Just in time, a strong wind blew. Senevere's figure blurred through her wildly scattered hair.
I, who had been stiffened like a stone statue, looked down at the rippled pond. More than the news I delivered, Senevere's attitude of making my pain Interesting was even more heart-wrenching.
I squeezed out a calm voice as I suppressed my sobbing insides.
"Did you come all the way to tell me about it? It seems that Your Majesty is more relaxed than I thought."
"How could it be?"
As if the excitement had cooled down at the dry reaction, the corners of the Empress's mouth sank.
"I told you. I wanted to see with my own eyes how you and your husband are actually doing. And if possible, I was going to appease Grand Duke Sheerkhan."
A sigh of disappointment flowed between her lips.
"But the seeds didn't even work. It seems that your husband is going to make Gareth Emperor."
"Then what did you expect?"
I burst into a nervous laugh.
"Did you think he would change his stance just because he married me?"
"I can't say that I didn't have that expectation at all."
Senevere looked at the castle dyed in the sunset and replied solemnly.
A leaf that flew in the wind brushed against her cheek. Senevere, who was grabbing it and spinning it with her fingertips, shattered the leaves and continued.
"Barcas has always reacted emotionally to you. I've been noticing for a long time that something about you stimulates him. So I expected you to shake him up more actively."
Senevere, who had blown away the crumbled leaves in the wind, turned her head towards me. I, who read the hint of reproach in her eyes, hardened my face.
The Empress, who had been looking at her daughter for disappointing her for a while, turned her head to the knights waiting in the distance and added.
"Actually, your husband seems to care about you. It was quite refreshing to see him guarding me from harm to you."
"..."
"But unfortunately, I don't think he values you enough to break a long-standing commitment."
I, who looked up at her with a bloody face, forced myself not to collapse.
This is a fact that I already knew. There was no reason to be hurt again.
I looked up.
"I.... I don't care who Barcas's supports. Whether Gareth becomes Emperor or Asroth becomes Emperor, it doesn't matter to me. So don't think about dragging me into a fight!"
"You're already part of this fight."
The abyss-like pupil suddenly approached right in front of me. The Empress tilted her head towards me and said as if it were engraved in my mind.
"That was already decided on the day you were born. Do you think Gareth, who has become Emperor, will accept your existence?"
I couldn't find anything to refute, only my lips twitched.
She affirmed in a cold tone.
"Gareth won't care in the slightest that you're the Grand Duchess of the East. He will try to destroy you even if he has to pretend to be with the Sheerkan family. Barcas Raedgo Sheerkhan seems to believe that he can stop Gareth, but he doesn't realize that he has to kill him with his own hands to do so."
A prophetic horse dug into my vertebrae.
Without a chance to refute, Senevere continued to rush.
"Your husband is blind when it comes to emotions. They are trapped in the fortress of reason and never see human madness. The man doesn't see Gareth's hatred, nor Ayla's love. He doesn't understand how destructive hatred is and how ugly love can make humans. Your husband will help you, me, and Asroth perish."
I took a step back, as if denying the fact. Then, a strong finger pinched my skin.
Senevere, who grabbed her daughter's shoulder hard, finally got to the point.
"So, Thalia, you should help me."
"I... What the hell can you do? I have no power...!"
"You are giving birth to the heir of the Grand Duke family."
My eyes froze. All accidents evaporated due to the sudden remarks.
Even in the midst of the hectic Intent that even the sound of the howling wind could be felt as if it were black, Senevere's demands continued.
"And make him a friend of Asroth. Just as your husband is loyal to Gareth, your son will be my son's loyal servant."
"Ma... Stop talking nonsense!"
I twisted and yelled to shake her off.
"I'm not enough, and now I'm going to use my unborn child for my mother's ambitions? Why should I do that? Why me!"
"That's also the way you will live."
Senevere's tone became even harsher.
"Why don't you understand that if Asroth doesn't become Emperor, you're the end too? Gareth is your enemy. For the past ten years, you've relentlessly picked up the wounds of those children. You didn't believe that leaving the imperial palace would save you from all that karma, right? And you took away Ayla's flancé?"
"That's for my mother to do that...!"
"It's all up to you."
A fierce voice interrupted my defense.
"Even if it's not my request, you have to have a child in the end. If you can't produce an heir, Gareth and even the nobles of the East will urge you to divorce. How will your husband come out then?"
A sharp sneer came to the end of Senevere's lips.
"Answer me, Thalia. Will Barcas Raedgo Sheerkhan protect you even as he turns his back on the Crown Prince, Ayla, and his own blood and vassals?"
For a moment, I froze at the cruel question, but I cried out in desperation.
"If you want Barcas to get a divorce, that's it. If Gareth wants to kill me... That's what I say! I wasn't born because I wanted to anyway!"
I, who howled like a cornered beast, swallowed my breath the next moment. My contempt for Senevere's eyes instantly took away my will to resist.
The woman who was once my whole world glared at me with a disillusioned face and said.
"Do you know that? Many animals abandon their weak cubs. That way, you and the other cubs will have a better chance of survival."
I met those quagmire eyes with a bewildered face. It crawled out of her mouth the threat she had been whispering only with her eyes for a long time.
"But unlike animals, humans can't abandon their children so easily. That's why I haven't abandoned you."
As if all life force had been drained, soft fingers like petals landed on my white cheeks. Only then did I realize that O was crying.
Imitating a mother's kind hand comforting her daughter, Senevere softly whispered in my ear.
"You won't believe it, but Thalia, I have feelings too. On the day you were born, I felt that too. You looked just like me, and it was fun to see you grow up. That feeling made it impossible for me to abandon you when you were useless."
Beyond the tears that were constantly pouring up, the image of my mother was shattered. However, the voice that echoed in my ears became clearer.
"So, don't let me down any longer."
I bit my lip.
The salty taste of bitter tears and the taste of fishy blood spread to the tip of my tongue. I was choked by the crying that choked my throat.
"Do you understand what I mean?"
I managed to nod, and her ice-cold lips touched the corner of my eye.
Is this what it feels like to be kissed by a corpse?
I looked up at Senevere's face with a satisfied smile and lowered my gaze to the garden where the spiders had descended. Their shadows, entangled in the twilight, stretched out like deformed monsters.
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