Queen in the Shadows

Chapter 4

Elena thought about the people she hated.

Grand Duke France. Riaveric. Lady Veronica.

Those three had collaborated and conspired to completely deceive Elena. And if that wasn’t enough, they’d murdered her innocent parents and had tried to kill her son, Crown Prince Ian.

She had no intention of repeating the same life she’d had back then.

An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth. She would make them suffer exactly as much as she had suffered. Elena planned to take everything from them. The more they had, the more they had to lose.

She was not going to be satisfied with just their downfall. She was going to destroy them so thoroughly that they would lose their will to live.

Elena lit a match in an empty glass cup. She then threw the note she had just removed from the wall into the fire. Instantly, the flame rose, swallowing it. Elena turned her gaze back to the wall.

Admission to Frontier Academy

Emperor Richard’s death

Assassination attempt of Grand Duke France

Election ceremony for the Crown Prince’s wife

And all the rest.

One by one, she removed the notes—notes that had the future written upon them—and cast them into the flame. As long as the timeline was engraved in her heart and mind, these notes no longer had value. There was no reason to leave any traces behind.

The final piece burned away with the last lick of flame. As it turned into ashes, the future that would bloom became the exclusive property of Elena.

“I will... destroy you all.”

* * *

“Elena.”

It was early evening when Elena finally emerged from her room. Chesana looked at her daughter with pity. She knew that nothing she could say would be comforting or encouraging, so she had no choice but to act as if nothing was wrong.

“Are you hungry? How about I make your favorite steak for dinner? I’ll go now to—”

“Mama, please don’t push yourself. I’m really okay.”

Elena grinned and walked toward the front door. The marriage proposal gifts were still exactly as the porters had stacked them up that morning.

“Let’s open these together. I’m curious to see what the lord sent.”

“B-but if you open them...”

Chesana was worried that if they opened the gifts, Elena’s fate would be sealed—there would be absolutely no way to reverse the marriage.

“Please don’t hold out hope,” said Elena. “It’s too late to take back my answer.”

After rationally persuading her mother to give up, Elena opened the silk-wrapped gifts one by one. The first thing that she took out of a box was a dress that was dripping in lace. It was structured like a ball gown, but the fabric and finish were poor. At least the accessories had some use—because they were made using traditional methods, they were classified as special products in other countries and were thus highly valued.

“Mama, come here for a second.”

“What’s the matter?”

Elena clasped the pearl necklace she’d just found around her mother’s neck. The brilliance of the silver pearls paired well with Chesana’s long, slender neck.

“It suits you well. You wear it, Mama.”

“What? No. I don’t need it—you should wear it.”

Chesana had a serious look on her face. She was already feeling so ashamed about not being able to stop her daughter from becoming a concubine, so how could she accept such a gift?

“Mama, the whole time you were raising me, you didn’t buy yourself even one decent necklace. I really want to give this to you.”

“How can I possibly accept it?”

“Please take it. If you keep saying no, I’ll be sad.”

Elena kept pushing her mother to accept something she didn’t want. But there was a reason for that.

When I leave, you’re going to need money. You must keep this in preparation for that time.

Elena was only thinking about the future and not the present. Right now, Chesana probably felt sick to her stomach because it felt like she had received this necklace by selling her child. However, the time would come when the necklace would be vital in paying for living expenses.

“Father has been out for a while.”

“Yes, and he has such poor nighttime vision...”

Elena looked out the window into the deep darkness. Her thoughts became heavy.

I hope nothing bad has happened to him.

At that moment, mother and daughter both heard the sound of the doorknob turning. They simultaneously whipped their heads around to look.

“I’m back,” called Frederick.

“Dear!”

It wasn’t until she saw her father’s head through the half-open door that Elena finally felt relieved.

“Why are you so late?” asked Chesana. “You must be hungry. Please sit down. I’ll heat up the soup again.”

“Hold on a moment, dear. We have a guest.”

“A guest?”

Chesana was about to head to the kitchen, but she stopped and turned around. Frederick had never brought home a guest, not since they’d first settled here. So why now, after everything that’d happened that morning? She was quite puzzled at her husband’s unexpected action.

“It’s not much, but please come in.”

Frederick politely pulled out a chair, offering the person a seat as if they were his superior. The guest was wearing a hooded, roomy robe that covered their entire body all the way down to their ankles. However, it was possible to infer that this person was an adult woman—her small, slender shoulders couldn’t be hidden, and her pure-white complexion could be seen peeking out from under the hood.

No!

Elena’s eyes widened.

It can’t be...

Her doubt gradually gave way to certainty. She tried to act like nothing was wrong, but familiarity and intense discomfort stirred up within her.

“Child, there’s no law that says a person must die,” said Frederick. When Elena didn’t say anything, he smiled meaningfully. “You’ll soon know what I mean. Let me introduce her. This person is—”

The robed woman cut him off. “I apologize for interrupting, but would you allow me to introduce myself directly? I feel like that would be the polite thing to do.”

The woman’s voice sounded pure. It made one feel as clear as dew, and it had the magical power to break down caution.

The baronet readily complied with her wish. “Ah, if that’s comfortable for you, then it’s fine with me.”

“Thank you for your understanding.”

The woman’s gaze landed on Elena. Although her eyes were hard to see because they were covered by the hood, her gaze was deeply penetrating. She raised her slender wrists and used her fingers to push back the tight folds of the hood.

She let it fall. Her elegant yet intellectual beauty was revealed.

She fixed her alluring gaze on Elena.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you for the first time. My name is Riaveric du Flandre. I am a noble of the Vesilia Empire.”

This was the reunion of an ill-fated relationship.

* * *

Elena recognized Riaveric in one glance. Surprisingly, her heart immediately turned cold. Elena had thought that her blood would boil with hatred and the desire for revenge as soon as she saw her enemy. However, her mind remained calm and clear.

She knew she couldn’t let her emotions interfere. Instead, she let ice-cold reason dominate her completely. It seemed to whisper, “Just hold your breath and wait for the right moment. When that time comes, sink your teeth into the back of her neck.”

“I’m Elena.”

Elena hid her deadly claws behind an awkward smile. As someone who had reached the top of the imperial social circle, she was good at wearing a mask and hiding her true feelings.

“Of course you are. You may not be aware of this, but I know you very well, Miss Elena.”

“You know me well?”

Riaveric smiled softly. It was an angelic, warm smile that made those around her feel at ease.

What a detestable woman.

Elena’s stomach almost twisted from the momentary surge of nausea. She had been fooled by that smile. She had thought that kindness to be true. And because of Riaveric’s deception, she had ended up dying a grisly death with a sword skewering her guts.

But that wasn’t the case anymore. Elena knew the truth—she would no longer act like she was being deceived.

Riaveric gazed at her. “It’s true, Elena. I know you.”

“Father?”

“It is indeed true that she didn’t hesitate to travel such a long distance to meet you.”

Frederick seemed to have a friendly attitude toward Riaveric. Elena guessed that he must’ve contacted the woman before today, and there had already been some progress in their conversation.

“Dear, what do you mean?” Chesana asked.

“This person promised to save our Elena. She will make sure that our daughter doesn’t have to become a concubine.”

“W-what?”

Chesana was taken aback by her husband’s unexpected answer. It was clear that she was at a loss and didn’t know how to accept it. Perhaps she didn’t believe what he’d said at all.

Elena proceeded to feign ignorance. “Save me?”

“Child, you do not need to become a concubine.”

Frederick’s eyes were full of life. “This person wants to take you to the empire.”

As he spoke, Elena controlled her expression, schooling it to look suitably surprised. She didn’t forget to glance at Riaveric with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety.

Riaveric, who had been waiting for a reaction, smiled faintly before she spoke again. “Before I explain the situation, would you believe me if I said that you don’t feel like a stranger, Miss Elena?”

“That’s... hard to believe.”

Riaveric kept smiling as she took out a pendant. The family crest engraved on the lid immediately caught the eye—it was surprisingly ornate, with an X-shaped sword-and-spear engraved atop of a pair of golden eagles.

It symbolized the Grand Duchy of Friedrich.

This was an image Elena could never forget. Riaveric pressed the button on the side of the pendant, and the lid opened.

“M-my goodness, child.”

Chesana blinked several times and kept looking back and forth between Elena and the portrait inside the pendant.

“Isn’t this you?”

Elena remained silent.

The woman depicted inside the pendant looked so very similar to Elena. One could suspect that Elena had modeled for her portrait or perhaps that they were twins. If there was one difference, it was that Elena had reddish-blonde hair while the woman in the portrait had pure-blonde hair that seemed to sparkle like gold.

“This was the young lady I served. When she was alive, she was more refined, more honorable, and purer than any other noble daughter in the empire.”

“When she was alive...?” Elena asked.

“Three months ago, she fell asleep in the arms of Goddess Gaia.”

The official religion of the Vesilia Empire was the Gaia Order. It was a religion that worshipped the earth goddess Gaia—its followers believed that when you died, you slept eternally in the heaven created by Gaia.

“May the goddess bless her.”

Elena put her hand on her heart and mourned the woman’s death respectfully. She feigned a sorrowful expression, and her eyes seemed to genuinely grieve the woman’s death. Elena put on a chillingly astonishing performance, but for someone who had dealt with the exhausting toil imperial society, this kind of acting was a natural part of daily life.