Disclaimer: All characters, events, and locations mentioned in this work are fictional and have been dramatically designed by the author; therefore, they may differ from reality.
Chapter 001: Eyes of Ash
That woman’s steps were hurried, her scattered blonde hair rising and falling lightly under the rays of the sun.
Today was bright. In the gray city of “Finn,” the sky was rarely this clear.
Emilia thought: If one must bid farewell to this world, there is no day more suitable than this.
“Hello, Madam.”
She greeted the grave with a strong, confident voice.
“I have come.”
On the tombstone was written: Scarlett Blair.
Beside her was the grave of Billy Blair, but Emilia’s eyes did not leave Scarlett’s grave.
“I brought some flowers.”
She lifted a bouquet of carnations from her chest toward the grave.
“Mother’s Day is drawing near.”
Then she placed them gently before the grave.
Scarlett Blair was the woman Emilia had always wished to call “Mother.”
But she was never granted that chance.
With a touch of vibrant red, the barren cemetery seemed to pulse with life for a moment.
But Emilia’s features, which had begun with a smile, were soon clouded by sadness.
And in her blue eyes, which resembled sapphires, there was a shadow of guilt.
“Charles… won’t be coming.”
Charles was Scarlett Blair’s son—unlike Emilia, who inherited nothing from her father, Billy Blair, but blood.
As for Charles, he was the fruit of his love with Scarlett.
If Mrs. Blair were alive, she would have risen from her grave and asked:
“And why isn’t Charles coming?”
But the dead do not speak. And the cemetery on a weekday afternoon knew nothing but eternal silence.
Emilia placed her trembling hands over each other.
“I will explain everything when we meet.”
She bowed politely, then turned and left.
She had to hurry,
If she wanted to be found as a lifeless corpse in the hands of her husband.
For she had only recently realized how painful her death would be for him.
And for that, she had to take her revenge.
From Duke “David Carwayne,”
The man who destroyed everything she loved.
Moments later, she was walking alongside the “Tein” River, which cuts through the city of Finn.
The water shimmered with a white light,
And on the empty bank, nothing was heard but the fleeting chirping of birds.
But once the shot is fired, people will rush over.
Then the news will reach David…
She couldn’t imagine his features when he heard.
Would he… cry?
She hoped he would cry.
That he would shed more tears than she did when she lost Charles and the liberation comrades.
But she had never seen him cry before.
Perhaps he would show intense pain on his face, as he did when he thought she died last time.
She remembered that moment and smiled.
But her eyes filled with tears.
There was something in David’s pain that pleased her… and something that saddened her as well.
For despite her hatred for him… she loved him.
And now, it was time for rest.
She opened her bag and pulled out a small pistol engraved with the letters D.K.
It was David’s weapon.
She thought: If he knows he lost his wife by his own weapon, he will suffer an even greater torment.
It might seem cruel, but it was fair.
For he was the first to cause her harm.
She raised the pistol to her temple.
The coldness of the metal made her shiver.
As soon as I pull the trigger… everything will end.
But suddenly, a thought occurred to her like a white dove landing on her shoulders.
Wait… do those who commit suicide not enter Heaven?
She had heard this phrase by chance in her childhood while attending a mass in exchange for a piece of chocolate.
Why did she remember it now?
Because… she does not want to be deprived of entering Heaven.
For in it resides Scarlett Blair, the woman who saved her and died in her place.
And she had much to say to her when they met.
Emilia hesitated for a long time,
Then she closed her eyes tightly.
Bang!
The gunshot rang out in the blue sky.
Then it was followed by the sound of an impact in the water.
As she plummeted to the bottom of the river,
She remembered her first day with David, as if it were a cinematic scene stuck in her memory.
* * *
Emilia was exceedingly attractive in her red dress and high heels that shimmered with the color of flame,
But what caught the eye was not just her appearance.
Rather, it was the captivating beauty of her face and her breathtaking figure.
With her beauty and boldness, she was the center of attention.
But now, she was sneaking quietly through the shadows, avoiding eyes and hiding her steps.
For she had just seen a drunken man of the Beltaite people beating a small child of the red-haired Elan people.
Although she was heading in haste to a party attended by Duke Carwayne,
She could not ignore what she saw.
The man was staggering, drunk and arrogant,
So he did not feel her presence until she approached him.
And when he prepared to kick the child again,
Emilia struck him hard on the back of his head with the butt of her pistol.
He fell to the ground unconscious.
She made sure to hit him just enough to knock him out, not to kill him.
For if a Beltaite died, the Elan child would be accused immediately,
And she wouldn’t want that, even though it didn’t concern her personally, as her appearance was entirely Beltaite.
The child looked at her with frightened eyes and asked stutteringly:
“Are you… from the Beltaite?”
He said it while looking at her blonde hair,
For the Beltaites, descended from the Celia tribe, are characterized by blonde or black hair,
Unlike the Ghilanians, who are the peoples of Elan, Amila, and Freight,
Who usually enjoy red hair, and sometimes brown, but never blonde or black.
Even in the case of intermarriage between a Celia and a Ghilanian, the child always inherits the traits of the Ghilanians,
Therefore, Emilia’s blonde hair, despite her mixed origins, was a rare case unknown to the public.
“Go to a safe place,”
Emilia said firmly.
“This area is full of bad Beltaites. Do not come back here.”
The child shook his head in terror and fled running.
She followed him with sad looks as he stumbled on the road.
For ordinary Elanians, the Beltaites were a source of fear… just talking to them on the road was terrifying.
Emilia renewed her promise to restore the independence of her homeland, Elan.
Then she turned her back and headed toward Silverstein Palace, her next destination.
For on this day, she had an appointment with a central Beltaite figure in her plans.
Duke David Carwayne,
The man said to be the link between the Beltaites and the mysterious weapons company, Leckduc,
Which supplied the Beltaites with modern tanks during their invasion of Elan.
The liberation forces intended to buy tanks from the “Leckduc” company and begin the war of independence, but they had no way to contact that mysterious company, so they decided to approach the Duke.
The task assigned to Emilia was to extract information about “Leckduc” from the Duke, or to steal it.
“David Carwayne.”
Emilia repeated the name in her mind, recalling the face of the man she had long seen in newspapers and magazines—that famous face in Beltaite.
Emilia entered the courtyard of “Silverstein” Palace.
As soon as Matthew, who was waiting for her anxiously by the balcony, saw her, he rushed toward her joyfully.
“Emilia…! Why are you late?! I thought something bad had happened to you on the way, you worried me so much!”
Matthew was one of the members of the Elan liberation army, with his brown hair, and it had been decided that he would play the role of Emilia’s real brother today.
He had long ago infiltrated the Beltaite noble society, posing as a bourgeois man working in the whiskey trade.
“Something happened on the way,” Emilia said calmly.
“Something? What kind of thing?”
Matthew asked her while examining her deep red dress. When an incident occurs to a brave fighter like her, the type of incident can easily be guessed.
Emilia reassured him, saying:
“Don’t worry. I didn’t kill him, I only knocked him unconscious.”
“Really? Thank God. If you were stained with a single drop of blood, you wouldn’t have been allowed to meet the Duke today. And although we don’t know if we’ll get a chance like this again…”
For the Duke, unlike the rest of the Beltaite nobility, rarely appears at parties.
But today, he was expected to attend a party not restricted to nobles, but available to all classes.
It was an irreplaceable opportunity.
“Where is the Duke?”
“The rumor was true, he attended. He is inside. Come, let’s enter.”
Matthew led Emilia into the palace where the party was being held.
The party of “Benjamin Silverstein,” the Beltaite bourgeois, was different from the formal noble parties. It was loud, dazzling, smelling of luxury and chaos.
But that chaos itself made self-control difficult, especially for Emilia, who had never attended such occasions before.
In the midst of her preoccupation with the place, Matthew noticed her looking around with a distracted mind, so he called her:
“From this direction, Emilia.”
And he gestured with his head toward the stairs.
Emilia walked behind him, passing between the waiters carrying silver trays topped with champagne glasses, and between men and women laughing loudly and running around carelessly.
Then she heard Matthew calling her by her alias:
“Rosalia.”
And she raised her gaze… to see him.
Duke Carwayne, with his ash-colored eyes that resembled the color of the city of “Finn,” was standing before her.
