Baron Ruham’s voice was calm. But it wasn’t difficult to see through the fundamental guilt underlying his words.

Four out of five opposed my succession to the family head position. In such a situation, Baron Ruham being the only one to agree was almost like betraying his friends.

Especially since the relationship among the five, centered around Father, was known to be particularly close.

“Why did you take my side?”

“Because I believe in Your Grace. Aren’t you the only daughter of the late Count?”

For a moment, his gaze toward me contained a sincere belief that I would do as well as Father.

“Even though I’m a woman?”

The Baron nodded.

“The world is changing. Her Highness the Crown Princess is also a woman, but her abilities have been publicly proven. I think it will set a good precedent.”

At Baron Ruham’s words, I couldn’t give any answer.

I wondered what he would think if he knew my heart was burdened by this position of family head, when he was so full of belief and loyalty toward me.

After much deliberation, I opened my mouth,

“……I will certainly repay the Baron’s trust.”

Baron Ruham bowed his head, and I turned my back and left that place.

Each step from the entrance toward my room felt unbearably heavy, like wet cotton.

Perhaps it was because I realized that a moment I thought would be joyful came with the weight of responsibility beyond joy.

❀❀❀

A month passed in the blink of an eye, as if I had just closed and opened my eyes.

It was because I was busy with various inheritance issues and taking over the family business.

Father set the condition that I would inherit all his property on the condition that I continue to donate to the orphanage he had been supporting.

But there were many other complicated matters related to taxes, so it took quite some time to handle them.

However, the succession of the family business was even more complex, making this seem trivial in comparison.

During the month, I learned about the estate, imperial affairs, and the principles of how noble society operates every day.

Without Baron Ruham’s help, it would have taken much longer, but with his assistance, I was able to shorten it to just under a month.

Thanks to that, after a month had passed, I could now perfectly fill Father’s vacant position.

Being so busy, I left the trading company in Ilina’s hands. Naturally, the new business I had planned to start fizzled out.

Every day, work poured in. Especially having to handle the affairs of the four families that had rebelled, even ten bodies would not have been enough.

Every day, I had no time to care about my personal feelings. More precisely, it was closer to trying not to care.

When various complicated emotions raised their heads, I immersed myself more in work. After clearing mountains of documents one after another, such thoughts didn’t come to mind during those times.

I spent a month mechanically working like that. Then I suddenly came to my senses after collapsing from overwork.

Opening my eyes, feeling a damp cloth on my forehead, I saw a middle-aged man watching over me.

It was Russel, who had been Father’s assistant and now became mine.

Dozing off in a chair, he soon opened his eyes, perhaps hearing the rustling sound as I woke up.

Then, noticing I was awake, he showed a surprised expression and said,

“When did you wake up? Are you feeling better?”

It was something Sherry would have said normally, but she could no longer be by my side.

Because I am now the family head, I can only keep people around who can practically help with the family business.

It’s not that I can’t see her at all, but unlike before, she can’t be constantly by my side. It seemed trivial, but sometimes her absence hit me hard. But even this seemed to be becoming familiar. As if proving that humans are creatures of adaptation.

“I just woke up. My body is fine, but how long have I been asleep?”

“You slept like the dead for two whole days. I was worried, but I’m glad you’ve recovered.”

He worried about my well-being but spoke while keeping a proper distance. It was common sense, but receiving such treatment still felt somewhat unfamiliar.

“I see.”

But outwardly showing no sign of it, I returned a formal answer just as I had received.

“You may go now. I’ll soon return to the office.”

“Understood.”

After briefly answering my command, he bowed his head and then closed the door and left. Left alone in the spacious bedroom, I blankly stared into space.

Perhaps because I wasn’t holding work in my hands, the terrible emotions I had forgotten seemed to revive again.

I bit my lips, but there was no way to stop the flowing tears.

And only after a long time did I realize that the identity of that emotion was loneliness.

Despite wearing fine clothes and being in a position no one could ignore, I realized too late that a place with no one to lean on is lonely.

But that was it.

A month. A time that’s long if you say it’s long, short if you say it’s short. During that time, I became accustomed to a new way of life and learned more details about the things I needed to be responsible for.

This swamp was one where you sink deeper as time passes, and too much time had already passed to escape.

So I simply conformed to reality.

Looking out the window, the morning sun was bright. Having skipped a day, today would be even more intense.

After leaving a brief reflection, I headed to the bathroom, washed my body with cold water, and changed clothes.

Normally, maids would do this, but for me with no time to work, dressing up was a luxury.

Eventually, sitting in front of the dressing table, a haggard appearance greeted me.

Long blue dark circles stretched under my eyes, and my skin texture was scattered and messy.

My teeth were chattering miserably due to washing with cold water to clear my mind.

As I stared at myself in the mirror, I had the illusion that another me in the mirror was speaking to me.

‘So are you happy now? Levedi Ophelia.’

‘I’m asking if you’re happy!’

Such hallucinations often visited. I habitually fumbled over the dressing table. It was to find medicine.

But there was no medicine in the place where it usually was. Instead, I only felt the rough edge of paper.

Nervously fishing out the paper, I soon confirmed its identity and froze.

「c-7, from the left of the 4th bookshelf, the 10th one.」

It was the paper the Emperor had given me along with the family head appointment letter, saying it was a gift. The paper where records about my mother would be found.

Honestly, my memories of Mother were blurry. Perhaps that’s why. I didn’t have any particular attachment to Mother.

To the extent that I never demanded stories about Mother even when Father didn’t tell me about her.

People said I was kind, but it was just that she wasn’t a significant enough subject to be interested in. Nothing more, nothing less.

But did the Emperor not know that?

“Giving something like this as a gift……”

After saying this sarcastically, I suddenly had such a thought.

Did the Emperor really not know that?

Moreover, even when I showed such a cold reaction at the funeral, did he not know even then?

A worthless gift tends to embarrass the giver.

“Looking at you, I see you resemble her completely. Not just in appearance, but I was worried that you might also resemble her fate. As they say, a daughter follows her mother’s fate.”

Above all, the look in the Emperor’s eyes as he mourned Father and delivered those words was sincere.

Somehow, a strange emotion swirled from within me. A premonition that I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t go to the place written on this piece of paper.

It might be crazy, but I decided to entrust myself to that premonition.

Though terribly impulsive, because I had lived so boringly, that impulse spread uncontrollably fast like fire on dry ground.

And soon, it moved my steps, which had always wandered in the same place, to that location.

❀❀❀

“c-7……”

Due to a sudden impulse, I eventually found myself at the Imperial Library. And I was faithfully following the coordinates written on the note the Emperor had given me.

“Where on earth is c-7……”

But it was the Imperial Library, said to hold all the books of the Empire. Because of the vast number of books, finding it wasn’t as easy as I thought.

Thanks to that, only after wandering for a long time could I finally approach my destination.

“c-7 is here, so the 4th bookshelf……”

And after a bit more time passed, I finally got my hands on the book I had been searching for.

“c-7, from the left of the 4th bookshelf, the 10th one.”

I unhesitatingly pulled out the book that was exactly at the coordinates the Emperor had provided.

The book, made like a thin booklet, was covered in dust.

“Cough, cough!”

Because of that, only after coughing a few times could I finally see the book properly.

As I removed the dust with my hand, the title written on the cover of the book was fully revealed.

「Noble Record Document No. 150309. —Sophia Valentine」

Sophia Valentine. It was Mother’s name. The moment I saw that name, strength unconsciously entered my grip, and only after taking a deep breath did I finally turn the first page.

Flutter.

The first page of the book turned over with my touch.

On the first page of the book, Mother’s simple personal information was written.

「Sophia Valentine, Imperial Calendar 583. 5. 13 ~ 615. 8. 26」

「The eldest and last noble of House Valentine. Her father, Viscount William Valentine, was a professor of history at the Imperial Academy during his lifetime. The couple was known to have a good relationship. However, both her parents died in an accident while traveling by carriage with her mother, Olivia Valentine. After that, at the age of 12, Sophia Valentine was entrusted to her maternal family, House Baron Bryan.

Later, she grew up and married Count Ophelia, and gave birth to Levedi Ophelia with the Count.」

‘Losing her mother at a young age is just like me. Although I still had my father.’

Thinking this, I turned one more page. And there, more specific details of Mother’s life were recorded.

They were mostly trivial things, so I just skipped them. However, from around the coming-of-age ceremony, I began to read with wide eyes.

「601 April, Social Debutante」

「602 September, Reports of romance with Count Ophelia.」

「603 January, Engaged to Yulisius Ricardo.」

「603 August, Led the procession of women’s groups as the Emperor’s fiancée.」

“……?”

What is this situation? Reading straight through, I couldn’t help but flinch at one passage.

It’s one thing that her romance with Father was reported, but to be engaged to the Emperor four months later…

The fact that she even led a procession means she properly fulfilled the role of a fiancée.

This wasn’t the only puzzling fact.

Below were Mother’s activities as the Emperor’s fiancée, but they didn’t continue for long.

「604 January, Broke off engagement with Emperor Yulisius Ricardo. Reason: premarital pregnancy.」

“……?”

Premarital pregnancy?

Whose child did she carry…?

Despite it clearly being a record about Mother, why does it read like a soap opera novel?

Unable to contain my curiosity, I turned to the next page, and as the booklet was unusually thin, it was the last page.

And seeing the record written on the last page, I doubted my eyes.

— 604 July, Gave birth to Levedi Ophelia.

— 605 January, Marriage vows with Count Ophelia at an unknown temple.

‘Why does the conclusion suddenly jump to me?’

Moreover, marrying Father. I couldn’t even imagine what kind of life Mother had lived.

A life where she was engaged to the Emperor, got pregnant with me, broke off the engagement, and married Father.

The story that Mother took her own life because she couldn’t bear the public criticism suddenly flashed through my mind.

I thought I somewhat understood why she was criticized. It would be a course of action that would be condemned even now, let alone in that era, which was more conservative than the present.

‘Why did the Emperor want to show me this?’

“Looking at you, I see you resemble her completely. Not just in appearance, but I was worried that you might also resemble her fate. As they say, a daughter follows her mother’s fate.”

For him to show this out of concern for me, what do I gain from knowing this content?

‘Was he trying to mock me?’

I even thought that he might be trying to disgrace my mother’s past to take Assel’s side.

But then again…

‘That look in his eyes at the funeral.’

It somehow seemed sincere.

Moreover, breaking off an engagement due to premarital pregnancy would not only damage Mother’s position but also deliver a huge blow to the Emperor’s pride.

Even if it was to disgrace me, would he have any reason to bring up such a past?

And though he said I resembled her, apart from meeting two men, our lives didn’t seem that similar.

‘What on earth was his intention….’

I closed the book, put it back where it was, and left the place. Somehow, an unpleasant feeling arose.

But at the same time, I felt like I was missing something.

And at the end of those countless worries, I came to a conclusion.

‘I need to meet the Emperor.’

I felt I needed to meet him and ask what his intention was in showing me this.

❀❀❀

By the time I returned to the mansion from the library and finished processing today’s work and the backlog of two days, it was late at night.

Just as I was about to go to my bedroom, a reply came to the letter I had sent to the imperial palace.

Russel received the letter and asked if he should hand it to me, and I, with a headache from just looking at letters due to document processing, asked him to read it.

“His Majesty has accepted your request for an audience. He says to meet tomorrow after lunchtime.”

“……Fold it and put it away.”

Russel folded the letter and put it in my drawer. Then, with curious eyes, he looked at me and asked,

“Why are you going to the imperial palace?”

It was transparently clear that he was hoping it might be about ‘those four.’ I answered with a cold sneer,

“It’s a private matter, so don’t worry about it.”

“……”

Russel closed his mouth and bowed his head.

The four who opposed my succession to the family head position were released in less than a week, perhaps thanks to Baron Ruham’s petition.

But the Emperor dismissed all four administrative officials of the imperial palace and ordered house arrest. This was almost equivalent to signifying the end of their lives as nobles.

With their hands and feet tightly bound, there was nothing they could do.

And this news spread throughout the Empire. According to the information in the letter sent by Ilina, who was almost entirely handling the trading company in my place, the voices gossiping about me had grown louder because of this incident.

If previously only women criticized me, now it seems I’m being stoned even by male nobles with real power.

But Ilina told me not to worry.

People know that I have the full trust of the Emperor and the Crown Princess, and since they still think I’m the wife of Duke Esteban, no one would dare to treat me carelessly.

Rather, she reported that there are many people desperate to become friendly with me.

‘So they badmouth me behind my back but are desperate to get close to me in front.’

As long as my power doesn’t disappear, insects trying to s*ck out the sweet juice will continuously swarm.

The taste of power felt newly sweet, but also bitter on the other hand.

No, to be honest, I wondered what use all this was. It felt like a golden apple I once desperately wanted, but when I finally obtained it and split it open, it was empty inside.

‘What would Father have said to me at a time like this?’

Sorrow doesn’t come all at once. It visits me from time to time just as I’m starting to forget.

Perhaps that’s why. Today, I especially missed Father.

‘……I miss you, Father.’

But Father can no longer be seen even if I miss him. At that fact, my heart sank heavily, and my breathing became rapid.

“I’ll go in now. You should rest too.”

Trying hard to control my breathing, I stood up. I couldn’t show a crying face to my subordinate.

❀❀❀

The next day dawned. It was the day to go to the imperial palace, so I got up early in the morning for the first time in a long while and dressed up.

I put on makeup and did my hair, but looking at myself in the mirror in uniform, I felt awkward.

After working in that state and having lunch, I boarded the carriage an hour before the appointment.

And finally, the carriage arrived at the imperial palace.

Finding my way to the Emperor’s palace after getting off the carriage wasn’t difficult. It was because I had become familiar with the geography of the imperial palace due to Estelia’s frequent summons.