Chapter 102. The Afternoon Scenery Without Him
2023.12.11.
“Ivan.”
Stepping out of his room to attend the State Council, Ivan ran straight into Katrina, who had come looking for him. At the same time, a sigh leaked from between Ivan's lips.
It was his first time properly facing Katrina since yesterday's trial.
It was the reason he had been avoiding Katrina, who wanted to talk, by claiming that state affairs were busy and he would visit the Grand Empress Dowager's Palace as soon as they were resolved.
The truth wasn't that he was busy, but rather that he felt uncomfortable facing his mother, who would likely cling to him pitifully weeping over the issues related to yesterday's trial.
However, since Katrina had gone as far as coming to see him in person, he could no longer avoid her.
Ivan quickly composed his expression and responded to her, playing his usual role of the affectionate son.
“What brings you here so early in the morning, Mother? I was planning to visit you as soon as today's meeting ended anyway.”
“……Just spare me a moment. It won't take long. Just a brief moment, really.”
Just as Ivan had expected, Katrina didn't seem like she would back down until they talked.
He could pass her by using state affairs as an excuse, but he didn't want to damage his image as a filial son.
Ivan gave a brief signal to his aide standing beside him to wait, then entered the reception room with Katrina.
Katrina immediately got to the point.
“Ivan, yesterday's trial was a frame-up. I didn't kill that woman.”
Ivan let out a sigh with a weary expression at the expected words.
“Then how do you explain the evidence Duke Delmark brought?”
“He must have fabricated it to pin it on me. Anyway, it wasn't me. I never intended to kill that woman—”
“If Duke Delmark had intended to fabricate false evidence to request a retrial, he would have done so much earlier. But you're saying he created fake evidence and brought it now? Doesn't that make no sense?”
At Ivan's irrefutable words, Katrina clamped her mouth shut. She looked as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
Ivan absolutely despised that expression of hers, which made him feel as if he were an unfilial son.
Swallowing a sigh, he forced his voice to soften and asked.
“If not you, Mother, then who on earth killed Her Late Majesty the Empress?”
“That is……”
“If you are truly unrelated to the incident, Mother, why did you frame the Late Empress as the culprit who attempted to assassinate Blair?”
“Because everyone would suspect me first!”
Katrina shouted convulsively, as if she had been wronged.
That day, Esmeralda had hanged herself right there.
Whether she was murdered or committed suicide, the scene of the incident was destroyed by fire, making it impossible to know the truth.
In that situation, who would be suspected first?
It was highly likely they would suspect Katrina, who coveted the Empress's position and was in political opposition to Esmeralda.
‘That woman couldn't even die gracefully, and now she's tormenting me.’
So Katrina struck first. The dead wouldn't be able to refute the false accusation.
“You're thinking the same thing right now, aren't you.”
Katrina's eyes, looking at Ivan as she asked, contorted in pain.
“It was all for you in the end, Ivan. If I died so unjustly, I was worried about how you, a motherless child, would survive in this harsh imperial palace.”
“……”
“I chose the method that would save both you and me.”
Ivan wiped his face with a dry hand as he looked at Katrina rationalizing her choice.
He was sick and tired of her words justifying everything as being for his sake.
He didn't know what the truth was, but in the end, hadn't Katrina's choice resulted in bringing down the authority of the imperial family?
Ivan, looking at Katrina with cold eyes, opened his mouth.
“……I will consider Countess Magrid the true culprit of the incident and punish her. Claiming she acted alone out of loyalty to you would be a plausible enough motive.”
At Ivan's decision, Katrina's eyes shook aimlessly.
“She has nothing to do with this incident!”
“Please, Mother!”
Ivan cut off Katrina's words in annoyance.
“Who would believe that? At this point.”
“If you don't accept Duke Delmark's claim……”
“No. What's important isn't the truth, but what people think.”
“……”
“Since clear evidence has emerged, I had no choice but to overturn the trial's verdict, and now there is only one thing left for me to do.”
“……”
“Protect the face and authority of the imperial family.”
“……”
“This is the method I have chosen to save you and myself.”
As Katrina stood there blankly moving her lips at her son's cold reaction, the sound of a knock came along with the voice of the aide.
“Your Majesty. I apologize, but it is time for you to go to the meeting.”
Ivan looked at Katrina, who was blankly shedding tears, let out a sigh, and left the reception room.
As the door closed, Katrina collapsed right where she stood. A sound that was half laughter, half weeping leaked from between her lips.
Countess Magrid was her right-hand woman.
If she was punished, the incident would come to a close, but that was merely a way to smooth over the current situation. People would take it as a given fact that Katrina was the true culprit who killed Esmeralda.
Ivan couldn't have made this choice without knowing that would happen.
In other words, Ivan had cut her off.
To remain as a wise emperor who fairly punishes even his sinful mother.
To protect his own prestige.
‘Should I…… not have listened to those words back then?’
As she let out a hollow laugh, the advice she had heard from Gerard right after the incident ten years ago crossed Katrina's mind.
‘Even if it was an accident, people will naturally suspect Her Highness the Imperial Consort. Because she is someone with a motive to do so.’
‘Then what should I……’
‘That is why Your Highness must manipulate the incident first. Fortunately, Her Highness the Princess is also a victim of the incident, and thankfully she has lost her memories of that time, so Your Highness the Imperial Consort's claims will gain credibility.’
‘But……’
‘They are dead anyway. The living must survive, mustn't they?’
If she had ignored his advice back then and tried to reveal the truth of the incident, would things be different from now?
Such a thought suddenly crossed her mind, but it was a regret that came too late.
* * *
Late in the afternoon, as the sunlight began to grow richer, Blair, who had been asleep, opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was not the canopy bed of the ducal house, but the ceiling of an old, shabby dwelling.
Only then did she fully wake up, and the memories from before she fell asleep came back.
‘In your current condition, you can't ride a horse, and if we take a carriage, the knights tracking us will catch up in no time. Actually, it's just a matter of time, so it wouldn't be any different even if you rode a horse.’
‘……I suppose so.’
‘So we will use that point to our advantage.’
‘How?’
‘Right now, all the roads out of the capital are blocked, but it will take two days at most before they assume we've escaped the capital and expand their search beyond it. And the Delmark knights currently stationed in the capital are limited.’
‘If the search range expands like that…… a gap will appear.’
‘Yes. We will escape the capital through that gap.’
For that plan, they needed a place to hide in the meantime.
After finalizing the plan, Mikhail brought Blair to a private house located a little away from the center of the capital.
It was the house where an old woman, who had coincidentally received Mikhail's help before, lived alone.
It was a hideout chosen based on the judgment that no one would suspect the escaped Blair to be staying right in the center of the capital.
Mikhail told her to rest comfortably before they left the capital, as it would be a long journey, and Blair, who hadn't been able to sleep properly all night, fell asleep as soon as she lay on the bed.
She woke up, and it was now this time.
Blair blankly stared at the languid afternoon sunlight streaming in through the window beside the bed.
‘It's peaceful……’
An old, shabby room, a worn bed that creaked slightly with every movement, and a cozy blanket patched together from leftover fabric, carrying the scent of the sun.
It wasn't a particularly good environment, but it felt cozier than when she stayed at the ducal mansion.
It was the first time since her pregnancy that she lay in bed so leisurely with peace of mind. At the ducal mansion, she had been constantly anxious about when Herdin might suddenly return.
When there was nothing else going on, he would always stay by her side, obsessing over her and the child in her womb; it was frightening and suffocating.
But what scared her even more than that……
Was her own self, gradually growing accustomed to his embrace and warmth, even while feeling such emotions.
But he was not here.
The fact that there was no longer any warmth embracing her felt strangely empty, but it was equally relieving. Her heart only found peace after escaping him.
As Blair was blankly staring at the languid scenery and trying to drift back to sleep……
‘……It smells delicious.’
A mouthwatering scent of food wafted up from the floor below. Then, as if the appetite she had forgotten had returned, her stomach growled.
Blair left the room and went down to the first floor. Meal preparation was in full swing on the first floor.
Mikhail, who was helping the old woman carry the food, spotted Blair coming down and greeted her with a smile.
“Did you sleep well?”
“……Yes. If I had known you were preparing a meal, I would have come down earlier to help.”
The old woman only knew Mikhail as a polite young man who had helped her in the past, unaware of their relationship. They had decided to hide it just in case Delmark interrogated her.
For that reason, Blair was using respectful language with Mikhail.
At that moment, the old woman, who came out carrying food and heard their conversation, waved her hands dismissively.
“What preparation from the baby's mother! The baby's daddy can just do the mother's share too. The mommy just needs to eat well.”
The old woman said that and looked at Mikhail. It seemed she had misunderstood him as the baby's father.
The two were flustered by the unexpected misunderstanding, unable to confirm nor deny it, when…
Knock, knock.
Suddenly, the sound of someone knocking on the front door rang out.