Though she closed her eyes, sleep wouldn’t come. Her troubled mind pounded her chest so rapidly she couldn’t bear it. So Yerena tossed and turned, then quietly raised her upper body and sat leaning against the bed’s headboard.

Hugging a pillow and bringing her knees close to her chest seemed to slow her heartbeat a little. But that was only for a very brief moment. Her heart beat violently again at the thought of the one who invaded her mind.

‘……I love you.’

‘……’

‘Truly.’

The moment she heard it, her cheeks reddened. The area around her chest felt ticklish, as if being scratched with a soft feather.

The thought that she should ignore it came a little later. The guilt too. Moreover, dominated by an inexplicable emotion when she first heard the man’s words, the thoughts she should have had became blurred.

‘You’ve gone mad, Yerena.’

It was a confession she heard in a place full of blooming flowers. Yerena was lost in thought as if she returned to that time, then tightly gripped the pillow.

‘I won’t forgive myself. If Father and Mother knew I harbored such feelings for an imperial knight…… If my brothers found out, they would resent me.’

Her family in the cold afterlife. Thinking of them who probably couldn’t even close their eyes properly, having died at the hands of invaders, her guilt greatly revived. Yerena bit her lip until it bled, then fumbled for the bedside table.

Reaching the edge of the table, a hairpin came into her hand. Though too insufficient to tear skin in one go, it was enough to bring her to her senses. With trembling hands, Yerena gripped it tightly, then pulled up her nightgown and without hesitation stabbed her thigh.

“Mmph…!”

Biting the pillow to suppress any screams, she looked desperate as she stabbed herself. And finally, a wound formed on her thigh.

The blood forming on her body couldn’t be distinguished by Yerena’s eyes. But she could clearly see it flowing to the side and staining the nightgown. Unlike objects, it showed a vivid golden color, if only for a moment.

Yerena roughly pressed and wiped the blood with the rough nightgown. Then she put down the pillow and lay back down.

Thinking she had punished herself, her guilt subsided just a tiny bit. Yerena willingly endured the persistent pain and forced her eyes closed.

‘……I love you.’

‘……’

‘Truly.’

But the man’s voice immediately echoed again. On a night when her heartbeat was as distinct as the stinging wound, the captive princess couldn’t easily fall asleep.

* * *

Jane entered the imperial palace and walked with a dark face. She would soon reach the tower. But she couldn’t bring herself to see Yerena.

‘What should I do?’

In her pocket, instead of the jingling gold coins, there was a small, pretty glass bottle. Small enough to be hidden in a woman’s palm, the bottle contained barely thirty drops of liquid.

But that small amount of liquid was a terrifying thing. If dripped in one or two drops over a week, even a strong man would die without a trace as his heart stopped.

Jane didn’t dare even put her hand in her pocket. She trembled with fear at the fact that she possessed such a frightening object.

‘I should think of my family, right? Would I let my mother pass away futilely like my father?’

But Jane, driven to the edge of a cliff, had no other way. She recalled the eyes of her family members who depended only on her. Her sick mother, her brother who couldn’t properly use his legs, her sister about to marry, her brother who would enter the academy, and all her remaining siblings…

If the house was forfeited and the debt remained unpaid, what would happen to her family? Though trembling, Jane put her hand in her pocket and grasped the glass bottle.

‘They said it leaves no trace, so if I drip just one or two drops while she’s sleeping……’

The person who gave this to her said there was no worry of being caught. And if she completed this job well, they would give her enough money to live on for life. If she wanted, they would even provide land and a house in her hometown.

‘Jane!’

Just as Jane was about to make her decision. The tower came into view, and Yerena’s voice struck her. Jane stopped in her tracks.

‘I can’t do it.’

She took her hand out of her pocket and shook her head. Having watched Yerena all this time, she knew. Yerena was not someone who should die like this. Despite being a princess of a country, she had treated Jane well. How could she kill such a person with her own hands?

‘I shouldn’t do such a thing. Whatever the reason, it’s a bad deed that the Goddess won’t forgive, something that shouldn’t be done.’

Jane, who felt great remorse even just deceiving Yerena, straightened her mind.

‘But……’

However, she worried about the consequences. She didn’t know what would happen to her family if she didn’t do the job properly. Hadn’t they threatened her by mentioning her family when she initially refused?

As Jane stood frozen, unable to move in the face of a dark future, someone appeared behind her. She turned around in surprise and spoke after identifying the person,

“Sir Frederick?”

“What are you doing here? If you’ve arrived, why not enter quickly?”

Frederick had been watching Jane heading to the tower. But suddenly the maid shook her head and just stood there blankly. Knowing how much Yerena was waiting for Jane, he wanted to send her to the tower as quickly as possible.

“Sir Frederick.”

Jane didn’t move despite Frederick’s words. Instead, after much consideration, she called him. Frederick looked down at her. Then Jane put her hand in her pocket, took something out, and said,

“I, I have something to report to His Highness.”

Frederick’s gaze fell on Jane’s hand placed before him. A small, pretty bottle. Frederick looked at Jane again with a puzzled face. Jane, trembling as if about to drop the bottle at any moment, painfully explained what the bottle contained,

“Poison…… It’s poison.”

* * *

Roshan smiled for the first time at Jane prostrated before him.

Had this maid ever been so pleasing? He gestured gently. Then Knox, standing beside Jane, ordered her to raise her head.

Jane slowly raised her upper body and lifted her head. But she only looked at around Roshan’s neck area. Afraid of the Crown Prince, she dared not look higher.

“It’s quite a decent item. Unless the body is cut open and examined, no evidence remains…… Many people have lost their lives to this thing.”

Roshan, taking his gaze off Jane, rolled the glass bottle with one hand. The transparent poison that had been in Jane’s bosom glinted crimson in the setting sun, concealing its vicious nature.

“But I’m curious about something. Why did you report to me about the poison now? You received an advance payment and the poison, and if you failed, your family would be in danger.”

Roshan asked Jane while gripping the bottle and playing with it using only his thumb. Jane bowed her head deeply again and answered in a trembling voice,

“I…… I couldn’t harm Lady Yerena.”

Though her voice was filled with fear, it carried sincerity. Roshan murmured as he looked at the maid who said she couldn’t bring herself to harm Yerena,

“……That’s unfortunate.”

What was unfortunate? Jane couldn’t understand his words. But she didn’t have the courage to ask him what he meant, so she just remained silent.

“Do you know who gave this to you?”

“Not exactly.”

Roshan asked again. Jane shook her head since she hadn’t been told who had ordered this, then hesitated briefly before speaking with difficulty,

“How-however, it seemed like someone connected to the imperial palace. The way they spoke and dressed……”

The person who sought out Jane and gave her this secretive and frightening order was a young woman. Jane suspected the woman’s identity as someone from the imperial palace based on her accent and occasional word choices.

Her suspicion turned to certainty after seeing the woman’s shoes beneath her dress. Imperial attendants wore shoes with thick leather added to the heel to avoid making noise that might disturb their masters. Those same additions were on the shoes of the person who gave Jane the poison.

“That’s correct. The one who ordered this was Her Majesty the Empress.”

Jane gasped at Roshan’s words, having never dared to think the person who ordered this was the empress. Her heart raced.

Wasn’t the empress the most noble woman in the empire? Yet why would such a person want to harm Lady Yerena? Jane suddenly felt afraid. If someone as high as the empress wanted her dead, failing the job would mean… Jane trembled with worry about her family’s safety.

Roshan watched Jane trembling in fear for a while. Then after a long moment, he opened his mouth to praise her,

“You’re clever.”

“……”

“You saved your life by reporting this to me first.”

“Your Highness, my family…… Please save my family. Please……”

Remembering who stood before her, Jane prostrated herself flat again. She began to beg for her and her family’s lives. Roshan nodded graciously toward Jane, who was shedding tears in fear,

“Of course.”

“……”

“I promise. I’ll guarantee the safety of you and your family. I’ll also provide enough support for you to live comfortably away from the capital.”

“Ah……”

Jane stopped crying in relief. With her forehead still touching the floor, she said to Roshan,

“Thank you, Your Highness. Th-thank you.”

“However.”

Roshan rose from his seat as he watched Jane repeatedly expressing gratitude with hope. Jane flinched and didn’t know what to do as he approached her.

Roshan lowered himself in front of Jane and bent his waist. Then he firmly placed the small, pretty bottle back in Jane’s hand and whispered,

“……There’s one last thing you need to do for me.”

* * *