Chapter 1

Prologue

Where did things go wrong?

Reina Binochet faced the cold gaze of her husband’s deep-red eyes and felt the last shreds of hope fade away under his indifference.

She turned to look at the people standing behind him.

A small child, whose light blond hair made him a spitting image of her husband, looked pale as he clutched at the dress of a woman standing beside him.

The woman reached out and sympathetically wrapped her arm around the boy’s shoulders.

Reina had been watching the situation unfold with glassy eyes, only to discover that the gaze of the woman regarding her was full of contempt.

Why...? Reina felt compelled to ask. Why are you the one standing there as if it is only natural? Where did things go so wrong for you to be the one holding my child?

I bore him and gave birth to him, so why is it you that he...?

Though she had so many things to say, Reina’s vitality had abandoned her as she wasted away.

Her life ended without her being able to utter a single word aloud.

Ah, I wasn’t even able to tell my son that I love him...

The pale stains her tears had left on her cheeks were the only indication of her emotions in her final moments.

Reina Binochet

Reina Binochet was born as the granddaughter of Duke Binochet, a noble in the Empire of Sorcier.

Everyone who spoke of her had the same question: How could anyone live such a blessed life?

They were right.

Her father, Viscount Binochet, was a duke’s only son, making him the sole heir to House Binochet. Meanwhile, her mother was the third daughter of the Grand Duke of Rottweil, making her royalty.

Born with the highest status in the empire only after the imperial family, Reina enjoyed an easy, prosperous life until the age of six.

She had a kind and generous father, a warm and gentle mother. Naturally, six-year-old Reina loved her parents.

However, her happiness was as fragile as a glass cup.

Reina was five when she gained a baby brother, Lintes, of whom she was very fond. Even though he could hardly walk, he constantly trailed after her, and despite babbling in baby talk, he always called for her quite clearly.

“Come here, Lintes. Come play with your big sis,” she said.

“Big sis, big sis. What you doing?”

“I’m threading glass beads for Father’s birthday present.”

That day, Reina was traveling to the Principality of Rottweil with her mother and Lintes to meet her maternal grandfather. As she carefully threaded the glass beads one by one, the carriage shook, scattering beads to the floor.

“Oh? Big sis, beads fell.” Lintes leaned down to pick up a bead that had rolled all the way to his feet.

Just at that moment, a wheel happened to catch on a large rock, and the carriage teetered wildly.

The carriage door had not been properly latched.

It was extremely unfortunate.

Having leaned over just as the carriage tilted, Lintes tumbled.

“No, Lintes!”

Their mother screamed and threw herself after him. Together, they tumbled out the open door, tangled and caught.

“Mother! Lintes!”

Everything happened in the blink of an eye, but it felt like an eternity to Reina.

The sound of the carriage coming to a hasty stop.

People screaming.

The dirt road, turning red with blood.

Her mother and Lintes, lying there, motionless...

Everything grew blurry and dark and distant.

***

That was how Reina had lost her mother.

“They say she broke her neck when she fell out of the carriage. I heard she died on impact.”

“Oh my, that’s awful. At least she didn’t feel any pain.”

Fortunately, though they were told that his left arm would be immobile for the rest of his life, Lintes had survived. Reina alone was unharmed.

Upon her return, she found herself summoned by her father.

“F-Father, Mother is...” Reina found herself unable to finish her sentence.

Though he had summoned her, he held his silence and ignored her for a long time. When he finally spoke, it was in a sudden and unexpected shout.

“This is all your fault!”

“Father?”

He seized her by the shoulders, violently shaking her as he continued, “This... All of this is your fault! Lintes almost losing his left arm, my wife...”

Reina felt like the man before her was a completely different person from her father. His usual kindness and generosity were nowhere to be seen.

She turned away from her father’s bloodshot eyes, and her gaze landed on the bulging tendons of his hand.

It’s... my fault? It’s my fault that Mother passed away?

Her father shook her like a rag doll. His sharp voice lingered around her like a curse, plunging her into an endless, eternal abyss.

After her mother’s passing, her father didn’t want to see her.

“Tsk tsk. Poor thing. The viscount is being too cruel.”

“He lost his wife, and his heir is disabled now. I understand how he feels.”

In order to survive the restless rumors surrounding her, Reina learned to be silent. She no longer bounded about the estate, sang, or even spoke.

Her meals of warm soup and mouth-watering steak were still served to her, but she could only enter the dining hall after her father and Lintes had finished their meals.

Reina was a ghost, unseen and unheard on the estate.

She was moved to a detached building before long, and a maid began to bring her meals to her.

The first time a maid had come bearing a tray of food, Reina asked, “Why are you bringing my meal to my room?”

“The master said that there’s no longer any need to come down to the dining hall.”

“But...”

“He also gave the order for you to do as much as possible within your room as well, not only your meals, my lady.”

Reina found that she had no response to this news, and so she fell silent again.

At first, she spent her days soaking her pillow with her tears. Eventually, she grew numb to it all.

Reina dismissed everything that she had previously taken for granted as a dream. She was still the granddaughter of Duke Binochet and the daughter of Viscount Binochet, but she was no longer her father’s daughter.

Time passed, and her father still treated her as though she didn’t exist. She hardly saw Lintes due to his frequent travel between the estate and the temple for treatment.

Reina was well aware of the cascade of sympathy and pity directed her way.

Duke Binochet occasionally came down to the estate, feeling sorry for his granddaughter.

“I heard about the situation, Reina. You must feel uneasy. Won’t you come to the imperial city with your grandpa?”

Reina knew that the duke’s interest was little more than a shallow act of charity for his granddaughter, leaving only one response she could give.

“It’s all right. I’ll stay here... at Father’s side.”

Not long after that, her grandfather passed on and her father became Duke Binochet.

Reina only broke down further as the years passed. Her exterior blossomed as she aged, even as darkness filled her.

The tragedy of that day replayed in her mind without fail whenever she tried to sleep, a nightmare filled with the echoes of her screams for her mother and brother. When that happened, Reina relied on medicine to force herself to sleep.

However, the drug-induced sleep failed to be any deeper.

The memory of her father’s shouted curses as he shook her penetrated her tired mind and woke her up every time.

As the sleepless nights continued, her blossoming face grew haggard from exhaustion. She really thought she would die at this rate.

By the time her fifteenth birthday arrived, she was exhausted by the never-ending darkness. Her father had spent a long time away from the estate, but she waited for his return and gathered up the courage to seek him out.

She had something to ask him.

She opened the door and began to speak immediately. “Father, it’s me, Reina. I have something to—”

That was as much as she was able to manage. The moment she opened the door, an inkwell struck her forehead and drew blood.

“How dare you come here?!”

Forced to leave, Reina turned away as she felt a trickle from her forehead wet her lips.

I can’t believe I thought to ask, “How can I be forgiven?”

She felt pathetic for mistakenly believing that there was any chance of redemption.

I already lost my right to be forgiven...

She continued to spend her days in solitude, accustomed to the endless darkness that was only occasionally broken by the faint moonlight that shone down on her.

It was truly by chance that Reina met Edgar Heathvilion.

They met the day of the banquet commemorating Lintes as he formally received the title of viscount at the age of fifteen.