Chapter 40

* * *

White hair and pink eyes, hair flowing in soft waves.

A gentle face, a lovely appearance.

Anyone who saw her would have no choice but to fall in love.

Even though she was Finecke.

That very loveliness was proof that she was Estelle’s biological mother. Estelle truly resembled Titania perfectly.

But what shocked Reina was not that her appearance was more beautiful than imagined.

It was the dream.

The person who had spoken those mysterious words to her in that dream had been Titania.

“Why is this person…?”

Reina’s eyes trembled violently.

As if possessed, she reached out her calloused hand toward the portrait.

The moment her fingers touched the painting, it felt as though time had stopped. The texture of the air became vividly sharp.

It was as if the woman in the portrait, Titania, Duchess Winternight, was looking directly at her.

Only then did Reina realize what she was doing. As if burned, she hurriedly snatched her hand away.

In that fleeting instant.

The massive portrait tore wide open as if slashed by a blade.

As though someone had cast magic.

Reina sucked in a sharp breath and stared at the painting.

“Wh-What just happened?”

It had happened suddenly.

A painting wouldn’t rip just because someone touched it.

Had it already been torn?

No, that wasn’t it.

No one would have restored it so carelessly.

“Is this even possible?”

Reina decided to call the head butler for help.

Whether it was her fault or not, she couldn’t leave the portrait like this.

“…My, my.”

Just as she turned to report it, a low voice rang out.

Behind her, near the storage room door, Count Elbron stood with a crooked smile.

“To dare tear the portrait of Duchess Winternight. That’s quite the audacity.”

“N-No, Count. I can explain…”

“Since when does a mere maid speak without permission?”

He struck the floor hard with his cane.

Reina flinched under the pressure and lowered her head deeply.

In a twisted tone, he continued.

“Ah, so you’re that maid His Grace supposedly cherishes. No wonder.”

“…”

“I thought something was odd. Yes, now I understand everything.”

Reina kept her head bowed, unable to say a word.

“So you, a commoner, dared to covet the duchess’s seat. Well, His Grace did take that lowly Finecke woman as his wife.”

“Th-That’s not true!”

It truly wasn’t.

Reina lifted her head to protest, but the count didn’t care.

From his eyes, she read the truth.

‘He has no intention of listening. Was this all planned?’

Count Elbron had not come to the estate simply to educate Estelle.

He intended to become Estelle’s emotional pillar and seize power.

And the greatest obstacle to that plan was Reina.

No matter how much he brainwashed Estelle, as long as Reina existed, she would eventually become a hindrance.

While Damian was away, Count Elbron had been planning to sever Estelle and Reina’s bond and destroy their trust in one another.

‘Then Annemarie coming into this storage room was all part of it?’

She had been foolish.

Everything had felt so strange.

Everyone siding with the count.

All the bizarre things happening to her.

It all felt unreal, and she had let her guard down.

Then Count Elbron paused briefly when he noticed the photographs scattered on the floor.

“…?”

The moment Reina caught that hesitation, he curled his lips unpleasantly and turned.

“My lady, look at this. This is the true nature of the common girl you relied on.”

“M-My lady!”

Estelle stood there, her face pale as she looked at Reina.

“Look at this! That wench dared to think she could covet the duchess’s position and use you. She planned to brainwash you with these photographs!”

He rattled off accusations that were in fact his own intentions.

The horrifying photos of Finecke.

He had intended to use them to frighten Estelle and threaten her that she would end up like that if she misbehaved.

“N-No!”

“Do you have proof? Do you think denying it is enough?”

“My lady! I truly did nothing!”

The portrait had been torn badly, yet there wasn’t a single tool nearby that could have done it.

There was no evidence she had hidden anything.

Only then did Reina frantically look around.

‘Sofia.’

Sofia was standing there too, but she avoided Reina’s gaze.

At Count Elbron’s gesture, two servants waiting behind him seized Reina’s arms and dragged her away.

“My lady! It’s not true! It wasn’t me!”

Reina shouted loudly.

Her desperate voice was loud enough for servants on the lower floors to hear.

Estelle turned away, fear written all over her face.

It wasn’t that she believed Reina had done it.

But Count Elbron was terrifying.

Under the pretense of teaching her, he always told Estelle that her opinions were wrong.

She was afraid that this time too, she would give the wrong answer and make him angry.

“Re-Reina…”

The moment Estelle softly called her name, Count Elbron shot her a threatening look only she could see.

Estelle shrank even further and turned her head away.

“I suspected His Grace paid little attention to matters inside the estate, but to think discipline has collapsed this far. How lamentable.”

He clicked his tongue and looked at Reina coldly.

Reina knew no one would stand on her side.

She knew Estelle wouldn’t help her.

Even so, she cried out desperately.

“A dungeon… no, that won’t do. Yes, this storage room will suffice. You can gaze at the torn portrait of the duchess and await judgment day.”

“…!”

Despite Reina’s near scream for help, everyone in the room turned away.

And soon, with her once neat hair disheveled, Reina was locked inside the storage room.

Click.

The sound of the lock echoed.

From beyond the door, the count said,

“When His Grace returns, we will decide your punishment.”

Reina knew.

Count Elbron would kill her before then.

It would be a long time before Damian returned.

There was more than enough time to kill her.

And perhaps.

“Boni.”

He would not leave her daughter alone either.

Reina whispered Bonita’s name like a sigh.

Boni.

Lovely Bonita.

A child who had to grow up too quickly simply because she was Reina’s daughter.

In the novel, her ending had not even been described.

“Boni!”

Reina pounded on the door, but it would not open.

No matter how she pulled or pushed, the ornate door did not budge.

‘Why.’

Why was the world so cruel?

Her only crime was being the child of someone incompetent like her.

* * *

“…Hic.”

Bonita lay curled up in the corner of the bed, wrapped tightly in a large blanket.

She had originally planned to go to the training grounds to play with the knights.

She had even gotten Reina’s permission.

If the head chef hadn’t given her a big bundle of cookies, she would probably have heard about the commotion much later, from someone else.

Bonita had wanted to wait and share the freshly baked cookies with Reina when she returned.

If she went to the training grounds and played hard, she would get hungry and end up eating them all herself.

If she had known this chaos would break out, she would have gone to the training grounds.

No.

Even then, she would have regretted it.

Bonita trembled under the blanket, waiting for the noise to die down.

She heard her mother’s voice.

But no one else’s voice answered.

She heard Reina calling for Estelle, shouting that she was innocent.

The scream-like voice did not stop.

It meant only one thing.

No one was helping her.

Bonita curled deeper under the blanket, then slowly crawled beneath the bed.

“Mom…”

When Bonita woke from nightmares, Reina always comforted her.

She told her it was all just a dream.

That nothing here would harm her.

That Mom would protect her.

But this was real.

Not a dream.

Reina, who always took care of her, Dean, and even Damian who had only recently grown closer.

None of them were here.

As she held her breath under the bed, she heard the door open.

Instinctively, Bonita clamped her mouth shut and stopped breathing.

She subconsciously sensed that, judging from her mother’s situation, something bad would happen to her too.

“Where is the child?”

“His Excellency is looking for her. We need to catch her quickly.”

She heard talk of hostages and other things she couldn’t fully understand.

After a moment, a maid with a flat voice said,

“She’s interested in swords. She might be near the training grounds.”

“Wasn’t she a girl?”

“She’s unusual. Perhaps because she grew up with nothing.”

The adults exchanged a few more words, then their footsteps faded away.

Only then did Bonita quietly exhale.

“…!”

Suddenly, the bed skirt was lifted.

“I knew you were here.”

Bonita stared up in terror at the maid looking down at her calmly.

In a flat voice, the maid said,

“If you stay here, you’ll get caught. Come with me.”