Chapter 70. She Resembles That Woman
2023.11.09.
If Herdin was a retainer trusted enough to be entrusted with consulting on this matter, she would surely be swayed by my words that I wanted to clear Esmeralda's false charge.
And Blair's approach worked exactly as intended.
"But……."
Watching Agnes unable to give a firm answer—neither a refusal nor an acceptance—Blair seized the opportunity to press her point further.
"It's very late, but I still want to relieve Her Majesty the Empress of her unjust burden."
"……."
"Help me, Agnes."
At Blair's earnest request, Agnes hummed in contemplation before eventually giving in.
"……Just this once, though."
Blair's face brightened at finally hearing the answer she had hoped for. Seeing this, Agnes immediately added sternly.
"If the Madam shows even the slightest sign of struggling, or suffers any aftereffects afterward, you must unconditionally follow my instructions."
"Thank you."
Seeing Blair smile despite her warning, Agnes smiled as if admitting defeat.
"Are you that happy? This will be quite difficult for you, Madam."
"Because there are things I must do, even if they're difficult."
Agnes looked with worried eyes at Blair, who calmly spoke of the pain she would endure due to her trauma, then seemed to recall something and said.
"If you're doing this because you want to be accepted by Delmark as quickly as possible, I'd like to say there's no need for that. The people who reject you for that reason are the ones in the wrong."
At Agnes's words of concern, Blair seemed inwardly surprised, her eyes widening before she smiled gently.
"……That was true once, but not anymore."
A bitterness seeped through her smile as she answered.
"I regretted that for a very long time…… and now I don't want to regret anything anymore. That's all."
Agnes thought her eyes seemed to gaze at something impossibly far away, but hearing the faint sound of the grandfather clock, she brushed away her reverie.
"Alright. Then shall we begin? Before His Excellency returns."
* * *
Evening dusk had settled.
Behind a woman in a black robe, a woman in a deep green robe stepped down from the carriage.
Blocking their way as they tried to enter the temple were the holy knights guarding the side door.
"We apologize, but you'll have to return today. The temple is closing……."
Then the woman in the black robe took something out of her inner pocket and showed it.
It was a badge emblazoned with the imperial crest.
Only then did the holy knight look flustered as he surveyed the woman in the deep green robe.
Gorgeous platinum blonde hair, crimson eyes, and a beautiful face that seemed to have defied the passage of time.
The holy knight who recognized that face hurriedly bowed his head.
"I-I apologize. I failed to recognize you. Please, enter."
He stepped back with a gesture to his fellow knight who seemed puzzled at not recognizing Katrina.
The two women passed them and entered the temple. Without noticing another pair of eyes watching them.
The two stopped at a private chapel.
The temple had private chapels prepared for high-ranking nobles who wished to pray quietly and enjoy meditation.
The woman in the black robe remained at the chapel door, and only the woman in the deep green robe entered the chapel alone, removing her hood.
Katrina's face was revealed beneath it.
Around the time Katrina personally went around the chapel lighting candles, another person entered.
"What troubles you that you sought me out so urgently?"
Gerard approached Katrina with his usual gentle smile.
Katrina's expression, which had revealed nothing until now, crumbled the moment he appeared. Like a beast showing its vulnerable side only to the one it trusts most.
"……Your Holiness."
"Yes, Your Majesty. Speak whatever you wish. I will help you as much as I can."
Katrina bit her trembling lips firmly before speaking, as if spewing out the pain she had held back.
"Blair is…… searching for the memories of that day."
"……."
"What should I do?"
In her crimson eyes as she asked, various emotions—anger, betrayal, fear—were mixed together.
Gerard, as if understanding her without further explanation, smiled, approached, and took her trembling hand, soothing her.
"Her Highness the Princess is your daughter, Your Majesty. What is there to worry about? She is not one to go against the laws of heaven."
"No, you say that because you don't know that child. That child is perfectly capable of dragging me into the mire. I know her well."
Katrina recalled Blair's composed response to her demand to stop the hypnosis and counseling immediately.
'Don't suppress me anymore, Mother.'
Those eyes. That look in her eyes.
Just recalling it made her shudder.
"That child…… resembles that woman. More than me."
When Blair was born, Katrina was infinitely satisfied.
A pretty daughter who took after her completely.
A son who resembled his father, and below him, a daughter who resembled her. She thought it would be perfect for rounding out the family.
Moreover, since she was pretty like her, she would certainly hold her own in high society and in a political marriage.
The Emperor cherishing the daughter who resembled her also felt like an affirmation of his love for her, which pleased her.
Esmeralda doting on Blair also gave her the feeling of having what that woman could not, which delighted her.
Katrina's life was utterly perfect.
Until she realized that the growing Blair increasingly resembled Esmeralda day by day.
At first, she was anxious.
'You are my daughter, so why?'
It felt like the child born from her womb had suddenly been stolen.
So she tried to fit the child into her own mold by any means.
But even after Esmeralda died, even as Blair grew to resemble her own face more, her true nature could not be hidden.
The moment she faced Blair, who had her face but the exact same eyes as that woman—how terrifying it was.
It was as if the dead woman's ghost had come back to life.
At some point, Blair was no longer a proud trophy but a rival she had to defeat.
The sight of that child longing for even a sliver of her affection was so pitiful, so pathetic…… and so enjoyable.
But everything went wrong once Blair married into Delmark.
Following Ivan's suggestion to absorb Delmark's influence through a political marriage was a fatal mistake.
"……What happened that day must not be revealed."
Katrina muttered in a desperate voice.
If the truth of that day came to light, everything she had built over her entire life would crumble.
That absolutely could not happen.
Gerard, who had been watching Katrina trembling with anxiety with calm eyes, spoke.
"If you are truly worried, then do this."
* * *
"Have sweet dreams, Madam."
"You sleep well too."
Melly, who had helped Blair change into her nightgown and even brushed her hair, quietly left the room.
Blair stared at the door that wouldn't open again for a moment before rising from the vanity.
Though he hadn't visited the bedroom the past few days, it seemed best to retire early just in case.
Having finished preparing for bed and about to lie down under the covers, Blair noticed her hand trembling unconsciously and clasped both hands together.
It was the lingering aftermath of the hypnosis she had undergone with Agnes earlier today.
Blair sighed as she looked at her body reacting involuntarily against her will.
The hypnosis that had started with such resolve ended in failure.
Though she and Agnes struggled for a long time, the young Blair in her unconscious never emerged from the wardrobe she was trapped in.
Or perhaps she wasn't trapped—maybe she had locked herself in to thoroughly protect herself.
Still, she did catch a glimpse of something she hadn't seen in the previous hypnosis session.
In her unconscious, Blair saw a maid's uniform through the gap in the wardrobe.
The face of the maid who was said to have died there, that day.
But facts that were already known held no particular significance in uncovering the truth of the incident.
Agnes comforted the disappointed Blair, saying it was 'proof that memories were slowly returning,' but she didn't commit to scheduling the next hypnosis session.
'If you don't suffer any aftereffects tomorrow, Madam, let's think about it then.'
And so today's session ended.
Lying in bed, Blair clasped her still faintly trembling hands and prayed earnestly.
That she would be fine tomorrow morning too.
Blair's eyelids, having soothed herself for a while, eventually fluttered closed.
* * *
Upon waking, Blair slowly blinked her heavy eyelids before suddenly snapping to full alertness.
'Where…… is this?'
Not only had the place she was sleeping changed from a bed to a sofa, but this wasn't the scenery of the bedroom she had fallen asleep in at all.
Yet it felt familiar somehow. It was a scenery that even evoked a vague sense of longing. In particular, the fragrance that gently filled the room put her mind at ease.
Blair slowly sat up. Then, regardless of her will, her hand moved to rub her still-sleepy eyes. That hand was tiny.
The moment she became aware of it, a voice flowed out, equally beyond her control.
"Your Majesty the Empress?"
When she raised her head, she saw someone doing something at the foot of the bed on the floor.
"My, you're already awake, Blair?"
A longed-for voice. A longed-for face.
But Esmeralda, who had now become her trauma, was there.
The moment she saw her, Blair intuitively understood.
'……It's a dream.'
At the same time, she also realized that this wasn't simply a dream, but a memory from some point in time that had been forgotten along with the incident.