She felt strangely regretful. How much more beautiful would such a beautiful person be if she smiled and sang? It was an unnecessary thought, but sincere.

But no matter what she thought, the woman wouldn’t suddenly change. In Daisy’s eyes, she was already dead. Her lifeless blue eyes were exactly like the stiffened eyes of a dead bird she had once seen.

‘Can this be called living?’

Daisy muttered to herself inwardly. Looking out the window all day, eating meals brought by the maids with their help, and going to bed early—that was all. Besides looking out the window and sleeping, the woman didn’t move of her own volition.

Lost in various thoughts, Daisy stood quietly looking at the woman. A maid standing some distance away reproached Daisy with her eyes.

At the maid’s glance, Daisy finally lowered her head and moved again. But not long after, a sound came from nearby.

“Excuse me……”

It was a very small voice, but both Daisy and the maids waiting a little distance away heard it. The first maid to regain her composure called to Daisy, who had stiffened, in a small voice. Daisy blinked her eyes, straightened her back, and went in front of the woman.

“Yes, yes. What can I do for you?”

The woman’s blue eyes captured Daisy. She stared at Daisy for a long time with her dead eyes, then extended her hand. And in a very cracked voice, she said,

“Could you help…… support me?”

* * *

‘If she continues like this forever……’

‘She’s being portrayed as physically unwell, but we all know. This is what they call losing one’s mind. Being an idiot.’

‘There’s talk among the lower servants too. They say the future empress has eyes like fish laid out at the market.’

Such words were heard from time to time. But Yerena didn’t care what people said about her.

Perhaps she really had lost her mind, as people said. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have spent all day looking outside without saying a word, then falling asleep, repeating this cycle.

‘Spring……’

She didn’t know exactly how much time had passed. But she could tell from the scenery outside that spring had come again. The scent of flowers and warm spring breeze. The appropriately lengthened days could be felt.

‘Life is really tenacious.’

Perhaps because of the weather that felt full of vitality, Yerena suddenly thought about her own life.

Was it after she had hit her head against the wall? With her blurred consciousness and the blood entering her eyes, Yerena thought she would surely die. But the man mocked her by saving her life again, and afterward, Yerena sank into helplessness.

‘I’m tired. I don’t want to think about anything.’

Yerena just wanted to rest. She had briefly thought about revenge before smashing her head, but her heart soon cooled. Even if she stabbed a sword into the man’s neck, nothing would change. Would k*lling him bring back her dead family? Would the past days of deception disappear?

Everything seemed meaningless. So Yerena remained still. She didn’t think about anything and just let her consciousness drift with the flow.

‘……Lady Yerena.’

During that time that felt both short and long, the man visited her every day. At first, he would barely call out her name while kneeling with a pale face. She might have thought that he looked quite pathetic.

But Yerena, who couldn’t even muster the strength to die and sat limply, couldn’t mock that appearance. Of course, she no longer had the strength to be angry either.

Perhaps the man also thought Yerena, who kept her mouth and ears closed and only opened her eyes to look outside, had lost her mind. With a pale face, kneeling and only calling Yerena’s name, at some point he began to mutter meaningless apologies, and after the season changed, he started to spout useless words.

‘This is a pearl brought from the deepest sea at the eastern end of the continent.’

‘No one, not even if they were emperor, would dare treat you with disrespect.’

‘This is a flower that blooms only in the snowy mountains in the dead of winter. They say whoever possesses it becomes healthy.’

How many things she would possess. How noble she would become. Yerena didn’t retain those words that brushed past her ears. She just looked outside, relaxing her strength.

‘I don’t care what form you take. Just stay by my side.’

‘……’

‘I love you. I truly love you, Lady Yerena.’

However, when the man who had become emperor told her he would keep her by his side and placed a ring on her finger, when he repeatedly professed his love, something changed within Yerena. It cracked and stirred the helplessness that had been consuming her for months.

Though shattered, Yerena still hated the man terribly. She couldn’t understand why he clung to her.

So she slowly began to move again. She tried moving her fingers and wiggled her toes beneath her dress.

She rolled her eyes, which had only been looking outside, in various directions. And when she noticed that a maid who strongly resembled Jane was loitering in front of her, she finally noticed a bookshelf in the room, or more precisely, a book.

‘That is……’

Though she hadn’t expected it, there was something Yerena had brought from the Sedas Kingdom in this unfamiliar room. It seemed miraculous that she had anything at all, since she hadn’t been able to take anything from the tower.

Once she became aware of it, the book seemed to call to her. More precisely, something wedged between the pages tickled her ears.

That might give me rest. Remembering an ancient legend, Yerena spoke.

“Could you help…… support me?”

The sound of people drawing in their breath came from all directions. Paying no attention, Yerena rose from her seat with support from the maid who resembled Jane.

Perhaps because she had barely walked, her legs trembled. But Yerena slowly placed one foot in front of the other. Soon her hand reached the bookshelf.

Just as she stretched her hand toward a book placed slightly above her height, voices called out “Your Majesty the Emperor” from beyond the arched doorway.

‘He’s here.’

She felt urgent. Yerena quickly moved her hand and grabbed the book.

The pages turned rapidly with a sharp whistling sound. And finally, a little past the middle of the book, what Yerena had been looking for appeared.

‘Ah……’

The last time she saw it, the sacred tree’s leaf had been just a leaf resembling scales. But now it emitted a strange light. More precisely, it appeared that way only to Yerena’s eyes.

Yerena’s tears dropped onto the book and partly stained the sacred tree’s leaf. The leaf, which had been as thin and stiff as a page, began to sway and move as if alive the moment it absorbed the salt water.

— The red dragon did not die. Reborn as a giant tree, he left his hatred and resentment for the first queen in the leaves. And looking down at his descendants in the kingdom, he scatters them in the wind.

Recalling the passage written in an ancient text, Yerena picked up the leaf. At the same time, familiar footsteps sounded loudly from behind.

Yerena didn’t hesitate. She formed a dry smile and parted her parched lips to stuff the sacred tree’s leaf into her mouth.

“Lady Yerena?”

The man called Yerena from behind. She paid no attention and focused on what had entered her mouth.

The leaf that had been abandoned in the book for a long time, the leaf that had been hard as scales when she picked it up, felt soft like wheat bread. It was also slippery like seaweed.

But that sensation lasted only briefly; the sacred tree’s leaf melted like sugar and slid down her throat. Yerena opened her eyes wide at the taste, sweeter than anything in the world.

“Yerena!”

Someone grabbed her shoulder and turned her sideways. Her vision changed instantly. Red eyes like the sacred tree’s leaf came into clear view before quickly becoming blurry.

“Cough!”

Yerena coughed up dark red blood. The red dragon’s hatred accurately targeted the descendant who inherited the blood of the Sedas Kingdom’s founders.

A shock struck her heart. Death descended in an instant. Yerena smiled faintly at the rest she had longed for.

“Physician! Call the priestesses! Now!”

Someone called for a physician and priestesses. The sound of people’s footsteps rang loudly and then gradually disappeared.

“No. Hold on. Hold on, Yerena.”

“Hu…… huup.”

Just as she felt her body gradually growing cold, something cold touched her lips, and a bitter liquid flowed down her throat.

‘……It’s useless.’

Yerena knew it wouldn’t interfere with her rest. She raised her eyelids with difficulty. Through her distorted vision, only the man’s contorted face came into clear view. Yerena raised her hand while making a dying sound and smiled as she whispered, clutching the man’s hair that swayed precariously in front of her face.

“That’s…… hu-uh. A good expression…… you have.”

“……”

“Of all…… the faces I’ve seen of huup. Y-you, it’s the most…… hu-uh…… the most pleas-pleasing.”

* * *

After former emperor Kedrick was deposed, the size of the temple within the imperial palace shrank considerably, almost to the point of disappearing. Nearly a hundred clerics and priestesses had all left the palace, and the few remaining personnel existed for the owner of the Ivory Palace. Moreover, since most of them stayed at the Ivory Palace, the temple within the imperial palace now felt desolate.

But not everyone had left the imperial palace temple. Fewer than ten priestesses and clerics remained in the palace. However, perhaps due to former emperor Kedrick’s influence, the people of the palace and the nobles cast unfriendly glances at the temple people.

“Those who fattened themselves beside the former emperor……”

“Hmph! Serving the goddess? They must have been serving the tyrant.”

It was unfair for those who remained in the palace temple, but there was nothing they could do. Most of the remaining people were not in a position to ask for a transfer. So they lived quietly, keeping a low profile.

And one of these people was Alicia. Having miraculously survived the day the former emperor caused trouble, Alicia returned to her quarters in the temple. More precisely, she was moved there by someone’s order.

“That appearance is truly…… Oh Goddess. Forgive this sinner.”