***

***

“…What?”

“Okay. If you leave this door and reach the secret passage safely, your chances of surviving will increase. However…… If you stay here, you will most likely die today.”

At that moment, Natasha felt strangely familiar with the woman’s voice. It was a familiar voice that had been forgotten from her memory, but remained in her subconscious mind.

“We don’t care if you stay here. The choice is yours.”

The woman grabbed the doorknob to get out. Natasha swallowed her dry saliva and slowly got up.

At that very moment, the woman said as she stopped Natasha by hiding the doorknob behind her back.

“I’ll ask one question.” (Asha)

“…what, what do you mean?” (Natasha)

“Cainley V Sunset.” (Asha)

An unexpected name came out of nowhere.

Natasha got goosebumps on her back, thinking that she somehow knew who the owner of that voice was.

“Hey, why is he…?” (Natasha)

“Why did he come to your mansion?” (Asha)

(*back then somehow Cain was tricked by Natasha to come to her mansion and got framed for seducing Natasha and was killed.)

gulp.

Natasha swallowed her dry saliva, trying to look into the veiled woman’s eyes.

There was a glimpse of the woman’s eyes under the translucent veil, but the color of her eyes was still unknown.

“If you don’t answer, the door won’t open. But if you answer, I’ll open the door.” (Asha)

Natasha couldn’t open her mouth easily.

In fact, even if that door opened and she ran out, she couldn’t tell if it was really a safe path.

Nothing was certain, and on the contrary, Natasha went crazy.

As if she had read her hesitation, the woman opened her mouth again.

“The baby looks just like his mother.” (Asha)

“…..!”

Natasha looked at the woman with a white startled face.

Her hands trembled with wonder.

“If you go out into the secret passage, someone will be waiting for you. If you get there safely, I’ll take you to the baby.” (Asha)

“Who are you?!” (Natasha)

Natasha was now shaking all over her body. The woman in her veil urged her once more with a calm voice.

“We’re running out of time, Natasha Roanti.” (Asha)

“…Ah, ah, no. Ha, there’s no way… It can’t be…!” (Natasha)

“Looks like she doesn’t want to say anything.” (Asha said to Tamon)

At the woman’s murmur, Tamon nodded his head and opened the door. Without hesitation, the woman followed the man out and closed the door.

Then, startled, Natasha ran to the closed door.

“Count Puglish has been gossiping about his wife!” (Natasha)

(*Count Puglish was Anna’s ex-husband)

“…”

Natasha exclaimed desperately through the crack in the door.

“And then he sold his wife’s things at an underground auction! Well, Roxon found the auction and told me. Because the owner of the auction house was tied to Roxon, and we bought Anna Puglish’s stuff first by beating the bidder!” (Natasha)

“… What were the items?” (Asha)

Fortunately, the two hadn’t left yet.

Natasha pounded on the closed door and said as if pleading.

“Open it. Open the door and I’ll tell you!” (Natasha)

“Say it. If you tell me, I’ll open the door.” (Asha)

This was a bad deal for Natasha.

Natasha continued, almost crying.

“Negligees, handkerchiefs, stockings, etc. she used to wear. It wasn’t a thing or two. But even if there was one thing missing, it would not be known.”

The items presented by the Count were extremely private.

Perverted collectors were particularly obsessed with silk stockings that had been worn by the ladies, and they were even more enthusiastic because those things had Anna’s name embroidered on them.

After Natasha bought it all, she told Cain about it.

There was no one in society that didn’t know Cain and Anna had a love affair when they were young.

However, since there had been no private meeting or correspondence since then, it was buried that way.

One day, Natasha knew when she read Cain’s gaze as he was looking at Anna.

“Every time I called Cain to my mansion, I gave him one of Anna’s things. Each time I asked him for a gift or something in exchange for it. That would make it easier to spread rumors that he was seducing me…” (Natasha)

It was only Anna who got into trouble when it was said that things like her underwear went through the hands of other men.

Before Natasha could use it as an excuse to persuade him to keep a secret, Cain kept his mouth shut.

In order not to put Anna to shame, he tried to handle everything on his own.

Even when Natasha told him to kneel or get slapped in the face when he was called in, he did not rebel.

“You stupid man. A fool! Blinded by love…… !” (Natasha)

Natasha cried involuntarily and muttered nervously. There could be no such love. Such a devoted heart could not exist either. Natasha insulted Cain’s love, because all the love she had been through was foolish.

“…Why didn’t Cain tell the Empress? They could have consulted.”

Natasha nervously confessed.

“If you tell the Empress this, the stockings with Anna’s name on them contain men’s semen and will be scattered on the street.”

Rumors were faster than feet.

If Anna’s stockings soaked with men’s bodily fluids or more intimate items were placed in a dangerous place, perhaps Anna Puglish, the empress’s maid of honor, would carry a tag as the dirtiest prostitute in the world. (*Empress= Roselyn (back then ))

If the Empress’s closest friend and maid of honor had such a nickname, it was only natural that the empress’s honor would be damaged.

If the empress was going to investigate the case to help Anna, Natasha intended to frame Cain as the culprit.

Therefore, it was not difficult to falsify that Anna was cheating on her husband with Cain.

There were already Anna’s things Cain had received from Natasha as evidence.

Natasha threatened Cain like that.

Blinded by love, Cain eventually had no choice but to listen to Natasha and was framed for seducing her.

“…that’s all.”

Cain was innocent until the moment of his death, and pleaded not guilty.

He shouted to the torturer and the emperor that the rumors were fabricated by Natasha’s threat, but no one listened to him.

It was torture executed under the leadership of the emperor.

Who would believe him and reveal his innocence?

Cain had to die alone, stigmatized.Nevertheless, he was the one who protected Anna’s honor to the end.

“That’s all. Really.”

Stupid, stupid and stupid.

He really was going to take all that? To protect Anna’s honor and endure all the filthy rumors?

“So, open the door! hurry!”

Just before Natasha slammed the door with her fist, the tightly shut door opened.

Natasha rushed out the door and ran.

“Good bye.” (Asha)

She heard the veiled woman’s voice whispering in her ear.

“…to the hell I got out of.” (Asha)

Startled, Natasha looked back at the woman without realizing it.

But the woman was already walking towards her opposite side without any regrets, without looking back at her.

(*Poor Cain.)

***

“……find!”

Was she only halfway there?

Natasha reclined her body in the shadows behind the trees, estimating the distance of the west tower in the distance.

‘Are these people looking for the national flower?’

She had seen people busily passing by.

It was fortunate that she had changed into maid’s clothes.

She hid her blonde hair in a hairnet and covered the top of her head with a hood.

Natasha looked hesitantly at her belly, which she faked to make it bulge out.

Fortunately, she was able to roughly cover her stomach with an apron, but the annoying feeling didn’t go away.

However, it was difficult to take it out.

Even if it was inconvenient, in case of an unexpected situation, she still couldn’t take out what was attached to her stomach.

Natasha bit her lip, noticing the dagger she had carried beside her stomach.

It was something she could have done because her room, where she was confined, was not far from the emperor’s bedroom.

Perhaps the two people (Asha and Tamon) had knocked out all the emperor’s guards; the palace was empty.

Natasha escaped and sneaked into Gillotti’s bedroom. So she took the dagger that Gillotti had secretly hidden.

At first she tried to take what she could, but she stopped because it was certain that she would be pursued if she traded the Emperor’s goods in the market.

She then found Gillotti’s safe. Of course, she also knew how to open the safe.

Ironically, there was only one dagger in the bedroom safe.

But she couldn’t just laugh at that. Wasn’t this flimsy looking dagger a holy relic?

She hesitated and ran out of the bedroom with the dagger.

At that moment she ran into a maid by chance. After slamming her head down, and locking the unconscious maid in the room, Natasha took her clothes.

There was a glimpse of blood on the maid’s head, but Natasha couldn’t help it.

The maid wouldn’t die, but she (Natasha) would surely die if she hesitated.

She hurriedly changed her clothes and escaped the annex.

It took a little bit of delay, but she ran and ran only to a place with few people, and finally reached the place where she could see the west tower.

“Ha ha, ha. Ugh.”

Her heart was beating like it was going to explode because she was so nervous.

Natasha hid herself in a corner of the bush, avoiding the eyes of people appearing here and there.

No matter how disguised she was, there was nothing good about seeing her face.

In particular, her bulging tummy must have made it clear who she was at once.

‘It’s strange.’

It didn’t seem like people were looking for flowers.

Moreover, it was different from the usual route when they hunt for the national flower.

They used to wander around the gardens of the Imperial Palace, fields in the Bern capital, forests near the gates, or greenhouses, but now people running around were checking the doors as if looking for ‘people’.

Natasha swallowed dry saliva and bit her lip.

Every time people’s shadows popped up from here and there, her heart shrank with a sense of crisis.

First of all, it seemed like she had to cover her stomach by pretending to be carrying the laundry.

She went into any room and tore the curtains down.

And pretending to be holding it, she entered the back street where the attendants used.

Ws it because she was in a hurry?

As soon as she turned a corner, she bumped into someone.

“What.”

Goosebumps rose on Natasha’s arms at the sound of scratching metal over her head.

It was the emperor.

(*she’s done for.)

****

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