He didn’t love Ingrid, but he trusted her. Even when she lost two children and had a miscarriage, that trust didn’t disappear. He was the one who said the Queen’s duty wasn’t only to produce heirs.

He was the one who said ruling the inner palace as the King’s consort and being a model for noble society was also part of being Queen. So he’d told her not to feel burdened about heirs. 

Because he had a sister. But it was Ingrid who couldn’t bear that.

“Do you love Lennox?”

“He’s a precious child.”

“What about Hughie?”

“I wish he were my son.”

Richard didn’t lie. Ingrid bit her lips hard. Her shoulders trembled finely. Richard brushed away the bright hair of the sleeping child. Even that touch seemed heartless and fleeting. Ingrid stared at him blankly, then turned her head away.

* * *

Ann was crying, curled up in a ball. Though Ann had slept in old abandoned houses and among mountains of garbage, prison was a first. She trembled and breathed with difficulty. Every time she saw the prison bars, she felt her hair stand on end from head to toe.

“Hic, hicc… What do I do? What do I do, Mom…”

As Ann sobbed and heaved, murmuring for her long-dead mother, she heard footsteps. 

Ann flinched and buried her head deeper. Last night, Oliver and David had been dragged by guards to the interrogation room.

They only returned after about three hours had passed. Nearly unconscious. Ann watched in terror as the blood-soaked boys returned. They looked exactly like the corpses of dead animals. 

Ann was afraid she’d end up the same way.

Belated regret washed over her. She should have just pretended not to see. She should have offered Oliver the silver coin and run away then. If she had, she wouldn’t have gotten mixed up in this.

Ann cried with difficulty, resenting the past. Suddenly the footsteps that had stopped in front of her closed the distance by half a step. Ann chattered her teeth, afraid of the shadow leaning toward her.

“Ann.”

It was a familiar voice. She raised her head to look at Lennox. Tears flowing down her cheeks pooled between her closed lips. Ann stared at the snow-white boy. Though pale, Lennox with the swelling much reduced looked quite different from how he’d been in Bluebilt Village.

Ann stared at him blankly. Unlike her moving lips, no words came out.

“Are you crying?”

He asked. Ann didn’t answer. She wanted to ask to be let out of prison. A prince could do that much. But her wet lips didn’t move at all. Lennox, who’d been watching her, looked up at the guard standing beside him.

Before long, the prison door opened with a clatter. Lennox strode in and lifted Ann up. Ann, who’d been crouched in darkness for days, was practically dragged up and lifted by his hands.

“Don’t cry.”

Lennox embraced Ann as she rose creakily. Ann buried her face in the satin-made vest. A warm rose scent covered the tip of her nose.

Suddenly she thought her fingers might be cut off for burying her face in the prince’s vest or for pressing her nose to his shirt. Frightened, Ann pushed him away and hardened her expression.

“Let, let me out.”

When she murmured in a cowed voice, Lennox, who’d been staring at her, nodded. Lukewarm breath touched her forehead.

Ann dropped her shoulders and stepped back two paces. Because she thought she was too close to him. Lennox stared at Ann blankly, then grabbed her wrist. Startled, Ann staggered, but he brought Ann out of the prison just like that.

* * *

Ann looked up at the woman with her hands neatly folded on her stomach and black hair piled high. Below her neat eyebrows, bright jade-green eyes were beautiful like jewels. 

Her high nose bridge extended straight, making her stern impression stand out, and her red-painted lips were elegant and refined.

Ann looked around, not knowing how to show respect before the Queen. The Queen’s chambers were more refined and dignified than splendid.

Wallpaper embroidered with exotic blue patterns that matched the elegant beige tones entered her view. The sight of lily of the valley, honeysuckle, does symbolizing the Queen, and orioles arranged in regular patterns was beautiful.

The candles arranged magnificently on the table with corners decorated in vine patterns, along with prettily dried flower petals and herbs of unknown names, calmed her mind.

“Are you Ann?”

“Yes?”

“I heard the story from the Prince. Thank you. If not for you, the Prince would have lost his life.”

The not-too-high warm voice was proper and also dignified. Ann’s heart pounded even at the kindly delivered words. Suddenly she recalled what a maid had said.

“You’ll be meeting Her Majesty the Queen. Before her, you must keep your back straight and fold your hands neatly. Now, try greeting me following my example.”

The Queen… To face Her Majesty the Queen. Ann couldn’t adapt at all to the series of events happening to her lately.

The “high-ranking people” she knew were all the wealthy landlords of Roderville. Even then, she’d never actually met or encountered them. 

She’d only heard about how they lived because her aunt Dora had worked as a maid in the mansion of a quite well-known rich person in Roderville.

An orphan girl from the slums like her rarely mixed shadows even with lower nobles. But a prince… Ann still couldn’t believe the identity of the boy who’d embraced her.

“Ann, child.”

A strange voice reached Ann, who’d been looking only at the floor, not daring to meet anyone’s gaze. Ann raised her head in surprise. One of the noblewomen beside the Queen had called her. Ann swallowed her dry saliva to avoid trembling.

“I’m, I’m sorry.”

“Stop it, Helena.”

The Queen waved her hand at the noblewoman called Helena. Ann looked around at them with a stiff expression. Beside the Queen sitting in a pearl-colored chair wearing a blue indoor dress were two more women around her age.

Especially the noblewoman named ‘Helena’ had an impression strangely similar to the Queen’s, giving the feeling they might be distant blood relatives. Next to her, the woman wearing a bright apricot dress was small in build but had some flesh, giving a warm and kind impression.

“Don’t be too nervous. Aren’t you the Prince’s benefactor?”

“N-no. I’m, I’m…”

Ann, who’d been looking at the women in a cowed state, shook her head quickly. She wanted to leave the palace now. But the Queen and noblewomen didn’t seem likely to let her go easily. 

Ann bit her lips and thought of Lennox.

The child she’d saved was a prince. She’d thought he might be the son of a high-ranking noble lord. 

Since he was a child who gave off such a different atmosphere from her, she’d thought he might be a child living in a completely different world from her, as different as he was. 

But she hadn’t known he was a prince.

Ann found that fact dizzying. So she wanted to escape this place somehow. She wanted to crouch somewhere she thought was safe until she felt stable. Suddenly rapid footsteps were heard and it became noisy outside the door.

The Queen threw her gaze over Ann’s shoulder as though she’d expected it. Ann turned her head to see the door opening.

The prince apparently didn’t just come and go, as an attendant announced his arrival in a very solemn voice before opening the door. Lennox stood before his mother with soft steps, greeted her properly, then came to Ann’s side.

Ann instinctively moved three or four steps away like a crab walking sideways to get away from his side. Lennox tilted his head, looked at that strangely, then stared at his mother again.

“Can I take Ann now?”

“We haven’t even finished greeting properly yet.”

At her son’s question, the Queen smiled gently. Lennox rolled his eyes, then asked his mother to bring out refreshments. The Queen nodded as though finding him cute. Ann watched them like an ordinary mother and son, then was led by Lennox’s hand to sit at the table.

“Did you see Yvonne?”

“Yes, I promised to introduce Ann to her. This weekend.”

“I see. Yvonne worried about you a lot.”

“I thought she would.”

Ingrid stared at her son taking a big bite of honeyed cake. Throughout Lennox’s illness, Yvonne had cried and suffered from fever. 

Having raised Lennox, who was born around the same time as her son Hughie, like her own son, her feelings wouldn’t have been different from Ingrid’s.

Lennox was the same. He was a child who followed Yvonne so much that his reason for leaving the castle was to go see her. Thinking his strange attachment to her resembled his father, Ingrid was bothered by her son’s obsession with Yvonne.

But…

“Where’s Ann?”

Lennox, who she’d thought would look for Yvonne as soon as he opened his eyes, asked where the child he’d brought was. Only then did Ingrid remember that Lennox had brought a girl from the slums.

“Lennox, are you all right?”

“What about Ann? I told you to take Ann to my palace.”

Lennox was very irritable. Ingrid looked at her son showing sharpness even while sick. He looked exactly like Richard asking where Yvonne was.