PLTSVA 31

Led by my hand, the royal siblings finally arrived at the Empress’s palace.

Truthfully, I didn’t know exactly where it was—but along the way, Rachel had quietly whispered directions to me bit by bit. It seemed she, too, recognized that now was the moment.

The attendants of the Empress’s palace gasped in shock at the sight of the three of us.

After all, the very subjects of the latest palace rumors had appeared at their doorstep unannounced.

The Crown Prince returned alive after two years, the supposedly fake Lady Laies who’d appeared out of nowhere, and the recently returned Princess who had made a grand entrance just today.

Quite the combination.

“We’re here to see Her Majesty the Empress. Announce us.”

It wasn’t exactly polite to visit without prior notice, but the two people I held by the hand were her biological children.

No one in the Imperial Palace would dare make an enemy of Zeria, not even for an unscheduled visit. And it’s not like she wouldn’t have time to spare.

One of the attendants dashed inside, presumably to ask for permission.

Soon, we were allowed in and led through the Empress’s palace.

To be honest…

‘It’s refined, yes, but…’

It lacked grandeur. While the palace retained some old-fashioned elegance, it was clear that many parts were poorly maintained. Even the staff numbers were shockingly low.

I was surprised that so few people were attending to the ailing Empress.

Luca and Rachel’s faces grew solemn as they glanced around the palace.

Before long, we arrived at the Empress’s chambers, and the door opened.

Inside was a woman lying on a bed—stunningly beautiful, yet so terribly withered.

She looked like a wax doll preserved for centuries. It made me want to reach out and check if she was truly breathing.

Her long, silky, honey-colored hair gleamed in the sunlight pouring through the window, but even that shimmer lacked vitality, like doll’s hair.

Our eyes met—her brilliant golden gaze locked on mine for just a moment—and I instinctively sucked in a breath. She was breathtaking.

No wonder she was the mother of those national-treasure-level beauties.

“Who…?”

A soft, clear voice flowed from her lips, snapping me out of my daze. I looked to either side, realizing I was the only one who had stepped inside.

Rachel and Luca were still standing outside, hesitating at the threshold.

I offered them a faint smile.

‘Wait there.’

They seemed to catch my lip movement and obediently remained behind the door.

I took a step forward and bowed respectfully to the Empress of the Great Grepin Empire.

“May the glorious light of the Great Grepin Empire shine eternally. I greet Your Majesty, the full moon that lights the Empire’s night.”

The Empress, with the help of her attendant, slowly pushed herself upright and leaned against a cushion.

“It’s been a while since I’ve heard such a grand greeting.”

“I am Raveria Genne Laies, daughter of Duke Laies.”

Her eyes widened.

“Raveria… Genne Laies?”

She paused for a moment as if rummaging through her memories, then seemed to recall.

“The precious daughter of House Laies who went missing at the age of three, yes?”

The Empress wasn’t particularly well-informed or rumor-savvy. Having been confined to the capital all this time, she had no one to bring her news from the outside world.

And yet she knew my name—that showed just how desperately Duke Laies must have searched for me in the past.

I nodded.

“I came to see Your Majesty today because I wanted to speak about some dear friends of mine.”

She gave a soft chuckle, as if genuinely intrigued by a rare, interesting conversation partner.

“And what kind of friends would those be?”

She looked as gentle and serene as the one-time “baroness of saintly beauty” she was known as.

Encouraged by her demeanor, I continued.

“One is Agenluca Blake de Grepin. The other is Rachel Theos de Grepin, Your Majesty.”

At their names, the Empress froze. She quickly turned her body toward me and asked in a trembling voice,

“You’ve… seen them? Cough, cough!”

Caught off guard, she began coughing from the strain. I stepped forward in alarm, but she raised her hand to signal that she was fine.

“They… disappeared from my side… and never returned. What could I possibly have to talk about with them?”

Tears welled in her eyes, threatening to fall at any moment.

The wax-doll-like face had started to regain life the moment her children’s names were spoken.

“Surely, Your Majesty already knows—Luca has returned to the palace. And Rachel came back today.”

At my words, a single tear slid down her pale cheek.

“They’ll never come back to me. Neither they nor I wish for that. What I’ve done… it can never be undone.”

Despite having heard of Luca and Rachel’s return, the Empress hadn’t tried to see them. Nor did she seem to hope they’d come to her.

That hopeless expression prompted me to step closer.

“I came to ask why you believe that.”

I recalled something Luca had once said to Senia in the original story.

“Even if I wanted to hate her, I couldn’t. I couldn’t make sense of it in my head, but my heart already had. If I’d ever felt true comfort in her arms, I might’ve lost that desperate edge—and if I had, we wouldn’t have survived the capital.”

Repairing a broken bond is hard.

Even blood doesn’t guarantee unconditional love.

But if both sides hold even a sliver of hope, then it’s not impossible.

The Empress seemed to reflect for a moment before gently closing her eyes and replying,

“This may take a while. Please, sit.”

I sat on the chair beside her bed.

And then I listened to her story.

It was vivid—like it had happened only yesterday. As if she had spent her days in this lonely palace dwelling only on her regrets.

She smiled fondly while recalling the children’s younger days. At times, she buried her face in her hands and cried.

To me, she still seemed like a young girl. She didn’t know how to hide her feelings, nor did she seem wary of strangers like me.

There was a purity to her that didn’t suit the Imperial Palace.

Years ago, she must have suffocated her children with fear-driven obsession and pressure.

“I kept scolding, demanding, and then apologizing the next day. I spiraled into madness.”

She looked out the window as she continued.

“Whenever they weren’t around, I felt like I was trapped in a lightless prison.”

The moment she probably regrets most was just before Luca was officially named Crown Prince.

Even though he had already done everything he could, had already surpassed all expectations—she still demanded the impossible.

Because there was only one chance.

“If I hadn’t been so weak, maybe I could have raised them like ordinary children… But still, I don’t envy Zeria.”

The magazines that endlessly speculated about the Empress’s inferiority complex had clearly exaggerated.

“I only regret that I couldn’t be a shield for them, a strong support like Zeria was for hers.”

My eyes were drawn to the medicine bottle on the side table.

Sensing my gaze, she said,

“It was during a time when I couldn’t even control my own emotions. I asked the court physician to prescribe me something.”

She believed it was a drug to suppress emotion. But the physician was Zeria’s man, and the drug was actually made from hallucinogenic herbs meant to break her spirit.

“I don’t know if it even worked. I only started feeling free of the nightmares and hallucinations after I stopped taking it.”

Seeing her like this brought a dull ache to my chest.

I carefully placed my small hand atop her dry one.

She smiled faintly when I looked up at her.

“A little girl, worried about her friends, came to find me… But I’m afraid the gap between me and those children is too wide. I want to kneel and beg for forgiveness, but I don’t deserve to.”

That smile gave me the courage to say what I’d hesitated to say.

“Your Majesty, if you truly regret it, please—just once—try meeting them and asking for their forgiveness. Regret that lingers will never fade. It stays here.”

I placed my hand over my chest.

I didn’t want her entire life, every heartbeat, to be consumed by regret.

I remembered how, in the novel, Luca had grieved after the Empress died.

Senia had comforted him with healing magic to help erase the painful memories.

Magic can be convenient. It wipes away mental pain cleanly.

But can it heal wounds carved deep into the heart?

I hoped the Empress, with her one remaining year, would make amends, say the words she couldn’t say before.

And realize that nothing in the Imperial Palace—not its rules, not its terror—was more important than her radiant children.

“You still love Rachel and Luca, don’t you?”

At some point, she had begun crying openly.

“More than anything in this world…”

I nodded and stood up.

“I must go now. There’s somewhere I need to be.”

“I see… May I ask just one thing? If they’re okay with it… ask if I might visit them first.”

I smiled.

“Of course, I’ll pass along Your Majesty’s request. But I can’t promise they’ll say yes.”

“Thank you. For listening to my long story…”

I bowed politely and stepped out.

Outside the open door, Rachel and Luca were sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall.

“As I said, the choice is entirely yours. Even if you refuse, no one has the right to criticize you.”

I crouched in front of them.

“It’s okay. This was my selfishness. Luca, if you’re not ready to forgive her, take my hand and let’s go back.”

‘Don’t you want to see your family again?’

‘I just want to talk to her properly. If I do, I think I’ll understand whether I missed her or not.’

‘You need to talk to know that?’

‘I want to try to understand. Just like I was young, maybe she was too.’

Luca hesitated as he looked at my hand, then slowly smiled and bowed his head.

“I’m sorry, Ria. I don’t think I can go with you right now.”

Rachel looked at him, startled.

Luca took my hand and stood, then pulled me into a hug and whispered faintly,

“Thank you. For giving me another chance.”

He let go and added,

“Let me walk you to where Lord Drehan is—”

“I’ll do it.”

Rachel, eyes red and close to tears, interrupted.

“I’ll take Ria back safely, so don’t worry. Go see Mother.”

Luca hesitated, but I nodded. He nodded back and walked toward the door.

Through the crack, I saw the Empress curled up, sobbing.

Luca approached her and opened his mouth.

“Mother.”

Startled, the Empress looked up at him, her face a mess.

“I’ve returned. I’m sorry for taking so long.”

Two years of not knowing whether he was alive or dead. The news of his safe return. And now, her son standing before her—something she had only dreamed of.

The Empress sprang from the bed and rushed toward him with unexpected strength.

“Thank you for coming back, Crown Prince… sniffle…”

Watching the scene, I placed a hand on Rachel’s shoulder.

“Let’s go. Luca will be just fine.”

Rachel kept glancing back in disbelief, but eventually followed me out of the palace.

We were walking back toward the Crown Prince’s residence through the garden.

Under the bright blue sky, the breeze seemed to whisper to Rachel that everything would be alright.

“The day Luca disappeared, I sobbed beside my mother. And from the next day on, I searched desperately for him.”

She had only been thirteen. I couldn’t even imagine what she’d been through.

“Whenever we got a lead—real or not—I ran there without hesitation. Maybe I didn’t have the courage to stay by my mother’s side after losing Luca.”

Just like Duke Laies, it seemed they had also endured a long and painful journey.

Rachel brushed aside her long black hair, so like Luca’s.

“We looked fragile like a collapsing sandcastle… but in truth, Mother, Luca, and I endured many storms by leaning on each other. I thought everything fell apart when Luca vanished and I left for another country…”

She glanced back at the distant spires of the Empress’s palace.

“It’s been so long since I saw that foolish brother’s face, and to witness those two reunite… It’s all thanks to you, Ria.”

I appreciated the credit, though I felt I hadn’t done anything.

If either one of them had still harbored bitterness, the reunion wouldn’t have happened at all.