Chapter 89

Chapter 89

It was a dark night with a crescent moon as thin as the silver crown of a goddess hidden behind thick clouds.

Grand Duchess Blaine, holding the small candlestick in one hand, slowly approached her two children lying in a small cradle beside the bed before closing the door tightly and closing all the curtains in the bedroom so that not even a ray of light could leak out.

Under the dim light of a candle the size of her forefinger, her sons, Charles and Minuel, were fast asleep with their golden hair disheveled.

If there was a baby angel that came down from the sky, would it look like this?

The sight of her two children sleeping soundly was so cute and lovely that anyone would feel deep affection at first sight. However, Grand Duchess Blaine’s expression looking down at her sons was indifferent.

“….”

After gazing at her children for a moment, she eventually set a small candelabra down on the table next to the cradle where the children slept. Putting one arm on the cradle, she glanced down at the children who were sleeping in each other’s arms.

“Eung…”

The sleeping children sometimes whined or pushed the blanket over their shoulders with their arms, but she just watched.

Then, as if she had made up her mind, she stretched out her hand toward the sleeping children.

Grand Duchess Blaine’s hand moved slowly toward her children’s faces. And as soon as her fingertips touched the skin of her children, she was startled and withdrew her outstretched hand and, as though running away, collapsed onto her own bed.

“Haak, haa…”

It was only a few steps from the cradle to the bed, but she gasped as if she had been through some strenuous exercise.

‘Strange…. What’s wrong with me? What am I hesitating for?’

Her mind was at peace until she had dinner and received her children from the nanny, saying that she’d put them to bed in her room for the first time.

That was until she saw the nanny whimpering, thrilled that, at last, she seemed to have developed an affection for the children as she held them in her arms. Grand Duchess Blaine then added that she’d be taking care of them today and that no one shouldn’t enter the bedroom until she called.

In the Grand Duchess’ mind, she only wanted to ridicule such a nanny and carry out her ‘plan.’

For her, her children were a means to gain power and only a string to hold on to the heart of the man she loved… they were only lives that drove her to the threshold of death with terrible labor pain and caused pains in her bones on cold, windy days… it was like that.

…Since it was just that, why did she keep hesitating?

As she thought so, Grand Duchess Blaine bit her red lower lip as she remembered the conversation she had with the witch, Morgan.

“Now, I engraved letters from another world on this bracelet and put a curse on it. All the Grand Duchess has to do is simply place her hands on the cheeks of her sons while wearing the bracelet. Then, at that moment, the curse I put on will be activated.”

“….”

“Oh, and in order to avoid any suspicion that might return to the Grand Duchess, I put the curse on you in the same way.”

“…What exactly is the curse you put on?”

“I can’t tell you the specifics, but I’ll explain what kind it is. This curse only ‘induces’ the symptoms of being cursed for several days and doesn’t actually harm the Grand Duchess and her two sons.”

“…Really, is there no harm?”

“Of course. You may come up with fever-like symptoms that wouldn’t go away with any medicine for a day or two, but after a while, you’ll feel better. There won’t be any aftereffects left.”

“….”

“Oh, my goodness. Why, can’t you?”

Morgan’s red lips, smiling as he handed over the enchanted bracelet, seemed as if she was testing her. It seemed as if she were laughing at you, asking if her heart for ‘him’ was only that much and that she was hesitating now.

In addition, as if she knew all about her intentions, it seemed like Morgan was annoyingly sticking by Rupert’s side and talking to him.

When Grand Duchess Blaine remembered Morgan laughing as if mocking her, she couldn’t contain her resentment and clenched her fists so hard that the backs of her hands turned white.

‘She’s just a lowly witch, how dare she…’

In the first place, she only brought that witch-like girl to drive Minase Persen, who wouldn’t let go of Rupert’s heart, out of his mind. Perhaps, she was blinded by impatience and attached a witch worse than Minase Persen to Rupert’s side instead.

The Grand Duchess became anxious at the thought.

Nonetheless, she had to shake off this anxiety. As long as this plan went the way she wanted it to, she’d get everything she wanted.

‘…Yes. If this plan succeeds, I can get everything.’

Rupert’s heart, and the power she would enjoy as Empress in the future… everything. Then, no one would be able to look down on her as the lowly mistress.

…Rupert, that man too!

Didn’t she endure day by day pretending to love the Emperor she didn’t even love so far just for that moment?

As she thought so, a ray of hesitation that had suddenly formed in her heart disappeared, and infinite courage welled up. Lifting the corners of her mouth and smiling, Grand Duchess Blaine slowly rose from the bed and went back to the cradle.

As she stood in front of the sleeping children, she slowly stretched out her hands and muttered to herself.

“…Yes. This is for him and my future.”

Then, the Grand Duchess’s hands touched the children’s cheeks, and suddenly a dark green light flashed in her bedroom.

“Kyaak!”

“Uaaaahhh—!”

“Ung, uaaaang—!”

Grand Duchess Blaine screamed in surprise at the sensation of strong static electricity, and she fell forward, shaking the cradle in which her children slept. And at the same time, she felt the heat burning her whole body before she fainted within seconds.

The witch, Morgan’s curse, had succeeded.

She could hear the cries of her children, and in a slowly receding consciousness, she stretched out her arms and caught the rocking cradle.

Located in the heart of the capital, Royal Street, the mansion with a dark blue roof has long been famous as a place where the Emperor bestowed his favorite consort.

Among the splendid mansions in the Royal Streets, where only those who inherited the blood of the Royal Family or high-ranking nobles trusted by the Emperor could stay, it was equipped with size and splendor that stood out.

Moreover, since the mansion, which was only ten minutes away by carriage from the Imperial Palace, was guarded by the imperial guards dispatched by the Emperor, it was a place where one couldn’t dare even pass in front of the mansion unless invited by the mistress.

Called the ‘Blaine’s Palace’ after the current owner of the mansion, Grand Duchess Blaine, the place was stunning with colorful hydrangeas that bloom through spring and into early summer.

The hydrangeas that bloomed in the garden tended by the gardener of the Imperial Palace every morning were so beautiful that the Grand Duchess would walk around her garden every day with her young children during this time.

However, that day was really strange.

As the water droplets on the wide petals glistened in the early summer sunlight, the Grand Duchess, who would usually take a walk in the garden full of brightly blooming hydrangeas, didn’t even take a step outside her bedroom with all the curtains closed that day.

In addition, even though it was a late breakfast at this time, no one could hear any signs of presence in her bedroom.

At first, everyone didn’t think it was a big deal, assuming that she might have overslept because she was tired from taking care of a crying child all night. In particular, the lady-in-waiting, who had been serving Grand Duchess Blaine from a short distance for a long time, knocked on the bedroom door several times with a worried expression on her face.

“Grand Duchess, did you cough? Are you sick somewhere?”

“….”

“If you’re awake, please answer me, Grand Duchess. It’s already past noon.”

Even though the lady-in-waiting continued to speak in front of the bedroom door in an anxious voice, still no sign of anything could be heard from inside the room.

She couldn’t just go in, either. While the Grand Duchess told everyone not to come in the room until she called last night, she couldn’t just watch without doing anything like this. Thinking so, the lady-in-waiting swallowed her dry saliva and gripped the bedroom doorknob.

Seeing that, the young maid next to her hastily stopped her.

“Will, will this be okay? By any chance, if the Grand Duchess reprimands later…”

“I’ll take all the punishment obediently, so let go of my hand.”

“….”

Pushing the maid who stopped her out of the way, the lady-in-waiting turned the doorknob and entered the bedroom. As she walked slowly toward the window, examining the dark bedroom where not a single ray of light came in, she decided to draw the curtains and wake the Grand Duchess who was asleep.

Whoosh―!

She glanced at the stretched-out bed and opened the curtains by the window. Then, the sunlight of early summer poured blindingly through the window, revealing the scenery in the bedroom that had been shrouded in darkness.

“Kyaaaaah―!”

The appearance of Grand Duchess Blaine, who collapsed beside the cradle, her body flushed and she started breathing heavily, and her children gasping for breath after weeping until their cheeks were sore with tears already seemed unusual at first glance.

The lady-in-waiting quickly approached the Grand Duchess lying next to the cradle and held her, screaming so loud as if her throat would break.

“Is there anyone out there?! Grand, Grand Duchess…!”

“What’s the matter?!”

At the screams, the people in the mansion rushed into the bedroom and witnessed the tragedy.

The knights guarding the mansion searched the mansion with contemplative faces and sent a letter to the Emperor while the maids hurriedly ran to the underground well to prepare ice and cold water to cool down Grand Duchess Blaine and the children.

Meanwhile, the attendants taking care of the children couldn’t adapt to the situation that had occurred while they had been awake for just one day and were only trembling in fear that their throats might run away.

One day in early summer…

In an instant, the road to hell unfolded in the mansion of Grand Duchess Blaine, which was always beautiful with hydrangeas.

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