Chapter 1
‘Now I understand why I was feeling sick since the morning.’
Reyna pressed a hand to her forehead. By noon, the fever had taken hold in earnest, and her forehead burned as if it were aflame. Though her only wish was to lay on the sofa right then and there, she held herself back.
‘He will be back soon.’ Just as Reyna had predicted, the person she had been waiting for returned to the sitting room shortly after.
It was Lucius Ingersoll, head of the Ingersoll Grand Duchy. He was scouring the empire in search of his missing younger brother. Tragically, his little brother had been diagnosed as terminally ill and was in frail health. Reyna was assisting him in his unfortunate situation.
Of course, her involvement with Lucius—with whom she had no connection whatsoever—wasn’t born solely of sympathy for his circumstances.
“How did it go?”
At Reyna’s question, Lucius shook his head—it was another fruitless day without finding his brother. Perhaps he had anticipated as much, for he approached Reyna with a calm expression.
“You look tired,” he remarked, studying her complexion with concern. “Honestly, I didn’t expect you to come all the way here with me.”
The two were now in a remote rural area, at an orphanage in the easternmost corner of the empire. The journey had been rough, yet Reyna didn’t hesitate for a moment to follow Lucius. She was just as desperate as he was, albeit for reasons that were a bit… well, a lot different.
“I’m fine. Let’s head back now.”
Reyna smiled faintly as she turned away. But the next moment, a sudden wave of dizziness struck, causing her to sway unsteadily. She reached out instinctively to steady herself against a table, but Lucius was quicker. He caught her arm and supported her before she could fall.
“Ah, thank y—” Reyna trailed off, her eyes widening in surprise. She had somehow ended up leaning into Lucius’s chest.
Startled, she tried to pull away, but he didn’t let go.
“You’re clearly unwell. I can feel the heat through your clothes,” he remarked, his voice tinged with quiet concern.
Without waiting for her response, Lucius guided her to the sofa. Reyna let him guide her, sinking into the cushions, while Lucius instructed one of the orphanage staff to bring her a glass of water.
As they waited, Reyna rested her elbow on the armrest and pressed her hand against her forehead. She had a weary expression. Reyna felt a throbbing headache coming on.
Lucius, watching her silently, moved to the window.
His gaze rested on the garden, but nothing in his expression suggested he was admiring the view. Instead, his eyes seemed shadowed by an internal storm of emotions. He was clearly suppressing something that was about to explode at any moment.
Soon, a staff member appeared, carrying a glass of water.
“I’ve brought the water.”
“Thank you.” As Reyna reached out to take the glass, her hand slipped.
Crash-! The glass fell, shattering loudly at her feet.
In that instant, Lucius’s patience shattered along with it.
“Don’t touch it.” His firm voice stopped Reyna’s hand mid-reach toward the broken shards.
Perhaps it was the fever clouding her mind, but she had almost made the foolish mistake of grabbing the glass with her bare hands.
The startled staff member hurriedly offered to clean up and left to fetch cleaning supplies.
Lucius pushed the shards aside with his shoe and knelt in front of Reyna. A thin cut on the top of her foot, beneath the hem of her dress, caught his eye, making Lucius furrow his brow deeply.
“Let me examine the wound for a moment.”
Before Reyna could refuse, Lucius slipped off her shoe. He gently inspected her exposed, pale foot.
In the heavy silence that followed, Reyna felt overwhelmed by a mix of discomfort and embarrassment.
“Why…”
Still holding her ankle, Lucius finally broke the silence.
“Why are you going to such lengths?”
“Pardon?”
“You’re clearly in no condition to even hold a glass of water properly. So why insist on following me?”
“Why, of course, I just wanted to help you, even if only a little—”
“That’s exactly what I don’t understand.” Interrupting her, Lucius raised his head to meet her gaze.
Reyna flinched instinctively, her shoulders trembling. His golden eyes blazed fiercely. They were as breathtaking as precious gems yet carried an indescribable, chilling intensity.
“Reyna. Tell me.”
The grip of his hand on her ankle tightened gradually.
“Why are you lying to me and hiding my brother Calix?”
“….”
“Why are you pretending to help me while deceiving me?”
Reyna’s lips parted slightly, but no words came out. Her heart pounded violently, pumping blood so fiercely it felt deafening, yet her face was drained of all color.
‘Please.’ Only one thought dominated her mind.
‘Just please faint already. Please!’
Lucius’s relentless questioning terrified her to the core. All she wanted was to escape this moment by losing consciousness entirely.
Perhaps it was divine intervention, or maybe her fever-stricken body had finally reached its limit; Reyna’s vision darkened, and her body collapsed forward.
“Reyna!”
Lucius cried out her name, catching her in his arms with urgency. As her consciousness faded, Reyna thought dimly to herself:
‘Poor Calix. I tried my best, but in the end, it seems both you and I are doomed to die like this.’
Fleeting images of her past flashed before her shut eyes.
Time backtracked, taking her back to the day she first met Calix.
⋆｡°✩ ★ ✩°｡⋆
“Reyna! My darling little sister!”
A man with tanned skin and a robust body wrapped Reyna in a tight embrace.
He was her only older brother, Jonathan Krollot. Jonathan, a cadet at the Naval Academy, had returned home for a brief vacation. However, the only one waiting for him at the estate was Reyna. The Krollot count and countess, unaware that Jonathan would arrive earlier than scheduled, had left to visit relatives.
Reyna, the sole family member left behind, didn’t greet him with much enthusiasm. She simply stood stiffly in his embrace, awkwardly letting herself be hugged. But Jonathan didn’t mind at all.
“You must be so overwhelmed with joy that you’re in shock.”
He was utterly convinced that his sister adored him, even if she didn’t express it outwardly.
“Do you remember the day I left for the academy? I still get heartbroken whenever I think about it.”
Jonathan released Reyna from his embrace and looked at her with affectionate eyes.
“You were so upset that you became temporarily mute.”
‘No. I was too busy figuring out which book I’d been transmigrated into, so I decided to take a vow of silence.’ Reyna silently answered in her mind.
‘The day Jonathan left was the day I possessed this body.’
Her decision to remain silent until she had fully assessed the situation had been wise. Her new family was a little… peculiar, and adapting to them had required some time.
Reyna glanced subtly past Jonathan, directing her gaze behind him. It wasn’t her brother that held her interest, but the figure standing in his shadow. Jonathan, catching her sidelong glance, grinned broadly.
“You noticed, didn’t you?”
He stepped aside, gesturing toward the person behind him.
“To keep you from falling into despair again once I return to the academy, I’ve brought you a gift.”
Jonathan’s so-called “gift” was none other than a young boy. He was around ten years old.
The frail child looked pale, his small frame so scrawny it seemed he might break at any moment. His cheeks, far from the plumpness of youth, were gaunt and sallow. Dark circles shadowed his sunken eyes, and his ruby irises, fixed firmly on the floor, carried a gloom so deep it could weigh down anyone who looked at him.
‘He calls it a “gift” and brings me a person?’
And such a sickly, fragile child, at that.
Reyna was appalled, but she masked her shock and asked calmly.
“So, you’re saying you kidnapped this child for me?”
Reyna maintained a deliberately neutral expression. As mentioned earlier, the Krollot family had their peculiarities.
The count and countess, who ruled over the Krollot estate, were renowned among the nobility for their generous and magnanimous nature. Their son and daughter had inherited the couple’s striking appearance and exuded refinement in every gesture. From the outside, they seemed to be an ordinary, harmonious family.
The problem, however, was…
“Uh-huh. Look, look. Doesn’t he remind you of that stray kitten you were so fond of when you were little?”
…That their sense of morality was, to put it mildly, deeply flawed.
