The weight of the chains binding Clarira’s ankles was too heavy for her life to change with just a small commotion. 

 When the hallway became chaotic with scattered armor, servants and knights immediately came out to the corridor. 

 Clarira could only watch them, unable to do anything. She massaged her aching ankle. 

 “Take that woman to her room right now!” 

 At the knight’s shout, someone roughly grabbed her hand that had been standing still. 

 “Ugh.” 

 “Come quietly. You won’t be able to go anywhere anyway.” 

 Clarira didn’t respond to the sharp voice directed at her. She just turned around and smiled faintly at the messy corridor. 

 Left alone with no one around, Clarira brought her legs together and stared into empty space. 

 “Why are you watching me without leaving?” 

 At her words, the mouse revealed itself. 

 It had been a long time since Clarira had done anything. She had tried everything from suicide attempts to escape attempts, but in the end, her place remained this prison where no one else was. 

 Even as her existence was being forgotten, Clarira had to live alone. While continuing a life where she could neither die nor truly live, she felt like she was slowly going mad, but she didn’t mind that either. 

 Rather than living a life worse than death, dying would have been better, and if she couldn’t die, being out of her mind made it more bearable. 

 “How strange. I feel like you understand what I’m saying. Did Claire send you perhaps?” 

 Considering the family’s traits, it was entirely possible. Clarira approached the mice to examine them, but there didn’t seem to be any letters or messages left for her. 

 “Squeak squeak!” (Claire sent me!) 

 The mouse kept talking, but Clarira couldn’t understand. Still, since it seemed to understand her words, she spoke: 

 “If you can understand what I’m saying, could you tell Claire something? Tell her the key is in the Emperor’s right pocket. Tell her that’s what I need to escape from here.” 

 The mouse stared at her for a moment before quickly disappearing into its hole. Then another mouse came out and stared at her intently. 

 “I guess that friend went to deliver the message.” 

 Her life, which hadn’t changed at all since giving birth to Claire until now, seemed to have changed a little. 

 Just having one mouse lingering around her somehow made her feel less lonely. 

 Clarira looked at the mouse watching her, then got up and looked at the window. At least there was a small gap she could endure through. 

 ‘I hope the message reaches her.’ 

 Though she sent the mouse with hope, she couldn’t be certain. 

 She had sent a bird, but that bird never returned. Perhaps Claire was unable to communicate with birds. 

 Clarira gazed at the blue sky as she slumped over in her chair. 

 ❖ ❖ ❖ 

 To think I’d come to the imperial palace like this again. 

 When Cedric and I got out of the carriage, knights were waiting to greet us. 

 “Miss Bowell, please come in.” 

 I entered the imperial palace with Cedric’s escort. 

 I tried hard to act like a completely different person from Claire. The same was true for Cedric, and we couldn’t let our guard down if we wanted to deceive Father. 

 The place we were guided to was a hidden location in the imperial palace. It wasn’t a reception room or audience chamber, but somewhere that even others found difficult to access. 

 “I am honored to meet Your Majesty the Emperor. I’m delighted that you personally sent someone to escort me.” 

 I sat down with a smile. Father’s face, which I hadn’t seen in a while, showed signs of slight anxiety. 

 “Without any long talk, I’d like you to sign the contract right away, as I’m a businessperson and don’t have much time to spare. As you know, there are many people who want to buy magic stones.” 

 The Emperor smiled and reviewed the contract at my relaxed attitude. There wasn’t anything special in it. This was just a show to extract money from Father anyway. 

 I had absolutely no intention of actually handing over the magic stones to Father. I just wanted to give him hope. 

 ‘That way he’ll understand the pain of loss better.’ 

 Father looked up at me after seemingly finishing his review of the contract. I maintained my smile while gently lowering my gaze. 

 I had to avoid eye contact so he wouldn’t discover that he couldn’t read my thoughts. 

 “Levenia Bowell, how do you plan to get the magic stones out of Kvarando?” 

 “That’s a trade secret I cannot disclose. Don’t you just need to obtain the magic stones, Your Majesty?” 

 I nodded at Father as if telling him to sign. Finally, he signed. 

 “Paul, check it.” 

 Cedric immediately reviewed the contract. It had Father’s signature along with the imperial seal. 

 “But I am curious about what you plan to use the magic stones for.” 

 “It would be better not to be curious about their intended use. I say this for your own good.” 

 “My, don’t be angry. I was just wondering if there might be any investment opportunities. Come to think of it, I heard something about obtaining ship blueprints……” 

 “Miss Bowell, sometimes it’s better for one’s wellbeing to pretend not to have heard certain things.” 

 “Trading with Narankas means I often hear unnecessary stories. With so much information, I tend to forget things quickly too.” 

 I covered my face with my fan and spoke with smiling eyes. 

 “As much time has passed, I’ll take my leave now. It was my utmost pleasure doing business with Your Majesty.” 

 I bowed and left the secret location with Cedric. 

 ‘I need to check if there’s a study, but it seems difficult today.’ 

 Fortunately, Father didn’t try to keep us. He probably wanted us to leave the imperial palace quickly, since he’d secured the magic stones he needed. 

 It would be troublesome if others saw me, and rumors spread easily from the nobles’ mouths. 

 I turned my head to memorize the geography of this place. Being a secret location, it would be good for hiding anything. 

 ‘Perhaps they’re building the ships somewhere around here. Or if not that……’ 

 The more I thought about it, the more my head hurt. As I placed my hand on my throbbing head, Cedric came closer and grabbed my arm. 

 “Are you alright?” 

 “Just a bit dizzy.” 

 I held onto his firm arm and tried to steady my blurry vision. 

 At that moment, I heard a familiar sound. 

 “Squeak. Squeak squeak.” (What’s this, I followed a familiar scent but it’s someone else?) 

 When I turned my head, a mouse was standing and tilting its head at me. 

 ‘I wondered why it hadn’t returned…… So it was here.’ 

 Though it wasn’t very visible against the black bricks, it seemed to be the mouse I had sent. 

 Was it still staying here because it couldn’t find the information? It seemed unable to recognize me because of my changed appearance. 

 I gently gestured to the mouse. 

 “Ah, I’m so dizzy……” 

 Cedric caught me as I swooned. 

 ‘Put me down. Put me down.’ 

 I desperately indicated the floor to him with my eyes. Cedric subtly loosened his grip. Still not touching the ground, I let one arm hang limply. 

 ‘Quickly, come here. It’s me.’ 

 I couldn’t speak to the mouse as the guide in front would find it strange, so I could only hope it would recognize me. 

 As I kept gesturing with my hand to come, the mouse seemed to sense something was odd and quickly ran over, hiding in my sleeve. 

 “Paul, I think I’m better now. Help me up.” 

 “You should rest quickly.” 

 Cedric picked me up and strode toward the carriage. 

 I held the end of my sleeve closed with my other hand, worried someone might see the mouse. 

 Once safely in the carriage, I drew the curtains and took the mouse out from my sleeve. 

 “Squeak! Squeak!” (What! I thought you were someone else!) 

 “I’m sorry, there were circumstances. What happened?” 

 “Squeak! Squeak squeak squeak!” (When I went to the house you weren’t there! So I came back!) 

 “You went to the mansion?” 

 The mouse jumped up and down angrily, seeming to have taken a wrong path. I shrugged apologetically. 

 “So what about what I asked?” 

 “Squeak squeak!” (I found it. They say there’s someone new staying at the palace recently.) 

 “Really? What do they look like?” 

 “Squeak!” (They said it’s a woman with purple hair.) 

 Purple hair? I immediately thought of my own hair. 

 While it might be a common color, I hadn’t seen anyone around with purplish hair. 

 “Do you know where that person is?” 

 “Squeak!” (Of course. I asked a friend to keep watch just in case.) 

 I turned to look at Cedric. He looked back and forth between the mouse in my palm and me before nodding. 

 “It seems the little friend found out something. And knows the location too…… What would you like to do?” 

 “I don’t know. It probably won’t be easy to meet. But I think the person who wanted to meet was Mother. Calling me to the imperial palace and all……” 

 I won’t need to try to meet Mother — we’ll end up meeting anyway. The problem was not knowing how that meeting would happen. 

 “We need to look into this more. I have a bad feeling.” 

 She was definitely plotting something. 

 “Squeak! Squeak!” (But that woman can’t escape.) 

 “……What do you mean she can’t escape? Is someone guarding her?” 

 “Squeak!” (No, there’s something on her feet.) 

 The mouse pointed to its feet and started dragging them across my palm. 

 “There’s something heavy on her feet?” 

 “Squeak!” (That’s right!) 

 I immediately realized what the heavy thing must be. Father was treating Mother exactly the same as the divine beasts. 

 My teeth clenched involuntarily.