Chapter 41

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The sun had set twice and risen twice.

Reina’s hair, once neatly kept, had long since fallen into a mess.

No matter how much she spoke, the person guarding the door never responded.

Her dried eyes stared ahead without focus.

Reina’s fingers rubbed against the cold, hard floor.

“…”

Her mouth felt parched. As if they meant to starve her to death, she had not been given a single sip of water or even a piece of bread.

Her clouded eyes, unable to get even a moment of sleep, slowly swept over the room.

‘If they kill me, how will they do it.’

They would disguise it as a suicide.

Reina stared blankly at one side of the wall and wondered if she would be able to see Boni even once before she died. Bonita’s face suddenly flashed through her mind. Her fists clenched tightly.

‘I can’t die like this.’

If she disappeared, Bonita would be in danger too. And if the child were cast out on top of that.

It was the season when Star’s Birthday had already passed and the winter wind cut sharply.

A child’s fragile body would never endure that cold for long.

No matter how much Reina begged the servants guarding the door to at least tell her how Bonita was doing, they did not budge.

It was despair after despair.

Titania, whom she had met in her dream, had said that everything in this world would move according to Reina’s will. What, exactly, had ever gone her way.

The portrait reflected faintly in Reina’s dry eyes.

‘Have I ever met the duchess.’

She had never even seen a photograph or a painting of her before.

And yet that woman had appeared in her dream.

Could that really have been a meaningless dream.

Was it possible that dreaming of someone she had never met even once was nothing more than nonsense.

‘Did the Reina before me ever meet her.’

If so, what did she want from her, from Reina.

“…”

Reina slowly closed her eyes, then opened them again.

‘What matters right now isn’t an unanswered mystery.’

The matter of the duchess could wait. There was something far more urgent.

Even though she had lived for years as a powerless unmarried mother, constantly watching everyone’s mood because of it, there was no reason she had to accept death or face it meekly.

Reina wanted to live.

That was why, when she recalled the novel, she had chosen to act differently in the first place.

‘The novel never said when my lord would return.’

She replayed the vague lines and scenes in her head. In the original story, Damian only appeared at the most critical moment.

Reina organized the events that must have happened before that.

‘Even if they weren’t described, it took quite a long time.’

She also recalled what Peter had said about the appointment ceremony of the Twelve Priests.

Unless something extraordinary happened, it took a considerable amount of time.

That was probably why they had not yet made a move to kill her.

Reina clenched her teeth and forced her weak body to stand. As she moved too suddenly, her vision spun.

Bracing herself against the wall, she slowly walked around the wide storage room.

‘This room wasn’t originally a storage room.’

There were only a few pieces of furniture covered with white cloths, and far too few miscellaneous items for a storage space.

Before she realized it, Reina was standing right in front of the portrait, looking up at it.

“…A portrait.”

They said the duke had cherished his wife dearly.

He had married her despite everyone’s opposition. There was no way he would relegate her portrait to a mere storage room for odds and ends.

‘Estates of this size usually have rooms with secret passages that outsiders don’t know about.’

During her lessons with Peter, he had explained the structure of noble estates.

He had said that large estates often had hidden passages, meant to deal safely with possible enemy intrusions.

With her teeth clenched and having gone sleepless all night, her mind felt strangely clear.

Reina examined the wallpaper.

All the wallpaper in the ducal residence used only the finest materials, but the pattern in this room resembled that of Damian’s study.

‘This room probably wasn’t used as a bedroom, but it was a place my lord or madam stayed in often.’

Reina looked toward the large window set into the wall. Sunlight streamed in pleasantly.

It was tightly shut and would not open, but at least the light made her feel that she was still alive.

‘That window will never break.’

Even if it did, this was the top floor. Jumping down was impossible anyway.

As if by mutual agreement, no one even looked toward the storage room where Reina was. Then again, how many people would stare at an empty storage room.

‘If my guess is right, there should be a secret passage in this room too. And Count Elbron won’t try to kill me just yet.’

He would try to win her over first. If that failed, then he would kill her.

And to win her over, or rather threaten her, there was something he absolutely needed.

‘Boni.’

The moment that thought reached her, Reina’s mind snapped awake as if drenched in cold water.

If Bonita were already dead, that too would be something he could use.

No matter how much Reina begged to know how Bonita was doing, she had not seen even the child’s shadow.

‘The more I search for Boni, the more the count will see her as something useful.’

And the fact that he had not brought Bonita before her meant only one thing.

“…They haven’t found Boni.”

How had that day gone again.

“That day, Boni definitely said she was going to the training grounds.”

Even if Bonita knew what was happening inside the estate, it was impossible for a child to hide alone from everyone.

That meant someone was hiding her.

‘If there really is a secret passage, and she escaped through it, then Boni won’t be in immediate danger.’

All she had to do was hold on until Damian returned.

A faint hope appeared that both she and the child could survive.

Humans were weak, terribly weak, and when they found even a sliver of light no bigger than a fingernail in pitch darkness, they clung to it desperately.

“…The problem is whether that secret passage actually exists.”

A powerless voice muttered to itself.

‘Even if it exists, if I can’t find it, it’s no different from not existing at all.’

But if it were easy to find, it wouldn’t be a secret passage. It wouldn’t be something just anyone could discover with a quick glance.

“What do I do.”

As she stared blankly toward the window, something entered her field of vision.

“Huh?”

A carriage approaching from afar.

The window of the storage room faced the back gate, not the main gate.

Guests always entered through the main gate, while the back gate was mostly used by servants.

“That carriage…”

Even from this distance, the carriage’s overwhelming presence was unmistakable.

“How did they arrive so quickly?”

The massive crest of the Winternight family was engraved upon it.

Reina’s eyes shook violently. Wasn’t this too soon.

“It’s early, but that’s not bad for me.”

If she could just get out of this room, it would actually be a good opportunity.

Because it had entered through the back gate rather than the main gate, Reina noticed it before word could reach Count Elbron.

She tore her gaze away from the window and hurriedly moved.

Having received no nourishment for days, her head rang dully and her throat burned with thirst.

Staggering forward, Reina bumped into things here and there. She collided with a low table covered in cloth, pain flaring at her waist.

But she did not stop. She groped around relentlessly, searching for a secret passage.

She knocked on solid walls and touched the candlesticks mounted there.

“Nothing moves.”

Was that only natural. Was there really no secret passage.

Thud.

Just as Reina was about to sink into despair, she heard the heavy cloth fall to the floor.

It seemed the cloth she had brushed against earlier had slipped off.

In the corner of the room stood a table pressed against the wall.

“…”

What was strange were the items on top of it.

For a room no one used, everything was arranged far too neatly.

As if drawn in, Reina stepped closer and reached out.

“…It has wheels.”

Normally locked in place, but once released, small wheels hidden underneath allowed it to move.

‘Are these objects a sign.’

With a mix of doubt and hope, Reina pushed the items aside one by one and carefully felt along the tabletop.

At first, nothing seemed unusual. But when she focused her senses, her fingers caught on something.

Click.

When she pressed that spot, the lid opened and revealed a small valve.

Reina’s heart began to pound.

She carefully grasped the valve and turned it. A clattering sound came from below, and the table slid smoothly to the side.

“I knew it…”

Behind it was a passage so small it could be called a crawlspace.

When she bent and entered, the inside was tall enough for an adult to stand.

It was dark, but by following the wall, it was clearly passable. She could hear the sound of air moving from deeper within.

“…I have to hurry.”

“Quickly…”

As Reina felt her way along the wall, hurried and heavy footsteps sounded outside the door, mixed with voices.

She could not tell how many there were.

They had not found Bonita, the duke was returning, and they were clearly moving to deal with Reina.

She quickly grabbed the box of photographs, slipped into the passage, and pulled the table back into place.

Clatter.

The moment she hid inside the secret passage, the storage room door opened.

“Where did she go?”

“There’s no way out. Search the entire room!”

Voices full of hostility, just as expected.

Reina covered her mouth with one hand and stilled even her breathing.

‘If I’d been even a little later, it would’ve been over.’

She leaned against the wall in the pitch black and moved forward.

‘If the timing had been even slightly off…’

As she pushed away the horrifying thought, the words she had heard in her dream surfaced again.

“Eugene, that world is on your side. If you truly want it, everything will eventually come true.”

She had no idea why those words came to mind now.