CHAPTER 52…………
I was so startled that I dropped the book I’d been reading and could only open and close my mouth like a fish.
It took me a moment to understand what Aslan had said, and once I did, I couldn’t help but blurt out loudly:
“What? You said you didn’t need one before!”
“That was then, this is now. So what?”
Aslan made his characteristic pouty face, lips sticking out, and then clung to my waist, whining.
“I want a dad. Make me a dad. Pleaseee?”
It wasn’t the first time Aslan had thrown a tantrum out of nowhere, but to say he wanted a father?
It was so sudden and out of the blue that I couldn’t help but be curious about the reason.
I sat him on my lap and asked,
“Why do you want a dad all of a sudden?”
“Because I need one!”
“Why exactly do you need one?”
“I just do!”
Good grief, this stubborn child.
It didn’t seem like I was going to get a real answer out of him.
I ruffled his hair roughly and said,
“Even if you say you need one, a dad isn’t something you can just go out and fetch immediately.”
But Aslan didn’t accept that and protested.
“Why not? There’s a perfectly good person nearby!”
“Hm? Who?”
Was there such a person? Surely he wasn’t about to ask me to make one of the servants his dad.
Tensing up, I waited until Aslan kindly revealed the answer.
“Uncle Id!”
Ah. Of course. I smirked knowingly and pinched his cheek.
“Aslan, youuu. It’s because Sir Mente bought you a bunch of gifts, isn’t it?”
“Nooo?”
“Who did you get this greedy nature from, hm?”
After enduring my pinching for a while, Aslan finally escaped my hand and pouted furiously.
“Hmph, no! Even without the presents, I just think Uncle Id would make a good dad!”
“Yeah, right. Sure.”
That entire day, Aslan followed me around, nagging nonstop.
“Moooom. I want a daaad. Make me a dad.”
“Sir Mente is not an option.”
“Whyyy not!”
“Because Sir Mente is already married.”
“But he doesn’t have one now!”
Did he really like Id’s gifts that much?
Aslan was completely taken in by Id’s presents and was practically desperate for me to match the two of us up.
Either way, Id had returned home safely without incident, and even though Ayla had stayed at our house, nothing had particularly changed.
As long as I didn’t go to the Imperial Capital, the ending would be different.
Feeling reassured, I watched the setting sun.
“Damn it, what a long journey.”
A group of figures, all dressed in black clothing and black masks, arrived in Fran Territory under the cover of night.
The trip from the capital had taken a full week.
One of them spotted the grand mansion looming on top of a distant hill and asked his companions,
“Is that the place? That mansion on the hill?”
“Pretty fancy for a country estate, huh?”
“And we just need to kill the woman living there, right, boss?”
The burly man they called “Boss” dismounted and shook his head.
“Not just kill her. It has to look like she disappeared.”
At those words, the subordinates grinned wickedly.
“Then we just split up and get it done.”
“Man, what kind of grudge do you have to hold to hire someone for a job like this?”
“Who cares. We just take the money.”
The masked men dismounted one by one.
They tied up their horses in a small grove, checked their weapons, and then the boss gave the command in his deep voice.
“Let’s move.”
The group of masked men ran toward the mansion silhouetted against the moonlit hill.
I was riding in a carriage, heading urgently somewhere.
I couldn’t stop worrying about the danger that might soon befall me, and the anxiety had me on edge.
And sure enough, my fears came true.
The carriage jolted violently and then toppled onto its side.
“Ugh…!”
Neighhh!
The horses’ terrified cries grew distant as they bolted away.
Warm liquid trickled down my face—my head must have struck something hard.
Though I had been on guard, I couldn’t avoid injury.
Not long after, the carriage door was wrenched open.
“My lady, are you all right?!”
“I… I’m fine.”
The coachman—no, my aide, Luisa—was bruised and scraped from the fall, but thankfully alive.
When she caught sight of me, though, her eyes went wide.
“My lady, your head…!”
“This much is nothing.”
The wound was shallow, not fatal.
Clutching my throbbing head with one hand, I grasped Luisa’s offered hand with the other and climbed out of the wrecked carriage.
The carriage was half-destroyed, the horses gone.
We were stranded in the middle of a forest road, far from the next village. Going home seemed impossible.
No, the real question wasn’t how to return home, but whether we’d even get the chance.
“So you did come this way.”
From the trees above, black-masked figures dropped down silently, surrounding us completely.
Luisa handed me a spare sword, and I asked,
“Did Mars send you?”
“That’s for Her Highness to know best.”
The moment the hulking leader finished speaking, the masked men took their stances.
Around twenty of them. Just the two of us.
They were clearly skilled, so this would be tough.
Even so—
“I won’t die without a fight.”
Shhhk. The moment I drew my sword, they all rushed at me at once.
Back-to-back with Luisa, I slashed, cutting down enemy after enemy.
But there were far too many. My body, unused to wielding a blade for so long, was sluggish and weak.
I was forced to block ceaseless attacks, unable to dodge every strike. My skin was slashed in multiple places.
But the pain wasn’t from the wounds alone.
My breath came oddly ragged, and the cuts burned as though seared by fire.
Then I realized why.
‘My hand…!’
The hand gripping my sword was turning violet.
No… it couldn’t be.
Even as the terrible realization struck me, I heard the sound of someone collapsing.
Luisa, who had been holding the line with me, slipped and crumpled to the ground.
“Luisa!”
“Your… Highness…”
Her body was covered in far more wounds than mine, and her veins bulged purple beneath her skin.
She couldn’t even close her eyes before her breath stilled forever.
Too late, I understood.
The blades were poisoned.
And not just any poison—one unlike anything I’d seen before, for it bypassed all resistance I should have had.
My body grew sluggish, and I failed to block an incoming strike.
“Khahhh…!”
A cold, sharp pain pierced straight through my chest.
Grrrk, wheeze, wheeze.
My lung had been punctured—blood filled my chest, making breathing agony.
Every breath felt like drowning in blood.
I tried to keep myself upright, bracing on my sword, but my trembling legs gave way, dropping me to my knees.
The boss approached, pressing his gleaming blade against my throat.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to go quickly than to suffer like this?”
Was this really how I would die?
I had steeled myself, yet I had grown complacent in the peace of country life.
I had forgotten—I wasn’t the same as seven years ago.
With lips slick with blood, I mouthed the name I cherished above all else.
‘Rio, I…’
My mind, which had never once betrayed my will, grew hazy, and my vision dimmed…
“Gasp…!”
I bolted upright in bed, heart pounding.
I frantically touched my chest—no wound.
My hands were clean, healthy, flesh-colored.
And there beside me, Aslan slept soundly, breathing softly. Relief washed over me.
“It was a dream…”
What I had just seen was the moment Minerva had been assassinated in the original story—an episode that had not been included in the book I’d read.
Relief gave way to irritation.
‘Why would I have such an ominous dream?’
I was now wide awake; even if I lay down again, I’d never fall back asleep.
Feeling bad about disturbing her at this hour, I decided I’d ask Luisa for some tea.
Careful not to wake Aslan, I slipped out of bed, wrapped a shawl around my shoulders… and happened to glance out the window.
“……!”
I froze on the spot.
Outside, the very same black-masked figures from my dream were breaking into the house.
