“Staying a few days and pleasing him should suffice. His Majesty likely didn’t expect more than that. I stayed just long enough to meet my minimum obligation.”

They say that once he leaves Helen, he rarely returns, but unlike before, he showed his face frequently.

“How long will you stay this time? I’ve heard talk among the aides that usually when you come once, you leave again……”

“You see my condition and still ask me to go to the battlefield? You seem desperate to send me away.”

That was true.

Lorendis spent more time wandering outside than staying in Helen. Anyone living in the Helen territory would have acknowledged this.

“Will you perhaps stay longer?”

“You seem determined to send me away somewhere, but unfortunately, I plan to guard Helen for a while.”

This should be happy news, but she wasn’t entirely joyful.

Lorendis spoke while straightening the front of his uniform.

“It’s also my fault for leaving my post until the mansion fell into this state.”

He warned that he would stay in his position for a while, so she should know. His voice sounded so resolute that she couldn’t ask more.

“Catherine Milden. Though only you remain of the Milden bloodline, Milden is also a vassal of Helen. If you’re in difficulty, it makes sense for Helen to help.”

There’s only one meaning behind those words. It means that Emily and Amanda can no longer be Milden.

Milden was a small and humble family, but to Catherine, it was a name more meaningful than anything else.

“Thank you.”

Lorendis called Brady with precision.

“Brady.”

“Yes, Your Grace. You called?”

Lorendis’s gaze rested on Emily, who was prostrated on the floor. Brady nodded as if he could guess what would follow just from that gaze.

Lorendis indifferently referred to Emily as a criminal and spoke.

“Imprison and watch the criminal.”

“I’ll use guards to monitor her separately.”

“No one except those permitted should dare approach. Don’t give her even a sip of water until I give permission. And bring her mother too.”

Brady slung Emily over his shoulder. Emily had already been unconscious for a long time, and her pale face was as white as a corpse.

“Catherine Milden may take this lightly, but Helen cannot. Don’t forget that those women’s lives also depend on your life.”

Her family will be kept alive only as long as Catherine lives, and if Catherine had no hope, then they too…

“Even now, I’m filled with the desire to behead her and punish her. I’ve shown mercy just this once for your sake.”

That mercy was granted only in consideration of his connection with Catherine. Once that connection was severed, there would be no such mercy. Having pointed this out, Lorendis gathered his sharply honed energy.

* * *

That day, she just sat on the bed. Sitting blankly and looking out the window, did she look like a girl lost in worry?

The maids were equally worried. This included Nancy, who attended to Catherine closely.

“Why has my lady been visiting the doctor frequently lately? Moreover, Dr. Dennis’s worries have deepened……”

“A doctor came from outside—is something wrong with her?”

At that moment, while the subject of their concern enjoyed a warm cup of tea in leisure, the surroundings remained unsettled.

“The mansion is in disarray.”

“I apologize. It’s usually a quiet place, but it’s been like this for days.”

Nancy sighed and poured tea. The aroma was subtly enchanting. Catherine held the teacup and savored the fragrance.

“Where is Emily?”

“The aides took her to the basement. With you and all this—what’s going on? My lady, has something serious happened?”

“I’ll tell you later, Nancy. Before that, I want to visit Emily, so please guide me.”

Since Lorendis hadn’t said she couldn’t go to the basement, she should at least be able to say goodbye to her sister.

“I heard she’s been trembling in fear, out of her mind for days.”

“My sister is timid. Glass may be hard, but it’s easily broken.”

Emily was confined in the place they arrived at. Perhaps because she had fully faced his killing intent, she was still in shock.

“He’s going to kill me. That person…… that battlefield demon is going to kill me. Why should I suffer because of what my mother did!”

The isolation room was a vacant room in the basement prepared as a temporary holding cell. Helen was built on the site of an ancient kingdom and was quite large.

The entrance to the isolation room was blocked with wooden bars, and one had to open both the wooden bars and the door to get out.

Emily didn’t see Catherine. She rambled like someone already completely broken, to the point of being pitiful.

“I don’t need to visit her.”

“My lady……”

“My sister has already abandoned our mother.”

Her soft, articulate whispers were quiet but clear. Emily trembled, her eyes reddened.

“This is all because of mother. All because of mother……”

* * *

Amanda paced around an empty room, waiting for Emily’s contact. Several days had passed since she lost contact with her daughter who was staying in Helen.

‘She should have contacted me by now…… Did they welcome her in Helen?’

With no news, she couldn’t even ask her daughter what was happening. She had been staying in the outer fortress waiting for news of Emily.

“This child should at least contact her mother when she’s late. I raised her too indulgently.”

There was a dull crashing sound as the door was ripped off. Another person who opens doors so brutally…… Amanda hesitated, recalling unpleasant memories.

“Who, who are you!”

“Are you Amanda Milden?”

“I am Amanda, but who are you?”

Three strange men and one woman in uniforms came looking for Amanda. They wore robes that covered their faces, but their affiliation was clearly marked on the robes. And Amanda fainted on the spot.

Amanda woke up again to find herself imprisoned in a dim basement.

“Mother, Mother! It’s Emily. Mother, do you recognize me?”

“Is that you, Emily? My daughter, why are you here? You said you’d stay in the inner fortress for a few days, so why are you imprisoned here!”

It was a narrow room. Just a cramped room, but with windows and doors blocked by bars, it clearly showed the determination to imprison someone.

When you opened the small wooden door, there was another prison made of bars, and you had to open those bars too to get out.

“What, what is going on? You said you’d stay in the inner fortress for a few days, but why has it come to this!”

Amanda shouted angrily, pressuring her daughter. Emily, startled by Amanda’s scolding, began to sob.

“Child, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…… Why are you in this situation now?”

“Mother, what exactly have you done? Did you think you would be safe after committing such acts!”

Even that cramped room was antique from furniture to walls. It was like some separate chamber of a fallen royal family. Despite its antiquity, it was eerily quiet inside. Anyone could see it was being used as an isolation room or detention center. Imprisoned? Us?

Suddenly realizing what this meant, Amanda grabbed Emily’s shoulders.

“You didn’t tell them unnecessary things, did you? Hmm? I hope not. Child! Emily!”

“Mother, you should pay for the crimes you committed. I don’t have the courage to bear that terrifying person’s anger. He’s a demon. An evil spirit!”

The man who openly showed his killing intent was a murderer. His killing intent was still vivid. Like a beast targeting the nape of the neck, he bared his teeth and harbored murderous intent.

It felt like having all her flesh torn off and butchered. If that level of killing intent was felt in such a short time, if that anger were fully directed at Emily…!

“I can’t handle it. It’s what you did, Mother. Catherine said she would forgive me. Mother, please pay for your crimes.”

“What nonsense has that impudent girl fed you!”

Amanda began to fear what kind of trouble her beautiful daughter had gotten into. She couldn’t have spoken plainly with that mouth.

Did she tell them about that incident with her own mouth? Impossible. That can’t be. That would be digging her own grave.

“You, didn’t you say you knew nothing? What did you tell them! You said you knew nothing, right? Hmm? You should have pretended not to know, but no, why are you here, Emily? What exactly happened…!”

The isolation room bars opened. Amanda’s eyes widened and she turned. Catherine stood there with her back perfectly straight.

“It’s been a while, Mother.”

“You, why are you here?”

It’s not surprising to see Lady Helen in Helen. Lady Helen, who governs Helen’s inner fortress, was Catherine Helen.

Amanda wanted to faint. Hoping all of this was a dream, hoping that what was to come was just an illusion…

“You! What did you do to your sister that the child is pale and trembling!”

I shouldn’t have sent this child to Helen.

If that old man hadn’t died of old age, I would have sent that child to quietly dispose of her…… The child who should have died quietly was standing before her all too righteously.

“I have great regrets about you, Mother. If I had died alone in ignorance, only I would have been wronged, right?”

Catherine laughed nobly alone and sat on a nearby chair.

“I was always alone. So my loneliness was great, and I think I wanted a little bit of family love.”

Now only emptiness remains. So even when leaving, she wanted to separate this mother and daughter.

She wanted to give despair to those loving eyes between mother and daughter. That might make her heart a little more at ease.