Episode 1
Only the day of my death remained for me.
Through brutal torture, my skin had half-rotted away, and my hair was matted with blood.
I had been betrayed—
by someone I had never imagined would betray me.
“Ugh… ha-ha.”
I cried and laughed at the same time.
The one who betrayed me—
Yes, my younger sister, Leili White.
Leili and I were not true sisters.
My maternal grandfather’s younger brother, Count Cardean White, had died young. He left behind an illegitimate son born outside marriage—Gregory.
When Gregory appeared, all the retainers opposed his adoption into the family because he was a bastard.
At that time, the person who accepted Gregory as one of the family was my grandfather.
Gregory became the son of Cardean White, inherited the title of Count, and came to live in the White Ducal House with his wife Isabel and their daughter Leili.
After my mother—Karina White, the heir to the White Ducal House—died, Gregory pushed his daughter Leili forward as the second young lady of the house, and thus we became “sisters.”
I groaned, clawing at the floor. I couldn’t tell whether the pain came from my wounds, from betrayal, or from despair.
Tok, tok—
Then I heard it: the sound of boots striking the stone floor.
I lifted my head—and there she stood.
The sister who had betrayed me.
“Seeing you like this, sister, you’re even more pitiful than I imagined.”
“…How could you do this to me, Leili? Is it because of Caron?”
Caron de Felix.
The Second Prince—the one who desired the throne.
“Well, when Caron asked me to falsify the oracle of the ‘Tear of the Goddess,’ you should have just listened to him.”
I clenched my teeth.
The Tear of the Goddess—a relic discovered by the Empire’s first emperor, a divine artifact. I was the guardian chosen by that relic.
The Tear of the Goddess was a true fragment of divinity and played a decisive role in choosing the Empire’s successor. I recalled Caron’s voice.
‘Loblien, I love you. You love me too, don’t you?’
‘Caron…’
‘Then please—make me the Emperor.’
There was already a successor chosen by the relic. His words meant that I should betray God and declare a false oracle.
‘No, I can’t, Caron. Before I’m a woman who loves you, I’m the guardian of the relic. I can’t commit such blasphemy.’
‘……’
He looked at me with a strange expression, then turned and left.
And yet things ended up like this.
The Crown Prince was dead—
and the culprit was me, Loblien White.
An absurd accusation.
All my devotion to God had brought me nothing but merciless betrayal and a dying body.
“You really are always a fool, sister. You asked if it was because of Caron? Fine—yes, I helped Caron. I made him Crown Prince myself, not you!”
Leili’s eyes gleamed with ecstasy as she stared into the air.
“I’ll have Caron. I’ll become the most noble woman in the Empire.”
I sneered at her foolishness.
“And you think that will make you the true guardian of the relic?”
Her face twisted at my words.
“Why not?”
“You can’t. Even if you do, you’ll live your whole life drenched in lies—a fake, through and through.”
Her expression shifted rapidly with anger until she forced a savage smile.
“Sister, since this is the last time I’ll see you, let me tell you something: the real idiot is you.”
“What… did you say?”
“Do you know why the grandfather you revered so much died? My parents fed him poison—slowly—until he died of it.”
At her words, I gasped. My blood-soaked chest tightened painfully.
“Y-You… what did you just say…?”
“You were just a worm pretending to be noble! You and your precious grandfather both!”
I clutched my chest, sobbing, then screamed as if my heart would rip apart.
“AAAAAH!”
“I’ll kill you! Even if I die, I’ll kill you somehow!”
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
My shrieks were drowned out by Leili’s piercing laughter, echoing off the stone walls of the underground cell.
“Stupid sister. Wait here for your final day.”
The sound of her departing boots faded just as it had come.
Gripping the iron bars, I muttered like a madwoman:
“I can’t die like this. Never!”
