Episode 80: The Crumbling Past

Lara gazed into the empty air with eyes that seemed as if they wanted to sob all day. What was she thinking? How did she get through the day? Months passed like that after the child’s death.

Alec felt as if his insides were twisting. Was this what it felt like for one’s organs to rot away? They said that wounds faded with time. But the wound of losing a child never faded. Especially if that child was murdered…

For a while, Alec relentlessly pursued revenge. From midwives to physicians—he hunted them all. One of his greatest skills was retribution. He had vowed to find the culprit and unleash a bloodbath.

If doing so could console Klaus and mend his relationship with Lara, he would gladly go on a killing spree.

A week had passed. It had been a week since they buried Klaus in the imperial tomb. The palace was drenched in blood. The emperor’s direct inspection bureau rounded up servants without rest.

The clues were not difficult to find. Alec’s instincts always shone most sharply in the worst situations. Without even needing to see the blood, he already knew who had killed the child. He knew who had been ordered to threaten Lara.

There were countless people who stood to gain if the child died, but none benefited as clearly as the Opprezé family. Within a week of Klaus’s death, the culprit was caught—a head maid sent by the Opprezé Marquis’s wife. The woman had laced Lara’s tea with poison daily and had conspired with a so-called witch in the back alleys of the palace, cursing Lara with voodoo dolls.

“Your Majesty! Please, have mercy! Spare me, Your Majesty!”

The woman shrieked as she was dragged to the execution grounds. Fear drenched her voice, and she even wet herself, yet she refused to betray the Opprezé family. Even as her fingernails were torn out and her feet crushed to the bone, she insisted that the marquis’s family had no involvement.

What was she so afraid of? What could be more terrifying than an imperial family that had lost its heir? Yet, until her dying breath, she denied any connection.

The evidence gathered within a week all pointed in different directions, but the suspicion was clear.

The Opprezé Marquis had Klaus killed to install his daughter as empress. They even found cursed dolls and other witchcraft-related items in the marquise’s chambers. But the maid claimed that she had acted alone, out of hatred for a common-born empress.

She insisted that neither the marquis’s wife nor the rest of the family were involved and that, in fact, they were victims of her actions. Alec did not believe it. No one in the execution grounds did.

No one would kill an imperial heir and endanger the empress over mere personal resentment.

But the maid died with those words as her final statement. And with that, it became politically impossible to officially punish the Opprezé Marquis.

Too many nobles supported Opprezé. Even before Alec returned to Travis, the Opprezé Marquis was the most powerful of the grand nobles. He had wielded such influence that even Rubero, whom Alec had executed, had struggled to defy him. Removing him without concrete proof was impossible.

Politics was ultimately a battle of justification and personnel. If Offrezé were eliminated without someone to fill the vacuum, that void would become a weakness, a threat to the empire’s stability.

Alec decided to bury the matter. He admitted his defeat. He had lost the war against the Opprezé Marquis.

“Rose.”

He knelt beside his wife. She lay still, eyes closed. Her face was pale, fragile like cotton. Alec clutched the ends of her wavy, sand-colored hair and pressed his lips to them.

“I’m sorry.”

Curled up beside the woman who would not open her eyes, Alec swallowed his self-loathing. He wanted to die.

When he realized he could do nothing.
When he knew he had to stop.
When he lost his child, surrounded by those who threatened his wife, yet was powerless.

He wanted to die. How could he be so useless? So pathetic?

He groaned beside the woman pretending to sleep. He could not even beg her to open her eyes and look at him. He would not be able to bear seeing her pain.

“Just scream and cry instead.”

That would be better. If she broke down and clung to him, he might at least feel alive.

If she struck his cheek, pounded his chest—he might be able to breathe again.

But Rose said nothing.

On the day they lost Klaus, she had only wept softly. She had swallowed her grief with dry, painful gulps, and it drove Alec mad.

“Rose, please…”

“I’m okay, dear.”

Lara opened her eyes, having only pretended to be asleep. Alec stared at her with wet, vacant eyes.

“You’re suffering more than I am.”

She reached down instinctively to touch her stomach. Alec clenched his jaw, trying not to tremble. He refused to break down in front of her.

“I will have my revenge. I will never forget. I will devote my life—”

“Did you eat dinner?”

Lara stroked his cheek. Her lukewarm hand brushed the corner of his eye.

He was about to swear he would kill them all.
That even if not now, he would one day tear apart the ones who had ruined them.

“Your face looks terrible.”

“Rose…”

“I’m sorry, dear.”

“What are you saying? Why would you be sorry? I failed to protect Klaus. I failed to protect you. It’s all my fault. I—”

“That’s not true.”

Lara shook her head. Alec hated that even more. He could not bear the warmth in her face as she apologized to him.

He would rather she hate him. He wanted her to scream, to blame him. But Lara swallowed everything, not letting a single emotion slip through.

That terrified him.

“Rose.”

“You should go. You need rest.”

She withdrew her hand from his grasp. Alec looked up at her in fear. Her delicate face was even paler than before. Suddenly, afraid, he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“I will kill the Opprezé Marquis’s child in front of him. I will tear them limb from limb—”

“Stop it.”

Lara pushed him away. Her stern voice rang above his head.

“Enough, dear.”

“…Don’t abandon me.”

“I haven’t.”

“Don’t look at me like that, dear.”

Lara simply stared at him. Alec bit his lip hard.

◇

“Lady Gladys is hosting a charity gathering.”

Diane handed Lara an invitation with a bright smile. Lara took it from her.

Belzenore was one of the wealthiest noble houses in Dranberg, alongside the Heslow Marquise. Even before they entered business, they had led the local landowners as a major aristocratic family. Now, they exerted great influence as successful entrepreneurs.

In his past life, Alec had used Belzenore’s power to counter Opprezé. When Lara could do nothing to help him, Alec had relied on his two wives to shape his rule.

For a brief period, both Oprezé and Belzenore flourished as pillars of the empire. But the problem was—their golden age was far too short.

“The prince also received an invitation. Has he read it?”

“Yes.”

“If there’s no urgent matter that day, it would be good for you to attend.”

“I suppose so.”

“The newspapers will take interest, since it’s for the poor.”

Diane smirked. A strange, chilling smile. Lara tried not to savor the scent of her tea. The more she dwelled on her past life, the harder it became to eat or drink anything.

She had to think of Klaus. If she allowed herself to waste away, Klaus would be in danger. Lara gently stroked her rounding belly.