Ines mulled over the words echoing in her mind. The Countess passing away four years ago… It remained too vivid in her memory to have been something heard while half-asleep.

‘And Carlos’s face at that time…’

He seemed to be crying. Though he hadn’t shed tears or made sobbing sounds, to Ines’s eyes, he appeared to be crying. It had bothered her all day. Because of that, she hadn’t even had time to dwell on her night with Carlos.

Even when Margaret was excited about what she called good news, Ines couldn’t respond. She felt uneasy, as if she had forgotten something important. How long had Ines been lost in such thoughts?

Moving as Margaret guided her, preparations were somehow completed. As Margaret adjusted her final appearance, she said.

“Since it’s a funeral and you’re wearing a black veil, it would be better not to wear makeup.”

Ines nodded in response. Looking at the time, there wasn’t even an hour left until the funeral began.

Though they would travel by carriage, it would take quite some time to reach the royal cemetery from here. They needed to depart quickly.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Margaret followed behind Ines who led the way.

As she crossed the corridor with a limping gait, someone caught her eye. It was Herman Tishi, standing with his colleagues.

She stopped in her tracks and quietly observed Herman.

‘Yes, Herman might know.’

No one had been by Carlos’s side longer than Herman. She had heard he had been by his side since the war, so he must know well about the Countess’s death. Soon, having made up her mind, Ines commanded.

“Margaret, you go ahead. I have somewhere to go.”

“What? But the time…”

Ignoring Margaret’s protests, Ines approached Herman and called out.

“Sir Herman.”

Herman stopped at the voice calling him. Upon recognizing who it was, his face crumpled. Despite Ines now being crowned Queen, his hostility toward her remained unchanged.

“What is it?”

His attitude was unfriendly, as if asking what business she could possibly have with him.

However, Ines paid no mind to such things.

“I have something I’d like to ask. Could you spare a moment?”

Seeing Ines’s serious expression, Herman gestured to his colleague to leave them alone.

After his colleague left, he stared at Ines, eyes telling her to speak. His attitude remained disrespectful.

Taking a short breath, Ines continued.

“It’s about Countess Ankerid’s death.”

At the mention of the Countess’s name, Herman’s eyebrow twitched. He clearly knew something. But quickly composing his expression, Herman spoke.

“Regarding the Countess’s death, hasn’t it already been announced as illness? So why are you asking me…”

“Yesterday, His Majesty told me. That Countess Ankerid had already passed away four years ago. War, prisoner… He said something like that, and I was wondering if you knew anything about it?”

It was a direct question without beating around the bush. Herman, who momentarily looked surprised that Carlos had said such things, bit his lip. He seemed to be contemplating how to answer.

But soon, as if having made up his mind, he met Ines’s eyes.

“Yes, that’s correct. Countess Ankerid passed away four years ago. The person in the coffin now is just someone else who resembles the Countess.”

“What do you mean…”

“The Countess… you could say she was killed because of Your Majesty and the Claudia family.”

“…Because of me and our family?”

Ines’s eyebrows trembled. An inexplicable fear overwhelmed her. The thought that there might be more unknown sins made it difficult to breathe.

“Four years ago, His Majesty was captured as a prisoner by the enemy.”

Herman began to reveal old stories one by one. And as he continued speaking, Ines’s face grew increasingly pale.

* * *

Inside the carriage heading to the royal cemetery.

Ines’s body swayed weakly as she stared out the window. As she endlessly watched the rapidly changing scenery, Herman’s words passed through her mind.

‘Carlos had been taken prisoner.’

Ines had never heard before that Carlos had been taken hostage by the enemy army. Though he was an illegitimate child, he was still the king’s son. It was unbelievable that there hadn’t been a single rumor in the kingdom about such a person becoming a prisoner.

She couldn’t believe this fact had been kept secret until now. Moreover, they said the royal family had abandoned Carlos when he was taken hostage.

‘The enemies who took His Majesty hostage demanded the end of war from the royal family. It wasn’t even an unreasonable demand. They said they would spare his life if we just gave up the land Tezever coveted and withdrew. But the royal family didn’t accept this request. Like the fate of a royal member who had lost their usefulness, His Majesty suffered brutal torture there.’

Herman began to tell of the tortures Carlos had endured there. With a look suggesting that if no one else, she should know clearly, he revealed everything one by one.

As he continued speaking, Ines’s body trembled slightly.

‘The reason for his injured leg was also due to torture?’

Ines looked down at her own impaired right leg. She knew it had been injured during the war, but she never dreamed it was because of such brutal torture.

She recalled when she had transferred Carlos’s leg injury to herself. It had been pain like her ankle was being severed.

As the price for transferring another’s wound to her own body, the pain of that time had also been transferred entirely to Ines. And she had experienced unprecedented agony that she had never felt before in her life.

Remembering that time, Ines struggled to swallow her tears. He must have endured hell far worse than that pain for days on end.

It must have felt like walking through a living hell. Ines wiped away the tears that finally spilled with the back of her hand.

‘When the Countess learned of this, she went to the enemy saying she would become a prisoner in place of her son.’

And soon after, they said she met a miserable end after being violated by the enemy.

She had crossed the battlefield as a woman to save Carlos. This fact filled Ines with tremendous guilt. Strictly speaking, she should have been the one to go there directly to save Carlos.

Initially, Carlos had gone to war because of me, and in the end, he was assigned to the frontlines because my father didn’t keep his promise.

Ines hadn’t even known about this fact.

She had sent him dozens, hundreds of letters but never received a single reply. That’s why she hadn’t known any news from the war. Looking back now, this too must have been blocked by her father. Her skirt wrinkled under her grip.

‘You should have seen His Majesty wailing while holding the Countess’s head.’

It was difficult to fathom Carlos’s feelings as he had no choice but to bury his mother’s body there after she died so miserably.

Just as she squeezed her eyes shut at the indescribably devastating feeling, the carriage that had arrived at their destination came to a stop.

When the door opened, she saw the nobles who had arrived earlier and were waiting. Carlos too must have arrived around the same time as her, as he was walking toward the coffin.

Watching that sight, Ines gritted her teeth.

How fortunate that her face was hidden by the veil.

Ines slowly descended from the carriage and began walking. With each step closer, the face of the sleeping woman gradually came into view.

Ines’s hands began to tremble as she stared at the corpse.

‘Do you know what flag was planted next to the pike with just her head on it? It said “Tezever’s wh*re.” The Countess died miserably, treated in such a way.’

Herman’s eyes seemed to be pleading that everything was because of her. Probably on that day too, Carlos’s eyes must have been filled with resentment toward her.

‘If only Father hadn’t made such a proposal.’

If only I had taken better care of his mother.

No, if only I had thought about her a little instead of focusing solely on my own misfortune…

‘She wouldn’t have met such a miserable end.’

Suddenly, her father’s head dangling in Carlos’s hand flashed through her mind. The bloody smell from that day remained in her nostrils, tormenting her. As she recalled that day’s events, her stomach began to churn.

That day, Carlos had cut off her father’s head just like the Countess’s final moments. It was an exact revenge.

‘Then what about me?’

Though it was said she hadn’t directly participated, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she was the beginning of all this tragedy. As her thoughts reached this point, her heart pounded. Along with severe pain in her solar plexus, she felt nauseous.

At the same time, the workers began pouring soil over the lowered coffin. With each shovelful of earth covering the coffin, the weight of sin pressed down on her shoulders.

And when the last soil fell.

“Ugh.”

Unable to hold back her nausea any longer, Ines finally vomited.