Chapter 4 Part 2
“But it would have only divided the Empire! There is no way that the Empress could have succeeded normally, and no one could eventually become an Emperor.”
“…there are Princes, right?”
“They, I’ll destroy them.”
At the arrogant remarks he asserted with confidence, Abigail was increasingly afraid of the conclusion.
“But, fortunately, the Princess died. Yes, I’m glad now that it has happened and I found you as a substitute. You are the same age as the Princess, and you also have the same hair and eyes with that damn Emperor. Also a moderately pretty face that the Emperor would like, above all, you’re ‘normal’ and not an idiot.”
“So…”
“If it’s you, you could become the Emperor.” The man whispered in a sweet voice that didn’t go well with the situation.
Abigail burst out laughing as if she were full of energy. “You’re going to make me the Emperor, who has nothing to do with the Imperial family? You’re crazy. I understand everything you mentioned but the Emperor, the Emperor…!”
“Anyway, the bloodline is just an illusion. As for the Emperor, how much blood do you think he has left now?”
Oh my God, the words that question the legitimacy of imperial authority came from the mouth of no one else but, Edelgard’s master himself.
“You got your seat because of that bloodline, too. No?”
“That’s because I have the ‘ability’.” The man grinned shamelessly and confidently.
*****
Rakiel frowned at the heavy documents on his desk. It was comparable to a five-year report on the development of small and medium-sized land. “What’s all this?”
“It’s her background.”
“You said she was 18.”
“Yes.”
“What the hell has she been doing?”
Rakiel, who was glancing through the document with a rough pick-up in front of the desk, soon threw it on the desk with a tired face.
“Kyle?”
“Yes.”
“Read.”
“Yes.”
As if he knew that those documents, which were frantically scratched by his men overnight, would only be treated like that, Kyle took out the files he had organized separately. Elite’s pride was all over the movement.
“Abigail Dilloa. She’s 18 years old this year, and her identification matches. It was six years ago that debt began to accumulate abnormally on the Dilloa family, eventually reaching 7.3 million rant due to rising interest payments two years later, and by the way, the original annual income of Dilloa was 1.1 million rant, but only 350,000 rant due to the severe drought that lasted for years. Even that was said to have distributed most of the money to the people of the land, and anyway, due to all the lawsuits, her father, Zachak Dilloa, climbed the wall and killed himself. The estate was subsequently acquired by the neighboring Count of Schuppet at a bargain price, including all the debts, which in the process decreased to 1.4 million rant. But…”
“But?”
“While checking the copy of the contract at the time, I noticed something unusual. The terms of the contract included the marriage clause between Count and Lady Dilloa. And after the marriage,
It says that Schuppet will settle all the remaining debts.
She has no motives other than her younger siblings, it seems that the Lady described here refers to her.”
Schuppet was a nobleman with a fairly large manor in the northern outskirts of Grantonia. The one who wore a whisker with a raised beard…
“You’re not talking about a 70-year-old man, are you?”
“The count was exactly 68 years old at the time.”
“That old, dirty little bastard.” Rakiel loosened his tie a little and sat down on the chair. “So, she married the old man?”
“No. The estate was taken over and the entire family fled at night while the wedding was being prepared.”
As soon as he heard the word night escape, Rakiel laughed at the thought of who it was.
“…Your Grace?” Seeing that moment, Kyle, who stared blankly at Rakiel, frozen as if he had seen nothing. Rakiel frowned immediately. Kyle flinched a little.
“Continue.”
“And the family came to the capital. After coming to the capital, she said, according to the investigator’s report, ‘I did almost everything a woman could do except for prostitution and entertainment.’”
“…a 14-year-old?”
“Yes.”
“What’s that ‘almost everything a woman could do’?”
“She signed an exclusive contract with the Human Resources Guild and signed as an innkeeper, a woo market guide, restaurant kitchen dishwashing, dressing room service, serving a coffee house, wagon management, banquet hall cleaning, painting ships, picking out defective products from a mass-production plant, bookkeeping, paraphrasing.…and she has done more than fifty-two things. And she sometimes worked as an errand guild, where she usually acted as a bride’s friend and sister at weddings, and as a groom’s lover, she broke the wedding. Oh, she has been acting as a bereaved family member for quite a while. Other Academy exams, attendance on behalf of others are quite….…”
“…That’s why she has been so good at it.”
“What?”
“Then she’s the maid of honor?”
“Oh, yes. Her mother suddenly became ill and rushed into a life position for treatment. But as soon as the maid of honor died, the seat of the maid of honor…”
“It must have been empty. No matter how long a life-long job, would have pushed the capital noblewoman into a position where she would have been locked up with a deserted princess for the rest of her life. So that’s what happened to that girl who’s unfamiliar with her family?”
“Yes.”
Rakiel silently leaned against the chair and closed his eyes. Whatever you do, you have to clean up and start. With his eyes closed, Rakiel slowly opened his mouth. Kyle straightened his back in an instant due to the cold atmosphere around him.
“Clean up the Palace first. Investigate thoroughly from Lord Entrance, and pick out all the people involved. Especially people who have the slightest possibility of seeing Abigail Dilloa’s face are prompt. Everything else moves.”
“I understand.”
“Did you say pet?”
“What?”
“Start to return the supplies supplied by the Earl to the Duke this year and replace them with other territorial products if they were in trade negotiations. There are many reasons to put it back, so cancel all remaining brokerage contracts, and wrap up the recorded transaction tax evasion, estate, and personal tax evasion in a moderately large case and stab the Treasury. And I’ll take it quietly while escorting her to the capital.”
“I understand.”
Even though Dusch said he knew right away, he seemed like he didn’t need to do that. Whether he did or not, Rakiel, who was not interested in him, gave the following instructions:
“And send Tioli to Abigail Dilloa’s house.”
“The doctor of the capital Gongjeo?”
“As soon as possible.” Rakiel stood up from his chair, ignoring Kyle’s question.
Seeing he would not tolerate any delay, Kyle immediately bowed his head and left the room without saying a word.
Rakiel slowly moved to the front of a huge bookshelf that filled one side of the office. His long fingers wandered over thick books, as if searching for a book. Soon, Rakiel’s hand stopped on the book ‘The End of Culture’. Rakiel took out the book. However, as if it wasn’t the purpose of finding the book from the beginning, the book was placed on the table next to it as it exited the shelf. His hand went into the empty spot where the book had been pulled out and pressed something. And like an illusion, a huge bookcase slowly opened in front of him. Unfolding in it was the ‘real’ duke’s bedroom. Elderdium, the heart of Edelgard, the space of all the dukes.
In the middle of the room, there was a woman lying down. She looked extremely calm and didn’t fit in with her situation or her current situation. There was no trace of her crying and rambling when she was dragged into this room, like saying, “I don’t think this is right,” and “Please let me go.”
He left it for a few hours because he didn’t want to see her whining, and he opened it again thinking she would still be behaving that way. And the woman exceeded all the expectations.
She hadn’t cried until now, and yet she wasn’t even awake right now, Rakiel thought. It was hard for him to imagine that she was sleeping comfortably as if she were in a room where she slept every day. Rakiel looked at the peaceful sleeping woman, he was dumbfounded for a moment, and soon laughed with a smile on his face.
By dawn tomorrow, his aunt might come here. Perhaps she’d be disappointed, frustrated, and angry. But soon she would understand his needs. The ‘needs’ that are a little different from hers.
*****
“Mother, I had a strange dream.”
It was weird to say that without using honorifics, but the woman, who was called a mother to the girl, smiled affectionately and stroked the girl’s head. At the warm touch, the girl smiled slightly with a more relaxed look.
‘When my mother patted me like this, I felt strangely relieved.’
“What strange dream did you have, my Abigail?”
“You know what? In my dream, suddenly some crazy man in the palace.…”
‘Wake up.’
She blinked her eyes instead.
‘Are you tired because you haven’t been on vacation in a while?’
What kind of strange noise…
‘Wake up.’
“Abigail, what’s wrong?”
“No, a strange voice…”
‘Wake up, you cheeky thing.’
Abigail was robbed of the blanket and instinctively sat up. She was so surprised that her breath suddenly leaked out.
“I was worried that you might not be able to sleep because your bed had changed, but… You must have slept very well.”
“…no way.”
‘Why is that man in my room, no, where am I?’ Abigail mumbled in her mouth and rolled her eyes back and forth.
“Your Highness.”
‘This is a dream, right? This is my dream, isn’t it? Did I just wake up from my dream? Am i not in my dream?’ Abigail closed and opened her trembling eyelids. The view remained the same. Abigail questioned herself, “Is this a dream?”
“Well it’s not a dream. You have to get up now. You can see the sun rising in the sky.”
‘I can’t see anything without a window.’
Instead of a window that didn’t exist, it was a pocket watch that the man nervously put in front of Abigail.
One o’clock.
“…Well, but the time when the sun rises highest is not exactly at one o’clock…”
The man clenched his teeth a little bit as if he were trying to endure something, and soon he smiled sarcastically. “Oh, I made a mistake. It’s exactly thirty minutes later.”
Abigail, who was not interested in the man’s correction, had been thinking about why her arms kept getting goosebumps. Then she paused for a moment. She got goosebumps all over her body from head to toe again when she figured out something and nervously asked, “Wh, why are you using honorifics to me?”
“How dare I be so comfortable while talking to you, your Highness?”
“Oh, my God. Do you really mean it, really?”
“Then, are you thinking that I am joking?” The man finally responded defeatedly. As if he couldn’t resist his temper he went to the chair behind him and sat down, said, “It’s really nonsense…you should know The Empress might visit today. No, she’ll come. Exactly, tomorrow dawn.”
“She’ll know the truth as soon as she sees me!”
Naturally, the man ignored Abigail’s reaction lightly and moved on to what he wanted to say next, “It is reported that the princess has been moved to Edelgard due to the fire that broke out in the princess’s palace. And that you, Abigail is dead. Your obituary is…”
“No way, I have already gone.” Her mother was barely treated. If she’s in shock…
“We should have done it as it is, but we have blocked it for now. Since the information about the fire has already spread in the capital, your family will ask for confirmation of your survival.”
It was for the time being, though. Her mother stayed at home after she got sick, and her younger siblings were still young, so it was only the nanny who could hear the rumors. She’s not the kind of person who would let a sick mother or younger siblings know. But…
“We’ve got to deal with it before then. Abigail Dilloa’s traces should be erased.”
Ugh, something’s wrong. The inside of her throat became hot in an instant, “Why don’t you just get rid of me from the world?”
The man did not answer what Abigail said sarcastically.
The breath she exhaled was stinging, ‘So easy, so fast ‘I’ have disappeared from this world? I’m dead already?’ Abigail took a deep breath and slowly cooled her head again, ‘I guess I have no choice anymore.’ Even if she really had to die right now, it was a situation in which she had no choice but to follow it.
‘If I don’t follow it, my family would be known to be the parents and brothers of a direct royal killer, they’ll be stoned on the street, and killed by dogs, but if I did follow it, my family becomes an aristocrat family of meritorious retainer who saved the Princess. In addition, the money that my mother and my younger siblings will get they’ll be able to spend their entire lives with it, they’ll live a good life… and At least my brothers will not even remember poverty. Also, without having to go to school to run errands like I did, They can proudly live and be more like a child of the official aristocratic family in the best school.’
So even if all of this was based on lies, she had no choice. ‘It is better for all to lie to live than to speak truth and die. If the title comes back to life and the money follows, it will be only better.’ Abigail slowly lifted her lips. “I know very well, I don’t have a choice, just as your Excellency says.”
“You were the only maid close to her, and you saved the Princess and died. Even if the record goes too far or even if there’s no record, the attention will be drawn by itself. And at that moment, you have a tail.” Just as she said earlier, the man calmly explained again. It felt as if it was adding more to the problem then to solve the misunderstanding.
Abigail looked at the man, a little flustered.
“You’re not a servant that should follow my instruction. It’s a ‘gap relationship’ if you have to say it.” The man smiled kindly as if he couldn’t be any more equal.
Abigail, who was blankly nodding at the words, suddenly recalled something and stopped her head. ‘I’ve signed the employment contract hundreds of times!’
“What’s the difference? You’re the boss. You’re on top! You’re gonna make me do it!”
“You’re not fooled”, It was very mean of him to shrug his shoulders.
Abigail glared at the man as if he were amazing. The man pulled up his lips with ease, “Anyway, you’re not a servant. You’re not pretending to be a Princess for a while, you’re becoming a Princess.”
It felt a little trustworthy as he spoke so seriously.
“But definitely you don’t have a choice right now.’”
‘No, I don’t trust you at all.’
*****
The woman covered herself with a dark navy robe and walked up as fast as running up the stairs. The half-ribbon robe couldn’t be held properly, so the robe that had flowed down was dragged on the floor, but the woman couldn’t afford to care about it. Just looking nervously at the precarious shape, he followed the woman right up the stairs two steps at a time.
5th floor.
The woman with weak physical strength was breathless. However, as soon as the woman climbed to the end of the stairs, she walked faster and entered the dark hallway. The following young man hurried ahead of the woman and opened a huge gateway in the middle of the hallway.
The second floor was a thick door that reached the ceiling, but the door opened quietly without a sound as if its heavy weight were a lie. The woman moved so fast that she walked into the door that the young man opened as if she was going to fall forward. As soon as she passed the threshold, she immediately threw out the robe that was more like hanging than wearing it.
Like a woman’s personality, her black hair, which had been firmly twisted, was swept away by a fallen robe and slightly disorganized. The woman went through several doors and as soon as she reached a certain door, she opened the door roughly.
“Rakiel!”
There was only one woman in the entire empire who was officially qualified to pass the gate on the fifth floor. And there was only one woman who could open the Duke’s office without permission from the Duke. The only direct descendant of Edelgard, except the Duke, and the highest woman in the Empire.
Pasacallia de Edelgard.
Her nephew just relaxed and stood up from his desk to greet Pasacallia.
Normally, she would have nagged at that attitude, but Pasacallia tried to suppress her frustration and approached Rakiel by holding her breath. Her elegant face was strange because she was about to burst into anger or smile brightly.
“I’ll be there if you call me, Her Majesty the Empress. Now I am the only one nephew left in Edelgard, but if it’s not me, why would you come?”
“Your aunt isn’t here to joke. Where is she, that kid?”
“If you see her, you’d know her?”
“I think you’re standing here because of the one who burned that damn palace. You take her out as you please and bring her back to Gongjeo? Without any preparation!”
“I know you are still happy.”
Pasacallia gave a short laugh because her nephew, who answered without losing once, was amazed in the meantime. “Yes, where is she?”
“She is in my bedroom.”
“Are you crazy?”
“You said you’d give her to me anyway. Doesn’t it matter?”
“Are you talking about more than a decade now? You’re the one who’s out of your mind…” Pasacallia blurred the end of her speech. This was because the words that she inadvertently spit out stabbed her in the most painful place. And silence.
Rakiel took the mischief out of his face. Although he took her beating as a joke, Rakiel knew well that his aunt’s reaction was solely due to forgetting his father’s death. There came a moment when he deliberately overlooked the hypothesis of all situations while steadily making them. ‘It has been only a month since the Crown Prince died and only a month since my father died. What should I say? Now even your daughter is dead.’
Unlike the death of the Crown Prince, who was like his own brother, which caused his world to collapse, the feeling of the death of his cousin’s sister, whom he had never seen before, was more like a pure disaster. ‘You’ve been fine all this time. Why did you die as soon as you were needed?’
That sense of dismay and anger. Except for that, if there was anything that caused any emotion or reaction to her death, it was only because of this moment. The moment when his aunt will know about her death.
*****
“Elderdium. I put her in the duke’s bedroom. She is now in the safest place in the capital.”
With Rakiel’s short addition, Pasacallia finally understood her nephew’s words. It was because she didn’t think that her nephew’s bedroom meant the Duke’s Elderdium, and not the private bedroom she thought of. She may have not had such a refreshing realization before, so Pasacallia tried to smile. A couple of lines and wrinkles appeared and disappeared next to the smiling eyes. At that age, it was rather natural.
Her insignificant trace caught Rakiel’s eye because she looked tired, as if she had aged for several years in just a few weeks, “Look at me. I forget about your father’s death. I thought you were…”
They weren’t pleasant words to hear from her. So, Rakiel cut off her words, “Your Highness the Princess is normal.”
“What?”
“She is not an idiot.”
“What the…”
Rakiel, who’s not answering, approached the bookshelf and immediately took out a book titled ‘The Biographies of Queen Clonia’. He meant it when he said, “I hope she doesn’t recognize her.” Pasacallia was the only remaining blood for him, a family, and a parent, ‘I wanted to deceive her as long as I could.’ It was because of the expectation that he put off the facts and showed off the lies first. It’s not like him. However, Rakiel, who slowly opened the bookshelf and found a woman sleeping, that scene made his mouth slightly distorted. His anger rose up a little. He thought, ‘If a person really had a past life, as what all the religion claims, then she must have died under the torture for not sleeping.’
*****
‘I felt like I had a good night’s sleep for a long time.’
Actually, it was only yesterday that Abigail didn’t sleep well. She knew how it would have looked, for a woman to sleep until mid-day, but that happened only because she barely fell asleep until morning. Abigail turned her heavy body without opening her eyes. It was as if she hadn’t slept in 10 days. It wasn’t unreasonable for her to feel that way. From that day on, the day was really as long as ten days.
‘I had this thought even before I opened my eyes. I slept really well. And after I opened my eyes…’
“It’s normal to be surprised.”
“…Uh, uh, there…” As soon as she opened her eyes, Abigail, who was suddenly confused by the double discovery that he was not the man, repeated ‘uh’ and ‘there.’ Whether she did it with a stupid face or not, the person sitting in front of her was still calm. She was a beautiful middle-aged woman with graceful elegance. Abigail stared blankly at the woman.
The woman spoke with a soft voice, “It’s been 13 years.”
Abigail froze at the words. It was the Empress. Her hair burned white in an instant, ‘How the hell do you want me to do that? That man? He planned this and how can I be the only one who’s out like this? What am I supposed to do? Does the Empress know that I’m not the Princess? Maybe because it’s been 13 years, the Empress doesn’t know that? No, are you trying to figure it out? The answer is in my conscience? But why would I try? If she knows I’m not the Princess, maybe this is my last chance to lie face down and beg? The Empress is sitting and I’m lying down. This is ridiculous. She knows I am not the princess, what’s wrong with her? It’s abominable. But if she doesn’t know yet? Then all I have to do is admit it. He’s just telling me that she doesn’t have to know, she doesn’t need to know. No, but it’s a real Duke or whatever, what the hell am I supposed to do with all this, ah…’
Abigail thought without breathing and finally came to the conclusion that she just wanted to cry. When Abigail blinked her eyes with a face that seemed about to cry, the empress asked with a more affectionate face, “Are you afraid of me, baby?”
‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’ Abigail’s face was burning up, ‘What should I do? What should I do? What am I supposed to say at times like this? What is this kind of time?’ Like a crazy person, thoughts that were inconclusive and unhelpful poured out.
Abigail avoided eye contact with a moderately ambiguous face, as if it were because she was shy.
“You don’t have to shrink like that.”
Abigail wanted to crumple her whole body and cringe if she could. That’s as much as a person can cringe. But soon afterward, Abigail was hardened by the words of the Empress.
“I know you’re not my daughter.”
Abigail couldn’t think anything anymore. At the same time, tears fell from the Empress’s eyes. Her words were neither angry nor reproach Abigail, “…How can I not recognize my own daughter? No matter how ugly the mother is, how could I do that?”
“…Your Highness.”
“Just, foolishly, I expected it. I know you’re not my daughter, but when you open your eyes, call me your mother. Then… I thought it wouldn’t matter. You’re still naive, you’re not good at lying. Just like that kid.”
Abigail sat up in a hurry, but even though she thought about it, it was useless to apologize now.
The Empress smiled gently with a crying face as if to reassure her. Tears fell on the smiling face.
A mother was a mother. Abigail was ashamed enough to want to run away when she agreed for a moment to deceive a ‘mother’ at that crazy man’s will. Abigail couldn’t imagine what she felt when she saw herself sleeping so soundly. No, Abigail also had a mother.
“I, really…”
“Thank you for being with her until the end. You’re Abigail, right? The one who Rakiel said was dead.”
”…That’s right.”
“You look like that child. I wanted to see it myself, but I couldn’t. So I secretly ordered my maid. It’s like I picked you out myself when I heard you.”
She thought it was because she came from a family that wasn’t hadn’t heard of, but it was surprising… No, this wasn’t important right now, ‘The result of such careful selection and trust is that the daughter dies and the useless maid lives well and sleeps happily.’ Abigail couldn’t even look at the Empress and bowed her head. Tears fell on the blanket, ‘I really should have got off the carriage then. Whatever the man said, it was the result of what happened to me. No matter how unfair it is, there’s no turning back on things like this anyway.’
The good news was that the Empress was a much better person than Abigail thought, and that if she were willing to give up her life, she would be willing to accept her family’s favor.
“…I was wrong.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. It’s all my fault. For not being able to protect her Highness until the end, and how dare I, not her Highness, survived like this.… I have nothing to say even if you say you’ll kill me right away. No, even if you ask me to die, I’d be happy to do so. This won’t change anything, but my sin, I’m willing to take it, Your Highness, please…”
“No, I don’t want to blame you. What could you have done? Maybe this is God’s will. Violetta, god wouldn’t let her suffer more in the world where she was confined…“ The Empress finally dropped her head with a grim face, unable to speak further. Pain, yes, it would be pain. From the outside, it might be just a pain to live a confined life in that small room without being sane.
In fact, Violetta, whom Abigail watched, was a person who lived happily every day. The life didn’t seem painful at all, but the fact that her daughter was happy was more painful. Instead of replying to the words as true, Abigail just nodded silently.
Abigail didn’t know if that was the best self-consolation she could do, ‘Even if you say that, in the end, it’ll remain like a nail in your heart for the rest of your life.’
“Your Highness, Her Highness the Princess, has not been ill for long. Fortunately.”
‘It was the only thing that was fortunate to me after my father died at the age of 14.’ Abigail was comforted by the doctor’s words that he died instantly without having to feel pain, ‘I was grateful that my father was not in pain for a long time.’ Violetta died painfully, but at least she didn’t get sick for long. It might have been a vain death for that short period of time, but it was a comfort even for Abigail, who was crying all the time after being locked up in this room. It was completely incomparable to a mother who had lost her child, but if she didn’t dare to do this, no one could tell her this.
The Empress closed her eyes gently as if she were slowly chewing on Abigail’s words and The Empress, who opened her eyes again after a brief silence, no longer cried. Instinctively, Abigail hardened her body at the hard gaze she encountered. It was like someone else’s eyes.
“I don’t know what Rakiel wants to accomplish with you. No, I think I know the truth, but I don’t care what happens now.”
“Your Highness, just punish me and please…”
“No, I just can’t stand Violetta disappearing from this world. As it is, I can’t stand her disappearing in vain like this. As they wish, my brother, my son, my daughter…”
“Your Highness.”
“How could they all disappear like this?”
The elegant yet disastrous voice was strange. Abigail faced the Empress’s gaze with trembling eyes.
“Rakiel said he would make you emperor.”
“It’s not fair, it’s not fair. I’m….”
“I will make you my daughter.”
She didn’t mean to use her not to miss the throne. It wasn’t even about revenge on them.
“Please, Abigail. Be Violetta. Save my daughter. Let my daughter stay alive, in this world.”
It was a desperate request to save her daughter.
There was a breathtaking silence. Just one word to say, but the words rarely came out easily. The Empress’s words were an embarrassing request to her, but in fact, it was already an option for Abigail. Abigail was almost mistaken for a while without realizing it, but she remembered that she had no right to choose her own right.
‘Rakiel, hasn’t that man already blocked anything like a hole to get out of?’
So all she had to say was that she would. But the Empress asked her. A request, not an order or coercion. The answer, which would have been too easy if it were an order, became much heavier at the request.
Abigail barely opened her inseparable mouth and said, “Yes, I will. I’ll do that.” It was actually funny for Abigail to say yes like this.
The Empress laughed as if she was really grateful for what Abigail said.
Looking blankly at the beautiful face, Abigail thought, ‘Now, it was really my choice. I chose myself to replace the Princess.’
“Thank you. You will be able to come back to the court officially sooner or later. Before that, I will send my maid to take care of everything you need.”
“Thank you.”
“I have to go back before dawn. Oh, I will pretend that I know nothing to Rakiel.”
“What?”
“That kid, play as much as you want for hours.” Before Abigail could understand the words, she woke up with a smile.
Abigail stood out in a hurry. The Empress smiled softly. “Soon, we’ll see each other again.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“You’ll really be my daughter then, Abigail.”
“But it would have only divided the Empire! There is no way that the Empress could have succeeded normally, and no one could eventually become an Emperor.”
“…there are Princes, right?”
“They, I’ll destroy them.”
At the arrogant remarks he asserted with confidence, Abigail was increasingly afraid of the conclusion.
“But, fortunately, the Princess died. Yes, I’m glad now that it has happened and I found you as a substitute. You are the same age as the Princess, and you also have the same hair and eyes with that damn Emperor. Also a moderately pretty face that the Emperor would like, above all, you’re ‘normal’ and not an idiot.”
“So…”
“If it’s you, you could become the Emperor.” The man whispered in a sweet voice that didn’t go well with the situation.
Abigail burst out laughing as if she were full of energy. “You’re going to make me the Emperor, who has nothing to do with the Imperial family? You’re crazy. I understand everything you mentioned but the Emperor, the Emperor…!”
“Anyway, the bloodline is just an illusion. As for the Emperor, how much blood do you think he has left now?”
Oh my God, the words that question the legitimacy of imperial authority came from the mouth of no one else but, Edelgard’s master himself.
“You got your seat because of that bloodline, too. No?”
“That’s because I have the ‘ability’.” The man grinned shamelessly and confidently.
*****
Rakiel frowned at the heavy documents on his desk. It was comparable to a five-year report on the development of small and medium-sized land. “What’s all this?”
“It’s her background.”
“You said she was 18.”
“Yes.”
“What the hell has she been doing?”
Rakiel, who was glancing through the document with a rough pick-up in front of the desk, soon threw it on the desk with a tired face.
“Kyle?”
“Yes.”
“Read.”
“Yes.”
As if he knew that those documents, which were frantically scratched by his men overnight, would only be treated like that, Kyle took out the files he had organized separately. Elite’s pride was all over the movement.
“Abigail Dilloa. She’s 18 years old this year, and her identification matches. It was six years ago that debt began to accumulate abnormally on the Dilloa family, eventually reaching 7.3 million rant due to rising interest payments two years later, and by the way, the original annual income of Dilloa was 1.1 million rant, but only 350,000 rant due to the severe drought that lasted for years. Even that was said to have distributed most of the money to the people of the land, and anyway, due to all the lawsuits, her father, Zachak Dilloa, climbed the wall and killed himself. The estate was subsequently acquired by the neighboring Count of Schuppet at a bargain price, including all the debts, which in the process decreased to 1.4 million rant. But…”
“But?”
“While checking the copy of the contract at the time, I noticed something unusual. The terms of the contract included the marriage clause between Count and Lady Dilloa. And after the marriage,
It says that Schuppet will settle all the remaining debts.
She has no motives other than her younger siblings, it seems that the Lady described here refers to her.”
Schuppet was a nobleman with a fairly large manor in the northern outskirts of Grantonia. The one who wore a whisker with a raised beard…
“You’re not talking about a 70-year-old man, are you?”
“The count was exactly 68 years old at the time.”
“That old, dirty little bastard.” Rakiel loosened his tie a little and sat down on the chair. “So, she married the old man?”
“No. The estate was taken over and the entire family fled at night while the wedding was being prepared.”
As soon as he heard the word night escape, Rakiel laughed at the thought of who it was.
“…Your Grace?” Seeing that moment, Kyle, who stared blankly at Rakiel, frozen as if he had seen nothing. Rakiel frowned immediately. Kyle flinched a little.
“Continue.”
“And the family came to the capital. After coming to the capital, she said, according to the investigator’s report, ‘I did almost everything a woman could do except for prostitution and entertainment.’”
“…a 14-year-old?”
“Yes.”
“What’s that ‘almost everything a woman could do’?”
“She signed an exclusive contract with the Human Resources Guild and signed as an innkeeper, a woo market guide, restaurant kitchen dishwashing, dressing room service, serving a coffee house, wagon management, banquet hall cleaning, painting ships, picking out defective products from a mass-production plant, bookkeeping, paraphrasing.…and she has done more than fifty-two things. And she sometimes worked as an errand guild, where she usually acted as a bride’s friend and sister at weddings, and as a groom’s lover, she broke the wedding. Oh, she has been acting as a bereaved family member for quite a while. Other Academy exams, attendance on behalf of others are quite….…”
“…That’s why she has been so good at it.”
“What?”
“Then she’s the maid of honor?”
“Oh, yes. Her mother suddenly became ill and rushed into a life position for treatment. But as soon as the maid of honor died, the seat of the maid of honor…”
“It must have been empty. No matter how long a life-long job, would have pushed the capital noblewoman into a position where she would have been locked up with a deserted princess for the rest of her life. So that’s what happened to that girl who’s unfamiliar with her family?”
“Yes.”
Rakiel silently leaned against the chair and closed his eyes. Whatever you do, you have to clean up and start. With his eyes closed, Rakiel slowly opened his mouth. Kyle straightened his back in an instant due to the cold atmosphere around him.
“Clean up the Palace first. Investigate thoroughly from Lord Entrance, and pick out all the people involved. Especially people who have the slightest possibility of seeing Abigail Dilloa’s face are prompt. Everything else moves.”
“I understand.”
“Did you say pet?”
“What?”
“Start to return the supplies supplied by the Earl to the Duke this year and replace them with other territorial products if they were in trade negotiations. There are many reasons to put it back, so cancel all remaining brokerage contracts, and wrap up the recorded transaction tax evasion, estate, and personal tax evasion in a moderately large case and stab the Treasury. And I’ll take it quietly while escorting her to the capital.”
“I understand.”
Even though Dusch said he knew right away, he seemed like he didn’t need to do that. Whether he did or not, Rakiel, who was not interested in him, gave the following instructions:
“And send Tioli to Abigail Dilloa’s house.”
“The doctor of the capital Gongjeo?”
“As soon as possible.” Rakiel stood up from his chair, ignoring Kyle’s question.
Seeing he would not tolerate any delay, Kyle immediately bowed his head and left the room without saying a word.
Rakiel slowly moved to the front of a huge bookshelf that filled one side of the office. His long fingers wandered over thick books, as if searching for a book. Soon, Rakiel’s hand stopped on the book ‘The End of Culture’. Rakiel took out the book. However, as if it wasn’t the purpose of finding the book from the beginning, the book was placed on the table next to it as it exited the shelf. His hand went into the empty spot where the book had been pulled out and pressed something. And like an illusion, a huge bookcase slowly opened in front of him. Unfolding in it was the ‘real’ duke’s bedroom. Elderdium, the heart of Edelgard, the space of all the dukes.
In the middle of the room, there was a woman lying down. She looked extremely calm and didn’t fit in with her situation or her current situation. There was no trace of her crying and rambling when she was dragged into this room, like saying, “I don’t think this is right,” and “Please let me go.”
He left it for a few hours because he didn’t want to see her whining, and he opened it again thinking she would still be behaving that way. And the woman exceeded all the expectations.
She hadn’t cried until now, and yet she wasn’t even awake right now, Rakiel thought. It was hard for him to imagine that she was sleeping comfortably as if she were in a room where she slept every day. Rakiel looked at the peaceful sleeping woman, he was dumbfounded for a moment, and soon laughed with a smile on his face.
By dawn tomorrow, his aunt might come here. Perhaps she’d be disappointed, frustrated, and angry. But soon she would understand his needs. The ‘needs’ that are a little different from hers.
*****
“Mother, I had a strange dream.”
It was weird to say that without using honorifics, but the woman, who was called a mother to the girl, smiled affectionately and stroked the girl’s head. At the warm touch, the girl smiled slightly with a more relaxed look.
‘When my mother patted me like this, I felt strangely relieved.’
“What strange dream did you have, my Abigail?”
“You know what? In my dream, suddenly some crazy man in the palace.…”
‘Wake up.’
She blinked her eyes instead.
‘Are you tired because you haven’t been on vacation in a while?’
What kind of strange noise…
‘Wake up.’
“Abigail, what’s wrong?”
“No, a strange voice…”
‘Wake up, you cheeky thing.’
Abigail was robbed of the blanket and instinctively sat up. She was so surprised that her breath suddenly leaked out.
“I was worried that you might not be able to sleep because your bed had changed, but… You must have slept very well.”
“…no way.”
‘Why is that man in my room, no, where am I?’ Abigail mumbled in her mouth and rolled her eyes back and forth.
“Your Highness.”
‘This is a dream, right? This is my dream, isn’t it? Did I just wake up from my dream? Am i not in my dream?’ Abigail closed and opened her trembling eyelids. The view remained the same. Abigail questioned herself, “Is this a dream?”
“Well it’s not a dream. You have to get up now. You can see the sun rising in the sky.”
‘I can’t see anything without a window.’
Instead of a window that didn’t exist, it was a pocket watch that the man nervously put in front of Abigail.
One o’clock.
“…Well, but the time when the sun rises highest is not exactly at one o’clock…”
The man clenched his teeth a little bit as if he were trying to endure something, and soon he smiled sarcastically. “Oh, I made a mistake. It’s exactly thirty minutes later.”
Abigail, who was not interested in the man’s correction, had been thinking about why her arms kept getting goosebumps. Then she paused for a moment. She got goosebumps all over her body from head to toe again when she figured out something and nervously asked, “Wh, why are you using honorifics to me?”
“How dare I be so comfortable while talking to you, your Highness?”
“Oh, my God. Do you really mean it, really?”
“Then, are you thinking that I am joking?” The man finally responded defeatedly. As if he couldn’t resist his temper he went to the chair behind him and sat down, said, “It’s really nonsense…you should know The Empress might visit today. No, she’ll come. Exactly, tomorrow dawn.”
“She’ll know the truth as soon as she sees me!”
Naturally, the man ignored Abigail’s reaction lightly and moved on to what he wanted to say next, “It is reported that the princess has been moved to Edelgard due to the fire that broke out in the princess’s palace. And that you, Abigail is dead. Your obituary is…”
“No way, I have already gone.” Her mother was barely treated. If she’s in shock…
“We should have done it as it is, but we have blocked it for now. Since the information about the fire has already spread in the capital, your family will ask for confirmation of your survival.”
It was for the time being, though. Her mother stayed at home after she got sick, and her younger siblings were still young, so it was only the nanny who could hear the rumors. She’s not the kind of person who would let a sick mother or younger siblings know. But…
“We’ve got to deal with it before then. Abigail Dilloa’s traces should be erased.”
Ugh, something’s wrong. The inside of her throat became hot in an instant, “Why don’t you just get rid of me from the world?”
The man did not answer what Abigail said sarcastically.
The breath she exhaled was stinging, ‘So easy, so fast ‘I’ have disappeared from this world? I’m dead already?’ Abigail took a deep breath and slowly cooled her head again, ‘I guess I have no choice anymore.’ Even if she really had to die right now, it was a situation in which she had no choice but to follow it.
‘If I don’t follow it, my family would be known to be the parents and brothers of a direct royal killer, they’ll be stoned on the street, and killed by dogs, but if I did follow it, my family becomes an aristocrat family of meritorious retainer who saved the Princess. In addition, the money that my mother and my younger siblings will get they’ll be able to spend their entire lives with it, they’ll live a good life… and At least my brothers will not even remember poverty. Also, without having to go to school to run errands like I did, They can proudly live and be more like a child of the official aristocratic family in the best school.’
So even if all of this was based on lies, she had no choice. ‘It is better for all to lie to live than to speak truth and die. If the title comes back to life and the money follows, it will be only better.’ Abigail slowly lifted her lips. “I know very well, I don’t have a choice, just as your Excellency says.”
“You were the only maid close to her, and you saved the Princess and died. Even if the record goes too far or even if there’s no record, the attention will be drawn by itself. And at that moment, you have a tail.” Just as she said earlier, the man calmly explained again. It felt as if it was adding more to the problem then to solve the misunderstanding.
Abigail looked at the man, a little flustered.
“You’re not a servant that should follow my instruction. It’s a ‘gap relationship’ if you have to say it.” The man smiled kindly as if he couldn’t be any more equal.
Abigail, who was blankly nodding at the words, suddenly recalled something and stopped her head. ‘I’ve signed the employment contract hundreds of times!’
“What’s the difference? You’re the boss. You’re on top! You’re gonna make me do it!”
“You’re not fooled”, It was very mean of him to shrug his shoulders.
Abigail glared at the man as if he were amazing. The man pulled up his lips with ease, “Anyway, you’re not a servant. You’re not pretending to be a Princess for a while, you’re becoming a Princess.”
It felt a little trustworthy as he spoke so seriously.
“But definitely you don’t have a choice right now.’”
‘No, I don’t trust you at all.’
*****
The woman covered herself with a dark navy robe and walked up as fast as running up the stairs. The half-ribbon robe couldn’t be held properly, so the robe that had flowed down was dragged on the floor, but the woman couldn’t afford to care about it. Just looking nervously at the precarious shape, he followed the woman right up the stairs two steps at a time.
5th floor.
The woman with weak physical strength was breathless. However, as soon as the woman climbed to the end of the stairs, she walked faster and entered the dark hallway. The following young man hurried ahead of the woman and opened a huge gateway in the middle of the hallway.
The second floor was a thick door that reached the ceiling, but the door opened quietly without a sound as if its heavy weight were a lie. The woman moved so fast that she walked into the door that the young man opened as if she was going to fall forward. As soon as she passed the threshold, she immediately threw out the robe that was more like hanging than wearing it.
Like a woman’s personality, her black hair, which had been firmly twisted, was swept away by a fallen robe and slightly disorganized. The woman went through several doors and as soon as she reached a certain door, she opened the door roughly.
“Rakiel!”
There was only one woman in the entire empire who was officially qualified to pass the gate on the fifth floor. And there was only one woman who could open the Duke’s office without permission from the Duke. The only direct descendant of Edelgard, except the Duke, and the highest woman in the Empire.
Pasacallia de Edelgard.
Her nephew just relaxed and stood up from his desk to greet Pasacallia.
Normally, she would have nagged at that attitude, but Pasacallia tried to suppress her frustration and approached Rakiel by holding her breath. Her elegant face was strange because she was about to burst into anger or smile brightly.
“I’ll be there if you call me, Her Majesty the Empress. Now I am the only one nephew left in Edelgard, but if it’s not me, why would you come?”
“Your aunt isn’t here to joke. Where is she, that kid?”
“If you see her, you’d know her?”
“I think you’re standing here because of the one who burned that damn palace. You take her out as you please and bring her back to Gongjeo? Without any preparation!”
“I know you are still happy.”
Pasacallia gave a short laugh because her nephew, who answered without losing once, was amazed in the meantime. “Yes, where is she?”
“She is in my bedroom.”
“Are you crazy?”
“You said you’d give her to me anyway. Doesn’t it matter?”
“Are you talking about more than a decade now? You’re the one who’s out of your mind…” Pasacallia blurred the end of her speech. This was because the words that she inadvertently spit out stabbed her in the most painful place. And silence.
Rakiel took the mischief out of his face. Although he took her beating as a joke, Rakiel knew well that his aunt’s reaction was solely due to forgetting his father’s death. There came a moment when he deliberately overlooked the hypothesis of all situations while steadily making them. ‘It has been only a month since the Crown Prince died and only a month since my father died. What should I say? Now even your daughter is dead.’
Unlike the death of the Crown Prince, who was like his own brother, which caused his world to collapse, the feeling of the death of his cousin’s sister, whom he had never seen before, was more like a pure disaster. ‘You’ve been fine all this time. Why did you die as soon as you were needed?’
That sense of dismay and anger. Except for that, if there was anything that caused any emotion or reaction to her death, it was only because of this moment. The moment when his aunt will know about her death.
*****
“Elderdium. I put her in the duke’s bedroom. She is now in the safest place in the capital.”
With Rakiel’s short addition, Pasacallia finally understood her nephew’s words. It was because she didn’t think that her nephew’s bedroom meant the Duke’s Elderdium, and not the private bedroom she thought of. She may have not had such a refreshing realization before, so Pasacallia tried to smile. A couple of lines and wrinkles appeared and disappeared next to the smiling eyes. At that age, it was rather natural.
Her insignificant trace caught Rakiel’s eye because she looked tired, as if she had aged for several years in just a few weeks, “Look at me. I forget about your father’s death. I thought you were…”
They weren’t pleasant words to hear from her. So, Rakiel cut off her words, “Your Highness the Princess is normal.”
“What?”
“She is not an idiot.”
“What the…”
Rakiel, who’s not answering, approached the bookshelf and immediately took out a book titled ‘The Biographies of Queen Clonia’. He meant it when he said, “I hope she doesn’t recognize her.” Pasacallia was the only remaining blood for him, a family, and a parent, ‘I wanted to deceive her as long as I could.’ It was because of the expectation that he put off the facts and showed off the lies first. It’s not like him. However, Rakiel, who slowly opened the bookshelf and found a woman sleeping, that scene made his mouth slightly distorted. His anger rose up a little. He thought, ‘If a person really had a past life, as what all the religion claims, then she must have died under the torture for not sleeping.’
*****
‘I felt like I had a good night’s sleep for a long time.’
Actually, it was only yesterday that Abigail didn’t sleep well. She knew how it would have looked, for a woman to sleep until mid-day, but that happened only because she barely fell asleep until morning. Abigail turned her heavy body without opening her eyes. It was as if she hadn’t slept in 10 days. It wasn’t unreasonable for her to feel that way. From that day on, the day was really as long as ten days.
‘I had this thought even before I opened my eyes. I slept really well. And after I opened my eyes…’
“It’s normal to be surprised.”
“…Uh, uh, there…” As soon as she opened her eyes, Abigail, who was suddenly confused by the double discovery that he was not the man, repeated ‘uh’ and ‘there.’ Whether she did it with a stupid face or not, the person sitting in front of her was still calm. She was a beautiful middle-aged woman with graceful elegance. Abigail stared blankly at the woman.
The woman spoke with a soft voice, “It’s been 13 years.”
Abigail froze at the words. It was the Empress. Her hair burned white in an instant, ‘How the hell do you want me to do that? That man? He planned this and how can I be the only one who’s out like this? What am I supposed to do? Does the Empress know that I’m not the Princess? Maybe because it’s been 13 years, the Empress doesn’t know that? No, are you trying to figure it out? The answer is in my conscience? But why would I try? If she knows I’m not the Princess, maybe this is my last chance to lie face down and beg? The Empress is sitting and I’m lying down. This is ridiculous. She knows I am not the princess, what’s wrong with her? It’s abominable. But if she doesn’t know yet? Then all I have to do is admit it. He’s just telling me that she doesn’t have to know, she doesn’t need to know. No, but it’s a real Duke or whatever, what the hell am I supposed to do with all this, ah…’
Abigail thought without breathing and finally came to the conclusion that she just wanted to cry. When Abigail blinked her eyes with a face that seemed about to cry, the empress asked with a more affectionate face, “Are you afraid of me, baby?”
‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’ Abigail’s face was burning up, ‘What should I do? What should I do? What am I supposed to say at times like this? What is this kind of time?’ Like a crazy person, thoughts that were inconclusive and unhelpful poured out.
Abigail avoided eye contact with a moderately ambiguous face, as if it were because she was shy.
“You don’t have to shrink like that.”
Abigail wanted to crumple her whole body and cringe if she could. That’s as much as a person can cringe. But soon afterward, Abigail was hardened by the words of the Empress.
“I know you’re not my daughter.”
Abigail couldn’t think anything anymore. At the same time, tears fell from the Empress’s eyes. Her words were neither angry nor reproach Abigail, “…How can I not recognize my own daughter? No matter how ugly the mother is, how could I do that?”
“…Your Highness.”
“Just, foolishly, I expected it. I know you’re not my daughter, but when you open your eyes, call me your mother. Then… I thought it wouldn’t matter. You’re still naive, you’re not good at lying. Just like that kid.”
Abigail sat up in a hurry, but even though she thought about it, it was useless to apologize now.
The Empress smiled gently with a crying face as if to reassure her. Tears fell on the smiling face.
A mother was a mother. Abigail was ashamed enough to want to run away when she agreed for a moment to deceive a ‘mother’ at that crazy man’s will. Abigail couldn’t imagine what she felt when she saw herself sleeping so soundly. No, Abigail also had a mother.
“I, really…”
“Thank you for being with her until the end. You’re Abigail, right? The one who Rakiel said was dead.”
”…That’s right.”
“You look like that child. I wanted to see it myself, but I couldn’t. So I secretly ordered my maid. It’s like I picked you out myself when I heard you.”
She thought it was because she came from a family that wasn’t hadn’t heard of, but it was surprising… No, this wasn’t important right now, ‘The result of such careful selection and trust is that the daughter dies and the useless maid lives well and sleeps happily.’ Abigail couldn’t even look at the Empress and bowed her head. Tears fell on the blanket, ‘I really should have got off the carriage then. Whatever the man said, it was the result of what happened to me. No matter how unfair it is, there’s no turning back on things like this anyway.’
The good news was that the Empress was a much better person than Abigail thought, and that if she were willing to give up her life, she would be willing to accept her family’s favor.
“…I was wrong.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. It’s all my fault. For not being able to protect her Highness until the end, and how dare I, not her Highness, survived like this.… I have nothing to say even if you say you’ll kill me right away. No, even if you ask me to die, I’d be happy to do so. This won’t change anything, but my sin, I’m willing to take it, Your Highness, please…”
“No, I don’t want to blame you. What could you have done? Maybe this is God’s will. Violetta, god wouldn’t let her suffer more in the world where she was confined…“ The Empress finally dropped her head with a grim face, unable to speak further. Pain, yes, it would be pain. From the outside, it might be just a pain to live a confined life in that small room without being sane.
In fact, Violetta, whom Abigail watched, was a person who lived happily every day. The life didn’t seem painful at all, but the fact that her daughter was happy was more painful. Instead of replying to the words as true, Abigail just nodded silently.
Abigail didn’t know if that was the best self-consolation she could do, ‘Even if you say that, in the end, it’ll remain like a nail in your heart for the rest of your life.’
“Your Highness, Her Highness the Princess, has not been ill for long. Fortunately.”
‘It was the only thing that was fortunate to me after my father died at the age of 14.’ Abigail was comforted by the doctor’s words that he died instantly without having to feel pain, ‘I was grateful that my father was not in pain for a long time.’ Violetta died painfully, but at least she didn’t get sick for long. It might have been a vain death for that short period of time, but it was a comfort even for Abigail, who was crying all the time after being locked up in this room. It was completely incomparable to a mother who had lost her child, but if she didn’t dare to do this, no one could tell her this.
The Empress closed her eyes gently as if she were slowly chewing on Abigail’s words and The Empress, who opened her eyes again after a brief silence, no longer cried. Instinctively, Abigail hardened her body at the hard gaze she encountered. It was like someone else’s eyes.
“I don’t know what Rakiel wants to accomplish with you. No, I think I know the truth, but I don’t care what happens now.”
“Your Highness, just punish me and please…”
“No, I just can’t stand Violetta disappearing from this world. As it is, I can’t stand her disappearing in vain like this. As they wish, my brother, my son, my daughter…”
“Your Highness.”
“How could they all disappear like this?”
The elegant yet disastrous voice was strange. Abigail faced the Empress’s gaze with trembling eyes.
“Rakiel said he would make you emperor.”
“It’s not fair, it’s not fair. I’m….”
“I will make you my daughter.”
She didn’t mean to use her not to miss the throne. It wasn’t even about revenge on them.
“Please, Abigail. Be Violetta. Save my daughter. Let my daughter stay alive, in this world.”
It was a desperate request to save her daughter.
There was a breathtaking silence. Just one word to say, but the words rarely came out easily. The Empress’s words were an embarrassing request to her, but in fact, it was already an option for Abigail. Abigail was almost mistaken for a while without realizing it, but she remembered that she had no right to choose her own right.
‘Rakiel, hasn’t that man already blocked anything like a hole to get out of?’
So all she had to say was that she would. But the Empress asked her. A request, not an order or coercion. The answer, which would have been too easy if it were an order, became much heavier at the request.
Abigail barely opened her inseparable mouth and said, “Yes, I will. I’ll do that.” It was actually funny for Abigail to say yes like this.
The Empress laughed as if she was really grateful for what Abigail said.
Looking blankly at the beautiful face, Abigail thought, ‘Now, it was really my choice. I chose myself to replace the Princess.’
“Thank you. You will be able to come back to the court officially sooner or later. Before that, I will send my maid to take care of everything you need.”
“Thank you.”
“I have to go back before dawn. Oh, I will pretend that I know nothing to Rakiel.”
“What?”
“That kid, play as much as you want for hours.” Before Abigail could understand the words, she woke up with a smile.
Abigail stood out in a hurry. The Empress smiled softly. “Soon, we’ll see each other again.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“You’ll really be my daughter then, Abigail.”