Quite some time had passed since Ines began living with Greta.

Perhaps because of the medicine Greta had made for her, Ines gradually recovered her health quickly.

At first, she had struggled to walk even on slightly uneven ground, but now she could go herb gathering with Greta.

And today too, Ines was gathering herbs with Greta in the forest. Since climbing the mountain was still difficult with her troubled legs, Ines sat at the mountain’s entrance examining leaves.

“Lena.”

Greta, who had finished gathering herbs, called out to Ines as she came down from the mountain.

“Greta, I’m here.”

Ines waved her hand to greet Greta. Though it was a name she had chosen in haste, she quite liked the name Lena.

Greta, who had now approached, looked at the herbs in Ines’s basket and asked.

“So you were looking for herbs too.”

“Yes. I saw this herb in the book I read yesterday. I was curious so I picked some. This is the herb you used for Uncle Gazel last time, right?”

Greta nodded as she examined the yellow petals.

“Yes, that’s right. Though it looks similar to yellow pumpkin flowers, its effects are completely different. You have a very good eye.”

Watching Ines look proudly at the herbs, Greta carefully asked.

“You said you’re leaving the day after tomorrow?”

“Ah… yes.”

Ines’s expression hardened as if just remembering her departure date.

Believing she had recovered enough, Ines had prepared to leave this place soon. Yet why did she feel such regret?

Just as Ines was showing a bitter smile.

“Why don’t you just stay here?”

“…Here?”

“Yes, I’m sure you have your reasons for wanting to go to Elgrad. But if there’s no absolute reason you must leave, wouldn’t it be better to stay in this village?”

“I…”

In truth, Ines liked it here too. Greta was kind, and the villagers were friendly. It was almost the first time she had received such unconditional kindness from people, which was why she had stayed longer than expected.

‘Nobody knows I was the queen anyway.’

Despite Ines’s fame, no one recognized her as the queen. Perhaps because it was a small village far from the capital, and also because the queen was believed to be dead.

Moreover, she enjoyed learning about herbs. She had become unexpectedly absorbed after reading the books in the room by chance. As she gathered herbs and accumulated knowledge, she wanted to conduct proper research. Furthermore…

‘My ability actually came from an herb called the Sun’s Flower.’

Until now, Ines had only hidden and avoided her ability. But while learning about herbs, for the first time, she wanted to learn more about her power.

After pondering for a moment, Ines carefully asked.

“If it’s alright with you, could you teach me about herbs? I’d like to learn properly.”

Greta laughed heartily as if she had expected this. Then she gently patted Ines’s head.

“Of course.”

Warm sunlight filtered through the dense foliage. It felt warm, as if welcoming a new beginning.

* * *

After the queen’s death, another bloodbath began in the kingdom that had already seen its share of turmoil. The heads of all those connected to the Marquis were cut off.

From the Marchioness of Descartes to the Marquis’s son who had once been rumored to have an affair with the queen. Not only the Descartes family but all those who had deep connections with them were not spared. And that wasn’t all.

The tale of digging up the already dead Marquis Descartes’s grave and mutilating his corpse became infamous.

All these events happened in the year the queen died.

Time passed quickly after that. The seemingly endless winter ended, warm spring passed, and now the hot summer had arrived.

Jeremy, coming out of a small two-story house, shook his head at Carlos who was waiting in front.

“It seems they’re not here either.”

Carlos let out an irritated sigh at Jeremy’s words. Another dead end. How many times has this happened now?

Carlos clicked his tongue briefly and pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning against.

His face had become much more gaunt than before. His cheeks were sunken as if he hadn’t been eating properly, and dark shadows lay under his eyes. His skin was even pale, like someone who hadn’t seen light in a long time.

He looked like a walking corpse. It was hard to believe he had once been a knight who led armies to victory.

Jeremy, watching his lord, inwardly sighed.

It had been six months already. Since Carlos had practically abandoned state affairs and started searching for someone like a madman.

‘It started after hearing that the Marquis’s son was alive.’

A few months ago, while investigating the dead Marquis Descartes, they discovered he had a hidden true son. The son who had already died was apparently the Marquis’s adopted son. A puppet put forward in place of the sickly biological son.

The son who had been evacuated early before things got worse was probably the true culprit who had exploited the dead queen’s ability.

After learning this fact, Carlos began searching for him like a man who had lost his mind.

But the son had been hidden so well even in the emergency that finding traces of him was not easy. Moreover, few people knew his face, leading to many fruitless searches like today.

That was why the two of them had come to such a small village. Jeremy spoke while looking at the setting sun in the sky.

“Your Majesty, given how late it’s gotten, it would be unwise to return to the capital right away. How about staying at an inn tonight and departing at dawn tomorrow?”

Carlos looked up at Jeremy’s words. Looking at the sky deeply dyed orange, he could tell darkness would soon fall.

After leaving here, they would have to cross plains with no villages in sight for half a day. Even if they rode through the night, they couldn’t reach the capital. Thinking it right to spend the night here, Carlos nodded.

“Then we’ll stay here tonight.”

“Yes, understood. Please wait here for a moment. I’ll quickly find us rooms.”

Jeremy immediately headed toward where the inns were gathered. Carlos, quietly watching his retreating figure, soon became lost in thought.

Looking somewhat bitter, he was quite exhausted. Though he was hanging on with the single-minded determination to kill the Marquis’s son with his own hands, in truth, he wanted to go to Ines’s side as soon as possible.

Every day was like living without being able to die. Every morning when he opened his eyes, breathing felt burdensome, and when he fell asleep, Ines’s blackened corpse tormented him.

But he couldn’t die while leaving alive the one who had done that to Ines.

‘Just until I cut off that bastard’s breath…’

He planned to grit his teeth and endure until he erased all traces of those who had tormented Ines. And at the end of it all, he would be the one to die.

Just as a bitter smile formed on Carlos’s lips while thinking this, suddenly a woman’s scream and a big commotion broke out.

“What’s wrong with you! I said I’ll pay the debt!”

“Do you know how long it’s been since you said that? You can’t come in until you pay the money, got it!”

His gaze naturally shifted at the sound of the argument. A man was blocking a young woman from entering a store. Angered by this, the woman was gesturing angrily at the man.

“You think I don’t have money? Just wait! I’ll bring that money right now!”

Carlos narrowed his brows as he looked at the face of the woman shouting defiantly. Strangely, she seemed familiar.

‘Where have I seen her?’

She had common brown hair and even more common brown eyes. Yet why did she feel so familiar?

As he racked his brain for a while with this strange feeling, suddenly his face hardened as if remembering something.

“That woman is surely…”

And as if possessed by something, he quickly approached and grabbed the woman’s arm. The woman looked at Carlos with a scrunched face.

“Ah, what!”

Their gazes met in mid-air.

“What do you mean ‘what’… Gasp!”

Soon, as if recognizing the man, the woman’s irritated face immediately turned pale.

Convinced by the woman’s reaction, Carlos tightened his grip on her arm.

“Why are you here?”

“Y-Your Majesty, how…”

The woman’s face turned blue as she stared at the red glint in his eyes. Her body trembled like an aspen leaf as she recognized the man’s identity.

“I asked why you’re here. No, why are you alive?”

“Th-that is…”

The woman before him was a maid who had worked in Ines’s palace.

No, more precisely, she was the maid who had supposedly burned to death with Ines.

“Answer me, now.”

The woman who should have already died and been buried was moving alive before his eyes.