Eva was well aware of how the servants’ attitude toward Divlik had changed.

“Hannah. Please tell everyone to stop gossiping about Lord Divlik. The Blue Wolf soldiers are still everywhere. There are many eyes and ears. I don’t know what might happen if Lord Divlik finds out. What are you all trying to do?”

So she not only asked Hannah to pass on the message but also personally warned everyone she met not to behave that way, but the servants continued to express their dissatisfaction with Divlik in their own ways.

The lack of reaction from Divlik was even more concerning. The servants were acting this way right when Divlik had seriously taken Eva’s supposed disrespect to heart—it was like pouring oil on fire.

“There’s no thread in this basket. Can you find a gold thread and bring it to me, Hannah?”

So Eva silently tried her best to embroider. With the feeling of: Look at this. Regardless of what others do, I alone am obeying your words.

“Lady Eva, are you really going to embroider the cloak?”

But Hannah was more uncooperative with Eva’s words than ever before. Despite so much time passing since Divlik had taken over the castle, it was evidence that Hannah, like the people of this castle, still couldn’t properly accept that Eva had no value.

“You never know. Emperor Fabian might appear with the Western Grand Duchy’s soldiers alongside Grand Duke Joseph. What would he think if he knew you made such a cloak, Lady Eva?”

No one in this castle liked Emperor Fabian, but they knew Eva could only be empress if Fabian existed. Perhaps that’s why some thought Emperor Fabian might return.

Since things had turned out this way, they concluded that if Eva would suffer either way, it would be better for her to suffer as an empress.

None of them knew how worthless the title of empress was to Eva.

What would happen if Fabian knew she made the cloak? He would continue to doubt her until the end, not believing nothing had happened between her and Divlik, and try to drain her blood more severely than before, killing her in subtle ways.

“Bring the thread quickly, Hannah.”

“Lady Eva……”

Rather than needing Fabian to be empress, she would prefer to be thrown to the soldiers as food, tormented all night, and discarded on the street in a miserable state before dawn broke. That would be better for Eva.

With such determination, she still hated Divlik’s embrace—no one would understand that either.

Eventually, Hannah, unable to overcome Eva’s stubbornness, brought the gold thread. While Eva untangled the thread and rewound it for use, Hannah drew the outline on the cloth for embroidery. Not long after Eva began embroidering in earnest,

“You seem to like the newly planted trees.”

Divlik approached from behind. Before greeting him, Eva quickly put the last bite of carrot cake from her plate into her mouth.

—Oddly enough, I heard he can’t eat carrots. I made this carrot cake on purpose so you could have it all to yourself, Lady Eva.

—Eileen……

She feared that if he knew the cake he couldn’t eat was on Eva’s table, Eileen’s intentional act would be too obvious and she might be punished.

“You’ve come, Lord Divlik.”

Eva hurriedly swallowed the cake, covered her eyes, and stood up. She turned her head toward the direction of Divlik’s voice and greeted him.

“You said you didn’t care about the garden, yet you’re the first one out here as soon as trees are planted.”

Divlik’s voice moved past her side and came from in front of Eva. His tone was clearly mocking Eva’s behavior, but his voice revealed no emotion, which made Eva even more tense. Because she couldn’t read Divlik’s feelings.

“What brings you out here?”

“I came to see if the trees planted here have taken root well.”

“They seem to have taken root well. Buds are already sprouting.”

Eva smiled as best she could. She deliberately placed her hand on the cloth on the table to show she had been embroidering. Whether that worked or not, Divlik pulled up a chair with a scraping sound and sat down across from her.

“How natural you look sitting here. It still seems like you are the owner of this castle. Thanks to your composure, I appear more like an unwelcome guest.”

“That can’t be. No, Lord Divlik. I came out because this place seemed good for embroidering. If my presence bothers you, I’ll go back inside.”

Eva reached out to gather her basket, but Divlik shook his head, saying there was no need.

“Sit, former empress. You’ll share a cup of tea with me, won’t you?”

“Of course, Lord Divlik. Hannah?”

“Yes, Lady Eva.”

Divlik laughed inwardly at Eva’s unusually welcoming demeanor.

What is she thinking? Does the former empress intend to be like this until her dying moment?

I told her to show her true colors, and she could have shouted how dare you ask me to embroider a cloak for you to wear, but instead she sits quietly and agrees to embroider. Is she trying to finish the job to quell the public opinion circulating in the castle and save the servants’ lives, or is she continuing her pretense of being empress?

Divlik looked at the cloth on the table. Though she had said she wasn’t sure if she could produce a satisfactory result, with just one wolf ear completed, the Blue Wolf already showed a clearer presence than the one drawn on the flag.

The expensive gold thread played a part, but it was also because the one who embroidered it was none other than Eva, who had been Empress. Even the flow of thread wrapped stitch by stitch overflowed with dignity.

“You’ve already started embroidering.”

“How could I take lightly an order from you?”

Eva smiled once more with perfect courtesy. Her well-maintained hair glittered like gold in the sunlight filtering through the leaves. It seemed more expensive and valuable than the gold thread she had held in her hand for embroidery.

She was a woman born to be an empress, to the point where one might wonder if she needed to act the part at all.

Compared to Eva’s hair, thickly braided and draped to the right, Divlik’s hair was unsightly, to say the least. His dry, lifeless hair looked almost like the rough fur of a beast. Not just soap—it was like the fur of a wolf that had come out after scrubbing itself vigorously by the stream.

“I think I’ve been mistaken all along, former empress.”

“About what?”

Divlik pushed back his dry hair, which might once have been as glossy as Eva’s, and spoke. Eva, sitting under the tree, sparkled endlessly even in the smallest light despite wearing shabby clothes.

She would have looked this way even without light. Eva was undoubtedly a woman who would have lived her entire life displaying dignity no less than an empress even if she had never become one. Sitting across from her and looking at Eva made Divlik begin to think that no matter how much more he tormented her here, she would never break.

“That no matter what I do, you will never show the appearance of a beast like me.”

“Was the submission you wanted me to become a beast, Lord Divlik?”

“I hoped you would lose your reason in fear and forfeit your dignity as a human.”

No matter how hard he tried to break her, the warm and clean water-like energy that was invariably felt when approaching Eva might show momentary agitation but would never disappear.

Perhaps her concern for her servants and people wasn’t an act after all.

Only to me, she cannot extend that boundless warmth.

Because I was a beast, not even human, unworthy of being embraced by a woman bearing the name of Empress.

“The loyalty of those servants who stayed to protect you has reached the point where they begrudge me even a piece of bread. I’ve felt it all along—you were playing the role of empress perfectly, even excessively well.”

“Lord Divlik, that is……”

“I also heard them say I’m ungrateful. I thought I had been overly kind to you, but it seems no different.”

“No. They just……”

“So I thought I might become a beast.”

Divlik hardened his heart with a bitter feeling. Both dragging the empress down to a beast’s state and trying to place himself on the same level as the empress were futile endeavors. It was impossible.

If even in a single strand of hair, his miserable situation was compared to Eva’s empress-like qualities, then he would gladly become a beast.

“Listen carefully to me, former empress.”

“I am…… listening, Lord Divlik.”

“I’ll give you a full week. You can complete the embroidery for the cloak in that time, can’t you?”

“A week would be……”

“This is not a question. It’s a notification. Complete it even if you have to reduce your sleep. I must hold you in my arms while holding that cloak.”

Eva’s face, which had been forcing a smile, froze in that smiling position. Divlik thought this behavior was petty and might once again add jewels to the crown of empress that Eva had worn, but he had no choice.

If he wanted to see even a slight wavering in her pride that could never be broken.

“After a week, I will kill one person each day, starting with the servants closest to you. That is, if you persistently refuse to come to my arms.”

From the beginning, Divlik hadn’t left the servants’ attitude alone because he liked it. He had been watching with the intention of doing this if necessary.