In spring, the path leading into Florin was lined with peach trees laden with pink fruits hanging in clusters. While walking along the path, gazing at the not-yet-ripened fruits, Leon would invariably appear and wrap his arms around Eva’s waist.

—Leon.

After sharing their bodies for the first time, the couple continued to embrace each other away from people’s eyes: in summer among the flowers that bloomed densely on the hills, in autumn on the scattered fallen leaves, and in winter under bare branches beyond the seaside rocks, lamenting the rare snowfall, never tiring of holding each other.

“Miss Eva. Please, stop crying. You’ll make yourself ill.”

They thought there could be nothing more embarrassing than having her belly swell before the wedding ceremony if she accidentally became pregnant, but whenever she met Leon’s eyes, burning with undisguised desire for her, Eva couldn’t bear not to be in his arms.

“Huu-huu-huuk. Huu-huuk.”

It was a vivid scene that appeared whether her eyes were closed or open—Leon always smiling at the edge of her vision. The feeling of grass, the scent of flowers, the dazzlingly beautiful sight of Florin—she hadn’t forgotten a single detail, yet…… Divlik said that Florin had disappeared without a trace.

—Even if I were to let you go, there would be no place left for you to return to.

—Florin has already become a complete ruin.

What exactly did “complete ruin” mean? And what about her parents? What happened to them?

“Huuk. Huu-huuk.”

“Miss Eva. Please stop crying. My heart is breaking seeing you like this.”

There had never been a reply to the letters she sent home. Just as Fabian had ignored Eva’s request to visit Florin, he also never granted her plea to bring her family to Hael. So Eva had no contact with her parents since becoming empress.

Still, she believed they were living well, but now Florin was like that. What if her letters hadn’t failed to arrive, but there was no one left to send a reply?

“Huu-huu-uuk. Uuk. Huu-huu-huuk.”

Eva had been crying non-stop since returning from the grand bathhouse, not even sleeping. Hannah, who rushed in early in the morning to prepare for bath attendance, tried her best to comfort Eva while forcibly swallowing her own tears, but it was useless.

“Miss Eva. Please. Calm down……”

Are Marquis and Marchioness Cloud still alive?

Eva was afraid to even ask that question. If her parents were no longer alive, what had she been longing for all this time to endure?

Eva lay half-sprawled on the bed, continuously releasing moans mixed with sobs that would break anyone’s heart who heard them. During this time, the door creaked open, and Eileen entered.

“Miss Eva……”

“Lady Eileen. How did you come out?”

Eileen said she had heard in the underground prison that Eva was crying as if she would die after spending the night with Divlik. She had begged the guards to let her just check if Eva was safe, saying she wouldn’t beg for her life anymore. The warm and delicious food they had been fed must have had an effect, as the soldiers relayed her message to Divlik, and surprisingly, Divlik’s permission was granted.

“What should we do, Lady Eileen? Miss Eva will die like this, boo-hoo.”

Seeing Eileen appear, Hannah finally burst into loud tears. Eileen sat on the bed, embraced Eva, and stroked her back with trembling hands.

“You should have let us die. It should have been us who died, Miss Eva.”

Eileen thought Eva’s tears were because of the night she spent with Divlik. What did this gentle, pitiful person endure last night to cry like this? Eileen silently shed tears while holding Eva, who alternated between screaming and crying while lying face down on the bed.

“If only Charlotte were here now…… Charlotte should have been here……”

Looking at Eva suffering as if she might lose her mind, Eileen murmured Charlotte’s name.

If Charlotte were here, she would have embraced Eva. Charlotte, who had been by Eva’s side from their homeland through her time as empress, would have comforted Eva better than herself.

“Charlotte……?”

Eva felt her heart drop with a thud and sat up, swallowing her tears.

If Florin had become like that, what happened to Charlotte who returned there?

Eva grabbed Eileen’s hands and asked about Charlotte.

“Has there been…… any contact from Charlotte?”

“No, Miss Eva. There’s been no separate contact.”

“Where could she have gone? If Florin is in ruins, she would have had nowhere to return to. I wonder if she’s safe. I was wrong. I should have kept her here. I should have protected that child by my side. To drive such a young child into the war-torn world outside the castle… I was foolish.”

Eva spoke incessantly with her tear-stained face. Eileen couldn’t even respond to the regret and lamentation in each word. She only regretted that she should have died yesterday, seeing Eva like this now—Eva who had never once broken down even in the face of Emperor Fabian’s mad behavior while maintaining her position here.

“Please kill me. Please beg Lord Divlik to kill me. I can no longer…… endure this, Eileen.”

Eva, clutching her chest in agony, lost consciousness and fainted. It was impossible to count how many times this had happened. Eileen wiped away her tears, laid Eva’s body straight, and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I will make sure that man never lays a hand on Your Majesty again.”

Looking at Eva, who continued to moan in pain even while unconscious, Eileen tightly clenched her wrinkled hands.

* * *

And Charlotte, whom Eva was so concerned about, was now on her way back to Hael, riding in a cargo wagon with a hooded robe over her.

“Mister. Is it still far to Hael?”

“We still need to travel for two full days. Many roads have been cut off because of the war.”

Charlotte, sitting in the cargo compartment, leaned against a box full of apples and looked back at the village they had just passed. Although traces of war remained, the village had already regained peace beyond what it had before the war, with people chattering about the clean water in the fountain in the square and repairing the city.

“Still, I can’t tell you how fortunate we are. It was the imperial army and knights under the nobles who fought. We only had some fields and houses damaged, but no major casualties. There’s even a good side to that war. The nobles who used to take all our fruit to sell at high prices are gone. Your parents must have survived because they weren’t that kind of people, huh?”

The farmer driving the wagon smiled, saying things were finally getting better.

“The person who came down to manage the territory is very kind. I heard he’ll soon receive a title, but he seems definitely different from those bad nobles. He said we only need to pay one-tenth of the harvest when the fruits ripen as tenant farming fees. Thanks to that, I’ve packed plenty of apples to sell in Hael. Try one, miss. Our house’s apples are famous for their sweetness.”

There was a reason the farmer, who said he grew and sold apples himself, addressed Charlotte with such respect. The dress Charlotte wore under her robe was clearly an expensive one that a noble family’s daughter would wear. The gold coins Charlotte had placed in the farmer’s hand, asking to be taken to Hael, were worth enough to buy half the boxes of apples loaded here and more, so naturally, he thought Charlotte was a young lady from a surviving noble family.

—If I had known this would happen, I should have packed the jewels from the bedroom first. But this necklace should be enough. Sell it for a good price and open the general store you’ve always dreamed of in your hometown. You have a good eye and meticulous hands, so I’m sure you’ll do well.

It was thanks to the necklace Eva had given her when leaving Frentz Castle. The necklace was even more valuable than Charlotte had thought. When she sold it at a jewelry store, she had enough to buy many things and still had several gold coins left.

—Miss. Where are you from?

Florin, which Charlotte returned to after five years, was different from her memories. It was no longer a place where flowers bloomed profusely on the wide grass greeting visitors at the entrance, and old trees leaned comfortably, warmly embracing the kind-hearted people there.

—Are you a noble’s daughter? Your clothes look quite expensive in this chaos.

—Eek!

Charlotte hesitated to even enter the village due to the stench emanating from the entrance. There were no plants of any value visible anywhere except weeds where trees, grass, and other plants should have been, and people who looked like vagrants eyed Charlotte’s clothes and possessions with gleaming eyes from within the ruins of mansions that seemed to have collapsed long ago.

The former glory of Florin, once famous for its year-round flowers and beautiful people, had become a distant memory. Moreover, for some unknown reason, Eva’s parents and the people of Cloud family, who had ruled the Florin region, were nowhere to be found.

—Is the empress…… the person who was the empress of the Yarden Empire, is she safe?

—She’s alive and well. Why are you curious about that?

Fortunate perhaps? There was no news from anywhere that the Blue Wolf who occupied Hael had killed the people of Hael. Later, Charlotte was even able to hear from what seemed to be the Blue Wolf army that came to rule Floropel that Eva was alive.

—Please take a look at this. I have a beautiful hand mirror imported from the southern continent across the sea.

Charlotte opened a small general store as Eva had suggested. She tried to establish herself in Floropel, if not in Florin. Since she couldn’t find anyone to help rescue Eva, she planned to settle there and go to get Eva herself.

Just stay alive until then. I pray that the conqueror doesn’t torment Miss Eva too much. She prayed again and again to the God she had prayed with Eva.

—Charlotte……?

—Zoe? Is that you, Zoe? It is you, right?

About a month passed like this. Zoe, who had once worked as a maid in Marquis Cloud’s household, appeared as a customer at the small general store. After hearing from Zoe about what had happened in Florin, Charlotte could no longer delay going to get Eva.

—My goodness, to think that the Marquis and Marchioness passed away like that. What about Miss Eva…… what will happen to poor Miss Eva? As if losing beloved Leon wasn’t enough…….

—What are you talking about, Charlotte?

—Well, her beloved Leon died, and if she learns that her parents have also passed away…….

—No, Charlotte. The Marquis couple may have met that fate, but Lord Leon is alive. I saw him near here three years ago and even greeted him.

Leon is dead.

The day Eva first heard those words, she ran down the corridor crying like a madwoman. If Fabian hadn’t caught her there, Eva would have tried to ride a horse out of the castle and rush all the way to Florin, insisting it couldn’t be true, that Leon couldn’t be dead.

Charlotte thought Eva had already died once at that time. Eva’s appearance then was the worst Charlotte had ever seen.

So she had to somehow convey the news that Leon, whom Eva had buried in her heart while coughing up blood, was alive.

“Miss Eva……”

Leon’s existence would be the only hope for Eva, who had lost all joy.