Chapter 70: She Resembles That Woman
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 70: She Resembles That Woman
If she was a vassal Herdin trusted enough to ask for counsel on this matter, then she would surely be swayed by Blair’s desire to clear Esmeralda’s name.
And Blair’s method worked perfectly.
“But…”
Watching Agnes hesitate, unable to give a clear answer, Blair pressed her advantage.
“It’s long overdue, but I still want to clear Her Majesty the Empress’s name.”
“…”
“Please help me, Agnes.”
Agnes let out a low sigh at Blair’s earnest plea, finally giving in.
“…But only this once.”
Hearing the answer she had hoped for, Blair’s face lit up with joy. Seeing this, Agnes immediately added a stern warning, “If you show even the slightest sign of struggling, or if you suffer any aftereffects, you must follow my instructions without question.”
“Thank you.”
Watching Blair smile despite her warning, Agnes let out a resigned chuckle.
“Are you really that happy? This will be a very difficult ordeal for you, my lady.”
“Some things must be done, no matter how difficult.”
Agnes looked worriedly at Blair, who spoke so calmly about the pain she would have to endure from her own trauma. Then, remembering something, she spoke up.
“If you’re only doing this to be accepted by the Delmarks sooner, I want you to know that there’s no need. The people who exclude you for that reason are the ones in the wrong.”
At Agnes’s concerned words, Blair’s eyes widened in surprise before she offered a soft smile.
“…I used to feel that way, but not anymore.”
A trace of bitterness lingered in her smile as she answered.
“I’ve regretted that for a very long time… and I don’t want to live with that regret anymore. That’s the only reason.”
Agnes felt as though Blair’s eyes were looking somewhere far away, but she shook off the thought as the faint chime of a grandfather clock reached her ears.
“Very well. Shall we begin, then? Before His Grace returns.”
* * *
As dusk began to fall, a woman in a dark green robe stepped out of a carriage, followed by another in a black robe.
The paladins guarding the side gate blocked their path as they tried to enter the temple.
“My apologies, but you must turn back for today. The temple is closing…”
At that, the woman in the black robe pulled something from her inner pocket and showed it to them.
It was a badge engraved with the imperial crest.
Only then did the paladin, visibly flustered, look closely at the woman in the dark green robe.
Brilliant Flontina blonde hair, scarlet eyes, and a beautiful face that seemed untouched by time.
Recognizing her, the paladin quickly bowed his head.
“M-my apologies. I failed to recognize you. Please, step inside.”
He stepped aside, gesturing for the other knight, who was still looking on in confusion, to do the same.
The two women walked past them and entered the temple, completely unaware of another pair of eyes watching them.
They stopped at a private chapel.
The temple provided these for high-ranking nobles who wished to pray and meditate in solitude.
The woman in the black robe remained outside the chapel door. Only the woman in the dark green robe entered, pulling down her hood.
Beneath it, Katrina’s face was revealed.
Just as Katrina finished walking around the chapel, lighting the candles herself, another person entered.
“What troubles you that you summoned me in such haste?”
Gerard approached Katrina with his usual gentle smile.
Katrina’s expression, which had been perfectly composed, crumbled the moment he appeared—like a wild beast showing its vulnerability only to the one it trusts most.
“…Your Holiness.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Tell me anything. I will do whatever I can to help you.”
Katrina bit her trembling lip hard, then spoke as if pouring out a long-suppressed agony.
“Blair is… recovering her memories of that day.”
“…”
“What should I do?”
As she asked, her scarlet eyes swirled with a mixture of anger, betrayal, and fear.
As if understanding her without needing any further explanation, Gerard approached with a smile, taking her trembling hands to comfort her.
“The Imperial Princess is Your Majesty’s daughter. What is there to worry about? She would never defy the bonds of blood.”
“No, you only say that because you don’t know her, Your Holiness. She is more than capable of dragging me through the mud. I know her all too well.”
Katrina recalled how calmly Blair had responded when she had demanded she stop the hypnosis and counseling immediately.
“Do not oppress me anymore, Mother.”
Those eyes. That look.
Just thinking about it made her shudder with disgust.
“She… resembles that woman. More than she does me.”
When Blair was born, Katrina had been utterly satisfied.
A beautiful daughter who looked just like her.
A son who resembled his father and a daughter who resembled her—she considered it the perfect completion of their family.
Moreover, since the girl was as lovely as she was, she would surely excel in high society and secure a powerful political marriage in the future.
The Emperor doting on the daughter who resembled her also pleased her, as it felt like a testament to his love for her.
Even Esmeralda doting on Blair made her happy, giving her the satisfaction of possessing something that woman could never have.
Katrina’s life had been absolutely perfect.
Until she realized that, day by day, the growing Blair was becoming more and more like Esmeralda.
At first, she had been anxious.
‘You are my daughter, so why?’
It felt as though the child she had carried and given birth to had suddenly been stolen from her.
So, she tried by any means necessary to force the child into her own mold.
But even after Esmeralda died, and even as Blair grew to look more like Katrina, her true nature could not be hidden.
How horrifying it was to face Blair, who had a face like hers but possessed the exact same eyes as that woman.
It was as if the ghost of the dead had returned to life.
At some point, Blair had ceased to be a proud trophy and had instead become a rival she had to defeat.
How pathetic, pitiful… and delightful it had been to watch that child beg for even a shred of her affection.
But everything had gone wrong ever since Blair married into Delmark.
Heeding Ivan’s advice to absorb the Delmarks’ influence through a political marriage had been her fatal mistake.
“…What happened that day must never be revealed.”
Katrina murmured in a desperate voice.
If the truth of that day were to be revealed, everything she had spent her entire life building would crumble.
That could absolutely never happen.
Watching the trembling Katrina with calm eyes, Gerard spoke.
“If you are truly that worried, then let us do this.”
* * *
“Sweet dreams, my lady.”
“Good night to you too.”
Meli, who had helped Blair change into her nightgown and brushed her hair, quietly left the room.
Blair stared at the closed door for a moment before rising from her vanity.
Although he hadn’t visited her bedroom for the past few days, she thought it best to go to bed early just in case.
As she finished preparing for bed and was about to slip under the covers, Blair noticed her hands trembling and clasped them together.
The aftereffects of the hypnosis session she had undergone with Agnes that afternoon were still lingering.
Blair sighed as she looked at her body, which seemed to be reacting on its own.
The hypnosis, which had begun with such high hopes, had ended in failure.
Though she and Agnes had struggled for a long time, the younger Blair in her subconscious ultimately could not escape the wardrobe she was trapped in.
Or perhaps she wasn’t trapped, but had locked herself inside for protection.
Still, she had caught a glimpse of something she hadn’t seen during the previous session.
Through a crack in the wardrobe in her subconscious, Blair had seen a maid’s uniform.
And the face of the maid who was said to have died on that spot that day.
However, a fact they already knew did little to uncover the truth of the incident.
Agnes had comforted Blair, who was discouraged by the lack of a breakthrough, saying, ‘Still, it’s proof that your memories are slowly returning,’ but she did not promise another hypnosis session anytime soon.
“If you do not suffer any aftereffects tomorrow, my lady, we will consider it again then.”
And so, today’s counseling session had ended.
Lying in bed, Blair clasped her still-trembling hands and prayed fervently.
She prayed that she would be perfectly fine tomorrow morning.
After comforting herself for a while, Blair’s eyelids slowly fluttered shut.
* * *
Blair’s heavy eyelids fluttered open, and then she snapped fully awake.
‘Where… am I?’
She wasn’t in her bed but on a sofa, and this wasn’t the bedroom she had fallen asleep in.
Yet, it felt strangely familiar. The scene even brought a faint sense of nostalgia. In particular, the scent gently filling the room put her mind at ease.
Blair slowly sat up. Then, her hand moved on its own, rubbing at her sleepy eyes. The hand was tiny.
The moment she realized this, a voice—likewise independent of her will—escaped her lips.
“Your Majesty the Empress?”
Looking up, she saw someone doing something on the floor at the foot of the bed.
“Oh. Are you awake already, Blair?”
A nostalgic voice. A nostalgic face.
But there stood Esmeralda—the woman who had become the source of her trauma.
The moment she saw her, Blair instinctively knew.
‘…It’s a dream.’
And at the same time, she knew that this was not just a dream, but a memory from the past—one she had forgotten along with the accident.