Chapter 8 (1/2)

It’s purpose was to make sure no one would be sacrificed in order to prevent the Heart of Olga from being one.

So far, there have been only two people with ‘impure blood.’ A woman born between stepmother and son and a man who tried to kill his father.

<Does father think I’m not your blood either?>

Then father burst out laughing.

<As soon as you were born, I saw you make Trikol turn red, so I don’t doubt it.>

<Then please have trust in me. There must have been something wrong that day…>

<That’s why it’s worse! That you’re my daughter…!>

Her father shouted. Emilie, who was extremely skinny, crouched in fear.

The father came up to the shaking Emilie and grabbed her by the collar.

<Fa, Father…>

<The honor of the Duke of Cabezo is with the Trikol. The Emperor knows that, so he wants to use you to shake our family up. You have put our family in trouble!>

<……>

<If it wasn’t for Polia, then it would have been a disaster.>

The father’s hand let go of her. Emilie collapsed helplessly.

In the meantime, Emilie didn’t miss the small bottle her father gave her.

<I thought about why Trikol rejected you. That’s because you’re the ‘impure blood’ that killed your mother with your own hands. Olga wouldn’t want such a awful child.>

<Ah, Father… I really didn’t kill her.>

<Are you still talking about that? It’s the time to be honest. Everyone in the Cabezo duchy knows that you pushed your stepmother down the cliff out of jealousy!>

<I really didn’t do it. I never hated her. I just wanted to be loved by her…>

<You were standing still and suddenly your stepmother fell off pretending to be pushed down by you? That’s enough, now so she shook your hand off and fell down the cliff? Now you changed your excuse.>

Emilie knew what would come next. Emilie closed her eyes tightly.

But nothing happened. Emilie could not believe her father did not hit her. Emilie, who raised her head in question, was startled.

Her father was looking at Emilie with a calm face. Whenever he saw Emilie, he always had a distorted expression, as if he just saw something terrible, but now his face was terrifyingly calm.

<You’ll be in real trouble if His Majesty sends investigators. I don’t want that kind of shame anymore.>

<Father, I will tell the investigators that I am innocent.>

<No. There is no need to do that. The investigation will not be conducted.>

<Drink what’s in the bottle.>

<Father, don’t tell me… it’s not, right?>

His daughter begged him, but he refused to answer. It was affirmative.

Her father said so and left the tower.

Emilie trembled and gazed at the small bottle. She could no longer deny the identity of the bottled liquid.

It was poison.

<This was what my father really wanted from me.>

This is what her father had been hoping for Emilie for a long time. May she disappear from his sight, leave them forever.

Tears streaked down Emilie’s cheeks. Her lifelong desire for her father’s affection was finally rewarded.

‘Why in the world did I….for what…’

Why did she struggle all her life trying to be loved by a man who would eventually come to kill her?

The belated regret ran hotly down on her cheeks.

She wanted to turn everything back. But it’s already too late. There was nowhere to run.

Emilie opened the bottle with trembling hands.

‘If I could be born again…I wouldn’t beg that man for love. I want to live for myself then…just once…’2

***

On the first day of her return. Elisabeth went to see the Trikol hidden in the basement of the Duke of Cabezo.

She visited like she was bewitched by something. Since her father hid Trikol in a place where no one knew about for a few years, Elisabeth would not have seen Trikol until that day.

When she touched the Trikol, there were smoke-filled clouds and the color turned horribly dark.

‘As expected….’

He said it was dyed red when she was born, but since when has she become an ‘impure blood’ that cannot unite the Heart of Olga?

Why the hell did she become ‘impure blood’?

Anyway, in conclusion, Elisabeth knew this but tricked Victoire.

‘Since Victoire tried to use a child for revenge, so I’m just returning it back.’

Elisabeth stamped her feet vigorously. The swing moved gently back and forth. Despite the serious situation, she let out a hum for some reason.

‘It’s just a chair that moves back and forth but it’s so much fun.’

Elisabeth had never been on a proper swing. The swing in the Cabezo family garden was for ornamental purposes. Elisabeth got injured several times when she was a child, she fell while trying to ride the creaky swing. But her father…

<The swing is not for riding.>

…gave her a cold warning. Then her father fixed the swing after Polia said she wanted to ride it.

Of course, even after fixing the swing, it was not Elisabeth’s turn to ride the swing.

At first, Elisabeth, who had no idea, was on the swing, and Polia, in a fit of anger, pushed Elisabeth down. As she fell, Elisabeth’s arms were stamped on the stone and blood was everywhere.

The stepmother, who appeared late, seemed to like it for some reason instead of being surprised to see her blood flowing.

<Go inside and get treated, quick!>

She rushed Elisabeth into the room. Her father, who returned home in the evening, had no idea that Elisabeth was hurt because he was paying attention to Polia who suddenly appeared with a bandage on her arm. In order to hide Elisabeth’s injury, her stepmother and Polia played an act.

“Oh my, why is she riding the swing so hard?”

One of the Count’s employees murmured while passing by. The adopted little lady was riding the swing with a fierce spirit. The girl’s eyes were glaring showing how concentrated she was.

“I guess the rumor is true that he adopted a child of a distant relative. I heard that the relative died from illness while living a poor life because he wasted all their family wealth.”

“If that’s the case, it would be my first time riding such a good swing. The Count, His Grace, has a good heart. Taking a child who has lost her parents.”

“Is that all? Whatever the little lady uses is the best. Her room was even redecorated.”

“He must be happy to have a cute and pretty daughter while raising two sons.”

The employees whispered as they passed by.

***

There was silence on the table. Even the eve of a typhoon would seem to be noisy.

Elisabeth chewed a piece of meat while looking at Victoire and Dylan’s eyes.

‘Ah, it’s delicious… I want to eat faster, but I’m aware of their eyes.’

Elisabeth wanted to eat like Damon, who showed a vigorous appetite as if he had lost his senses.