Chapter 54
After that, the Empress told me stories about the Duchess—things no one else had ever told me.
She was one of the few who fully accepted me as a true young lady.
“Thank you for coming to see me today.”
“I’ll come again next time.”
Please give me a next time. Until then, with a healthy body…
As if she sensed my heart, the Empress reassured me that she would.
Leaving with Luca, the Empress’s palace was as quiet as ever.
She was a person far from noise.
But… had she always been someone who would fade away so quietly?
I decided to look for a way.
If I just give up because it’s an incurable disease, then that’s the same as surrendering.
It wasn’t so different from my own situation, and that made me all the more unwilling to let go so easily.
“Luca, was Her Majesty’s illness called ‘Bruelli’?”
Luca nodded at my words.
A disease where the nerves gradually stiffen, making it harder and harder to eat, until eventually even the heart hardens.
Healing magic didn’t work on it—that was the problem.
That’s where I decided to start.
On the carriage ride back to the Duke’s mansion from the Imperial Palace, I fiddled with the ring I had taken from Count Liebicht’s body.
“I need to find that man first.”
The Empire’s greatest information broker—Truagen.
In this world, information was money.
Through their networks, the rich all over the world cried out in joy or despair.
In the way they would do anything for profit, they resembled Kablos.
“But murder is forbidden, and no kidnappings, no extortion or blackmail.”
Upholding justice was the man’s creed.
Even so, I couldn’t quite understand why someone like him would lie to Senia, even if it was to get the ring back.
I pushed aside my doubts for now and focused on planning how to approach him.
I would put the plan into action at first light.
Clip-clop, clip-clop.
Only the pounding of hooves striking the ground broke the stillness inside the carriage.
When I arrived back at the Duke’s mansion, I went to find Father first.
I remembered that night I had come home late—how he had stood waiting endlessly by the window—and since then I made sure to show my face regularly.
Knock, knock.
At my knock, he opened the door.
His handsome face, worn with fatigue, and the mountain of papers behind him caught my eye.
But when he saw it was me, a warm smile spread across his lips.
“Did you return safely from the palace?”
“Yes. I came home safely, Father.”
I answered with a smile.
Though, saying safely made me feel a little guilty. Nothing good would come of mentioning the First Prince, though.
“You’ve got dark circles under your eyes. Did you not sleep again last night?”
When I asked with concern, he gave a sheepish smile.
“I’m used to it by now. I take breaks in between, so it’s not so bad as to worry over.”
Which basically meant he hadn’t slept again.
Insomnia had always been Father’s chronic illness.
After the Duchess passed away, and on top of that, his youngest daughter was kidnapped—he had been under immense stress, unable to sleep at night.
That’s really painful…
I knew well, because that had been me in my previous life.
Wanting to sleep, but unable to.
That unease of lying awake, alone, while the whole world rested peacefully.
Though now, perhaps because my body had changed, I could sleep well…
I looked at him with pity, worried he might collapse at any moment.
Darkness spread across the sky, and night fully descended on the Duke’s mansion.
I quietly opened the door and slipped out of my room.
Sister Serin had tucked me in and told me to sleep well, but there was a reason I was now tiptoeing down the stairs.
Heading toward Father’s office on the second floor, I spoke in a voice barely louder than a knock, directed past the door.
“Father—are you still awake?”
But there was no response from inside.
Maybe my voice had been too faint, like a whisper of an ant. I was about to call again when—
Bang—
“Ria? Why are you still awake at this hour?”
As expected, the handsome man buried in late-night work looked at me in surprise.
I grinned brightly and said:
“I couldn’t sleep either.”
I came to put you to bed, Father.
