Mia smiled sweetly before answering.

“The bleeding stopped immediately. Fortunately, while looking for herbs to help Miss Eva’s eyes, I had prepared other herbs that might be needed in this castle, so I was able to use them right away.”

“Well done.”

Divlik visibly relaxed. Seeing her opportunity, Mia placed a small medicine bottle she had been holding in both hands on the office desk.

“Though you didn’t ask for it, I prepared this medicine that might help your throat. It won’t completely heal your throat, but it will prevent dryness and help with the crackling noise and pain when you speak for too long.”

Divlik looked at the medicine bottle Mia had placed down with a complex expression. He was reminded of Eva bringing a similar medicine bottle not long ago.

“Lord Divlik. Why don’t you try it? If you’re worried it might be poisoned, I’ll drink it first.”

Divlik hadn’t thrown away Mia’s medicine bottle because he feared it contained poison.

“How do I take it?”

“Just once a day. If you like it, I’ll make it for you every day.”

“Do that.”

He had been unable to bear the anger that Eva, who had once ordered his throat to be cut to kill him, was now concerned about his throat. But the recent events had left Divlik with feelings he couldn’t quite understand.

—By order of the new empress, Florin must disappear from the map after today. Kill everyone in sight.

Could a woman who was so shocked by the destruction of her homeland that she attempted suicide have given such an order?

—The woman who will become my empress has a wish. She says your being alive displeases her.

Even the claim that she wanted me dead…… perhaps that was a lie fabricated by Fabian?

“Your name is Mia?”

“Yes, Lord Divlik. Mia Moore.”

“From now on, you will attend to Eva.”

“I will serve her with all my heart, Lord Divlik.”

Finn opened his mouth to say something but closed it again, seemingly conscious of Mia standing nearby. Divlik spoke to Finn as if he knew what Finn was thinking.

“When someone wants to die so badly, wouldn’t you rather want to keep them alive, Finn?”

Mia didn’t understand Divlik’s meaning, but Finn nodded his head in acknowledgment.

“I heard you’re skilled with herbs. Attend to her, ensure she doesn’t try this again, and work to heal her eyes.”

Mia couldn’t understand the secret between Divlik and Finn, but she was deeply moved. A conqueror who cared so much for a woman from the land he had conquered—she had never heard of such a thing.

“I will obey your command, Lord Divlik.”

Mia’s eyes sparkled more than ever as she looked at Divlik. Almost like the eyes of a girl in love.

* * *

After waking from a dream only to find herself in another dream, then waking from that dream to find yet another, Eva finally opened her eyes after wandering through an endlessly long dream that she couldn’t tell whether it had been pleasant or terrible. The surroundings had grown dark, and through her blurry vision, she felt someone’s hand touch her cheek.

“Miss Eva.”

“Hannah?”

It felt cool, like cold water touching her skin. Eva called out to Hannah, concerned about how shocked and tearful Hannah must have been at what she had done while losing her senses, but the one who answered wasn’t Hannah but Mia.

“It’s Mia, Miss Eva.”

“Why are you…… Where is Hannah?”

“Lord Divlik ordered me to examine your eyes and stay by your side.”

“Hannah…… where is Hannah?”

“That girl was sent away. Because she left you alone and failed to prevent you from trying to harm yourself.”

Eva let out a painful scream and tore at the cloth that had been placed to treat her neck.

She couldn’t bear the fact that she was still alive when she only brought harm to others.

Held in Mia’s arms as Mia tried to calm her by calling her name, Eva thought:

—If only Charlotte were here now…… Charlotte should have been here…….

Yes. Charlotte…… Charlotte should have been here.

Charlotte was probably dead. That must be why there had been no word that she had arrived safely in their homeland. She shouldn’t have sent her away. This time Eva thought not for Charlotte’s sake but for her own.

—Miss Eva. I’ve brought some tea. Have a warm cup and get some…… rest.

If Charlotte had been here, she would have killed me when she could no longer bear to see me suffering.

* * *

Late at night when everyone was asleep, Divlik sat at the office desk with his back to the window, holding a letter Eva had written, the organizing work unfinished.

—Do you know anything about Eva’s homeland?

—I only know that her homeland is Florin. I didn’t hear much about it because Emperor Fabian forbade Miss Eva from talking about her homeland.

After receiving news that Eva had calmed down somewhat, Divlik had gone to see Eileen, who was imprisoned in the underground dungeon. There, Divlik learned that Eva had not been free to visit her homeland, Florin, or even to leave the castle.

—Miss Eva probably left this castle only a few times for thanksgiving ceremonies, hunting festivals, or important parties. And even then, Emperor Fabian always accompanied her. She never once crossed the bridge in front of the castle gate alone.

That’s why Eva always felt suffocated, he was told.

That would make sense. For a woman who, even as an adult, used to run across those wide fields as if they were her own yard, if she couldn’t freely leave this bleak castle…… it wouldn’t be hard to understand if she had gone mad from the suffocation in front of those high castle walls.

Divlik tapped the desk with his fingertips and stared into the empty darkness of the office under the faint moonlight.

“She knew nothing……”

If Fabian had collected Eva’s letters without telling her there was no one to receive them, and had forbidden her from even talking about her homeland, there was a strong possibility that Fabian had attacked Florin on his own without telling Eva anything.

Divlik raised his hand to touch the scar on his neck, which he no longer even remembered hurting.

If that were the case, if Eva truly knew nothing, then this scar too…

“That can’t be.”

Divlik deliberately spoke aloud to deny the thought that followed. He wasn’t sure whether Eva had played a part in reducing Florin to ruins. But that didn’t guarantee that the attempt on his life was the same…

—Leon. Would you disappear from my sight? Your existence threatens my position beside the emperor.

There he goes again. Whenever Eva standing before him appears even slightly pitiful, his heart softens. So what if it was true? Regardless of whose orders it was…… it was an undeniable fact that because Eva wanted to become empress, Florin disappeared from the map of the Yarden Empire, and she wanted me gone as well.

I should go to sleep now; tomorrow will be a very busy day with the coronation ahead.

Having put his thoughts aside and left the office to seek sleep, Divlik stopped in the corridor where the paths to the empress’s bedroom and the emperor’s bedroom diverged.

Shouldn’t I find out anyway? To relieve even half of this resentment toward Eva…… if she at least didn’t intend to kill me, shouldn’t I hear that excuse?

After hesitating, Divlik turned left toward the empress’s bedroom.

* * *

Divlik didn’t enter deep into the bedroom but stood at the doorway, watching Eva sleep.

“What a mess.”

Under the faint moonlight, even Eva’s breathing was quiet. Her chest barely rose and fell, making it hard to tell if she was alive without placing a hand near her nose—Eva slept so deeply that she truly looked like a mess.

Her hair, which would normally have been neatly spread even in sleep, was tangled and clumped in various places. Her face showed tension in the muscles near her forehead and tightly closed lips, as if something troubled her even in sleep. Add to that the bandage soaked with blood on the left side of her neck and her entire left hand.

It was evident even from a distance that neither her body nor her mind had a single uninjured part.

Wasn’t this what he had wanted?

Divlik slowly moved to approach the bed where Eva slept. Despite carefully sitting on the edge of the bed, it rippled slightly, but Eva didn’t open her eyes.

A childhood memory suddenly surfaced, and Divlik bit his lip lightly. Eva had been like this as a child too. Even when Divlik sneaked into her bedroom without anyone knowing, she would sleep deeply, completely unaware of the world.

But she couldn’t possibly be sleeping peacefully in this situation.

She looked more like she had fainted rather than fallen asleep. There wasn’t the slightest movement, not even a small toss or turn—she was so still that one would need to check her breathing to know she was alive.

Divlik sighed deeply as he looked down at Eva sleeping without movement.

When Divlik had planned to subdue Eva, embrace her body, and reveal his identity, he had intended to see Eva crumble like this.

He had wanted to ask if she had desired the empire, saying that if she had, he would have given it to her by any means necessary…… but she had abandoned him. He wanted to ask how it felt to be back in the arms of the lover she had discarded, to see her straight back collapse in regret and despair. But…… what was this bitter taste that remained even after seeing what he had wanted?

—Even if that’s not the level of submission Lord Divlik wanted, it’s enough. Cut her throat and free yourself from that woman.

Though not exactly according to plan, this should have been more than he wanted. He had thought that embracing the body of a woman who had already left him was something he could take or leave, but Divlik felt he couldn’t conclude matters here.

—I suppose I was curious about that too.

Because he had dragged things out…… watching Eva’s circumstances from beside her, he had become curious about how Eva had lived, how she had carried herself—things he shouldn’t have been curious about at all.

Why did you try to kill me?