Nothing More Than This

* * *

The ferocity in Karina's voice, as if she were ready to kill someone, made the maid holding the switch freeze in fear.

The maid glanced around, clearly wanting to pass the switch to someone else. The other maids quickly turned their heads, avoiding her gaze. Even Maid Chief Abigail pretended not to see.

To these powerless maids, Karina—who enjoyed the Emperor's favor—was an intimidating superior. The hesitant maid looked at me with pleading eyes, begging for rescue.

Karina didn't miss the opportunity and shouted.

"Duchess, do you even have the right to strike me with that switch? I, too, have learned the imperial family's etiquette. No matter how great a ducal house may be, one cannot whip a fellow noble. Only members of the imperial family may wield the switch—and strictly speaking, you are not yet the Crown Princess!"

"The Duchess is the one who will become the Crown Princess!"

One of the noblewomen shouted in outrage. Karina looked up at me and said,

"Will become, not has become! If His Majesty were to take a new Empress right now, she would become imperial family. But with no Crown Prince even decided yet, the title of prospective Crown Princess means nothing!"

The noblewomen gasped in shock at Karina's words. She continued in a triumphant voice.

"Duchess, right now you are nothing more than a living widow."

"A living widow...?"

"Why? Does my statement shock you that much? When you accused someone of having vulgar instincts, you should have been prepared to hear words like these. Everyone is thinking it anyway—they just don't say it out loud. Your fiancé is dead, and no one knows who your next husband will be. What else would you call a woman living alone in the palace if not a widow?"

As I stood speechless, Karina laughed bitterly.

"People say it, you know. They say that because you entered the imperial family, Her Late Majesty the Empress and His Late Highness the Crown Prince both died. They say you devoured the imperial family!"

The moment I heard those words, something inside my head snapped.

My ears began to ring as if my consciousness were fading, and the voices around me grew distant. The horrified expressions, the accusatory tones flying back and forth, and Ebony's gaze watching the scene with interest.

As if possessed, I walked toward the maid holding the switch. I snatched the switch from her hand and stood before Karina.

The next moment, the sound of the branch cutting through the air was followed by a groan that Karina couldn't quite swallow.

I raised my arm again. A louder crack rang out, and red welts bloomed across Karina's shoulders and back.

Just as she had said, I was a living widow. My husband-to-be had died just before our wedding, and I knew the rumors that had circulated about me.

I had not been in the palace long before Her Late Majesty the Empress passed away. My fiancé died mere months before our national marriage, and from that point, His Majesty's health deteriorated rapidly.

Whispers that the daughter of Regentera had cursed the imperial family. Yet no one had dared speak such words in front of me. No one except this woman, whom I could not bring myself to kill and had instead taken in with my own hands.

Every time the thorny branch came down, memories that pained me flashed through my mind like ghosts.

The night Primos, sensing his end was near, held my hand and said he was sorry.

After that day, I thought I would never be happy again. But after meeting Illid, that belief had slowly begun to crumble.

In the end, it was only temporary. Now Illid had become someone who brought me sorrow instead of joy.

And just as I was in pain, I was also wounding Hellion.

Crack—

With the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sound of the branch snapping, the switch broke in two.

At that moment, my dazed mind returned. The chaotic ringing in my ears vanished instantly, and my blurred vision grew clear once more.

The room was silent. No one dared even breathe. Countless eyes, trembling with fear, were all fixed on me.

The me reflected in their eyes was not the person I knew.

A woman consumed by rage, unable to control even a single emotion. A person hiding cruel instincts beneath a mask of reason.

The wooden switch fell from my trembling hand. Karina's shoulders and back were covered in welts so dark they looked almost purple. I hadn't realized because she hadn't screamed even once. I hadn't known the wounds were this severe.

In the end, it had been nothing but venting. I had poured out every negative emotion that had piled up inside me onto her.

From childhood, I had always been told I must appear flawless and strong. Yet in the end, because of this woman—no, because of the choice I made that day—everything had come crashing down.

Suppressing the misery boiling up from the depths of my chest, I walked out of the cage. As I moved away, Karina's piercing scream tore through the air behind me.

* * *

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠came back to my senses after the sun had set. I hadn't lost consciousness, but the moment I returned to my room, I collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.

When I looked down at my hands, I saw they were wrapped in bandages. It seemed that gripping the thorny switch had injured me as well.

If my hands were wounded this badly, Karina's body must have suffered far worse. Perhaps, just as Ebony had said, she wouldn't be able to move for several days.

—Duchess, it is Abigail.

The maid chief carefully opened the door and entered. When I asked what the matter was, Abigail hesitated for a long time before speaking.

"His Majesty the Emperor has commanded that you come to the Emperor's audience chamber at once."

* * *

"Duchess!"

Before I could even reach the Emperor's audience chamber, I spotted Maid Chief Sophie pacing anxiously in the corridor. She rushed toward me at once, her body trembling as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

"D-Duchess, I think you should prepare some excuse before entering the Emperor's chamber. His Majesty is in a state of extreme fury..."

"Is Karina inside?"

"Yes. After receiving treatment for her wounds, she came straight here... When Viscount Linton was crying so hard she couldn't speak properly, His Majesty summoned Count Bladin and asked for the full story."

"Is Count Bladin inside as well?"

"No. The Count stayed only briefly and left immediately."

I didn't need to ask any further to understand the situation. I thanked Sophie for informing me first, then stood before the doors of the Emperor's audience chamber.

"His Majesty the Emperor, the Duchess of Wintera has arrived."

—Enter!

His Majesty's furious voice rang out from beyond the golden doors. The wounds beneath my bandages throbbed sharply. But I composed my expression as if nothing were wrong and stepped inside.

Inside the Emperor's audience chamber, His Majesty sat upon a golden chair, and at his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠feet knelt Karina, sobbing as if trying to stifle her cries. Beneath her sheer clothing, dark purple bruises were clearly visible.

"What is the meaning of this!"

His Majesty roared the moment he saw me.

"Did you truly do this to this child? How could you commit such a cruel act!"

"Your Majesty, before you rebuke me, should you not hear my side of the story as well?"

"I have already heard everything! You whipped her because her cat killed your ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bird! And when Ebony tried to stop you, she offered to take the punishment instead! How could you say such things to the Bladin family!"

"Precisely, Your Majesty. The Bladin family should not interfere in matters concerning Regentera. I merely reminded Count Bladin of that fact once more."

Unlike His Majesty's raised voice, mine sounded calm—almost cruelly so.

The Emperor's face turned beet red. The Bladin family was the Emperor's maternal relatives. It was only natural he would be furious that his future daughter-in-law had humiliated his mother's house.

"You knew that Karina was close to Count Bladin, yet you still summoned him to ask for the details? Then at the very least, you should have summoned my aunt, Baroness Turen, as well."

"All the maids and noblewomen in the palace are on your side! What would be the point of calling them!"

"Then why did you summon me, Your Majesty?"

"Apologize to this child for whipping her."

"I refuse."

"Ishtel!"

As His Majesty rose from his seat to press me, Karina reached out to stop him. But pain must have shot through her shoulder, for she let out a pained scream. His Majesty startled and hurried over to her.

Karina sobbing loudly, and the Emperor comforting her.

It was revolting. I didn't want to see it, didn't want to hear it. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to empty my mind. But the harder I tried, the more vividly this horrific scene burned itself into me.

"What is that bird to you that you would go this far?"

His Majesty glared at me with a look of utter disgust.

"I will find you another bird exactly like the one that died. So stop hating and tormenting this child, Ishtel!"

"Exactly like it, you say?"

His words were so absurd that a laugh escaped me.

"Yes. Search the entire empire if you wish. But you won't find one. Because that bird was a gift from Your Majesty's late son."

At the mention of Primos, the Emperor's blue eyes wavered. The blue eyes that symbolized the imperial family. The same eyes shared by Primos, Illid, and Hellion. Meeting His Majesty's gaze made something hot surge up from within me.

"Primos was so shy that he taught the bird words he couldn't say to me himself... That was how he expressed his feelings."

"......"

"Now, how many people left in this palace even remember Primos? Everyone has grown accustomed to the two Archdukes, and the late Crown Prince is being naturally forgotten. If even I feel this way, how much more so for others? I cannot speak of this to Your Majesty. How could I tell a father who has lost his child that my heart aches?"

"......"

"So every time I saw the bird Primos gave me, I remembered him. I thought that at least I should remember him. Yet that bird was killed by the cat belonging to this child whom Your Majesty cherishes so dearly. And yet you say I must apologize?"