Chapter 111 (2/2)

However, I knew I already was.

I felt desperate.

The dowager empress laughed quietly.

“It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t come. If he abandons you, I will just kill you as I planned, and it would still benefit me.”

“If he abandons me, then it would mean I mean nothing to him. So what would you benefit from it?”

“Oh, you mean everything to him. I know this. I have never seen Lucretius look at someone like he looks at you.”

“You talk like you are his mother or something!”

“Mother…? Yes, I supposed I am like his mother. Not all parents raise their children with love and dedication. I didn’t bear him myself, but I raised him with hatred and desperation.”

“…”

I got goosebumps.

I remembered how I compared Lucretius to the dowager empress. They had the same coldness and cruelty.

She really was like his mother. She raised him to be just like her.

“So I know that boy very well. The moment he fell for you, there were only two possible paths for him. Either die with you or lose his soul in front of your dead body.”

“…”

“I don’t care which path he chooses.”

Her cruel smile sickened me.

I replied, “If you kill me and Lucretius lives, your entire family will not survive this. You, your children, and your brother will all die!”

Katleyanira nodded in agreement. “I know, so what?”

“You…!”

“This is the fight for the throne. Whoever is involved knows that possibility. Gahes is aware of it too.”

The name sounded unfamiliar, but I could guess who it was. It must have been Marquis Toruka’s given name.

“Liliana and the other girls… Well, Liliana is already hurt.”

I screamed in shock, “What?”

“That weak girl must have felt guilty and upset. After the Senate meeting, she returned to her room and apparently tried to kill herself.”

“How… could you say something like that without emotion? You are talking about your children! They are innocent!”

“Why should I care for people who can’t even do their job properly?”

This woman meant what she said.

I knew not every parent loved their children, but to talk about her daughters in this horrible way was unacceptable.

Just a while back, she said I must understand her well because she was my enemy. However, she was wrong. I couldn’t understand how she could feel this way about her own children.

I said to her angrily, “How fortunate that Liliana is nothing like you!”

The dowager empress laughed. “You are wrong.”

“What?”

“The reason why I hate Liliana so much is because she is so much like me when I was young and naïve.”

“What…?”

Suddenly, she frowned as if she realized she said too much.

“I must enjoy talking to you. You make me say things I shouldn’t and now… You made me remember something bad.”

Her red eyes stared at me.

“It was fun chatting with you, but I’m tired now. It’s time for you to go to sleep.”

The dowager empress took out a needle from her bracelet. It was a piece of similar looking jewelry as the rings I wore.

Without hesitation, she stabbed my neck with the needle.

“…!”

“Go to sleep. When you wake up tomorrow morning, it will be the last day of your life.”

I tried to keep my eyes open, but I couldn’t.

“Damn you…!”

I lost my consciousness.