Chapter 5: The Truth Revealed (8)

Larie watched the door shut as if it were moving in slow motion.

And when even the chance to speak was taken from her, the tears she had so desperately held back began to fall.

‘Please… help me.’

‘Don’t do anything at all.’

Rainy day’s nightmare was repeating itself.

“……Your Majesty……”

Yes.

In the end, there was nowhere else for Larie to go.

Just like that rainy day—

She had nothing. No one.

From the beginning, the only place she could rely on… was here.

‘Terian Laxtreen.’

It was always you.

‘Larie Tromperie. Your Excellency.’

‘Shall we? ……My lady.’

Even this wretched blood of mine—

You were the only one who still called me “my lady” from the very day of the wedding.

So please.

“……Help me.”

Please, not this time—

Don’t turn away from me.

But like a cruel joke, the hallway was swallowed in darkness.

Just as Larie was about to shatter completely under the weight of despair—

Just now.

As if a lie—

The door swung open.

“Ah……”

Light flooded the dark corridor, chasing away the shadows in an instant.

“Did you ask for help?”

Backlit by the brightness, Terian stood there—

Wearing a face of anguish as he looked directly at her.

Different from that day.

“……Tell me.”

Fate…

was finally trying to return to its rightful place.

***

“My lady?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I’m not sure what it’s about, but…”

It was just as he was absently reviewing meaningless paperwork.

An urgent message had come from the Empress’s Palace.

Larie—

She was on her way here.

He had said she could come to him anytime, had even left that door open.

But now that it was truly happening, Terian felt… afraid.

What could it be?

Had the information that Baron Tromperie was seeking her somehow leaked?

He couldn’t just sit and wait.

He was about to run out and meet her first—

When Larie had already reached the corridor outside his office.

“What brings you here?”

His voice came out stiff, tense.

With her child in her arms, Larie’s face looked desperate.

“M-My… my family… I heard they’re… looking for me.”

“……”

His heart stirred for only a moment.

But once he heard the very thing he feared, Terian’s face hardened.

He clenched his jaw and fell silent.

He couldn’t bear to look into those pleading green eyes any longer.

Because if he did, he’d want to give her everything.

“……Return to your quarters.”

And with that, he turned away—

Closing the door himself.

Even in that final moment, her emerald eyes pierced through him.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty…!”

Her desperate cry sounded cruel to him.

How could someone plead so desperately just to be free of him?

‘Was she not in her chambers?’

‘Found her at the edge of the woods, Your Majesty.’

As if she truly had no feelings for him at all.

“…Your Majesty…”

‘…Terian.’

Even the way she once softly called his name—

Now it all felt like deceit.

The pain that burned in his chest never cooled.

And so, it became something Terian always had to clutch alone,

in silent agony.

So this time, he wouldn’t look away.

Better, perhaps, not to face her—

To be satisfied, as he had been in the Grand Duke’s estate,

with her just being behind the wall.

That had been his conclusion.

And the moment Terian fully stepped back into his office—

Just before the door closed—

Her voice slipped through the crack.

“…Please help me.”

The small plea sounded like the wind brushing through the forest.

A breeze so faint it seemed it wouldn’t even move a single leaf.

But once wind enters the forest, it travels—

from one tree to the next.

Her voice was like that.

Though soft, barely audible—

it echoed in his chest,

and he could hear it rustling everything within him.

‘…Please… help me.’

The nightmare of that rainy day returned.

But the moment that haunted Terian most

was not when they found her soaked clothing,

nor even when the soldiers failed to find her.

It was when she had once come to him, asking for help—

And he had turned her away.

‘Just live like you don’t exist.

Stop bothering me.’

That was his greatest regret.

“Now,”

he turned, almost frantically,

and flung open the door.

“…Ah.”

Sunlight spilled from the window behind him—

illuminating Larie’s face in the darkened corridor.

“Did you ask for help?”

His voice, his heart—

they were both raw.

He felt helpless, unsure what he could even do.

And yet he looked directly at her.

Not like that day.

“…Tell me.”

This time—

he would not look away.

“….”

Larie, startled by his sudden return, blinked up at him.

Even as he clenched his jaw, Terian did not avert his eyes.

He didn’t know what she would say.

But whatever it was—

he had to hear it.

He could not make the same mistake again.

A tear finally fell from her wide open green eyes. To Terian, it felt as if his heart itself had dropped.

But Larie said something incomprehensible.

“Please… don’t let my family come for me.”

“…What did you say?”

It was the complete opposite of what he had braced himself for.

Terian furrowed his brows without realizing it as he looked at Larie. Thinking it was a rejection, her eyes welled up again and fresh tears spilled out.

“Don’t… don’t let them come for me.”

“…”

“Hu… huh…”

With every drop of her tears, Terian felt as if a noose tightened around his throat. He couldn’t even fully process the meaning behind her words—he simply moved toward her without thinking.

Larie, who had been trembling slightly, suddenly staggered.

“Ugh…”

“My lady!”

He caught her frail body instantly. Larie tried to stand again on her own but couldn’t seem to manage it.

She looked as if she’d reached her limit. Swallowing another groan, Terian scooped her up—along with the child in her arms.

“…”

Larie didn’t even have the strength to struggle. Terian was just as confused by the sudden turn of events.

He laid her down urgently on the sofa in the office. Kneeling in front of her, he hesitated, then cautiously spoke.

“The child, just for a moment—”

“No!”

He’d meant to entrust the child to the nursemaid just temporarily, but Larie’s reaction was fierce. Even in her unsteady state, she clung tightly to the child and refused to move.

Her behavior struck him as slightly irrational—enough to make him fearful.

“Summon the palace physician at once!”

At the word “physician,” Larie shrank back again. Seeing that, a cold sweat crept down Terian’s back.

“Just now… what did you mean by that?”

Struggling to find the cause, he finally managed to speak—only for Larie to reach out her hand.

Her pale hand desperately reached out and grasped Terian’s forearm.

“P-please don’t let my family come for us…”

Terian’s throat tightened for another reason altogether.

Suppressing his startled expression, his gaze finally shifted to the child. Even in this state, the boy wasn’t crying—he only clung tightly to his mother’s collar.

Their blue eyes met.

“Is it because you fear the baron will harm the child?”

“Ah…”

At the mention of harming the child, Larie’s eyes widened as if the long-avoided truth had struck her squarely.

A faint thread of reason screamed inside her like an alarm. The wind she had faced alone for so many years on the edge of that cliff had left deep, visible scars.

Should she tell him that she’d lived her entire life without knowing even a drop of familial affection? But even if she denied the rumors the entire Empire believed, would Terian truly believe her?

Last time, Terian hadn’t asked why she had wandered the forest under the dark new moon. He had merely shut down the Empress’s palace.

So Larie couldn’t expect him to believe her words now. Maybe it would be better to tell him that Rui was truly his child.

The panic was suffocating. She could only focus on one thought—one priority.

Protect Rui.

“Just Rui… Please, just our Rui…”

A piercing ringing echoed through her ears like her eardrums were shattering. Crumbling under the weight of helplessness, Larie slowly collapsed to the floor beneath the sofa.

Letting go of everything she held, she knelt before him.

“Please… please save him. Please, just save Rui…”

“My lady, what are you doing…”

Terian reached out to hold her shoulders, but Larie only kept pleading.

Her body, fragile like a splintered branch, kept sinking closer to the floor. With trembling lips, she finally managed to speak.

“If it’s for the political marriage negotiations… y-you can use me however you want… just, please, not Rui…”

“……”

“So please, sob, d-don’t let them come…”

Her tears, briefly scattered by a sharp gust of emotion, began to swell again. Unable to see a path forward in the darkness of it all, Larie curled into herself, shrinking like a small child.

Just as she was about to lower her head completely to the floor, Terian pulled her up with sudden, overwhelming force.

Somehow, he was now kneeling on the floor as well, just like her.

“Why… Why would you ever think that I would hurt you?”

The moment he spoke the words, Terian realized the cruel irony of them. He was the one who had locked her in the Empress’s palace.

He was the reason she flinched at shadows and trembled like this.

It felt like someone had struck a blazing match in the middle of his chest. Even though he knew something had pushed her to the edge, seeing Larie this frightened still tore him apart.

“Please…”

Gritting his teeth, Terian pulled off his cloak and wrapped it around her. He couldn’t stand watching her shake anymore.

She had to be seen by the imperial physician.

‘…If I may, Your Majesty, it’s possible the Empress is suffering from a mental affliction…’

The physician’s words struck him again, like a whip to the mind.

Was it his fault? Had she become like this because of what he’d done—because of his own blind, possessive cruelty?

As he lifted her into his arms again, Terian was overwhelmed by the stinging bitterness of self-loathing.

“Summon the royal physician to the Empress’s palace.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

His urgent steps took them toward her wing of the palace. Too many eyes lingered in the council halls—this wasn’t the place for her to fall apart.

The closer they got to the Empress’s quarters, the more her expression crumbled.

“Please…”

From within his arms, her delicate fingers hesitated again and again before gently tugging at the edge of his sleeve.

To him, it felt like the kind of touch that expected rejection—like someone already bracing for abandonment.

“I understand.”

“……”

“I understand… so please, don’t cry anymore.”

The moment those words left his lips, Larie finally let her eyes fall shut.

Only then did the child—who had until now clung silently to her chest—break into a loud wail.

“Waaahh…”

As Terian rushed toward the Empress’s palace, the anxious wet nursemaid came running to meet them.

“Where is the royal physician?!”

Shortly after, the doctor arrived in a hurry and conducted another examination.

As before, he asked whether the Empress had been under any extreme emotional distress.

“……”

There were too many possible answers. Terian couldn’t bring himself to give even one.

“Take good care of Her Majesty…”

He dragged a weary hand down his face again and again before he was finally able to leave the palace.

But Larie’s appearance in his office, so sudden and frantic, clung to his thoughts like a persistent ache—especially her strange requests.

The more he thought about it, the more things didn’t add up.

He understood the fear surrounding the child. But why had she said, “Save the child, do whatever you want with me,” and then, “So please don’t let my family come near”?

It didn’t make sense.

Why would she fear her own family more than she feared him?

Even if her relationship with the baron had become strained after the past two years… still.

Wasn’t she the treasured youngest daughter of the Tromperie house—the one the baron supposedly doted on?

“……”

A thought surfaced—cold, jagged like a splinter in his mind. Terian felt an uncanny sense of disquiet settle over him.

It was the same feeling he’d had before… that he didn’t know anything about her at all.