Chapter 01
Xabier looked at his elder brother in front of him. No, he tried to look, but his eye was torn, so it was hard to keep it open properly.
Even when he barely opened his eyes, his vision was dyed red with flowing blood.
Still, Xabier stubbornly and silently kept his gaze on Declen.
He wished all of this was just a nightmare.
Although they were born from different mothers, he was his only brother.
Even though Declen was not born with the power of the dragon, Xabier believed he had the noble dignity and was truly fit to be an emperor.
To anyone, Declen was more suitable than himself to become emperor, so Xabier was even willing to give up everything he had.
There was even a time he thought, “I’m glad that man is the eldest son of the emperor.”
Xabier always believed his brother would become a greater emperor than anyone, even their father.
Following Emperor William Barlum, who advanced from conquering the southern part of the continent to the north, Declen would lead Etharinta into its greatest golden age.
But…….
Where did it all go wrong?
“Brother.”
He called him in a low voice, but Declen did not react at all. His face, always gentle and warm, was frozen cold like he was wearing a mask.
How foolish. The face I believed was his all along must have been a mask.
Xabier laughed bitterly at himself.
“Are you satisfied?”
It was not a question expecting an answer.
It would have been better if he had at least smiled after destroying an empire like this, betraying the younger brother who truly respected him.
But Declen’s eyes were completely empty.
So revenge is also just emptiness?
Is it only a barren land left after a strong wind blows everything away?
“I wanted to see your country, brother.”
“Shut up.”
Declen finally reacted for the first time. Xabier forced a smile on his face. It was a twisted expression thrown into a world full of disgust.
Until now, Xabier had tried to make his presence as small and faint as possible in order to make the man in front of him emperor.
Even betraying those who followed him because of his true dragon lineage, Xabier had to give up many things.
Did the man in front of him understand how that felt?
“Do you know that today is your last day?”
His tone was calm, as if asking about a meal.
Xabier laughed a little at the word “last.”
Last. The end.
“Do you have any last words?”
“What happened to my daughter, who I didn’t even know existed?”
Ah. That child.
Only then did Declen frown slightly, as if remembering.
“I used her well because of you.”
“……”
“Don’t worry. I sent her to hell before you.”
At Declen’s words, Xabier’s pupils shook slightly. He bit his lower lip hard and let out a hollow laugh.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I can settle my remaining debts in hell.”
“I’ll be waiting there too, brother.”
After Xabier finished speaking, Declen raised his sword.
It was the sword used by Emperor William Barlum in the war against the Kingdom of Lienna.
The moment the sword pierced Xabier’s chest felt like an eternity in a single instant.
40th year of Emperor William Barlum’s reign. And 38 years since the war with the Kingdom of Lienna.
Declen, the eldest son of William Barlum, started a rebellion and killed his father and his only half-brother, then declared the birth of the Lienna Empire.
The Etharinta Empire, once called the Empire of Dragons, came to its meaningless end.
“Annabella, from now on this will be your place.”
“Yes.”
At my calm answer, my mother looked a little sad.
I didn’t understand why she was looking at me like that when she was the one who decided this from the beginning.
I wanted to tease her about her swollen chin, which looked like a walnut because she was holding back tears, but I clenched my fists and held it in.
“It’s okay. You can do it. You can do it.”
I didn’t answer that.
After she grabbed my shoulder and seemed to strengthen her resolve for some unknown reason, my mother put a pocket watch into my pocket.
“I’m sorry. I’m… really sorry.”
If this was really our last moment, I wished she would just smile.
After rubbing her face roughly a few times, my mother stood up.
“Go inside.”
I bit my lip hard and turned around.
We said we would be happy together. She said she only needed me…….
If I let even a little gap open, resentment toward my mother would spill out, so I had no choice but to bite my lip painfully hard.
“Annabella!”
Why are you calling me?
Don’t call me. I’ll get weak.
I want to run and grab her left leg and cry, begging her not to leave me.
“Annabella!”
No, why do you keep calling me…!
But has my mother’s voice always been this sharp and unpleasant?
“Wake up!”
When I opened my heavy eyes, what I saw was not my mother, but Susan staring at me.
“Tch.”
I carefully got up.
“Are you going to keep lying there? Did you forget today is curtain replacement day?”
Her sharp voice made me frown. I stretched my stiff arms.
The boundary between winter and spring. The palace servants had to welcome spring earlier than anywhere else on the continent. Today was the start of that—curtain replacement day.
The window above my bed had cracks, letting cold air seep in.
It was only a small crack, but for someone like me who felt cold easily, it was unbearable.
I had asked the head servant to replace the window, but the answer was refusal. The budget for apprentice maids had already been used up.
Her eyes were colder than the wind from the broken window, so I couldn’t say anything more.
Yes, spring would come soon, and the cold wind would stop.
“Hurry up and get up!”
“Breakfast……”
“Do you think it’s time to talk about breakfast? You already overslept enough.”
If you were going to wake me up, you should have done it at breakfast time.
But oversleeping was clearly my fault.
I silently got up and changed clothes.
“Ugh, this is so heavy…”
I groaned while lifting the laundry basket.
Inside it were curtains soaked with water and extremely heavy.
Even though I was just an apprentice and not even a proper maid yet, I had to do all sorts of chores. It felt extremely unfair for an eight-year-old child.
“Please, Anna?”
My name is Annabella.
I have no family name, only Annabella. People hearing it for the first time sometimes think, “Anna Bella? Is Bella a last name?” That can happen.
Yes, for people hearing it for the first time.
Susan in front of me knew my name but always called me Anna. Even though earlier she called me Annabella when waking me up.
Honestly, it annoyed me a little, but she wasn’t important enough for me to care about how she called my name. Maybe she thought it was a nickname… though that might be even more annoying.
“Is it okay?”
“Do you think it’s okay?”
“What?”
“I mean, is it okay? You’re just dumping it on me because you don’t want to do it either, right, Susan unnie?”
“You little—!”
I wanted to ask what kind of person dumps work onto someone “little” like me.
But I couldn’t waste energy on that when I already had too much work to do.
Susan stepped toward me, not knowing or caring how I felt.
She wasn’t very tall either, but I was much younger than her.
And since I was smaller than kids my age too, she felt very intimidating.
Susan, a maid in the laundry room, had disliked me for some time.
I didn’t really want to think about why.
Maybe there was no real reason.
So I was trying to make reasons for it myself.
“Hey! What are you two doing!”
Just as Susan was about to hit my head, the head maid who was passing by ran over and stood between us.
From her eyes, I could read: You again?
It’s unfair. So unfair.
“Hurry up and get back to work! Anna, if you make noise again, you’ll skip dinner tonight!”
Using food to threaten someone like that is clearly child abuse.
But I wasn’t a protected eight-year-old child in this palace.
I was an apprentice maid—also called a labor worker.
So I could only carry the laundry basket while struggling.
Behind me, I saw Susan sticking her tongue out. Did she really want to act like that? I shook my head and stuck my tongue out too.
“Did she come in at age six?”
