Larael thought of Herwen, who had stood beside the Empress Dowager earlier, smiling with a chilling expression. The very memory made goosebumps prickle from her toes upward, filling her with revulsion. She forced herself to shake him from her mind.

“If you’ve said all you wished to, may I take my leave? His Majesty is waiting… Then please return safely.”

After casting a deep, steady gaze at the Empress Dowager, Larael left the reception room.

“Ha… Who would be waiting? Edward? That bedridden child? Has she gone mad? Wait… Edward is waiting for her?”

Suddenly, the words Duke Anderman had spoken flashed in the Empress Dowager’s mind. At the time, she had laughed them off as nonsense. But now they resurfaced with striking clarity.

‘What if Edward has already regained consciousness, but is pretending otherwise to watch how events unfold?’

A deep crease formed on her brow. Her hands, which had rested calmly on her dress, began to tremble violently. If everything was Edward’s plan, it was no laughing matter. The Empress Dowager shot to her feet and hurried toward her own quarters.

***

Meanwhile, Count Briznay was transported to the capital as planned. Yet during his arrest and transfer, an unexpected revelation came to light.

When Count Briznay, terrified at being apprehended, saw Marquis Argen—who was overseeing the investigation into the peasant uprising—he assumed he was being seized because of his dealings with Duke Anderman. In his panic, he confessed that he was connected to the murder of the former count.

“There’s a chance this could expose another link to Duke Anderman.”

“We won’t know until we investigate. But no doubt, since the fate of the House of Anderman hangs in the balance, Her Majesty the Empress Dowager will insist on forming an investigative commission made up of her own people, claiming it is all a false charge.”

“That would be disastrous. I was hoping Marquis Argen himself could take the lead.”

Larael intended to propose forming a commission headed by Marquis Argen to the Empress Dowager.

“Your Highness, may I enter for a moment?”

“Yes.”

At Larael’s response, Sasha stepped inside.

“Your Highness, a messenger has come from the main palace. It is said that Her Majesty the Empress Dowager has entered His Majesty the Emperor’s bedchamber. The chamberlain bid me deliver this to you without delay…”

Larael sprang to her feet. The instant she heard those words, a strange, ominous feeling seized her. Her heart pounded violently, and it felt as if an invisible hand were reaching from the abyss to clutch at her feet. Her body grew heavy. She had to get to Edward at once.

With great effort she forced her legs to move and broke into a run. Each step was so heavy it felt as though her feet clung to the floor.

“Your Highness?”

Marquis Argen, startled, watched her race away with a look of shock before quickly following after her. Fortunately, since they were due to return to the main palace together, a carriage was already waiting before Abella Palace.

Before Larael’s maids could even climb aboard, the carriage set off with only Larael and Marquis Argen inside. At Larael’s command, it sped forward at a breakneck pace. The driver’s whip cracks, the rumble of wheels, and the rush of a cold wind all mingled into a foreboding soundscape.

Joy and the rest of Larael’s knights hastily mounted their horses and galloped after the carriage.

“Your Highness, what has happened?”

Marquis Argen asked, breathless. Larael’s crimson eyes, tight with anxiety, darted to the window as she answered.

“I have a bad feeling. It’s just… a feeling.”

It was as though someone had waited deliberately for the moment she returned to Abella Palace before acting. Regardless of how Marquis Argen might interpret her words, Larael had no time to explain further. If her instincts proved to be nothing more than baseless worry, she would consider it a blessing.

Clutching the hem of her dress tightly in both hands, Larael silently repeated a single desperate prayer: ‘Please… please…’

Before the carriage even came to a full stop at the main palace, Larael—ignoring Marquis Argen’s attempt to restrain her—flung open the door and leapt out. She nearly stumbled to the ground but caught her balance and sprinted toward Edward’s bedchamber.

She was uneasy. And she desperately wished, again and again, that this unease would prove unfounded.

In front of Edward’s bedchamber, Trix and the other attendants were gathered with anxious faces. The moment Larael saw them, it felt as though time had stopped—the pounding in her chest and the trembling of her crimson eyes all froze still. She clung to her fading consciousness.

“Trix!!”

Larael shouted his name. She had told him never to leave Edward alone—so why was he standing outside? Her eyes, burning with fury, fixed on him. Trix bowed his head, at a loss.

“I beg your pardon, Your Highness. It was Her Majesty the Empress Dowager…”

Of course, he could not have defied the Empress Dowager’s orders. Larael understood this, yet she could not help resenting him.

“Open the door!!!”

Her cry made the attendants glance nervously at one another. It was the first time they had ever seen her raise her voice like this. They wanted to obey, but the Empress Dowager was inside, and she had ordered that no one be let in until she commanded otherwise. None dared to move.

Seeing them falter, Larael seized the door handle herself and tried to turn it—but it wouldn’t budge. The door had been locked from within. She began twisting the handle madly.

“I’ll take responsibility! Open it, now!”

At her command, Edward’s guards gripped the handle and threw their weight against the door, trying to force it open. But the lock held firm.

“Stand aside.”

Marquis Argen drew the sword of one of the guards standing nearby. Meeting Larael’s gaze, he saw the fear and dread glimmering in her eyes—both genuine, both raw.

He focused all his will into the blade. A faint blue aura flared along its edge. With one powerful swing, he smashed the lock.

The solid door, once so unyielding, gave way without resistance.

Larael shoved it open with both hands and rushed inside.

The Empress Dowager stood beside Edward’s bed, quietly facing the doorway. Her expression was utterly blank as she looked at those entering, and most of all at Larael, who led the way.

“……”

In ordinary times, the Empress Dowager would have instantly screamed for Larael’s arrest and had her thrown into the dungeon for such insolence. Yet now, she said nothing, simply watching Larael with a calm, unnerving composure.

Larael hurried to Edward’s side to check on him. After a moment, the Empress Dowager cast her one last glance, then silently turned away. Anyone familiar with her would have seen at once how strange this was.

Confirming that Edward seemed unharmed, Larael turned to watch her. The Empress Dowager was walking toward the exit, leaving the chamber without a word.

‘She’s just going to leave?’

“Wait!!!”

Larael shouted. The Empress Dowager stopped, glancing back over her shoulder at the insolent consort who had dared raise her voice. Larael strode up beside her.

“……”

Her eyes scanned the Empress Dowager slowly from head to toe before she suddenly snatched at her left hand. The movement was so abrupt and forceful that the Empress Dowager staggered and cried out. At that instant, a small vial tumbled onto the carpet with a dull thud.

The Empress Dowager, too startled by Larael’s outrageous action to even rage at her, bent hastily to scoop up the vial in a panicked rush.

The moment Larael saw it, her vision went white with fury.