Katrina's voice rose.
She, as if she were fed up, closed her eyes tightly and opened them again.
—I'm fed up.
It's horrible.
How long will I have to suffer the ghost of that crazy woman who died ten years ago?
-Mother.
—What is going to change now that you investigate it?
Is that dead woman going to be resurrected?
—…
—That woman is dead!
He went crazy with jealousy towards me to the point of needing nerve pills, and he died like that, trying to get even with you.
Blair stared at Katrina, who was shaking just remembering Esmeralda.
Knowing this, he did not want to suspect Katrina lightly.
And besides, it scared him.
Suspicious of his own mother.
That night ten years ago, Katrina personally went to Gerald for help.
She, who never went anywhere on her own, at that time of night.
Just to save Blair.
Blair learned something from that event.
That she, who always put Ivan first, was, after all, his mother.
Although he was one of those people who, if he had to choose between Ivan and Blair, would abandon Blair without hesitation, the feeling he had then to save his daughter must have been sincere.
That's why, after that event, perhaps he clung even more to Katrina's love.
Despite everything, my mother loves me.
Leaning on that hope and that love.
I really believed so.
No matter how much of a mother she treated her like a trophy, no matter how much of a mother who used her daughter as an investment for her son, she thought she wouldn't have gotten to use her life.
But upon seeing Katrina, who not only shunned but feared her regaining her memories, the suspicion she had been ignoring for so long arose.
-Mother.
If that's true, what is it that scares you so much?
Various emotions were mixed in Katrina's eyes, which faced his own.
Anger, betrayal, surprise and… also fear.
Reading those emotions, Blair added:
—Don't oppress me anymore, mother.
—…
—If he really considered me his daughter.
There was determination in Blair's eyes as she looked at Katrina.
Along with an ounce of sadness.
He was still afraid of what might lie behind the veil of truth.
But this time I wasn't going to run away.
—
—With this we end today's meeting.
The meeting of the Council of State ended.
Herdin calmly stood up and left the meeting room with Ruth.
As soon as he came out, the first thing he saw was a window in the hallway.
The day was cloudy.
The black clouds looked bad, so it would rain soon.
Ruth, who noticed his gaze, said:
—It seems that the weather is finally starting to get nice, but perhaps the spring rains will arrive.
Herdin looked out the window at the landscape of the Imperial Palace.
Although it could not be seen through the trees, in the background would be the Empress's Palace.
And surely Blair would be there now.
And today the Dowager Empress has called the lady.>Before they got married, he thought Katrina loved her daughter very much.
Because her daughter always dressed in expensive clothes, wore expensive jewelry, and smiled radiantly among the people who praised her.
I didn't know then that appearances aren't everything.
The image of Blair that he saw at the first dinner after the wedding with Ivan and Katrina, and what he showed at Katrina's birthday party.
The reality of the mother-daughter relationship seen up close was different from what he had imagined.
Then he realized that Katrina's attitude towards her daughter was strange.
Also Blair's attitude towards her.
You can't judge everything from those brief images, but you could see that their relationship was not the typical mother-daughter one.
He suddenly remembered the image of Blair at dinner.
That image of her, with her hand shaking under the table, but speaking calmly and clearly.
—…
Herdin, who was walking down the hallway deep in thought, found something and stopped.
It was raining.
—
Blair, who left the Empress's Palace after speaking with Katrina, encountered an unexpected obstacle.
The spring rain.
A maid from the Empress Palace who saw her stop in the sudden rain ran through the rain to find a carriage.
Since he had left in a hurry after speaking with Katrina, he hadn't had time to prepare the carriage, so Blair had to wait at the entrance, not knowing what to do.
A maid from the Empress's Palace who was observing her carefully said:
—Madam, it's still cold.
Wait inside.
-Alright.
After all, it will come.
The air is cool, so I stay like that.
Blair rejected the maid's suggestion and waited for the carriage, watching the drizzle.
Is that dead woman going to be resurrected?>Katrina refused, even feared, to get closer to the truth of that event ten years ago.
If what she said was the truth, there was nothing to fear.
The moment he saw her like this, he was finally faced with the possibility he had been ignoring for the past ten years.
Maybe her mother had used her.
Both the accident that day and even his own life.
And at the same time, his mother's face, undeniably similar to his own, was chilling to him.
How is it possible?
How could my mother do this to me?
Of course, it is nothing more than a possibility.
It may not be true.
It may just be your imagination.
But this could also be her attempt to justify not being abandoned by her mother.
I thought I only needed Aziel.
And right now, that thinking hasn't changed.
So what is this emptiness I feel?
This feeling of being alone in the world.
<…Aziel.>
Blair remembered the face of the child who was laughing out loud, and she stroked her empty belly.
My baby.
Since in this world to which he has returned there is no trace of that child, he even caressed the womb that had housed him.
But her flat belly, which gave her nothing but her own touch, only increased her emptiness.
When I see Aziel again, when I once again hold that child, my only blood family, in my arms...
then perhaps this emptiness, which has grown to the point of threatening to devour me, will disappear.
Maybe these feelings now will stop mattering.
Because if I see that child who breathes, trusting only in me, who smiles radiantly, I believe I can overcome anything.
That's why, now that I don't have that child, I can't help it.
The moment Blair's empty violet eyes filled with the rainy landscape, a carriage stopped in front of the Empress's Palace.
The family crest with the wings of the divine beast.
It was the same Delmarck ducal family crest that Blair had traveled in, but it was not the carriage she had come in.
…To be continued