“Lord Divlik!”

Just from the sound, it was clear that anyone hit by that horse would have been killed instantly. Mia, standing in the square, turned her head wondering who was riding so urgently. Upon spotting Divlik with Finn and several soldiers, she called out his name loudly, but Divlik passed by Mia without stopping.

He couldn’t have missed seeing me……

Mia bit her lip tightly as she stared in the direction where the horse had disappeared.

Divlik certainly seemed difficult to approach. It had been the same last night when he summoned her separately to his bedroom. Naturally assuming she was called to serve him at night, she had deliberately worn clothes that revealed her body, but Divlik didn’t even glance at Mia’s figure.

—I heard you know herbs well.

—Yes, Lord Divlik.

—Do you also know about flowers? I want Eva to smell of lilac tomorrow night.

—Lilac, you say? I know them well. But why lilac……?

—Go find some.

Despite her rare attempt at asking a question, he didn’t even answer, and those cold blue eyes merely revealed wariness as they examined Mia for any suspicious traits.

“This won’t work.”

Mia recalled Eva, who had greeted her with unusual kindness. A woman raised gently enough to become empress might be innocent enough to smile at others even after losing her position—perhaps it would be easier to target the more approachable one first.

* * *

The servants, who had belatedly heard about Eva’s situation, finished their day early. Whatever happened tonight, they intended to pretend not to know about Eva’s humiliation, as if it had never happened.

Hannah, who entered the bathroom to attend Eva’s bath one last time, filled the tub with water, her face so pale she looked about to collapse. Once the tub was somewhat filled, Hannah began helping Eva undress but suddenly stopped.

“How could you possibly be all right, Your Majesty?”

Then, unable to bear the thought of Eva entering Divlik’s bedroom because of her, Hannah created a disturbance by holding a knife to her own throat, saying she would rather die first.

“Hannah! Please don’t do this. Put down that knife!”

“I’ll die! Rather than surrender Your Ladyship’s pure body to such a beast, I’ll die!”

“I am not pure. This body will simply rot and disappear when I die. How could it compare to Hannah’s life? Please put down the knife, Hannah. Quickly.”

Despite the commotion bringing maids who had been preparing for bed running to try and stop Hannah, it was useless. Hannah stubbornly insisted she could not hand Eva over to Divlik.

“Do you know how difficult it is to treat wounds from a knife?”

“What……?”

“Not only is treating it difficult, but the pain is beyond words.”

The one who stopped Hannah’s actions was the outsider, Mia. Mia described in great detail the treatment process for knights who had been wounded in battle and brought to Elan, having helped her herbalist father. She particularly described their pain so vividly that listeners shuddered.

“Have you seen the scar on Lord Divlik’s neck? If you wound the neck improperly, you could lose your voice like him. If you don’t want to live through such pain after a failed attempt, it would be better to cut the side of your neck rather than the middle.”

At this point, Mia explained that cutting the side of the neck would cause blood to flow so rapidly that one would die quickly without being able to use their hands, effectively teaching an easier way to die, which frightened Hannah into putting down the knife.

“Huh…… Huh-huh…… Eva……”

Eva embraced Hannah, who had collapsed into sobbing.

“Hannah. Don’t cry. This is…… a common occurrence. A conqueror taking a woman from conquered territory. Because of my pride, I resisted this ordinary, unremarkable event, and things have come this far. I’m so sorry for making you go through something you shouldn’t have had to experience…… Sophie. Could you take Hannah away? I can bathe by myself.”

“Yes, Eva.”

Even after the commotion subsided and the maids left the bathroom, comforting Hannah who couldn’t stop crying, Mia remained in the bathroom for some reason.

“Eva, if it’s all right with you, may I attend to your bath?”

“You?”

“Would you allow me to help you?”

“Help? Why would you need permission? Then I’ll borrow your hands just for today.”

With Eva’s permission, Mia skillfully took Eva’s hand and led her into the bathtub. Then she took out a cloth pouch containing something from her possession and placed it in the tub. Soon, a fragrant and sweet lilac scent rose from the tub, filling the bathroom.

“Are lilacs already in bloom?”

“Not yet in Hael. That’s why it took time to find them.”

“Why go to such trouble for something so difficult to obtain……?”

“Lord Divlik said he wanted you to smell of lilac. I heard that in the south, women bathe with lilac flowers when they first receive a man in their bedroom, so I thought that might be the meaning and brought them.”

“So that’s what kept you busy.”

Eva wondered how Mia appeared in the empress’s bathroom, but it seemed this was the task Divlik had assigned to her.

Eva bit her lip lightly. It was true. In the southern region where Florin was located, there was a custom for brides to welcome their lords with bodies scented like spring on their first night. Eva had prepared flowers but never got to use them.

“Doesn’t it bother you to show your body to someone like me?”

Mia asked while gently washing Eva’s back with a thin cloth, and Eva answered with a smile.

“Someone like you? What do you mean? Mia, you’re a capable herbalist who managed to obtain hard-to-find flower petals.”

“I’m glad you like them too, Eva.”

After finishing washing Eva’s back, Mia slowly undid Eva’s hair that had been braided and pinned up. Eva’s hair fell and flowed like silk without any resistance. Mia soaked Eva’s hair in water, looking at her fine hair with undisguised envy.

“I’ve never seen such beautiful hair in my life. Or such a body. It seems you haven’t spent much time in the sun, Eva.”

She said this while looking at Eva’s body in the bathtub. She couldn’t hide her envious gaze as she slowly wiped Eva’s flawless, clear skin with the wet cloth.

“I can see why Lord Divlik desires you.”

“He doesn’t desire me. What matters is that I was the empress.”

Eva sighed softly as she gazed at the steaming bathtub. The moment she had tried so hard to avoid was now right before her.

“Try to relax your body as much as possible, Eva.”

Eva, who had been quietly preparing herself mentally for the end, slowly opened her eyes at Mia’s words. Mia continued speaking while diligently moving her hands to thoroughly wash Eva’s body.

“That way you’ll be less hurt.”

Though she wasn’t sure how much Mia knew, it was clear that Mia understood Eva would have to serve unwillingly in bed tonight.

“Don’t just think about how much you hate it. Try to recall other pleasant memories from your life and escape into them. Try to forcibly separate your mind from what’s happening in reality and forget.”

Mia explained in detail how Eva could minimize her pain in the bedroom. Wondering how Mia knew such things so intimately, Eva slowly turned her head to look at Mia’s lifeless face.

“Mia…… have you had to do the same?”

“Yes, Eva.”

At Eva’s careful question, Mia closed her mouth briefly, then spoke as if having made a decision.

“When I first met you, there was something I didn’t tell you about Grand Duke Joseph.”

“What is it?”

Mia’s grinding teeth from anger sounded so loud it seemed to echo through the bathroom.

“The con man who deceived my father was sent by Grand Duke Joseph from the beginning.”

“What? Then……”

“Yes, Grand Duke Joseph happened to see me while passing through the market. He liked me and wanted to buy me, so he deliberately arranged for my father to fall into debt from the start.”

The reason Eva couldn’t help but think the other women’s warnings were misunderstandings was because of Mia’s tired face. It was etched with deep sighs about a life that hadn’t gone according to her wishes.

“How could he…… I don’t know what words of comfort to offer.”

At Eva’s genuinely concerned voice, Mia even showed a hint of tears in her eyes.

“And for me…… that night was my first time.”

First time. The weight of Mia’s words left Eva unable to offer even hasty comfort this time. The women had warned Eva to be careful of Mia, but the Mia before her now was a fragile woman crying over her life that had been ruined by unexpected circumstances. She didn’t appear to be anything else.

Being a commoner didn’t make the value of her first time any less. Rather, if she had been a noblewoman, she might have had ways to live on despite such a scandal, hiding it gracefully and finding another man. Commoners didn’t have that luxury. Especially for a woman who had entered and left a nobleman’s bedroom, there was no choice but to become a street woman. Mia must have remained in the Grand Duke’s embrace out of necessity, crying unbearably every day.

“I thought I would die of shock. Of course, this won’t be your first time since you’re already married, but thinking it would be difficult for you, I mixed in some herbs that help relax tension along with the highest quality flower petals.”

“I see. Thank you, Mia.”

No wonder her body felt relaxed despite the tension. At Eva’s smile, Mia continued.

“Even though they’re twins…… Emperor Fabian was different, wasn’t he? When I was at Elan Castle, Grand Duke Joseph once sent me to His Majesty Emperor Fabian’s bedroom.”

“Did he……”

“Yes. It seems Grand Duke Joseph dared to think that I resembled you because my hair and eye color are similar to yours. So he sent me to comfort Fabian, who was longing for you. But he rejected me. He said he didn’t want any other woman, that it had to be you.”

As if even envying that, Mia looked at Eva’s beautiful face with tear-filled eyes.

“Now I understand why, seeing you. Emperor Fabian must have treasured your first time very much, right?”

Eva knew this was something she didn’t have to answer. But she didn’t want to let Mia think of Fabian or herself as some kind of embodiment of purity.

Neither Fabian nor I are such people.

“No.”

“Pardon?”

“My first time wasn’t with the emperor.”

Mia showed a surprised expression as if she had never even imagined such an answer, and Eva held back a sigh that threatened to burst forth, looking at the blue moon high beyond the window, and spoke in a voice barely audible.

“My first time was with another man.”